Ruth, Samuel 1-3

 Ruth Samuel 1-3

 

Ruth 1 - ordinary people  living in difficult times

Ruth and Orpah Moabites (Naomi from Judah)

"Ruth the Moabitess" (Israel enemy with Moab) Naomi's(husband Elimelech (my God is King), took his Israelite family to Moab (must have been a time of peace)

A time of famine in Judah

Women of faith, obedience Ruth (friend), Naomi (my delight) , Orpah (gazelle)

Levirate Law - after the death of husband, allows women to raise up children to their first husband) The Mosaic law required that a brother or near male relative of a deceased man marry his widow in order to save or redeem the woman from the devastating consequences of widowhood. By marrying her, the kinsman agreed to protect her, provide progeny for the deceased man, and ensure property remained in the family. This was called the levirate law of marriage.  The man who married her was called a "Kinsmen-redeemer"

 

Naomi returns to Judah (to hopefully find family that will care for her, and the famin was over) When Naomi's husband and 2 sons die, Naomi pleads with daughters to leave and go find husbands in their homeland, Orpah leaves, Ruth 1:16-17 will not leave Naomi. A woman of great conversion.

Ruth, great-grandmother of King David.

Ruth and Naomo symbols of the Savior, raising children in the covenant

 

Boaz noticed Ruth among the gleaners and asked who she was. His servant not only told Boaz who Ruth was but also added that she had worked hard since the morning and had stopped only for a short rest in the shelter.

Boaz sought Ruth out and told her not to go to other fields but to do all her gleaning in his fields. He explained that he had instructed his servants to protect her and that she could even drink from the vessels set aside for his servants.

When Ruth bowed to Boaz and asked why she was being so favored, Boaz told her that he had been impressed by her faithfulness to Naomi and her conversion to the God of Israel.

At mealtime Boaz invited Ruth to share his food. He let her eat until she was full and even permitted her to take home what was left.

After Ruth returned to gleaning, Boaz instructed his servants to let Ruth glean among the sheaves, which meant she didn’t have to wait until the grain had been transported to the threshing floor to glean. In addition, he told the servants to purposefully leave grain for her and not to rebuke her.

After her day of gleaning, Ruth threshed her grain and had an ephah of barley. An ephah is about three-fifths of a bushel (about twenty-three quarts) and is an unusually large amount for one day’s gleaning.

That evening Ruth returned to Naomi and gave her the barley and the food left from her meal with Boaz.

Surprised at how much Ruth had gathered in such a short time, Naomi asked where she had gleaned that day. When she found out it was in Boaz’s fields she praised God, recognizing His tender mercies: not only was Boaz a rich man but he was also a close relative of her husband Elimelech, making him eligible to be a go‘el according to the levirate law of marriage. This was the turning point for Naomi, whose emptiness was beginning to be filled with hope.

Naomi acknowledged that as a near relative, Boaz should fulfill his role as go‘el, and so she proposed a plan to make that happen to secure Ruth’s future.

 

Naomi instructed Ruth to prepare herself like a bride (see Ezekiel 16:9–12) and told her that when Boaz was done celebrating the day’s harvest with food and wine and had gone to sleep on the threshing floor, she should enter, uncover his feet, and lay down at his feet. Lying at his feet suggests the position of a humble supplicant.

 

At midnight Boaz was startled awake and found Ruth lying at his feet. Ruth identified herself and said, “Spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid; for thou art a near kinsman,” requesting that Boaz marry her and become her protector according to the levirate law. 

 

The word translated as “kinsman” is go‘el. Using the metaphor of a wing covering Ruth brings a symbol of the Atonement into the story. The Hebrew word for atonement is kawfar, which means “to cover.” Thus Ruth is calling on the go‘el to cover and protect her just as the Atonement of Jesus Christ covers and protect us.

 

After the marriage, Ruth gave birth to a son named Obed (meaning “servant”). Obed was the grandfather of King David and a direct ancestor of Jesus Christ.

The story ends with Naomi’s friends proclaiming the great blessings Naomi had been given by the Lord. Earlier in the story, Naomi thought God had abandoned her, and thus she felt emptied. But now the Lord had filled her with posterity, protection, and love. Her friends’ pronouncement that her life had been restored brings the theme of being emptied and then filled to a conclusion.

Enzio Busche "The pain of sacrifice last only one moment. It is the fear of the 

pain of sacrifice that makes you hesitate to do it." 

 

Hannah - Samual's mother 

1 Samuel 2:1-10 Hannah's prayer of thanksgiving

 

Samual - the son of Elkanah and Hannah. He was born at Ramathaim-zophim, among the hills of Ephraim (see Ramah, 2). Before his birth he was dedicated by his mother to the office of a Nazarite, and when a young child, 12 years old according to Josephus, he was placed in the temple and “ministered unto the Lord before Eli.” It was while here that he received his first prophetic call (1 Samuel 3:1-18).

 

Saul - The first king of Israel, the son of Kish, and of the tribe of Benjamin. His character is in part illustrated by the fierce, wayward, fitful nature of the tribe and in part accounted for by the struggle between the old and new systems in which he found himself involved. 

 

David - (well-beloved), the son of Jesse. His life may be divided into three portions: His youth before his introduction to the court of Saul. His relations with Saul. His reign.

That Hannah had been unable to have children and her rivalry with Elkanah’s other wife, Peninnah, reminds us of other great women—Sarah and Rachel from the Old Testament and Elizabeth and Mary from the New Testament—known for becoming the mothers of God’s servants. Since Hannah didn’t have children, people of the time interpreted that to mean that she would be cut off from the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant. Another possibility, however, is to interpret Hannah’s lack of children as a biblical motif of righteous women who, for a time, were unable to have children. 

 

Hannah made a covenant that if she were to have a son, he would be completely dedicated to serving the Lord. Among the covenant people, all firstborn children and animals belonged to the Lord.

Because Hannah was a righteous woman and had fulfilled her oath to the Lord to fully dedicate her son to His service, the Lord blessed Hannah with other children, emphasizing that she was indeed one of the covenant people who were blessed with a posterity.

 

The Lord called to Samuel three times in the night before Samuel understood and answered. This motif of speaking three times was repeated on other occasions when the Lord wanted to open communication with His people. In 3 Nephi 11, Jesus spoke three times to the remaining Nephites before they were able to understand him. Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith three times in one night to repeat the message the Lord had for him.

 

The Lord told Samuel that the chain of authority had been broken because of Eli’s disobedience and because of the sins of Eli’s sons. Through Samuel, the Lord would “do a thing in Israel,” meaning that He would speak to Israel through a new order of prophets starting with Samuel. Eli’s household and the power of the priests would decrease.

 

it was with Samuel that the biblical prophetic tradition started. Jewish tradition also considers Samuel to be the first prophet.