Study Guide to the Book of Ruth: A Tale of Loyalty and God's Redemption, Study notes of Law

Download Study Guide to the Book of Ruth: A Tale of Loyalty and God's Redemption and more Study notes Law in PDF only on Docsity! Ruth Welcome to Ruth We are so excited that you have picked up this study guide to the book of Ruth. We encourage you to spend time each day diving into the story and themes present in the story of Ruth. Getting the most out of the study: • Grab a few friends and form a group, or join an existing group. • Find a good Study Bible. It will help give insight into cultural and theological backgrounds. • Read through the book once a week. It’s a short book and will take about 20 minutes. • After you have read through the story at least once, watch the video of Ruth from the Bible Project. This will give you a good overview of the characters and themes in the story. • https://bibleproject.com/videos/ruth/ • Each day, Monday - Friday, choose a rhythm to complete. Weekly Rhythms : Explore: Get a wider picture of God working behind the scenes of the story. Study: Dive into scripture. Take a refreshing swim with a few passages and let God’s word soak in. Apply: Take what you have learned and put it into practice. Take action steps toward understanding God, yourself, and others. Reflect: Take time to reflect on your week. Look to discover where God is active in your life this week. Share: Sitting across the table with a friend, talk about what God is teaching you through your studies. Familiar Setting The last few months in America, we have experienced political and social upheavals. We see rioting and social unrest. We divide ourselves up into red and blue factions. We get our sources of truth from different news stations. It appears as if everyone is doing what is right in their own eyes. In the midst of the political and social crisis of Judges, God inserts the book of Ruth. The story highlights the fact that God has not given up on those who were in a covenant relationship with him. Much like Jesus using the story of the Good Samaritan to shock the listeners (the Jews in the New Testament looked down on the Samaritans). God uses Ruth the Moabite as a symbol of loyalty. The Israelites, God’s covenant people, were not living up to the covenant. However, Ruth, the foreigner, displays amazing loyalty. One last thing to set the stage for the book of Ruth. It is important to know a little background information about the covenant made in the book of Deuteronomy. Ruth makes an important allusion to Deuteronomy 28 - 30. During the time of the Judges, Israel was dropping the ball on their end of the covenant. They were failing so bad that famine entered the land and Israelites like Elimelech were leaving the promised land. In Deuteronomy 28-30, God told the Israelites that this would happen. He also promised that after they left, he would still restore them and return them to the land (30:3). On top of all that, He would also make them flourish once back in the land (30:9). It is interesting that the location where the people made this covenant was in Moab—the place where Ruth is from and where the story begins. Weekly Focus: Return: God is in the process of bringing us back to him. Favor: We have been presented an amazing gift of grace. Kindness: God continues to show kindness in dark times. Refuge: God gathers us under his wings and protects us. Redeem: God is redeeming the whole, one person at a time. Week 1 Return EXPLORE Read Ruth 1. Verses 1-5 give us the setting for the story. What is happening to the family? In the midst of the terrible circumstances, how does Ruth shine? What does Ruth sacrifice to show her love for Naomi? How is God showing kindness and love to Naomi through Ruth in this chapter, even when Naomi thinks the opposite of God? Names in the story have important meaning: Elimelech means God is king. Naomi means pleasant. Mahlon means weakling. Ruth means refreshing. Kilion means frail. Mara means bitter. Why is Naomi changing her name? Where do you see glimpses of hope in the story? STUDY Good news; Bad, Bad, Bad news. When someone says “I have good news and bad news, which do you want first,” how do you respond? What if they say, “I have good news and bad, bad, bad news?” That seems to be what is written in Deut. 28. There are 14 verses of blessing for those who obey the covenant, and then 54 verses of curses for those who do not obey. In my Bible there is a column of blessings and 3 1/2 columns of curses. Read Deuteronomy 28. Why do you think there is 3 1/2 more curses than blessings? What hits you after reading this chapter? Once you read the curses, you can see how Naomi might have thought she was cursed by God. Everything she did fell apart. It might be the reason she wanted to change her name from “pleasant” to “bitter”. Have you ever felt like this? How did God bring about hope in your situation? Blessing Curses Curses ׁשּוב APPLY As you read through Ruth 1, there is an often repeated word or idea: return. The Hebrew word ׁשּוב (shub), to return- go back, appears 12 times in verse 6-22. This same concentration is found in Deut. 30:1-10. 7 times in 10 verses. Read Deuteronomy 30:1-10. It’s interesting that chapter 30 even exists. God lays out the covenant and tells the Israelites what will happen if they obey or disobey (ch 28), then comes (ch 30) which tells us, he already knows they will disobey. How does this chapter show God’s love and kindness towards us? What promises does God offer in this chapter? Read Acts 3:1-19 Take time to turn your attention and your direction back to God. Pray REFLECT Read Hosea 14. Returning to the Lord will bring growth and fruitfulness; an idea incapsulated in the word-“flourish”. What does it mean for you to flourish? What does it look like to flourish where you are? Notice how Israel’s growth leads to blessing others. (v7) How can you use your flourishing to benefit others? SHARE WITH GROUP 1. If you could choose your own nick-name, what would you want to be called? 2. Who does Naomi blame for her circumstances? Have you ever been in a situation when God felt very distant? What was the cause for the distance? What brought you back? 3. Did you learn anything surprising from your study this week? Please share. 4. God uses Ruth to show his presence in Naomi’s life. How can you and your group be the instrument of God to show his love and kindness to one another? Week 3 Kindness EXPLORE Read Ruth 2:14-23 This week’s study focuses on the word, “kindness,” used three times in our story. First, Naomi blesses her daughters-in-law, “May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown me kindness”(1:8). Second, it appears in Naomi’s remarks in (2:20), “He has not stopped showing his kindness.” This comment may be directed at Boaz’s kindness, but it is also the LORD’s kindness shown through Boaz. Third, it is prominent in the startled reply Boaz makes to Ruth in (3:10), “This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier”. This idea of kindness is one of the main focal points of the story of Ruth. Just as Ruth and Boaz have shown kindness to Naomi, God is still ready to show kindness to the people of Israel— his covenant people. The word translated “kindness” is the Hebrew word, (hesed) חֶסֶד. This is a hard word to translate. Most of the time it is translated into English as “love”. However, when we read “love”, most of us think of emotions. We get the idea that God’s love is his warm thoughts of us. This is not the idea conveyed in hesed. Faith- fullness Loyalty Kindness Hesed TruthTender- Mercies Covenant Keeping Long- suffering Read Exodus 34:6-7. Hesed is connected to the character of God. When God chooses to describe himself, twice he uses the word hesed to give Moses a clear picture of his nature. It’s the idea of loyalty to the covenant. Often writers use “steadfast love” as a way to convey the thought. Rightnow Media has a great video explaining God’s name. Watch Character of God: Ex. 34:6-7 It’s 5 min. APPLY Read Psalm 103. Spend time meditating on God’s kindness. Write out your praises to God for his kindness. REFLECT Watch the video of the song, Steadfast by Sandra McCracken https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKlrXbvlnY0 What images come to mind when you hear the word, “steadfast”? Read Micah 6:1-8 and Galatians 5:13-25 Hesed could also be translated love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. חֶסֶד SHARE WITH GROUP 1. When have you experienced the loyalty of a friend that caught you off guard? 2. Does Boaz going above and beyond the gleaning laws challenge you to do more for those in need? How did you show kindness to others this week? When did you miss a chance? 3. What did you learn from your study this week? 4. Do you think kindness in society is on the rise, on the decline, or about the same? What do you see as the cause of the change? 5. Give one specific way you can model God’s kindness/loyalty/love this week. Week 4 Refuge EXPLORE Read Ruth 3. There are two types of people. Those that plan out every detail of the day, and those that fly by the seat of their pants. Chapter 3 is all about the plan. Naomi and Ruth devise a risky plan. They are betting on the character of Boaz and relying on the marriage laws in Deuteronomy 25. Naomi and Ruth have a plan, but Ruth goes a little off script and makes a word play based on something Boaz had said to her. In Chapter 2, Boaz speaks a blessing onto Ruth, “May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge”(12). In Chapter 3, Ruth uses this word play to propose to Boaz. Verse 9, “Spread the corner of your garment over me.” (see Ezekiel 16:8). The words “corner” and “wing” have the same root. Ruth is saying, “Yes Boaz, I have taken refuge under God’s wings, and you are a part of that refuge, spread your protection over me.” People often wonder how much they should do to make something happen and how much they should let God do. How does Ruth 3 give us insight into answering this question? STUDY Read Deuteronomy 25:5-10. God set up the gleaning laws as a plan to help protect the poor, widows, and foreigners. Likewise, the laws in Ch. 25 are a plan designed to help protect the widow from being taken advantage of. God’s laws are a set of protection and refuge. How have you experienced God’s laws as protection and refuge? REFLECT Read Revelation 5:6-10 In this view of Heaven, we see the Lamb approaching the throne. A new song is being sung because Jesus’ blood has purchased for God people from every tribe, language, people and nation. Jesus is the ultimate redeemer, paying the price for our redemption. Read Galatians 3:7-14 We started this study by reading Deuteronomy 28—the blessings and the curses. Even though the curses would frighten anyone away, we still didn’t obey. God knew in advance we would need to return and trust in a redeemer. This is not something we do once, each day is an opportunity to return and trust the redeemer, Jesus. APPLY Read Psalm 19. Psalm 19 is a song written to The LORD, my Rock and Redeemer. The writer announces that Gods creation proclaims his glory (1-6). He declares how God’s word speaks beauty and refreshment (7-11). He ends by praying that his words speak the truth of his redemption (12-14). How has your speech declared the glory of God’s redemption? How should a Christ followers words be different? How does the idea of redemption change how you speak to others? SHARE WITH GROUP 1. What is the most expensive item you have purchased (don’t include house or car)? How did you treat that item? 2. Redemption is the price paid to rescue people out of trouble. The price that Jesus paid for you and others makes us of great value. How do you treat items of great value? How can you treat others with great value starting today? 3. What new insight did you learn from this week’s study? 4. The book of Ruth is an amazing story of God’s kindness and faithfulness. Where have you seen God’s kindness and faithfulness at work his in your life? Where do you need to trust in his kindness and faithfulness now? Week 1. Return Ruth 1 Deut. 28:1-29:1 Deut.30:1-10 Hosea 14 Acts 3:1-19 Week 2. Favor Ruth 2:1-13 Lev. 19:9-10; 23:22 Ex. 33:12-34:9 Isaiah 61 Ephesians 2:1-10 Week 3. Kindness Ruth 2 Exodus 34 Psalm 103 Micah 6:1-8 Galatians 5:13-25 Week 4. Refuge Ruth 3 Exodus 19:1-6 Psalm 57 Luke 13:31-35 Deut. 25:5-10 Week 5. Redeem Ruth 4 Job 19:1-27 Revelation 5 Psalm 19 Galatians 3:7-14 notes ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________