Famine in Judah...provisions...

 Famine in Judah....provision...

We have trudged through the books of law, the wanderings in the desert, the wars, the taking of the land, the judgements of the people, the back and forth of the turning away and the crying out to the Lord by 

the Israelites....to a little book tucked in amongst the bigger ones...Ruth...

Somewhere in the time of the judges, this family had its own drama...my Bible notes say...”Ruth shows how God’s people can experience his sovereignty, wisdom, and covenant kindness. These often come in hard circumstances and are expressed through the kindness of others.” ESV Archeology Bible

There was a famine, so a man took his wife and two sons into another county to live...during that time, the father, and the two sons, who had married, died...leaving the mother and two daughters in law...the mother was ready to go home...she encouraged the two younger women to stay with their people...one did and the other, Ruth, wanted to go with the mother, Naomi, back to her original home...

The famous quote, uttered from a daughter in law to her mother in law...must have been a very special bond between these two...did Ruth not have family to return to?...Or was she concerned for Naomi making the trip by herself...were others retuning to the land?...it doesn’t say...

But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”

Ruth 1:16-17

but, they did go Bethlehem in the time harvest...so God provided the gleanings from the fields that Ruth  was able harvest, taking care of herself and Naomi ...because the law allowed...

“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 19:9-10 

“When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this.

Deuteronomy 24:19-22 

Ruth is one of my favorite books...so many connections on different levels of life...

Am I the kind of mother in law who my daughters in law would desire to live with and care for?

God’s provision through the thick and thin...

A small glance at the bigger picture/place  in history...

Redemption...

Love...

....

Thank YOU....