Post by Danny Angbashim (@db_angbashim)

As I read the account of the encounter between the 2 Israelite spies and Rahab the harlot in Joshua 2 this morning I was again gripped by Rahab's audacious and pointed request in verses 12 and 13:

[12] "Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that, as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father’s house, and give me a sure sign [13] that you will save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.”

This woman most probably had been despised and even ostracized by her family members for her choice of livelihood, which must have brought them embarrassment and societal reproach. But when it mattered most she became the vehicle that those same family members were delivered from destruction.

The lesson is that that son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle or aunt who's the black sheep of your family could, at some point in your life, be the difference between life and death, success and failure, joy and sadness etc. It's normal and, in fact, obligatory to advise, counsel and rebuke the errant one. But never ostracize and cut off all links, for you can never tell.

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