Here's a good question I was asked after this evening's session: What is the book of Ruth doing in the bible? The question came from the position that Ruth is a story about ordinary people, rather than 'special' people like kings or prophets.
What do you think? Feel free to comment, but here are my thoughts.
Ruth is a vital character in the bible. Without her there would have been no Jesus (check out the genealogy in Matthew 1; you'll see that Ruth is mentioned as an ancestor of Jesus). But Ruth was a Moabite, that is she was not an Israelite, one of God's special people, but God still chose to bring her into his people.
This is an important point (the same goes for Rahab, also mentioned in Matthew's gospel) when considering the question of indiscriminate slaughter of the other tribes because God does let foreigners into his people if they accept his authority and lordship. Ruth says "your people will be my people and your God my God" This is enough for God, her being a Moabite is irrelevant. So irrelevant, he choses to be born as a man to one of her descendants!
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Don't forget you'll be able to ask the people who put the bible together in heaven...so don't worry if you don't get all the answers now :-)
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