Today's Scripture Reading (June 23, 2025): 1 Chronicles 2
Martin
Luther wrote that "faith is a living,
daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake
his life on it a thousand times" (Martin Luther). I love the quote, but I
might like to expand on it a bit. Faith isn't just about God's grace but about
his providence. Genuine faith understands that God is in control, even in the
moments when it seems that no one is. Even when things seem to go wrong, faith understands
that God is still on the throne and that can be trusted.
Enter Nahshon. Nahshon was a leader of the Tribe of Judah. It
is interesting, at least to me, that while Nahshon was the leader of Judah, he
was not the one who spied out the Promised Land from the tribe of Judah. That
would have been Caleb. And, of course, Caleb, along with Joshua, were the only ones
who voted according to their faith. Giants may have inhabited the Land of
Canaan, but both men had a faith that said that they could take the land
because God was on their side. Of course, for those of us who remember the
story, Caleb and Joshua were in the minority, and so instead of taking the
land, the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for the next forty years.
Sometimes, I think we believe that, outside of Moses and
possibly Aaron, Joshua and Caleb were the only men of faith living among the
Israelites at that time. But I think we would be wrong, and we might be
surprised at some of the other people of faith living at the time. I think
Nahshon would have been one of those people of faith.
According to the ancient rabbis, Nahshon was an instrumental
character at the time of the crossing of the Red Sea. On the movie screen,
Moses waves his staff at the Red Sea, and the water separates. However, ancient
rabbis didn't believe that the parting of the water was that immediate. The
Bible tells us that, over forty years later, at the crossing of the Jordan
River, the feet of the priests had to get wet before the river parted. But at
the Red Sea, Moses waved his rod, and, in faith, Nahshon ran into the water,
getting soaked up to his neck before the water finally parted.
Nahshon might have been a great man of faith, but he did not
get to enter the Promised Land. Nahshon would die in the wilderness wanderings despite
his faith. Yet, I suspect he still believed that God was in control.
All of this meant that Nahshon didn't get to meet his
daughter-in-law, the wife of his son, Salmon, and a key character in the story
of the taking of Jericho, Rahab. However, the life and faith of Nahshon are
remembered through his mention here and in the lineage of Jesus that we read in
Matthew.
Ram the father of
Amminadab,
Amminadab the father
of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of
Salmon,
Salmon the father of
Boaz, whose mother was Rahab.
Matthew
1:4-5
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 Chronicles 3
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