my burg

Bible reading for Aug 10.  Ruth 3-4. "And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, 'May he be blessed by the LORD, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!' Naomi also said to her, 'The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.'" (Ruth 2:20) RUTH'S PROPOSAL. Naomi and Ruth discover that Boaz is a close relative, also called a "kinsman-redeemer" [Heb., go'el ](2:20; 3:2, 12; 4:14; cf Deut 25:5-10). This kinsman had the responsibility to preserve not only the land but also the lineage of those relatives in need, in debt, or without living heirs. It was a family responsibility, but in this story it becomes a romance. Ruth "proposes" to Boaz, seeking his protection, and there is a tender connection between the two. This romance of Ruth might be better entitled, "the romance of redemption", for the strength of the redeemer provides security for the redeemed, where love can blossom. This is so pl...

Bible reading for weekend Aug 8.  Ruth 1-2. "But Ruth said, 'Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where 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. May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.'" (Ruth 1:16-17) A ROMANCE. What a beautiful story, full of nobility and kindness in unexpected places! The Moabite woman Ruth pledges faithfulness to her mother-in-law after Naomi had told her to go back to her gods in Moab. There are seven poetic statements Ruth makes, and the central phrase is, "your God [shall be] my God" (v 16; cf Exodus 6:7). Here a Moabite woman is declaring her faith in the one true God, the Lord, a faith that should have been shared also by the people of Israel at that time, but largely wasn't. The scene of the story is Bethlehem, birthplace of the futu...