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Book of Ruth
Session One
The Kinsman Redeemer
Background
Genealogy
Ephratah-Bethlehem
Transcribed and edited from video
During the Pentecost season it is appropriate to study into the Book of Ruth and the kinsman redeemer who is Boaz. We will learn a lot more about him over the next number of sessions that we will be doing in this survey in this Book of Ruth.
We have quite an agenda. The genesis of this work goes back to around 2009 or 2010 when my wife Linda and I started looking into the Book of Ruth. We certainly had read it previously but as we looked into it, and did a Bible study on it we realized the significance of what was inside.
The end result is several Bible studies later; we are making a recording of the Book of Ruth and all four chapters. The agenda that you see on the next page may seem comprehensive but there will be more subjects that will be added to it as we go along. When I started to write this presentation dating back a few years ago, I had a couple of sessions, a couple of Bible studies and the more we dug into this book, the more content we see.
We are going to start by looking at the historical perspective. This presentation is largely going to be about that and also about background. We will look at the genealogy of the players in the Book of Ruth and also about the background of its location which is in Ephratah-Bethlehem.
As we go into the next series in these sessions, we will look at Ruth’s declaration of faith next time that we find that in Chapter one. Instead of dividing the presentation up into chapters, I have taken the cut at looking at Torah precepts that we find in the Book of Ruth and there is some number of them that are really interesting to dig into.
One of them that we are going to see very early on is the Torah precept of no Moabites or Ammonites are to be part of the congregation of YHWH. Next time we will examine that and beyond that, we will be looking at a whole series of subjects from gleaning to reaping, to grace, bowing and wings of all things. It turns out this word ‘wings’ has to do with the covering of Boaz’s skirt and we will be digging into that.
Kindness and grace are an integral part of this study in Ruth. We see a lot of kindness and grace integrated into the story. One of the main topics that I use to title the presentation series was the kinsman redeemer. Of course Yahushua is our ultimate kinsman redeemer but it’s amazing to dig into this story of Boaz and Ruth and Naomi to find that Boaz was the kinsman redeemer in the time of the writing of this book.
Ruth dates to the levirate marriage and to the kinsman redeemer responsibility in Torah that we find for the early Israelites. Redeeming the land has to do with the Sabbatical and Jubilee. We also find that there is a subject of the women that inherit the land and we see tracks of that in the daughters of Zelophehad in Torah.
Also there is some division of the topics prophetically. There are a number of prophetic insights that we have started to see when we study into this book particularly about the land of Israel and the bride to come. The bride would be the assembly or the church that is brought forward in the New Testament particularly on the Day of Pentecost. The New Testament church was transformed by YHWH’s Spirit in Acts chapter 2 and 3. The ultimate redeemer of mankind is of course Yahushua.
There is another way to look at the material that we are going to find in these four chapters of Ruth and that is allegorical insights. There are several prototypes that we are going to see that will develop and certainly the Messiah comes out of all of that in the assembly of believers.
The subject of law versus grace, and we will touch on that in the next session. I would anticipate most of this I have already written and I have two sessions ready to record. There is probably about seven and as much as eight sessions that we will be developing and this will probably be an annual event rather than over the next month. We will get the first two sessions this year around the time of Pentecost and hopefully next year I will get several more. This will be somewhat of an on-going study so watch for new material as we go along year by year.
Those of you that have found this presentation on-line and want to learn more about the Book of Ruth, this is actually going to be a good survey for you to dig into the details of the Book of Ruth. If you haven’t read this book, or haven’t read it in a while, I think it would be wise to tell you right now to stop and read the Book of Ruth, all four chapters. It is a short read; it might take thirty to forty minutes to read it. Read it a couple of times this is one book that when you read it you start to see the details of something that the next time you read, start to jump out and your thinking gets stimulated from the previous reading of it. It would be most useful and you will learn the most if you have a foundation of what the book is all about before you proceed into the material we are going to cover.
Most of these Old Testament topics that we study into have a real benefit when you look at the historical perspective and this is going to be mostly about the historical perspective.
Background
Historical Perspective
- Time of Judges
c. 1375 – 1025 BCE
No central government
Cycle of rebellion
Unfaithfulness to YHWH
Delivered to enemies
People repent and entreat YHWH for mercy
New Judge delivers Israelites from oppression
Country prospers
Return to apostasy
Fulfills Torah admonition
We will start out with the time frame, and when it occurred. It occurred during the time of the Judges, you will see that when we read the first few verses of the first chapter of Ruth. The time of the Judges has pretty well been established to be approximately 1375 BCE to 1025 BCE, some three hundred and fifty years in duration.
The time of the judges had an interesting hallmark and that is that there was no central government and it turns out that it caused them a huge problem. They had no Temple administration that was in effect so in the time of the judges people were doing what is quoted in the scriptures as what is right in the sight of their own eyes. We will start in chapter two because we will find that there is a likely spot in Judges when the Book of Ruth occurred. In Judges Chapter two it says:
And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of YHWH, and served Baalim:
What a trademark to have, to do evil in the sight of YHWH. This is not very long after going into the Promised Land that these words in Judges were written.
And they forsook YHWH Elohim of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other Elohim, of the Elohim of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked YHWH to anger. And they forsook YHWH, and served Baal and Ashtaroth. And the anger of YHWH was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies. Whithersoever they went out, the hand of YHWH was against them for evil, as YHWH had said, and as YHWH had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed. (Jdg 2:11-15 KJV)
You are going to find this theme quite a bit reading through the Book of Judges and studying it. By the way, this is a good background study also, just an entire Book of Judges for this time period that Ruth occurs. Going on in Judges Chapter two the story continues.
Nevertheless YHWH raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other elohim, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of YHWH; but they did not so. And when YHWH raised them up judges, then YHWH was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented YHWH because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them. And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other Elohim to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way. (Jdg 2:16-19 KJV)
Not a very attractive set of qualifications and track record that these Israelites had, of course this is the history even dating back to the forty years they were in the desert and when they immediately went into the Promised Land this has been the same attitude that we have seen all along. There is no central government and I think you could derive from this scripture that there is this cycle of rebellion. This cycle of rebellion really starts out when there is plenty in the land. When people are satisfied and happy but what happens? The rebellion starts to occur and they become unfaithful to YHWH and the end result is that they are delivered to their enemies. People repent when they are in captivity and they entreat YHWH for his mercy because there in such dire straits.
What would happen in Judges YHWH would hear them a new judge would be assigned and would deliver the Israelites from their oppression. They would be delivered and would start to prosper again but guess what would happen? They would turn to walking to Balaam and Ashtoreth and return to the apostasy that was their trademark throughout their history.
This cycle of rebellion, it could almost be called the cycle of a country. You see that historians have looked at this with most civilizations and countries that have developed from time in memorial and this cycle of rebellion has been extant. It is happening in our country this very day and it’s happening in other places in the world.
We get to a good spot, we forget about YHWH, we turn to worshipping false pagan gods, the end result is that captivity occurs and we cry out to YHWH for deliverance. That is what happened with these Israelites in this period of Judges. This actually fulfills some of the law that you find in Torah. Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 are known as the blessing and cursing chapters. This is a fulfillment of what will happen if we are disobedient.
But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments; And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant: I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. (Lev 26:14-16 RNKJV)
This sowing your seed in vain, your enemies shall eat it is exactly the circumstance that are in the period of Judges that we are going to look into.
With that background, we will look into the story of Ruth. It’s a story of redemption encompassed in love, it is a sweet story and occurs on multiple levels. You can read the story and see the love part of the story and think it is a nice love story. When we dig into it, we find that there is a deeper meaning of it all with redemption that is occurring.
Background
Historical Perspective
- Era of Judges – c. 1375-1025 BCE
- Story of redemption encompassed in love
- 85 verses
- Two books named after women
Ruth and Esther - Five women included in Yahushua’s genealogy
Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, Mary - Ruth timeline alternatives
c. 1275 BCE – genealogy gap after Boaz
c. 1160 BCE – genealogy gap before Boaz - Interpretation – exegesis
Literal
Allegorical/symbolic/typological
Prophetic
Remez (hidden/deeper meaning)
The book is short, only eighty five verses long, four short chapters and it turns out that there are two books in the entire scriptures that we have that are named after women Ruth is one and the other one is the Book of Esther. It also turns out that there are five women that are included in Yahushua’s genealogy. Those women include Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba by circumstance and Mary. In Matthew chapter 1 we see the highlights of that.
- And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar;
and Phares begat Esrom;
and Esrom begat Aram;
And Aram begat Aminadab;
and Aminadab begat Naasson;
and Naasson begat Salmon;
And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab;
and Booz begat Obed of Ruth;
and Obed begat Jesse;
And Jesse begat David the king;
and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias…
And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary,
of whom was born Yahushua, who is called the Messiah.
(Mat 1:3-6,16 RNKJV)
I like this last verse, obviously Yahushua wasn’t begotten, he was begotten through YHWH’s Spirit of course but he wasn’t begotten through Joseph so it’s interesting how this is stated. Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary of whom was born Yahushua who is called Messiah.
When I started thinking about this, I thought how interesting it is that Ruth was obviously a Gentile; you should know the story line by now that Ruth was a Gentile. By the way, Rahab would have been a Gentile also. She was likely the safe house keeper known as the woman of the night as she was described as a harlot in the scripture.
By the way, the translation of harlot in the Masoretic Text could mean housekeeper. When you see this word harlot translated throughout the Masoretic Text, it is always translated as harlot as far as I can see. The Septuagint also includes the translation of a harlot so she has quite a background and legacy. We certainly wouldn’t want to slander her name if she was a housekeeper and she has somehow gotten the tag of harlot. We will see in Hebrews and in James that she is mentioned as a harlot so we’ll go with that at this point. She certainly is a Gentile and then I got to thinking about Tamar. Tamar was probably a Canaanite, we can’t for sure derive the genealogy of Tamar back in the time of Judah, but it appears that circumstantial evidence would appear that she was a Canaanite. Of course, the wife of Uriah, Uriah was a Hittite so likely Bathsheba was a Hittite also. She would have been a Gentile.
It appears that all of these first four would have been Gentile until we get to Mary who would have obviously been related to Elizabeth who we know was of Levitical heritage. Mary might be the only one in the group that wasn’t a Gentile. In any case, it is study for another time particularly the part of Tamar.
The timeline for Ruth actually isn’t fixed exactly. There are people that have studied the chronology of this more deeply that I have, have derived that there are two possibilities for the timeline. One timeline is an early date, just a hundred and twenty five years or so after the entry into the Promised Land which was about 1275 BCE. That causes a genealogy gap after Boaz. We are going to examine the genealogy part of this and the gap associated with it so you have an understanding of it. There is a lot of conjecture potentially that goes along with this. The early timeline in 1275 would place the genealogy gap after Boaz.
The late genealogy timeline of about 1160 BCE would place a genealogy gap before Boaz. I will explain to you why I think that is the case why both of these have genealogy gaps. There aren’t enough participants in the genealogy to bridge the number of years it wouldn’t appear.
The interpretation of the Book of Ruth has multiple levels of it. The exegesis if you will certainly has a literal interpretation. It is a literal story, it really occurred, and events and fact did happen. When you start examining it you start to see the allegorical or symbolic message that is included in the scripture. Much scripture is like that by the way. It is like peeling an onion back. There is not just a literal but also and allegorical or symbolic interpretation. Certainly a prophetic interpretation can be derived out of some of the events that happened in the book. I will introduce a fourth interpretation type which is called a remez. We will look at the remez a little closer next time but the word remez is a Hebrew interpretation style that looks for something that’s hidden or that has a deeper meaning. We will see a little more about that in the second session.
Background
Historical Perspective
- Midrash/Rabbinic tradition
written by Samuel
Proof of David’s authority as King of the United Monarchy
Jesse AKA Nahash
David born and died on Pentecost
Peter agrees – Act 2:25, 29, 34 - Begins with time of famine
Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land (Rth 1:1) - Takes place during barley and wheat harvest
It is also useful to look at the oral traditions that go along with the Book of Ruth, or any book for that matter. You have to be careful of the oral traditions because some of them are probably true and some are not, it’s hard in some cases to discern what is true and what isn’t. I want to give you the rabbinic tradition or the oral traditions that have been carried forward for the Book of Ruth. The Book of Ruth is certainly a book that is read around the time of Pentecost. If you were participating in Judaism today and going to the synagogue you would find that the Book of Ruth would be part of the reading.
The Midrash tradition of all of this is that the Book of Ruth was written by Samuel. There is probably good reason for that also. Like I said, some of these things may well be true. The Book of Ruth written by Samuel because of its ending, the Book of Ruth ends with the genealogy that gets to David. Samuel would have had an interest of having David’s legal genealogy correct to establish him as the King of the United Empire, United Israel.
The proof of David’s authority as the king of the United Monarchy is what Samuel would have been focused on potentially. Also, part of the Midrash tradition is that Jesse is also known as Nahash. When you start reading about Jesse, you might see the name Nahash and wonder what that is about Nahash is known and is interchanged with the name of Jesse.
Another tradition that is interesting that we are going to examine is that David was born and died on Pentecost. That is significant if it is true it would appear that Peter would agree with that statement, that David had a significant interest in the Day of Pentecost. I will say David’s day and when we look at the account of Pentecost in the New Testament in Acts chapter 2 it is surprising the reference that Peter is giving to David. We will read that because I think it is significant and appropriate for the time that we are in.
Starting in Acts chapter 2:
For David speaketh concerning him Yahushua, I saw YHWH always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
(Act 2:25-28 RNKJV)
Quoted from Psa 16:8-11
Of course this is Peter talking after the resurrection of Yahushua some fifty days later now we are at Pentecost and Peter is quoting David and is speaking concerning Yahushua. If you check this, you will find that it’s in Psalm 16 verses 8 – 11. Continuing on a few verses later in Acts chapter 2, Peter goes on to say:
Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.
Why is Peter talking about David here on Pentecost? Keep in mind the background of what is going on here. There were Believers here on this day of Pentecost, or there were new believers that were going to be baptized but they were in Jerusalem and it was the Day of Pentecost and there was a mighty rushing wind and tongues of fire. All of these people were gathered together from many places around the Roman Empire from many of the locations far away not just Jerusalem.
So David is being quoted here of what this is about, the people that were there were able to understand that David was part of, maybe the tradition of Pentecost that is why Peter is using these scriptures as he does to weave together the story of YHWH’s Spirit being given on this day. It goes on to say:
Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that YHWH had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Messiah to sit on his throne (Act 2:29-30 RNKJV)
Quoted from Psa 132:11
The account goes on to say:
He David seeing this before spake of the resurrection of the Messiah, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Yahushua hath YHWH raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of YHWH exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. (Act 2:31-33 RNKJV)
The final verse I want to quote:
For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, YHWH said unto my master, Sit thou on my right hand, Until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that YHWH hath made that same Yahushua, whom ye have crucified, both King and Messiah. (Act 2:34-36 RNKJV)
Quoted from Psa 110:1
There have been several Psalms being quoted in this section of Acts chapter 2 but I can’t help but think that the people that were there would have understood that David was part of the tradition and the memorial of Shavuot at this point in time which is the reason that Peter is using David as the subject to get to Yahushua and how the Messiah has now come.
It is interesting to make this discovery and you can of course look at this on your own. Maybe I’m wrong about Peter agreeing but it is certainly a coincidence. The Rabbi’s say coincidence is not a kosher word so thing just happen according to YHWH’s plan.
With all of this in mind, this story in Ruth begins with a time of famine. We will read our first verse here.
Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. (Rth 1:1)
We see that right away and this takes place during the barley and wheat harvest as we will see in a later chapter.
Background
Historical Perspective
- Bethlehem = H1035 = beyth H1004
lechem H3899 = house of bread
Bread from heaven born at the house of bread - No King
I want to spend a little time on the background of Bethlehem. If you look up Bethlehem in Strong’s Concordance you will see that it is H1035 but it’s made up of two Hebrew words, beyth and lechem and the words translate to beyth meaning house and lechem meaning bread, house of bread. Bethlehem means house of bread It’s useful to take a look at what the connection to that is. Perhaps this is our first allegory or remez, but the bread from heaven was born at the house of bread. To me that is significant and we will read more about that. What did the bread from heaven say? Yahushua said:
Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then Yahushua said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of Elohim is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. (Joh 6:31-33 RNKJV)
He goes on in this section in John 6 to say, this is Yahushua speaking.
This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. (Joh 6:50-51 RNKJV)
This time in the Book of Ruth as I have already mentioned was categorized as having no king. We see that in the ending verse in the Book of Judges, before we read the first verse of Ruth. This ending verse appears to be just a continuation in Ruth chapter 1.
In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes (Jdg 21:25 RNKJV)
Much like we have had throughout history but we sure have it even more-so today, every man doing that what is right in his own eyes. The Book of Ruth starts:
Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehemjudah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons. And the name of the man was Elimelech,
So the first name that we run across in the Book of Ruth is Elimelech, and it’s interesting to note that every man did which was right in his own eyes, and there was no king in the land at this point in time and Judges ruled. Elimelech comes on and it’s interesting to parse out Elimelech’s name. Elimelech is really two Hebrew words, El meaning Elohim or El or strength and Melech meaning king or royalty. Elimelech’s name means My Elohim the king or El is king so even though there is no leadership or king in the land of Israel at this point in time the very first figure that comes into the Book of Ruth says that Elohim is king by his name.
and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehemjudah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there. (Rth 1:1-2 RNKJV)
Elimelech = H410 – El, strength, almighty + H4428 – king, royal
My Elohim the King or El is king
Background
Historical Perspective
- Bethlehem in Judea not in Galilee – tribe of Zebulon
- AKA Ephratah or Ephrath = H672=fruitfulness, another name for Bethlehem
We want to take a look at the historical perspective as we are on the subject of Bethlehem and what its background in scripture is. Bethlehem is in Judah, there is a second Bethlehem up north in Zebulon but this is not the Bethlehem where this story takes place. There is some alternative conjecture that Bethlehem in the north was the place where Yahushua was born although I don’t believe that has any scriptural traction but just know that there are two Bethlehem’s, one in the south is about five miles or so south of Jerusalem. The one in the north is up far north in the land of Zebulon.
Bethlehem is also known as Ephratah or Ephrath and it Strong’s it means fruitfulness and Ephratah or Ephrath is another name for Bethlehem as we will see here shortly. We find some of the events that occurred historically in Bethlehem, one of them is Benjamin’s birth in Genesis 35.
- Benjamin’s birth
And they Jacob’s family journeyed from Bethel; and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour. And it came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt have this son also. And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Ben-oni H1126=son of my sorrow: but his father called him Benjamin.
(Gen 35:16-18 RNKJV)
- Rachel’s grave
And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem.
(Gen 35:19 RNKJV)
They are one in the same place or right next to one another and Ephrath has the same location name as Bethlehem when we see it a few chapters later in Genesis 48.
- Ephrath same location a Bethlehem
And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when yet there was but a little way to come unto Ephrath: and I buried her there in the way of Ephrath; the same is Bethlehem. (Gen 48:7 RNKJV)
- Descendants of Judah come from this location
The sons of Judah; Pharez, Hezron, and Carmi, and Hur, and Shobal… And Penuel the father of Gedor and Ezer the father of Hushah. These are the sons of Hur, the firstborn of Ephratah, the father of Bethlehem. (1Ch 4:1-4 RNKJV)
This would be useful to try to chase back to see where the sons of Hur, the firstborn of Ephratah, the father Bethlehem and how that all worked out. I haven’t done that but I see it here and it’s interesting to note it.
- Jesse from Bethlehem
Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, that is cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and YHWH is with him. (1Sa 16:18 RNKJV)
- David’s birth
Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehemjudah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons: and the man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul.
(1Sa 17:12 RNKJV)
We’ll note that and I will come back to it that he was probably old when he died.
Background
Historical Perspective
We wouldn’t want to miss the most important part here what has led up to the birth place of the Messiah. We see the prophecy of this in Micah chapter 5.
- Bethlehem – birth place of Messiah
Prophesy of Messiah
But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. And he shall stand and feed in the strength of YHWH, in the majesty of the name of YHWH his Elohim; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth. (Mic 5:2-4 KJV)
Bethlehem Ephratah is being labeled here as a very important spot prophetically in the Book of Micah. In the New Testament we see a couple of references to this, certainly Yahushua’s birth location in Matthew chapter 2.
- Yahushua’s birth
Now when Yahushua was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem (Mat 2:1 KJV)
This just about has to be the southern location not the northern location as a few have conjectured.
- Yahushua prophesied through David and was born in Bethlehem
Yahushua speaking Hath not the scripture said, That Messiah cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was? (Joh 7:42 KJV)
There is a double reference here to Micah Chapter 5 which we have already read, but there is also 2 Samuel Chapter 7 if you want to check that out, in verses 12-16 you will find a reference to Bethlehem also and the promise of Messiah.
Background
Dating the Book of Ruth
- Midianite oppression
- Seven year event
- Famine in the land
- Gideon called
Take a look at putting some of these parts and pieces together now, the dating of the book of Ruth itself, we see in Judges that there was a time when there was a Midianite oppression and that there was a famine in the land, a famine brought about by oppression not by weather. Read some of this in Judges Chapter 6:
And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of YHWH: and YHWH delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel: and because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strong holds. And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them; And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth,
Notice that this was when the Israelites had sown their crops and the Midianites and Amalekites destroyed their crops
till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass. For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it. And Israel was greatly impoverished H1809=to slacken, be feeble, oppressed because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel cried unto YHWH. (Jdg 6:1-6 KJV)
This impoverishment that is talked about means to be slack and feeble, be oppressed, so they were in dire straits here because they didn’t have anything to eat. Their animals were gone, the crops were gone, and again it wasn’t a weather event, it was caused by human hands by fighting. It’s something like some of the famines that we are starting to experience from today, yes, we have weather problems but on top of that we have a war going on in some parts of the world that is causing the grain of wheat and barley to become scarce.
Going on in this account in Judges Chapter 6:
And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried unto YHWH because of the Midianites, That YHWH sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, which said unto them, Thus saith YHWH Elohim of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage; And I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drave them out from before you, and gave you their land; And I said unto you, I am YHWH your Elohim; fear not the Elohim of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but ye have not obeyed my voice. And there came an angel of YHWH, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. (Jdg 6:7-11 KJV)
Enter Gideon now into the story. Now that we know that Gideon is in the story and that this was a time of famine and oppression, it is reasonable to conclude that this might well have been the time mentioned in the Book of Ruth when there was a famine in the land. It isn’t conclusive certainly but it’s the only place in Judges that we have been able to find to indicate that there was a famine. There might have been other times, but if this is correct, then the Book of Ruth is taking place around the time of Gideon. It is also noteworthy that Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. It would appear if you read between the lines, that the winepress would have relatively small area to squeeze grapes. The threshing that was done for wheat and barley was a much larger flat floor generally out in the open. This might be an indication that there wasn’t a lot of product to thresh, but certainly they wanted to conceal it so they didn’t want to be discovered and the potential there was a scarcity of wheat and barley at this point in time. It seems to go along with how this is stated in Judges.
Background
Dating the Book of Ruth
- Midianite oppression
- Famine in the land
- Gideon called
The Midianite oppression was occurring, there was a famine in the land, and Gideon is called.
We can put a close time marker when all of this occurs. If we lay out the events in the Book of Judges, and continue to complete the era of the Judges including the time of Samuel, we start around 1375 BCE and end around 1025 BCE with Samuel. That is a period of 350 years and Gideon is happening at about 1162.
Now there are two schools of thought of when Ruth occurred, one of them is early Ruth which is marked. Obviously Ruth doesn’t line up with Gideon but there are some people that have studied this and believe that the early Ruth is taking place around 1275, this would be something around 125 years after the entry into the Promised Land under Joshua’s command. Early Ruth is one theory of the timeline, and the second theory is that there is a late Ruth. I am labeling these early and late so that you have a distinction of them. The late Ruth occurred between 1160 and 1140 BCE. We will mark that for purposes of discussion. We will call it 1150, just split it in the middle. About 1150 BCE is the late Ruth storyline.
We have these two different alternatives and I want to examine them in some amount of detail just to get our feet on the ground. It is a good historical perspective and like I said, this is somewhat conjecture so if you have another idea about this certainly it is fine and well. Do your own homework. As we proceed we are going to start in the first chapter of Ruth with the genealogy information. I want to show you the outline that we will be following as we go through the series in the Book of Ruth.
There are four chapters and each chapter has a nice summary of what it is about in this pericope that I have included here. Chapter 1 generally has to do about Ruth’s resolve and repentance once we get to it. Chapter 2 is about Boaz’ responding to that with mercy and kindness. Chapter 3 has to do with Ruth’s request to Boaz for covering with his robe. This is about resolution, rest and marriage. Chapter 4’s pericope is about redemption because Boaz actually rewards Ruth’s request and satisfies Naomi’s concern for redemption of her land. We will see this as we unfold the series.
Ruth Chapter 1
Genealogy
The genealogy that we are going to start with is what we find in Ruth Chapter 1. Again, we want to make a bridge from the end of Judges
In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes. (Jdg 21:25 KJV)
- Elimelech’s family tree
Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehemjudah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.
And the name of the man was Elimelech,
and the name of his wife Naomi,
and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion,
Ephrathites of Bethlehemjudah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there. And Elimelech Naomi’s husband died; and she was left, and her two sons. And they took them wives of the women of Moab;
the name of the one was Orpah,
and the name of the other Ruth:
and they dwelled there about ten years. And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman Naomi was left of her two sons and her husband. (Rth 1:1-5 RNKJV)
Ruth Chapter 1
Genealogy – cf. Chapter 4
If we jump to chapter 4, this isn’t about chapter 4, but if we go to the end of the Book of Ruth, we find another genealogy and it is David’s family tree.
- David’s family tree
Now these are the generations of Pharez: Pharez begat Hezron, And Hezron begat Ram, and Ram begat Amminadab,
And Amminadab begat Nahshon,
and Nahshon begat Salmon,
And Salmon begat Boaz,
and Boaz begat Obed,
And Obed begat Jesse,
and Jesse begat David.
(Rth 4:18-22 RNKJV)
This is how it ends in Ruth Chapter 4. We have Elimelech’s family tree and we have Boaz’ family tree ending with David. We compare this with Matthew Chapter 1 that has a much lengthier genealogy in it. We look for this section and we see the same genealogy mentioned in Matthew Chapter 1.
Mat 1:1-16 – Nashon begot Salmon>
Salmon begot Boaz of Rahab>
Boaz begot Obed of Ruth>
Obed begot Jesse>
Jesse begot David>>>> >>>
Mary bore Yahushua
We put this all together and we’ll end up with a genealogy chart that looks something like this. I want to give a couple of the details, some further explanation. The first side of this is Elimelech’s family tree. It is noteworthy that all of the names in Hebrew have a meaning. Elimelech as I have already shown you means Elohim is King, or Eloah is King.
Naomi’s name means pleasant, the two boys that were born from this family are Chilion and Mahlon. It’s noteworthy that Chilion means unhealthy and Mahlon means puny. This wouldn’t necessarily good school yard names for your kids, but perhaps they were puny and unhealthy because of the famine that was going on. Remember they went away for ten years and they ultimately died so they could have had a few real rough early years before they got to be adults. Obviously they got old enough to marry the two Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. Orpah means back of the neck or mane, perhaps an association that we will see when she turned back to go to Moab. I’m not sure about that but some have made that connection and conjecture. Ruth means friend. That is the family tree of Elimelech.
We get to Salmon on the right side and see Salmon, Boaz, Obed, Jesse and David.
It’s noteworthy that there are five generations which start with, and you have to include Nashon as the first, Salmon the second, Boaz the third, Obed the fourth, Jesse the fifth and then we get to David. We have five generations that are mentioned in two places in the scripture from Nashon to David. Is that possible? I suppose all things are possible so YHWH can have this however He wants it. I think there is more explanation that we can derive from this.
Before we go on I want to mention the two center parts of this genealogy which are clearly oral rabbinic tradition. I have included them with dashed lines. Also, with Elimelech being associated as a part of the family of Nashon is not provable to the best of my knowledge and ability but it is assumed, and we will call it conjecture.
The two other names that are associated when we read and study through the Book of Ruth, and one is that there becomes an unnamed family member that appears to be a close kinsman of Elimelech but also is related to Boaz. That family member would likely be the same offspring from Nashon. The rabbinic tradition that goes along with that has his name as Tov. I will explain why I think it is Tov shortly. There is also another rabbinic tradition that has Naomi’s father as one of the brothers in the line of Elimelech, Tov, Naomi’s father and Salmon.
The center section though is clearly conjectured and I want to make sure that it is presented as that.
We are good with the left side, good with the right side and we are under the sphere of conjecture with the two middle parts.
- Missing generations in Matthew
- And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram Jehoram; and Joram begat Ozias Azariah; And Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz Ahaz; and Achaz begat EzekiasHezekiah;
(Mat 1:8-9 KJV) - Ahaziah, Athaliah, Joash, Amaziah missing
Let’s take a look at that. Joram begot Azariah, it’s easy to read over that, but is that what happened? Let me take you to the time line of the Kings and Prophets chart. This is Jehoram that is being talked about who begot Azariah. I don’t see any scriptural evidence that is indeed the case. Azariah was the son of Amaziah so there are really four kings missing in the genealogy, one of them is a Queen. Ahaziah, Athaliah, Joash and Amaziah are missing in that genealogy tree in Matthew. I can understand why Athaliah wouldn’t be there, with Joash and Amaziah it wasn’t a good time for the kings in the Southern Kingdom because Athaliah brought the disgrace of the House of Ahab along with her. Athaliah was the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel and through a mutual agreement by the heads of state; she became the wife of Jehoram of the Southern Kingdom.
Jehoram died, the palace intrigue set in and she tried to kill all of her offspring.
This was a terrible time, a hard time in the Southern Kingdom but these four names are not included anywhere and it’s probably because of the disgrace and perhaps the curse of Ahab and Jezebel and Omri, that entire family line in the North was not blessed by YHWH. It got carried into the South for a couple of generations. There is conjecture as to why these names aren’t included in Matthew’s genealogy but just know that it is there and it is provable.
Anther missing generation if you want to check on your own is in Ezra.
- Missing generations in Ezr 7:2-3
– cf. 1Ch 6:7-10
Ezra is establishing himself as a Priest and the order of Aaron and he traces his lineage back and there are six or seven missing generations in the lineage that is mentioned in Ezra Chapter seven that you can find and 1 Chronicles 6:7-10. I am not going to go into the details of that other than to try to show you that the genealogy records that you sometimes find in the scriptures aren’t complete in some cases. Also for purpose of genealogy if you want to study more in depth in this is
- .cf Luk 3:31-32 – same genealogy in reverse order
Luke is fundamentally the same genealogy to the one that you find in Matthew. Matthew’s genealogy of course starts with Abraham and ends with the birth of Yahushua. Luke’s genealogy starts with Yahushua and goes all the way back to Adam. There is good study material on all of this and how it all fits together.
Ruth
Genealogy Background
I want to talk a bit about Nashon because Nashon was the one that begot Salmon remember? If we get a fix on when Nashon lived we will probably have an idea of when Salmon lived.
- Nashon contemporary with Aaron
– Aaron married Elisheba, Nashon’s sister – c. 1446 BCE
I think that is easy to prove from a couple of scriptures. Again, it is conjecture of the date but it is likely around the middle of the 15th century BCE.
And Aaron took him Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Naashon, to wife; and she bare him Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. (Exo 6:23 KJV)
We know that Aaron’s wife was Nashon’s sister. We also see that Nashon is included in a census count a couple of years later because YHWH spoke to Moses.
And YHWH spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of the congregation, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying, Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, after their families… Of Judah; Nahshon the son of Amminadab Levite 1 Ch 15:10 . (Num 1:1-7 KJV)
We see Nashon mentioned in the middle of 1400 BCE time frame and I think is the best accounting of the dates of when these things happened. With that, Nashon begot Salmon and Salmon begot Boaz of Rahab so you probably start to see a little bit of the problem but let’s talk about Rahab also.
I have high confidence from reading about Rahab that she is indeed the one that was at Jericho. There are some commentaries that try to build the case that there might have been a second Rahab that wasn’t the one at Jericho but the Rahab from Jericho had a faith and conversion if you will, when the Israelites came through and she honored the true Elohim YHWH.
Ruth
Genealogy Background
- Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab
- Rahab accepts YHWH as Elohim
I think that is all part of the hallmark of faith in Hebrews Chapter 11 where she is mentioned. We see a major surrender, and an understanding of who is in charge according to Rahab.
Rahab speaking And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for YHWH your Elohim, he is Elohim in heaven above, and in earth beneath. Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by YHWH, since I have shewed you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my father’s house, and give me a true token: And that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.
(Jos 2:11-13 KJV)
- Was Salmon one of the messengers?
Rahab is accepting YHWH as the one true Elohim and of course this account is when Joshua was getting ready to go into the Promised Land, cross the Jordan and go over to Jericho. James speaks of Rahab also:
Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? (Jas 2:25 KJV)
So James accounts for Rahab being the one at Jericho. Hebrews Chapter 11:30 accounts for her and we see the testimony here in Joshua of who she is and what she did.
I’d like to follow up on one item that I said Elimelech was only found in Ruth and I don’t believe you find Elimelech in any other location and there is another name that we don’t see which is this unnamed kinsman and I think we see some evidence of how this came about. Again, this is conjecture but how did the rabbinic tradition of this kinsman named Tov who was the brother of Elimelech and probably the brother of Salmon and uncle to Boaz. I think there is some evidence in the scripture of how this came about, again this is conjecture. In Ruth Chapter 3 it shows that a family member comes forward:
Tarry this night, and it shall be in the morning, that if he will perform unto thee the part of a kinsman, well H2896=tob=good; let him do the kinsman’s part: but if he will not do the part of a kinsman to thee, then will I do the part of a kinsman to thee, as YHWH liveth: lie down until the morning. (Rth 3:13 KJV)
This is Boaz speaking to Ruth and there is a kinsman coming. Boaz says that if the guy does the part of a kinsman, well, it turns out that the word “well” is the Hebrew word “Tob” and it means good. If we put together another part of this scripture in Ruth Chapter 4 the same individual, the same family member is in the story here because Boaz goes to the gate and sits down.
Then went Boaz up to the gate, and sat him down there: and, behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spake came by; unto whom he said, Ho, such H6431=peloni a one H492=almoni=concealment, without giving a name turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside, and sat down. (Rth 4:1 KJV)
– Ploni almoni=John Doe = so and so
It turns out that this term “Ho such a one” is a Hebrew idiom, it means John Doe came by so such is peloni and almoni and it means conceal without giving a name. The idiom of peloni almoni, it would be to us like saying John Doe or so and so came by.
When we put this together and say so and so came by, or John Doe came by, he is referenced as good in Chapter 3. I think that is how the rabbinic tradition came to be that his name is Tov. There are people with the name of Tov, I just actually saw in the Israeli News that someone in the government had a last name of Tov and it means “good”.
If you use a greeting in Hebrew like Boker tov (good morning), Erev tov (good afternoon), or Yome tov (good day), the word “tov” means good. I suspect that is where tov came from but again, no proof but I want to put these parts and pieces together as we get our feet on the ground to move forward.
Ruth
Genealogy Back ground
Dating conundrum
- Mat 1:4 – Nashon begot Salmon>
Salmon begot Boaz of Rahab> - Mat 1:4 – Nashon begot Salmon>
Salmon begot Boaz of Rahab> - Assumptions
Book of Ruth – Boaz was 80 years old
Rahab saved from Jericho – c. 1406 BCE
Rahab was 20 years old when saved from Jericho in 1046 BCE
David born c. 1040 BCE - Early Ruth – 1275 BCE
Boaz born 1355 BCE (1275 +80)
Rahab was 71 years old when Boaz was born (1406 – 1355 = 51 + 20 = 71) - Late Ruth – 1150 BCE
- Boaz was born 1230 BCE (1150 + 80)
- Rahab was 196 at Boaz birth (1406 – 1230 = 176 + 20 = 196)
The dating conundrum that comes out of this is useful to examine, I have been in Bible studies where people have said that their Great Grandfather was born a hundred years ago and their Grandmother was fifty years ago, and I was fifty years later so we had fifty year generations. We certainly have that. Perhaps we have some cases of longer generations.
Typically a generation is much shorter than fifty or sixty years even in these times of the genealogies that we see here in the scriptures. Fifty or sixty years were probably starting to be a long period of time between generations but it could certainly happen. What I want to examine is the part that I want to take a microscopic look at is Nashon begot Salmon, Salmon begot Boaz of Rahab.
Let’s make some assumptions here, the assumptions could be wrong so you can make your own assumptions and come up with a different set of conclusions that is for sure. One of the assumptions is when the Book of Ruth occurs and Boaz was eighty years old, now you could say that makes a pretty far out assumption just to start with. Why would Boaz be eighty? One of the other rabbinic traditions was that Boaz was old and late in life and that he only lived a very short period of time after he married Ruth. It could be, it could not be, but in any case, Boaz was likely an older guy when all of this happened. Maybe he wasn’t eighty, he could have been fifty or sixty or seventy but it doesn’t make much difference when you start looking at the time between the generations and I will show you why.
Rahab was saved from Jericho and if we have our chronology correct about that, the early 1400 BCE time frame, she would have been probably at least twenty years old when she was saved from Jericho. She couldn’t have been too much younger and be a safe-house keeper. She was probably around twenty being a young woman when that happened. David, another more historical fact that has more concrete footing is that David was born somewhere around 1040 BCE. Some date David back to 1080, but most chronology today has David around 1040 BC.
With those pieces of assumption, let’s take a look at the early and late Ruth. We are going to pick on the early side first. The early Ruth was the closest to Joshua and the entry into the Promised Land some hundred and twenty five years or so after the entry into the Promised Land.
If you recall, I said early Ruth took place approximately 1275 BCE so if early Ruth took place then, and Boaz was eighty years old, Boaz would have been born about 1355 BCE, in other words, the date of the Book of Ruth plus hid eighty years previous would take you to 1355. If that were the case, even with early Ruth, that would mean that Rahab would have been seventy one years old when Boaz was born if that was the direct line of ascendancy or genealogy. It’s easy to figure that, and again these are assumptions.
Rahab was discovered in 1406, early 1400 BCE when Jericho fell, and if Boaz was born in 1355 that is fifty one years later. If Rahab was twenty years old when all of this happened she would have been seventy one years old when Boaz was born. Is that possible? Sure, it certainly is, it’s not far out of alignment of basic genetics but she is getting pretty old when Boaz was born if that is the case. What happens after Boaz that he begot Obed, so if this early Ruth were the case, Obed would have born a year or so after the story of Ruth’s timeline, and again, the timeline of Ruth is 1275 so Obed would have been born 1274 or 1273, or very close to the timeline of the story. If that is the case, Obed to David would have been two hundred and thirty four years later in 1274 to 1040, and there is only two generations spoken of, Obed, Jesse and then David so there is only two generations to make up what is two hundred and thirty four years, they would have to have been a hundred and seventeen years average. That probably isn’t likely short of divine inspiration, or miracles. Is it possible? Certainly, all these things ae possible, I’m giving you the math to see how all of this fits together.
To take the same set of assumptions and apply it to the late dating of the Book of Ruth and we end up with if the late date of Ruth was in 1150 BCE, in other words the time of Gideon, then Boaz would have been born eighty years previous to that, make it your own way, sixty, seventy, eighty, whatever you want but if he was born eighty years previous to that it would take him to 1230 BCE, now Rahab would have been a hundred and ninety six years old. You can look into the math yourself with a finer microscope if you like.
This is probably not the way things would have gone. You see there is a problem on one end of this or the other depending upon where you place the Book of Ruth. If we just take an average look at this, from Jericho all the way to David we have these five generations starting from Nashon all the way to Jesse, and perhaps the dating of the chronology is what’s wrong, but lots of people have studied these dates and I have looked at it too. I think that 1400 is a good Jericho date, and 1040 is a good David date, that means that three hundred and sixty six years for five generations and that is an average of seventy three year average per generation.
Ruth
Genealogy Background
- Jericho to David
1446 – 1040 = 366 years
5 generations
73 years average - Salmon / Rahab (married ~1390 BCE)
Missing generations
Late Ruth dating (~1160 – 1140 BCE):
Boaz / Ruth (married ~1150 BCE)
Obed (born ~1149 BCE)
Jesse (born ~1100 BCE obed 49 years old)
David (born ~1040 BCE Jesse 60 years old ) 
There are a couple of different theories on how this fits together, the one that I like myself from studying it, is that there are missing generations between Salmon / Rahab and Boaz. Again, this is conjecture but here is what we find. If there is missing generations where I have placed the arrow, Salmon and Rahab were Great Grandparents or Great Great Grandparents of Boaz not direct parents as we could assume by reading the genealogy, but keep in mind the genealogy in Matthew clearly has missing components in it. It could have been that there was a time when the family structure wasn’t very proud to be Israelites so they aren’t included in the scripture, I don’t know.
The late dating of Ruth seems to be for me, a preference versus the early dating and we will take the Boaz and Ruth story to take place at 1150 BCE and in that case, if Obed was born within a year or so after Boaz and Ruth were married, Obed would have been born around 1149, forty nine years later we get to Jesse and this seems to be a pretty good chronological fix on Jesse’s birth at 1100 BCE. Then some sixty years later David would be born at 1040 BCE.
We get a better fit with Boaz, Obed and Jesse by making the assumption that there are missing generations before Boaz. Again, could be wrong but a couple of other anecdotal parts of this is that Jesse lived a long life.
Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehemjudah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons: and the man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul.
(1Sa 17:12 RNKJV)
I read that previously, or part of it previously. Jesse was an old guy in the scheme of things at this point in time. We see the last reference to Jesse in 1 Samuel 22:
And David went thence to Mizpeh of Moab: and he said unto the king of Moab, Let my father and my mother, I pray thee, come forth, and be with you, till I know what Elohim will do for me. And he brought them before the king of Moab: and they dwelt with him all the while that David was in the hold. (1Sa 22:3-4 RNKJV)
So his parents would have been old at this point in time so they well could have lived a long life it would appear. I do want to mention anecdotally also that there are two Salmon’s, referred to as Salma’s in Chronicles and it’s easy to ask the question on what that is all about and how did that work out? I am pretty sure there are two different Salma’s. We see in 1 Chronicles Chapter 2:
And Nahshon begat Salma, and Salma begat Boaz, And Boaz begat Obed, and Obed begat Jesse, And Jesse begat his firstborn Eliab, and Abinadab the second, and Shimma the third, Nethaneel the fourth, Raddai the fifth, Ozem the sixth, David the seventh:
(1Ch 2:11-15 RNKJV)
Here is David’s specific genealogy with Salma being mentioned, it’s the same as Salmon that we see in other places. A little later in this same chapter in Chronicles we see Salma mentioned again. It’s easy to assume it is the same guy but by the details of this it wouldn’t appear so.
These were the sons of Caleb the son of Hur, the firstborn of Ephratah; Shobal the father of Kirjath-jearim, Salma the father of Bethlehem, Hareph the father of Beth-gader.
(1Ch 2:50-51 RNKJV)
It would appear that there is a second Salma mentioned here. I would comment from a bibliography standpoint that there is an excellent book that will give you some of the details of this in background and a good resource material if you care to.
- Tamar’s Ancestry and Rahab’s Marriage: Two problems in the Matthean Genealogy by Richard Bauckham
It is probably useful if you like to study this type of material.
Why are we looking at this? You might ask if all of that detail would be important particularly you are saying that it’s a lot of conjecture.
Yes, there is some conjecture going along with this but at the bottom of all of these genealogy charts is Yahushua.
I didn’t have room on the page to put all of the components of the genealogy after David but I think everyone knows that will be listening to this that David begot, begot, begot, begot, begot, and then Yahushua came along many generations later.
Yahushua is what I really want to focus on here and you might ask, what is the main thing?
What’s the main thing?
- Story of Ruth the Moabite began with Salmon and Rahab 3400 years ago
- Takes place at barley and wheat harvest
Barley – firstfruits H7225=reyshith=first in place, time, order, rank
Wheat – firstfruits H1061=bikkur=firstfruits of the crop
There is a Proverb that says “It’s important that the main thing is to be kept the main thing which is the main thing”. So the main thing here is all about Yahushua. What we have gone through so far is the story of Ruth the Moabite that began with Salmon and Rahab some 3400 years ago. Yes, we have been looking at the details of genealogy and dates and so forth but the end result of this is Yahushua comes as the Messiah. All of this story is just a forward pointer to Yahushua, it’s a prototype, a type of Messiah coming forward and it’s most important to keep that in mind.
This story clearly takes place at the barley and wheat harvest and I want to remind everyone what these harvests are about. The barley harvest that we read about is about firstfruits. The wheat harvest is about firstfruits. When you look at what the Hebrew word of firstfruits is, it’s not the same for the wheat harvest by comparison to the barley harvest.
The barley harvest firstfruits is about reyshith firstfruits. Those reyshith firstfruits are the first in place, time, order and rank. I think most of us know that have studied into this, we’ve given presentations during this period of time of Passover and Pentecost on the firstfruits being in the Passover season being a prototype and a typology that looks forward to Yahushua.
The firstfruits in the Shavuot season are also firstfruits, those are bikkur, but those are firstfruits of the crop. That is pointing forward to the two leavened loaves, the Israelites and the Gentiles that come together in the New Testament as a result of Yahushua the Messiah coming on the scene and giving his life for our sins.
It is important that the genealogy that we see ends with Yahushua’s victory over sin and the redemption that we have as a result. Pentecost that we are putting our attention on this time of year is the major fulfillment in YHWH’s plan of salvation. YHWH’s plan of salvation has a redeemer, and yes, there is a kinsman redeemer that we see as Boaz in the storyline of Ruth but our ultimate kinsman redeemer is Yahushua.
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Act 4:12 RNKJV)
It is only through Yahushua. When we look at this Day of Pentecost that came in 30 CE, some fifty days after the death, burial and resurrection of Yahushua, this section of scripture when the day of Pentecost was fully come is useful to take a look at and keep it as the main thing in the center of our mind as we study this Book of Ruth.
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them…. Then Kepha Peter said unto them,
(1) Repent, G3340=matanoeo=think differenty, reconsider , and
(2) be baptized every one of you in the name of Yahushua the Messiah for the forgiveness of sins, and
(3) ye shall receive the gift G1431=gratuity of the Holy Spirit.
For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as YHWH our Elohim shall call G4341=summon, invite. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward G4646=warped, perverse, froward (difficult to deal with, contrary) generation. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
(Act 2:1-3,38-41 RNKJV)
Here is part of the recipe for salvation. Number one: Repent, Number two: be baptized, Number three: receive the gift of YHWH’s Spirit. That recipe cannot be changed, it is paramount for each of us to get. I know there will be people listening to this and I don’t know who you are, I know you will be listening to this and what I want you to take away is to repent, be baptized, and receive YHWH’s spirit. If you haven’t repented and have been baptized, you do not have salvation. There is no salvation without Yahushua and no salvation without the fulfillment of this procedure that is right here in front of us.
Repent is the Greek word ‘matanoeo’, and it’s easy for us to say that people that need to repent and this word ‘matanoeo’ is interesting, it means to think differently or to reconsider your actions. Think differently about who we are and what we are. We have to think differently about our action, yes, repent means to quit sinning, but quitting our sinful nature means to think differently. We have to think differently and we can only think differently if we have been baptized and have received YHWH’s Spirit. It is not possible with any other recipe, so this is a must. Repent; be baptized in the name of Yahushua for the forgiveness of our sins. He is the only one that can forgive us and then we will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
This word gift means gratuity, it’s given to us freely, it is given to us because we ask and we have changed our thinking.
For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as YHWH our Elohim shall call G4341=summon, invite
YHWH does the calling, this word ‘call’ means to summon, or to invite. We can’t invite ourselves, we don’t invite ourselves to YHWH’s marriage supper, He has to summon us and invite us.
And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward G4646=warped, perverse, froward (difficult to deal with, contrary) generation.
It’s easy to read over that, this ‘untoward generation’ this word untoward in Greek means warped, perverse and froward. Froward means in the English vernacular to deal with people that are difficult to deal with and contrary. Do you know anyone that is contrary and hard to deal with? That is a froward person, an untoward person. Save yourself from this untoward generation, the wheels are coming off, the days are numbered, and we are in the last days. We have one less day today than we did yesterday. I’m not setting dates here, I don’t know how long we have before the return of Yahushua but the time is getting shorter and shorter.
Then they that gladly received his word were baptized.
Have you been baptized? If you hear this, I hope you have ears to hear. Repent and be baptized. It is paramount for your salvation.
And the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
HalleluYah.
Do Your Own Homework
My mantra is to always do your own homework, particularly in these areas of conjecture. There are other alternatives to timelines and answers to questions about genealogies. We don’t want to get hung up on genealogies. We want to keep the main thing the main thing so don’t lose track of that.
Every word of Eloah is pure G6884=to fuse metal, refine: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar. (Pro 30:5-6 RNKJV)
I don’t want to be adding to his word, I am saying this is conjecture in some areas so I’m not trying to add to his words, I am trying to understand them. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.
And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search H1875=to tread or frequent, seek, or ask for me with all your heart. (Jer 29:13 RNKJV)
We have to seek and we have to ask. One key to Bible study and to learn and grow is praying, so if you are hearing this message and doing your own homework, pray.
And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. (Mat 21:22 RNKJV)
It is important to pray for understanding and discernment. The fear and respect of YHWH is the beginning of wisdom and understanding. It is just the beginning so I hope you have ears to hear.
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try G1381=test, examine the spirits whether they are of YHWH: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. (1Jn 4:1 RNKJV)
