Today's Readings and Stuff -- Sunday, 28 April 2019

A blessed and happy Lord's Day is wished to all who stop by. 

Wife is in bed, she wasn't up to the "dance recital" for Great-Niece.  We didn't really have the money for tickets anyway (this is also a fundraiser for the community center) so we stayed home.  Such is our life these days.  Niece will show us pictures of the Great Event, and that will have to do.

Not much else to say right now.
Some of what is going on around me and in my mind has me replaying in mind a long-time favorite song.  It is taken from another episode of the Bible where a most unlikely person, a woman at that, is placed in a unique circumstance, a dire one at that, that rescues the people.  Esther had no expectation of success, but she was willing to be obedient.  As we are, no matter what.  That slip of a girl, like Ruth, like others, changed the world in a most unexpected way.  As are we, by His direction and grace.  Yes, we are here For Such A Time As This.  See Esther 4:14.

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Today, a change.  The beginning of the book of Ruth.  As some know, this is one of my favorite books in all the Old Testament, and indeed all the Bible.  Why?  Well, among other things, this is an account of someone who the Lord sought out, a most unlikely person in a foreign heathen land, brought by a cascade of "coincidences" into the knowledge of the Lord.  She was someone who, by all the Jewish standards, was one of "those" people.  But she was brought into the fold anyway.  A lot of things were going on here, including tough times for some possibly "good" people.  Famine.  Sickness.  Poverty.  Death.  Unhappiness.  All that.  I don't know all of the "why" stuff, probably never will.  But Ruth met an Israelite in her home town, married him.  And then he died.  As did his brother, and his father.  Now she was left with an aging mother-in-law, and no resources.  But she took care of that mother-in-law, not always an easy task. And, as we will see, she is faithful throughout.  And meets another man.  We will see that other man, Boaz.  He also has a background.  Look at who his grandmother was.  Rahab, the harlot from Jericho who protected the spies, survived the battle that destroyed Jericho, and went on to a new life.  Had Boaz not had that awareness, I don't know if he would have been receptive to Ruth.  And out of their eventual union we see, several generations later, King David, and eventually to Joseph and Jesus.  Yes, the Lord does work in mysterious ways.
By the way, I truly love verses 16 and 17 in chapter 1 here.  They were part of the wedding ceremony for Wife and I, and I believe that they fit.

Ruth 1

1Now 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.

2And 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.

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

4And 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.

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

6Then 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.

7Wherefore 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.

8And 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.

9The 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.

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

11And 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?

12Turn 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;

13Would 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.

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

15And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law.

16And 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:

17Where 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.

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

19So 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.

21I 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?

22So 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

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

2And 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.

3And 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.

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

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

6And 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:

7And 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.

8Then 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:

9Let 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.

10Then 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?

11And 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.

12The 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.

13Then 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.

14And 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.

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

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

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

18And 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.

19And 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.

20And 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.

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

22And 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.

23So 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.