Judges 21:1- Ruth 1:22, John 4:4-42, Psalms 105:1-15, Proverbs 14:24-25
Today is the 5th day of May. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian it is wonderful to be here with you today as we step into a new week together. And as we step into this new week we will also be stepping into a new book and we’ll talk about that when we get there, the book of Ruth. But we have…well…we started reading this pretty dark story in the book of Judges, the final story in the book of Judges yesterday that culminated with the near annihilation of the tribe of Benjamin over some atrocities that happened in Benjamin in the city of Gibeon in the land of Benjamin. And the outcry caused Civil War, which caused a lot of the loss of life on both sides and like I said, and the near annihilation of the tribe of Benjamin. And, so, we’ll conclude that story as we conclude the book of Judges and then we will move ourselves into the book of Ruth but first, Judges chapter 21. And we will read from the New English translation, the NET Bible this week.
Introduction to the Book of Ruth:
Okay, so that concludes the book of Judges, the 13 people who led Israel after Joshua. And, yeah, we’ve gone through this book and we can see that, the summary, the final sentence of the book pretty much summarizes what was going on. “In those days Israel had no king. Each man did what he considered to be right”, which now brings us to the book of Ruth. And you, know, as I take this particular trail, this path through the Scriptures, every year there are certain moments in the year that I look forward to arriving at and maybe you do too, and this is one of them. This story comes at a time where, you know, we’ve gone through the conquest, we’ve followed Joshua across the Jordan River into the promised land. We went through all of that and then we moved into the book of Judges and how it kind of all began to disintegrate. And, so, we come to the book of Ruth and it’s like a breath of fresh air here in the springtime. And we don’t get spend a lot of time in the book of Ruth. We’ll get to read it today and tomorrow, but it is really a breathtaking story and at its heart it’s an account of God’s faithfulness through three specific lives, through three specific people chose to do the right thing and be honorable. And through their faithfulness came king David. Now as we conclude the book of Judges, Israel has no king and everyone’s doing what they think is right. But we will enter into the time where there are kings and we will meet King David. And he comes to be, in part, because of the story that we’re about to read. And through the line of King David came Jesus. So, Ruth is an important story. To be sure, Ruth will show us that when people who have character use that character to make the right and correct decisions regardless of the circumstance, God’s faithfulness is there. And on the heels of our conclusion of the book of Judges, the book of Ruth comes and gives a really beautiful picture of valiant women of character. And nobody really knows who wrote the book of Ruth. There’s a Hebrew Jewish tradition that talks about Samuel maybe writing it although most scholars of biblical history don’t think that’s possible. This would’ve been written after Samuel died in the time of King David and yet refers to the time of the Judges. Actually, there was a point in history where Ruth was a part of the book of Judges, but then later was given its own delineation. So, we’ve seen some really hard things happen, some usually difficult situations over the last month reading, colossal mistakes that people made as they walked away from God and the consequences and the circumstances that swirled toward anarchy as a result. So, we arrive here and breathe the fresh air of springtime. People still have character. People aren’t only doing what they think it is right in their own eyes. God shows up in His faithfulness. And we begin. Ruth, chapter 1.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for this new week in Your word. And even as we see the transitions continuing to happen in the seasons as the things begin to warm up here in the northern hemisphere and cool down in the southern hemisphere we also recognize the transition that we’re in as we move into the book of Ruth, which will transition us into new eras in the story that we’re being told as we move our way through the Old Testament. So, come Holy Spirit as we mark this time of transition. And even as we mark our own transitions in our own lives, come Holy Spirit to lead us forward we ask. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
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And that is it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.