Boaz

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Sinking Sand

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Ruth 2:1–3, “And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband’s, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz. And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, Go, my daughter. And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.”

This book gives the most wonderful example of how a family member took his duties seriously and looked after his relative. The story is put in context in Moab so that we an understand who was involved and how they were in trouble. Once they returned home we also find out that there was a worthwhile relative who was in a position to help them in their time of need. The man was called Boaz. Ruth had come with Naomi to help her as much as she could so she set out to gather food for them both. The Law told every landowner that they were not allowed to gather all the grain, fruit or other produce from their land but they were to leave some of their crops so that the poor and needy could come and take food without losing their dignity. By the grace of God, Ruth went to Boaz’s field to collect some grain.

Mara, not Naomi

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Sinking Sand

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Ruth 1:19–22, “So they two went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi? And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the LORD hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the LORD hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me? So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter in law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.”

Naomi and Ruth went down from the Moabite highlands and into the Jordan Valley. They climbed all the way back up to the Judean highlands again before they finally arrived in Naomi’s hometown. Everybody in town heard that someone had come and they asked her if she was Naomi. Naomi means “pleasant” so she told them that he life was no longer pleasant but bitter and would the call her “Mara”, that is, “bitterness”. She had left Bethlehem during a drought but she returned during the harvest time when there was plenty of barley being harvested.

Ruth

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Sinking Sand

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Ruth 1:6–18, “Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the LORD had visited his people in giving them bread. Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters in law with her; and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah. And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, Go, return each to her mother’s house: the LORD deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me. The LORD grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice, and wept. And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people. And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters: why will ye go with me? are there yet any more sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have an husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should have an husband also to night, and should also bear sons; Would ye tarry for them till they were grown? would ye stay for them from having husbands? nay, my daughters; for it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD is gone out against me. And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother in law; but Ruth clave unto her. And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law. And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me. When she saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking unto her.”

When Naomi lost her last son she decided to return home. There was no such thing as a widow’s pension and she had no husband or son to support her in Moab. On the other hand, there was a God designed program for supporting widows in the Law. Naomi also heard that the drought was over in Judah and they had food there. She set out to return to Bethlehem, which means “the house of bread”. At first her two daughters in law came with her but she told them to remain with their own families in Moab for they would be well cared for while Naomi had very little to give the. Even though the Law provided for a man’s brother to raise children with his widow in Israel, Naomi had lost both her sons and had no one to look after the younger widows either. Orpah understood the wisdom of Naomi’s advice and went back to her father’s house to be cared for by her loved ones. On the other hand, Ruth said she wanted to go back with Naomi. Ruth had been impressed by her husband’s people and their God. She wanted to stay with her mother in Law and worship Naomi’s God. She was another one of those people in the Old Testament who took a long term view of life rather than a short term view. She knew that, as time went by, the Lord God would prove to be faithful under all circumstances because He is consistent and had perfect integrity so He could be trusted for time and eternity.

Elimelech

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Sinking Sand

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Ruth 1:1–5, “Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehemjudah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons. And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehemjudah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there. And Elimelech Naomi’s husband died; and she was left, and her two sons. And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years. And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband.”

The events described in this book happened during the days of the Judges. We have just been considering some of the things that happened when no one really cared about the Lord’s Law and how it should be applied among the Lord’s people. This is really a parenthetical piece of history giving a practical example of how the Law worked concerning the responsibilities of a relative when a widow was in need. There was a man called Elimelech, meaning “God id my King”. How interesting to notice that even in the most lawless days of Israel’s history there were still people who were faithful to the Lord and to the Law. During the lawless period of Israel’s history there were droughts and other difficult times, as agreed to by Israel. In one of those drought periods a family from Bethlehem in Judah went over the Jordan River to Moab. (There was more than one town called Bethlehem in Israel so we are given extra information to let us know which Bethlehem is being described.) We should also note that the mountains on the eastern side of the Jordan River are higher than those on the western side so it was likely that there would be more rain on that side. The family that went to Moab are named as Elimelech and Naomi and their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. Both the sons married in Moab; the two wives were called Orpah and Ruth. As time went by, Elimelech and both his sons died in Moab, leaving Naomi, Ruth and Orpah as widows.

The daughters of Shiloh

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Sinking Sand

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Judges 21:16–25, “Then the elders of the congregation said, How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of Benjamin? And they said, There must be an inheritance for them that be escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel. Howbeit we may not give them wives of our daughters: for the children of Israel have sworn, saying, Cursed be he that giveth a wife to Benjamin. Then they said, Behold, there is a feast of the LORD in Shiloh yearly in a place which is on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah. Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards; And see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come unto us to complain, that we will say unto them, Be favourable unto them for our sakes: because we reserved not to each man his wife in the war: for ye did not give unto them at this time, that ye should be guilty. And the children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives, according to their number, of them that danced, whom they caught: and they went and returned unto their inheritance, and repaired the cities, and dwelt in them. And the children of Israel departed thence at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they went out from thence every man to his inheritance. In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”

This section began and ended with the statement, “In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” This section describes a period in Israel’s history when they tended to ignore the Law of the Lord and follow the practices of the people who inhabited the Land before they arrived. We should also remind ourselves that marriage was seen more as an arrangement made between two families than an arrangement between two people. However, even this concept was not in keeping with the Lord’s first description of marriage when He gave the concept of marriage to Adam. At first it was to be seen as an arrangement between a man and a woman where the both left their former homes and established a new home for themselves. However, after Benjamin’s rebellion against the morals of the majority of Israel and their desire to go after the ways that the Lord punished at Sodom it was essential that this kind of evil be dealt with in Israel forever. Benjamin, on the other hand chose to support their own tribesmen and, thus, condoned the evil. Now that the perpetrators had been dealt with according to the Law the rest of Israel sough to reestablish Benjamin as a viable tribe again. In order to do this they had to find wives for some of the unmarried survivors. The kidnapped some women from Shiloh and forced them to become wives for the men who required wives. Again, we must stress that this historical record does not mean that the Lord condoned their actions.

Israel repented

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Sinking Sand

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Judges 21:1–15, “Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife. And the people came to the house of God, and abode there till even before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore; And said, O LORD God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be to day one tribe lacking in Israel? And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. And the children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel that came not up with the congregation unto the LORD? For they had made a great oath concerning him that came not up to the LORD to Mizpeh, saying, He shall surely be put to death. And the children of Israel repented them for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day. How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing we have sworn by the LORD that we will not give them of our daughters to wives? And they said, What one is there of the tribes of Israel that came not up to Mizpeh to the LORD? And, behold, there came none to the camp from Jabeshgilead to the assembly. For the people were numbered, and, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead there. And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest, and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the children. And this is the thing that ye shall do, Ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that hath lain by man. And they found among the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead four hundred young virgins, that had known no man by lying with any male: and they brought them unto the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan. And the whole congregation sent some to speak to the children of Benjamin that were in the rock Rimmon, and to call peaceably unto them. And Benjamin came again at that time; and they gave them wives which they had saved alive of the women of Jabeshgilead: and yet so they sufficed them not. And the people repented them for Benjamin, because that the LORD had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.”

This is another passage that gives a report of an unsavoury period in history and doesn’t necessarily endorse the action of the people involved. When the battle was over the Israelis realised that they had, essentially, wiped out one Israelis tribe. Altogether, there were thirteen tribes although the tribe of Levi wasn’t counted among the tribes for the allocation of Land for they were dedicated to the Lord’s service. They mourned the fact that one tribe would be missing from the roster for they had all made an oath before the Lord not to allow any of their daughters marry people from the tribe of Benjamin because they supported the evil deeds carried out in Gibeah. What would they do? They discovered that the people from Jabeshgilead hadn’t attended the gathering of the tribes and made the oath before the Lord. The people from Jabeshgilead had ignored a sacred summons from the Lord to maintain purity in Israel so they had to be punished. They tribes sent an army to Jabeshgilead and punished the people in that city but they gathered all the unmarried women from the city. As they hadn’t made the oath those girls were eligible to marry the survivors from the tribe of Benjamin. Marriage in those days was made as a contract between families and, as those girls no longer had families, the leader of Israel acted as their family members and arranged marriages for them with the surviving men of Benjamin.

They fasted that day

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

Sinking Sand

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Judges 20:26–48, “Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the LORD, and fasted that day until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD. And the children of Israel enquired of the LORD, (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days,) saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? And the LORD said, Go up; for to morrow I will deliver them into thine hand. And Israel set liers in wait round about Gibeah.  And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times. And the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city; and they began to smite of the people, and kill, as at other times, in the highways, of which one goeth up to the house of God, and the other to Gibeah in the field, about thirty men of Israel. And the children of Benjamin said, They are smitten down before us, as at the first. But the children of Israel said, Let us flee, and draw them from the city unto the highways. And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and put themselves in array at Baaltamar: and the liers in wait of Israel came forth out of their places, even out of the meadows of Gibeah. And there came against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was sore: but they knew not that evil was near them. And the LORD smote Benjamin before Israel: and the children of Israel destroyed of the Benjamites that day twenty and five thousand and an hundred men: all these drew the sword. So the children of Benjamin saw that they were smitten: for the men of Israel gave place to the Benjamites, because they trusted unto the liers in wait which they had set beside Gibeah. And the liers in wait hasted, and rushed upon Gibeah; and the liers in wait drew themselves along, and smote all the city with the edge of the sword. Now there was an appointed sign between the men of Israel and the liers in wait, that they should make a great flame with smoke rise up out of the city. And when the men of Israel retired in the battle, Benjamin began to smite and kill of the men of Israel about thirty persons: for they said, Surely they are smitten down before us, as in the first battle. But when the flame began to arise up out of the city with a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them, and, behold, the flame of the city ascended up to heaven. And when the men of Israel turned again, the men of Benjamin were amazed: for they saw that evil was come upon them.  Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel unto the way of the wilderness; but the battle overtook them; and them which came out of the cities they destroyed in the midst of them. Thus they inclosed the Benjamites round about, and chased them, and trode them down with ease over against Gibeah toward the sunrising. And there fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men; all these were men of valour. And they turned and fled toward the wilderness unto the rock of Rimmon: and they gleaned of them in the highways five thousand men; and pursued hard after them unto Gidom, and slew two thousand men of them. So that all which fell that day of Benjamin were twenty and five thousand men that drew the sword; all these were men of valour. But six hundred men turned and fled to the wilderness unto the rock Rimmon, and abode in the rock Rimmon four months. And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, as well the men of every city, as the beast, and all that came to hand: also they set on fire all the cities that they came to.”

Eventually, after further prayer and fasting the majority of Israel set out with a carefully planned battle strategy. They followed a similar plan to that used by Joshua at Ai and set and ambush then drew the Benjaminites away from Gibeah and defeated them soundly.