What's the Spiritual Picture Seen in the Book of Ruth?

     The Book of Ruth is more than a love story. It's actually a detailed picture of our salvation.  I never would have seen that without reading through the Life-Study of Ruth.  It only has eight chapters, so it's a quick read.  I'm going to try to do justice to what I read by doing a flyby on the story.

    When a famine hits Israel, Elimelech gives up and leaves Bethlehem with his wife Naomi and goes to Moab to make a living with his sons Mahlon and Chilion.  Their seemingly peaceful life in Moab comes to a screeching half when tragedy strikes and Naomi loses first her husband and later her sons. 

     Sadly she packs up her belongings and encourages her daughters-in-law to stay and get other husbands.  But Ruth loves Naomi and refuses to leave her. When they return to Bethlehem, Naomi tells Ruth 
she can glean in the fields to gather grain for their food. 

     Sovereignly Ruth ends up gleaning in Boaz's fields.  Boaz has already heard of Ruth's kindness to return with Naomi, and instructs her to stick with his servants throughout the harvest. When Naomi hears of this, she is filled with joy because Boaz is one of their kinsmen. 

   According to one of the ordinances God gave to Moses, if someone died leaving a widow, a kinsman had the right to redeem both the land and the widow (Lev. 25:25; Deut. 25:5-10).  One evening Naomi gives Ruth instructions on how to entreat Boaz to redeem her. Boaz tells her that another family member is closer, and that in the morning he will check with him.  

  The other man tells Boaz that he can't mar his own inheritance by performing the duty of a kinsman.  This leaves Boaz free to marry Ruth.  This story touches me because even through she was a Moabite and not allowed to enter the congregation of Jehovah, God gave her a kinsman as a redeemer. 

    This is a beautiful picture of what the Lord has done for all of us!  Through Ruth's love for God and His people, she was not only brought into the congregation, but she also became a great-grandmother of King David, who was an ancestor of Christ!!  

      In chapter 5 on pages 23-24, and 25 Witness Lee explains how Ruth is an important link in Christ's genealogy:   

In the books of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth, there were not many on earth who had linked themselves to God. At the time of Ruth the line between God and man was very thin. It was thin to such an extent that it consisted mainly of two persons, a couple--Boaz and Ruth. This couple was brought together in a marvelous and sovereign way. Although Boaz was born an Israelite and Ruth was born in Moab, an incestuous country, Ruth was brought to the good land, even to Bethlehem, the city of David....Another aspect of Ruth's reward is that she became a crucial ancestor in the genealogy to bring in the royal house of David for the producing of Christ (Ruth 4:13b-22; Matt. 1:5-16)....She is thus a great link in the chain that is bringing Christ to every corner of the earth. We all are indebted to Ruth, for without her Christ could not have reached us (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of Joshua, Judges, & Ruth. Living Stream Ministry: Anaheim, 1993, Print).

 
This also shows us that no matter what our background, we can seek God and His people.

 You can listen to excerpts of Witness Lee's speaking the Life-Studies of Joshua, Judges, & Ruth on Life Study of the Bible  with Witness Lee.   You can also read the online Life-Studies of Joshua, Judges & Ruth and check out other resources available to enhance your study of the Bible on Living Stream Ministry's website.

Other Posts on Joshua, Judges, & Ruth:

What's the Background of the Book of Joshua?
Seeing that the Account of the Battle of Joshua & the Battle of Jericho
  Shows God's Move with Man
What Happened in the Book of Judges?

What Happened in the Book of Judges?

   
     After settling in the land of Canaan, the children of Israel's chaste state in worshiping only God didn't last very long.  All of the surrounding nations worshiped different kinds of idols, and Satan used these nations to ensnare the Israelites into idol worship. 

 
     Could you believe it?  The children of Israel forsook the God who had done miracles in Egypt, parted the Red Sea, rained down manna from heaven to sustain them, and helped them fight against Jericho and settle in the good land that God had promised them. Hello, was anyone home?  I guess not.

     I saw something when I read in the Life-Study of Joshua (see the posts below) that Satan was working through the idols of the surrounding nations to destroy God's testimony on earth.  As I was thinking about this, I could see God's enemy saying to God, "So what if all of Your people are in Canaan, none of them are worshiping You anymore!"  Can you see it?  Satan is always trying to destroy God's worship! 

   And Satan actually caused the nation of Israel to spend about 300 years going through cycles of trusting God, forsaking God and worshipping idols, followed by being defeated by their enemies, then repenting, and God delivering them through a judge.  How sad all these cycles must have made God!  I learned on page 2 of the first chapter of the Life-Study of Judges that by doing this they had rejected God from being their king:  

"In the book of Judges, a particular saying is repeated a number of times: "In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did that which was right in his own eyes" (17:6; 18:1; 19:1, 21:25).  But God was the king!...When Israel said that there was no king among them, this meant that they had annulled God and His status. In the book of 1 Samuel, the children of Israel asked God to appoint a king for them (8:5). This was a great offense to God (v. 7). Even though Israel was a wife to God, she became a harlot. She did not recognize God's kingship, and she did not recognize God as her husband. Therefore, the children of Israel did what was right in their own eyes, and as a result they became rotten and corrupted. This is what we see in the book of Judges" (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of Joshua, Judges & Ruth. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1993, Print). 

    After reading the Life-Study of Judges I could see how much God just wants His people  to love and worship only Him.  I learned that this love produces a sweet relationship between God and His believers like the one portrayed in the Book of Ruth! Isn't the Bible wonderful?

 You can listen to excerpts of Witness Lee's speaking the Life-Studies of Joshua, Judges, & Ruth on Life Study of the Bible  with Witness Lee.   You can also read the online Life-Studies of Joshua, Judges & Ruth and check out other resources available to enhance your study of the Bible on Living Stream Ministry's website.

Other Posts on Joshua, Judges, & Ruth:


What's the Background of the Book of Joshua?
Seeing that the Account of the Battle of Joshua & the Battle of Jericho
  Shows God's Move with Man
What Happened in the Book of Judges?
What's the Spiritual Picture Seen in the Book of Ruth?

Seeing That the Account of Joshua & the Battle of Jericho Shows the Principle of God's Move with Man

     Even kids know the story of Joshua and the battle of Jericho.  It's a classic.  More than just an incredible account of God's power, this account shows the principle that God moves with man's cooperation.  After God spoke with Joshua, he realized that in order to take the land of Canaan they had to enter into full cooperation with God.  This principal is seen in this verse:

October walk with my grandkids

Every place on which the sole of your foot treads I have given to you, as I promised Moses.  Joshua 1: 3

    God couldn't defeat Jericho alone--He chose to use the army of the Israelites to march around the city walls.  I appreciated Witness Lee's explanation on page 8 of chapter 2 of Life-Study of Joshua, Judges & Ruth: about how important their cooperation was to God accomplishing His intention on earth:  

   "One day, as the people were ready and waiting for God's instruction, God came in to call Joshua and to tell him to take the lead so that he and the children of Israel could enter into the good land and possess it.  Joshua took the word from Jehovah and charged the children of Israel to perform God's commission (vv. 1-15). The land-takers had to prepare themselves to move with God in His move.  In order to take the good land, they had to enter into a full coordination with God in His move.  If the children of Israel had looked at themselves, they would have said that there was no possibility. But their possibility was the unique God, who needed His elect to cooperate with Him in His move to carry out His economy, in His desire to move in His economy as the great wheel" [as seen in Ezekiel 1:15-21] (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of Joshua, Judges & Ruth. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1993, Print).

     God didn't leave anything up to Joshua. He gave Joshua instructions for all seven days, down to even how they were to be organized. If Joshua would have changed any of these directions, I don't really think the walls of Jericho would have collapsed, do you?

     This principle of God needing man's cooperation has really helped me to understand the Bible better. Now I can see it in many other places like with Noah building the ark and Moses getting the instructions for building the tabernacle. It  amazes me that  the omnipotent God who called not being as being in Genesis 1 chooses to let man cooperate with Him to accomplish His purpose!

 You can listen to excerpts of Witness Lee's speaking the Life-Studies of Joshua, Judges, & Ruth on Life Study of the Bible  with Witness Lee.   You can also read the online Life-Studies of Joshua, Judges & Ruth and check out other resources available to enhance your study of the Bible on Living Stream Ministry's website.

Other Posts on Joshua, Judges, & Ruth:

What's the Background of the Book of Joshua?
Seeing that the Account of the Battle of Joshua & the Battle of Jericho
  Shows God's Move with Man
What Happened in the Book of Judges?
What's the Spiritual Picture Seen in the Book of Ruth?

What's the Background of the Book of Joshua?

     The Book of Joshua gives us a window into God's move on the earth. I wouldn't have seen this at all if it weren't for the Life-Study of Joshua. Witness Lee says in the first chapter that God's move began in Genesis and it continued throughout Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. 

     In Deuteronomy before Moses died , he warned them that if they worshiped idols God would judge them. The book of Joshua opens with the people on the plains of Moab ready to take possession of the land of Canaan. 

    I appreciate Witness Lee's explanation on page 8 in chapter two of the Life-Study of Joshua, Judges, & Ruth concerning how critical the situation was at this time:   

 

"In chapter one of Joshua, God's move had reached a certain situation. At that time the entire earth was full of idols and demons. In a sense, God had been chased away from the earth, which He had created for Himself, and did not have a way to be Lord of the earth as well as of the heavens. However, among all the nations and peoples, God had separated Israel, His elect, for the carrying out of His economy. They had nothing to do with idols or demons. On the contrary, they were occupied with the God of the heavens and the earth" (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of Joshua.  Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1993, Print).

       A few years ago I read an eye-opening chapter called Worship in Volume 46 of Watchman Nee's Collected Works.  Through Scripture he shows how the battle  between God and Satan in this universe is over worship. Satan didn't want God to have all the worship.  So he instigates man to make idols of wood and stone and worship them. We can see this happening even in Genesis.   

      Like most believers I love the story of Abraham.  In Halley's Bible Handbook it says that Ur of Chaldea where God appeared to Abraham was a land full of idols.  It's almost astonishing that at this time there was no one on the earth that loved and served God.  It was so bad that God had to actually call Abraham out and tell him to go to another country so God could have another start.

     When Abraham finally got to the land of Canaan, Genesis 12 tells us that God made a covenant with him and promised to make him a great nation. We know from the accounts in Genesis that this is about the children of Israel. Later in Exodus after God brought His people out of Egypt after 400+ years of slavery, and gave them the ten commandments. The first three commandments center on man worshipping God and not making and worshipping any idols (Exodus 20:3-5; 34:12-17). 

 

    On the mountain God also gave Moses instructions for building the tabernacle. For 40 years they worshipped God by caring for the tabernacle and offering sacrifices. All of these activities separated and sanctified the Israelites from all the other nations. In the book of Leviticus God gives Moses further details about offering sacrifices because God cares about how His people worship Him. And we see in the book of Joshua that our worship matters because through it God regains the earth! 

   You can listen to excerpts of Witness Lee's speaking the Life-Studies of Joshua, Judges, & Ruth on Life Study of the Bible  with Witness Lee.   You can also read the online Life-Studies of Joshua, Judges & Ruth and check out other resources available to enhance your study of the Bible on Living Stream Ministry's website.

Other Posts on Joshua, Judges, & Ruth:

What's the Background of the Book of Joshua?
Seeing that the Account of the Battle of Joshua & the Battle of Jericho
  Shows God's Move with Man
What Happened in the Book of Judges?
What's the Spiritual Picture Seen in the Book of Ruth?