Journey Of The Seed - Catch The Bible's Big Picture In 60 DaysНамуна

FAMOUS MOTHER

[Scheduled Reading: Judges 17-21; Ruth 1-4]

So where is The Seed in the midst of all these 40-year cycles? 

The era of judges (from the death of Joshua to the anointing of King Saul) is about three hundred years. 

In the front half of this 300-year stretch lived a man named Boaz (#30 in The Seed journey).

And who was Boaz’s father? Salmon (#29) – the husband to Rahab the harlot, who aided the Israelites in the Jericho takeover. 

Meanwhile, a widow named Ruth moves back to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law Naomi, and later meets and marries Boaz of the tribe of Judah. 

There are a few special notes about Ruth’s role in The Seed journey:

-First, she’s originally a Moabite. In other words, she’s a foreigner (not among the twelve tribes of Israel). 

-Secondly, she has a famous mother-in-law. Her first mother-in-law was Naomi. But after marrying Boaz, she has another mother-in-law (likely deceased): Rahab. Wow! 

Rahab and Ruth - that’s two special mothers, both of non-Israelite descent, in the line of The Seed!

-Finally, there’s something very special just around the corner for The Seed. Ruth is Grandmother to a man named Jesse (#32), which makes her Great Grandmother to King David (#33). 

No kidding! Check it out. 

Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez fathered Hezron, Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amminadab,Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon, Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed, Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David. (Ruth 4:18-22)

Ruth’s role in the Bible’s genealogy is stunning!

Special Note

Today’s read includes the account of an almost wipe-out of one of the 12 tribes – the tribe of Benjamin.

A Levite’s concubine was murdered by some Benjamites in an all-night rape. It was a heinous crime. The Levite followed up with an equally shocking response. The result was a full roll-out of all of Israel against their brother-tribe, the Benjamites.