JU1-12: If You Bless Israel, You’ll Still Be Blessed EVEN IF You Don’t Accept God As Your Savior

“The house of Yosef likewise attacked Beit-El; and Adonai was with them.  The house of Yosef sent spies to Beit-El (the city was formerly called Luz).  The spies saw a man coming out of the city and said to him: “Please show us the way to enter the city, and we will treat you kindly.”  So he showed them the way into the city, and they overpowered the city with the sword, but they let the man and all his family go free.  He went into the land of the Hittim, built a city and called it Luz, which is its name to this day.”-Judges 1:22-26

Israel’s attacks towards their enemies in the Promised Land continues.

This time, in verse 22, we’re told the house of Yosef (again, most likely ONLY Ephraim) attacked a city called BEIT-EL that was also called LUZ.

The city of AI was located nearby but there’s a chance that BEIT-EL and AI could have been the same city.

In other words, the city had just shifted its location a bit after being destroyed.

When the Ephraimite spies approached the city, we’re told suddenly out of nowhere a friendly man appeared and offered to help them find a way to sneak into the city unawares.

In return, the Ephraimite soldiers promised to spare the man and his family once they launched a full-scale attack.

Obviously, this incident brings back memories of how Rahab and her family were saved after Israel attacked Jericho.

However, there is a big difference between Rahab and this man.

At the end of the day, Rahab became a sincere believer in the God of Israel and as a result was fully grafted into the commonwealth of Israel.

This man, however, was only interested in his self-preservation and couldn’t have cared less about Israel’s God or even his own countrymen.

His mindset was that he’d do anything to save his own skin which is what he did when he committed treason.

The verses telling us what happened immediately afterwards are noteworthy.

We’re told the man just sort of picked up and moved into Hittite territory (the equivalent of modern day Turkey today).

When he arrived, he built a city and gave it the name LUZ…which is the exact same name of the city that had just been destroyed by the Israelites.

Why did he do that?

Most likely he was feeling guilty because it was his treason that had led to the destruction of the original LUZ.

One interesting takeaway I’m getting from this is a reminder of God’s promise to Abraham when He said “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you”. 

This man’s story of how he betrayed his own nation is evidence of just how valid this principle is…EVEN IF you don’t necessarily surrender your life to the Creator.

This man was acting out of his own self-interest.

Yet his actions still ended up blessing Israel .

As a result, he and his family experienced a sort of earthly type of salvation in that he didn’t experience immediate destruction at the hands of Israel.