When Fathers Choose Pride Over Their Families: Rahab, Judgment, and the Historical Fallacy

When Fathers Choose Pride Over Their Families: Rahab, Judgment, and the Historical Fallacy


In the story of Rahab, we see a remarkable truth unfold: repentance saves not only the individual but the family. Rahab wasn’t an Israelite, but she feared God more than she feared her own people. When judgment was coming, she aligned herself with Yahweh—and in doing so, her entire household was spared.


We often ask, “Why did God allow entire cities to be destroyed?” But the better question might be, “Why didn’t more fathers do what Rahab did?” If the leaders and fathers of Canaanite households had truly loved their wives and children, they would have humbled themselves. They would have turned from their idolatry, violence, and oppression. But they didn’t. They loved their pride, power, and traditions more than their families.


God didn’t just kill people mercilessly. These nations had hundreds of years to turn from their ways. Genesis 15:16 shows us that the Amorites’ iniquity wasn’t yet “complete”—meaning God was patient. He waited generations. God’s justice is never hasty. But when repentance is continually rejected, judgment becomes mercy to the oppressed.


Here’s where we run into a major modern misunderstanding: we impose our morality onto ancient times. This is called historian’s fallacy or presentism—the mistake of assuming people in the past had our level of information, cultural context, or values. But they didn’t. These ancient societies were tribal, violent, and often brutal. Every kingdom was fighting for survival. In that world, we would have done what they did: killed to protect our families, owned slaves to stay economically afloat, and trusted the gods of our fathers unless something—or someone—radically changed our hearts.


This doesn’t excuse their sins. It just explains the context of their choices. And in that context, God’s judgment was never arbitrary. It was deeply relational, always tied to justice, mercy, and the opportunity to repent. Think about the flood. Think about Nineveh. Think about Jerusalem in Jesus’ day. Judgment always came after warnings, prophets, and chances to turn.

We accept that a human judge today can sentence a murderer to death. We call it justice. But when God, who sees the heart and waits for generations before acting, renders judgment, we question His morality?


Conclusion 


In the end, every city destroyed, every king deposed, every empire brought low was a culmination of love rejected, mercy resisted, and warnings ignored. Rahab’s story is the exception—but it shows what could have been the rule. Let’s not look back on these stories with arrogance. Let’s look with humility, knowing that the same call still goes out today:

Repent, turn, and live.

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