Ruth 2 introduces Boaz who makes Ruth feel lucky. She was lucky to come to his part of the field because he did not make excuses to turn a blind eye but saw her and had compassion upon her. She was lucky to come to his part of the field because he not only satisfied the letter of the law, narrowly interpreted, but went far above and beyond that. Actually there is no such thing as luck, it was the providence of God that brought her to the worshiping congregation where she could feel lucky, whereas in another field she might have been assaulted.


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Labels: church, law, luck, moab, providence, ruth

Ruth 1 leads us to reflect on this snowy day on the radical commitment of church membership -- a radical commitment to one another. The passage shows many contrasts. Bethlehem means "House of Bread" and Moab is the people who would not give Israel any bread when they came out of Egypt. The church is where we feast on the bread of life. Ruth and Orpha are another contrast. Here is where we see the text as a challenge to radical commitment -- marriage like commitment to one another. And then Ruth and Naomi are contrasts as well. Ruth as a type of Gentiles coming to Christ and Naomi as a type of the Jews coming to Christ. Both Jews and Gentiles coming together to form one church.

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Labels: bread, church, Gentiles, membership, moab, ruth