Week 1: Ruth 1 — Famine, Exile, and Covenant Loyalty (Hebrew + Historical Study)

In this opening study of the Book of Ruth, we examine Ruth 1:1–22 through historical, linguistic, and theological analysis. Set “in the days when the judges ruled,” this chapter reveals a world marked by instability, famine, and loss—but also the beginning of covenant loyalty that will shape the future of Israel.

We break down the Hebrew meanings behind key names like Naomi (“pleasantness”) and Mara (“bitterness”), as well as the significance of Bethlehem—“house of bread”—experiencing famine. This episode also explores Moab’s historical context and the deeper implications of Ruth’s decision to remain with Naomi.

For the Christian seeker, this episode highlights the Jewish roots of the Bible, the role of covenant faithfulness (hesed), and the historical continuity of Scripture from Torah through the writings.

Walk the Way — Modern Mind, Ancient Book — Subscribe for more.
Visit: modernmindancientbook.org

#BookOfRuth #BibleStudy #HebrewMeaning #OldTestament #ChristianTeaching #BiblicalHistory #JewishRoots #ScriptureStudy #Faithfulness #Theology #BibleExplained #ModernMindAncientBook

Transcript

Tempo: 120.0

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Did you know that the Book of Ruth centers on the feast of Shovelut or Pentecost? I had no idea. Welcome to another Modern Mind Nature book where we're going back to move forward. My name is Roger. I'll be your host. Chip, thanks for being with me today. Hey, it's a pleasure. We are going to start the Book of Ruth today. Are you excited? Yeah, man. I like Ruth. Yeah, it's going to be a good one. Um, it's an oddity. Uh, it's an island in the middle of failure that is both failure and success. Yep. So here we go. Without further ado, uh, we're embarking on a four-week journey through the book of Ruth. And this one's actually pretty easy because there's only four chapters. Yeah, that makes it kind of easy. And kind of hard because I still have to pick and choose what we're gonna talk about, even though there's only one chapter, it's still not enough space in one hour. But let's get started. So the book of Ruth starts with a statement about the days. Okay, so now it came about in the days when the judges governed that there was a famine in the land. Why does it say in the days that the gov judges governed?

SPEAKER_01 1:11

Well, I think it's trying to point us back to to the book of judges, but it's also it's this probably happened during Gideon. I mean, yeah, there's there's a lot of uh there's a lot of uneasiness going on in Israel at the moment. Well, they're they're constantly beset by their enemies that they should have conquered, but they didn't.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Okay, so this is there's a couple reasons why I asked that question. First, you're right that this is written after the judges period. This is written during the king's period. Right. Okay. Everything is always looking back. So this book was probably written by Samuel. Mm-hmm. All right. So, you know, here we are in a book that was written after the fact, so it's always um looking back. It's hindsight, it's 2020 kind of thing. So this is written during the King's period, but this also points to the editorial nature of the Bible. Right. It's constantly um, it's constantly speaking to itself through itself in itself. Right. Yeah. So, you know, it's just an interesting thing during the time of Judges. So the discerning mind should realize that um this was written to a people at a place at a time in history, right? Yep. And that this was written after the fact. So it's just important to to note that because what you're gonna get here is um it's it's theology, but it's odd theology for Israel. It it is. So not for God, though. Yeah, it's um this is this is historically grounded in Hebrew-informed writing, right? So it's about famine, exile, and return. Yep. Now it has a literary structure, okay? It has movement in it, it has crisis, dialogue, and then the return. All right, so the crisis is famine, death, displacement, right? Yep, and then the dialogue is covenant loyalty revealed. But the covenant loyalty isn't by an Israelite, which is super odd.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

I know it's really interesting, it's by a Moabite.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

Yeah. And then, you know, reversal begins, meaning where they were, now they're coming back.

SPEAKER_02 3:11

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 3:11

Okay. So it's, you know, it's it's it's really interesting that it's structured this way, an island in the middle of, you know, just after judges, but in between the judges and the king's period, that focuses on a family who fled their own land for various reasons, which we'll talk a little bit about in a moment, and then this Moabite girl who renounces her way of life and accepts the god of Israel and the people of Israel as her people. So she becomes an Israelite. Yep. Okay, and it was by choice, right?

SPEAKER_01 3:53

Yeah, it was it was an act of love for her mother-in-law.

SPEAKER_00 3:55

That's right. So the structure of this is famine, departure, death, return, harvest. It's the harvest festival that this is happening.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

Right, it's with the harvest of barley, right? That's right. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 4:08

Yep. So let's let's do some of the names just so we have them understood. Ruth means friend or companion or loyal one. Naomi means pleasantness or delightful. Mara is bitter. And she names herself that. Right. Elimelech, that's two words. It means my goddess king, Elimelech. And then Moab is from the father, and that goes back to um uh to Lot and what happened in Sodom and Gomorrah, right? Right. So the key places here are Bethlehem, the house of bread, and the historical enemy territory east of the Dead Sea, the Moabites. Right. Okay, so covenant loyalty, Chesed, that's the word for it. It just means that you are covenant loyal, you live the covenant, Deuteronomy 6.4, and then there's also the exile and return pattern of Deuteronomy 30. So important, God's providence is hidden, but active. This is another one of those books that's kind of like Esther, that's kind of like right, so in in the midst of all the chaos of you know, everything that's happened, the Benjamites, the Danites, the Judahites, everybody's failing, the Gibeonites, the the you know, Amorites are casting out the right, all this stuff that's happening. God, however, has a small enclave of people, and they're his, and it's causing um it brings the future. Right. Right? Yeah, he's always he's always working toward the future, right?

SPEAKER_01 5:51

And in this case, there's almost like a like an arc covenant here, or an arc theme. You know, he takes these people out of the yeah, one family. Yeah. And it's probably this is probably set during the judgeship of Gideon based on the the Midianites and the Amalek. You know, what was there a famine for? Well, you know, it's implied that the famine is not necessarily because the rain didn't fall, it could be because the They destroyed the land. Yeah, yeah, the land was being uh basically it was it was being plundered, and there's no food for the people.

Marker 1

SPEAKER_00 6:21

But here Ruth is contrasting the anarchy of the time. Yep, right? So, you know, Christians, so the way that Christians see this is um, you know, it's a it's a gentile, right? It's um the the people failed to keep the law, you know, and now here's this one that comes and she's gonna bring David, and then from David's line comes Jesus. Right. It's all this focus, right? So what we don't do though is we don't develop the people, the characters, and the time frame and the place, and understand that that is where the original meaning is. Right. And so that's you know, that's where we're gonna focus tonight. If you if you are, you know, interested in the Protestant um commentaries, then you know, by all means read those. It's not like they're they're wrong by any means, but there's there's more to it than that, okay? So the phrase in the days that the judges ruled, it's it's not like a neutral time stamp stamp, it invokes tribal instability, right? Moral fragmentation in the absence of a righteous king. Right. This is that development narrative that we talk about. So Christians will talk about it. We say progressive revelation, right? Right, and we point to the new covenant or the covenant that Jesus gave us, right? The new the new testament is what we call it, but it really means new covenant. That being said, this is also progressive revelation, right? Because what we had is we had a people who were called out of Egypt, they were brought into the land, they were told, go be fruitful and conquer, right? And then they didn't. Yep. And then uh, like even in this book, you're not gonna read about Levites and sacrifices or any of that stuff. So, you know, what what are we to think, right? Well, they broke the law. That's yeah, that's the kind of the prevailing thing, but that's not the point of this book at all. Right. The point of this book is that God is bringing about a future through the woman. It's all about the seed war, right? So the biggest the biggest thing that we can do as faithful believers in Jesus is we can we can see the covenant framework and we can identify that God is bringing progressive revelation. We went from a people who had God, the um, the eternal, forever far away version, right, the transcendent God as their king, but now they need someone who's close. Right, they need an imminent version of a righteous one. And we know where that's heading, and we also know that it has nothing to do with the obedience of the people or the lack of obedience of the people, but God's plan because the seed war is raging. So from the woman comes the future seed, and in this case it's pointing toward David. Yeah, okay, because of the seed war. So that's that's what this book is all about. Now, what we have here is a crisis, okay? Because at the house of bread, Bethlehem, there's a famine.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

Yeah. Okay? Yeah, there's a famine because the Medianites and the Amalekites are coming across with the kings of the East and and parking their their people in the middle of in the middle of Israel and taking what they want. Yeah, and not leaving enough for everybody else.

SPEAKER_00 9:53

The discerning reader has to read this and understand that it's because, well, the people did not take the land. Right. They did not cast out the enemies, they did not do what they were supposed to. And then God said, Well, it doesn't matter anymore because now I'm just not going to do it for you. Yeah. Right? But I don't think there was ever any plan for him to do it for them, anyways, because from the very beginning, both Moses and Joshua were saying, You're not going to do it. Right. And they didn't. And they didn't. So it was always looking toward this developmental period, which is looking now toward an earthly king who is of God's line. Right. The called out ones who will change the earth, who will lead according to righteousness, even though the people won't receive it, and we're going to see in the later books that it's not about a man.

SPEAKER_01 10:43

No, it's not. It's not about a man.

SPEAKER_00 10:46

It's not about a man king. Yeah. Right? So it's interesting to note that that story starts here. So as as the book, as the story is developing, this is the part, okay? So at the house of bread, there's famine. Uh-oh. Yep. Now, the movement to Moab, that's historically important because Moab's not a neutral foreign space, it carries memory of tension. And that makes the family's departure not only geographic, but covenantally uncomfortable. Both Jewish and Christian interpreters tend to feel the weight of this, right? So, you know, Christians just say, um, you know, they they left, they weren't faithful to the covenant, um, they went there out of necessity. There's a few explanations, but I the Jewish commentators are my the most interesting ones to me because Ruth one is piling disaster on disaster, right? Yep, there's famine, and then Israel has to leave the very land that was promised to them. Then the husband dies, then the two sons die. Right, and then they've taken Moabite wives. Yeah, and the only ones who remain, yeah, and they were they weren't even faithful to the covenant, right? So then three widows remain, two of whom are not Hebrew, they're not Israelite. No, it this whole of chapter one is concentrated loss, that's what it is. So, okay, so it's an emotional center, and that's how it starts. Now, rabbinic tradition intensifies this opening by moralizing elimelex, elimelex. That's two words. It means my God is my king, right? Right? So my god is my king. Well, he departs.

SPEAKER_01 12:32

Yeah, and he was an aphrodite, which means he most probably wasn't just your average shepherd. He this is probably a man of means.

SPEAKER_00 12:37

Oh no, these are extremely wealthy people. Yeah, this is a man of means. Yeah, and this is one of the problems. This is one of the reasons. So the the rabbis can't ignore this, right? Right? So the house of bread is famished, right? Is in famine. And my God is my king. He's leaving to it is the the enemies, the place of the enemies. Yep. Because they're not under attack, right? This is because presumably they have food. This is definitely about war. Right. Right? And the failure to keep the covenant. So this is this is what it says. The rabbis, they believe that Elimelech, El Lemelech, that he is leaving to avoid his social obligation to feed and take care of the people.

SPEAKER_01 13:19

Right.

SPEAKER_00 13:19

Oh man.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

Yeah, that's that's that doesn't shed him in a pretty good light, does it? No. And then his death would probably be the result of being cursed for doing so.

SPEAKER_00 13:28

Yeah, and it's a rib, it's a rabbinic interpretive move, right?

SPEAKER_01 13:31

So it's interesting. That's interesting.

SPEAKER_00 13:35

It's yeah, it's it's interesting to note that because, well, if that's the case, then it would make sense that his that he would die and his sons would die. Right. Because he's he's abdicating his duties as an Israelite, right?

SPEAKER_01 13:47

Uh-huh. And he's also ab ab abdicating his uh his future. I mean, you know, think about how his sons are dead, who's gonna pass on his line. Yeah. You know, he's like he's wiped out essentially.

SPEAKER_00 13:58

So Elimelech fails to live his Torah duty. Right. But they hear Ruth's speech as lived Torah duty, the Chesed, the way of living. Right. Right? So she is loyal. Interesting. That's not that's an odd thing.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

Yeah, and it's also, you know, I mean, what what's not captured here is her love for Naomi. You know, I mean, that's that's another that's another god thing there. You know, she's she's demonstrating love. I mean, she's leaving her land.

SPEAKER_00 14:30

Well, Naomi was the pleasant one. Yep. She was probably a very unique and wonderful woman.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

Right, and she was even willing to, you know, she said goodbye to her daughters-in-law. Don't come with me. You're young enough to get husbands, you know.

SPEAKER_00 14:42

Paraphrasing here, but well, let's okay, so let's put this in its cultural context now. Naomi was gonna leave Moab, the place where she should not have been. Right, where she was with her husband and her sons.

SPEAKER_01 14:54

And presumably her husband at her his behest, not hers.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

Yeah. She was gonna leave back in horror that everybody's dead. Yeah, and she's a widow. And she's a widow, and she has no, like, she doesn't have any way to take care of herself. She's coming back in shame. Yep. So she she calls, and this is interesting. I I love Hebrew thinking for this reason because this is a a real opportunity to explore what Hebrew thinking is like, right? So the pleasant one calls herself. Okay, what has been the motif to this point? God gives you a new name, right? Right, right, but in this case, the pleasant one calls herself bitter, right? And now this is how this is how I imagine her. I imagine her with Ali Malek and her two sons. She's living in a foreign land, but they're very kind, compassionate people. She bakes bread, you know. Marries into the local clan. Yeah, she's she's well loved by the people around them. They are they are trying their best to keep Torah. According to the rabbis, they're there um abdicating their duties to the Torah. So there's tension in the family, then the father dies, then the two sons die, and now not only is she ashamed, but she feels the covenant weight of breaking that covenant.

SPEAKER_01 16:23

And she's in a foreign country and she's not from there, and she's a widow.

SPEAKER_00 16:26

And nobody's gonna take care of her. Right. And then and then this is this is the way I imagine the story. So, what could she have done? She could have taken a husband from Moab, right? Perhaps.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

She could have. She could have if she were. I mean, but I mean, we don't even know that she was of childbearing age. That's one of the problems with widows. I mean, once you get past the I mean, her your whole purpose is to essentially bring children into the faith.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

Well, let's not forget they're wealthy.

SPEAKER_01 16:49

Well, they are wealthy, but I mean, no matter how old or how wealthy you are, I mean, there's a point at which a foreign foreign person might not take you to bribe.

SPEAKER_00 16:56

It would have been a real challenge for her, but if she was full of that much shame, she could have. Right? Yeah, yeah. But in the reason that I'm saying this is because I believe this is her practicing Teshuva, repentance. Okay, right? So, in in in my mind, um if I character develop this, I see Naomi as getting on her face and crying out to the Lord your God, right? Right. And saying, I am Mara. From this day forward, she this is like a covenant made with her and God. That's what I believe. Okay. So she calls herself bitter, right? She says, I'm bitter until you answer. Okay. Then she goes to her um daughters-in-law because they're there, they can't leave. Right. You know, they're bound to the family. And she says, You can go because she knows she is leaving, she's never coming back, she's going back to her people because she's returning to God.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

Right. And her daughters-in-law can go back to their families. In other words, their their their own lit kin. I mean, that's a pretty common Middle Eastern tradition.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

Well, again, we opened this by saying that we were going to explore cultural reality. Right. And so they have a place to go back to, but Naomi has no, I mean, well, they have an obligation to the house of Naomi because they married into it. They cannot leave until they're let go.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

Okay. Well, I thought the entire house of Naomi had just collapsed by the death of the males. See, I I see your I see a little different. I see her as destitute or potentially destitute, and her daughters-in-law actually have a future. I think that's what makes Ruth so uh uh amazing to me. The way I see this is Ruth sticks with her.

SPEAKER_00 18:32

That's that's fair, but she's not they're not destitute. Okay, you can't make a journey, you can't pick up your whole house without wealth. Right, right? Okay, so they're not they're not destitute, but she's in a bad place. She has to make a decision because in order for her to have a to continue having a life, she needs a man in her life. Yep, they need to take care of the animals, farm. I mean, there's a lot of work to be done. Yeah, and you can't do it by yourself. She doesn't need a husband, she needs a family, she needs a family, and so she tells them, listen, girls, just go back to your father's house. They they get to return with the money and everything, yep, right? And and that's not a small amount of money that you exchange for this, right? For being married, okay? So, but Ruth says, My God will be your God, and your people will be my people. Yep. This is the kind of faith that Jesus encountered. Yep. That he loved, that he expressed wonder about, right? And that's that that's that term chesed. It means living the Torah. It means, and listen to this. I want I want this to land. This is God's law in your heart.

SPEAKER_01 19:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

Right? Because Naomi didn't grow up under any system like that.

SPEAKER_01 19:46

You mean Ruth?

SPEAKER_00 19:47

Um, yeah, I'm sorry. Ruth didn't grow up under under the Torah.

SPEAKER_01 19:51

Right, no, but she loves her mother. I presumably her mother-in-law treated her well. I mean, Naomi was kind and generous and pleasant and probably welcomed her into the family.

SPEAKER_00 19:58

And yeah, she saw the way that they lived. She loved that family. Now, they are different. The Moabites are a warlike, complicated people. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:09

Well, they descend from from a pretty pretty proditious sin on the part of Lot's daughters.

SPEAKER_00 20:14

Yeah, a bit of brutality, right? So, you know, again, the the character development of all. She was such a wonderful person that neither one of the girls wanted to leave. They wept, right? Right. But the one left, and then Ruth stayed, and she made that decree because she really was a wonderful person. Yeah. But I believe that she made a covenant at this point that no matter the cost, she was gonna go back to her family, back to her hometown, back to her people, and go back to her ways because it was turning away from her ways that cost her all of this. Right. Right? So, okay, they pick up and they go. Now, it doesn't begin with romance or prosperity, it begins with famine and death. Right. And loyalty is proven under laws, which is what Ruth proves, right? Without without her the need to stay, because she was legally let go. That was a chance.

SPEAKER_01 21:10

Yeah, that was what I was saying earlier. She's got a choice.

SPEAKER_00 21:12

Yeah, Ruth also had a choice, right?

SPEAKER_01 21:15

So now imagine Ruth is following Naomi back to Judea where she's a stranger.

SPEAKER_00 21:20

But Ruth isn't following Naomi, she's following Naomi's God.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

Okay, I'll buy that, but I would say the love between her and Naomi is the same thing.

SPEAKER_00 21:28

That's what brought it together, right? Right, that's what brought it together. So, um, you know, God is not speaking or acting overtly in this, though, right? It's just a story about human hearts that are making their way back by God's grace, really, but after experiencing much loss, so you know that's a that's a motif that carries through too, right? So Jewish people, by and large, uh believe that you must. Do things and then God will bless you. But that's not really what this is about. This is about having not done the right thing, but God having a plan for Ruth. Yep. Right? So, you know, Mara, her heart changed. She became bitter, but she was bitter in Moab. She wasn't bitter with herself. She was bitter because of the place that she ended up at as they turned away from God. This has to be framed all in a covenantal framework. Right. And that's the way the rabbis frame it. Right. They frame Elimelech as turning away from his duties, and Mara as being bitter for the end result of that and coming back to her people. Right. And Ruth coming back with her as a covenant believing, accepting Israelite as a proselyte.

SPEAKER_01 22:56

Right.

SPEAKER_00 22:57

Okay. Now, there's an exile pattern here. Homeland deprivation. Right. Right? Yeah. So they were taken out of the land and during that time humbled with loss and displacement, but then restored. Right. So it's the same story that we continue to hear. And us Christians would do well to understand that this is a repeating theme. That Israel, I promise you, is coming back into covenant with God again. It is going to happen. Because it happens repeatedly over and over and over again. Not because Israel is some special group of people, but because God chose them to be a special group of people.

SPEAKER_01 23:38

Yep. But it'll be a remnant of Israel. It won't be all of them.

SPEAKER_00 23:42

Well, you know, it depends on how you define Israel.

SPEAKER_01 23:44

Well, that's true too.

SPEAKER_00 23:45

I define Israel as millions upon millions. It's the sand of the seashore. Right. It's those who struggle with God that God chose and called, right? So like I said, uh for modern mind nature book, for me and my theology, God doesn't just pick a DNA type.

SPEAKER_01 24:02

Yeah, yeah, that's what I was trying to say.

SPEAKER_00 24:04

Okay, that's fair. He but what he does is he makes a people that were not a people a people. Yeah, yeah. Right? Yeah. Yeah. He's taking out of this place, in this case, out of the Moabites. Right. But in my case, out of the United States, a human being and saying, Now you're mine. Yep. And now you're part of my kingdom, and your king is Jesus. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 24:27

Thank God.

SPEAKER_00 24:28

In this case, the king who is coming, David. Right? Yep. Okay. So this is very important. When they come back and they meet this kinsman redeemer fellow, Boaz, right? Mm-hmm. He is a good man. And what does he do? Well, he keeps Torah. Yeah, he does. You know? He certainly does. So this is awesome. So okay. So let's let's focus on Ruth a little bit. And they lifted up their voices and wept again, and Orfa kissed her mother-in-law, Orpah, kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth, she clung to her. Then she said, Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods. You see the covenant framework? Return after your sister-in-law. But Ruth said, Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you. Where you go, I go, and where you lodge, I lodge. Your people shall be my people and your God, my God. She proclaimed a covenant statement.

SPEAKER_02 25:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:47

She is now an Israelite. And she's come under Israelite governance. She is now governed by God. God is her king now. Right. That's what she proclaimed.

SPEAKER_01 25:59

Yeah, and see, and I'm saying it's all in the love. That's the whole, that's the whole thing between Ruth and Naomi. That is God. That's that is a sacrificial love right there. You're gonna leave your people and go into the unknown as a Moabite woman and going into Judea.

SPEAKER_00 26:10

Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me. She loved Mara. And she wanted to see her best, right? Yep. And she did not want to go back to her people, which is an amazing statement. It's somebody who was changed from the inside by the love and experience of being with somebody who loved God.

SPEAKER_01 26:43

That's exactly right. That's the way I see it too.

SPEAKER_00 26:45

That's what happened. Yep. Because listen, I can tell you this, having the experiences I've had in the Jewish world, when these folks are faithful, they have very, very good families, and they're very kind people. It's a form of righteousness that is attractive. Yeah, I totally agree. It's yeah, it's a it's a good-natured religion.

SPEAKER_01 27:12

Can't argue with that, but the cement, the cement in this family scenario to me, comes all comes back to love, which is God.

SPEAKER_02 27:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:19

You know, that's that's like the pure, that's that's pure God right there. You know, um, that's the way I see it anyway. Ruth, Ruth going back with Naomi, she's going into Terra Incognita. I can't even imagine what the Moabites might have thought about Judah. You know, I mean, think about all the tension between them for the whole period of Joshua and you know the first part of the judges with Deborah.

SPEAKER_00 27:39

Well, see I mean, there's a lot of that that's why that I mean you're you're hitting the nail on the head with what I'm saying. That this is why this book is such an interesting thing. Because Eli Malek and Naomi, they should have never gone there. No, they shouldn't have. Right? If if they had the means to transport all of their stuff without having any other means, they had food, they had resources, right? And then they left that and they went to Moab. And when they arrived there, they obviously acted like the Moabites because they were able to fit in and involve themselves in the culture around them and even purchase and take wives and things, right? Right, they became part of Moab. Now, on the way back, she is despising herself, her life, her people, and she's doing the exact same thing that Elimelech did, but she's doing it on behalf of the God of Israel. Yep. Where he did it on behalf of salvation for his family. Right. It's it's the greater faithfulness, and it plays itself out in this in just amazing ways. So it's not it's not just love, it's a life lived in Torah.

SPEAKER_01 28:51

Well, it's yeah, okay. I can't, I I'm not gonna debate. Um I but I I it's the same thing.

SPEAKER_00 28:57

It is the same thing. That's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_01 28:59

It's the same thing. I mean, the core, I I have a different opinion on on the entire dynamic, but I can't prove it or disprove it. But you know, it's love, it's what it comes down to. And I think that Naomi was so bitter. What a bad move. She lost her husband and her two sons. You know, she must have loved her sons. Yes she loved the daughters-in-law. I mean, you know, who doesn't? You know what I mean? It seems to me they had a really good family and she lost it all, and she shouldn't have gone. But I bet you she I can see her arguing with Ellie Malek. We're not going to Moab if you lost your mind. And win anyway. Yeah, pack the donkeys, we're headed out.

SPEAKER_00 29:32

Because she was obedient to her husband. Yeah. Right. That's the character part development part of it. So she was bitter because of breaking the covenant, leaving the land, becoming des well, losing her family, right? And then and then now she's making a disher desire is to return back and restore herself and to find a way to make things work. And the in and when they go back, she's not that broken, right? She's looking for a way to bring things back to God, to make her family line matter again. And in in Israel at this time, not having sons is a really, really big deal. Yeah, it's huge. Not having heirs is a really, really big deal. There's what are they gonna do with their wealth? What are they gonna do with their land? Right, it's gonna pass to someone else. Well, it it has to be redeemed because God is always redeeming, and he put into the culture that, right? So this this whole thing is about like this God movement in the world and in the greater world, and in the development of that, it also includes the Gentiles, it also includes those who are outside of it, if they will walk in his ways.

SPEAKER_01 30:42

Yeah, and this that that's the other, the weave here, where this is this is all about the Messiah, too. Oh, this bringing the Messiah. I mean, this is part of the grand the grand weaving to bring Jesus through the line of David. It's just amazing to me.

SPEAKER_00 30:55

Yeah, and and that's that's what we're gonna talk about next, is how this is absolutely messianic.

SPEAKER_01 31:02

Yeah, it certainly seems to be.

SPEAKER_00 31:03

So Ruth is traditionally read on shovel oat, right? Do you know what shovelot is? So that's Pentecost, right? Pentecost. Yeah, yeah, the barley harvest. The feast of weeks at the harvest. So when when she goes to um meet with Boaz and she uncovers his feet, that whole part of the story, she takes barley with her in her cloak. Right. Right? So this this whole feast is set during that time. So there's a book called Masakit Shofarim, right? It's like the wisdom of whatever, right? 1416, which lists Ruth among the skirls read at appointed times, and later Jewish tradition firmly places Ruth at Shavuot or the feast Pentecost. Right. What happened at Pentecost for us?

SPEAKER_01 31:47

Well, that was that was essentially where the Holy Spirit descended on the men and women in the upper room, and and they began to speak in tongues.

SPEAKER_00 31:54

Yes, undoing the Tower of Babel. And they preached Jesus to all of the Jews from all over the world at that feast, because that's one of the pilgrimage feasts. Right. Right? Do you know what else happened at Pentecost? What is it historically celebrated as?

SPEAKER_01 32:12

Are you talking about in in the the Christian tradition, or are you talking about just in general?

SPEAKER_00 32:17

In Judaism.

SPEAKER_01 32:18

Uh all I know is it's shavuat and its first fruits, right?

SPEAKER_00 32:22

Our first harvest. Yes, it's the giving of the Torah. Okay. Okay. So listen, listen to what I said. When Moses received the Torah, and it was declared to the people, that's Pentecost. Okay. When the Twelve received the new covenant, and it was told to the people, that's Pentecost. That's awesome. The Torah and the new covenant.

SPEAKER_01 32:50

Yep, that's just another greatest Torah. Another amazing ark in the Bible. Well, that's good to know. I didn't know the Jewish side of it.

SPEAKER_00 32:58

And Ruth is set at that very moment. Right. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 33:02

Right. And she will eventually her line will bring forth all of the descendants that end in Jesus. She's in Jesus' line. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 33:10

Yeah. And she was specifically chosen by God from among the Moabites to be put into that line. Right. Because she was so responsive in love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness.

SPEAKER_01 33:27

Yeah, that's what I was going to say. It's the fruit of the Spirit.

SPEAKER_00 33:29

That is exactly how I picture Ruth. She had exactly what the new covenant is. She had the law on her heart. Yep. And she dedicated herself to it. Yep. So, us Christians out there, the book of Ruth actually teaches you who and how to be.

SPEAKER_01 33:48

Yeah. Sure does. That's pretty interesting. And coming coming from um, she's got a dark past, if you look at her her country. I mean, because the Moabites, they they started out really sketchily. I mean, there's a lot of darkness in their heritage. Well, I mean, they started because of Lot and his two daughters.

SPEAKER_00 34:08

Yeah, Lot Lot couldn't be faithful to listen to the angel. He first made so he was told to go away. Yeah. And then he said, Well, I'll go to that city. And they said, Go to that city, but then he didn't go to that city. He went to a cave. Yeah. Then when everything went down, his daughters were so morally compromised. Right. Well, they grew up in Sodom. What do you expect? But also, and this is the interesting thing about that story, and we didn't have time to spend time on it because Genesis is such a big book. Right. But it's a weird mixture of knowing the difference between right and wrong, right? It's the wrong tree because they knew that they had to be fruitful and multiply, but they did it the wrong way. Yeah, exactly. Right? Yeah. So it's it's the wrong tree. That that whole thing is the image of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, not of life.

SPEAKER_01 34:57

Right. And so follow it down to Ruth. Ruth is is, you know, essentially in their in their bloodline. Yes. In other words, she comes, she comes from the wrong thing. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 35:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:11

And and putting putting all of that into Jesus later on. Yes. And that is what is so amazing to me.

SPEAKER_00 35:17

Before all that, this is leading us to David, who is not Jesus. Right. Who did not actually was not able to actually eternally hold the throne. Right. Because that's the promise to David. There's a covenant coming. And right now that covenant is being built. Yep. But before that covenant is built, we see this Gentile woman who has the law on her heart. Yeah. And who is being brought into covenant. And that leads us to the eternal promise to David, which comes through her and to her much, much later in Jesus. Yep. God is amazing. It's all this crazy story. Okay, so you know, Shavuot or Tabernacle, or I'm sorry, not Tabernacles, um, Pentecost, the feast of weeks, because it's 50 weeks after Passover. That's right, right, is associated with the giving of the Torah at Sinai. And Ruth mirrors that through her personal covenantal commitment. Do you hear that, Christians? A personal covenantal commitment. Now imagine this. Jesus said, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. Right. Am I saying practice Torah? Not like you think I am. What I'm saying is, is Jesus had a purified Judaism, and that's what he expects and wants from you. And Ruth is doing it. Yeah. So if you want to know what Jesus' covenant is, it's Ruth right now. It's not about sacrifice, it's about the heart that is inclined toward God with all of its being.

SPEAKER_01 36:55

Yeah, my my take on that is before she crossed the Jordan back into Judah, she was already demonstrating this. Yes. I mean she clung she clung to Naomi in Moab.

SPEAKER_00 37:07

She was redeemed before she began to practice.

SPEAKER_01 37:11

Yep. Which is the new covenant. And the kinsman redeemer actually is redeeming Naomi later on, right? I mean, if you look at the technical technicality of it.

SPEAKER_00 37:18

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 37:19

Ruth, Ruth doesn't need redemption. She's a she's got God. I mean, you know what I mean? She's Boaz is not redeeming Ruth later on, I don't believe. I think he's redeeming Naomi, you know, by by allowing her to her her line, the line of of her husband to continue, if that makes any sense.

SPEAKER_00 37:36

Well, it's Naomi and Lot. It's it's all of the word. He's the God of everything, of all people. Yep. There's nobody that's not in covenant with him. Either you will be judged, or you will be covered over. Either you're passed over or you judged. It's one or the other, but you, every single person on the face of this earth, belongs to God because God made all. Yep. Okay. Now, Ruth belongs in Pentecost because the wisdom of God, which we call the Torah, is not merely commanded on stone. This is Jewish theology. I want you to hear this. It's meant to become Hesed, loyal kindness, mercy, covenant faithfulness, embodied in life, flowing from the inside out. Ruth shows living for the wisdom of God by her loyalty to Naomi, care for the vulnerable. She's a widow, right? Orphans and widows. Her gleaning ethics, meaning she goes about the outside of the field to pick up her. Does no more than she can. Yep. She does what she's allowed. Right. And then her faithful integration into the people of faith. One new man. Yep. This is what Naomi is. Yep. She is there to teach us what it is to do this. Yep. To walk it out. To walk it out. The rabbis discuss this. So they use Ruth because she's she's a she's a paradigm, right? She's an outsider who comes under the god of Israel. Her story becomes important for thinking about conversion, covenant belonging, and the interpretation of Israel's law concerning the Moabites. In the Talmud, it discusses this where the sages argue that the exclusion in Deuteronomy applies only to males, not to females. So there's all this stuff, and it talks about oral law, and it talks about how God can only do this according to the ways that the rabbis imagine it. But I I have a different thing because ra rabbi Jesus interprets this for me.

SPEAKER_01 39:46

Yeah, and I mean these rabbis here are probably counting angels on the head of a pen, how many angels will fit. I mean, this this is a little bit, I don't know, it's like they're trying to force trying to force God into a body.

SPEAKER_00 39:56

It's not different from the church, though, because we see have this half truth and then all these mixed-up things. Right. It is about what inside flowing out, the wisdom of God. It is not just written on stone, but on the heart. Exactly, and that's part of the theology. So where it is wrong though, is the assumption that you have to fear God and that he brings judgment. Because he didn't, he just said, if you don't go and do exactly as you're supposed to, there are consequences that follow because your enemies will always be there to harm you.

unknown 40:35

Right.

SPEAKER_00 40:36

And to pull me, pull you away from me. And to pull you away. Because and that's the biggest deal, right? Is the lack of covenant faithfulness that results from not totally cleansing all of the bata. Uh-huh. And it was gonna be that way. Yeah. Not for everybody, but for most of them. No, because you have this little enclave in here, and it turns out it's this person who um converted into it. Yeah. Right? Yeah. During Pentecost. She received the greater law before the greater law was even given.

SPEAKER_01 41:07

Yeah, see, that's actually so cool.

SPEAKER_00 41:09

And she came into covenant with God's people and became the one new man. Yep. So for me, this is all about Jesus. All about Jesus. And I don't believe that Eli Melech for foregoed his um his obligations. I think God drew him there so that he could bring Naomi here.

SPEAKER_01 41:31

Well, that was God's plan, but I'll bet you Eli Malek, if you could get into his mind, he's trying to take care of his family. A thousand percent. You know, he's he's he's he is acting out of love. And he's like, I gotta watch my kids, my gotta watch my brook my sons, and we're going over here until there's food that we can eat Judah.

SPEAKER_00 41:47

That's why the Judeans crucified Jesus, right? Yeah. It was for political expediency to protect the nation from a king who would cause problems from for a person claiming to be king who would eventually rile up Roman.

SPEAKER_01 42:02

Yeah, and I'm I'm really looking forward to getting to down the road to the Sadducees. Yeah. I mean, that's that's like a mafia outfit, brother. Oh, there's there's a whole I'm not talking about the Jews, I'm not talking about the Pharisees, I'm talking about the Sadducees.

SPEAKER_00 42:13

That's why, listen, I specifically said Judeans, yep, religious authorities, okay? Yep. So, okay, but sometimes our best desire leads to death. There is a way that seems right to a man that leads to death. So, how do you mitigate that? You become prayerful and you become Bible knowledgeable. Yep, right? Then you can go to the tree of life because you're constantly being bombarded by the wisdom of God deep inside of you, and you're prayerful to bring that about in a fruitful way. And it changes you. And you're not focused on politics, you're focused on the one true king. And pretty pretty soon, like Ruth, it's in your heart. That's right. And that's what you want. That's what you want. So, okay. Now, the harvest. Well, Ruth belongs to this season. Okay, this is how she fits into Pentecost. Ruth belongs to this season. She is being harvested for the kingdom, right? Right. She models covenant acceptance, she follows the Torah. Ruth shows that the wisdom of God, the Torah, should produce, be produced and reproduced and played out in human relationships. Right. And Ruth prepares the royal future of Israel in the Davidic line.

SPEAKER_01 43:23

Uh-huh. So, you know, this is ironic, and I know she's a female, and this is an inappropriate use of the word, but in in essence, she is like a kinsman redeemer for Israel. Yeah. I mean, I know that's you know, the female can't be that legally or all that, but it's really interesting how God works.

SPEAKER_00 43:39

She's yet another pivotal point that is not from the inside, but from the outside. God's always been saying, Hey, you guys outside, I gotcha. Yeah. I'm I'm calling you, I'm bringing you. Don't I did not forget you. I remember that I made all of you, and I'm making a way. I just have to do it through this one group of people. So that I can bring the Messiah, who is the king of the world, out of this under the law, for the legal obligation of overcoming the fall, because the seed war still has to be fought and dealt with. Yep. But it's not fought and dealt with with swords and shields, it's fought and dealt with in the legal courtroom of heaven's laws. Right. And redeeming us from our fall, from our father, whom now owns us, the principalities and powers of this world. Right. That we're seeing more and more clearly now.

SPEAKER_01 44:34

Oh, yeah, that's a fact.

SPEAKER_00 44:36

It's it's getting dark. Prophetic, let's say.

SPEAKER_01 44:39

It's all it's getting dark. And you know, there's the old saying it's always darkest before the dawn. We got a ways to go before dawn, I'm afraid.

SPEAKER_00 44:45

That's right. So Pentecost is the Greek name tied to this feast, okay? There's a Christian connection here. We can note in Acts 2 that it becomes a moment of divine outpouring when the new covenant comes, right? So the the Torah was given at Shavuot at Pentecost, and the new covenant was given at Pentecost in Acts 2. That's the tie, okay? And this ties us to this, and Jesus comes from this because Jesus comes from David's line and Ruth is in David's line. So this isn't a rabbinic argument, but the rabbis see more than we give them credit for. Because God is the king of all people and he chose a nation for this very reason. Yep. And we just get to be engrafted into it. So the rabbis read Ruth as Pentecost because it's a harvest book for a harvest feast. They also read it because Ruth models acceptance of Israel's God and people. She becomes the one true man, one new man, echoing Sinai and reception of the wisdom of God or Torah. But they use Ruth to teach that true Torah produces a walk away. They connect Ruth to the Davidic line, which gives the feast an added royal significance. This is the becoming for the need for a king. Right. But the Davidic line cannot solve the problem.

SPEAKER_01 46:35

Well, that's the thing. They don't see the whole plan.

SPEAKER_00 46:39

But they see the whole plan. They just don't see the that last they don't see the true king. The one day. Right. That's all that's missing in the theology. So this has been week uh one of Ruth. Um we could go on for many more hours.

SPEAKER_01 46:56

Well, we'll get back to this when we when we do our our line by line. Yeah. We're coming back to it, but it's gonna be it's gonna be a long time ago. A long time to come.

SPEAKER_00 47:04

Quite a while. So we just want to thank you for being here. We want to pray um that the Lord bless you and keep you and make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you and turn his face towards you and bring you peace. Chip, thanks for being here. I really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 47:17

I couldn't think of a better, a better way to to to uh spend my time, especially to discover the connection between Pentecost and Chevrolet.

SPEAKER_00 47:25

So Naomi returned and with her Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, who returned from the land of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

SPEAKER_02 47:35

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 47:36

Amen. Have a great one, guys. Uh modern my nature book.org. Please feel free to reach out to us. We'd certainly appreciate it. Bye bye for now.

SPEAKER_01 47:44

God bless you all.