Lectionary #2 November 9, 2003

Translation

Notes

(1) And Naomi, her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, am I not looking for a home so that it may go well for you?

 (2) And now, is not Boaz our kinsman? He?s the one with whose young men you were.  Is he not threshing grain in the barley threshing floor tonight?  (3) Now you will wash yourself and anoint yourself, and place a cloak on yourself, and you will go down to the threshing floor.  Don’t let yourself be known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.  (4) And it will happen that when he lies down that you will note the place where he is, and you will come, and uncover his feet, and you will like down and he will tell you what you should do.  (5) And she said to her, “Everything that you told me I will do.”

(13) So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife, and he went in to her and YHWH granted her a pregnancy, and she bore a son.  (14) And the women said unto Naomi, “You are blessed of YHWH who did not cut off from you a redeemer today, that his name might be called in Israel.  (15) And he will be for you a restorer of your soul, and to provide for your old age, because your daughter-in-law who loves you has born him–she is better for you than seven sons.  (16) And Naomi took the child and fed him at her breast, and she became a foster parent to him.  (17) And her neighbors gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi!” So they called his name Obed.  He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

Home  The same word I translate as ?rest? at 1:9, where I suggest ?security? as an alternative.

Boaz has already shown himself friendly, and he is a kinsman, but will he come to the aid of these two?  It appears that Naomi is uncertain, so she?s going to put him on the spot.  Note that Naomi is a bit manipulative here, and the Bible?s description is quite careful and tactful.  Basically, what Naomi asks Ruth to do is equivalent to going and crawling in bed with Boaz.

Throughout, Ruth shows a total willingness to obey Naomi.  Naomi is clearly the leader of this pair!

If you use these passages, you may want to explain the concept of the kinsman-redeemer who was to marry the widow and produce an heir to carry on the name of a dead man in Israel.  It was very important also that the land which was the inheritance of that individual was also passed on in his line.

It is interesting to note that despite this law, which they followed, the story gives the genealogical line to Boaz himself, rather than to Ruth?s previous husband.

This shows the final result and blessing, along with the crowning achievement in the view of the author, which is becoming the ancestor of David, the greatest king of Israel.

Translation

Notes

(1) A song of ascents to/for Solomon.

If YHWH doesn’t built the house,

Those who labor to build it work in vain.

If YHWH doesn’t guard the city,

The watchmen keep watch in vain.

(2) It is vain for you to rise up early,

To lie down late,

To eat the bread of hard labor.

For he gives his beloved sleep.

(3) Behold children are the heritage of YHWH,

The fruit of the womb is a reward.

(4) They are like arrows in the hand of a hero,

Thus are the sons of youth.

(5) Blessed is the man who fills his quiver,

They will not be ashamed,

For they will speak with his enemies in the gate.

It is frequently suggested that ?they will not be ashamed (or put to shame)? should read ?he will not be put to shame? in agreement with the LXX.  The same is suggested for ?they will speak? reading ?he will speak in the second half of the verse.

I would suggest that, in accordance with the principle that the more difficult reading, where it can be translated is to be preferred, both be read as plural and seen as referring to the father and sons together.

Translation

Notes

(8) And the word of YHWH came to him saying,

(9) Rise up, go to Zarephat of Sidon, and stay there.  Behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain you.  (10) So he rose up and went to Zarephath, and he came to the gate of the city, and behold there was a widow woman gathering wood.  And he called to her and said, “Please get me a little water in a vessel so that I may drink.”  (11) And as she went to get it he called out to her and said, “Please get for me a little bit of bread in your hand.” (12) But she said, “As YHWH your God lives, I don’t have provision except a handful of flour in the jar, and a little bit of oil in the jug, and look here, I’m gathering a couple of sticks and I’ll go and I?ll make it for me and for my son, so we may eat it and die.?

(13) And Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go and do as you said, only make me from there a little loaf first, and bring it to me and you will make something for you and for your son afterward.  (14) For thus has YHWH the God of Israel spoken:  ?The jar of flour will not run out and the jug of oil will not lack until the day when YHWH gives rain on the face of the ground.?”  (15) So she went and she did as Elijah had said, and she ate, and he did, and her household for days.  (16) The jar of flour did not run out, and the jug of oil did not lack according to the word of YHWH which he spoke by the hand of Elijah.

Elijah is sent right out of Israel to get help.  This is probably because Ahab is hunting him, but it also shows God concerned with the needs of people outside the land, a theme further developed in Ruth and in the later prophets (Isaiah 56, for example).

Like the widow at the treasury, this widow gives to Elijah first, and then receives the blessing.  Ask yourself what it might have been that she saw in Elijah that made her willing to follow his command and believe his word.  What was it about him that convinced her that she wasn?t giving this stranger the last meal for herself and her son?  Or did she not become convinced, but was simply so committed to the norms of hospitality that she would give their last meal to a total stranger?

Translation

Notes

See previous lectionary for All Saints Sunday

Translation

Notes

²⁴For it is not into a holy place made by hands that Christ has gone, a representation of the genuine things, but into the heaven itself, to be revealed now to the face of God on our behalf.

²⁵Neither will he offer himself multiple times, in the way that the high priests entered into the holy place once each year using the blood of another creature,

²⁶since then it would have been necessary for him to suffer many times from the foundation of the world.  But now he has been revealed one time for eternal completeness, to set aside sin by means of his sacrifice.

²⁷And just as it is the nature of men to die one time, and after that the judgment, ²⁸so also Christ will appear again without sin, having offered himself to bear the sins of many, to those who wait for salvation.

Again, we have the heavenly reality represented by the earthly copy.  This illustrates a principle of the book of Hebrews?the spiritual may appear less real, but is in fact more important.

The eternity of Christ?s sacrifice is a key to the thought in the book of Hebrews.

The absolute conviction expressed in Hebrews is that all of this was a plan from the foundation of the world.  Jesus, being eternal could act just once.

Expression of the resurrection.  Jesus bore our sins and returns to claim us at the judgment.

Translation

Notes

(38) And as he was teaching he began to say, “Beware of the scribes who want to walk about in fancy robes and to receive greetings in the marketplaces (39) and the best seats in the synagogues and best places at feasts, (40) who eat up the households of widows and make a show of long prayers.  These will receive the greater judgment.

(41) And he sat down by the treasury, and he was watching how the crowd threw money into the contribution box.  And many rich people threw in lots!  (42) Then one poor widow came and threw in two small copper coins about the equivalent of a penny.  (43) And he called his disciples to him and he said to them, “Truly I tell you that this poor widow has thrown in more than all of those who have thrown money into the contribution box.  (44) For they all threw in from their abundance, but she gave everything she had from her lack, all of her living.

God?s kingdom was not to be about personal prestige or power.  God has a different value system.

God isn?t counting the money; he?s looking at hearts.