Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good morning, dear ones.

Besides being on the late side, I guess I judged I was not in as much need of a jog this morning as normal—I went night skiing last night with Charlie Hill. It afforded a pretty decent workout.

Thano’s little boys, Kaden (4) and Nicholas (2), are here. Lots of fun. Lots of challenge.

I need to be off soon to Estacada and Wood Village…business errands.

May your day go well. Love, Dad/Ray

The last statement of Judges is one that is repeated several times in the book. “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit” (21:25). The account helps to confirm that humans, left to themselves, will always return to the default settings of their Jeremiah 17:9 heart condition where chaos and confusion is the norm. If I really believed that this 21st chapter of Judges (as well as the whole of the book) was about the best that following God had to offer, I would most definitely chuck the whole pile of you-know-what! I even found myself chafing again with some of the text—“The people grieved for Benjamin (whom the other tribes had decided to massacre), because the LORD had made a gap in the tribes of Israel” (21:15). Allow me to stand on a chair and raise my voice with this response—“HE DID NOT! YOU GUYS DID IT ALL BY YOURSELVES!!! DON’T BLAME GOD FOR THE MESS YOU MADE!!!”

There is something refreshing about the shift of attention from the big ugly picture of Israel’s corruption and carnage, now zooming in on the reality of human emotions surrounding the story of Ruth. It is noteworthy to recognize the elevated value that God places on womanhood, whose value would seem to have been trashed in preceding chapters. The story also cuts across ethnic barriers as demonstrated by the fact that Ruth was not an Israelite, but a Moabite—yet clearly blessed of God, coming to participate in the lineage of David—which is the lineage of the Messiah.

It’s easy to see the flawed worldview of Naomi in the FOCUS VERSES above. At this point in her life, she was bummed and joining in the “blame game”—blaming God for all her troubles. Hey, I think I can guarantee that anyone who denies the fact of SIN—SINNERS occupying a FALLEN WORLD—their worldview perspective will always come out bummed, distorted, and depressing. But we shouldn’t be too hard on Naomi—she obviously demonstrated a credible and sufficient measure of a HEART AFTER GOD so as to prompt from her daughter-in-law, Ruth, one of the most impressive and inspiring commitments of love and loyalty in all the Bible—“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 anything but death separates you and me” (Ruth 1:16-17).