14/04/2019

My recent book study was the Book of Ruth in the Old Testament. It’s the book that forever familiar to many Christians. With the Cinderella ending, I know that many God-fearing, God serving single sisters in Christ would specifically pray that one day they would meet with their Boaz as their partners in life. I remembered how the story of Ruth, in the Bible mesmerising the 5-year-old kids in my Sunday school class, many years ago, especially the girls who were doing the class role play for Ruth and Naom

‘I will go wherever you go, your people be my people, and your God is going to be my God. Where you die, I will die.’ Ruth 1:16-17 (roleplay dialogue)

Would Ruth meet Boaz by a quirk fate? Did she just by chance to work in his field? How would Naomi, a Judahites from Bethlehem find out that her family was related to Boaz? Did the story end it with Boaz marrying Ruth all by chance? Superfluously, the invisible hand of God was the master-mind to bring all these things to pass, especially when we think of that King David and Jesus, Himself, as the Son of Man descended from Ruth.

If I were to do the homiletic for this entire book, three ‘R’ words would come in handy. In addition to ‘Ruth’ the second ‘R’ word is ‘Relationship,‘ the relationship among Ruth, Naomi and Boaz and the final ‘R’is the ‘Redemption,’ as Boaz was the Kinsman Redeemer. Although the book is named after Ruth, but we can’t over look Naomi and her role in the whole story. Being a woman, a widow lived in the country of Moab with her two sons and their wives of the Moabite women, Ruth and Orpah were their names. In the midst of famine, Naomi’s two sons also died.

Why would Ruth decide to cleave to Naomi to settle in a foreign land? To begin with, I think that Naomi must have wholeheartedly welcomed two of the Moabite women into her family. Amid famine, lost everything and she had no root of bitterness, but still had the welfare of her two daughters in mind; the separation was heart-wrenching for three of them. From the scriptures, the mother/daughter-in-law relationship was intimately close. It’s heartwarming that Naomi to share beauty-tips with Ruth before she guided her how to present herself under the feet of Boaz.

Would any woman do as what her mother-in-law told her to do? Would her reputation be at risk? Immediately, I recalled how Jesus praises the woman who kisses and anoints His feel with tears and expensive oil (Luke 7:36-50). But Ruth took heed and said that “All that you told me I would do.”(Ruth3:3). The scripture didn’t give any clue in terms of how long Naomi had lived with Ruth. However, Naomi must have loved Ruth dearly and impacted her life significantly. And both of them have showed case what it calls the ‘real Sarah’s daughter with the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit‘ (First Peter 3).

I attend the Chinese BSF class here in Singapore. Last week, homework question asks us to expound the Chinese character 贖 (Shú), which means Redemption. I was intrigued to note that the Chinese charater is the make-up of three identical parts/radicals. It has the word of 貝 (Bèi), the shell on the left that’s the currency for trade in ancient China; on top is 士 (Shi) the nobleman/ gentleman/scholar and the word of 買 (Mǎi ) buy/atone for, at the bottom. Profoundly I am grateful to be able to understand the deep scriptural meaning of redemption in the filter of the etymology of the Chinese word.

Currently, the Chinese authority starts to voice their concerns on what if any foreign religious movement would be contradictory to either the Chinese tradition or the value system? First of all, many Chinese main lander don’t know that Christianity is not a Western Religion, and it is also not a phisophical Religion but is of a Relationship between the Heavenly and His people on earth. Secondly, China has had an unbroken history for 5000 years, it has had many folk religions that are more like the traditional veneration of saints or ancestors throughout. 

Most amazingly, deep within, Chinese people, in geeral, all have believed in an unnamed supreme divinity that calls 老天爷 (Lǎotiānyé), which is the God who lives in heaven. Take for example, there’s no idol found inside the Temple of Heaven (天壇 – Tiāntán), Beijing, China, where the emperor would go to worship annually in the old days. Thus, it’s not far fetched to believe what it has been said that the Hebrew God in the Old Testament time was probably also in ancient China. In fact, many Chinese traditions are perfectly in tune with the Biblical truth, but is not for me to expound them here now.

Psalms 19:1b

“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.” KJV