Judges 1:22-26: a reflection

In the middle of the conquest accounts sits a small, easily-missed story. Israel is trying to take Bethel, and a man comes out of the city. They ask him to show them the way in, promising to deal kindly with him. He shows them, and they keep their word: when the city falls, they let the man and all his family go free.

Notice the mercy in it. Amid the sweeping judgments of these chapters, one man and his whole household are spared, an unnamed Canaanite who cooperated and was shown kindness in return. It is a quiet echo of Rahab, another resident of a doomed city preserved with her family. Even here, God's story leaves room for individual mercy, for the one who is spared and the household saved along with him.

Two things are worth carrying from this small scene. One is that a single person's action can bring safety to an entire family; what this man did opened a door of deliverance for all who belonged to him. The other is that God's mercy is not so sweeping that it loses sight of the individual; there is room, even in judgment, for the one shown kindness. If you feel like a minor, unnamed figure, remember that God's story spares such people by name, and that your own faithfulness can be the door through which mercy reaches those you love.