Title A place to rest
Content One of the erroneous views of the Bible is to take a certain text in the Bible and view it from an ethical and moral point of view. Often, a certain person in the Bible tells us how to approach the text as something we should or shouldn't imitate. Although the situational substitution method of interpreting , there are many problems with the allegorical (territorial sea) interpretation method that seeks to find the divine will of God. However, those who say that the ethical and moral method of interpreting the Bible is quite conservative almost always interpret and preach the Bible in this way.
It is often said that regenerated saints cannot sin but can do righteousness or 'do good'. However, you can tell that it is a story that came out because we do not know the reality of human beings too much. When referring to the level of legal perfection, Jesus also said in Matthew 5:20, "I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." The righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees can be said to be synonymous with human righteousness. Nevertheless, it is the view that the scribes and Pharisees cannot enter the kingdom of heaven because of their righteousness. And yet, if humans claim that they can do righteousness, who can stop that shit stubbornness? What I want to tell such a person is that they can only say, 'You do what you want', so it must be 'a righteousness other than the law', that is, the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
In spite of this situation, once we believe in Jesus and secure salvation, from now on, let's do good in our own strength and glorify God! Please remember that it is the enemy of making the cross of Christ in vain. It is the fact that the only thing to glorify God in the Bible is to glorify one Son (John 17:1).
If we look at the contents of this text we read today from an ethical and moral point of view, it is truly absurd. Perhaps those who advocate ethics do not want to accept this as the Bible. You must be tempted to tear it apart, saying that the holy Word of God contains such immoral content. It's like watching an act of prostitution between your father-in-law. In light of Korean tradition, if your daughter-in-law Ruth thinks of a man, she will have to pinch her thigh and pierce her flesh with a needle, saying that she must be patient. Only then will it fit our emotions. On the contrary, the content of the text is that the mother-in-law bathes her daughter-in-law, puts on sexy makeup, and tells the outsider to sneak in and spend the night there.
Then he said, "Should I not seek for you a resting place, so that you may be blessed?" The 'place to rest' here means to be incorporated into God's people, not from the perspective of allowing Ruth to meet her rich husband and live her life comfortably. In other words, it means to have a relationship with God as a Gentile. Rather than showing Naomi's consideration for Ruth as a human being, it shows that Ruth sacrifices for Naomi. Ruth is sacrificed to restore the broken line of the Elimelech family.
Here we see that the dead are brought back to life, or resurrected. It can be seen that the series of events in which the lost land is regained and the broken generations are reconnected is redeeming God's own people through the system of the time called the Brothers and Brothers marriage law. This does not just happen, but is revealed through the sacrifice of Ruth, a foreign woman, prepared by God. It is an indescribable disgrace and shame for Ruth to visit the old Boaz while trampling her own pride in the body of a prostitute to succeed the dead Elimelech family.
By referring to this event, the Bible reveals that it is of the same type as the case of Tamar and Judah. Just as Tamar, the daughter-in-law, was lowered down to the status of a prostitute because of her father-in-law Judah's sin, she accused Judah of her sins and inherited her family. Ruth's sacrifice is ultimately in line with Tamar's sacrifice, and it is serving as a shadow to show the image of the Lord saving His people by being humbled to the point of carrying the cross. It is a preview of the Lord's suffering to the end because of the sins of his people.
Suddenly, in the middle of the night, a strange woman broke into her bedroom, and she was astonished. Who are you? Boaz cried out in front of him, 'This is your maid Ruth. Cover me with the hem of your robe, for you are the ruler of our inheritance.' That is, you be the heir of our family! That is to say. In the middle of the night, Boaz was struck by lightning. On the contrary, Boaz praised Ruth, saying, 'You did not follow the young, neither the rich nor the poor. there is. Then he said that he will do whatever you say no matter what sacrifices it takes. However, since the business owner has a closer relative than himself, I would like to ask the person and he will fulfill the responsibility, but if he says he will not, I promise to fulfill the responsibility.
For the resurrection of the Elimelech family, from the image of Ruth demeaning herself to the point of sacrificing herself even as a prostitute for the sake of the resurrection of the Elimelech family, the image of the Lord who humbled herself for the sins of mankind in the future and became obedient to death on the cross. It is being shown in advance. The church was created in this way, and those who bear the traces of this sacrifice are true believers. Therefore, all of these people have become who I am because of the grace of the Lord's sacrifice, so from now on, rather than taking care of my own interests, even if I am willing to give my all for my brothers and for the gospel, I will rather live a life of joy and gratitude. . Nevertheless, believing in Jesus and saying that I will benefit from him is really an act of prostitution. Isn't prostitution the act of trying to make a profit by taking advantage of someone else? But isn't that the mindset of young people getting married today? Those who come out of the church and exaggerate themselves as believers to use Jesus and use the church for their own profit are spiritual prostitutes.