Ruth and Samuel: CFM with SAM

 Welcome!


What is the story of Ruth?

Legit question here, what should I write about Ruth?

(update 6/12: Thoughts from a reader, based on what she studied)

Genealogies in the ancient world served to communicate connectedness and identity. Sometimes a genealogy may associate a person to someone well-known in their past. Here, the genealogy indicates how the famous king David descended from these very unusual roots. The point is not that he descended from a Moabite woman, but that he descended from a line in which there was faithfulness, in contras to the tenor of the judges period.



Samuel Samuel

I love the prophet Samuel, not only because we share the same name. Samuel was the last judge and probably the one we have the most detail on. 

He also came in a time when 'The word of the Lord was precious and there was no open vision)

Samuel means either 'name of God', or 'God hears'. At this time, Israel was in a minor apostasy. But this was not brought on because God did not wish to speak. It was brought on because the people had distanced themselves again, as they did on mount Sinai. Eli's sons are a symbol of the apostasy that Israel was in. Samuel is a symbol of the light of the gospel, of God's presence, coming back down.

Today we live in a world that has once again distanced itself from God. All of religion is a strange concept to so many people. And of those that profess a religion, a true experience with God can be very rare. We are estranged. We can study the book of Samuel to understand that even though we cannot always see God in our life, His presence is always there. And like Samuel, we may hear His voice and identify it with something worldly because we don't understand how to hear it or what it means. But over time, we can learn to be receptive, and be in the attitude of 'speak lord, for thy servant heareth'. And then like Israel we can slowly work our own way closer to God.

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