Deeper Blog

My penultimate blog on Ruth. “Please say it isn't so” hear you cry and wail. Well I'm not going to lie to you Matt, Sam and Steve are intensely nervous that you'll all stop reading when I stop blogging. Now can I please please urge you not to. I think it's fair to say that of course the wit and repartee will be lessened as too will the hilarious little anecdotes about drug usage. I also believe I'm not speaking out of turn when saying that Steve may need a small team of highly trained professionals with Doctorates in Computer science to help him unblock or restore his computer in order to be able to blog without taking down google with some mega virus. Matt of course, well lets be honest, he's never really needed to blog to communicate with the world he just raises his voice a little. And Samuel, I love him to bits but will take bets on how many times he either mentions Crocodile dock (all right Sam just for you...www.crocodiledock.co.uk ) or I wouldn't be surprised if the Irish genius hasn't inserted subliminal messages into his blogs getting us to help out.

Ok Ok enough of the fellow blogger bashing Dan, I apologise.

As I said this is my penultimate blog and I'm afraid it's going to be a confusing one. A blog of questions rather than any answers. A blog where I honestly ask questions that maybe together we can answer.

Yesterday I talked of Ruth meaning friend (as that's what her name means) but today I want to use Ruth to symbolise what the Israelites would have heard, Moabitess or enemy, despised, having caused hurt, cursed.

Who is your “Ruth the Moabitess” now?

As I've looked into Ruth I found myself reading Deuteronomy 23 1-8. It's God saying “No Moabite is to enter the congregation of GOD, even to the tenth generation, nor any of his children, ever.” Then God says “Don't even try to get along with them or do anything for them, ever.”

Wow

Fast forward through Joshua and into Judges 3 13-30 we can read about the Israelites (Gods people) being controlled by The Evil Moabites. There is a left handed gentleman called Ehud who kills a fat man (the Moabites leader) and then the Israelites kill ten thousand Moabites!

Next we're in the book of Ruth with a Moabitess heroine! What's going on here? God says have nothing to do with them, they're bitter enemies due to a war in which ten thousand Moabites die. And now we have Ruth one of those same Moabites committing herself too and being used massively by God?

To make things even more confusing it's not my superior and incredible skill for uncovering hidden lessons in the bible that has brought this to our attention. The Book of Ruth is four chapters long but it's mentioned that she was a Moabitess seven times! The author is making it pretty clear that this is a key point she/he wants us to understand. The Authors shouting to us “look Ruth's one of those hated, despised and cursed Moabites”

So as Ruth arrives in Bethlehem, she's an immigrant, from a despised, cursed people who worship other Gods.

What's our equivalent in modern Britain? Sometimes I find it easy to read bible stories from the hero or heroine's perspective or even from the victim or in Naomi's situation the other persons perspective but I don't very often read them from the sinners perspective. I never read David and Goliath from Goliath's point of view. But imagine we're in the crowd at Bethlehem and Naomi turns up with Ruth. She (Ruth) represents everything that's bad in society and the world. Her race and people have been responsible for pain in our past. What's more we've heard it preached have nothing to do with them, ever! We've been taught by our parents, grandparents and great grandparent to hate, be hostile to and stay away from these people.

Now imagine we're sat at the Forge and in walks our modern day equivalent? Who is that? Who could stir those sorts of emotions in us? What if, as I think we all suspect, God wants to use them to change us?