Ruth: A Woman's Guide to Husband Material
Michael Ben Zehabe
Top 10 Best Quotes
“With so many Judges spread throughout Israel, how is it that only 13 were worth mentioning in the book of Judges? Some people are given titles they never live up to. Others display a title’s quality without ever receiving the title. Boaz behaved more like a Judge than Bethlehem’s actual Judges. Titles, alone, have very little impact on justice—which explains why a famine had recently ravaged Israel.
“When God grants you the responsibility over something (or someone), even by proxy, you should become keenly interested in their justice. Agency is that God-given gift of responsibility that reveals so much about your character—good and bad. (1Pe 3:7)
“What a strange creation we are. We are no more than a thin-skinned volition, propelled by intent, through a sea of other people’s coercions.
“We can never know what Naomi was feeling. Bereavement is an impenetrable darkness, as unique as snowflakes. Loss of a loved one is the sharpest challenge to our trust in God. If we survive that, life’s most challenging mountain is behind us.
“Until we are alone in the world, we may not realize the extent of how our community is designed for couples. Ruth was no longer part of that couple-community. Even if invited to gatherings, Ruth would still feel awkward in a setting of mostly couples—and the couples would feel awkward for her . . . and nothing feels worse than that.
“To be fair, the pleasure of home and memories had been ripped from Naomi. Not all at once. There is a problem with widowhood: the survivor has no one to remember with. Their co-rememberer can no longer remind them of what they shared. Our dead take our memories with them.
“Throughout history these Gogs were called by various names. Today, we may know them as Wall Street, Madison Avenue, Sicily, Columbia, 5th Avenue, Broadway, Hollywood, Silicon Valley, etc. All these are more than locations. They are international business entities—legal and illegal. If it’s incorporated, it’s a monster that feeds internationally; if it can bring glory to the ungodly, you are probably looking at a modern-day Gog. (2Tim 3:1-5)
“This casual exchange destroys the superstition that God’s holy name should never be spoken aloud or written. The facts are, faithful servants have used God’s holy name—in common parlance—from ancient times to the present. (Joh 17:26) For example: long before Moses was born, his mother had a given name that contained God’s holy name: Jochebed = “Yah-is-glory” (#H3115).
“There comes a time when we must rebel against the stop signs, detours, and bad counsel to stick with Yahweh. All those no’s create character, with a deeper shade of empathy. Carry on Ruth. To hell with all those human roadblocks.
“There are many professions, but for a woman of the soil, she may need the services of an attorney once in a lifetime. But Ruth will need a farmer 3 times a day for the rest of her life. How fortuitous: Boaz is a farmer. A woman needs a farmer (or a farmer-type) through her entire life cycle.
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Book Keywords:
memories, magog, sacred, single, justice, boaz, bethlehem, loss, challenge, zehabe, translation, roadblocks, farmer-type, volition, superstition, detours, moabite, responsibility, character, coercion, widowhood, judges, ancient-israel, farmer, bereavement, couples, naomi, alone, holy-name, gog
