Friday, December 14, 2007

The Life and Times of Naomi, Mother-in-Law of Ruth

As a secondary character in the Old Testament book of Ruth, often times we don’t give too much attention to Naomi. Naomi was an extraordinary woman; even though it never says so in the bible explicitly, we can glean some wisdom from this woman from Bethlehem (Ruth 1:1). She was a Godly woman and strong in faith. She was a good wife, mother, and mother-in-law. With these credentials, one can hardly say much more.

When a famine was in the land of Judah, Naomi’s husband, Elimelech, moved his family to the land of Moab. While in Moab, Naomi’s sons grew up and married. One of these new daughters was Ruth whom is the main focus of the book. It is through Naomi that we are introduced to Ruth and through Ruth we see the attributes of Naomi reflected. You see when Naomi’s husband and sons died; she decided to return home to Bethlehem (1:5), and her daughters-in-law followed after her. Naomi told them this was unnecessary and to return home. This next part (1:8-14) is truly touching. It is our first glimpse into the personal life of Naomi. When she had told them to go back to Moab, the women did not want to leave. In fact they wept and pleaded with Naomi to stay. Naomi tried to reason with them and succeeded with one, but in verse 14 we see Ruth clinging to Naomi. How touching is this? What a great mother-in-law and what a Godly woman Naomi must have been to cause such distress in these two young women.

The next verse is perhaps the most touching verse of all. Verse 16 says "Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you; for wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, And your God, my God. (17) Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. The LORD do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me." What an impression Naomi must have had on Ruth! What kind of a person Naomi must have been to cause such loyalty, honor and friendship.

Further on into the text, we see Naomi urging Ruth to seek the hand of Boaz, a rich relative. Ruth succeeds with the aid of Naomi and the two are married. This marriage is an extremely important. It is through this line that Jesus the Christ is born (Matt 1:5). You see, this son of Ruth and Boaz had a son named Jesse and Jesse is the father of King David. Picture what it would have been like if Ruth had not come home with Naomi.

Because of this friendship Naomi became the great-great grandmother of one of the most influential kings of Israel all because she lead a life for God. Naomi had a profound impact on Ruth, we can know this by the behavior of her on the road to Bethlehem.

I ask this question in closing. Christian, are you leading a life of Godliness? Are you the kind of person that would cause one to desire to leave all they know, follow after you and your God? Ruth had no idea she would marry a rich, handsome man and as a result, be in the lineage of the savior of the world when she begged Naomi to go with her. We as Christians, however, can know our actions and words will lead to salvation and a much greater inheritance than mere silver and gold. We have the opportunity and duty to live a life like Christ in order to seek and save the lost (Matt. 28:19-20)

Thursday, December 6, 2007

The Life and Times of David Son of Jessie

David, a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22), but how does one achieve such a high compliment? This statement was originally recorded in 1Sam. 13:14 and was spoken by the Prophet and last Judge of Israel (1Sam 3:2; 7:15-17), Samuel. Commentators maintain that the statement was made about David’s public life as King and not about his private life; which was riddled with valiant victories, noble acts, love, lies, adultery, and murder. Nevertheless David was a great king and a great man, for many spoke of Jesus as the Son of David (Matt. 9:7; 12:23; and 21:9). So who was this great man? David was not a perfect man, but I believe that merely a glimpse of his life will reveal to us a man that truly is “after God’s own heart”.

First of all, his private life as a sinful King yet striving to do the will of God is a major part of who David was. David was thrust into many dangerous situations for a variety of reasons. However a constant factor of his many victories over his enemies is quickly reviled. The Lord was on David’s side when he killed the lion and the bear as described in 1 Sam 17:34-35. He also gave his faith over to God to defeat the giant Goliath. He protected his friend Jonathan who in turned protected him. Jonathan told David of the plot his father Saul had on his life (1Sam 19:1-7). David in turn showed unparalleled kindness to Mephibosheth because of his best friend, Jonathan, who was killed in battle (2 Sam 9). David refused to harm the anointed of God on multiple occasions out of respect for God (1Sam 24). In all David did, he gave glory to God and a cursory glance of the Psalms written by David will be sufficient evidence that he honored God and gave him all the glory.

However, he did have his short comings as we all know. Perhaps the most famous of which is his dealings with the wife of Uriah, Bathsheba (2 Sam. 11). This sad story involves the death of two innocent people, dishonor to Israel and to God. David lusted after Bathsheba, committed adultery with her, and then to cover up the pregnancy that was a result of the adultery; he had her husband murdered. David’s following punishment was the death of the child. What a sad story from such a great man. David did repent but only at the unveiling of the sin by the prophet Nathan. But he did repent. Some of his lesser shortcomings are his failed parenthood with many of his children and the last sin of David coming at the end of his life. He numbered the men of battle (2 Sam. 24). This doesn’t seem like a big deal, but when God gives David 3 choices of punishments, one begins to realize that something is wrong. 70,000 people died as a result of this sin. One major difference between David’s failure with Bathsheba and his failure here is that he didn’t need someone to tell him he had messed up (2 Sam. 24:10). He knew he had done wrong and accepted responsibility.

An amazing portrait of David’s personal life is woven throughout scriptures. Several points that need to be understood are that David learned from his mistakes, he accepted responsibility for them, and begged God for forgiveness (ex. Ps. 51). Furthermore, he gave God all the glory and put his full trust and faith in God.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Atheism a religion?

Recently on Fox News a story was covered in the Philadelphia area about an atheist group wanting to put up a religious symbol in front of City Hall. This idea strikes me as humorous because is atheism really a religion? I will come back to that momentarily but for now the two people interviewed was a spokes woman for the atheist group and a Catholic Priest. The two were arguing weather the symbol was appropriate. The symbol the atheists want to use is called “The Tree of Knowledge” (I think God may have that name copyrighted from way back in the beginning). It is basically an evergreen tree decorated like a Christmas tree but instead of lights and ornaments it has book covers (including the Bible and Koran).

This argument is absolutely absurd and one would think that a group that so strongly promotes knowledge would know that Christmas was started by pagans, not Christians. If you want to get technical the Catholic church; in order to counteract a pagan holiday for the return of the “Sun God”, created Christmas and said it was Jesus’ birthday; Which by the way there is no evidence to support that claim. Oddly enough, the symbol used by pagans was a Christmas tree. One could say the same for Easter with all the bunny rabbits and Easter eggs, guess what pagan god that represents. You guessed it, the fertility god! It is funny how the Catholic church enjoys all of these “Feast days” and “Religious Holidays”, while accepting the pagan symbols passed down for many years. A careful look into the Bible would reveal Colossians 2:16-17 as well as 1Tim. 4:1-3.

Back to the “is atheism a religion” question. I leave that to the good folks at Apologetics Press to answer that question from their November and December publications of Reason and Revelation. Enjoy.