It bears saying at the outset, this teaching will not exhaust what can be learned from looking at the life of Boaz. There are many ways in which this man exemplified true manhood. Granted, he was an imperfect man, but he did follow the perfect God; and upon being introduced to him in the second chapter of the Book of Ruth, there are many things that men, young and old, could learn about being a man from Boaz. Here are just some:
Tag: Relationships
1 Now Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. 2 So he went up and told his father and mother, saying, “I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines; now therefore, get her for me as a wife.” 3 Then his father and mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your brethren, or among all my people, that you must go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” And Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she pleases me well.” (Jdg. 14:1-3)
As the narrative of Samson’s adult life opens we find him travelling to Timnah, land that originally belonged to the tribe of Judah (Josh. 15:57) and was later given to the tribe of Dan (Josh. 19:43), and if that were the case at the time in which Judges 14 began our eyebrows wouldn’t have been raised. But Timnah was now Philistine territory! So, then, the immediate question becomes: what was Israel’s prospective deliverer doing traveling down to Timnah? Pursuing Philistines to expel them from the land that God had given to Israel? Nope. At least not at this point. He was either casually walking through it or hanging out in it when he saw a woman who caught his attention: one of the “daughters of the Philistines” (Jdg. 14:1b). Funny how being in the wrong place often leads to temptation. Samson did not know the Lord’s Prayer, but even Christians who are well aware of the fact that Jesus told us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation,” will sometimes walk right into Timnah without realizing the sin and danger that awaits there. Let Judges 14:1 be a reminder of Proverbs 4:26: “Ponder the path of your feet.” The hope is – you and I will be able to say like the psalmist: “I considered my ways and turned my feet to Your testimonies” (Ps. 119:59).
Some years back I saw a movie about the prophet Jeremiah. Although I can’t remember it all too well, I do recall having a couple of reactions. One was – I was very glad to see a movie about a book of the Bible that I was less familiar with than others. I had read through the Book of Jeremiah but many of the incidents recorded therein weren’t as easily citable for me as, say, quotations from Paul’s epistle to the Romans. Thus, to see so many portions of the fifty-two-chapter book of Jeremiah in an hour and half movie was something I really enjoyed. The second reaction I can recall was – I remember saying to (and with) those who were with me, ‘Wait a minute… I don’t remember Jeremiah having a girlfriend…’ As is fairly common knowledge, Biblical movies sometimes take ‘artistic license’ to fill in details where the Scriptures are silent. Well, in this case, the prophet who is not said to have had a romantic interest had a girlfriend that he had to leave behind because of the call of God. Which is a good reminder – always compare movies about the Bible to the Bible so as to make sure you don’t end up thinking that something is Biblical when it is not. Now even though Jeremiah is not said to have had a particular romantic interest, what is clear is that he was prohibited from that very thing. Chapter sixteen opens with the words,
