In times of Trials
An introduction to Ruth
Judges 17:1 – 6
Aug 28 2011
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. |
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Written in 1859 by Charles Dickens depicts two cities before the French Revolution of 1789–1799. It is a book of contrasts and how each side saw the other and how each side reacted to how they saw life.
September 11, 2001, is a date that is burned into the minds of the people of United States of America and even around the world. The events of that day led to some notable responses from the American public. As we look back we can see three notable events take shape. There was a tremendous sense of unity and patriotism as flags emerged on every street. As with one voice the people of America applauded at President Bush’s vow to strike back at the terrorists. But most significantly from a church perspective was the sudden rise in church attendance.
Immediately after the attacks on 9/11 church attendance spiked with some congregations seeing over a 50% increase in attendance but a short sox months later, the attendance fell back to the levels seen prior to 9/11
People are extremely fickle, when things are going good we tend to not think about death and "the what happens after" as during good times what is there to think about. When things go bad or are bad we tend to start thinking about the what if’s.
The nation of Israel is no different than people of the late 1700’s or early 21st century. When their life was going good they ignored God, but when things were going bad they repented and cried out to God for help. God would help them out of their distress and get them going again only to have them turn away.
In the Old Testament we have a book called the book of Judges. It is a time period that runs from 1373 – 1043 BC. The nation of Israel had been free of Egypt about 200 years as this book opens up. Moses, Joshua and his staff have all died off. The Promised Land has been mostly conquered and divided up amongst the twelve tribes. It is this failure to completely destroy the inhabitants of the land God had given them that has led to their many failures before God.
The book of Judges is divided into three broad categories;
The introduction (1:1–3:6)
explains the causes for the centuries-long decline of the Hebrew people between about 1390 and 1050 b.c.
The body of the book (3:7–16:31)
tells stories of the judges whom God periodically sent to deliver His people from enemies and keep them faithful to Him.
This final section might be titled reality of disobedience (chaps. 17–21), or perhaps the way of death. As the stories here demonstrate, deserting God leads a people and individuals to a living death.
The final section of the book of Judges Opens with one of three family stories, stories that show us the ultimate result of what happens when a family and a nation turn away from God. The actual results may not be an immediate response from God, meaning no great external force will come and overpower us, not saying God can’t and won’t do that if that is what is needed, but the results of disobedience will generally start as an internal deterioration. It sets up as a loss of direction or internal conflict due to our abandoning of God.
This inner deterioration affects the mind of the individual and causes the loss of a clear conscience and confuses the ability to distinguish between right and wrong. This is made evident when the right ways of man contradict the right ways of God.
Result of Disobedience
The last five chapters of Judges follow a Levite as he travels through life.
A tribe set apart for the service of God.
We do not know which of the tribes of Levi this Levite came from whether from Aaron the Tribe that was chosen to be the priesthood or from one of the other tribes that was designated as helpers, worship leaders or teachers of God’s word. The important thing to keep in mind as you read through these chapters, the tribe that had been chosen by God to lead His people, teach His people had deserted their responsibilities.
By this Levite deserting God, he in essence walks away from absolute. By doing this he tells and shows the people that there is no moral and absolute principles on which society and individuals must base their life and without this base not only will the individual but the nation will be destroyed.
The underlying basis of the Bible is there are absolutes and it is these absolutes that create or dictate that our lives are rooted on a moral basis. It is this morality that gives or generates the stabilizing factor for individuals as well as nations and when this morality is destabilized by removing the absolutes, people and nations fall.
Three things result in removal of absolutes.
As a people of God who have lived under the Mosaic Law for a couple hundred years, we are hardly prepared for what we see in this simple family.
In two verses of chapter 17 we have;
A son who has stolen from his mother
A mother who puts a pagan curse on the stolen money
The same mother who then asks the God of Israel to bless her son
Gives the silver back to her son that had been dedicated to the God of Israel to have her son go and make a carved and molded idol.
Talk about a loss of direction. Is it any wonder that so many kids today do not know which way is right if the parents of those children are running in all directions.
Then as you move to verse 5 and we see a man by the name of Micah, the son of the woman set aside one of his sons to be a priest.
Every one of these activities stands in stark contrast to the ways that God had ordained them to be. As the story continues, we see this Levite priest come into the picture and the man Micah invited this Levite to become his family priest. When this occurrence happened the man Micah thought this would please the Lord and He would be happy that the Levite was his priest verses his son.
As you move into chapter 18 of Judges we see the tribe of Dan comes into the picture. Up to now the tribe did not have a place of its own so they send out spies. In their journey they come across this young priest and convince him to come and be their priest, which he does for a greater sum of money and prestige. In the process of his departure he stole the idols and shrine that Micah had set up in his house.
As this chapter opens the Levite becomes the central figure. Right away he takes himself a concubine. As a concubine she is one of two things, at best she is simply a sexual partner or a second wife. In verse 3 of chapter 18 he is referred to as her husband. It appears as if she got tired of this second class status and ran back to her father’s house. In an effort to be restored to his concubine he too returns to his father in laws house. After three days he tries to leave but is persuaded to stay to more days.
On the surface this may not seem all that strange but with the woman being a concubine the economics was not there for her father, for the rules of a concubine threw out the dowry or normal bride price that was typically required before a marriage.
When he finally gets to leave he passes by Jerusalem which at the time is occupied by pagans so he travels onto Gibeah which was inhabited by one of the tribes of Benjamin. This stop also present moral issues as it was typical Eastern custom to offer travelers a place to stay and the only place he could find was with a temporary resident who happened to be from Ephraim.
During the night time hours some of the men of Gibeah came to sexually assault the Levite, but the Levite instead throws his concubine out to the men who end up raping her and eventually dying because of the assault.
This one event in this one night shows just how far man can decline without absolutes and morality.
Aside from the Sodomistic attack the men of the city were trying to do on the Levite, the Levite and the old man showed a moral decay on other sort.
The events of the last chapter set up the events for the last two chapters of Judges.
With the death of the Levites concubine, he takes her back to his home and literally cuts her body into twelve piece and send a piece of her to every tribe in the nation of Israel. When all the tribes had gathered to hear the Levites report, minus his part of the activity, they became so enraged that they agreed to punish the tribe of Gibeah. When the tribe of Benjamin would not surrender their relatives a civil war broke out that almost wiped out the tribe of Benjamin.
Morality is never just an individual or personal thing it is the very strands that hold a nation or society together. When righteousness is abandoned it allows the ways for what “seems right” to man to prevail.
You may be asking how does introduce me to the book of Ruth?
The book of Ruth is from the later portion of the time period of the time of the Judges. Can we say for certain that this particular period was when Ruth took place? No. Could it have occurred during one of the periods of the ruling Judges when times were better? Yes.
Two points to remember; Whenever the book of Ruth actually took place it took place during a time period when there was no king and based on where you place your faith it will determine how you endure the trials you will go through.
In the Tale of Two Cities, confusion was the rule. Both thought they were right based on their own understanding of right, but both can’t be right
Without an ultimate authority man will eventually end up doing what is right in his eyes. The question I want to leave you with today is;
Where do your morals, your absolutes come from?
Unlike the period of the Judges, we do have a King that we can look to, King Jesus.
Don’t let the uncertainty of confusion be your anchor, today the rock of God’s word stands ready to anyone who wants to anchor to it.
Hope that life works out the way we plan; Fear that it won’t.
One drives us forwards, the other holds us back.