Old Testament
I have just finished reading “Pearl in the Sand” by Tessa
Afshar. This was a break from the norm for me as
generally my reading consists of Amish novels, which
involves buggy accidents, so Shelley this one is for you.
Pearl in the Sand is a novel about the life of Rahab. We
all know that after the destruction of Jericho Rahab settles
in Israel permanently, but we are not given further details
about her life in the Old Testament. However in the book
of Matthew, the genealogy of Jesus reveals that Salmon
the father of Boaz, whose Mother was Rahab (Matthew
1:5). So we can assume quite confidently that Salmon
and Rahab were married and had a son.
The book starts with details of Rahab’s early life in Jericho
from being sold into prostitution at a very young age to her
offering to shelter Hanani and Ezra in her inn. As I read
this part, I thought about if I could have done what Rahab
had done. She had a huge amount of faith that these two
men were worth risking her life for. Imagine being in your
house when the wall of Jericho fell down. Again Rahab
displayed a huge amount of faith. The story continues to
when Rahab meets Salmon and all the bits I love about
novels – a happy ending….
When I finished this book the story showed me once
again that the Bible is made up of all sorts of broken, hurt
and scared people chosen by God. As I sit in church on
Sunday in my usual seat I look around and see the same
sorts of people that are talked about in the Bible.
Which leaves me with this thought, I don’t know who said
it first, but I always remember the saying: “The church is
not a museum of good people, but a hospital for the
broken.”
Contributed by Kate Murphy