[Granville-Hough] 1 Mar 2009 - Ruth

[Trustees and Executors for Granville W. Hough]

Combining the old and the new.

I did the Bible Study discussion on Samuel I and II (2004), touching
lightly on Samuel, Saul, David, and Solomon.  It seemed to go all
right.  Next week, I will do the rest of the Kings and their Times.  I
have another study well in mind, the five women listed as ancestors of
Jesus in Mathew.  I don't believe I ever heard a serman about them.
Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary.
	The Book of Ruth must be my
favorite of the whole bible.  Nobody gets killed, crucified, robbed,
beaten, or raped.  It's just a simple story of human nature where God's
will gets done in a believable way.  Naomi does explain to
daughter-in-law Ruth, that it is time for her to don a clean dress with
new perfume, and just how to make the forbidden fruit so tempting to old
Boaz that he can't be sure, after all that new harvest wine, of what all
he had partaken of, maybe even some forbidden fruit. Just to be on the
safe side, he makes plans to marry Ruth the very next day.
	Then there was Tamar, who wanted a child so much that she, in
desperation, seduced her father-in-law, Judah. Of course, that was after
she had been wronged and deceived by the three sons of Judah.  I have
never had enough earthly wisdom to understand the psychology of the
various characters in this story.
	Then there was the Madam Rahab of the Jericho Hostess Center, which 
specialized in forgidden fruit and was
located in the "Inn in the Wall," which Madam Rahab also owned.  She set
her prices high and survived the slaughter of all others in the town.
She and members of her family got new, legitimate and Jewish spouses and
became part of the blood line.
	Bathsheba got on her rooftop and either intentionally or inadvertently 
displayed the forbidden
fruit for all to see, particularly next-door David.  When he responded
in a most human way, she was not one to say NO and spit in his eye.  So
we have a sometimes sad story of how Solomon the Wise, second son of
Bathsheba,  eventually became the one to inherit. As his final reward,
there is some suspicion that Solomon spent his last few months as an
Alzheimer's victim.
	Then of course Mary was the teen-ager of the Immaculate Conception. It
is never made clear just which sort of angel provided the sperm.  Joseph
said he was not guilty, so that left other possibilities.   Modern
science has not helped a great deal.   Certainly nothing has been
revealed to me.  We will just have to let each religious group choose
its own legend of  the event.
	All in all, the famous females of Jesus' ancestry seem to have been 
independent thinkers and actors, very cognizant of their
responsibilities for the forbidden fruit and ever conscious of its power.