When I'm asked to choose between the devoted daughter-in-law and the harlot, I'll pick the harlot every time (because it's the real parts of the Christmas story that draw me in).
The one-time prostitute will one day be the mother-in-law of the devoted.
The seemingly unreal becomes the real in God's story...every time.
Salmon's wife would birth a son who would see people, care for people, and would choose to love his neighbor.
Where did he learn to treat people this way?
Perhaps it was at his mother's knee.
She had protected the spies, sent the kings men away, dropped a scarlet cord from her window, all the while just waiting to protect her family (the ones in the room, and the ones who would come from her womb).
There was no Salmon or Boaz, no Obed, Jesse or David, no kings and no Savior...yet.
But there was courage, vision, hope, and the one day name in a hall of faith that might not seem to fit among the faith fathers...Rahab the harlot.
Like Hagar in the wilderness, this one-time sex slave could say to the heavens: You are the God who sees!
Because He does, you know.
He sees you, He sees your right-now-mistakes, and He sees your redemption cord hanging in the window.
He sees your suitcase packed and ready for the expected rescue, and your hope-filled heart anticipating the greatest love of your life to come and sweep you away.
But you know what else THE Kinsman Redeemer saw that day in Rahab's window?
He saw the Seed He promised to Abraham moving through her line-the One we call Messiah today-who would make a stop along the way and invite a harlot to join in the ultimate rescue for the whole world.
He really is the God who sees...the devoted, the harlot, and the expectant.
Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, Jesse was the father of David the king. (Matthew 1:5-6)
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