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Abraham’s Daughter

Tuesday, July 17th, 2012 | Author:

But Ruth replied, “Do not urge me to leave you, to turn back and not follow you.  For wherever you go, I will go; wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”  Ruth 1:16

I will go – “From a cultural perspective, Ruth has chosen death over life.  She has disavowed the solidarity of family; she has abandoned national security; and she has renounced religious affiliation.  In the entire epic of Israel, only Abraham matches this radicality, but then he had a call from God.”[1]

If Abraham had a daughter, it was Ruth.  The themes of hesed, faithful loyalty, personal sacrifice and action that reflect God’s character are vibrantly present in both people.  In fact, Ruth is more like Abraham than his own son, Isaac.  Furthermore, Ruth is a Gentile who decides to enter into fellowship with YHWH just as Abraham was a Gentile who decided to act upon God’s call.  Both leave behind lives of expected conformity and security to journey to “a land I will show you.”  But, as Trible notes, Abraham had a call from God.  Ruth makes a life-altering decision without God’s specific direction.  The power of hesed is her only motivation.

We should notice that Naomi holds up Orpah as the model of rational action.  “See, your sister-in-law has returned to her people and her gods” (v. 15).  Naomi’s motivation might be good.  She is concerned about the welfare of Orpah.  But she is willing to send Orpah back to Chemosh, the pagan god of Moab, in order to achieve security.  There is no emphasis on following the one true God at any cost.  In fact, when Ruth declares her conviction to go with Naomi, Naomi tells her that she is crazy.  Doesn’t Ruth know what this means?  Doesn’t she appreciate the potential difficulties, the obvious threat, the danger?  Naomi is focused on just one thing – security.  Worship of the true God takes a distant second place.

But Ruth decides.  It is her decision that propels the story forward.  Regardless of the warnings, regardless of the expected hardships, Ruth will not be deterred from the inner call on her life.  She establishes a new standard of obedience, even exceeding the obedience of her distant spiritual father, Abraham.

“I will go.”  Elek.  “Go out!”  Lek-leka.  Both from the same root, yalak.  Ruth follows in the footsteps of God’s chosen man, perhaps because, even without knowing it, she is God’s chosen woman.

Do you need a “calling” to go out?  Or are you like Ruth – committed because it is what you must do even if you don’t hear a word from the Lord?

Topical Index:  yalak, to go, Abraham, Genesis 12:1, Ruth 1:16, I will go, calling


[1] Phyllis Trible, God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality, p. 173.

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Triathlon

Sunday, January 09th, 2011 | Author:

“Now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require from you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and to keep the LORD’s commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?” Deuteronomy 10:12-13

Fear/Walk/Serve – Gear up!  Prepare!  Get going!  Three Hebrew words tell you basically all you need to know about attitude and action when it comes to answering life’s most important question.  What does God ask?  Fear-Walk-Serve.  Let’s look at these three and how they fit together.

Yare is a verb that covers a lot of ground.  While it can describe frightening emotional reactions, when it is used of YHWH it usually, but not always, implies awe and reverence.  Moses tells us that the first action of righteousness is respect.  If I don’t respect who God is, I will not do what He asks.  This is a case of saying what I believe but doing what I value.  I have to value God before I will follow His instructions with my heart.  Since compliance is not what God desires, yare must be the foundation of all further action.  This is the place to begin.  Do I value God?  Actually, do I value Him as God?  That implies I give Him ultimate value in my life.  How will I know if I give ultimate value to Him?  Ah, easy.  His requests come first – always.

Once I have my values in place, then I am able to walk in all His ways.  Here the verb (yalak) is a metaphor.  Its common physical usage (to come, go, walk) is used as an analogy for a way of life, not an occasional step.  This is a direction.  Everyone stumbles.  Everyone gets distracted.  The verb is about the long-haul, the way that I am going, the day-to-day progress.  Eugene Peterson’s book, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, summaries the idea of yalak.  Over time we strive to be obedient to all of God’s ways.  Of course, there is no logical or moral reason why we can’t be obedient to all of His ways right now, but the Bible isn’t sugar-coated.  The text acknowledges probable mistakes.  Walking is measured in terms of miles, not inches.  But then every mile begins with the span of an inch.

Finally we come to the verb ‘avad (to serve).  If yalak covers all the inches on the road of life, why do I need another verb to describe what God desires?  Isn’t walking according to His ways enough?  ‘avad is a common description for ordinary labor.  Walk and work.  That sums it up, doesn’t it?  Walk and work with your face turned toward God.  But ‘avad is not just about work.  It’s also about service.  It’s about God’s desire for Man to serve His creation.  Service in the light of the ultimate values of life is an act of worship.  Maybe that’s why we need this third verb.  We need the right attitudes and values; we need to be traveling in the right direction; and we need to experience everyday common tasks as a form of worship.  We are tri-athletes.  Three things are needed to finish the race.  All the rest is elaboration on preparation and technique.

Today’s Word:  walk, yalak, fear, yare, serve, ‘avad, Deuteronomy 10:12-13

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Why Bother?

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 | Author:

Again I said, “The thing which you are doing is not good; should you not walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies?” Nehemiah 5:9


Walk – Nehemiah’s question is a good one.  It gives us the right perspective about walking in the ways of YHWH.  But it’s not the reason we expect.  Nehemiah tells the people that the reason they should walk according to the fear of God is because if they do not, they will silently endorse the criticism of their enemies.  In other words, when the people of God do not live according to the ways of God they give encouragement to the critics of God.  They become traitors to God’s cause.

Nehemiah is not our contemporary.  If he were, we would never expect such a declaration.  We would expect him to say that the reason we need to keep God’s ways is for our benefit.  We follow Torah because it will keep us holy.  We follow Torah because it will make us prosperous.  We follow Torah because it expresses our love for God.  Of course, all these reasons are good ones, but they are not Nehemiah’s reason.  Nehemiah sees that God’s reputation is on the line here.  God stakes His name on the loyalty and fidelity of His people.  Walking in His ways is about signaling to the world that He is sovereign.  Walking in His ways is a form of spiritual warfare.  We walk – He fights.  The nations must see that there is a significant difference between God’s ways and the ways of the world.  Where there is no difference, His name is not glorified.  We walk because His plan of redemption for the nations depends on this difference – and we are the only ones who can bring it about.

Walk – telechoo – is from the verb yalak.  It is used metaphorically for following the pathway of the Lord.  What is that pathway?  It is the pathway demarcated by God’s instructions about living.  In other words, Nehemiah is calling the people to live by the Torah.  If they don’t adopt their lives to Torah principles, they contribute to their enemies’ taunts about God.  Just think about that for a moment.  Yeshua and Sha’ul say the same things.  “By this all men will know that you love me.”  How?  “By keeping the commandments I give you.”  Sha’ul instructs those who commitment themselves to the Way to be imitators of him as he imitates Yeshua.  How does he imitate Yeshua?  He keeps the principles of Torah.  Any way you look at it, you just can’t get around it.  Unless you are willing to rewrite Scripture, you will have to admit that every man and woman who served God lived according to God’s instructions.  What else would you expect?  How can I be a priest for God if I don’t follow His instructions for being a priest?

Finally, the verb yalak paints a picture – the work of controlling the open hand.  Walking in God’s way is the work of a lifetime, learning to have His compassion, mercy and grace in the land of the living so that we might become His priests to the nations.  It’s a difference that makes all the difference.

Topical Index: walk, yalak, Nehemiah 5:9

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