A 1189 Day Journey Through the Bible

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Ruth 4: Today is the last day of November and the last day of the very short book of Ruth. This starts with Boaz buying some land and acquiring Ruth as a wife.  Part of the motivation here was " in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown." A patriarchal move it seems? Anyway. Boaz and Ruth have  a son named Obed, who is the grandfather of David. Stay tuned as we start 1 Samuel tomorrow.

I am writing from my bed in Seattle, WA. Ruth 3: Well this bizarre tale of Ruth continues.  Her mother in law (Naomi) convinces her to wait until Boaz is drunk, follow him to bed, and tell him she’s ready for marriage.  Well she does this and he’s flattered, and even though they are closely related, Boaz informs Ruth of an even closer related suitor.  And if this unnamed man won’t marry her, then Boaz will.  This is weird. 

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Ruth 2: So Ruth is working in a field and meets a dude named Boaz. Boaz is a really nice guy who cares about his employees, and takes kindly to Ruth.  He even makes sure that no dudes will mess with her. And basically this chapter is about how Boaz is nice and Ruth is grateful.

I am writing from my hotel in Portland, OR. Ruth 1: A new book! There's famine at this time.  A brief lineage is described, but all you really need to know is that there's two women:  Ruth and Naomi.  Naomi's men in her life died, and was left with her daughters-in-law, namely Ruth. Naomi is devastated and tries to convince them to go back, since she doesn't have men for them to marry.  The one daughter-in-law leaves, but Ruth is determined to stay with her, no matter what. They go back to Bethlehem together.

I am writing from my hotel in Portland, OR. Judges 21: And we've come to the last chapter that is the enigmatic book of Judges. This one opens with the Israelite men vowing not to allow their daughters to marry a Benjaminite. This makes Israelites sad, so they need a plan to get some wives for the Benjaminites.  They discover that no one from the tribe of Jabesh Gilead assembled before the Lord at Mizpah (whatever this means).  Because of this, they killed everyone except the virgins.  Then they give the virgins to the Benjaminites.  There weren't quite enough virgins to go around, so the Benjaminites went to a festival and kidnapped some ladies. This chapter and book closes with a reminder that Israel had no king at this time and people did whatever they wanted. You don't say.

I am writing from my bed in Seattle, WA. Judges 20: This chapter is SO LONG.  All it does is describe the fight between the Israelites and the Benjaminites.  To great detail.  The Israelites struggle for a few days, then God helps them kill over 25,000 Benjaminites. There is a part here that stood out to me, starting with a recap of the last chapter: “The Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, spoke: “My concubine and I came to spend the night at Gibeah, a Benjaminite town. That night the men of Gibeah came after me. They surrounded the house, intending to kill me. They gang-raped my concubine and she died. So I took my concubine, cut up her body, and sent her piece by piece—twelve pieces!—to every part of Israel’s inheritance. This vile and outrageous crime was committed in Israel! So, Israelites, make up your minds. Decide on some action!” All the people were at once and as one person on their feet. “None of us will go home; not a single one of ...

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA. Judges 19: This one opens similar to Judges 18, reminding us that Israel had no king at this time. Well this one is very weird.  There's a Levite man and he takes a concubine.  She goes back to her parents' house and the Levite man tries to convince her to go with him.  He parties with her dad for a few days and then she goes with the Levite man. As they were strolling across the land, they were befriended by an old man in Gibeah who invited them to stay the night.  They were all hanging out, then some dudes from the town came to the house and wanted to have sex with the Levite man.  The old man said no way, and offered up his virgin daughter.  These men weren't interested so the Levite man offered up his concubine.  These dudes raped her and abused her, so she went back to the house and laid down on the front doorstep and died. The Levite man took her back home and cut her up in twelve pieces and s...