May 5th readings

~ Click on this link for today's readings ~
Judges 21:1-Ruth 1:22 ~ John 4:4-42
Psalm 105:1-15 ~ Proverbs 14:25

Old Testament - Today we finish the book of Judges!  What a powerful and telling verse the book closes with in chapter 21 verse 25 - "In those days Israel had no king, so the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes."  Unfortunately, so true then.  And perhaps so true for us today if we don't have a king.  Fortunately, we do have the opportunity to have a king - through faith in Jesus.  Otherwise, without Jesus as our king, we will surely do whatever seems right in our own eyes.  I know I did for many years...  sad years they were. 

An image is below for verse 23 - "So the men of Benjamin did as they were told. They kidnapped the women who took part in the celebration and carried them off to the land of their own inheritance. Then they rebuilt their towns and lived in them."

Today we are starting up – and tomorrow finishing - the wonderful book of Ruth and then moving into 1 Samuel. The book of Ruth is a wonderful look at faithful love in human relationships, and in a family in particular. I like how Zondervan describes this book – “The book of Ruth is a Hebrew short story, told with consummate skill. Among historical narratives in Scripture it is unexcelled in its compactness, vividness, warmth, beauty, and dramatic effectiveness – an exquisitely wrought jewel of Hebrew narrative art.” I hope you are ready for this jewel!

Ruth
Author: Unknown
Date: During the time of the Judges
Content: The book of Ruth portrays another side to the chaotic time of the judges. In it there is a welcome relief from the bloodshed and mayhem that seemed to engulf the land because of Israel’s sin. It is the story of Ruth, who decided to stay with her mother-in-law, Naomi, after tragedy struck that unfortunate woman. God returned good to Ruth in the form of a husband (Boaz) and a child, and also to Naomi in the form of grandchildren. From this family, eventually, came David the king.
Theme: The central point of this book is that even in times of crisis and despair, life may be lived according to the precepts of God and that God abundantly blesses those who do so live. The fundamental values of love, faith, trust, and goodness are greater than the hatred and violence of men, and continue from generation to generation as a light to guide those who look for the true meaning of life. (Above commentary is from Tyndale Publishers “The One Year Bible Companion” pp. 4-5)

More commentary on Ruth is at these 3 links –
http://bible.org/page.asp?page_id=888
http://bible.org/page.asp?page_id=952 
http://bible.org/page.asp?page_id=1292

Today in Ruth chapter 1 verses 16 & 17 we will read these beautiful words of Ruth to her mother-in-law Naomi, whose husband & two sons had died - “Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me." How’s that for love & commitment! Can you imagine saying these words to someone in your life today? I pray that each of us have this type of love & commitment for our families – or that we will have this in the future with our families. It seems like nowadays families are getting more and more distanced from one another – separated sometimes by geography and I think oftentimes by individualism or other selfish reasons. Perhaps each of us can learn something from Ruth and her dedication to her mother-in-law Naomi about what family love & commitment could and should really look like?

New Testament - Wow.  The Jacob's Well story in John chapter 4 today is beautiful on so many levels.  I definitely recommend you check out Bible.org's commentary on this chapter at this link if you aren't familiar with all of the meanings of this story.  I love Jesus's words in verse 34 - "My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work."  If this is true for Jesus - think this might be true for us too?  Do you believe that our nourishment comes from doing the will of God?

Psalms - Psalm 105 verse 4 stood out to me today - "Search for the LORD and for his strength, and keep on searching." I like that - search.  If you search for God, he will indeed be found.  Have you ever searched for God?  And for his strength?  Are you maybe searching now?  Do you believe he will be found?

Verses 8 & 9 remind us of this character of God - "He always stands by his covenant-- the commitment he made to a thousand generations. This is the covenant he made with Abraham and the oath he swore to Isaac." The covenant continues today through the new covenant (testament) brought to us through Jesus.

Proverbs - Proverbs 14 verse 25 is an excellent reminder to always tell the truth - particularly when witnessing for someone else.

What verses or insights jumped out for you in today's readings?  Please post up in the Comments section below!

Grace,
Mike

Comments

[Emberglow]

UNREAD BIBLE BOOKS.

Lately, I saw the great merit of this Bible Reading Blog. Despite, my extensive Bible readings there are some books in the OT that I rarely even looked at. We often like to read the bits of Bible WE THINK are inspiring or useful. Honestly, One reason I omitted books like Judges is that they can really hit you as very dark and violent. They have the power to make new believers or non believers wince!

I'm sure there would be people reading this blog who will get to cover books they skipped or could not read, in their own personal readings. And it is a very good thing.

Book of Judges has to be one I rarely read! But through this blog I got wonderful exposition of this book. I truly thank Mike for taking the time, care and effort for maintaining this blog. And I pray that God will give us all life changing insights into His Word and Will.

[Anka]

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom!The Israelities were so sorry that a tribe was missing due to their zeal that they went out and wiped out another one.What did the people of Jabesh Gilead do?They didn't come to tha assembly.Who gave them the authority to judge,guess we should think twice before judging anyone in church for not being as "spiritual"as we think.I can't help but wonder if the people of Jabesh Gilead went out with the rest of Israel to fight the tribe of Benjamin and this was payback time masked as "holy anger".Then the idea of going to kidnap virgins that came to Shiloh for the anual festival to worship the Lord?!True Israel had no king and it's such an irony to go to worship God when you have a broken/no relationship with him.
Naomi/Mara:didn't see God's blessing standing right in front of her.Not many children would stand by their parents when the parents truly need them how much more a mother in law.Bitterness is poison.Naomi was too busy counting her losses to count her blessings.I think I need to stop and really bless God for what he's done in my life.
God bless you all.

[Roslyn]

Today is a special day of thanks for me. I thank God for the many wonderful and beautiful blessings in my life. Every moment of my life is a moment of praise and thanksgiving---for all my families, natural, adoptive, in-law families, as well as my family of friends ...

Yes, I do I love repeating Ruth's inspiring words of
commitment: "Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God..." Indeed, it is difficult to be physically close to all the people we love especially in this world of mobility but LOVE never fades with distance. We can always continue to love in spirit just as true believers worship God in spirit!

[Vance Brown]

The book of Ruth – Beautifully illustrates Kinsman-redeemer

Kinsman-redeemer is a wonderful concept that is so beautifully fulfilled in the life and ministry of the Perfect Man, our Elder Brother, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Note this information from the wonderful Messianic Jewish website, hebrew4christians.com/Grammar/Unit_One/Aleph-Bet/Gimmel/gimmel.html

“The …( go’el ) [or redeemer] is the name for the kinsman Redeemer…YHVH (Yahweh) Himself is identified as the ultimate Redeemer of Israel and mankind (Psalm 19:14)…”

“Yeshua the Mashiach (Messiah) is identified as the Redeemer of mankind (John 4:41). He is the One who, being born into the world, runs forth bearing charity for the poor ones who stand “behind the door”. He is our nourishment and our great Benefit. But for those who spurn His love, He represents judgment and recompense (i.e., the Avenger of blood…)”

“…Yeshua has been lifted up and exalted before the world as the One who has conquered sin and death on our behalf. Benefit indeed!”

NOTE:
Note how the Lord Jesus is our near Kinsman:
1. Fully God and fully man
(John 10 – “I and the Father are one”; John 5 – “the Son of Man”)
2. Perfect Man – Perfect because He was without sin (Hebrews 2, 4, and 5)
1 Timothy 2 (NKJV)
5
For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,
3. Our Brother –
Hebrews 2 (NKJV)
14
Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,

For Jesus to truly fulfill the role of “Elder Brother” for the family of the redeemed, He had to take on flesh and blood. He had to enter into the prison to free the captives.

4. Jesus is the Perfect Representative as man. Only as man could He redeem man from the sin and deceptions of the enemy. Man was created to represent God’s image on earth. As such, man was created to rule righteously and to reflect God’s excellence. Satan knew that. When he tempted man and when man sinned, Adam (mankind) gave up his right to be delegated ruler by placing himself under the authority of the devil and sin.

I John 5 (NKJV)
19
We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.

5. Jesus, being very glad and not ashamed to be our brother, was able to give us His victory of sin, flesh, world, and the devil. When we repent and trust in Jesus, His victory over sin is given to us.

And get this – this is one of the most amazing facts about Jesus: As our kinsman-redeemer, Jesus loves us and BY GRACE shared with us HIS VERY OWN INHERITANCE.

This is a powerful picture of spiritual reality, pictured in Luke 15. The elder brother is the one who receives the inheritance from the father, and then the others in the family receive their inheritance from him.

Note this from Romans 8 (Amplified), one of the most exciting verses in the Bible:
17
And if we are [His] children, then we are [His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His inheritance with Him]; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory.

It not it amazing that Jesus the Son, in HIS GRACE, shared His own inheritance with us?

WOW!

[Ms. Jan]

My prayer for Mike for doing the One Year Bible Blog is this: Those that refresh others will themselves be refreshed...what a wonderful reward here & there!!! Thank you again Mike...you will have many jewels in your crown.

jano

[Peggy Williams]

Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. These words really touched my heart today. This verse from Ruth, my daughter chose to be read when she got married. Yes, this is really is a sign of commintment. I thank God that God is in both of their lives. Have a blessed day. Peggy

[Ramona]

Judges 21:1-Ruth 1:22

Judges 21

And the Israelites came to the house of God [Bethel] and sat there until evening before God and lifted up their voices and wept bitterly. [Judg. 20:27.] And they said, O Lord, the God of Israel, why has this come to pass in Israel, that there should be today one tribe lacking in Israel? (Judges 21:2-3 AMP)

Ya think the folks were really interested in what God had to say? I do it, we do it, the church does it—we make decisions based on what seems right to us, what looks right in our own eye failing to seek God’s voice, and if He does speak, we ignore Him. Yet, when faced with the consequences and fruit of our “nutty” behavior, we ask God why? Ain’t nothing new under the sun, but everything is fresh and renewed under the Son.

Ruth

I like what Anka stated about Naomi, her bitterness blinded her to the blessing God placed right in her household. Like many women today who have faithfully and dutifully followed there husband into a place where they should have never been, Naomi followed but became bitter. She was dutiful but angry and hurt because her husband took her from the House of Bread, during the time of famine, into a land and a people they should have shunned.

Looking at the names of the men pre-return from Moab, we probably get a hint of there character, and it wasn’t pretty.

Elimelech (Naomi’s Husband)= “my God is king” Now, here was a man that definitely didn’t live up to his name because he left the God who was his king and went to a land where Chemosh was the god of the land.

Mahlon (One of the husbands to Ruth or Orpah) = “sick” I picture a man who was always whining and miserable.

Chilion = “pining”

What did Ruth see in the God that Naomi served in spite of her mother-in-laws bitterness? Whatever it was, she recognized that she had everything to gain and nothing to loose if she failed to go back to her father’s house.

In Ruth’s behavior I see what it truly means to accept Jesus Christ: giving up everything you grew up with, everything you know and attaching yourself to the one true God. Ruth is an Old Testament example of a New Testament work, a changed mind (Romans 12:2) She forsook family, traditions, religion, everything that was familiar to her to follow after Israel’s God. Wow! She did what the Rich Young ruler would not. Have I given up ALL to follow Jesus, or am I hanging out with “Sick, Pining, and My God is king who had forgotten who the King really is?

Grace and peace,
Ramona

[John]

John 4

Bob cites Josephus saying the relationship between Jews and Samaritans may not have been THAT bad. I disagree. The Samaritans:

Were inter-racial (no longer pure from the tribes), rejected the Jews and their teachings, during persecution had rededicated their temple at one time under duress to Zeus , had been persecuted and killed over temple dispute settled in Egypt, were open to unclean practices (hence - you did not eat off a plate of a Samaritan), and in Jesus' time had spread Human bones throughout Temple during a passover celebration - thus desecrating the temple.

So, while Jews may have taken the short cut through Samaria as Josephus indicates - they probably avoided the towns and people of the area for reasons above.

The Samaritans believed in the same God, thought their Temple was the Holy place of worship, and thought the Messiah would come as a "TEACHER". Not a "KING" as the Jews believed.

http://www.answers.com/topic/samaritan

http://virtualreligion.net/iho/samaria.html

And Jesus WENT to them. This was to Glorify God as the message would go to the World as early John indicates - even the Samaritans. The Jewish Nation would reject Christ - here the Samaritans would embrace Jesus.

Notice the process of revelation for the Woman. She starts off calling Jesus - A Jew - then Sir - then prophet - and lastly the Christ (albeit in the form of a question).

This is the second time in Gospel of John that Christ openly reveals himself. The first time is to Nathaniel. I would suggest they both had hearts that were without guile - they were open to receiving Christ. Although the woman's heart seemd to undergo a progression indicated by the way she addressed Jesus. It is also the first use in John of "ego eimi" or "I AM" which in the original Greek text is "Egw eimi" and not split up as the translation indicates.

[John]

A Great Visual

I think a lot of commentators miss this and the NIV totally leaves it out.

John 4:35
"Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest." NAS

In the Greek the word "white" - Gk. "leukos" - is in the text.

Our Lord gave a lot of agrarian exmaples to a nation that had a lot of farmers. I assume when the grain was ripe and the sun hit it the field had a bright white kind of topping. I think there was another visual image being represented here.

In those times only the wealthy could afford the colored (dyed) robes of the time. Most common people wore undyed white outer garments. While Jesus was talking to disciples - the woman had been spreading the word in town.

I can just imagine the townspeople wearing white - a few hundred? - cutting across the fields to hurry and see (possibly) "the Messiah". So the disciples would look up when Jesus recited verse 35 and see all this white.

Before now they had benefited from John the Baptist's prepatory work, and had been baptizing people. Here,Jesus had already planted the seed with the woman, and now they were going to harvest.

And they did -

"We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world."