In this passage we will encounter some marvelous encouragement on behalf of Paul, and catch a glimpse of the life of the Thessalonians since he and his company left them.
First of all, I do not think it is insignificant that he labels them as “loved by God.” A little later on in the passage, he mentions the “sever suffering” they are enduring, and one can only imagine what a temptation it was for the young Thessalonian believers to not believe that they were loved by God. Doubtless they did not feel loved by God. Certainly if God was as good and as powerful as Paul described Him, they would not be suffering the way they were.
But Paul is able to say, in complete awareness of their situation and with complete confidence in the veracity of his words, they were loved by God.
We should never mistake our situation in life for God’s level of love for us. We should never equate difficult situations for a lack of love, and we should never limit God’s love to blessed situations. If we live in blessing and success all our lives, the truth will still hold that we will never understand the height, depth, and width of God’s love for us.
Do you need to be reminded that you are loved by God?
Paul also notes that the Thessalonians imitated him and his company well since they have been gone. Commentators will sometimes label Paul as one of the most arrogant men in Scripture for this kind of passage. You do not need to read through many of his epistles before you come across this kind of language. But what is often overlooked is the historical context in which Paul encouraged imitation and the Scriptural context in which he mentions imitation. As for historical context, Paul and company were likely the only examples the Thessalonians had for Christian behavior and lifestyle. If they did not imitate Paul, who were they going to imitate? And as for Scriptural context, when Paul mentions imitation, he never stops with himself. As here in 1 Thessalonians, he is always quick to take the young Christians beyond himself to Christ. Paul is far from arrogant (in the sense of the vice of pride)!
In his letters, Paul uses a range of vocabulary to describe the kinds of suffering he and the early believers endured. Here, when he calls it “severe suffering,” he is using about the most violent imagery he can. The verb form of this word is the word used in Greek for crushing grapes to make wine. And yet, the Thessalonians received the Word with joy! What an amazing reality. Where Paul reminded them not to equate their difficulty with a lack of God’s love, they had already disconnected their trials from their sense of joy.
As one final brief note on this passage (see the audio version for the whole study), the topic of God’s wrath shows up at the end of this chapter. Because the issues of the Day of the Lord and the Rapture will come up later, I will make one brief observation. The NT uses basically two concepts/words for wrath or anger. Thumos is intended to convey the kind of anger which arises quickly and dissipates quickly. Orge, which is the word of choice in contexts dealing with God’s final wrath against sin, describes an anger which is more of a state of mind. It is the kind of anger which builds up for a long time and has a great deal of intent and deliberation behind it. God’s wrath upon sin is an orge kind of anger.
What is marvelous, though, about orge is that those who place their trust in Christ are sparred from it. As with 1:10, God saves those who know Him from His final outpouring of wrath.
Monday, October 11, 2004
Thursday, September 30, 2004
1 Thessalonians 1:2-3
As I began to work through this short passage I was struck by a handful of things, not the least of which was the trio of phrases, “work produced by faith…labor prompted by love…endurance inspired by hope.”
First of all, however, I think we should take notice again of Paul’s thanksgiving. He notes that every time he is reminded of the Thessalonians he is thankful for them. It might be hard for us to imagine the kind of encouragement this was for the young church. The were not that old in their faith, Paul and his group had by now all left them, and they were suffering “severe persecution.” In the midst of that, their founder writes and tells them that he is extremely thankful for them! We do not often think of thanksgiving as a spiritual discipline, but it is. It is a practice we find all over the Scriptures, and it is one of those exercises which makes us more like Christ and less like our own sinful nature. Being thankful makes us humble and less self-centered; and being thankful encourages others. We might have thanked God for something recently, but when was the last time you did what Paul does in our passage? When was the last time you told someone you were deeply thankful for them and why?
Practice thankfulness and thanksgiving!
Concerning this trio of ideas, we have a familiar list produced by Paul-faith, love and hope. We likely know of this same list in 1 Corinthians 13:13, but it appears a few more times together like this. Another is in Colossians 1:3-5. Each time it appears together like this it seems to put across a kind of short-hand for, “you are functioning the way you should be functioning.” Paul, then, is commending the Thessalonians in large part because the word he had preached had its intended result. They were more faithful, loving and hopeful.
In the Bible Study itself, we delved a little more into the specifics of faith, hope and love, but here I want to ask a question that I think is posed by the text of 1 and 2 Thessalonians. One thing we will discover is that though there appeared to be a large segment of the church which had responded well to the Gospel (and specifically the doctrine of the End), there seems to be a significant group which did not. We find one group characterized by faith, hope and love, and the second group characterized by anxiety, fear and sloth.
How does that happen? How is it that the same group of people hears the same message at the same time from the same person and is split into diametrically opposed reactions?
What I think we find in the text is that the difference begins and ends in the life of the believer’s mind. When Paul addressed those who were fearful and slothful, he not only dealt with their inappropriate behavior, he tried to correct their thinking about the doctrine. The reason we have a lot of end-times doctrine in these two books is because so many people were behaving badly.
The first crowd was responding correctly to the doctrine because they grasped it well. So Paul only needed to commend them and encourage them to continue. The second group needed to have their behavior dealt with, so Paul condemned the behavior and tried to re-teach them.
The recent trend in evangelicalism of neglecting the life of the mind is leading to disastrous consequences. Many well known surveys make the point that the behavior between believers and non-believers is indistinguishable. Why? At least part of the reason is that most American Christians have quit letting the doctrines of God flood their minds and souls. They really don’t know or understand God, so how can we expect their behavior to be Godly? If Paul corrected thinking about doctrine in order to address poor behavior, I think that strategy is good enough for us as well.
First of all, however, I think we should take notice again of Paul’s thanksgiving. He notes that every time he is reminded of the Thessalonians he is thankful for them. It might be hard for us to imagine the kind of encouragement this was for the young church. The were not that old in their faith, Paul and his group had by now all left them, and they were suffering “severe persecution.” In the midst of that, their founder writes and tells them that he is extremely thankful for them! We do not often think of thanksgiving as a spiritual discipline, but it is. It is a practice we find all over the Scriptures, and it is one of those exercises which makes us more like Christ and less like our own sinful nature. Being thankful makes us humble and less self-centered; and being thankful encourages others. We might have thanked God for something recently, but when was the last time you did what Paul does in our passage? When was the last time you told someone you were deeply thankful for them and why?
Practice thankfulness and thanksgiving!
Concerning this trio of ideas, we have a familiar list produced by Paul-faith, love and hope. We likely know of this same list in 1 Corinthians 13:13, but it appears a few more times together like this. Another is in Colossians 1:3-5. Each time it appears together like this it seems to put across a kind of short-hand for, “you are functioning the way you should be functioning.” Paul, then, is commending the Thessalonians in large part because the word he had preached had its intended result. They were more faithful, loving and hopeful.
In the Bible Study itself, we delved a little more into the specifics of faith, hope and love, but here I want to ask a question that I think is posed by the text of 1 and 2 Thessalonians. One thing we will discover is that though there appeared to be a large segment of the church which had responded well to the Gospel (and specifically the doctrine of the End), there seems to be a significant group which did not. We find one group characterized by faith, hope and love, and the second group characterized by anxiety, fear and sloth.
How does that happen? How is it that the same group of people hears the same message at the same time from the same person and is split into diametrically opposed reactions?
What I think we find in the text is that the difference begins and ends in the life of the believer’s mind. When Paul addressed those who were fearful and slothful, he not only dealt with their inappropriate behavior, he tried to correct their thinking about the doctrine. The reason we have a lot of end-times doctrine in these two books is because so many people were behaving badly.
Maladjusted thinking leads to maladjusted behavior. To readjust behavior, you must begin by readjusting thinking.
The first crowd was responding correctly to the doctrine because they grasped it well. So Paul only needed to commend them and encourage them to continue. The second group needed to have their behavior dealt with, so Paul condemned the behavior and tried to re-teach them.
The recent trend in evangelicalism of neglecting the life of the mind is leading to disastrous consequences. Many well known surveys make the point that the behavior between believers and non-believers is indistinguishable. Why? At least part of the reason is that most American Christians have quit letting the doctrines of God flood their minds and souls. They really don’t know or understand God, so how can we expect their behavior to be Godly? If Paul corrected thinking about doctrine in order to address poor behavior, I think that strategy is good enough for us as well.
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
1 Thessalonians 1:1
I. Background
It is profitable, and I think exciting, to take a big-picture look at Acts 15, 16, 17 and 18 as we begin this study. These chapters contain parts of Paul’s second missionary journey beginning with the conclusion of the Counsel at Jerusalem in Acts 15. From there Paul and his new partner Silas return to Asia Minor and begin to retrace Paul’s steps. Along the way they pick up a young man named Timothy, and the narration changes from “he” to “we.” For the next few chapters the group that is along for the missionary journey is comprised of (at least) Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke.
By the time Paul reaches Corinth, he has suffered persecution in Thessalonica and Berea, and frustration in Athens and Corinth. We get a glimpse of his mindset in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 where he tells the Corinthians that by the time he got there he was resolved to speak nothing but Christ and Him crucified. He had decided that no matter what he did it would bring difficulty in his path, so he might as well preach Christ alone.
While he is in Corinth, Paul receives word from Timothy about the state of the church in Thessalonica. Apparently the word was relatively good. When Paul opens the epistle to the Thessalonians, he is thankful for their steadfastness and their faith. We can imagine Paul breathing a little fresh air as he hears that the last trip through all the persecution and difficulty had been worth it for the Thessalonican church.
II. Dating
Dealing with the dating of a book in the Bible is often tedious and boring work, but 1 Thessalonians has a certain payoff. Given some of the dating we are able to line up with secular history (as a result of Acts 18 and Paul’s trip to Corinth), many have concluded that 1 Thessalonians was written about 50 AD. What is interesting about that number is that, along with Galatians, 1 Thessalonians is likely the earliest written record we have of Christianity.
Look at it this way. In the Gospels we have the life and words of Christ. In the epistles what we have are the records of the apostles and the early church struggling to interpret and apply the life and words of Christ. When we read 1 Thessalonians, we are reading this process in its rawest of forms. In essence, the apostles were working with the same issues we are. We want to know what it means to be a Christian in our world-how does being a Christian make me different? That is exactly the issue Paul and the other apostles were addressing when they wrote to people who were pagan Greeks or Orthodox Jews just months before.
What makes me a Christian, and what does being a Christian make me?
III. 1:1
In this small verse we should pause and pay attention to what we might call Paul’s “assumptions” about the church. The first I want to mention is that he labeled the church as being “in God the Father.” The word “in” carries with it not only the sense of belonging to God, but dependence on God as well. The church begins and ends with God. There is a great deal of pressure in our culture to reshape church in anthropocentric terms-to make people the focus of church in inappropriate ways. Paul’s vision is very different. The church is always theocentric. It is always about and for God and everything else flows from there. The church exists because of the will and work of God, and for the will and work of God. Os Guiness put it this way when he said that when we make the masses sovereign instead of the message, we have lost the focus and purpose of the Church.
And then there is the “tag line” of “Grace and Peace to you.” With phrases as common and simple as this one, it is easy to gloss over it and loose its intended impact. These terms for Paul have theological content, and are not simple greetings. One way to look at this line is as if Paul is saying, “I pray that God’s work among you would continue (grace), and that the natural consequences of His work would take hold (peace).” I want to leave off my thoughts with a passage from Isaiah about peace. I love this passage in part because it gives me a condition-it gives me something I can check in my life to see whether I am succeeding or falling short of the goal.
Isaiah 26:3 (ESV)
You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.
It is profitable, and I think exciting, to take a big-picture look at Acts 15, 16, 17 and 18 as we begin this study. These chapters contain parts of Paul’s second missionary journey beginning with the conclusion of the Counsel at Jerusalem in Acts 15. From there Paul and his new partner Silas return to Asia Minor and begin to retrace Paul’s steps. Along the way they pick up a young man named Timothy, and the narration changes from “he” to “we.” For the next few chapters the group that is along for the missionary journey is comprised of (at least) Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke.
By the time Paul reaches Corinth, he has suffered persecution in Thessalonica and Berea, and frustration in Athens and Corinth. We get a glimpse of his mindset in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 where he tells the Corinthians that by the time he got there he was resolved to speak nothing but Christ and Him crucified. He had decided that no matter what he did it would bring difficulty in his path, so he might as well preach Christ alone.
While he is in Corinth, Paul receives word from Timothy about the state of the church in Thessalonica. Apparently the word was relatively good. When Paul opens the epistle to the Thessalonians, he is thankful for their steadfastness and their faith. We can imagine Paul breathing a little fresh air as he hears that the last trip through all the persecution and difficulty had been worth it for the Thessalonican church.
II. Dating
Dealing with the dating of a book in the Bible is often tedious and boring work, but 1 Thessalonians has a certain payoff. Given some of the dating we are able to line up with secular history (as a result of Acts 18 and Paul’s trip to Corinth), many have concluded that 1 Thessalonians was written about 50 AD. What is interesting about that number is that, along with Galatians, 1 Thessalonians is likely the earliest written record we have of Christianity.
Look at it this way. In the Gospels we have the life and words of Christ. In the epistles what we have are the records of the apostles and the early church struggling to interpret and apply the life and words of Christ. When we read 1 Thessalonians, we are reading this process in its rawest of forms. In essence, the apostles were working with the same issues we are. We want to know what it means to be a Christian in our world-how does being a Christian make me different? That is exactly the issue Paul and the other apostles were addressing when they wrote to people who were pagan Greeks or Orthodox Jews just months before.
What makes me a Christian, and what does being a Christian make me?
III. 1:1
In this small verse we should pause and pay attention to what we might call Paul’s “assumptions” about the church. The first I want to mention is that he labeled the church as being “in God the Father.” The word “in” carries with it not only the sense of belonging to God, but dependence on God as well. The church begins and ends with God. There is a great deal of pressure in our culture to reshape church in anthropocentric terms-to make people the focus of church in inappropriate ways. Paul’s vision is very different. The church is always theocentric. It is always about and for God and everything else flows from there. The church exists because of the will and work of God, and for the will and work of God. Os Guiness put it this way when he said that when we make the masses sovereign instead of the message, we have lost the focus and purpose of the Church.
And then there is the “tag line” of “Grace and Peace to you.” With phrases as common and simple as this one, it is easy to gloss over it and loose its intended impact. These terms for Paul have theological content, and are not simple greetings. One way to look at this line is as if Paul is saying, “I pray that God’s work among you would continue (grace), and that the natural consequences of His work would take hold (peace).” I want to leave off my thoughts with a passage from Isaiah about peace. I love this passage in part because it gives me a condition-it gives me something I can check in my life to see whether I am succeeding or falling short of the goal.
Isaiah 26:3 (ESV)
You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
Ruth 4
Ruth 4
Ruth chapter four opens with the dawn that closes chapter three. In the middle of the previous night, Ruth and Boaz had their encounter and proposal of marriage. Early that morning Ruth returns to Naomi, and Naomi declares that the sun will not set again until Boaz has settled the matter one way or the other. In the misty dawn of that very day while Ruth and Naomi celebrate their possibilities, Boaz is on his way to the city gate.
It is there where Boaz will be able to official transact the business which has to do with not only Ruth’s status, but Naomi’s land as well. As he is on his way, he sees the kinsman-redeemer he referred to in chapter three, and he calls him over to the gate. Interestingly, he does not give him a name. Clearly he not only has a name, but Boaz would have known it. They were related, after all. So why no name? Given the laws of redemption and levarite marriage, the fact that his unnamed man does not follow through on his duty to his family would lead to disgrace. Or as the NIV puts it, his would then be known as the “Family of the Unsandled” (Deut 25). So we may guess that the author has spared this man’s family from lasting shame by not naming him. Another guess is that it is a kind of subtle judgment on his refusal to marry Ruth. The man tells Boaz that if he marries Ruth, his own family line would be thinned, and he is not willing to do that. In order to save his own family name, his name is lost forever. We all know Boaz and the extraordinary deeds he performs, but none of us know that other guy who refused to show hesed to Ruth and Naomi.
This portion of the story provides a good place to talk about Christ in the pages of Ruth. First, a word of caution. Looking for types in the OT is a fun and sometimes rewarding process, but it can easily be taken to extremes. There are a few types we know for sure are in the OT because they are mentioned in the New, and there are a few which are pretty obviously types, but are not specifically mentioned as such in the New Testament. The book of Ruth falls into the second category. Because of its typology, many have gone a little overboard with finding details in the OT text and allegorizing them into the Gospel account. I would warn against doing that for a couple of reasons. First, it obscures the intent and message of the original text, and second, because it becomes rampant speculation and has little to no grounding in Scripture.
With all that said, this vignette in Ruth is probably the clearest type of Christ and our relationship to the Law in the book. In essence, before Boaz is able to redeem the land and take a gentile bride, the first kinsman-redeemer had to be shown inadequate to the task. Relating that to the Gospel, what the Law was unable to do, Christ did. The Law exists to prove to us that we need a savior, and that it is unable to be that savior. Romans 3 and 8 make that point clearly. Another interesting passage regarding this relationship between us, Christ, and the Law is Hebrews 7. In that chapter, the author of Hebrews is pointing out that Christ had to come because the Law was “set up to fail.” We needed an indestructible priest, not one we had to replace every generation.
Additionally, the issue of Boaz and Christ being kinsman-redeemers is important. One of the great Christian minds, Anselm, wrote a work in the Middle Ages entitled, “Why the God Man?” His answer, in a nutshell, was that God needed to come to earth in human flesh in order to redeem us. (Redemption simply means, “to buy back,” “to restore to original state.”) Hebrews chapter 2 makes that point. Christ came in human flesh and was honored to call us brothers.
What an amazing thing, that God would condescend to human flesh just to bring us back to where He intended us to be-back to what he created us for!
So, back to the story of Ruth.
I find it telling that the book opens and closes with Naomi. Ruth and Boaz have a child, but the child finds itself on Naomi’s lap. In addition, the women of the town are calling it Naomi’s child. This is appropriate and telling in a couple of respects. First, Boaz fulfilled his levarite responsibility by “giving” the child to Naomi and her deceased family. Secondly, it continues to highlight the amazing hesed Ruth is showing Naomi. Through the kindness and humility of Ruth, we find a completely restored Naomi at the end of the book. Not only is her belly filled, but now her home is as well.
Sometimes God puts a similar kind of call on our lives. We are all called to be priests-we believe in the “priesthood of all believers”-and we are all called to serve God’s kingdom on earth somehow. And from time to time it requires a Ruth-like willingness to fade into the background while God works amazing things in the lives of those around us. Recall that up to this point, Ruth was a widow in a foreign country. After her marriage to Boaz she could have left Naomi and taken the child as her own. That would have been nice for Ruth, but it would have obstructed what God wanted to do for Naomi. The kind of act taken by Ruth was not only a key component to God’s work in another’s life, but it took a lot of humility. Not everyone is willing or able to fade into the background while all the attention seems to be headed in the direction of another.
Take for instance Augustine. You have probably heard of Augustine-one of the luminaries of Christian theology and philosophy almost 2000 years after his death. But have you heard of Bishop Ambrose? If you have read The Confessions, you have. Augustine credits a lot of his spiritual journey toward Christ, and then toward maturity to the influence of Ambrose. Without a person willing to minister in Ambrose’s position, we might not have someone like Augustine.
God may not make us all fulfill that kind of role with our life’s work, but I believe from time to time we all need to fade into the background and allow God to do something wonderful in someone else’s life.
Ruth chapter four opens with the dawn that closes chapter three. In the middle of the previous night, Ruth and Boaz had their encounter and proposal of marriage. Early that morning Ruth returns to Naomi, and Naomi declares that the sun will not set again until Boaz has settled the matter one way or the other. In the misty dawn of that very day while Ruth and Naomi celebrate their possibilities, Boaz is on his way to the city gate.
It is there where Boaz will be able to official transact the business which has to do with not only Ruth’s status, but Naomi’s land as well. As he is on his way, he sees the kinsman-redeemer he referred to in chapter three, and he calls him over to the gate. Interestingly, he does not give him a name. Clearly he not only has a name, but Boaz would have known it. They were related, after all. So why no name? Given the laws of redemption and levarite marriage, the fact that his unnamed man does not follow through on his duty to his family would lead to disgrace. Or as the NIV puts it, his would then be known as the “Family of the Unsandled” (Deut 25). So we may guess that the author has spared this man’s family from lasting shame by not naming him. Another guess is that it is a kind of subtle judgment on his refusal to marry Ruth. The man tells Boaz that if he marries Ruth, his own family line would be thinned, and he is not willing to do that. In order to save his own family name, his name is lost forever. We all know Boaz and the extraordinary deeds he performs, but none of us know that other guy who refused to show hesed to Ruth and Naomi.
This portion of the story provides a good place to talk about Christ in the pages of Ruth. First, a word of caution. Looking for types in the OT is a fun and sometimes rewarding process, but it can easily be taken to extremes. There are a few types we know for sure are in the OT because they are mentioned in the New, and there are a few which are pretty obviously types, but are not specifically mentioned as such in the New Testament. The book of Ruth falls into the second category. Because of its typology, many have gone a little overboard with finding details in the OT text and allegorizing them into the Gospel account. I would warn against doing that for a couple of reasons. First, it obscures the intent and message of the original text, and second, because it becomes rampant speculation and has little to no grounding in Scripture.
With all that said, this vignette in Ruth is probably the clearest type of Christ and our relationship to the Law in the book. In essence, before Boaz is able to redeem the land and take a gentile bride, the first kinsman-redeemer had to be shown inadequate to the task. Relating that to the Gospel, what the Law was unable to do, Christ did. The Law exists to prove to us that we need a savior, and that it is unable to be that savior. Romans 3 and 8 make that point clearly. Another interesting passage regarding this relationship between us, Christ, and the Law is Hebrews 7. In that chapter, the author of Hebrews is pointing out that Christ had to come because the Law was “set up to fail.” We needed an indestructible priest, not one we had to replace every generation.
Additionally, the issue of Boaz and Christ being kinsman-redeemers is important. One of the great Christian minds, Anselm, wrote a work in the Middle Ages entitled, “Why the God Man?” His answer, in a nutshell, was that God needed to come to earth in human flesh in order to redeem us. (Redemption simply means, “to buy back,” “to restore to original state.”) Hebrews chapter 2 makes that point. Christ came in human flesh and was honored to call us brothers.
What an amazing thing, that God would condescend to human flesh just to bring us back to where He intended us to be-back to what he created us for!
So, back to the story of Ruth.
I find it telling that the book opens and closes with Naomi. Ruth and Boaz have a child, but the child finds itself on Naomi’s lap. In addition, the women of the town are calling it Naomi’s child. This is appropriate and telling in a couple of respects. First, Boaz fulfilled his levarite responsibility by “giving” the child to Naomi and her deceased family. Secondly, it continues to highlight the amazing hesed Ruth is showing Naomi. Through the kindness and humility of Ruth, we find a completely restored Naomi at the end of the book. Not only is her belly filled, but now her home is as well.
Sometimes God puts a similar kind of call on our lives. We are all called to be priests-we believe in the “priesthood of all believers”-and we are all called to serve God’s kingdom on earth somehow. And from time to time it requires a Ruth-like willingness to fade into the background while God works amazing things in the lives of those around us. Recall that up to this point, Ruth was a widow in a foreign country. After her marriage to Boaz she could have left Naomi and taken the child as her own. That would have been nice for Ruth, but it would have obstructed what God wanted to do for Naomi. The kind of act taken by Ruth was not only a key component to God’s work in another’s life, but it took a lot of humility. Not everyone is willing or able to fade into the background while all the attention seems to be headed in the direction of another.
Take for instance Augustine. You have probably heard of Augustine-one of the luminaries of Christian theology and philosophy almost 2000 years after his death. But have you heard of Bishop Ambrose? If you have read The Confessions, you have. Augustine credits a lot of his spiritual journey toward Christ, and then toward maturity to the influence of Ambrose. Without a person willing to minister in Ambrose’s position, we might not have someone like Augustine.
God may not make us all fulfill that kind of role with our life’s work, but I believe from time to time we all need to fade into the background and allow God to do something wonderful in someone else’s life.
Tuesday, September 07, 2004
Ruth 3
This chapter poses a couple of difficulties from the outset for a Bible Study. First, it seems fairly straightforward and possibly even mundane on one level. It is a story of a marriage proposition, and a short one at that. Secondly, it is loaded with sexual tension, and intentionally so. So what are we to make of this plan concocted by Naomi and enacted by Ruth?
I want to address the second issue first so we will be able to give ample attention to the first. Naomi’s plan is an infamous one. Chapter three opens with Naomi deciding that it is time for Ruth to settle down with the man who will not only be able to provide Ruth with a stable home, but will also possibly provide Naomi with a renewed family hope. The implications of a marriage between Boaz and Ruth are not lost on Naomi. In the midst of explaining her plan to Ruth she calls Boaz, “a kinsman of ours” (vs. 2). Recall that the point of the Levarite marriage was to continue a particular family unit, not just the broader family name. When the brother dies and the brother-in-law and the widow give birth to a firstborn, that firstborn belongs to the deceased brother and not the brother-in-law. Naomi is on the verge of having her family restored to her.
So in order to accomplish this goal of a marriage between Ruth and Boaz Naomi suggests a plan of action that contains a few distinct components. First, Ruth should go and find Boaz at the threshing floor. Second, she should remain hidden until she can deal with Boaz one-on-one. Third, she is to uncover his feet while he sleeps in order to gain his attention and make the proposal. There is no getting around the fact that this plan has plenty of sexual innuendo built into it. First, when women and threshing floors are put together, the Old Testament sees that as a common situation for prostitution (e.g. Hosea 9:1). Secondly, the phrase “uncover his feet” is very similar to other euphemisms in the OT which pretty clearly intend to convey genitalia and sexuality. So, did Ruth and Boaz have a sexual encounter that night (and, more to the point, was it intentional)?
I want to make a couple of points about this aspect of the story. Recall that the book of Ruth is best described as a “short story,” and is a well-crafted one at that. I believe the physical tension built into this chapter serves the story by furthering the romance and relationship between Ruth and Boaz. There is more than just a marriage of family honor at stake here. There is real physical and personal chemistry involved. We are to believe that their relationship is the complete package of family ties, legal and cultural code, and intimate love.
As for the direct question itself, I think the text clears up the tension a little later on when Boaz responds to Ruth’s proposal. In verse 11 Boaz refers to her as a woman of “noble character.” Despite the cultural differences between the modern reader and ancient Israel, fornication would have been an ignoble thing in Boaz’s eyes. I am not so sure Boaz would have referred to her as noble if she had played the prostitute that night. Secondly, when he encourages her to stay the night, the text could have used any other phrase laced with sexual overtones, but it uses a rather mundane phrase for “lodge here” for the night. And finally, Boaz encourages Ruth to leave the threshing floor before anyone else wakes up and realizes there is a woman there, thus protecting her noble character from the allegation of prostitution.
After the study, a member of the group brought up an interesting point. It might be possible that Naomi was still thinking more like a Moabite than an upstanding Israelite when she concocted the plan for Ruth. In essence, it is possible that Naomi’s intent was sexual in nature, but Ruth’s execution of the plan was not.
As for the story in chapter three itself I would like to briefly discuss Naomi and Boaz in relation to their prayers for Ruth in chapters one and two, and them Naomi herself and her metamorphosis since the end of chapter one.
When Naomi tells Ruth it is time for her to “try to find a home for [Ruth],” it conjures up images of her prayer for Orpah and Ruth in chapter one. There, on their way back to Bethlehem, Naomi releases them with the prayer, “May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband” (vs. 9). The phrases, “find a home” and “find rest” are similar to each other, and the second is intended to make us recall the first. In Ruth’s request to Boaz we read these words, “spread your garment over me” (vs. 9). Here, Ruth has turned Boaz’s prayer in 2:12, “May the LORD repay you…under whose wings you have come to take refuge."
In both cases, we find that God has begun to use the people who prayed over Ruth as instruments toward the fulfillment of those prayers. In a sense, Naomi and Boaz have become the answers to their own prayers. I think from time to time when we pray for things or for people, we inadvertently imagine that God will accomplish our prayer behind the scenes in some kind of mystical and quiet sort of way. As we see with Naomi and Boaz, though, God will often use us to help bring about the answers to our prayers. Be alert as you pray-God may be at work in you to do what is in your hand to do!
And finally, I want to turn our attention to Naomi one more time. At the end of chapter one, we saw an embittered woman who considered God her enemy. Chapter two opens with her conspicuous silence. She was in a position to help Ruth, but she does not. Then as chapter two closes, we see a glimmer of hope in Naomi. And then with the opening of chapter three, we see a fully-engaged Naomi who sees potential for her family and for Ruth as a result of Boaz’s kindness. She is now ready and willing to get involved with the rest of the world, and ultimately, with God’s plan for her and Ruth. Ruth and Boaz’s kindness and godliness have given Naomi hope, and hope has changed her.
Hope is a Christian virtue we do not talk about often. We discuss faith and love, but we do not tend to ponder hope. Christians are often chided for having a kind of “pie-in-the-sky” view of life because of our need to be hopeful. It is assumed that to hope is to believe that everything will come up roses, or that we will always get the raise, or things will always go our way. I think it is interesting to note that the one book outside of Psalms which deals the most with the idea of hope is Job. In that book, Job and his interlocutors pray for hope, cling to hope, deride hope, and reflect on hope. Although Job’s life is restored to him, it is during the trial that he tries to come to terms with his hope in God.
What is hope from a biblical point of view? I think one way of seeing it is that hope is the deep and abiding hope that God’s plan is always right and good. (Keep in mind how I am not using “good.” “Good” in this context does not mean anything like “easy,” “comfortable,” etc.) It is deep and abiding because it touches every aspect of our lives and is stronger than any trial we endure. For further reflections on hope, I want to refer you to another blog of mine.
To bring this brief reflection on hope back to the book of Ruth, I want to reference Psalm 119:74, “May those who fear you rejoice when they see me, for I have put my hope in your word.” People can be changed because of the hope they see in us, as individuals and as a community of believers. Have you lost hope? God, in His unceasing grace and love will work to restore it. Are you a touchstone for other’s hope? Are they able to see you and rejoice because you have put your hope in God’s word?
I want to address the second issue first so we will be able to give ample attention to the first. Naomi’s plan is an infamous one. Chapter three opens with Naomi deciding that it is time for Ruth to settle down with the man who will not only be able to provide Ruth with a stable home, but will also possibly provide Naomi with a renewed family hope. The implications of a marriage between Boaz and Ruth are not lost on Naomi. In the midst of explaining her plan to Ruth she calls Boaz, “a kinsman of ours” (vs. 2). Recall that the point of the Levarite marriage was to continue a particular family unit, not just the broader family name. When the brother dies and the brother-in-law and the widow give birth to a firstborn, that firstborn belongs to the deceased brother and not the brother-in-law. Naomi is on the verge of having her family restored to her.
So in order to accomplish this goal of a marriage between Ruth and Boaz Naomi suggests a plan of action that contains a few distinct components. First, Ruth should go and find Boaz at the threshing floor. Second, she should remain hidden until she can deal with Boaz one-on-one. Third, she is to uncover his feet while he sleeps in order to gain his attention and make the proposal. There is no getting around the fact that this plan has plenty of sexual innuendo built into it. First, when women and threshing floors are put together, the Old Testament sees that as a common situation for prostitution (e.g. Hosea 9:1). Secondly, the phrase “uncover his feet” is very similar to other euphemisms in the OT which pretty clearly intend to convey genitalia and sexuality. So, did Ruth and Boaz have a sexual encounter that night (and, more to the point, was it intentional)?
I want to make a couple of points about this aspect of the story. Recall that the book of Ruth is best described as a “short story,” and is a well-crafted one at that. I believe the physical tension built into this chapter serves the story by furthering the romance and relationship between Ruth and Boaz. There is more than just a marriage of family honor at stake here. There is real physical and personal chemistry involved. We are to believe that their relationship is the complete package of family ties, legal and cultural code, and intimate love.
As for the direct question itself, I think the text clears up the tension a little later on when Boaz responds to Ruth’s proposal. In verse 11 Boaz refers to her as a woman of “noble character.” Despite the cultural differences between the modern reader and ancient Israel, fornication would have been an ignoble thing in Boaz’s eyes. I am not so sure Boaz would have referred to her as noble if she had played the prostitute that night. Secondly, when he encourages her to stay the night, the text could have used any other phrase laced with sexual overtones, but it uses a rather mundane phrase for “lodge here” for the night. And finally, Boaz encourages Ruth to leave the threshing floor before anyone else wakes up and realizes there is a woman there, thus protecting her noble character from the allegation of prostitution.
After the study, a member of the group brought up an interesting point. It might be possible that Naomi was still thinking more like a Moabite than an upstanding Israelite when she concocted the plan for Ruth. In essence, it is possible that Naomi’s intent was sexual in nature, but Ruth’s execution of the plan was not.
As for the story in chapter three itself I would like to briefly discuss Naomi and Boaz in relation to their prayers for Ruth in chapters one and two, and them Naomi herself and her metamorphosis since the end of chapter one.
When Naomi tells Ruth it is time for her to “try to find a home for [Ruth],” it conjures up images of her prayer for Orpah and Ruth in chapter one. There, on their way back to Bethlehem, Naomi releases them with the prayer, “May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband” (vs. 9). The phrases, “find a home” and “find rest” are similar to each other, and the second is intended to make us recall the first. In Ruth’s request to Boaz we read these words, “spread your garment over me” (vs. 9). Here, Ruth has turned Boaz’s prayer in 2:12, “May the LORD repay you…under whose wings you have come to take refuge."
In both cases, we find that God has begun to use the people who prayed over Ruth as instruments toward the fulfillment of those prayers. In a sense, Naomi and Boaz have become the answers to their own prayers. I think from time to time when we pray for things or for people, we inadvertently imagine that God will accomplish our prayer behind the scenes in some kind of mystical and quiet sort of way. As we see with Naomi and Boaz, though, God will often use us to help bring about the answers to our prayers. Be alert as you pray-God may be at work in you to do what is in your hand to do!
And finally, I want to turn our attention to Naomi one more time. At the end of chapter one, we saw an embittered woman who considered God her enemy. Chapter two opens with her conspicuous silence. She was in a position to help Ruth, but she does not. Then as chapter two closes, we see a glimmer of hope in Naomi. And then with the opening of chapter three, we see a fully-engaged Naomi who sees potential for her family and for Ruth as a result of Boaz’s kindness. She is now ready and willing to get involved with the rest of the world, and ultimately, with God’s plan for her and Ruth. Ruth and Boaz’s kindness and godliness have given Naomi hope, and hope has changed her.
Hope is a Christian virtue we do not talk about often. We discuss faith and love, but we do not tend to ponder hope. Christians are often chided for having a kind of “pie-in-the-sky” view of life because of our need to be hopeful. It is assumed that to hope is to believe that everything will come up roses, or that we will always get the raise, or things will always go our way. I think it is interesting to note that the one book outside of Psalms which deals the most with the idea of hope is Job. In that book, Job and his interlocutors pray for hope, cling to hope, deride hope, and reflect on hope. Although Job’s life is restored to him, it is during the trial that he tries to come to terms with his hope in God.
What is hope from a biblical point of view? I think one way of seeing it is that hope is the deep and abiding hope that God’s plan is always right and good. (Keep in mind how I am not using “good.” “Good” in this context does not mean anything like “easy,” “comfortable,” etc.) It is deep and abiding because it touches every aspect of our lives and is stronger than any trial we endure. For further reflections on hope, I want to refer you to another blog of mine.
To bring this brief reflection on hope back to the book of Ruth, I want to reference Psalm 119:74, “May those who fear you rejoice when they see me, for I have put my hope in your word.” People can be changed because of the hope they see in us, as individuals and as a community of believers. Have you lost hope? God, in His unceasing grace and love will work to restore it. Are you a touchstone for other’s hope? Are they able to see you and rejoice because you have put your hope in God’s word?
Tuesday, August 17, 2004
Ruth 2-God at Work Through Character
In these first few verses of chapter 2, we are going to pay attention to the characters of Ruth and Boaz. As in the last chapter, if we do not stop to pay attention to the simple, almost mundane, things of the book of Ruth, the story will pass us by. Instead of seeing this as just a simple and pastoral short story, God Himself will be revealed to us as the hero of the ordinary life which is submitted to Him.
As for Ruth, the text simply jumps into her decision to head out to the fields. It is almost as if she arrived in Bethlehem, woke up the next morning, and asked for Naomi’s blessing to go and glean in whatever field she could. It is worth notice, I believe, that Naomi did not guide Ruth. Note also that now the roles of the two are reversed. In chapter one Naomi was the widow in a foreign land, and now the text notes that Ruth, the Moabitess, is now in that position. And yet her reaction is one of humility and industry-even when Naomi does not have the strength or the desire to guide her to the nearest family member who could help.
It is often noted that Ruth’s choice is one full of humility and industry. It was a humble choice in large part because she is willingly taking on the task of a beggar who is desperate to feed themselves. It is an industrious act in large part because Naomi has not helped her (either due to age or possibly her bitterness). As Ruth goes to glean in the fields, imaging the harvesters standing and bending over to gather the sheaves, and then imagine a foreign girl on her hands and knees behind them picking up single grains out of the dirt. Lessons like humility and industry are not among the spectacular and crowd-gathering lessons of Scripture, but we will find that these traits were necessary attributes in Ruth in order for God to accomplish His task. (1 Thess. 4:11-12)
As for Boaz, I think a lot can be learned from his first recorded conversation. He and his harvesters greet one another with God on their lips. Boaz is on a business trip to catch up on how the harvest is going, he is not on his way to Synagogue or to the priests. Even so, God is the first thing out of his mouth. Some might pass this over by thinking that it is simply a part of their culture, but that is exactly the point I want to make. Boaz is a part of a culture which has been shaped to saturate its people with the presence and mind of God. (We will see in Boaz a strong, moral character as we continue.) One may see this as simply a part of their culture, but there is nothing simplistic about it.
God went to great lengths to create a culture where His people would be confronted with His reality all the time. Take the familiar passage of Deuteronomy 6:4-9 for instance. The Shemah is not only a memorable phrase which could be easily memorized and confessed, it is a powerful bit of theology and metaphysical ontology. So what does God intend for this bit of theology? He requires that it be taught to children, that it be talked about when you wake up, when you go to the market, when you go to bed-and on it goes. God intended for Himself to be at the forefront of the Hebrew mind and heart all the time.
The New Testament knows something of this as well. In another well-known passage, 1 Thess. 5:16-18, Paul encourages us to be joyful always, to pray always, and to give thanks always. There is no practical way of doing this except to change the way we see the world and put God at the center of it all. Brother Lawrence once said that he determined to make God the aim of all his thoughts and the end of all his actions. He wanted to do and think nothing that did not end up with and in God. Cardinal Suhard said that the best way to be a living witness is not to spread propaganda and not to stir up emotions, but to be a “living mystery.” He said that we should live our lives in such a way that they do not make sense if God does not exist. Does your life only make sense if God is real?
By verse 13 of the second chapter, Ruth and Boaz have met and the stage is set of the happy ending of chapter 4. But note that this only happened because of the ordinary virtues of humility and industry found in Ruth, the God-saturated attitude of Boaz, and of course, the plot-twist of the entire story, the “as it turned out” moment (vs. 3). God is at work in what seems to be a simple act of luck or coincidence (some translations put it, “as luck would have it”). So the unseen hero so far is God Himself.
In closing I want to make this point about the will of God being revealed and understood in our lives. I have made the point that one of the reasons I like the book of Ruth is that it is so much like my life in the sense that there is nothing overtly supernatural about the hand of God in the story. The same is true for the unfolding of God’s will in Ruth’s life. God’s will is not revealed in a momentary peal of thunder or a vision in the night, instead it is unrolled like a scroll day by day.
(Credit to Alister Begg for that last phrase)
As for Ruth, the text simply jumps into her decision to head out to the fields. It is almost as if she arrived in Bethlehem, woke up the next morning, and asked for Naomi’s blessing to go and glean in whatever field she could. It is worth notice, I believe, that Naomi did not guide Ruth. Note also that now the roles of the two are reversed. In chapter one Naomi was the widow in a foreign land, and now the text notes that Ruth, the Moabitess, is now in that position. And yet her reaction is one of humility and industry-even when Naomi does not have the strength or the desire to guide her to the nearest family member who could help.
It is often noted that Ruth’s choice is one full of humility and industry. It was a humble choice in large part because she is willingly taking on the task of a beggar who is desperate to feed themselves. It is an industrious act in large part because Naomi has not helped her (either due to age or possibly her bitterness). As Ruth goes to glean in the fields, imaging the harvesters standing and bending over to gather the sheaves, and then imagine a foreign girl on her hands and knees behind them picking up single grains out of the dirt. Lessons like humility and industry are not among the spectacular and crowd-gathering lessons of Scripture, but we will find that these traits were necessary attributes in Ruth in order for God to accomplish His task. (1 Thess. 4:11-12)
As for Boaz, I think a lot can be learned from his first recorded conversation. He and his harvesters greet one another with God on their lips. Boaz is on a business trip to catch up on how the harvest is going, he is not on his way to Synagogue or to the priests. Even so, God is the first thing out of his mouth. Some might pass this over by thinking that it is simply a part of their culture, but that is exactly the point I want to make. Boaz is a part of a culture which has been shaped to saturate its people with the presence and mind of God. (We will see in Boaz a strong, moral character as we continue.) One may see this as simply a part of their culture, but there is nothing simplistic about it.
God went to great lengths to create a culture where His people would be confronted with His reality all the time. Take the familiar passage of Deuteronomy 6:4-9 for instance. The Shemah is not only a memorable phrase which could be easily memorized and confessed, it is a powerful bit of theology and metaphysical ontology. So what does God intend for this bit of theology? He requires that it be taught to children, that it be talked about when you wake up, when you go to the market, when you go to bed-and on it goes. God intended for Himself to be at the forefront of the Hebrew mind and heart all the time.
The New Testament knows something of this as well. In another well-known passage, 1 Thess. 5:16-18, Paul encourages us to be joyful always, to pray always, and to give thanks always. There is no practical way of doing this except to change the way we see the world and put God at the center of it all. Brother Lawrence once said that he determined to make God the aim of all his thoughts and the end of all his actions. He wanted to do and think nothing that did not end up with and in God. Cardinal Suhard said that the best way to be a living witness is not to spread propaganda and not to stir up emotions, but to be a “living mystery.” He said that we should live our lives in such a way that they do not make sense if God does not exist. Does your life only make sense if God is real?
By verse 13 of the second chapter, Ruth and Boaz have met and the stage is set of the happy ending of chapter 4. But note that this only happened because of the ordinary virtues of humility and industry found in Ruth, the God-saturated attitude of Boaz, and of course, the plot-twist of the entire story, the “as it turned out” moment (vs. 3). God is at work in what seems to be a simple act of luck or coincidence (some translations put it, “as luck would have it”). So the unseen hero so far is God Himself.
In closing I want to make this point about the will of God being revealed and understood in our lives. I have made the point that one of the reasons I like the book of Ruth is that it is so much like my life in the sense that there is nothing overtly supernatural about the hand of God in the story. The same is true for the unfolding of God’s will in Ruth’s life. God’s will is not revealed in a momentary peal of thunder or a vision in the night, instead it is unrolled like a scroll day by day.
(Credit to Alister Begg for that last phrase)
Monday, August 09, 2004
Ruth 1-God At Work In The Ordinary
As I spent time preparing for the book of Ruth, I must admit that I was caught a little off guard with how the book struck me. I guess more appropriately, I was not expecting Ruth to strike me so forcefully. All in all, it has been impressed upon me that Ruth is about the providence and grace of God, not in spite of the simple and pastoral setting of Ruth, but because of it. As I put my notes together for the first study, I decided that a good way to categorize Ruth is “God in the Ordinary.” Through the lives of the characters we are able to watch as common people deal with their lives and how they and God interact.
I guess what strikes me most about Ruth is that it is very much like my life. It has been noted that there are no miraculous events in the book-there are no floating axe heads, no arms growing out of stumps, and no cracking of the sky for the audible voice of God. In fact, if the reader is caught up in looking for God in the spectacular (either in Ruth or in their own lives) they will miss God entirely. Again, that sounds a lot like my life. A common mistake that Ruth will try to correct in us is that we cannot equate the ordinary with the unimportant.
For an mp3 file of the entire Study, visit here. I would like to make just a couple of observations about the beginning of the book.
A character that can easily be looked over is Naomi. After all, the book is about Ruth, Boaz, and ultimately, David. But we should not loose sight of what God does in her life through the course of the book. Chapter 1 serves as a wonderfully crafted insight into her life and state of mind. It begins with famine and a family exodus, and it closes with the return of the barley harvest and a homecoming and what happens in between those bookends is undeniably tragic. Naomi, almost mysteriously, looses her husband and two sons and is left without family in a foreign land.
How does Naomi respond to tragedy? She says that the Lord’s hand has gone out against her (vs. 13) and later she attributes all the tragedy in her life to God alone, “I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty….The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.” (vs. 21) That reaction has a familiar ring for me. I think it is easy for people to blame God for misfortune and tragedy, and yet, it is not so easy for people to thank God for blessing. Nonetheless, at this point in the story, God is Naomi’s enemy. At least, that is how she sees it. As chapter 1 closes Naomi may be home in Bethlehem, but she has become embittered against God.
If, however, we fast forward to the end of the book and look at 4:17, we see that things have changed, and given other conversations through the book, we discover that Naomi and God have been reconciled, so to speak. The question then is, how did God go from being Naomi’s enemy to her friend?
I think the answer lies in Naomi’s relationship with Boaz. Her sentiments are revealed in statements like, “The Lord bless him!...He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” (2:20) Keeping with the nature of the book, Naomi’s relationship with God is not reconciled through a vision or a dream or a prophet-she is brought back to God through the kindness and faithfulness of another. In more common terminology for us, Naomi’s relationship with God is restored in large part through the Christ-likeness of another believer.
Ultimately, Naomi should not have blamed God. God does not curse or tempt even though His plan can feel like it from time to time. But even while Naomi is caught up in her bitterness, God takes the time to reach out to her through the lives of common and ordinary people. God wraps His arms around her through the kindness and loyalty of Ruth, and restores her family and livelihood through the generosity and love of Boaz.
May we see God in the ordinary things of our lives, and may we be God’s grace and love to those He beings across our paths!
I guess what strikes me most about Ruth is that it is very much like my life. It has been noted that there are no miraculous events in the book-there are no floating axe heads, no arms growing out of stumps, and no cracking of the sky for the audible voice of God. In fact, if the reader is caught up in looking for God in the spectacular (either in Ruth or in their own lives) they will miss God entirely. Again, that sounds a lot like my life. A common mistake that Ruth will try to correct in us is that we cannot equate the ordinary with the unimportant.
For an mp3 file of the entire Study, visit here. I would like to make just a couple of observations about the beginning of the book.
A character that can easily be looked over is Naomi. After all, the book is about Ruth, Boaz, and ultimately, David. But we should not loose sight of what God does in her life through the course of the book. Chapter 1 serves as a wonderfully crafted insight into her life and state of mind. It begins with famine and a family exodus, and it closes with the return of the barley harvest and a homecoming and what happens in between those bookends is undeniably tragic. Naomi, almost mysteriously, looses her husband and two sons and is left without family in a foreign land.
How does Naomi respond to tragedy? She says that the Lord’s hand has gone out against her (vs. 13) and later she attributes all the tragedy in her life to God alone, “I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty….The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.” (vs. 21) That reaction has a familiar ring for me. I think it is easy for people to blame God for misfortune and tragedy, and yet, it is not so easy for people to thank God for blessing. Nonetheless, at this point in the story, God is Naomi’s enemy. At least, that is how she sees it. As chapter 1 closes Naomi may be home in Bethlehem, but she has become embittered against God.
If, however, we fast forward to the end of the book and look at 4:17, we see that things have changed, and given other conversations through the book, we discover that Naomi and God have been reconciled, so to speak. The question then is, how did God go from being Naomi’s enemy to her friend?
I think the answer lies in Naomi’s relationship with Boaz. Her sentiments are revealed in statements like, “The Lord bless him!...He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” (2:20) Keeping with the nature of the book, Naomi’s relationship with God is not reconciled through a vision or a dream or a prophet-she is brought back to God through the kindness and faithfulness of another. In more common terminology for us, Naomi’s relationship with God is restored in large part through the Christ-likeness of another believer.
Ultimately, Naomi should not have blamed God. God does not curse or tempt even though His plan can feel like it from time to time. But even while Naomi is caught up in her bitterness, God takes the time to reach out to her through the lives of common and ordinary people. God wraps His arms around her through the kindness and loyalty of Ruth, and restores her family and livelihood through the generosity and love of Boaz.
May we see God in the ordinary things of our lives, and may we be God’s grace and love to those He beings across our paths!
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