Month: May 2025

TODAY’S BIBLE READING CHALLENGE:
  Ruth 2:1-4:22
  John 4:43-54
  Psalm 105:16-36
  Proverbs 14:26-27

Ruth and Boaz

Ruth 2:3 — “… and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz …” (KJV) is an interesting concept. Ruth “happened” to go to Boaz’s fields. The lot “happened” to fall on Jonah (Jonah 1:7). The casting of the lot is of the LORD (Proverbs 16:33). Wealth doesn’t come to the lucky, it is of the LORD (Deuteronomy 8:18). Nothing happens by coincidence or chance. If God cares about the birds of the air, He cares about you (Matthew 6:26)!

Ruth 2:12 — Naomi refers to the LORD bringing grief 4 times. Ruth seemed more familiar with the generic name of God than the personal name of the God of Israel (YHVH … in most English Bibles it’s translated as “LORD”). But Boaz and his crew knew the name of the LORD, and Boaz recognizes her trust in this God she barely knows. He is the LORD God of Israel.

Ruth 4:7 — The kinsman-redeemer is a great motif of how Jesus redeemed us. John MacArthur shares this truth in a sermon – here’s a highlight that answers the question from yesterday.

Moabite people were, by God, shut out from the assembly of those who worshiped Him. Shut out, as it were, from redemption because of their iniquities. Turn to Isaiah 56 … verse 1 … prophet writes, “Thus says the Lord … this is from God … ‘Preserve justice and do righteousness, for My salvation is about to come and My righteousness to be revealed. How blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who takes hold of it; who keeps from profaning the Sabbath, keeps his hand from doing any evil.’ Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, ‘The Lord will surely separate me from His people.’

Ruth 4:12 — Chuck Missler points out the background of this prophecy:

In Genesis 38, Tamar had married Judah’s firstborn son, Er, who died without having any children. Under Mosaic law, Judah was expected to provide Tamar a brother to raise up, and he failed to do so. Tamar then resorted to posing as a prostitute and Judah unknowingly got her pregnant. When confronted with the evidence, he confesses that his sin was greater than hers. Tamar gives birth to two sons, Zarah and Pharez. Both are, of course, illegitimate. The Torah provides that a bastard results in being cast out of the congregation for 10 generations. The strange remark in Ruth 4:12 was, in fact, a prophecy: the tenth generation from Pharez was none other than David. And to emphasize this, the book closes with David’s genealogy: [Ruth 4:18-22]

www.khouse.org/articles/2004/522

John 4:46 — This nobleman was possibly Chuzah, husband of Joanna, that we met earlier.

John 4:50 — This nobleman had more faith than Naaman (2 Kings 5:11-12).

Psalm 105:24 — Throughout the Bible we see constant pointing back to the Patriarchs and the message of the Torah. The foundational message of sin and consequence, obedience and blessing, is the foreshadowing of the Savior through messengers like Joseph and Moses (Deuteronomy 18:18).

Proverbs 14:27 — Take a minute and see what the Bible says about the fear of the LORD or listen to this from Patch the Pirate:

Share how reading through the Bible has been a blessing to you! E-mail us at 2018bible@vcyamerica.org or call and leave a message at 414-885-5370.

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Image Credit: Ruth and Boaz. The story of the Bible for young People, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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!

Samaritan at the Well by Giovanni Lanfranco

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 …

Share how reading through the Bible has been a blessing to you! E-mail us at 2018bible@vcyamerica.org or call and leave a message at 414-885-5370.

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Image Credit: Giovanni Lanfranco, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

TODAY’S BIBLE READING CHALLENGE:
  Judges 19:1-20:48
  John 3:22-4:3
  Psalm 104:24-35
  Proverbs 14:22-24

Judges 19:12 — It will not be until 2 Samuel 5:6-10 that David’s armies would capture Jerusalem, and it would become an Israelite city.

Judges 19:15 — No man would show him hospitality. We see hospitality encouraged in Isaiah 58:6-7, Matthew 25:35, Romans 12:13, Hebrews 13:2, 1 Timothy 3:2, 1 Timothy 5:9-10, Titus 1:8, and 1 Peter 4:9. While no command of the Torah mandates hospitality (only the New Testament does), the patriarch Job clearly practiced it (Job 31:32).

Book of Judges Chapter 6-7

Judges 19:22 — These were Benjamites (Judges 19:16) speaking almost exactly what the Sodomites spoke to Lot (Genesis 19:5).

• Belial sons of Gibeah: “Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him.”
• Sodomites: “Bring them out unto us, that we may know them.”

Judges 19:24 — Lot offered his two daughters to the Sodomite mob (Genesis 19:8); the Ephraimite offers his daughter and the Levite’s concubine.

Judges 20:2 — Mizpeh is Jephthah’s hometown.

Judges 20:48 — 65,000 people died in this first Civil War of Israel. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).

John 3:30 — Seven words that make a great life verse.

Psalm 104:34 — How often do you meditate on the LORD?

Proverbs 14:23 — As Patch the Pirate said, “Your walk talks, and your talk talks, but your walk talks louder than your talk talks!”

Share how reading through the Bible has been a blessing to you! E-mail us at 2018bible@vcyamerica.org or call and leave a message at 414-885-5370.

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Image Credit: Distant Shores Media/Sweet Publishing, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

TODAY’S BIBLE READING CHALLENGE:
  Judges 17:1-18:31
  John 3:1-21
  Psalm 104:1-23
  Proverbs 14:20-21

Judges 17:3 — What commandment was violated? The second – “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.” Interestingly, this commandment was repeated 8 additional times in the Torah. No wonder God told His people to read the Word (Joshua 1:8, Deuteronomy 17:19, Deuteronomy 29:9)!

Judges 17:10 — Paris Reidhead preached a famous message entitled “Ten Shekels and a Shirt.”

Judges 17:13 — Welcome to modern pluralism! We have a house of gods (Judges 17:5) and are glad to add some Christianity so we don’t offend the LORD of the Bible!

Judges 18:20 — A Levite who should know the Law is delighted by tribal affinity but not horrified by violating God’s Law. Interestingly, the next time the word “teraphim” is used in the Bible is Hosea 3:4 where God compares Gomer’s adultery to the actions of this Levite.

John 3:1 — The Gospels have little good to say about the Pharisees. However, in Luke 11:37 and Luke 14:1 we see the Pharisees inviting Jesus for a meal. Here, though, we see a Pharisee coming to Jesus to learn. While we wonder at the fear of Nicodemus that led him to come to Jesus by night (sounds like Gideon), we need to recognize that Jesus was letting Nicodemus know a secret, not of His doctrine (John 18:20), but of his identity (Matthew 9:30, Matthew 16:20, Mark 1:34, Mark 1:43-44, Mark 4:10-12, Mark 5:43, Mark 7:36, Luke 5:14). If He was to be publicly identified as the Messiah before He had fulfilled the prophecies of Messiah, He would be rightly condemned as a blasphemer. Thus, He couldn’t tell His identity to more than one potential adversary (Deuteronomy 19:15), until the hour was come (John 12:23).

John 3:16 — From Hal Leonard, the choral version of John 3:16:

John 3:18 — From Earl Martin:

Psalm 104:2 — ”Almighty, Unchangeable God” is a “meditation” on the theme of Psalm 104. From the Herbsters:

Proverbs 14:21 — An interesting application of the observation of Proverbs 14:20.

Share how reading through the Bible has been a blessing to you! E-mail us at 2018bible@vcyamerica.org or call and leave a message at 414-885-5370.

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Image Credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8eQPbRwQLU