"THE STORY OF RUTH & REDEMPTION"

BIBLE STUDY

BY: PASTOR JANICE L. WILLIAMS

A STORY OF:

• FAITH
• LOYALTY
• LOVE & REDEMPTION

 JAMES 2:18 NLT

Now someone may argue, "Some people have faith; others have good deeds."  I say, "I can't see your faith if you don't have deeds, but I will show you my faith through my good  deeds."

BIBLE STUDY FOR  WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27th, thru MAY 4th-11th, 2011

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL MOMS SUNDAY, MAY 8th, 2011!!!

Ruth, the Moabitess Lived during the rule of the judges.  She was the wife of Boaz, part of Jesus’ genealogy. 

 RUTH 3:11 NKJV

"And now my daughter, do not fear, I will do for you all that you request, for all the people of my town know that you are a virtuous woman.    

 PROVERBS 31:10-12 NKJV * 10/WHO CAN FIND A VIRTUOUS WIFE {WOMAN KJV}?  FOR HER WORTH IS FAR ABOVE RUBIES.  11/THE HEART OF HER HUSBAND SAFELY TRUSTS HER; SO HE WILL HAVE NO LACK OF GAIN.  12/SHE DOES HIM GOOD AND NOT EVIL ALL THE DAYS OF HER LIFE.  

 THE FOLLOWING BIBLE TRANSLATIONS WERE USED FOR THIS BIBLE STUDY:  

• KJV = KING JAMES VERSION                      
• NLT = NEW LIVING TRANSLATIONS       
• NKJV = NEW KING JAMES VERSION

1 Peter 4:8 NKJV *And above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins.

In Old Testament accounts (e.g., Genesis 19:30-38 KJV), the Moabites belonged to the same ethnic stock as the Israelites. Their ancestral founder was Moab, a son of Lot, who was a nephew of the Israelite patriarch Abraham. The god-protector of their nation was Chemosh[a false god], "Yahweh" ["Jehovah" in the english language] was the national God of the Israelites. The Moabites were in conflict with the Israelites from the 13th century. They are noted several times in the Old Testament. King Saul of Israel in the 11th century fought against the Moabites (1 Samuel 14:47 KJV), who later granted asylum to the family of the young rebel and future king David (1 Samuel 22:34 KJV). Later, David fought against the Moabites and forced them to pay heavy tribute (2 Samuel 8:2 KJV). Davids great-grandmother, Ruth-wife of Boaz, was a Moabite (Ruth 4:17-22 KJV), and his son Solomon, as a sign of his authority, obtained Moabite princesses for his harem (1 Kings 11:18 KJV) and erected near Jerusalem a shrine dedicated to Chemosh, the god of the moabite people.

King Omri of Israel (reigned c. 884c. 872 bc), who is mentioned in 1 Kings 16:23-28 KJV, reconquered Moabite lands that had been lost since Solomons death in 922 bc, when Israel split into two kingdoms. Omris reconquest is known from the Moabite Stone, a stela that the Moabite king Mesha erected about 40 years later in the city of Dibon (modern Dhiban, Jordan). This black basalt stone, was discovered at Dhiban in 1868 and is now in the Louvre Museum in Paris. The stones text of 34 lines, written in a Canaanite alphabet similar to contemporary Hebrew, is the only written document of any length that survives from Moab and the only royal stela known from Israels neighbours. In its inscription, Mesha (fl. c. 870 bc) tells of King Omris reconquest of Moab and ascribes the renewed Israelite domination over Moab to the anger of Chemosh. Mesha then describes his own successful rebellion against Israel, which probably occurred during the reign of Omri's successor Ahab.

The following pictures and information about them are from the Wikipedia, free encyclopedia

Depiction of Jehu King of Israel [Jehu of the House of Omri] giving tribute to King Shalmaneser III of Assyria, on the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III from Nimrud (circa 827 BC) now in the British Museum (London). It is the most complete Assyrian obelisk yet discovered, and is historically significant because it displays the earliest ancient depiction of an Israelite.

Moab as well as Israel had become a tributary of Assyria by the late 8th century bc

Tiglath Pileser III pictured below: stela cut from the walls of his palace (now in the British Museum, London): Generally considered the founder of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
Known as Pul in the Bible (2 Kings 15:19-20 KJV; 1 Chronicles 5:26 KJV; 2 Chronicles 28:20 KJV), Tiglath Pileser III brought Israel and many other nations into vassalage between 745-732 B.C. It was to him that Ahaz, King of Judah, went for help in the threat of the Syrian-Israelite alliance (1 Kings 16) despite Isaiah's plea for Ahaz to place his trust in God (Isaiah 7:3-8). To secure his aid, Ahaz agreed to become a vassal state and pay him tribute.

Moab was conquered by the Babylonians in 582 bc, upon which the Moabites disappeared from history. Their territory was resettled by the Nabataeans in the 4th-3rd century bc.

The Moabite language differed only dialectally from Hebrew, and Moabite religion and culture were very closely related to those of the Israelites. Nevertheless, Moabites were excluded from the congregation of the LORD [Yahweh in Hebrew,or Jehovah in English] for 10 generations (Deuteronomy 23:3-6 KJV), where the name Moab became a typical denomination for the enemies of God (Isaiah 25:10 KJV).

• To get even more understanding of Ruth the Moabitess [Ruth 2:2 KJV] & the commitement she made to follow her Israelite mother-in-law Naomi [Ruth 1:14 thru 18], & to make the God of Israel, Yahweh [or Jehovah in english], her God, let's read about the "god of the Moabite people" called Chemosh, that Ruth would have turned away from following, to follow Jehovah. Let's also realize the constant antagonism over the centuries between the Israelites and Moabites that the great love in Ruth overshadowed in her decision to stay true to her deceased husband's Mother, along with their family traditions, but most of all to their God, Jehovah.

• The national god of the Moabites. He became angry with his people and permitted them to become the vassals of Israel; his anger passed, he commanded Mesha to fight against Israel, and Moabitish independence was reestablished (Moabite Stone, lines 5, 9, 14 et seq.). A king in the days of Sennacherib was called "Chemoshnadab" ("K. B." ii. 90 et seq.; see Jehonadab). Chemosh was a god associated with the Semitic mother-goddess Ashtar, whose name he bears (Moabite Stone, line 17; compare Barton, "Semitic Origins," iv.). Peake wrongly holds that Ashtar-Chemosh was a deity distinct from Chemosh, while Moore and Bthgen ("Beitrge zur Semitischen Religionsgeschichte," p. 14) regard "Ashtar" in this name as equivalent to "Astarte," who they believe was worshipped in the temple of Chemosh. "Ashtar" is more probably masculine here, as in South Arabia, and another name for Chemosh, the compound "Ashtar-Chemosh" being formed like "Yhwh-Elohim" or "Yhwh-Sebaoth." [please review Weekly Bible Study #24 "Names of God"]Whatever differences of conception may have attached to the god at different shrines, there is no adequate reason for doubting the substantial identity of the gods to whom these various names were applied. Hosea 9:10 KJV, is proof that at some period (according to Wellhausen, at the time of the prophet himself) the impure cult of the Semitic goddess was practised at Baal-peor (compare Wellhausen, "Kleine Prophetell"; Nowack's Commentary; and G. A. Smith, "Twelve Prophets," ad loc.). Chemosh, therefore, was in general a deity of the same nature as Baal. On critical occasions a human sacrifice was considered necessary to secure his favor (compare II Kings3:26, 27 KJV), and when deliverance came, a sanctuary might be built to him (Moabite Stone, line 3). An ancient poem, twice quoted in the Old Testament (Numbers21:27-30 KJV; Jeremiah 48:45, 46 KJV), regards the Moabites as the children of Chemosh, and also calls them "the people of Chemosh".

The name of the father of Mesba, Chemosh-melek ("Chemosh is Malik" or "Chemosh is king"; compare Moabite Stone, line 1), indicates the possibility that Chemosh and Malik (or Moloch) were one and the same deity. Judges11:24 KJV has been thought by some to be a proof of this, since it speaks of Chemosh as the god of the Ammonites, while Moloch is elsewhere their god (compare I Kings11:7, 33 KJV). Several critics regard the statement in Judges as a mistake; but such an error was not unnatural since both Chemosh and Moloch were developed in different environments, from the same primitive divinity, and possessed many of the same epithets.

Solomon is said to have built a sanctuary to Chemosh on the Mount of Olives (I Kings11:7, 33 KJV), which was maintained till the reform of Josiah (II Kings 23:13-25 KJV). This movement by Solomon was no doubt to some extent a political one, but it made the worship of Chemosh [A god that required murderous human sacrifices over & over again to supposedly enlist his aid] a part of the religious life of Israel for nearly 400 years.[ I KINGS 11:9-11 KJV * 9/AND THE LORD WAS ANGRY WITH SOLOMON, BECAUSE HIS HEART WAS TURNED FROM THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL, WHICH HAD APPEARED UNTO HIM TWICE, 10/AND HAD COMMANDED HIM CONCERNING THIS THING, THAT HE SHOULD NOT GO AFTER OTHER GODS: BUT HE KEPT NOT THAT WHICH THE LORD COMMANDED. 11/WHEREFORE THE LORD SAID UNTO SOLOMON, FOREASMUCH AS THIS IS DONE OF THEE, AND THOU HAST NOT KEPT MY COVENANT AND MY STATUTES, WHICH I HAVE COMMANDED THEE, I WILL SURELY REND THE KINGDOM FROM THEE, AND WILL GIVE IT TO THY SERVANT.]

However, according to I Kings 11:7 KJV, evidence is given that Chemosh and Moloch were two different gods or perhaps two manifestations of the same god, at least to the peoples who worshiped them. Solomon had "high places" built for both gods at the same time and in the same location, "on the mountain which is East of Jerusalem." Both Chemosh and Molech may have had the same origins but if so, by Solomon's time they had been denominated into differing objects for different peoples, Chemosh for the Moabites and Moloch for the Ammonites. According to Genesis 19:30-38 KJV, both the Moabites and the Ammonites were descended from the two sons of Lot (themselves half-brothers by his two daughters), Moab and Ben-ammi, which would corroborate the notion that they share a common origin.

According to the biblical account, Genesis 19:37-38KJV, both Ammon and Moab were born of an incestuous relationship between Lot and his two daughters in the aftermath of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the Bible refers to both the Ammonites and Moabites as the "children of Lot". Throughout the Bible, the Ammonites and Israelites are portrayed as mutual antagonists. During the Exodus, the Israelites were prohibited by the Ammonites from passing through their lands. In the Book of Judges, the Ammonites work with Eglon, king of the Moabites against Israel. Attacks by the Ammonites on Israelite communities east of the Jordan were the impetus behind the unification of the tribes under Saul. According to both 1Kings 14:21-31KJV and 2nd Chronicles 12:13KJV, Naamah was an Ammonite. She was the only wife of King Solomon to be mentioned by name in the Tanakh as having borne a child. She was the mother of Solomon's successor, Rehoboam. The Ammonites presented a serious problem to the Pharisees because many marriages with Ammonite (and Moabite) wives had taken place in the days of Nehemiah. The men had married women of the various nations without conversion, which made the children not Jewish. The legitimacy of David's claim to royalty was disputed on account of his descent from Ruth, the Moabite.

some definitions for this Bible Study

1. antagonism *1. hostility: hostility or hatred causing opposition and ill will 2. opposition: opposition between forces or principles

2. Tanakh/Tanach * the sacred book of Judaism consisting of the Torah [five books of Moses/in the Christian bible also the first five books of the Old Testament], Prophets, and Hagiographa
   

3. glean * agriculture gather after harvest: to go over a field or area that has just been harvested and gather by hand any usable parts of the crop that remain

4. levirate*system of remarrying within a family: the practice or requirement of marriage of a widow to the brother of her deceased husband. This custom was practiced in ancient Jewish society and is common in parts of Africa today.

• Levirate marriage in Judaism - from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia * Main article: Yibbum

  A levirate marriage (Hebrew: yibbum) is mandated by Deuteronomy 25:5-6KJV of the Hebrew Bible and obliges a brother to marry the widow of his childless deceased brother, with the firstborn child being treated as that of the deceased brother, (see also Genesis 38:8KJV) which renders the child the heir of the deceased brother and not the genetic father. There is another provision known as halizah (Deuteronomy 25:9-10KJV), which explains that if a man refuses to carry out this 'duty' the woman must spit in his face, take one of his shoes, and the others in the town must always call him 'the one without a shoe'. While this provision implies that a brother may opt out of Levirate marriage, there is no provision in the Books of Moses for the widow to do so.

  Later authorities in Jewish law (Talmudic period) strongly discouraged yibbum in favor of haliza. Because there is a general prohibition on a man marrying his brother's wife, (Leviticus 18:16KJV) anytime that a yibbum is not required (for example, if the deceased had a child) it is forbidden.

THE STORY OF RUTH

During the time of the Judges when there was a famine, an Israelite family from Bethlehemjudah Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and their sons Mahlon and Chilione migrate to the nearby country of Moab.

{Note: The Israel Stela also known as the Merneptah Stele is a slab of rock which was found in 1896 at Thebes, Egypt. The monument was found where it had once stood in ancient Egypt, at the temple that honored Pharaoh Merneptah. Some refer to the stone as the "Victory Stele" because it records the military campaigns and victories of Pharaoh Merneptah, the son of the mighty Ramesses II who reigned in Egypt around 1215 BC., during the time of the Judges in Israel. The writing on the stele is in hieroglyphs and very clearly mentions the name of Israel on it. Israel was considered by the Pharaoh of Egypt important enough to mention as a significant victory. The Hebrews had conquered the land of Canaan around 1400 B.C. The period of the Judges was a dark time in Israel's history because they had continually forsaken the Lord and served other gods, and there was continual turmoil in the land of Israel.

Judges 10:6 - And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the LORD, and served not him.

The discovery of the Israel Stela is very important in the study of Biblical Archaeology. It is the oldest evidence for the existence of Israel in the land of Canaan in ancient times outside of the Bible. The text on the stone reads:

"Canaan is plundered with every evil way. Ashkelon is conquered and brought away captive, Gezer seized, Yanoam made nonexistent; Israel is wasted, bare of seed." - Merneptah Stele}

The phrase "wasted, bare of seed" is formulaic, and often used of defeated nations. It implies that the store of grain of the nation in question has been destroyed, which would result in a famine the following year, incapacitating them as a military threat to Egypt.

The Merneptah Stele, dated to about 1206 B.C.E. and now housed at the Cairo Museum, offers the earliest historical evidence of a people called Israel

THE FOLLOWING ARE HISTORICAL PICTURES OF HOW THE EGYPTIANS, HEBREWS, MOABITES AND OTHERS, WOULD HAVE LOOKED IN 1215 BC., DURING THE TIME OF THE JUDGES [when Ruth lived] AND MUCH EARLIER.

Artist: Anonymous Egyptian tomb artist(s) Title: Sennedjem and Ti harvesting papyrus Date: Ramesside Period (13th to 11th centuries BC) Current location: Deir el-Medina, tomb of Sennutem Notes: Peasant couple harvesting papyrus-(Sennedjem and wife Ti). "In the cemetery of Deir el-Medina, this wall painting is in the vaulted tomb chamber of Sennutem, a necropolis officer of the early Ramessid period. [From: Wikipedia- free encyclopedia-file Egyptian harvest.]

The picture below is said to be the mural of Biblical Abrahams family and Hagar [the Egyptian birth mother of Ishamael, Abraham's first son; Genesis 16:3, 4, 15, 16]. It is located in Beni Hasan in Egypt and is dated circa 1890 B.C.

Semitic tribe asks permission to enter Egypt

Mural from the tomb of Khnumhotep II (c. 1890 BC) at Beni Hasan, Egypt,
depicting a group of visiting nomadic traders from Syria-Palestine/Canaan. These travelers are widely believed to have been Hebrews. END OF NOTE}

THE STORY OF RUTH continued

Elimelech dies, and the sons marry two Moabite women: Mahlon marries Ruth and Chilion marries Orpah.

The two sons of Naomi then die themselves. Naomi decides to return to Bethlehem. She tells her daughters-in-law to return to their own mothers, and remarry. Orpah reluctantly leaves; however, Ruth says, "Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. The LORD do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me." (Ruth 1:1617 NKJV)

The two women return to Bethlehem. It is the time of the barley harvest, and in order to support her mother-in-law and herself, Ruth goes to the fields to glean. The field she goes to belongs to a man named Boaz, who is kind to her because he has heard of her loyalty to her mother-in-law. Ruth tells her mother-in-law of Boaz's kindness, and she gleans in his field through the remainder of the harvest season.

Boaz is a close relative of Naomi's husband's family. He is therefore obliged by the Levirate law to marry Mahlon's widow, Ruth, in order to carry on his family line. Naomi sends Ruth to the threshing floor at night and tells her to "uncover the feet" of the sleeping Boaz. Ruth does so; Boaz awakes and asks,"Who are you?" Ruth identifies herself, then asks Boaz to spread his cloak over her. The phrase "spread your cloak" was a woman's way of asking for marriage. For a man to spread his cloak over a woman showed acquisition of that woman. Boaz states he is willing to "redeem" Ruth by way of marriage, but informs Ruth that there is another male relative who has the first right of redemption.

The next morning, Boaz discusses the issue with the other male relative, before the town elders. The other male relative is unwilling to jeopardize the inheritance of his own estate by marrying Ruth, and so relinquishes his right of redemption, thus allowing Boaz to marry Ruth. They transfer the property and redeem it by the nearer kinsman taking off his sandal and handing it over to Boaz. (Ruth 4:7-17 KJV)

Boaz and Ruth get married and have a son named Obed (who by Levirate customs is also considered a son or heir to Elimelech (and thus Naomi). In the genealogy which concludes the story, it is pointed out that Obed is the descendant of Perez the son of Judah, and the grandfather of David.

The marriage of Boaz and Ruth was of a type known as a Levirate marriage. Since there is no heir to inherit Elimelech's land, levirate custom required a close relative (usually a brother-in-law) to marry the widow of the deceased in order to continue his family line (Deuteronomy 25:510). The case in the book of Ruth is not the simplest type of Levirate marriage (Ruth is not Elimelech's widow and Boaz is not his brother); therefore, some scholars refer to Boazs duty as "Levirate-like" or as a "kinsman-marriage."

Moreover, it seems that an understanding of this kind of redemption among the Israelites included both that of people and of land. In Israel land had to stay in the family. The family could mortgage the land to ward off poverty; and the law of Leviticus 25:25 KJV required a kinsman to purchase it back into the family. The kinsman, who Boaz meets at the city gate, first says he will purchase the land, but, upon hearing he must also take Ruth as his wife, withdraws his offer. His decision was primarily a financial decision since a child born to Ruth through the union would inherit Elimelech's land, and he would not be reimbursed for the money he paid Naomi. Boaz becomes Ruth and Naomi's "kinsman-redeemer."

The Israelites' understanding of redemption is woven into their understanding and appreciation of the nature of the "Almighty One". God stands by the oppressed and needy. Through his servants, he extends his love, mercy, and liberating hope. God has a deep concern for the welfare of his people, materially, emotionally and spiritually. The redemption theme extends beyond this biblical book through the genealogy. First, in Ruth 4:13, God made her conceive. Second, through the genealogy it is shown that the son born to Naomi is more than just a gift from God to continue her lineage. The history of God's rule through the David line connects the book's theme into the Bible's main theme of redemptive history.

The theme of loving kindness and loyalty, is woven throughout Ruth, beginning at 1:8 with Naomi blessing her two daughters-in-law as she urges them to return to their Moabite families. She says, "May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me." Both Ruth and Boaz demonstrate love and loyalty to their family members throughout the story. These are not acts of kindness with an expectation of measure for measure. Rather, they are acts of love and loyalty that go beyond measure and demonstrate that a person can go beyond the minimum expectations of the law and choose the unexpected. However, the importance of the law is evident within the Book of Ruth, and the story reflects a need to stay within legal boundaries. Boaz, in going beyond measure in acquiring the property (demonstrating loving kindness & loyalty), redeems not only the land but both Naomi and Ruth as well. The two widows now have a secure and protected future.

REDEMPTION STORY CONTINUED:

NEW TESTAMENT

REDEEMPTION THROUGH JESUS

PSALMS 107:2KJV * LET THE REDEEMED OF THE LORD SAY SO, WHOM HE HATH REDEEMED FROM THE HAND OF THE ENEMY;

 I PETER 1:18, 19 KJV * 18/FOR AS MUCH AS YE KNOW THAT YE WERE NOT REDEEMED WITH CORRUPTIBLE THINGS, AS SILVER AND GOLD, FROM YOUR VAIN CONVERSATION RECEIVED BY TRADITION FROM YOUR FATHERS; 19/BUT WITH THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST, AS OF A LAMB WITHOUT BLEMISH AND WITHOUT SPOT:

REVELATION 5:9,10 KJV* 9/ AND THEY SUNG A NEW SONG, SAYING, THOU ART WORTHY TO TAKE THE BOOK, AND TO OPEN THE SEALS THEREOF: FOR THOU [JESUS] WAST SLAIN, AND HAST REDEEMED US TO GOD BY THY BLOOD [BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS] OUT OF EVERY KINDRED, AND TONGUE, AND PEOPLE, AND NATION; 10/ AND HAST MADE US UNTO OUR GOD KINGS AND PRIESTS; AND WE SHALL REIGN ON THE EARTH.

REVIEW WEEKLY BIBLE STUDY #6 "BLOOD OF JESUS" & #12 "I AM ROYALTY".

BE BLESSED!!!