TODAY’S BIBLE READING CHALLENGE:
Judges 21:1-Ruth 1:22
John 4:4-42
Psalm 105:1-15
Proverbs 14:25
Judges 21:3 — Why? Perhaps they are asking the wrong question …
Judges 21:19 — Depending on how we read into the word “annual,” this could be problematic. Deuteronomy 16:16 requires that three times a year all the men must come to the feasts. Are they down to just one feast a year?
Ruth 1:1 — More sin. Deuteronomy 28:15 warns that disobedience results in curses, including the ground (Deuteronomy 28:18). The answer to judgment is not fleeing (does Jonah come to mind?). Elimelech died and God declared that death was a punishment for sin (Deuteronomy 28:26). Mahlon and Chilion took wives of the people (general prohibition against intermarriage in Deuteronomy 7:3; specific prohibition against it in Deuteronomy 23:3).
Ruth 1:9 — Ever notice how people living in open sin can still tell you, “God bless you?” While Naomi wanted to wish them Godspeed as they returned to idolatry, that is not permitted (2 John 9-11). While Naomi had an emotional affinity with her daughters-in-law, she should care about not just their next 50 years, but their next 5 million years!
Ruth 1:16 — Naomi realizes the LORD is chastening her (Ruth 1:21). Naomi knew better than to go to Moab, but she still went and lost all that were close to her. Ruth, on the other hand, is responding to what little light she was given, willing to repay the kindness of her mother-in-law with lifelong loyalty, and she was willing to learn about this deity that her mother-in-law had been disobeying. Will the LORD God of Israel Who has declared Himself to be against the family of Ruth (Deuteronomy 23:3) exercise His judgment or will He show mercy? Stay tuned!
John 4:7 — Speaking of women with non-traditional backgrounds, the LORD Jesus had a divine appointment (John 4:4) with a woman who didn’t just have a sinful pedigree, she also had a sinful personal history (John 4:18).
John 4:26 — Similar to His conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus did not tell large groups that He was the Messiah, but only revealed Himself to select individuals. Jewish legal code required there be multiple witnesses to each event. Thus, Nicodemus and this woman could not form the two witnesses because they were testifying to separate events.
John 4:35 — It’s harvest time! Who can you share Jesus with today?
Psalm 105:9-11 — Some people say God is done with Israel. But God made an everlasting covenant to give them the land of Canaan. Today, we are but a few decades into the fulfillment of that promise, a promise that sat unfulfilled for almost two thousand years.
Proverbs 14:25 — From John Gill:
… he “delivers souls”; men, not one man only, but many; a whole family, or more, in danger of being ruined …
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