Who will ultimately take "in God we trust" off our coinage?  Judges!

Who stopped prayers in public places?  Judges?

Who now kills innocent people?  Judges!

They have "legislating" everything just the opposite of what it should be ... and what it used to be!  "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!"  (Isaiah 5:20)

Yes, the dark days of Judges and Ruth are about to repeat themselves.

And both situations (Israel's of old and ours of this day and hour) developed due to one thing:  God was forgotten ... and sin ran rampant!

Of course, we need not worry.

God knows the answer.

He severely judged Israel.  In fact, she's not over it yet.

And for sure ... He will soon judge America!

Then the "Righteous Judge" will be vindicated!  (That's what Paul calls the Lord in 2 Timothy 4:8!)

I suspect Bible reading will be allowed again then!

                                                                           --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 6:

The land of Moab.

That's where Elimelech took his family when the famine came to Israel!

The name alone tells us a lot!

It means (in Hebrew) "of father!"

The tribal originator, a little boy named Moab, was the product of the incestuous relationship between Lot and one of his daughters after God so violently judged Sodom!  You can read about it in Genesis 19.

Now a child can't help his or her background, but God so hated this situation that He forbade a Moabite even entering into the congregation of the Lord for ten generations!  See Deuteronomy 23:3.

That information alone should have kept Abimelech from moving to Moab!

But in addition to the history of the Moabite people ... add their politics!  They hated Israel with a passion!  They even hired a soothsayer named Balaam to "curse" God's chosen people!  This animosity lasted for generations!  (In a way it's still going!)

That too should have been a pretty good "hint" to Abimelech!

But I am told this geographically.  One, from the fields outside town near Bethlehem, can look southeastward and see the green well-watered plains of Moab! Things just LOOKED better over there!  (Sounds like Lot choosing Sodom, doesn't it?)  Plenty of food!  Lots of water!  Of course sin abounded also ... but one "must" care for himself!

So Amimelech reasoned ... all the way to the graveyard!

Our lesson today:  Be careful where you live!

Be careful how you allow the influence of the world into your life and home!

It may cost you dearly!

God did not teach us to move in with them.  Rather to ... "Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you."  2 Corinthians 6:17

Add to that:  "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?"  2 Corinthians 6:14

And ... "Abstain from all appearance of evil."  1 Thessalonians 5:22

The man of God condoning a wicked environment ... that never works!

And it's not about to start now!

                                                                              --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 7:

The Bible is filled with names!

And almost without exception they seem to have significant meaning!

In fact, God occasionally "changes" someone's name to better suit His purposes for them!

(Abram to Abraham, Jacob to Israel and Simon to Peter are three examples.)

Nearly every preacher will tell you that in Scripture these names are actually expressions of a person's character!

Peter, the stone!

Paul, small and humble!

John, gracious one!

A composite example of such "name significance" is found in the Book of Ruth!

The man who left Bethlehem (God's House of Bread) and went to Moab to find food later died!  (Hereafter the "name meanings" are in parenthesis.)

His name was Elimelech (God is my King), but he ruled his own life instead!  He seems to have died prematurely.

His wife's name was Naomi (Delightful, Pleasant) whose once blessed life became a horror ... only to be later doubly blessed by our Lord!

The man's two boys, Mahlon (Sick) and Chilion (Pining, Wasting away), true to their names ... died in a strange land, just like their Father!

See the significance of all these name "meanings?"

The two boys had married prior to their deaths.  Naomi's two daughters in law were named Orpah (Neck or Back) who turned her back on the family ... and Ruth (Friendship) who was loyal to the core!

It's almost as if their names were little "prophecies" of their coming lives!

Now ... when a liberal or a modernist or a Bible hater sees all this, he immediately cries "non-historical!"  Folks like that cannot believe such people ever really lived ... and especially cannot believe that their lives so precisely "fit" their names!

That crowd takes the Book of Ruth and calls it fiction!  They say it has been "editorialized" and bears no semblance to reality.

LET ME SAY THIS TODAY:

I accept the Bible Book of Ruth as FACT!

Our great God, Who created this whole universe, has no trouble with "little things" like names and events and world history!

I do believe Abimelech was a REAL man!  (Although one who hade a big mistake in moving from the House of Bread to the grain fields of the world!)

I understand each character in the Book of Ruth to be literal people, not made-up individuals!

Even Boaz, the hero of the story, has a name that's true to his life, meaning Fleetness.  He "quickly" supplies all that Ruth needs!

And just WHY is it that important?  Whether these names represent real people or just fictional characters?

Because Boaz and Ruth are the great Grandparents of David (King of Israel) who is a Type of Jesus the Christ!  Often, according to His humanity (not His deity), Jesus is called a son of David!

Without Ruth and Boaz, God would have had to devise some other way to bring Jesus into the world!

Now, see their importance?

And, if Jesus is REAL (which He is) ... those in His "earthly" line had to be real too!  And real they were!

What a dependable Bible we have!

Be sure and study the Word of God sometime today!

It's the Truth!

That's exactly what Daniel 10:21 calls the Bible:  "But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth."

Amen!

                                                                                     --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 8:

A little word in Ruth 1:2 just might give us a critical "hint" about Elimelech's and Naomi's background.

It's the word "Ephrathite."

"And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, EPHRATHITES of Bethlehemjudah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there."  Ruth 1:2

The name itself means "fruitful," which is good.

However, two sources I researched have told me that an Ephrathite was one who had enjoyed a rather fine lifestyle!  One who was from a noble family and likely accustomed to wealth and ease!

Hard times just may have not "fit" into Abimelech's plans!

This could be why he moved away from Bethlehem ... while many others (if not most others) stayed!

Folks, sometimes we just love "ease" too much!

Amos specifically preached against such luxury:  "Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria ... that lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall;  that chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of musick, like David; that drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed." Amos 6:1, 4-7

Sometimes it is good for us to have "problems!"

They "toughen" us for the battles ahead!

Listen to the Psalmist:  "It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes."  Psalm 119:71

Of course, with an attitude like that ... one might even "welcome" troubles then they came!  "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations" ... knowing that such trials will cause you to grow spiritually!  James 1:2

Wow!

Could his soft easy background have made Abimelech flee Bethlehem?

Here's what may be another "hint."

Look where he moved!

Moab!

An ease-loving money-minded society that had experienced (so far) little hardship in its national life!

Listen to Jeremiah:  "Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed."  Jeremiah 48:11 just described Moab as a "comfortable" society!

I fear America has become such a luxury loving nation too!

Folks, do not make spiritual decisions based upon love of ease or love for the world or money or fame or any such thing!

Maybe we had best get back to heeding Paul's advice to young Timothy:  "Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ."  2 Timothy 2:3

That's amazing!

Soldiers of Christ, Attention!

                                                                             --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 9:

The protagonist (main character) of Ruth chapter 1 is a man named Abimelech.

He was obviously a believer in Jehovah God and belonged to the "chosen" people of Israel.

He even lived in a city of Judah named Bethlehem.

But once a famine came, he (taking his family with him) moved away from the people of God and the city of his inheritance, perhaps even turning his back on his faith!

Now the next thing we learn about him, having moved to the detestable (in the eyes of the Lord God) and severely wicked land of Moab, Abimelech died!

"And Elimelech Naomi's husband died; and she was left, and her two sons." Ruth 1:3

See, he suddenly died!

Without any mention of even a sickness!

Did God have anything to do with his death?  (Friend, God has something to do with everything!)

(Of course we have to leave open the possibility that perhaps he died of natural causes, but that information is just NOT obvious in the text!)

I believe that Elimelech's disobedience just kept on compounding and growing and building until God just had ... "enough!"

There are times, especially with His Own Children, that God steps in and "disciplines" ... just like an earthly father with his kids!

If we could put New Testament vocabulary into this Old Testament situation (something one cannot always do I realize), we might say that Abimelech committed "the sin unto death!"

My "proof" verse?

1st John 5:16 --- "If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it."

Now lest we get "carried away" with this fact, the very next verse cautions us: "All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death."

The fact is simply this.  Once one becomes the Lord's (by faith in Jesus) ... he is "in the family,"  God's family!

Now God the Father ... as His children grow and mature ... guides them and chastens them and disciplines them and "child-trains" them as need be!

Listen.

"My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him."

"For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth."

"If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?"

"But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons."

Remembering "That He (God chastens us) for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness."

And ... "Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby."

This series of verses is taken from Hebrews 12.

It sure sounds to me like Elimelech belonged to the Lord!

And if a Christian sins and sins and sins ... NOT responding to the Lord's chastening Hand ... things get tougher and rougher until finally DEATH can ensue!

That's the "sin unto death" I believe.

God just takes His rebelling child on to heaven ... prematurely!

In Paul's great 1st Corinthians 5:5 wording:  "For the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus."

Now let me try to give you some examples of this "sin unto death!"

Christians whom God "called home" early!

Moses!  (Due to his sin!)

Ananias and Sapphira!  (Due to their lies!)

Certain Corinthians! (Due to their misbehavior and irreverence at the Lord's Table!)  "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep." 1st Corinthians 11:30  (The word "sleep" here means death!)

Probably we need to include Elimelech's two sons, Mahlon and Chilion too!  "And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband."   Ruth 1:5

And there are others too.

Again, let me say that some preachers and commentators do NOT believe Abimelech committed any such sin.

But it sure looks to me like this:  As soon as he left Bethlehem (God's House Of Bread) things rapidly began going downhill!

I know there's a famine in the land.

But which is better?

Physical hunger or spiritual disaster?

Ask the dear Lord Jesus!

His first temptation from the devil in the wilderness was all about this very subject.

"Jesus ... don't wait on your Father to feed you.  It's been forty days now!  Take matters into your own hands!  Turn this stone into bread!  Hurry!"   ... So said Satan!

And Jesus, staying hungry a while longer, responded:  "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."  Matthew 4:4

Amen!

Christians, living for our Lord is serious business!

"For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."  1st Corinthians 6:20

Reverently I ask to to think about it!

                                                                             --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 10:

All the way through this opening paragraph of Ruth ... the one person who suffers again and again is the lady named Naomi!  The wife of Abimelech!

Watch.

"And Elimelech Naomi's husband died; and she was left, and her two sons."  Ruth 1:3

Then later, upon the death of her two adult sons,  "And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband."  Ruth 1:5

See!

It was Abimelech's short-sightedness and unbelief that got them into this bad situation ... but Naomi suffered!

The suffering at first made her bitter too!  In Ruth 1:20 she said:  "Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me."

The lady whose name meant "Delight" ... now sadly embittered!

Hear me!

Sin robs one of peace and happiness and joy!

The husband sinned.  The wife suffered!

How often that is the story!

Daddy, husband, sir ... be careful how you live!

Live to please and glorify your Lord above!

Seek Him first with all your heart!

And as you do THAT ... you will indirectly bless your wife and family beyond measure!

However, the obverse is true also.  If a Daddy or Husband sins (especially repeatedly) ... consequences of that rebellion against God (the definition of sin) will fall upon his family!

I hear much today about what the world calls "victimless crimes."  There are no such things!

Neither are there victimless sins!

Dad, in sinfully getting what YOU want ... your wife and children well may suffer later!

Be careful!

"And Naomi was left alone!"

There are three reasons every truly Christian man should want to live for God:

1.  Foremostly, to glorify the One Who saved you, the Lord Jesus Christ!

2. Secondly, for your family (then others in an ever widening circle) to enjoy God's "best" in their lives!

3. Lastly, for yourself!  God will bless you if you love Him and serve Him diligently!

Those 3 "reasons" spell JOY!   Jesus, Others, then You!

And I'll just add one more verse ... especially for any "doubters" today ... "I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me!"  Exodus 20:5 but repeated in Exodus 34:7 and Numbers 14:18 and Deuteronomy 5:9!

If you love your family ... live for Jesus!

"That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace."  Psalm 144:12

That ... "Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table."  Psalm 128:3

In fact, as I close, read the entire 128th Psalm for a summary of God's blessings upon the family of the righteous man!

Apart from the Grace of God ...Elimelech's sin would have destroyed his family for sure!

                                                                                --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 11:

If someone who once believed the Bible, the Bible as the pure Word of God ... ever departs from that belief ... the consequences will be terrible!

There's no telling where that "downhill slide" will end!

That's "departing from The Faith" in its truest sense!

In a way I believe that's what Abimelech (Ruth 1:1-2) did!

He, living in Bethlehem, decided to move on ... even to dwell in a godless wicked land that hated the God of Israel.

Now I know I'm going to be using "Bethelehem" (a city near Jerusalem) in a symbolic manner.  It is of course a real village, but the meaning of its name is not accidental, "the house of bread!"

I am today taking that to be a picture of the Bible, the Word of God!  (Get it?  The House of Bread!)

As you know, the Bible again and again is compared to "food," food that helps us Believers grow in Christ.

The Bible is "milk" to us in 1st Peter 2:2.

It is "honey" in Psalm 19:10.

It is "meat" in Hebrews 5:12.

It certainly is edible in a number of passages.  "Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts."  Jeremiah 15:16

But ... back to Elimelech, who left God's House of Bread ... the "food" there just no longer being sufficient ... and went into the world for its "better things!" (Moab is certainly a type of the world!)

His decision certainly cost him dearly.

Tragedy, death, sorrow, loss of reputation and testimony ... and so much more!

My point today is just this.

Stay with God's appointed means of feeding you!

Stick with the Word of God!

Live in God's "House of Bread," the Bible!

But preacher, it does not excite me any more (or feed me or enlighten me or encourage me)!

I'm "moving on" to other things!

No!

You are making the same mistake Abimelech made!

"Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehemjudah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.  And the name of the man was Elimelech."  Ruth 1:1-2a

NEVER depart from the land of the Word!

NEVER minimize the Bible!

NEVER forsake The Faith!  (With the article "The" attached, Bible Faith is describing the Word of God, our blessed Book of Truth!)

But Brother Bagwell, I'm in a spiritual "dry place" right now.  I think I'll go on and become a news addict or a reader of novels or a television watcher!

Friend, you would spiritually be leaving Bethlehem ... and it's an unwise thing to do!

Do like Boaz did in that little Book we're studying (Ruth) ... STAY in the city, the city that means "House of Bread!"

If the "food" gets "light" occasionally ... God is just showing us something deeper that we've ever seen before!  (All lessons are not learned with the same ease!)

With the Lord's help, I plan to remain faithful to my precious old Bible!  Like Paul I believe:  "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works."  2nd Timothy 3:16-17

Go to Church today.

Listen more intently than ever to the Preacher as he feeds you from the great Table of Grace, God's infallible Word!

Do NOT be numbered among the group of whom Paul said:  "In the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth."  See, the downhill "slide" has already begun!  Depart from the faith (the Word of God) ... and watch out!

Lover of God's Word ... don't move!

Live in the Book!

All the great men and women of God have done so through the ages!

Be counted among the faithful!

                                                                       --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 12:

In our last Lesson I suggested to you that Bethlehem (meaning "House of Bread") just might be a "picture" or a "symbol" of the Word of God!

The Bible truly is our meat and our drink spiritually!

Listen to godly Job as he tells us:  "Neither have I gone back from the commandment of His lips; I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food."  Job 23:12

I thought it might be wise to look back over the Bible history of Bethlehem and see if any "hints" existed there ... suggesting the city to be an emblem of the Scriptures!

I'll just list three or four of them:

First I remembered that's where Jesus was born!  (Matthew 2:1,5)  That's Jesus Who IS the Bread of Life!  And where do we learn of this Virgin Birth?  In the Word of God!

And there surely must have been something about the water in Bethlehem too! David one day longed for a drink of it ... so much so that three of his "mighty men" broke through  the battle lines to get him some!  And you know that water is a picture of the salvation we have in Jesus.  A salvation of which we learn in the pages of God's Book, the Bible!  (2 Samuel 23:14-16)

And guess where King David, man after God's Own heart, was first anointed? Bethlehem! (1 Samuel 16:4 then 12-13)  And what Book exalts Jesus, the greater Son of David? Why, the Word of God!

And even more in our context here, where did Ruth meet Boaz (a type of the church and Christ Jesus her Lord)?  In Bethlehem of course!  And where do we learn the Truth of that Bridegroom/Bride relationship?  In the Word again!

(Put all four of these together and you have a "hint" of God the Son (Virgin Birth), God the Holy Spirit (springs of water), God the Father (whose Heart David resembled in his greater days) and the Christ/Church union (the purpose of our Triune God's work on earth)!

Now I've just typed a sentence that summarizes the whole scope of God's written word!

It sure looks to me like Bethlehem is often associated with Truth ... the Truth we glean only from Scripture!

I have preached that Elimelech's leaving Bethlehem literally is parallel to a Christian leaving the Word of God spiritually!  Both moves are big mistakes!

Dear believing friend, stay with the Word!

To leave it would be the worst mistake you ever made!

                                                                                 --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 13:

Some time ago I learned of a practicing psychologist in a distant state who has dedicated her practice to helping people who want to leave old-fashioned Bible-believing "fundamentalism!"

She was reared in a strictly "Christian" home and has rebelled against all those "rules!"

As bad as all that is ... this individual is NOT THE FIRST professing Believer who has "departed" from God's will and God's way!

On the "heavy" end of the scale ... Demas did!

On the "light" end ... John Mark, who later got everything back in order!

In the Old Testament add Cain, Esau, Solomon and many of the later Kings of Judah too!

But today I especially want to mention a man who simply "left" his homeland and possessions and style of life ... many would say with good reason, a famine had gripped the land ... and moved to the most ungodly place he could find!

His name is Abimelech.  He is the husband of Naomi and the father of Mahlon and Chilion.

He left Bethlehem Judah (meaning God's House Of Bread in the Land Of Praise) and went to Moab (meaning I am my Grandfather's child) to live!

This is a classic case of selling out to the world!

Get the pattern:

Abimelech left the inheritance God gave him ... moved to sin city ... and soon died!  As did his 2 sons!  He left a widow who was soon without any visible means of support!

Wouldn't you agree with me that for our main character here ... that move led to disaster?

If you're not quite convinced ... let me show you two more stories that I think will "prove" my point!

I would have missed this had it not been for an observant Bible Teacher one day.

The Text that relates Abimelech's story is found in Ruth 1:1-5.  That's a paragraph of Scripture that opens with the word "now!"  Only a few Bible Books do that ... and all use that literary "tool" to show "linkage" to the previous Scripture (even though in another Book).  This is called studying the "context" of a passage.

Interestingly, the two previous Bible "accounts" or true "stories" (ending the Book of Judges) are also about people who left Bethlehem ... and met disaster!

God is telling us something!

Three times in a row (Judges 17-18 ... then Judges 19-21 ... then Ruth 1:1-5) ... Heaven illustrates for us all:  STAY where God's Bread is found!  Stay there even during the hard times!  Do not leave the land of Praise and the House of Bread for any reason!

As a Christian you MUST have the Bread God provides (the Word of God) on a daily basis!

Christian don't let anything take the place of the Bible (Bread) in your life!

Live it!  Study it!  Memorize it!  Meditate in it!  Obey it!  Live it!  Speak of it! Teach it to your family and other loved ones!  Honor it as the written Word that tells you of Jesus, the Living Word!

The next two Lessons in this Ruth 1 Bible Study Series will analyze those two situations in Judges.  Times when others left Bethlehem ... and got into big trouble

The Psalmist sure sets us a good example in Psalm 119:147 --- "I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried: I hoped in Thy Word."  Before dawn every day ... he was "in the Word of God!"

Good idea!

That will keep you in "Bethlehem!"

                                                                    --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 14:

The story is told in the Book of Judges, near the end.  Chapters 17 and 18 give us the terrible details.

A young man lived in Bethlehem.  "And there was a young man out of Bethlehemjudah of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there."  He lived in Bethlehem according to this verse from Judges 17:7.

BUT (and here's the "key") he moved away (just like Abimelech did)!

"And the man departed out of the city from Bethlehemjudah to sojourn where he could find a place: and he came to mount Ephraim to the house of Micah, as he journeyed."  Judges 17:8

This Micah was a thief and an idolater and a whole lot more!

So ... the young Levite, as soon as he left God's House of Bread (Bethlehem) linked up with a scoundrel!  Read Judges 17:1-6.

Next he allowed himself to be "hired" as Micah's "priest!"  Now he's a "hireling!" Priest for sale!

Soon he found himself "hired" (more money, better opportunity, sweeter benefits) by a bunch of renegade Danites (Jews from the Tribe of Dan).

Then he participated (by assent, by compromise, by approval, by refusing to rebuke sin) in outright murder! 

This young Levite (now we know his name "Jonathan" ... Judges 18:30) left Bethlehem ... and slid downward in a hurry! 

Now he's the "preacher" for a group of hateful murderous lying stealing people who sin incessantly ... mixing Jehovah worship with the corrupt idolatrous practices of the wicked who lived nearby!

And by Judges 18:30 we have learned that Jonathan has sons ... who've followed in his unfaithful ways (as did Abimelech)!

Daddy, live for God!  Do so even for your children's sakes!

They WILL follow in your steps!

Another tragedy ... brought on by leaving Bethlehem!

Jonathan should simply have STAYED in Bethlehem!

                                                                              --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 15:

The other sad account of someone leaving Bethlehem is found in Judges 19-21.

This incident deals with a young woman.

She had led an immoral life, but as our story opens, she has returned to Bethlehem, the home of her father (so her home too)!  She is identified as "a concubine out of Bethlehem-Judah."  Judges 19:1

She, having left her cruel backslidden husband, has again been living in Bethlehem for four months now, having no doubt been raised there from infancy. 

Granted, she has been immoral, but has returned to the safety of her father's house.

Her husband comes to get her, to take her away.

The father is reluctant.

The girl needs to stay in Bethlehem!

He (the father) is able to delay the departure for three full days!  JUdges 19:4 says the father "retained" them!  The Hebrew verb, "chazaq," means to prevail or to be strong against someone!

Then he persuaded the couple to stay in Bethlehem another night (the 4th)!

Dad is obviously fearful of the girl leaving town!

But the young husband will hear no more.  He leaves with his wife late that fifth day!

Big mistake ... at least for her!

Now watch what happens as soon as she leaves her home town, her "House of Bread!"  A picture of someone leaving the Word of God!

1. At first they couldn't find a place to stay!  (Minor problem!)  Judges 19:15

2. Next they stayed with a stranger!  (Bigger problem!)  Judges 19:20-21

3. During the night the house was attacked by some sexual perverts who "wanted" the man in an obviously wicked (sensual) way!  Judges 19:22

4. The young husband, not wanting to be molested by that crowd, sent (forced) his young wife (who had just left Bethlehem) out to them!  "But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go."  Judges 19:25

5.  They so abused her ... she died!  Judges 19:27

Leaving Bethlehem has again led to sorrow and tragedy ... and death!  As it has in the cases of Abimelech (Ruth 1) and Jonathan (Judges 17-18, the death of hundreds really, the population of a whole city)!

6. Next this disloyal low-down husband cuts the dead body of his wife into 12 pieces!  Then he sent a piece of her to each of the 12 Tribes of Israel!  "And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, together with her bones, into twelve pieces, and sent her into all the coasts of Israel."  Judges 19:29

7. As a result of that came civil war in Israel, leading to thousands of other deaths, including the near-extinction of one of the Tribes of Israel, the Benjamites.

What a bad situation has developed ... largely because one young lady did not STAY in Bethlehem!

I've got enough information.  I shall (with God's help) stay in my "Bethlehem!"  In my "House of Bread!"  In my Bible!

Friend, DO NOT ... I repeat DO NOT ... leave God's Word to do anything!  There is no Book like it! 

To depart from God's Bread ... is to take a giant step ... downward!

Such an action always leads to sorrow!

                                                                            --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 16:

It is surprising how often the devil uses "food" to lead us astray!

In reality he tried that with Jesus!

"And when the tempter came to Him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread."   Matthew 4:3

Now it would have been no sin for Jesus to eat out there in that wilderness ... had His Father provided the meal!

But Jesus absolutely refused to listen to Satan and "get ahead" of God's Will!

I’ve heard of "short-cake," but the devil offered Jesus a serving of "short-cut" that day!  "Don't wait on God to meet your needs ... go ahead, do it Yourself! After all, You're the Son of God!  Take matters into your Own Hands!  Surely you are hungry!  How long has it been since you've eaten, Jesus?  You look a little pale," the liar (devil) might have said!

But Jesus was NOT going to let something like a meal of bread (which offers only temporary nourishment anyway) detour Him from pleasing His Father!

No sir!  Not food!

But when Abimelech (of Ruth chapter 1 fame) faced the same decision ... the scarcity of food in Bethlehem ... he yielded to the tempter and moved out of town ... right into the jaws of the most wicked nation in their part of the world, Moab!  Now, remember, Bethlehem means:  House Of Bread!

He failed ... over food!

I started to write that Abimelech left Bethlehem because there was NO food, but that would have been wrong!  Hundreds of faithful folks did NOT leave town during that "famine!"  People like Boaz!  They stayed ... and Scripture mentions nothing about them being extra "slim" either!  And, if you recall, Boaz was a relative to Abimelech and his family!  Had they gone to Him in chapter 1 (before Moab instead of after) ... 3 less funerals might have occurred!  Boaz in the Book of Ruth is a Type of the Lord Jesus Christ!  If we would only go to Him (our Saviour and Lord) sooner ... rather than later, what problems we would avert!

Food misled Abimelech!

But not Boaz!

I am thinking of others who got into spiritual trouble over "food" also!

Esau comes to mind!  Hebrews 12:16 briefly talks about:  "Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright."  He actually "sold out" for one meal of soup!

Even the godly Isaac loved "food" too much!  It was his "taste buds" that had propelled Esau to favorite son status!  Genesis 25:28 explains:  "And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob." What tragedy this began!

Samson loved food ("honey") so much he violated his Nazarite Vow to reach into the carcase of a DEAD lion ... simple to get "dessert!"  Read with me Judges 14:9 --- "And he (Samson) took thereof (honey) in his hands, and went on eating, and came to his father and mother, and he gave them, and they did eat: but he told not them that he had taken the honey out of the carcase of the lion."  Nazarites could not touch anything dead (the lion)!  I guess by then one more act of disobedience no longer mattered to Samson!

But, again, the culprit is food!

Even in the New Testament Church it happened!  Folks in Corinth wanted "meat" so badly, they were willing to eat that which had previously been sacrificed to idols, even if it meant "hurting" younger and weaker brothers in Christ who could not (in good conscience) eat such food!  Paul wisely taught them:  "Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend."  1st Corinthians 8:13

Here's the point of today's Lesson ... We can't let lesser needs overrun the greatest need in our lives! 

Certainly food, clothing and shelter are critically important ... but not as important as being right with God!

And when it comes to certain food "cravings," we will just have to conquer that little matter with the help of the Holy Spirit of God!

Here's how Jesus did so back that the time of His wilderness Temptation:  He said to the devil ... "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."  (Matthew 4:4)  I don't know all that means ... but I do know the Lord didn't eat then!  He waited on His Father!  By the way, Matthew 4:11 (only 7 verses later) tells us:  "Then the devil leaveth Him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him."  Here's what I think: When those angels arrived they prepared Him food!  (Angel food?)  God did not fail His darling Son that day!

As Jesus just taught us, there are some things more important than food itself!

And one of them is ... "every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God!"  That's another way of saying ... "the Bible!"

Abimelech turned away from the divine House of Bread ... and it cost him dearly!

Beloved, do not forsake God's Word!

Carefully watch your cravings!

                                                                           --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 17:

The Bible Book of Ruth has many "surprises!"

One of which is the plain fact that even after their Dad had died ... likely because he was way out of God's Will ... Mahlon and Chilion still married (also out of God's Will) heathen women!

"And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years."  Ruth 1:4

Yes, I know Ruth the Moabitess is an ancestress of Jesus ... in the godly line ... but only because of the marvellous grace of God!  (As is true for each of us too!)  But that fact does not justify these boys marrying unbelievers in disobedience to God's perfect Word!

It just seems that Abimelech (their Father) did NOT teach and adhere to a strong standard of "separation" in their home!

He apparently saw (with the slightest provocation) no problem in moving to a godless country and setting up shop!

Therefore his sons would likely see no problem in marrying those young ladies of that wicked nation either!

Like Father ... like sons!

The same mistake is being made yet today!

We ignore these promises to our peril ... and to the detriment of our children:

2 Corinthians 6:14 --- "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?"

2 Corinthians 6:17 --- "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you."