Christian Paradigm Shifts

Boaz has won the right of redemption. He redeems Noami's land and marries Ruth. He has now taken responsibility for their future and family inheritance. A blessing is declared over Ruth. The people at the gate ask that the Lord would make her like Rachel and Leah, who built up the house of Israel. They ask that Boaz would act worthily and be renowned. They ask that his house would be like that of Perez (born of Tamar and Judah). This is all because of the offspring that the Lord would give Boaz through Ruth. Rachel and Leah were Arameans (Gen 30:14-15, 31:19-20). Tamar was probably a Canaanite (Gen 38:2, 6, 14-18, 26). These foreign women gave birth to the descendants of Israel. Ruth would join this illustrious list of women. The Lord gave her conception and she gave birth to a son. It is interesting to note that it is the women who visit Naomi who name the child. They name him Obed. Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament states "This name was gi

Christian Image Source

Ruth Chapter 4, Part I ~ Christian Image Source Boaz is at the city gate. He calls to the kinsman as he went by. Boaz calls him to come and sit down. He then took ten men, who were elders of the city, and asked them to sit down as well. Boaz is about to make his case in order to redeem Ruth. Some background on the importance of the city gate in Old Testament times: In the ancient Near East, the elders of a city would hold court in the city gate The elders probably wore garments that distinguished their service [In later Rabbinic interpretation the assembly of 10 men became the basis for the minyan , the minimum legal number of men needed to hold a synagogue service.] Parties would approach the gate, state their case, and count on a wise ruling No clear judge, jury and lawyer - participants probably discussed & argued their way through the issue  Crowds might gather to watch and participate Boaz confronts the the redeemer. He informs him that Naomi has returned f

Boaz is the kinsman-redeemer to Elimelech's family. But what is a kinsman-redeemer? A kinsman-redeemer in Hebrew is go'el . It is literally translated 'redeemer'. But it is also translated 'close relative' or 'kinsman-redeemer'. It comes from the root word ga'al which means 'to redeem or buy back' and occurs 23 times in Ruth. The duties of a kinsman-redeemer may include:  avenging a murder [Number 35:19]  marrying his brother's widow to raise up a son on behalf of the deceased brother [Deuteronomy 25:5-10]  redeeming any family land which had been sold [Leviticus 25:25]  redeeming a family member who had been sold into slavery [Leviticus 25:47-49] caring for family members in need [Leviticus 25:35] The role of a kinsman-redeemer would go to the brother of the man, then an uncle, then to an uncle's son, then to any near relative [Leviticus 25:48-49]. A kinsman-redeemer had to meet three qualification:  Blood Relationsh

Ruth at Boaz's feet We've now come to the turning point of the story of Naomi, Ruth and Boaz. Naomi and Ruth are widows without support. Ruth has gleaned in the fields of Boaz in whose sight she has found favor. Naomi now announces a plan to Ruth.  Naomi is about to be a matchmaker for Ruth and Boaz. Naomi instructs Ruth to prepare herself as a bride prepares herself for her husband. Ruth was to wash, to anoint herself, and put on special clothing. She was to not make herself known to Boaz but to observe where he would lie down. Naomi instructed that she should uncover his feet and lie down. It would be at this point that Boaz would tell Ruth what to do. Ruth asks Boaz to spread his wings over his servant because he was a redeemer. Ruth was asking Boaz for marriage and the protection it afforded [Shepherd's Guide: Ruth and Esther]. The Hebrew word for wings is Kanaph, the outer garment men wrapped about themselves in the day and used as a blanket at night. A wife fi

Precept Upon Precept Bible Study

Ruth 2:1-16 Christian Image Source Yesterday, I introduced the concept of God's sovereignty in our lives. According to Romans 8:28, God works all things for our good. In Psalm 139:16 NKJV - Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, t he days fashioned for me, w hen as yet there were none of them. God was working in the lives of Naomi and Ruth. He had a plan for them although they might not have been able to see it. At the beginning of chapter 2, Boaz is introduced as a kinsman of Naomi. He was a mighty man of wealth from the family (clan) of Elimelech. In verse 2, Ruth asks Naomi for permission to go glean in the field of him in whose sight she would find GRACE . Naomi tells her to go. In verse 3 it seems as if it was by pure "luck" or "happenstance" that Ruth came upon the field of Boaz. In God's economy there is no such thing as luck. Everything is done through God's sovereignty. It's kind of

Ruth 1:19-22 Naomi and Ruth have left Moab behind. They journey back to Bethlehem which was about a sixty plus mile journey. When they arrive in the city,  the people were moved about them.After such a long absence, the people must have welcomed Naomi. They probably were happy to see her again. The people also said, "Is this Naomi?" What had changed about Naomi for women of the town to make such a statement? Had she changed in her appearance? Had the hardships of the years taken a toll on her countenance? Naomi confirms their question. Yes, she is Naomi. But she is no longer pleasant but bitter. For she declares that she is no longer to be called Naomi, which means pleasant. She is to be called Mara, which means bitter. Why was she bitter? Because she left Bethlehem full. She left with her husband and their two sons. But she has returned empty. She returned without her husband and sons. Who was the source of this hardship?  Twice, Naomi states that it was the LORD w

After experiencing such tragedy, Naomi decided to return home. The Lord had attended to His people by giving them food. I am also sure she was longing for the comforts of home and extended family. She left Moab with her daughters in law. On the way, Naomi encouraged them to return to their family homes. She wished them kindness and blessings. She wished that they would go and find husbands to care for them. However, Ruth and Orpah insisted that they would return to Bethlehem. At this point, Naomi tells the women she could not fulfill the levirate marriage custom [Duet. 25:5:10]. She was too old to have children and even if she could have children, it would be years before the sons would be old enough for them to marry. Naomi asks them,"Would you wait?" All of the women were sad because of the circumstances. Reality dawned on them. The only choice for Ruth and Orpah seemed to be to return back to their family. Choices needed to be made. There were two different response

Ruth means friendship. She showed kindess to Naomi. The Lord shows kindness to us, espcially when we are in need.

Ruth 1:3-5 A short journey to Moab turned into a into a ten year stay which led to devastating consequences. Elimelich has died. Mahlon and Chilion marry Moabite women. This could have led them to feel more at home in this foreign land [Expositor's Bible Commentary]. In verse 1 we see that they sojourned to Moab. The word sojourn means to temporarily dwell. Then in verse 2 we see they continued there, i.e. remained. Finally we see that they dwelled there. They let go of their old roots and new roots took hold. Then Mahlon and Chilion die. There Naomi has no husband, no children, no descendants. There is no way to provide even for her basic needs. Orpah and Ruth are in a similar situation except they are young and could probably find new husbands. However, after each of them have been in a childless marriage for at least 10 years, it is doubtful that someone would marry them. For if a marriage was childless for ten years, it was grounds for divorce under rabbinic law [Hubba

Do you ever feel this way? I know I do. I mean it seems like a tall order to be the Proverbs 31 woman and the Titus 2 lady. Do you remember the commercial "I can bring home the bacon"? It was a commercial for Jolie perfume. Well, here it is: Sometimes as a woman I think I can do it all. Well, I've come to the realization that I cannot. As I have shared before, I work outside the home. I am also the one who makes the dinner, irons the clothes, and get lunches ready for the next day. I do the laundry and the grocery shopping. I am not complaining how things are. It is just how they are. My husband does help around the house. I am grateful for that. But I battle comparing myself to others. I look at friends and fellow bloggers and I think that they have it altogether. But then I come to realize that no one is perfect and there is no such thing as a perfect life. Could I be a better wife and mother? Yes. I could do better. But I am striving for progress, not perfection.

Ruth Chapter 1:1-2 As the book of Ruth opens there is a crisis, a famine, which leads the family to leave their homeland. They leave Bethlehem-Judah [House of Bread & Praise]. Others had made similar journeys. Abraham went to Egypt [Genesis 12] Isaac to Philistia [Genesis 26] Jacob to Egypt [Genesis 46] There is a play on words here. There is a famine in the land while the land is called the House of Bread. Were they looking for a geographical cure to avoid the difficulty of the famine? Did the grass look greener on the other side? According to the book, God Behind the Seen [page 25], it states that Moab was 50 miles away from Bethlehem. It would have been easy to see the green fields of Moab from the brown dusty fields of Bethlehem. Green grass may look great from a distance but when you get an up-close look it may actually be weeds. Maybe Elimelech thought Moab was a great place to be to get away from the famine. It looked like a lush land which was rich in food as oppo

This is what's on the menu this week! It's from my Kraft Foods Magazine. I love their recipes! www.kraftfoods.com Ingrdients: 2 egg s 4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese , softened 1/2 cup KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Italian* Three Cheese Blend 3 cups frozen broccoli cuts, thawed, drained 1/2 lb. fresh mushroom s, cut into quarters 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes , cut in half 4 green onion s, sliced 2 cans (8 oz. each) refrigerated crescent dinner rolls Directions: HEAT oven to 375ºF. MIX first 3 ingredients in large bowl until well blended. Stir in next 4 ingredients. UNROLL dough; separate into 16 triangles. Arrange in 11-inch circle on foil-covered baking sheet, with short sides of triangles overlapping in center and points of triangles toward outside. (There should be a 5-inch diameter opening in center of circle.) Spoon cheese mixture onto dough near center of circle. Bring outside points of triangles up over filling, then tuck under dough in center o

www.ChristianClipArts.net The Cast of Characters in Ruth: 1. Elimelech - An Ephrathite man from Bethlehem in Judah; the husband of Naomi - Ruth 1:1-2 2. Naomi - The wife of Elimelech & the mother of Mahlon and Chilion - Ruth 1:2 3. Mahlon - The son of Elimelech & Naomi; the husband of Ruth - Ruth 1:2, 4; 4:10 4. Chilion - The son of Elimelech & Naomi; the husband of Orpah - Ruth 1:2,4 5. Ruth - A Moabite woman; the wife of Mahlon; the daughter-in-law of Naomi - Ruth 1:4,22 6. Orpah - A Moabite woman; the wife of Chilion; the daughter-in-law of Naomi - Ruth 1:4,22 7. Boaz - A man from Elimelech's clan; the kinsman-redeemer whom married Mahlon's widow, Ruth - Ruth 2:1,10 8. An unnamed kinsman - A man from Elimelech's clan who was closer in relation to Naomi than Boaz - Ruth :12; 4:4 9. Ten elders - Prominent members of the Bethlehem community - Ruth 4:2 10 Women of Bethlehem - Women who celebrated Obed's birth - Ruth 4:14-17 11 Servants/Harves

 Courtesy of Wikipedia  In Hebrew, the name “Moab” sounds like “from (my) father.” The people of Moab were descendants of an incestuous union between Lot and his oldest daughter after the destruction of  Sodom and Gomorrah around 2065 BC. According to Genesis 19:37-37 "Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.  And the first born bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day." The Moabites eventually settled in a land east of the Dead Sea. Many years later, when Israel had been delievered out of Egypt, Balak king of Moab hired Balaam to pronounce a curse on Isreal. Balaam would not curse Israel because God had blessed them. Later on, however, Balaam influenced Balak to have the Moabites intermarry with the Israelites so the children of Israel would commit idolatry and bring the wrath of God [Numbers 31:16; Rev. 2:14]. Unfortunately, the Israelites fell into temptation. They became an idolatrous and i

 Below is a map of Israel during the time of the judges: Courtesy of www.preceptaustin.org The Book of Ruth takes place during the time of the judges. During this period the people of Israel were rebelling against the Lord. In Judges 2:8 - 22 we see several factors for God's displeasure of the Israelites: People had served the Lord all the days of Joshua and the elders who out lived him. Once the the elders were gone, the people did evil in the sight of the Lord. They forsook God. They worshipped and served the Baals and Ashtoreths. Even in all of this the Lord tried to help the people by raising up judges who would deliver the people out of the hands which plundered them. But the people would not listen to the judges, they played the harlot with other gods and bowed down to them. God's anger burned against them. He stopped driving out the nations that surrounded Israel. This was the cycle in the time of the judges: The theme of Judges is this: In those days the

The Book of Ruth takes place during the time of the judges, during a great famine. Such conditions were present during the time of Midianite oppression. If this was the occasion, the dating for the book would be the middle of the 12th century BC. Jewish canonical tradition links Judges and Ruth together as one book. The author of this book is not known. However, a majority of scholars seem to agree that it was the prophet Samuel. This is due to the fact of Jewish customs being explained to the reader and the genealogical sketch including King David is appended. It seems as if Ruth received final editing during the days of the United Monarchy. Some points to consider while reading Ruth: 1. We get a glimpse into the lives, activities and customs in the period of the Judges. 2. The books emphasis on the sovereignty of God in the affairs of people. 3. The analogies of the kinsman-redeemer in Ancient Israel The book of Ruth is traditionally read at the Jewish Feast of Pentecost, celebratin

 Bible study by Time-Warp Wife www.timewarpwife.com While I love participating in the Bible studies offered by Courtney and Angela of Good Morning Girls ( www.goodmorninggirls.org ), there is break between sessions. I need somewhat of a structure to keep me disciplined to dig into God's Word. Therefore, for the in-between break, I'm going to use Darlene's book, "Ruth: A Woman of Virtue", as a guide to my posts over the next few weeks. Darlene's book is available free for download. Just go to her facebook page, 'like' it, and go to the link labeled 'Free ebooks'. I've always loved the story of Ruth. It is a story of romance, self-sacrifice, and redemption. Ruth was the great-great grandmother of King David and an ancestor of the King of Kings, Jesus Christ. She left her homeland and family to follow her mother-in-law to a distant land with a different culture in order to be devoted to Naomi. There she finds her destiny. Ruth cares

It is all we need. His grace is sufficient. Unfortunately it is something that we just don't get. The Skit Guys share how we just don't understand why God gives us unmerited grace. We think it is something we need to earn or deserve. This Holy Week I am reminded that there is nothing that I can do to earn or deserve God's grace, His unmerited favor. I only need to receive it. Accept it. Rest in it. Praise Him for it. I have a Savior who loves me so much that He willingly laid down His life so I could have His grace in my life. It is all of grace. Free and undeserved. Take it all in. Keep is close. Don't let anyone steal it from you. There are grace robbers out there. Be on guard! They will tell you that you need to do, do, do. But remember that it is done. Once and for all. Finished and paid in full. 2 Cor. 12: 9 - And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my

"Act, and God will act" - Joan of Arc     Read: Ephesians 6:10 - 20 ESV Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying a