God Cherishes You Blog

What Results When We Reject God’s Kingship?

It hasn’t been pretty…

Adam and Eve rejected God’s kingship as soon as Satan convinced them to lust after His rule, for themselves, to place the crown on their own heads.

What was the result? Expulsion from Eden’s Garden paradise, and bodily death for all of humankind. The direct love-connection with God was taken away, and in its place was a stain of sin that blocked our way to eternal paradise for millennia.

Ten generations later, a God-less global population fell into abject evil after having rejected God. How did He react?

The LORD observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. So the LORD was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart. Gn. 6:5, 6. NLT

Thus, Jehovah flooded the earth, leaving only Noah and his family to try to build humanity anew.

A few generations later, the entire world succumbed to the lust of pride and tried to build an edifice for worshiping themselves instead of God.

How did that turn out? God considered humankind’s predilection for depravity and destroyed the tower of Babel and scattered everyone across the globe, confusing their languages – making it harder for them to work as one for a godless purpose.

Leaping forward multiple eons, we come to the time of Joshua’s death, whereupon the Israelites turned to pagan gods and practices, and were summarily left helpless, as God lifted His protection off the people and allowed them to feel the oppression and punishment from pagan armies for many years.

God would then send ‘judges’ to them, to rescue them when they were genuinely repentant. But then, the people would descend into moral / spiritual degradation once more, to rinse and repeat.

You know what? These aren’t good outcomes. And to further drive this home, we are now going to look at how the Israelites wanted to have a lowly human king set over God. Why? Because they wanted to be like the other pagan countries that surrounded them. A clear case for failure…

Here’s how it went, as revealed in the first and second book of Samuel to describe a century-and-a-half period over approximately 1120 B.C. – 970 B.C.:

There was an Israelite by the name of Elkanah, married to two women. One wife bore him children, the other, named Hannah, was barren (This was a divine plan) *. The fertile wife gave Hannah a lot of grief over her lack of children.

*…the Lord had kept her from having children. 1 Sm. 1:6 NLT

Every year, Elkanah and his family traveled to Shilo (a tabernacle to worship Jehovah, prior to the assembly of the Temple in Jerusalem, in the time of the judges.)

Hannah entered the tabernacle and prayed that God would grant her a son:

She made a vow, saying, “O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction (suffering) of Your maidservant and remember, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life; a razor shall never touch his head.” 1 Sm. 1:11 AMP

Jehovah granted her wish, and she named him Samuel. After she weaned him, she kept her promise, and returned Samuel to Shilo to be cared for, and to be prepared for the priesthood by Eli, (the high priest at that time). As Hannah did so, she burst out in praise:

“My heart rejoices and triumphs in the Lord; My horn (strength) is lifted up in the Lord,
My mouth has opened wide [to speak boldly] against my enemies, because I rejoice in Your salvation. There is no one holy like the Lord, there is no one besides You, there is no Rock like our God…” 1 Sm. 2:1, 2. AMP

“He raises up the poor from the dust, He lifts up the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with nobles, and inherit a seat of honor and glory; For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and He set the land on them.

“He guards the feet of His godly (faithful) ones, but the wicked ones are silenced and perish in darkness; for a man shall not prevail by might.

“The adversaries of the Lord will be broken to pieces; He will thunder against them in the heavens, the Lord will judge the ends of the earth; and He will give strength to His king, and will exalt the horn (strength) of His anointed.” 1 Sm. 2:8 – 10. AMP

Note the last phrase is prophetically manifested in both Kind David and ultimately in Christ.

The Bible now shifts to Eli’s two sons:

Now the sons of Eli were scoundrels who had no respect for the Lord or for their duties as priests. 1 Sm. 2:12, 13. NLT

They had taken the best of the people’s sacrifices to the Lord for themselves, and dishonored other sacrifices and rituals. Contrast that with Samuel’s behavior:

But Samuel, though he was only a boy, served the Lord. He wore a linen garment like that of a priest. 1 Sam. 2:18 NLT

Eli spoke to his sons about their behavior, but they refused to listen to him. An unnamed ‘man of God’ approached Eli, bringing him a warning from God Himself:

‘Why…do you kick at (despise) My sacrifice and My offering which I commanded in My dwelling place, and honor your sons more than Me, by fattening yourselves with the choicest part of every offering of My people Israel?’ 1 Sm. 2:29 AMP

‘—for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me will be insignificant and contemptible.’ 1 Sm. 2:30 AMP

This will be the sign to you which shall come concerning your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas: on the same day both of them shall die. 1 Sm. 2:34 AMP

Samuel hears directly from God:

One night Eli, who was almost blind by now, had gone to bed. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was sleeping in the Tabernacle near the Ark of God. Suddenly the Lord called out, “Samuel!” 1 Sm. 3:2 – 4. NLT

Samuel wakes up and runs to Eli, thinking it was him that called out. God calls out again, and Samuel goes to Eli once more, only to be told to go back to bed. God speaks to Samuel a third time. This time, Eli realizes God is really speaking to Samuel and instructs him in how to answer Jehovah.

When the Lord calls out to Samuel a fourth time, he answers:

“Speak, your servant is listening.” 1 Sm. 3:10 NLT

Jehovah answers:

“Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will ring. On that day I will carry out against Eli everything that I have spoken concerning his house (family), from beginning to end.Now I have told him that I am about to judge his house forever for the sinful behavior which he knew [was happening], because his sons were bringing a curse on themselves [dishonoring and blaspheming God] and he did not rebuke them.Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the sinful behavior of Eli’s house (family) shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.” 1 Sm. 3:11 – 14. AMP

The next morning, Samuel revealed his vision to Eli, who resigned himself to his imminent fate.

Meanwhile, Samuel continues to grow in the Lord:

Now Samuel grew; and the Lord was with him and He let none of his words fail [to be fulfilled].And all Israel from Dan [in the north] to Beersheba [in the south] knew that Samuel was appointed as a prophet of the Lord. And the Lord continued to appear in Shiloh, for the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord. 1 Sm. 3:19 – 21. AMP

The Israelites do not:

The Philistines attack and kill 4000 Israeli soldiers. The people did not seek God’s will before the battle. Furthermore, the elders sacrilegiously took the Ark of the Covenant (where the Spirit of God abided in the Tabernacle) and brought it to the battlefield thinking it would turn the tide in a second skirmish.

Instead, the Philistines captured the Ark for themselves! When Eli heard the news of the defeat, the death of his sons, and the seizure of the Ark, he fell backwards out of his chair, breaking his neck and died. Thus, God’s prophecy concerning Eli and his sons was fulfilled.

The Philistines took the Ark and placed it in the temple of their pagan god Dagon. The next morning, they found their statue of Dagon lying on its face before the Ark. They set the statue aright, but the following morning they found they found Dagon’s head and hands cut off. Thus, their ‘god’ was humiliated.

In addition, God brought a plague upon the Philistines:

Then the Lord’s heavy hand struck the people of Ashdod and the nearby villages with a plague of tumors.When the people realized what was happening, they cried out, “We can’t keep the Ark of the God of Israel here any longer! He is against us! 1 Sm. 5:6, 7. NLT

After the Philistines had the Ark for seven months, they sent it back to Israel. When it was returned, some Israelites handled the Ark, knowing full well that only the Levites were to handle it. They paid for that with their lives.

Twenty years would pass before the Ark was returned to the Tabernacle.

Samuel called all of Israel to gather for prayer to return to Jehovah and remove any pagan idols. As they did so, the Philistines attacked again. This time, Samuel sacrificed to God and He shouted thunder at them. The Philistines panicked and fled.

Have the Israelites learned anything about how God should be revered? Sadly, they sink into new sinful depths…

Samuel is getting old. He appoints his two sons to be judges over Israel, but they are just as bad as Eli’s sons were. So, the elders approach Samuel with an unprecedented demand:

“Look, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint us a king to judge us [and rule over us] like all the other nations.” 1 Sm. 8:5 AMP

And there it is. Israel wants to mimic the pagan nations and make a king of a mere man, placing him over and above the rightful King of the Universe.

Samuel was so disturbed by this sinful request that he took his concerns to Jehovah. He answered Samuel:

“Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being King over them. Like all the deeds which they have done since the day that I brought them up from Egypt even to this day—in that they have abandoned (rejected) Me and served other gods—so they are doing to you also. So now listen to their voice; only solemnly warn them and tell them the ways of the king who will reign over them.” 1 Sm. 8:7 – 9. AMP

You can almost feel Jehovah’s heart break. Nevertheless, His love for his people never wanes. Still, in the face of their rejection, He warns them about the outcome of their choice:

“This is how a king will reign over you,” Samuel said. “The king will draft your sons and assign them to his chariots and his charioteers, making them run before his chariots.Some will be generals and captains in his army, some will be forced to plow in his fields and harvest his crops, and some will make his weapons and chariot equipment. The king will take your daughters from you and force them to cook and bake and make perfumes for him. He will take away the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his own officials. He will take a tenth of your grain and your grape harvest and distribute it among his officers and attendants. He will take your male and female slaves and demand the finest of your cattleand donkeys for his own use. He will demand a tenth of your flocks, and you will be his slaves. When that day comes, you will beg for relief from this king you are demanding, but then the Lord will not help you.” 1 Sm. 8:11 – 18. NLT

How do the people respond? They seal their fate:

But the people refused to listen to Samuel’s warning. “Even so, we still want a king,” they said. 1 Sm. 8:19 NLT

We’ll see how that turns out…next time!

Goodnight and God bless.

Building Better Americans 158

‘Colorblind’ is being guided by the truth that immutable traits like skin color reveals nothing about a person.

Who is the Woman of Virtue?

The author of the Book of Ruth is unknown but has been suggested to be the prophet Samuel in the time of King David. It is a picture of the power of faith of two women and the blessings that follow. It is also a book connected to the lineage of Christ. Let’s dig in:

In the days when the judges ruled in Israel, a severe famine came upon the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah left his home and went to live in the country of Moab, taking his wife and two sons with him. The man’s name was Elimelech, and his wife was Naomi. Their two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in the land of Judah. And when they reached Moab, they settled there.

Then Elimelech died, and Naomi was left with her two sons. Ru. 1:1 – 3. NLT

So, there was a famine in Israel (Canaan). Instead of waiting on Jehovah for deliverance, Elimelech spirited his family off to a pagan land (Moab) – in direct violation of God’s law against consorting with pagans. He perished for his transgression.

The two sons married Moabite women. One married a woman named Orpah, and the other a woman named Ruth. But about ten years later, both Mahlon and Kilion died. This left Naomi alone, without her two sons or her husband. Ru. 1:4, 5. NLT

Thus, Naomi’s sons also transgressed Jehovah’s statutes by marrying pagan women (Moabites). They too died for their rebellion.

Later, Naomi hears that God has delivered Israel from the drought and she intends to take her two daughters-in-law back home. But first she gives them the option to remain in Moab with their respective parents. She tells them they would be better off because she recognizes that her plight was due to her joining her husband in leaving Israel. She tells them:

“…because the Lord’s hand has gone against me.” Ru. 1:13 AMP

Orpah choose to return to her parents.

However, Ruth pledged to go with Naomi, to remain with her the rest of her days, and to follow Jehovah – her first expression of her faith in that this was the right thing to do:

“Don’t plead with me to abandon you or to return and not follow you. For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you live, I will live; your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.” Ru. 1:16 CSB

Naomi acquiesced, and the two of them journeyed to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest. It is at this juncture, that the Bible introduces us to another major player in the book of Ruth:

Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side. He was a prominent man of noble character from Elimelech’s family. His name was Boaz. Ru. 2:1 CSB

We will learn that his lineage is very important. His mother was Rahab, the prostitute who hid the spies from Joshua from being killed by hiding them from an enemy pagan king of Jericho. (See Jos. 2:1 – 15 & 6:25; Mt. 1:5)

Later, Ruth would ask Naomi if she could go to the barley fields to glean stalks of grain left behind by the harvesters. (This leaving behind of the grain was mandated by Mosaic law to help the poor people eat.)

While doing so, Ruth begins to glean in Boaz’s field. Boaz comes and asks about the beautiful Moabite woman in his field and is told that she came back from Moab with Naomi. Impressed, Boaz told her to stay in his field and continue to glean.

She thanks him effusively and he answers that he did it because of all she was doing for Naomi, and then he covers her with a blessing:

“May the Lord repay you for your kindness, and may your reward be full from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” Ru. 2:12 AMP

Boaz served her dinner and then she gleaned a little more grain and brought it home to Naomi, to whom she raved about Boaz’s kindness to her. Naomi likewise fawned praise upon Boaz, saying:

“May he be blessed of the Lord who has not ceased His kindness to the living and to the dead.” Again Naomi said to her, “The man is one of our closest relatives, one who has the right to redeem us.” Ru. 2:20 AMP

Naomi is referring to Boaz as a ‘redeemer’ (kinsman-redeemer) – associated with a Mosaic Law (Lv. 25:25) that states if an Israeli was so down on his luck that he had to sell his property, his closest relative would need to purchase it to keep the land in the family.

Ruth gleaned Boaz’s field until the end of the harvest…

Boaz, being a redeemer, must also fulfill another Mosaic Law (See Dt. 25:5), which dictates that he must marry the widow of a brother and impregnate her, so that his brother’s lineage continues. Thus, Naomi begins to construct a plot that kills two birds with one stone:

One day Naomi said to Ruth, “My daughter, it’s time that I found a permanent home for you, so that you will be provided for. Boaz is a close relative of ours, and he’s been very kind by letting you gather grain with his young women. Tonight he will be winnowing barley at the threshing floor. Now do as I tell you—take a bath and put on perfume and dress in your nicest clothes. Then go to the threshing floor, but don’t let Boaz see you until he has finished eating and drinking. Be sure to notice where he lies down; then go and uncover his feet and lie down there. He will tell you what to do.” Ru. 3:1 – 4. NLT

Uncovering Boaz’s feet was a way to make them cold and wake him up. Seeing Ruth dressed in her finery, would impress upon him the righteousness of her cause.

Ruth did so, and when he woke up, he was surprised, and asked her about her intentions. She replied:

“I am your servant Ruth,” she replied. “Spread the corner of your covering over me, for you are my family redeemer.” Ru. 3:9 NLT

Boaz is thrilled but he still places his concern about Ruth’s righteousness at the center of his focus:

“Now don’t worry about a thing, my daughter. I will do what is necessary, for everyone in town knows you are a virtuous woman.” Ru. 3:11 NLT

Yes, it is Ruth who is the ‘woman of virtue’!

However, Boaz tells Ruth that she has a relative more closely related to her and legally has the first right of redemption. But Boaz then says if the other man will not redeem her, he most definitely will.

He then tells her to spend the night at his feet but cautions her to rise early before anyone else so as not to be a victim of false slander. She does, and relates everything to Naomi…

That very same day, Boaz meets with the closer relative and gathered ten elders to officiate.

Boaz begins by telling him that due to Ruth’s poverty, she must sell the land she received due to the death of her husband Elimelech. He informs the relative that he has the first rights to redeem the land, but if he doesn’t want to, he, Boaz, the next in line, will do so.

The closer relative says he will redeem the land.

Then, clever Boaz informs him of his duty to take Ruth as his wife as well if he redeems the land. The man realizes that marrying a Gentile would at the very least violate Mosaic Law, as well as surely alienate his present wife. So, he backpedals and tells Boaz to redeem Ruth and the land.

So Boaz took Ruth into his home, and she became his wife. When he slept with her, the Lord enabled her to become pregnant, and she gave birth to a son.Then the women of the town said to Naomi, “Praise the Lord, who has now provided a redeemer for your family! May this child be famous in Israel. Ru. 4:13, 14. NLT

They named him Obed (worshiper). He is the father of Jesse, the father of David [the ancestor of Jesus Christ]. Ru. 4:17 AMP

Thus, Boaz, the kinsman-redeemer and Ruth, the virtuous Gentile woman, are eternally cemented within the lineage of our Savior…