Category: Insights

Boaz Marries Ruth, Ruth Chapter 4

Then Boaz said to the elders and to the standing crowd standing around, “You are the witnesses that today I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Killion, and Mahlon. And with that landI have acquired Ruth, Moabite widow of Mahlon, to be my wife. This way she can have a son to carry on the family name of her dead husband and to inherit the family property here in his hometown. You are all witnesses today.”

The elders and all the people standing in the gate replied, “We are witnesses! May the Lord make this woman who is coming to your home like Rachel and Leah, from whom all the nation of Israel descended! May you prosper in Ephreathah and be famous in Bethlehem. An may the Lord give you descendants by this young woman who will be like those of our ancestor Perez, the son of Tamar and Judah.” (vv. 9-12, NLT)

Naomi and Ruth Return, Ruth Chapter 1

Then Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord has blessed His people in Judah by giving them good crops again. So Naomi and her daughters-in-law go ready to leave Moab to return to her homeland. With her two daughters-in-law she set out from the place where she had been living, and they took the road that would lead them back to Judah.

But on the way, Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back to your mothers’ homes. And may the Lord reward you for your kindness to your husbands and to me. May the Lord bless you with the security of another marriage.” The she kissed them good-bye, and they all broke down and wept.

“No,” they said. “We want to go with you to your people.”

But Naomi replied, “Why should you go on with me? Can I give birth to other sons who could grow up to be your husbands? No, my daughters, return to your parents’ homes, for I am too old to marry again. And even it were possible, and I were to get married tonight and bear sons, then what” Would you wait for them to grow up and refuse to marry someone else? Of course not, my daughters! Things are for more bitter for me than you, because the Lord Himself has raised his fist agains me.”

And again they wept together, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye. But Ruth clung tightly to Naomi. “Look,”Naomi said,” your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. You should do the same.”

But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; where ever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Where ever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!” When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more. (vv6-18, NLT)

Samson’s Final Victory, Judges Chapter 16

The Philistine rulers held a great festival, offering sacrifices and praising their god, Dagon. They said, “Our god has give us victory over our enemy Samson!”

When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying, “Our god has delivered our enemy to us! TRhe one who killed so many of us is not in our power!”

Half drunk by now, the people demanded, “Bring out Samson so he can amuse us!” So he was brought from the prison to amust them and they had him stand between the pillars supporting the roof.

Samson said to the young servant who was leading him by the hand. “Place my had agains the pillars that hold up the temple, I want to rest against them.” Now the temple was completely filled with people. All the Philistine rulers were there, and there was about 3,000 men and women on the roof who were watching Samson as they amused them.

Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, remember me again. O God, please strengthen me just one more time. With one blow let me pay back the Philistines for the loss of my two eyes.” Then Samson put his hands on the two center pillars that held the temple. Pushing against them with both his hands, he prayed, “Let me die with the Philistines.” And the temple crashed down on the Philistine rulers and all the people. So he killed more people when he died than during his entire lifetime.

Later his brothers and other relatives went down to get his body. They took him back home and buried him between Zora and Estaol, where his father, Manoh was buried. Samson had judged Israel for twenty years. (vv. 23-31, NLT)

The Complaints of Miriam and Aaron, Numbers Chapter 12

While they were at Hazeroth, Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses because he had married a Cushite woman. They said, “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Hasn’t He spoken through us too? But the Lord heard them. (Now Moses was very humble-more humble than any other person on earth.)

So immediately the Lord called to Moses, Aaron and Miriam and said, “Go out to the Tabernacle, all three of you! So the three of them (they were all siblings) went to the Tabernacle. Then the Lord descended in the pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the Tabernacle. “Aaron and Miriam!” he called, and they stepped forward. And no the Lord said to them, “Now listen to what I say:

“If there were prophets among you, I, the Lord, would reveal Myself in visions. I would speak to them in dreams. But not my servant Moses. Of all my house, he is the one I trust. I speak to Him face to face, clearly , and not in riddles! He sees the Lord as He is. So why were not afraid to criticize Moses?”

The Lord was very angry with them, and he departed. As the cloud moved from above the Tabernacle, there stood Miriam, her skin as white as snow as from leprosy. When Aaron saw what had happened to her, he cried out to Moses “Oh, my master! Please don’t punish us for this sin we have so foolishly committed. Don’t let her be like a stillborn baby already decayed at birth.”

So Moses cried out to the Lord, “O God, I beg you, please heal her!”

But the Lord said to Moses, ” If her father had done nothing more than spit in her face, wouldn’t she be defiled for seven days? SO keep her outside the camp for seven days, and after that she may be accepted back.

So Miriam was kept outside the camp for seven days, and the people waited until she was brought back before they traveled again. Then they left Hazeroth and camped in the wilderness of Paran. (vv. 1-16, NLT)

The Brothers Return to Egypt, Genesis Chapter 43

But the famine continued to ravage the land in Canaan. When the grain they had brought out from Egypt was almost gone, Jacob said to his sons, “Go back and buy us a little more food.”

But Judah said, “The man was serious when he warned us, ‘You won’t see my face again unless your brother is with you. If you send Benjamin with us, we will go down and buy more food. But if you don’t let Benjamin go, we wont’ go either. Remember, the man said, ‘You won’t see my face again unless your brother is with you.” (vv. 1-5, NLT)

So their father, Jacob, finally said to them, “If it can’t be avoided, then at least do this. Pack your bags with the best products of this land. Take them down to the man as gifts-balm, honey, gum, aromatic resin, pistachio nuts, and almonds. Also take double the money that was put back n your sacks, as it was probably someone’s mistake. Then take your brother, and go back to the man. May God Almighty give you mercy as you bo before the man, so that he will release Simeon and let Benjamin return. But if I must lose my children, so be it.”

so the men packed Jacob’s gifts and double the money and headed off with Benjamin. They finally arrived in Egypt and presented themselves to Joseph. When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the manager of his household. “These me will eat with me this noon. Take them inside the palace. Then go slaughter and animal, and prepare a big feast. So the man did as Joseph told him and took them into Joesph’s palace.

The brothers were terrified when they say that they were being taken to Joseph’s house. It’s because of the money someone put in our sacks last time were were here,” they said. “He plans to pretend that we stole it. Then he will seize us, make us slaves, and take our donkeys.” (vv. 11-18, NLT)

The Fall of Babylon, Part 3, Chapter 18

Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a huge millstone. He threw it into the ocean and shouted,

“Just like this, the great city of Babylon will be thrown down with violence and will never be found again. The sounds of harps, singers, flutes, and trumpets will never be heard in you again. No craftsmen and no trades will every be found in you again. The light of a lamp will never shine in you again. The happy voices of brides and grooms will never be heard in you again. For your merchants were the greatest in the world, and you deceived the nations with your sorceries. In your streets flowed the blood of the prophets and of God’s holy people slaughtered all over the world.” (vv. 21-24, NLT)

The Angel and the Small Scroll, Revelation Chapter 10

Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, surrounded by a cloud, with a rainbow over his head. His face shone like the sun, and his feet were like pillars of fire. And in his hand was a small scroll that had been opened. He stood with his right food on the sea and his left food on the land. And he gave a great shout like the roar of a lion. And when he shouted, the seven thunders answered.

When the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write. But I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Keep secret what the seven thunders said, and do not write it down.”

Then the angel I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand toward heaven. He swore an oath in the name of the One who lives forever and ever, who created the heavens and everything in it, and the sea and everything in it. He said, “There will be no more delay. When the seventh angel blows his trumpet, God’s mysterious plan will be fulfilled. It will happen just as He announced it to His servants the prophets.”

Then the voice from heaven spoke to me again: “Go and take the open scroll from the hand of the angel, who is standing on the sea and on the land.”

So I went to the angel and told him to give me the small scroll. “Yes, take it and eat it,” he said. “It will be sweet as honey in your mouth, but it will turn sour in your stomach!: So I took the small scroll from the and of the angel, and I ate it! It was sweet in my mouth, but when I swallowed it, it turned sour in my stomach.

Then I was told, ” You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, an kings.”

God’s People Will Be Preserved, Revelation Chapter 7

Then I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, hold back the four winds so that they did not blow on the earth or sea, or on any tree. And I saw another angel coming up from the east, carrying the seal of the living God. And he shouted to those four angels, who had been given power to harm land and sea. “Wait! Don’t harm the land or the sea or the trees until we have placed the seal of God on the foreheads of His servants.”

And I heard how many were marked with the seal of God – 144,000 were sealed form all the tribes of Israel: (12,000 from each of the 12 tribes). (vv. 1-8, NLT

God’s Discipline Proves His Love, Hebrews Chapter 12

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that is so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting Him, He endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now He is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility He endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up. After all, you have not yet given your lives in you struggle against sin.

And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to youy as His children? He said,

“My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline, and don’t give up when He corrects you. For the Lord disciplines those He loves, and He punishes each one He accepts as His child.”

As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as His own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of His children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really His children at all. Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, should’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits and live forever? (vv. 1-9, NLT)