Today's Readings and Stuff -- Saturday, 28 April 2018

G'day, as  the Aussies say it.

We are fast approaching the end of April, preparing for May.  We're now roughly SIX WEEKS into "spring".  Yet, the weathercasters tell us that tonight we may see a low temperature below freezing.! 😢

But we will get through.  I guess.
Meanwhile, we have a very cold rain falling here  in this "pocket", and the temperature, shortly after noon, is in the low 40's, and that is likely to be the so-called "high".  I hate the weather here.  Always have, always will.

I didn't really do a thorough job of checking the "body count" from last night's "festivities".  In all too many regions, and this is one, Friday and Saturday nights are normally to be marked by excess use of alcohol and "recreational pharmaceuticals".  Which, run in parallel with violence, including homicides, and illicit sexual encounters.  Which latter, in turn, often leads to future violence.  I've been in a position to witness all the above, on too many occasions, and in too many parts of the country and certainly in this area. 
I have been told that referring to this is somehow "intolerant", or "racist", or any of a number of other labels that get thrown around to be a counter-argument to these "inconvenient facts". But it is still true.  I've certainly been roundly accused of worse things.
But it's not a recipe for a successful area and culture.

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Our reading for the day is chapters 1 and 2 in the book of Ruth.
Ruth always strikes me as incredibly important, yet often overlooked.  I have been planning for several years to create a real commentary / study on this book.  Haven't gotten to it yet, there is still some stuff working its way through the mind, but it deserves attention.
I exchanged some messages a week or so ago, with a fellow that I know in central Alabama, who is a bi-vocational pastor in a predominantly black congregation in a solidly black small town.  A good guy, even if we don't always agree.  He was telling me that he uses the book of Ruth as the basis text for at least one study group in the church that is for women.  He describes it as a message of empowerment to those ladies.  That's not exactly my first take on it, but it's not wrong either.
The text means a lot to Dear Wife and to me:  verses 16 and 17 of chapter 1 were part of the text at our wedding.  That is not precisely how those words were originally used, but they also fit for a wedding. 
I do not believe in coincidences.  I believe fully that "the Lord works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform".  Nor do I believe that bad circumstances necessarily mean the Lord is exacting judgment.  Did Elimelech, Mahlon, and Chilion commit some grave sin, leading to their deaths?  I don't know, none of us do.  Was the famine part of a judgment against the people?  I don't know.  What I do see is that somehow, in some way, those people made the true God known to a Moabite, who would not have seen such a witness in any other way.  And I do know that the Lord knew all of this well before the events.  As a result, as we shall see, the world was changed.  Watch and see.

Ruth 1

1  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 Beth–lehem–judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.

2  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 Beth–lehem–judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there.

3  And Elimelech Naomi's husband died; and she was left, and her two sons.

4  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.

5  And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband.

6  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.

7  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.

8  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.

9  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.

10  And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people.

11  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?

12  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;

13  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.

14  And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother in law; but Ruth clave unto her.

15  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.

16  And Ruth said, Entreat 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:

17  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.

18  When she saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking unto her

19  So they two went until they came to Beth–lehem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Beth–lehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi?

20And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.

21  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?

22  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 Beth–lehem in the beginning of barley harvest.

 

 

Ruth 2

1  And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz.

2  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.

3  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.

4  And, behold, Boaz came from Beth–lehem, and said unto the reapers, The Lord be with you. And they answered him, The Lord bless thee.

5  Then said Boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers, Whose damsel is this?

6  And the servant that was set over the reapers answered and said, It is the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab:

7  And she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves: so she came, and hath continued even from the morning until now, that she tarried a little in the house.

8  Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens:

9  Let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after them: have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? and when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn.

10  Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?

11  And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the death of thine husband: and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore.

12  The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.

13  Then she said, Let me find favour in thy sight, my lord; for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine handmaidens.

14  And Boaz said unto her, At mealtime come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers: and he reached her parched corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left.

15  And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her not

16  And let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them, that she may glean them, and rebuke her not.

17  So she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned: and it was about an ephah of barley.

18  And she took it up, and went into the city: and her mother in law saw what she had gleaned: and she brought forth, and gave to her that she had reserved after she was sufficed.

19  And her mother in law said unto her, Where hast thou gleaned to day? and where wroughtest thou? blessed be he that did take knowledge of thee. And she shewed her mother in law with whom she had wrought, and said, The man's name with whom I wrought to day is Boaz.

20  And Naomi said unto her daughter in law, Blessed be he of the Lord, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen.

21  And Ruth the Moabitess said, He said unto me also, Thou shalt keep fast by my young men, until they have ended all my harvest.

22  And Naomi said unto Ruth her daughter in law, It is good, my daughter, that thou go out with his maidens, that they meet thee not in any other field.

23  So she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz to glean unto the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and dwelt with her mother in law.