The Book of Judges is a cyclical book. It tells the same story in seemingly infinite variation over and over and over. The people of God did evil in the sight of the Lord, therefore he handed them over to their enemies, then they cried out to God, and He sent a deliver.
We recognize several of these famous delivers: Gideon, Samson, Deborah. These stories are where we get the phrases "settingout a fleece" and "beating a pitcher in the dark" and where the infamous Delilah is told of.
It is somewhere during this time that the story of Ruth unfolds. An Israelite family moved to the land of Moab during a famine and returned with a foreign woman who had been added to the family. God welcomes all who believe in Him regardless of family or nation or origin. Ruth ended up in the line of Christ as the grandmother of King David. Ruth was the one who gave that famous speech, "Do not tell me not to follow you for where you go I will go, where you live I will live, and the God you serve I will serve. "
No comments:
Post a Comment