Ruth 2

Recap-Chapter 1: Naomi's husband and sons die, widowing her, Orpah and Ruth. Naomi heads back to Israel, but tries to send Orpah and Ruth back to their fathers. Orpah goes, but Ruth says no, your God is now my God and your people, my people. Naomi (call me Mara) and Ruth arrive in Bethlehem in time for the barley harvest.

Read verse 1: Boaz is a rich relative of Elimelech. More importantly he is referred to as a "worthy man," which stands in stark contrast to all these "worthless fellows" we've read about in Judges.

Read verses 2-3: Ruth gets Naomi's permission, then goes to glean in the fields. This was a provision God had set up for widows and orphans (Deut. 24:19). The field she happens to glean in belongs to Boaz.
As we read through Ruth, we see God's hand working in numerous situations, even if He isn't specifically credited for it, like happened here.

Samuel's Birth

This past Sunday we started studying the book of 1 Samuel in Sunday School. The books of 1&2 Samuel are really one book but it was too long to fit onto one scroll, so that's why it's split as we have it today. The book is next in line chronologically after the book of Judges. We will see that Samuel becomes the last of the judges before Israel then has kings in authority over them.

Read verses 1-2: Elkanah is an Israelite living in Ephraim. If we look in 1 Chron. 6:33-34, we see he is a Levite. Elkanah also has two wives, Peninnah and Hannah. Peninnah has children but Hannah does not. In biblical times this is a big deal; much of a woman's worth was tied to being able to provide children (particularly sons), to her husband.

Read verse 3: Elkanah goes to sacrifice and worship yearly at the temple, which shows us he follows the Lord. Remember in Judges we saw that people do whatever they want, including Levites. So we are being shown that Elkanah was different in this regard – he obeyed the Lord.
We are also introduced to Eli and his sons, Hophni and Phineas. All three are priests at the temple.

Ruth 1

Read verses 1-2: We start out by being given some background information. First, we're told this story takes place during the time of the judges, like an addendum to the book of Judges.Next we're told that there is a famine in the land. More than likely this was a punishment from God for repeatedly sinning (Lev. 26:18-20). Then we start learning about the people in the book. Elimelech takes his wife, Naomi, and his sons, Mahlon and Chilion, to Moab. They leave to find food and provision which doesn't seem like a big deal but they are doing this instead of turning back to the Lord and trusting God to provide.

Read verse 3: Elimelech dies; we are given know details but it makes me wonder if this is more punishment from the Lord. In that day, blessings were tied to the land and having left the land could've brought more punishment.

Read verse 4: Our titular character now enters the scene... Mahlon and Chilion both marry Moabite women, Ruth and Orpah, respectively. They live in Moab for ten years. This is a much bigger deal than it seems. Israelites were given instructions to never marry foreigners, especially not Moabites and Ammonites (Deut. 23:3).

The Final on Judges

Hope you studied, it's time for the final! This week we played Judges Jeopardy! If you think you're ready for it, you can try answering the questions too.

Round 1: jeopardylabs.com/play/the-book-of-judges5

Round 2: jeopardylabs.com/play/the-book-of-judges-2

Final Jeopardy: These are the six steps in the Cycle of the Judges.
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)

Unfortunately for you, reading this online instead of participating in church, you don't get to enjoy the treats we had in celebration of the culmination of our study. Then again, you may not have wanted them anyway... We had:
Tent pegs (like Jael hammered into Sisera's head)...
Honey in a lion carcass (like Samson ate and gave his parents)...
Blood & guts (like oozed out of Ehud and Abimelech when they died)...
Wine (ok just sparkling cider because Gideon hid in a wine press and Samson liked to drink it)...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I just finished teaching on the book of Judges for the youth group Sunday school class. We normally spend half our time playing a game and the other half studying the Bible. However today it was one game/Bible combo.

Crazy Plans for the Benjaminites

The last few chapters of Judges are appendices to the rest of the book. Chapters 19-21 deal with one continuous story and its repercussions. If you recall in chapter 19, a Levite's concubine is raped and killed by the Benjaminites when he travels through their city. She dies so the Levite chops her up into 12 pieces and sends her to the other tribes as a warning and/or to seek retribution. In chapter 20, Israel gathers, the Levie tells half-truths about what happened and so Israel fights against Benjamin. The first two days Benjamin kills lots of Israelites, but then the third day things swing around and all of the Benjaminite women and children are killed, and only 600 Benjaminite men remain.

Read verse 1: If you remember, the men of Israel were in Mizpah to discuss what happened to the Levite's concubine. Apparently while they were there they also made a pact that they would not give their daughters to the Benjaminites in marriage.

Read verses 2-3: Israel is upset and asking the Lord why this happened. Apparently they forgot that they did it!!

Read verse 4: The next day they offer sacrifices. Interestingly, they are honoring and serving God and don't seemed to be hindered by their disobedience.

Philemon

The book of Philemon is a short one chapter book. Yet through it we are able to glean principles of how to live, as well as seeing a picture of Christ.

Read verses 1-3: This is Paul's typical greeting, with one difference. He refers to himself as a prisoner of Christ rather than an apostle of Christ, clearly there must be some reason he identifies himself this way. The letter is also coming from Timothy and it is addressed to Philemon, Apphia (our sister and possible Philemon's wife?), Archippus (our fellow soldier and possible Philemon's son?), and their house church.
In verse three Paul switches from the plural "you" to the singular "you" and is now addressing Philemon specifically.

Read verses 4-7: Paul shares a testimony about Philemon. What do we learn about Philemon's character through this? He has a great love and faith in God and people, he shares his faith and all he does encourages and refreshes other believers (including Paul).
I don't know about you, but if I was Philemon reading this, I'd be wondering what does Paul want that he's buttering me up by saying all these nice things.

Read verses 8-9: As an apostle and church leader, Paul has the authority that he could just make Philemon do what he wants. However, he gives Philemon the option to what he wants. It's in essence a chance for him to put his words into action. When it's going to cost him something, will he still do what it right?

The Levite Seeks Revenge

The last few chapters of Judges are appendices to the rest of the book. The last chapter was one of the craziest stories we see in the Bible. Chapter 20 deals with some of the repercussions of that story. If you recall in chapter 19, a Levite's concubine is raped and killed by the Benjaminites when he travels through their city. She dies so the Levite chops her up into 12 pieces and sends her to the other tribes as a warning and/or to seek retribution.

Read verses 1-2: All sorts of leaders of Israel gather at Mizpah (which is a Benjaminite city). We're told Israelite leaders come from Dan to Beersheba, which is like saying from the north to the south.

Read verse 3a:  The Benjaminites hear about this meeting (which isn't surprising since it's happening in their land.

Read verses 3b-6: The Levite is questioned about what happened. He explains what happens, but with some omissions and alterations to make himself look completely innocent and the Benjaminites look worse.

Read verse 7: The Levite then asks Israel for their advice and counsel.