THROUGHT THE GRAVEYARD: BETH'S STUDY OF THE BIBLE

5:30 p.m

Ariving late and finding the door locked,
I asked of Rev. John Turlington where our Rev. Dr. Beth was having her bible study class.

Wednesday Afternoon : :February 12, 2015

"THROUGH THE GRAVEYARD,"

 HE ALMOST ANSWERED..?

Actually a children's playground..?


BOOK OF RUTH

The Book of Ruth (Hebrew: מגילת רות‎, Ashkenazi pronunciation: [məˈɡɪləs rus], Megilath Ruth, "the Scroll of Ruth", one of the Five Megillot) is a book of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. In the Jewish canon it is included in the third division, or the Writings (Ketuvim); in the Christian canon it is treated as a history book and placed between Judges and 1 Samuel.^[1] It is named after its central figure, Ruth the Moabitess, the great-grandmother of David, and, according to the Gospel of Matthew, an ancestor of Jesus.

The book tells of Ruth's accepting the God of the Israelites as her God and the Israelite people as her own. In Ruth 1:16 and 17 Ruth tells Naomi, her Israelite mother in law, "Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me." The book is held in esteem by Jews who fall under the category of Jews-by-choice, as is evidenced by the considerable presence of Boaz in rabbinic literature. As well, the "Book of Ruth" functions liturgically, being read during the Jewish holiday of Shavuot ("Weeks").^[2]

The book is traditionally ascribed to the prophet Samuel, but does not name its author.^[3] A date during the monarchy is suggested by the book's interest in the ancestry of David, but Ruth's identity as a non-Israelite and the stress on the need for an inclusive attitude towards foreigners suggests an origin in the fifth century BCE, when intermarriage had become controversial (as seen in Ezra 9:1 and Nehemiah 13:1).^[4]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Ruth

BOAZ

According to Josephus,^[4] he lived at the time of Eli.

Son of Rachab and Salmon,^[5][6] Boaz was a wealthy landowner of Bethlehem, and kinsman of Elimelech, Naomi's late husband.^[7] He noticed Ruth, the widowed Moabite daughter-in-law of Naomi, a relative of his (see family tree), gleaning grain in his fields. He soon learns of the difficult circumstances her family is in and Ruth's loyalty to Naomi. In response, Boaz invites her to eat with him and his workers, as well as deliberately leaving grain for her to claim while keeping a protective eye on her.^[8]

Ruth approaches Boaz and asks him to exercise his right of kinship and marry her. Boaz accepts, provided that another with a superior claim declines. Since the first son of Ruth and a kinsman of her late husband would be deemed the legal offspring of the decedent and heir to Elimelech, the other kinsman defers to Boaz.

In marrying Ruth, Boaz revives Elimelech's lineage, and the patrimony is secured to Naomi's family. For those substituting, redeeming factors, Ruth's husband is considered by some Christians to be a type of Jesus.^[9][10]

Their son was Obed, father of Jesse, and grandfather of David. Boaz is mentioned in both the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke as an ancestor of Jesus.^[6]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boaz