Sunday, June 6, 2010

nugget of wisdom

so i'm gonna share something with you guys that i just learned in my Bible study that you probably already know. it's likely, since i'm not the brightest theological crayon in the box.

we're doing a great study by kelly minter called "ruth: loss, love, and legacy." it's been pretty darn enjoyable and you should partake in it with friends and coffee. mmm.

anyways, we're currently wrapping it up but there's a random specific thing that really caught my attention.

at the end of the book of ruth, it goes through the lineage of boaz. in ruth 4:18 it talks about perez having hezron...etc. well eventually you get to the part where it talks about salmon. salmon had boaz, boaz had obed, obed had jesse, and jesse had david.

bear with me. i know geneologies are a bit...um...well let's just say it...boring. but they're not when you get all sorts of dirt on the characters included. in matthew 1 it says that salmon and rahab had boaz. if you read in joshua you'll see rahab was a prostitute. "ooh ahh. a prostitute in the lineage of Jesus," is usually how this is received. but here's what got me:

salmon married a former prostitute, rahab, and had little boaz. cute little boaz. (that's extrabiblical) -who grew up to be the kinsman redeemer of ruth. if you read through ruth, you'll see that boaz saw that ruth was a woman of excellence. -that all the noble and honorable things ruth had done for her mother-in-law had been spoken of to boaz and he found her to be a woman of character. she was a moabitess who left all she had ever known to accompany her mother-in-law to a faraway land where SHE would be a foreigner.

isn't it interesting to know who boaz's mom was? rahab. a prostitute. a canaanite, a foreigner. she, like ruth, saw that God was and is who He says He is. she, like ruth, left her home to be a foreigner in israel.

they say that men marry women like their mothers. :) it makes me look at the redemption story of ruth and naomi differently when i know where boaz came from. he was raised by a godly woman who had been a foreigner herself. rahab is one of only 5 women listed in the geneology of Jesus. to me, it's impressive. rahab raised herself a son of godly character who redeemed a moabitess, who in turn, gave birth to the great, great, great, (etc) grandfather of Jesus.

i bet boaz heard a story or two from his mother when he was growing up. -stories where she talked of where she came from, what it was like to be a foreigner, how she found mercy among the israelites because she had helped them. and then comes ruth. perhaps boaz's mother and her history is part of why he had so much compassion for ruth.

is this interesting to anyone else? can i get an alleluyer!?

3 comments:

  1. I find this very interesting. Sadly, I never made the connection between Boaz and Rahab. I don't know why exactly... I just haven't! I just love how the Lord weaves so many different lives into such amazing stories of redemption!!

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  2. i liked this.

    i would love to say more but i have a baby crawling all over me.

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  3. Marge... I want to come to your house and join your bible study about Ruth! That is fascinating.. And by the way, genealogy is not boring. I love it. yes I said it. I Love me some genealogy...... anyway getting back to Raha and Ruth....
    I love that God can use anyone. YES even a former prostitute. Through his grace his amazing grace he has the ability to transform our lives! (Praise God) A prostitute to raise a Godly Man.... Makes me think Wow.. How is GOd going to use my life?
    thanks for the thought provoking nugget of wisdom : )

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