8/40: All The Little Pieces

Judges-Ruth

I love looking at life like a puzzle. That there are all these little pieces and you've got to be doing the right thing at the right time to get the right pieces to make it all work.

One thing I love about the Old Testament focusing on one (although one LARGE) family is that I get to see the puzzle coming together.

The Israelites wandered around the desert for a long time. Finally - finally they got to send spies into the promised land - and once they got in there a woman named Rahab hid those spies. Because of her kindness to the people of God her life was spared when the Israelites took the city.

She went on to marry a man named Salmon.

Different story. A woman looses all three of her sons. She sends her daughters-in-law off to live out their lives and she's going to return to her people. One of the daughters doesn't go though. Ruth decides to follow Naomi back to her homeland. She does a little wheat gathering and sleeping at the feet of a man named Boaz and he likes that and marries her as her "kinsman-redeemer" (side note: love that phrase!)

Now - Boaz - is the son of Rahab and Salmon.

Boaz and Ruth - they have a son named Obed. Who has a son named Jesse.

And Jesse - - Jesse has a son named David.

40 years of wandering so that a prostitute would be in the promised land offering a hiding place.

The death of sons so that a woman would follow her mother-in-law to her homeland.

I like the glimpses of the big picture we get :)