Matthew 7:24-27, Building on Rock and Sand
By LMH
"Every one then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell; and great was the fall of it." (Matthew 7:24-27).
Many
do not catch the full meaning of Jesus' words. Jesus draws a sharp contrast between building on rock and sand. One house is built by a wise man and one by a foolish man. One house stands in a storm and the other had a great fall.In the sandy regions in the States houses are often built on sandy soil and easily survives a storm, and even a flood. This being the case, we do not catch the importance of Jesus' words.
In Israel there is little sand in the country. The ground is more clay or rocky soil. Sand is only found in wadi (wa'de). A wadi is the bed of a stream that flows only in the rainy season or during a storm, but otherwise dry. Here the water wear down the sandstone, and deposits in large amonuts. The hearer of Jesus's sermon surely understood He was talking about building in a wadi, and knew how stupid it would be to build a house there. He knew one could be the wadi on a dry and sunny day, and a heavy rain many miles away could send a fifteen foot high wall of water down the wadi destroying any house in its path.
So a person surely wants to live by the words of Jesus, and those given by His apostles. To do otherwise one would face a great fall in the future.
by Leland M. Haines, edited by Richard Polcyn. August 2000
Copyright 2000 by Leland M. Haines, Northville. MI
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