Transcription

Connor:
You’re listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun and practical ways.

Chris:
Hey, good morning. Good evening. Good night. Hello. Hello. Greetings.

Jeff:
Greetings. Salutations. We come in peace.

Chris:
What else? Konnichiwa. So, hey, we are The Bible Guys. We appreciate you tuning in. And we’re asking that if you like us, share us with your friends on Facebook or forward to somebody, share with somebody.

Jeff:
Yeah. Give us five stars. Leave a comment.

Chris:
Yeah. Yeah. Help us out in some way. Yes. That’d be great. Not for our own sake, but rather for people who perhaps could benefit.

Jeff:
And it helps us too. We’re grateful. So thank you. Well, hey, we have a really important segment today, Chris. This is one of my favorites.

Chris:
If you think about the importance of this segment,

Jeff:
This is super important. Yeah, it’s it’s it makes a difference. Yes, it matters So Desiree wrote we haven’t tested Chris on his movie knowledge in a while. Yeah So, let’s see how fast he can tell us what movie these quotes are from The fast is the part that makes me nervous our listeners will play along and if they beat him, they’ll win a thousand points So again, once again, she’s being extremely generous. Yes, just willy-nilly handing out points now at this point at this juncture in the game So if you can beat Chris, you get a thousand points for every time you beat him. And I have six, six movie quotes so that they have a potential of winning 6,000 points and adding that, which our longtime listeners know the extreme value of the points we’re giving away. Yes.

Chris:
So I’m mentally preparing for this. Go ahead. Here we go.

Jeff:
Here’s the first one. Yes. I am serious. And don’t call me Shirley. Airplane. That was easy. It was very easy. Okay.

Chris:
By the way, it was like 1977. So you have to be pretty old to catch that one.

Jeff:
I’m just a regular guy with a regular job. I got nothing special about me. I’m just an average guy.

Chris:
I think that’s Vince Vaughn who said that. Is it, is it the breakup?

Jeff:
Nope. But I do think it’s Vince Vaughn.

Chris:
Say it again, please.

Jeff:
I’m just a regular guy with a regular job. I got nothing special about me. I’m just an average guy.

Chris:
It’s a movie classic. I can picture Vince Vaughn saying this.

Jeff:
Maybe one of his most important characters.

Chris:
Oh, is it? Is it dodgeball? Yes. Yes.

Jeff:
You got it. You got it. Yes.

Chris:
Well, you were digging deep. Well, I was, I was trying to think of all the classic Vince Vaughn movies and, uh, but for some reason I was thinking serious movies. I was thinking, uh, the couple’s retreat and I was thinking, uh, breakup. I don’t know why. Okay. Uh, yeah.

Jeff:
All right. Well, hey, you left the door open for somebody to get a thousand points there. Somebody was screaming right now at the, at the, that’s right. Okay. Here’s another one. It’s a short, short one. Okay. Here we go. It’s not a tumor.

Chris:
Oh, a kindergarten cop. It’s not a tumor. It’s great. It’s such a great.

Jeff:
Okay. I’m not a smart man, but I know what love is. Okay. There you go. Oh, you paused. Yeah. Yeah. People could have gotten points off the last two.

Chris:
There you go. I’m in a glass case of emotion. It was one of the best lines in the whole thing. He’s in the, um, in the phone booth.

Jeff:
Yes. Yes. Yeah.

Chris:
And he drinks the milk and he goes, milk was such a bad choice. It’s running down his beard. It’s so good.

Jeff:
A queen is never late. Everyone else is simply early.

Chris:
Oh, Princess Diaries. Two.

Jeff:
Yes. Princess Diaries 2.

Chris:
Because you looked at the Royal Engagement. Yes. You looked at me funny. So it wasn’t really two.

Jeff:
Yes, it was. According to Desiree, which she’s never wrong, by the way. The Princess Diaries 2 Royal Engagement is where that quote came from. So you left the door open for about 3,000 points. I think so too. Yeah. I hope some of our listeners just really rack them up, save them. There’s going to be a day. Yeah. There’s going to be a day when you’re going to bring your 50,000 points in and cash them in for some amazing, amazing experience.

Chris:
And you have to prove, you have to prove. So I hope you’re keeping logs.

Jeff:
Maybe maybe maybe send an email to Dez and ask for a receipt.

Chris:
Yeah Like a Chuck E. Cheese printout Walk into our store, what can I get for 50,000 points these chicklets?

Jeff:
That’s a movie that’s a movie quote to you you worked it Huh? You worked at Chuck E. Cheese. I did. I did. Yeah. Yes. Did you pass out prizes?

Chris:
Uh, no, I was, I was, uh, I was the rat. You were Chucky. Yeah. And I, and I was a cook too, but yeah, and I worked the game room too, uh, and clean up, but I, but I never, I never did. I never did the prizes. Never did the prizes. No.

Jeff:
Yeah. They, they know you’d be hooking y’all, your friends up with prizes. That’s why.

Chris:
Yeah. Well, to be honest, one, one, one confession. I have a couple of seconds here.

Jeff:
Okay.

Chris:
So, um, back in the day before you used to put your, uh, tickets in like a machine. Now they have a ticket machine that gobbles your tickets up. Right. Well, back in the day, you would bring them up to the desk and they would literally physically count them and then throw them in the trash can. So at the end of the end, there’s like a five gallon trash can. Right. So at the end of like the month, you would have this, uh, massive, massive, trash can. 10,000 tickets. 10,000 tickets. So it was my job to take the trash out. So I bagged this up and I’m like, Oh my gosh. I’m like, there’s like a, like a bag with like all these tickets. You couldn’t imagine how big this bag was. Now I didn’t have any intention of using them, but I just thought I’m going to save these for like a prank or something.

Jeff:
Never had any intention.

Chris:
I promise I didn’t. But I remember opening my trunk at a huge Chevelle. So massive trunk, you fit like at least six bodies back there. And I opened up the trunk and I threw this huge trash bag full of tickets. And then I did it again. And then I did it again. I had three massive amounts of these tickets. And my goal was to play a prank on my youth pastor to fill his office with these tickets, right? And then all of a sudden, one day, as I was working in the game room, all of a sudden a worker comes running in to the game room and goes, did you hear? And I said, what? There’s this lady that has come in with buckets and buckets and buckets and buckets of tickets. And she just dumps them on the counter. And they’re pre, she actually counted them by a hundred and she wrapped them up with electrical tape. And she just dumps all these bricks down. And she’s like, she’s buying out the entire store. She’s like, everything expensive. I want that. I want that. I want that. And she literally cleared out the entire store. I’m like, what is going on? I’m like, really? Yeah. She said she’s been saving up for like 10 years. I’m like, are you kidding me? I turned the corner and it’s my mom. My mom, without asking me, had gone into my trunk.

Jeff:
You have such a weird life, Chris. Had seen these tickets. Your mom’s hustling Chuck E. Cheese.

Chris:
Yes. My mom, who brought my two nieces, Erica and Ashley, and brought them there and said, honey, what do you want? And just literally bought out, you know, like they have drones for like 10,000 tickets or whatever. And she’s like, I want that. I want that. I want that. She bought out the entire store. And she literally didn’t even tell me.

Jeff:
Wow.

Chris:
And then, and then, and then finally I was like, do not say that you’re my relative. Do not say, because I’ll get fired immediately. Right. And then Eric and Asher come up to me, they’re like six years old. Uncle Chris. I’m like, do not, do not come this way.

Jeff:
Well, I think the lesson we learned there is that you probably never actually had a career in working for Brinks trucks. Picking up money, dropping money off at the banks and stuff like that. Yeah. I didn’t intend to take it. I just was keeping it in my trunk for a while.

Chris:
I was, I was, I was, I was not planning on using it.

Jeff:
Okay. Wow. Yes. What a story. Isn’t that funny? Yep. There it is. There you go. There you go. Well, there you go. Okay. Well, through the stories of all the judges, And we’re not finished with the judges yet, but through the stories.

Chris:
Well, we’re finished with the book of judges.

Jeff:
Right, right. There is a kind of a moment where we pause and they tell the story of some people who lived during the time of the judges. They’re not judges, but the people lived in a story. And it’s one of the most beautiful stories. It’s ultimately a picture of Jesus in our lives and a key relative of King David and Jesus. So It’s kind of neat. Here’s what it says in the book of Ruth chapter 1. It says, In the days when the judges ruled in Israel, a severe famine came upon the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah left his home and went to live in the country of Moab, taking his wife and two sons with him. The man’s name was Elimelech and his wife’s name was Naomi. Their two sons were Malon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in the land of Judah and when they reached Moab they settled there. Then Elimelech died and Naomi was left with her two sons. The two sons married Moabite women. One married a woman named Orpah and the other a woman named Ruth. But about ten years later both Malan and Kilian died. This left Naomi alone without her two sons or her husband. Then Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had blessed his people in Judah by giving them good crops again, so Naomi and her daughters-in-law got 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 mother’s 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. And then she kissed them goodbye, 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 still give birth to other sons who would grow to be your husbands? Nope, my daughters, return to your parents’ homes, for I am too old to marry again. And even if it were possible, and if I were to marry tonight and bear sons, then what? Would you wait for them to grow up and refuse to marry someone else? No, of course not, my daughters. Things are far more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord himself has raised his fist against me. And again they wept together, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye. But Ruth clung tightly to Naomi. Look, Naomi said to her mother, 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. Wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wherever 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. So the two of them continued on their journey. When they came to Bethlehem, the entire town was excited by their arrival. Is it really Naomi? The women asked. Don’t call me Naomi, she responded. Instead, call me Mara, for the Almighty has made life very bitter for me. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me home empty. Why call me Naomi when the Lord has caused me to suffer and the Almighty has sent such tragedy upon me? So Naomi returned from Moab, accompanied by her daughter-in-law Ruth, the young Moabite woman, and they arrived in Bethlehem in late spring at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Chris:
Yeah, you’re right about that. It is super beautiful. Yeah. You know, whenever I hear this story, I have a tendency to cry. Because the statement that is made in verse number 16, you know, wherever you go, I will go. Wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people. Your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I will die, and I will be buried. I mean, that is a statement there, buddy.

Jeff:
Yeah, what loyalty.

Chris:
Yeah, and what love. Right. And, you know, just to be able to love somebody like that who started off not being your family. It is it is I know that my mind always goes to movies, but it is every great movie scene. ever, you know, where somebody says, go and, you know, go and sacrifice your ship, you know, just go and, you know, save yourselves, right? Abandon ship. We’re not going anywhere, Captain, right? We’re with you to the bitter end, that kind of thing. But this is even better because it’s a true story. And I was noticing here that Moab is east of the Dead Sea, and Bethlehem is west of the Dead Sea. And these two were actually sort of rival enemies. And so it says that they were called Ephraelites? What was it?

Jeff:
Ephrathites. Yeah, they would have been from Bethlehem.

Chris:
And I noticed that the Life Application Study Bible says the reason why they were called Ephrathites is because Ephrath was an earlier name for Bethlehem. I didn’t know that.

Jeff:
I didn’t know that.

Chris:
Yeah. And it also said that the people of Moab oppressed the people of Bethlehem, which means that there was a tension between those two people, which means that the famine must have been quite severe in order for those people to have even been together in the first place. Yeah. Wow. Isn’t that crazy?

Jeff:
Yeah, there’s a note here also that mentions that friendly relations with the Moabites were discouraged in Deuteronomy Chapter 2. But they probably weren’t forbidden because the Moabites lived outside of the Promised Land, right? So, it would have been okay, maybe, legally? to go, but practically they were essentially, they were antagonistic towards each other. Also in the law, the Moabites were not allowed to worship in the tabernacle because they had made difficulty for the people of Israel while they were, before they’d crossed over in the promised land. And so, this is a group that is not on best terms with God or with Israel, but it’s interesting, the note says this, the note says, what’s interesting is, ironically, it was Ruth, a Moabite, whom God used as an example of genuine spiritual character. This shows just how bleak life had become in Israel during those days. Isn’t that interesting? So this Moabite woman, and I mentioned that this is going to be, you know, the story of Ruth is a story of Jesus and us. It’s really a beautiful picture. Eventually Ruth becomes a part of Jesus’ family, which is really incredible. But she’s a Moabite woman. And so it’s a really incredible story.

Chris:
You know, it’s an amazing thing when you think about the lineage of Jesus. And you would expect, you know, when Jesus was born and when, you know, what is it, Matthew? And is it Luke? Who lays out the lineages?

Jeff:
Matthew and Luke.

Chris:
Yeah, Matthew and Luke. You would expect when you read the lineages, you know, for that to be prepared, you know, and recorded so accurately, you would think that there’d be like a proud heritage, you know, with this great intention with, you know, spirituality and, and, you know, perfection and all these different things, you know, and they related to this righteous person, this righteous person. And, and yet you have, you know, people in there that were, you know, imperfect people. You had people in there that were, you know, great people, but at the same time, they were, you know, people who were absolutely, wasn’t Rahab, wasn’t Rahab included? Yeah. Rahab, the harlot, right? So she’s a harlot and she’s included. So, so you have these people who are, you know, not necessarily defined by, you know, living their entire lives with this, you know, perfect reputation and they’re all in there. And then, yeah. And a Moabite named Ruth.

Jeff:
Well, the thing that sets her apart and the thing that set Rahab apart was both of them chose the God of Israel. That’s right. Right. And for her, your God will be my God, which is just really incredible. There’s a note here. Ruth was a Moabite, but that didn’t stop her from worshiping the true God, nor did it stop God from accepting her worship and blessing her greatly, which is just a really, you know, they’re not the only, the Jews aren’t the only people who loved God. Right. Right. Um, even though they were his chosen people. And so she, she comes to God and goes, Hey, I want to worship the true God. And, uh, you know, so let’s talk to us a little bit about, it’s kind of an odd thing that Naomi says. So Naomi turns to these young women. They’re all, all three widows. Naomi decides she’s going to go back to Bethlehem and the, the young women start off to go with them or go with her. It was an incredibly difficult life to be a widow with no husband in those days. There was no social network. It’s not like they had bank accounts. The social roles were very separate between men and women, and so the difficulty of living without having a man to protect And often to do the physical labor is hard, especially the older that you would get, the more difficult staying alive was, plowing, having to fight off the robbers, all those kinds of things. And so oftentimes single women would be abused by strong bad men. So it would make sense that maybe three widows would cluster together and will work together and will share the load and the financial responsibility together. That would make sense. But at the same time, Naomi looks at these two young women and say, you’ve got a lot of life ahead of you. I’m an old woman. I’m not likely to ever marry again. I’m probably barren. I’m never going to have another child. So why don’t you just go home? just go home, meet some nice boy. I’m going to release you from any kind of responsibility you feel. I think that’s a really noble thing that she’s trying to do for these young women because she could look at these two young women maybe as her social safety net. Right. And instead of taking advantage of them, she was willing to maybe suffer a little bit and let them go be free and try to build a life. She loved him. Yeah. But she mentions the thing here. She says, what, am I going to have more sons so that you can marry them? And that’s a really creepy thing in our, in our culture, our time today. Really? Yeah. So I’m going to have a son now you’re going to wait 20, 20 years so you can marry him. That’s kind of weird. But what she’s referring to there is there was a custom in their day, a law among the Jews that a brother was responsible to take the widow of his brother into his home and provide for her and take care of her. That was the social thing. And so if you read that, and it seems weird what she’s saying, she’s not talking about pedophilia. She’s talking about this law that required that a brother would provide for the widow of his own brother. Right. Right. That does it. And so she’s being absurd. She’s not suggesting it. She’s being absurd about it.

Chris:
And she could have been in their absurdity, uh, not, not suggesting that they marry underage children, but like, but, uh, even, even, even referring to a grown man, Hey, what are you gonna do? Wait till he’s 30.

Jeff:
Right. Which is what she’s talking about. Right.

Chris:
Because she’s saying it’s absurd to even consider staying with me because it doesn’t make any sense. That’s what she’s really trying to say. She’s like saying, this is how absurd it is. Right.

Jeff:
That’s what she’s saying. And what it did is it kept a widow from living the rest of her life in poverty. because this man would come in and with the wealth of the household, take care of her, provide, he’d provide security and safety for her. And then also, depending on whether he married her or not, this, this kinsman redeemer thing, the lineage of the brother that died would not end either. Right? And so that’s, it’s just a, it’s an interesting thing, but it could be culturally, it can be a weird thing to read if you don’t understand that part of it. So then I think it’s just, you know, Ruth goes, your God is going to be my God. I’m going to live where you live. I’m not leaving. Loyalty. There’s not enough can be said about that kind of loyalty and commitment to another person. It’s really phenomenal. But then the sadness that is in Naomi, she even changes her name when she gets home and it goes, I just feel, you know, my life has been so hard. I left secure and I’m returning with nothing. I left with all my hopes and dreams and I’m coming back with nothing.” And she kind of had lost sight, I think, of all of the relationships that she had, the resources she had in her relationship with Ruth and with God. And, you know, I think maybe some of our listeners have lived such a hard life and struggled with this bitterness, but God makes a really beautiful story out of this brokenness. And that’s what we’re going to see here. So hopefully, even if you feel like you’re in a bitter time today, lean into God and God will provide as he does in the rest of the story. So I’m looking forward to unpacking the rest of it.

Chris:
Sounds great. All right. We’ll see you next time, hopefully for that on The Bible Guys.