Bible in a Year Blog

Judges 21:1-Ruth 1:22 + John 4:4-42 + Psalm 105:1-15 + Proverbs 14:25
~ Click here to read today’s Scripture on Bible Gateway ~
~ Listen to today’s Scripture with Tom Dooley’s terrific NLT 1996 readings at this link or The ESV Bible: OT + NT + Psalms + Proverbs ~

Old Testament – Today we finish the book of Judges!  What a powerful and telling verse the book closes with in chapter 21 verse 25: “In those days Israel had no king, so the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.”  Unfortunately, so true then.  And perhaps so true for us today if we don’t have a king.  Fortunately, we do have the opportunity to have a king – through faith in Jesus.  Otherwise, without Jesus as our king, we will surely do whatever seems right in our own eyes.  I know I did for many years…  sad years they were.  Is Jesus your King?

An image is below for verse 23 – “So the men of Benjamin did as they were told. They kidnapped the women who took part in the celebration and carried them off to the land of their own inheritance. Then they rebuilt their towns and lived in them.”

Today we are starting up – and tomorrow finishing – the wonderful book of Ruth and then moving into First Samuel. The book of Ruth is a wonderful look at faithful love in human relationships, and in a family in particular. I like how the NIV Study Bible describes this book – “The book of Ruth is a Hebrew short story, told with consummate skill. Among historical narratives in Scripture it is unexcelled in its compactness, vividness, warmth, beauty, and dramatic effectiveness – an exquisitely wrought jewel of Hebrew narrative art.” I hope you are ready for this jewel!

Ruth
Author: Unknown
Date: During the time of the Judges
Content: The book of Ruth portrays another side to the chaotic time of the judges. In it there is a welcome relief from the bloodshed and mayhem that seemed to engulf the land because of Israel’s sin. It is the story of Ruth, who decided to stay with her mother-in-law, Naomi, after tragedy struck that unfortunate woman. God returned good to Ruth in the form of a husband (Boaz) and a child, and also to Naomi in the form of grandchildren. From this family, eventually, came David the king.
Theme: The central point of this book is that even in times of crisis and despair, life may be lived according to the precepts of God and that God abundantly blesses those who do so live. The fundamental values of love, faith, trust, and goodness are greater than the hatred and violence of men, and continue from generation to generation as a light to guide those who look for the true meaning of life. (Above commentary is from Tyndale Publishers “The One Year Bible Companion” pp. 4-5)

More commentary on Ruth is at these 3 links:
https://bible.org/article/introduction-book-ruth
https://bible.org/article/argument-book-ruth
https://bible.org/seriespage/5-two-get-ready-story-boaz-and-ruth

Today in Ruth chapter 1 verses 16 & 17 we will read these beautiful words of Ruth to her mother-in-law Naomi, whose husband & two sons had died – “Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.” How’s that for love & commitment! Can you imagine saying these words to someone in your life today? I pray that each of us have this type of love & commitment for our families – or that we will have this in the future with our families. It seems like nowadays families are getting more and more distanced from one another – separated sometimes by geography and I think oftentimes by individualism or other selfish reasons. Perhaps each of us can learn something from Ruth and her dedication to her mother-in-law Naomi about what family love & commitment could and should really look like?

Bible Project:  Here is a terrific video overview of the book of Ruth!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h1eoBeR4Jk

New Testament – Wow.  The Jacob’s Well story in John chapter 4 today is beautiful on so many levels.  I definitely recommend you check out Bible.org’s commentary on this chapter at this link if you aren’t familiar with all of the meanings of this story. 

I love Jesus’s words in verse 34 – “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work.”  If this is true for Jesus – think this might be true for us too?  Do you believe that our nourishment comes from doing the will of God?

Psalms – Psalm 105 verse 4 stood out to me today – “Search for the LORD and for his strength, and keep on searching.” I like that – search!  If you search for God, he will indeed be found.  Have you ever searched for God?  And for his strength?  Are you maybe searching now?  Do you believe he will be found?  Will you keep on searching?

Verses 8 & 9 remind us of this character of God: “He always stands by his covenant– the commitment he made to a thousand generations. This is the covenant he made with Abraham and the oath he swore to Isaac.” The covenant continues today through the new covenant (testament) brought to us through Jesus.

Proverbs – Proverbs 14 verse 25 is an excellent reminder to always tell the truth – particularly when witnessing for someone else! “A truthful witness saves lives, but a false witness is deceitful.”

Worship Video:  So much of today’s readings including Ruth and the woman at the well with Jesus reminded me of the fantastic song “Savior Please” by Josh Wilson. Here’s a great live version of Josh performing this song. Feel free to worship along!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxhNVEUY55c

Is Jesus your Savior? Click here and be Saved!

Please join us in memorizing and meditating on a verse of Scripture today: “But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.”  Ruth 1:16 NIV

Prayer Point: Pray that you have or will have the same time of strong family connection and love that Ruth had for Naomi. Pray that you will stick with your family even during hard times. Pray that your family belongs or will belong to God.

Comments from You & Questions of the Day:  How has been reading the book of Judges been for you this year?  What new insights or revelations did you pick up while reading through Judges?  Also, what verses or insights stand out to you in today’s readings?  Please post up by clicking on the “Comments” link below!

God bless,
Mike

p.s. Download our monthly Small Group study notes for our Bible readings at this link.

p.s. #2 – Download a schedule of our Bible readings for the year in PDF format at this link.

p.s. #3 – I would greatly appreciate it if you would pray for this Bible Blog ministry today! Please also consider partnering with us by financially supporting this ministry. Thank you!

BLOG READERS HISTORICAL COMMUNITY COMMENTS:
(our Group Bible Study is below! : )

======= Ramona:

Judges 21:1-Ruth 1:22

Judges 21

And the Israelites came to the house of God [Bethel] and sat there until evening before God and lifted up their voices and wept bitterly. [Judg. 20:27.] And they said, O Lord, the God of Israel, why has this come to pass in Israel, that there should be today one tribe lacking in Israel? (Judges 21:2-3 AMP)

Ya think the folks were really interested in what God had to say? I do it, we do it, the church does it—we make decisions based on what seems right to us, what looks right in our own eye failing to seek God’s voice, and if He does speak, we ignore Him. Yet, when faced with the consequences and fruit of our “nutty” behavior, we ask God why? Ain’t nothing new under the sun, but everything is fresh and renewed under the Son.

Ruth

Naomi’s bitterness blinded her to the blessing God placed right in her household. Like many women today who have faithfully and dutifully followed there husband into a place where they should have never been, Naomi followed but became bitter. She was dutiful but angry and hurt because her husband took her from the House of Bread, during the time of famine, into a land and a people they should have shunned.

Looking at the names of the men pre-return from Moab, we probably get a hint of there character, and it wasn’t pretty.

Elimelech (Naomi’s Husband)= “my God is king” Now, here was a man that definitely didn’t live up to his name because he left the God who was his king and went to a land where Chemosh was the god of the land.

Mahlon (One of the husbands to Ruth or Orpah) = “sick” I picture a man who was always whining and miserable.

Chilion = “pining”

What did Ruth see in the God that Naomi served in spite of her mother-in-laws bitterness? Whatever it was, she recognized that she had everything to gain and nothing to loose if she failed to go back to her father’s house.

In Ruth’s behavior I see what it truly means to accept Jesus Christ: giving up everything you grew up with, everything you know and attaching yourself to the one true God. Ruth is an Old Testament example of a New Testament work, a changed mind (Romans 12:2) She forsook family, traditions, religion, everything that was familiar to her to follow after Israel’s God. Wow! She did what the Rich Young ruler would not. Have I given up ALL to follow Jesus, or am I hanging out with “Sick, Pining, and My God is king who had forgotten who the King really is?

Grace and peace,
Ramona

========= Emily:

======= Jim:

More murder in the name of righteousness – it is always easier to find a way around the letter of a law than the spirit. While God commanded and approved the destruction of the Canaanites, there is no hint that God supported the bloodbath at Jabesh Gilead. The Israelites would have probably done better to have repented of their rash behavior, brought sin-offerings, and sought forgiveness rather than attempt to avoid guilt through more actions just as wrong. All the married adults and all the children are murdered at Jabesh Gilead (for failing to respond to the Levite’s call to arms) to acquire 400 adult virgins as wives for the 600 hiding Gibeahites so that the tribe of Benjamin would not perish (they always were a less successful tribe and being nearly exterminated now didn’t help). This was done to get around the restrictions by an oath to never provide women for the tribe of Benjamin to marry. 400 wasn’t enough, of course, so the Israelites contrived to get more from Shiloh. Some believe the yearly feast of in Shiloh was the Passover in the Spring because of the association with dancing (hard to believe so many modern denominations still have a low opinion of dancing) although more consider it to be the Feast of Tabernacles in the fall because vineyards are mentioned. The Israelites think themselves to have cleverly circumvented the oath about providing women by allowing the Benjaminites to abduct their own choices. Judges closes with a reminder that all these troubles were the result of failing to designate a righteous leader.

A famine drives a family to Moab where the two sons marry, but within a decade the father and both sons die. When news comes that the famine has ended, the widowed mother, Noami, decides to return home and urges her two daughter-in-laws to remain and find new husbands (since there are no brothers to take care of them), but Ruth demonstrates great friendship and is determined to stay with Noami.
While it had been common to baptize pagans into the fold, it had not been customary to baptize a “Jew” until John the Baptist. The Pharisees claimed the authority to regulate all religious rites and ceremonies and were fairly unhappy first with John’s and even more so with Christ’s success with their “unauthorized” baptisms and the attention they were taking away from the Sanhedrin. Jesus was weary during the heat of the day and sat on Jacob’s well in the town called Sychar (which signifies “drunken” for this sin charged in Isaiah 28:1-8). The well is not mentioned in the OT, but it probably got its name from either Jacob digging it or because it was near the land purchased for a hundred pieces of silver from the children of Hamor (Gen 33:18-19) in addition to land he took from the Amorite which he gave (perhaps foreshadowing His later reference to “the gift of God” in 4:10) for the burial of his son, Joseph (Gen 48:21-22, Josh 24:32). It was likely not a spring fed well but one built at the end of a narrow valley to collect rain water at the edge of town (compare to the God-made well of which Jesus speaks). There is still such a 100-foot well dug 3-yards wide filled with trash (that still fills with about 5 feet of water when it rains) at the foot of Mt Gerizim (surrounded by the remains of a large church built by the Empress Irene destroyed by the Turks) a few miles to the east of Nablus, whose citizens claim to be the same one (who tell tourists that it only fills with water that bubbles up on the anniversary of Christ’s visit).

In John 4:14, Christ said, “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” “Shall be IN him” suggests the Holy Spirit and we’ve just read where Christ warned that only those born of water and Spirit can enter the Kingdom of God. John describes in Revelation being shown the river of the water of life flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb lined with the Tree of Life yielding fruit for every month and leaves for healing all nations. Revelation 21:6b says, “I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.” In Ezekiel’s vision of God’s house, the water that poured from under the threshold represented the unrestricted flow of God’s blessing upon his people (Ezekiel 47:1-12). Jeremiah describes God as “the fountain of living waters” (Jeremiah 2:13, 17:13). There are many references to spiritual water (Psalms 36:9, 42:1, Isaiah 55:1, Jeremiah 2:13, 17:13, and Zechariah 13:1) including “The purposes of a man’s heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out” (Proverbs 20:5). Jesus provided the model for probing the heart of another. The woman at the well knew Jesus was of God because He knew her heart and life. When dealing with sinners, Jesus did not shake His finger in their faces and tell them what they were doing wrong. Instead, He asked thought-provoking questions that brought attention on the sin in the person’s heart instead of the circumstances. Christ (as a model soul-winner) ignored the gender and racial roles of the time as well as the barriers of sin and religious tradition and guided the conversation in a friendly way and allowed the Word to take effect. When parents merely demand that a child behaves, they’re hindering the child from growing in the area of discernment. When a person learns to evaluate their own heart and deal biblically with the sin found there, he or she learns to govern their own behavior as well as grow in wisdom and character.

The Samaritans had accepted the five books of Moses, but generally refused the prophets (as many were descendants of the revolting 10 tribes during the rule of Rehobaom and others had been excommunicated or shunned for disobeying by intermarrying during their Assyrian captivity) and had even joined the worship of idols (although accepted the idea of the coming Messiah from Deut 18:15). Instead of worshiping in Jerusalem with those who despised them, they had set up a rival temple (by Sanballat to end the idol worship of the Cutheans and Sepharvites, see Kings 17:26-34) about 332 BC where Abraham had gone to sacrifice Isaac and where the blessings and curses had been read by the patriarchs (Deut 11:29, 27:12). Jesus answered her question of where to worship in such a way as to suggest that it was much less important that she had assumed. “True worshiper will worship the Father in spirit (as opposed to rites and ceremonies) and truth (rather than shadows or sacrifices).” First, this is because while God appointed the old mode of worship to lead and prepare the people to Him, He did not seek it. Second, “For God is Spirit” (how can anyone think He has a body?) means that He is singular, invisible, everywhere, pure, and holy. He is not worshipped with good works, for He has no need of anything. True worship is only an offering of the soul rather than the body – of the heart rather than of the lips. “The Jesus told her, ‘I am the Messiah!’” He had not yet openly professed this truth to the Jews (but how can so many suggest that Jesus never said He was God?), but this discussion demonstrates our duty in being Christ-like to make use of all topics of conversations to lead unbelievers to belief in Christ as well as that that the purpose of true religion is to consist of more than external forms as a pure, spiritual, active, ever-bubbling fountain where the heart is offered and desires of salvation are breathed out of a humble soul. Even the woman, although she probably no longer had any doubt in her mind, suggested that Jesus was the Christ to her neighbors and friends modestly with a question of whether the evidence she had available was not enough for them to believe. One of the key aspects of the Messiah was the ability to tell the secrets of the heart (Isaiah 11:2-3) and 100 years later they quickly killed (but only after two years of deception) the counterfeit Messiah of Barchachab when he could not tell the righteous man from a group of wicked men. The woman being at the well alone may suggest that the village had shunned her (since this was normally a time for the woman to socialize together) and yet she was still able to get the townsfolk to listened (and she so excited to speak that she forgot her errand). Nevertheless, there is no greater example of racial separation in America today than during worship.

Four months was the common time from sowing the seed to the harvest in Judea and so a farmer expects fruit only after a considerable time – but, it not necessarily so with Christ’s preaching. There is thusly more encouragement to labor in this field than the farmer has to sow his grain (also harvesting salvation reaps fruit that is not temporary). Since the Gospel fits to an immediate impression on the minds of those that can hear, we can expect that it will. Christ is making this comparison just after a case of fruit occurring only a few hours (at most a couple of days) after seeding signifying. This suggests, IMHO, that we are not to wait to some indeterminate future moment for results. Jesus has come so the day of opportunity is now (all any disciple need do is look around to recognize that spiritual hunger abounds). Disciples are to reap (even more than John the Baptist) the harvest of Christ and the Holy Spirit. Even the wicked and ignorant Samaritans heard the voice of God and came in multitudes. When we evangelize, is it with the voice and expectations of man or with the voice and heart of God? We are to expect revivals of religion. Jesus was tired, thirsty, and hungry when he sat next to Jacob’s well and was refreshed without water or food for His temporal needs were nothing compared with the woman’s need for eternal life.

How often and how loudly would anyone speak having the cure for AIDS? How much greater then shall be the cry of one with the cure for everything that ails mankind? Romona and her son are correct that it is by “the power of the Word of God” (Feb 20th), but I must respectfully disagree with the suggestion that we are likely not to know the fruits of our labor (likely from reading 1 Corinthians 3:6 where Paul planted, Apollos watered, and God increased) or that we should normally expect (like the farmer) a considerable delay (such delays are very uncommon in the Bible). It is Hinduism that suggests that one should just focus on keeping busy because the creator’s desires cannot be known, but not Biblical Christianity. “We must be led by the Spirit” (Luke 4:1, Romans 8:14, and Gal 5:18) and so should foreknow what to expect. Salomon warns us not to be idle with, “Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap” (Ecclesiastes 11:4). We will later find, however, Paul heading for Asia and for Troas in Acts 16:7-10 and that the Holy Spirit corrects him both times (“you can listen to me now or listen to me later”). Some suggest that Jesus is sending the disciples to sow (over the next two days) what they did not seed after sending them to market for food while He (and perhaps the woman) seeded. Others would say the seeding was done by the patriarchs and prophets who announced the Messiah. Still others would say that Jesus Christ becomes the reaper of the seed which he had so recently sown – “Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one” (1 Corinthians 3:8a). Compare this chapter to the old Jewish proverb in Isaiah 65:21-22, “And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.” And then compare the opinion that most Christians may not know in their lifetimes whether their efforts brought fruit to the story of the talents and the proverb of Leviticus 26:16, “Ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it” (and consider that Wicca is the fastest growing religion in America). “A truthful witness saves lives, but a false witness is a traitor.”

Reading the story of the Samaritan woman in John from the KJV, Darby, or ASV Bibles put it best, “And he must needs go through Samaria.” In other words, Jesus didn’t just go through Samaria because it was conveniently on the way (a path few Jews ever took), pleasant, or for even warm feelings for the people, but simply because there was a woman who needed the mercies of God. And, she became the first disciple of her town (being immediately successful) with personal testimony and the message of Jesus. Never knowing the results is not for a John 15:15 friend of Jesus. “And the LORD said, ‘Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing?’” (Genesis 18:17) The Pharisees even tried to insult Jesus by calling Him a Samaritan (in 8:48) after Christ told them, “He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.” Too often we try to serve God on our own. Our motives are right and our plans are made with prayer, but we are unwilling to die. Jesus reminds us that there is no harvest without death just as a seed must die before it can germinate and grow. He has already carried His cross and died on it, all that is left is for us to lift our cross and follow Him. How do times when the Holy Spirit works through you differ from times when you have tried to do good work with only your own efforts? The primary differences are the measures of effort (less with the Spirit) and success (more, of course).
Pope John XXIII summoned Vatican II in 1959 and the sixteen resulting texts were translated into English in 1965. The two documents, however, that clearly received the least attention were those on communications and education. The two declarations were widely held, even within the church (my praise for a church that can criticize itself), as being out of touch with the world and included tactics that in effect curtailed the success of the Ecumenical Council. It does not matter how good your product is if you do not really want to sell it. Today, nine out ten evangelical churches are still “lacking in any real marketing” (Barna, 1993). Church attendance in America has spiraled down roughly 25% to 50% from the 1950s (Putnam, 1995) – 10% in just the last decade (ARIS study). Moreover, only 4% of Americans ages 28 and under are Christians (Rainer, 2004). While religious organizations commonly assert a religious revival in the United States, “There does not seem to be revival taking place in America. Whether that is measured by church attendance, born again status, or theological purity, the statistics simply do not reflect a surge of any noticeable proportions. In fact, Americans seem to have become almost inoculated to spiritual events, outreach efforts, and the quest for personal spiritual development.” (George Barna, 2001) As the Campus Crusades for Christ started off, Bill Bright went on a recruiting tour from campus to campus of the leading Christian schools and seminaries of the nation looking for anyone with a degree who had been fruitful witnessing for Christ, but he had difficulty in finding any. How could this be? The fact is that Europe and America has done a “repositioning of religion as a commodity that we consume, rather than one in which we invest ourselves.” America has more un-churched people than all but ten of the world’s 194 nations, only 1% of American churches are exhibiting any growth at all (Miles McPhearson, 2003), 7000 churches close each year (Hunt and McMahon, 1985), and only 4% maintain over a 5% conversion rate (Rainer). We seem to have the words of God but not His voice. If a gifted evangelist could win ten thousand people to Christ every night of the year, ten thousands years would not be enough to win the entire world for Christ. However, if one true disciple of Christ were able, under God, to win just one person each year and train that person to do the same, it would only take 32 years to win the entire world.
Jim

======= Jan:

My prayer for Mike for doing the One Year Bible Blog is this: Those that refresh others will themselves be refreshed…what a wonderful reward here & there!!! Thank you again Mike…you will have many jewels in your crown.
Jan

======= John:

John 4
Bob cites Josephus saying the relationship between Jews and Samaritans may not have been THAT bad. I disagree. The Samaritans:
Were inter-racial (no longer pure from the tribes), rejected the Jews and their teachings, during persecution had rededicated their temple at one time under duress to Zeus , had been persecuted and killed over temple dispute settled in Egypt, were open to unclean practices (hence – you did not eat off a plate of a Samaritan), and in Jesus’ time had spread Human bones throughout Temple during a passover celebration – thus desecrating the temple.
So, while Jews may have taken the short cut through Samaria as Josephus indicates – they probably avoided the towns and people of the area for reasons above.
The Samaritans believed in the same God, thought their Temple was the Holy place of worship, and thought the Messiah would come as a “TEACHER”. Not a “KING” as the Jews believed.
http://www.answers.com/topic/samaritan
http://virtualreligion.net/iho/samaria.html
And Jesus WENT to them. This was to Glorify God as the message would go to the World as early John indicates – even the Samaritans. The Jewish Nation would reject Christ – here the Samaritans would embrace Jesus.
Here he met a woman who had a “hunger” for a relationship. She had five husbands and now a live-in, but the hunger – the hole in her heart – was not satisfied.
Christ offers her the “living water”. Water washing the body always symbloizes God’s Word. Water ingested (drank) symbolizes the Holy Spirit. I believe the “gift of God” is Salvation. So Christ is saying ‘if you knew the gift of Salvation, and I who came to bring it – you would ask for the “Holy Spirit” to have eternal life.’
The woman still does not get it – and must come to realize the thing that hinders her from understanding (We all must come to this point before salvation). Jesus confronts her with her many relationships – she has to know they are not the way to be fulfilled – one can only be truly fulfilled through God.
After her next statement – Christ says worship is not about a place, your knowledge is incomplete, and God is spirit and must be worshipped in the spirit.
(Notice the process of revelation for the Woman. She starts off calling Jesus – A Jew – then Sir – then prophet – and lastly the Christ (albeit in the form of a question).
This is the second time in Gospel of John that Christ openly reveals himself. The first time is to Nathaniel. I would suggest they both had hearts that were without guile – they were open to receiving Christ. Although the woman’s heart seemd to undergo a progression indicated by the way she addressed Jesus. It is also the first use in John of “ego eimi” or “I AM” which in the original Greek text is “Egw eimi” and not split up as the translation indicates.

A Great Visual
I think a lot of commentators miss this and the NIV totally leaves it out.
John 4:35
“Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.” NAS
In the Greek the word “white” – Gk. “leukos” – is in the text.
Our Lord gave a lot of agrarian exmaples to a nation that had a lot of farmers. I assume when the grain was ripe and the sun hit it the field had a bright white kind of topping. I think there was another visual image being represented here.
In those times only the wealthy could afford the colored (dyed) robes of the time. Most common people wore undyed white outer garments. While Jesus was talking to disciples – the woman had been spreading the word in town.
I can just imagine the townspeople wearing white – a few hundred? – cutting across the fields to hurry and see (possibly) “the Messiah”. So the disciples would look up when Jesus recited verse 35 and see all this white.
Before now they had benefited from John the Baptist’s prepatory work, and had been baptizing people. Here,Jesus had already planted the seed with the woman, and now they were going to harvest.
And they did –
“We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
John

======== John:

Here he met a woman who had a “hunger” for a relationship. She had five husbands and now a live-in, but the hunger – the hole in her heart – was not satisfied.
Christ offers her the “living water”. Water washing the body always symbloizes God’s Word. Water ingested (drank) symbolizes the Holy Spirit. I believe the “gift of God” is Salvation. So Christ is saying ‘if you knew the gift of Salvation, and I who came to bring it – you would ask for the “Holy Spirit” to have eternal life.’
The woman still does not get it – and must come to realize the thing that hinders her from understanding (We all must come to this point before salvation). Jesus confronts her with her many relationships – she has to know they are not the way to be fulfilled – one can only be truly fulfilled through God.
After her next statement – Christ says worship is not about a place, your knowledge is incomplete, and God is spirit and must be worshipped in the spirit.
John

======= Vance:

The book of Ruth – Beautifully illustrates Kinsman-redeemer
Kinsman-redeemer is a wonderful concept that is so beautifully fulfilled in the life and ministry of the Perfect Man, our Elder Brother, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Note this information from the wonderful Messianic Jewish website, hebrew4christians.com/Grammar/Unit_One/Aleph-Bet/Gimmel/gimmel.html
“The …( go’el ) [or redeemer] is the name for the kinsman Redeemer…YHVH (Yahweh) Himself is identified as the ultimate Redeemer of Israel and mankind (Psalm 19:14)…”
“Yeshua the Mashiach (Messiah) is identified as the Redeemer of mankind (John 4:41). He is the One who, being born into the world, runs forth bearing charity for the poor ones who stand “behind the door”. He is our nourishment and our great Benefit. But for those who spurn His love, He represents judgment and recompense (i.e., the Avenger of blood…)”
“…Yeshua has been lifted up and exalted before the world as the One who has conquered sin and death on our behalf. Benefit indeed!”
NOTE:
Note how the Lord Jesus is our near Kinsman:
1. Fully God and fully man
(John 10 – “I and the Father are one”; John 5 – “the Son of Man”)
2. Perfect Man – Perfect because He was without sin (Hebrews 2, 4, and 5)
1 Timothy 2 (NKJV)
5
For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,
3. Our Brother –
Hebrews 2 (NKJV)
14
Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,
For Jesus to truly fulfill the role of “Elder Brother” for the family of the redeemed, He had to take on flesh and blood. He had to enter into the prison to free the captives.
4. Jesus is the Perfect Representative as man. Only as man could He redeem man from the sin and deceptions of the enemy. Man was created to represent God’s image on earth. As such, man was created to rule righteously and to reflect God’s excellence. Satan knew that. When he tempted man and when man sinned, Adam (mankind) gave up his right to be delegated ruler by placing himself under the authority of the devil and sin.
I John 5 (NKJV)
19
We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.
5. Jesus, being very glad and not ashamed to be our brother, was able to give us His victory of sin, flesh, world, and the devil. When we repent and trust in Jesus, His victory over sin is given to us.
And get this – this is one of the most amazing facts about Jesus: As our kinsman-redeemer, Jesus loves us and BY GRACE shared with us HIS VERY OWN INHERITANCE.
This is a powerful picture of spiritual reality, pictured in Luke 15. The elder brother is the one who receives the inheritance from the father, and then the others in the family receive their inheritance from him.
Note this from Romans 8 (Amplified), one of the most exciting verses in the Bible:
17
And if we are [His] children, then we are [His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His inheritance with Him]; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory.
It not it amazing that Jesus the Son, in HIS GRACE, shared His own inheritance with us?
WOW!
Vance

========= Billy:

Mike, my search for God is partly in reading this blog everyday !! Praise the Lord.
Reading Judges has reminded me that when you turn your back on God it has consequences.
Billy

======= Bob:

O.T. Survey by Lasor,Hubbard and Bush (pg. 164),comments on the end of Joshua 21:25 “In those days Israel had no king, everyone did as he saw fit.” (Vs: 18:1, 19:1, 17:6). This links the writing to a time when there was a king and contrast the days under the monarchy with those prior to it. It asks if the book of Judges is a low key apology for the Davidic Monarchy? I think it goes even further showing us how to eliminate chaos and pointing us to the one and only King we will all serve one day.
John 4:4-42 Jesus Mission Trip. I love this story because it has all the elements of a modern day mission trip. He goes into a “dangerous” place, meets up with someone open to his teaching, gives living water to be spread into the lives of new believers! How awesome is that! If you want to experience a new perspective next time you go missioning, try digging into this beautiful example our Lord gives us.
Bob