David and Biblical Theology (2)

Chapter 2

David, Abraham, and Ruth

Abraham

The Abrahamic tradition is foundational for Israel’s identity as people.

This is obviously important because of the Covenant God made with Abraham, and the repetition of promises

God makes continuous promises about not only Abrahams descendants and land, but also the longevity of these things, as well as the royal line that will come through him.

God made 2 promises in each of these divine declarations.

1) countless seed, a family that would grow to a great nation. although this is always under threat, it still reigns true.

2) Land for the nation that will come from him.

These promises echo God’s commandment to Adam and Noah, “Be fruitful and multiply”.

The two promises also repeat with God delivering the Israelites from Egypt, Moses charging the people for conquest in Exodus, and God’s covenant with David and Jerusalem.

Ruth

Ruth opens up with a contrast betwen the 2 promises God gave Abraham. Naomi and her family are fleeing from Bethlehem of Judah to Moab.

The irony of this crisis is that Bethlehem, which in Hebrew means “house” (beth) of “bread” (lehem), is unable to provide the necessary seed (grain) to sustain the seed (human) promised to Abraham. The crisis in the promise of land however, soon spreads to crisis in the promise of seed (human) as first Elimelech and then his two sons die in the land of Moab, leaving the family without heirs

Naomi returns to Bethlehem, and Orpah, her daughter-in-law, abandons her, but Ruth, her other daughter-in-law, stays with her, even though she can give her no son to marry.

Naomi (pleasant) changes her name to Mara (bitter) because Ruth 1:21 ““I went out full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. “

After God’s Own Heart: The Gospel according to David Ruth

So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning” (1:22). This statement, however, is loaded with metaphorical significance. This woman, who left a land without seed (grain) and ultimately lost her seed (human), hears of God’s grace in the land through seed (grain) and so returns. As she enters into this land seedless (human), all around her are signs of God’s grace in the seed (grain) being harvested by the people of Bethlehem. It is in the midst of this harvest of the seed of the land that the drama of God’s provision of the promise of human seed will be accomplished.

Because there is no man in the family, there is no income. they must go to the fields and gather the wheat that the workers missed, which leads ruth into Boaz’s field. He Rizzed her up, giving her water and protection, and having his men leave extra wheat after harvest.

After God’s Own Heart: The Gospel according to David Ruth

The metaphorical character of this scene, however, should not be missed. At lunchtime Boaz not only offers her bread and wine, but also some roasted grain which she eats to her fill with some left over. Her gleaning efforts yield an ephah of grain and this she brings home along with the leftover roasted grain to her mother-in-law. This picture of Boaz’s seed (grain) being relayed through Ruth to Naomi not only intertwines the promises of seed and land, but also foreshadows the ultimate outcome of the story when Boaz’s seed (human) will be relayed through Ruth to Naomi in the form of the child Obed (Ruth 4).

Read page 23

The book Ruth isn’t necessarily a story about Ruth, or Boaz, or even Naomi, but how God provided the lineage needed for David, through Obed who was the father of Jesse. Who was Jesse? The father of David.

After God’s Own Heart: The Gospel according to David Implications

The story of Ruth is not forgotten in the annals of God’s people. At the outset of the New Testament the gospel of Matthew includes Ruth in its genealogy of Jesus, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Along with her are three other women (Tamar, Rahab, Bathsheba), all of whom stand out in the long list, not only because of their gender, but also because of the fact that all are described as women with questionable sexual histories. These names are included in this genealogy to bring into view their four stories, which in turn set up a fifth story that begins the narrative of the gospel of Matthew, that is, the story of another woman whose sexual chastity was brought into question, but for whom God faithfully provided a means by which she and her child would be legitimated within the community of God. This child, the last in the long genealogy, was the ultimate child of promise, the Messiah, the Christ.

The promise is fulfilled from Abraham -> David -> Jesus, with heavy emphasis on Ruth, Tamar, Rahab, and Bathsheba.