Becoming God’s Dwelling Place
Deuteronomy
23:3-6 – New
International Version (NIV)
3 No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their
descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord,
not even in the tenth generation. 4 For they did not come
to meet you with bread and water on your way when you came out of Egypt,
and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram Naharaim to
pronounce a curse on you. 5 However, the Lord your God would not listen to
Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you. 6 Do
not seek a treaty of friendship with them as long as you live.
Where
can “no Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants” enter (verse
3)?
How
long does that prohibition last (verse 3)?
Why
was this prohibition in place (verse 4)?
What
did “the Lord your God” do to Balaam’s curse (verse 5)?
How
long was the “treaty of friendship” with the Ammonites or Moabites
forbidden (verse 6)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, how can we see the transition
of a curse to a blessing in the passage?
Ruth 1:11-22 - New International
Version (NIV)
11 But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come
with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your
husbands? 12 Return home, my daughters; I am too old to
have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I
had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— 13 would
you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my
daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!”
14 At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her
mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.
15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her
people and her gods. Go back with her.”
16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back
from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your
people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where
you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so
severely, if even death separates you and me.” 18 When
Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
19 So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When
they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and
the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”
20 “Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because
the Almighty has made my life very bitter. 21 I went
away full, but the Lord has
brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has
brought misfortune upon me.”
22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the
Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley
harvest was beginning.
Where did Naomi want her “daughters”
(daughters-in-law) to go (verse 11)?
Why
did Naomi believe it was more “bitter” for her that for her
daughters-in-law (verse 13)?
Who “kissed her mother-in-law goodbye” (verse
14)?
What did Naomi tell Ruth her sister-in law was “going
back to” (verse 15)?
What does Ruth’s response to Naomi show us
about her faith (verse 16)?
When did Naomi stop urging Ruth to stay (verse 18)?
Where did the two women go (verse 19)?
Why did Naomi want to be called Mara (verse 20)?
Who did Naomi say “afflicted” her (verse
21)?
How is Ruth described (verse 22)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In
your opinion, how can we see the transition of a curse to a blessing in the
passage?
In
your opinion, in Ruth 1:11-22 how is Ruth freed from the condemnation recorded
in Deuteronomy 23:3-6 that Moabites received as a result of Moab’s decision to
hire Balaam to put a curse on the Israelite people?
Matthew 1:5-6a – New
International Version (NIV)
5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,
Boaz the father of Obed,
whose mother was Ruth,
Obed the father of Jesse,
6 and Jesse the father of King David.
Who was the father and mother of Boaz (verse 5)?
Who was the father and mother of Obed (verse 5)?
Who was Obed the father of (verse 5)?
Who was the “father of King David” (verse 6)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, how can we see the transition of a curse
to a blessing in the passage?
In your opinion, what does the ban on
even a treaty of friendship with Moab in Deuteronomy 23:3-6 help us understand about
the unlikely listing of a Moabite woman in the ancestory of Jesus in Matthew
1:5-6a?
In your opinion, what does listing Ruth
as the great grandmother of David in Matthew 1:5-6a help us understand about
the results of Ruth’s commitment to Naomi and her God in Ruth 1:11-22?
Ephesians 2:11-22 – New International Version (NIV)
11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by
birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the
circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— 12 remember
that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in
Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without
hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in
Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the
blood of Christ.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups
one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by
setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His
purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus
making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them
to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He
came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who
were near. 18 For through him we both have access to
the Father by one Spirit.
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but
fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on
the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus
himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole
building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the
Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to
become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
Who
called the Gentiles by birth the “uncircumcised” (verse 11)?
Why
were the Gentiles “separate from Christ” and “without hope and
without God in the world” (verse 12)?
How were “you who once were far away” brought
near (verse 13)?
What two things has the One who “is
our peace” done (verse 14)?
What was “His purpose” (verse 15)?
How were both reconciled to God (verse 16)?
What did He preach (verse 17)?
Who do we both “have access to”
(verse 18)?
What have the “foreigners and
strangers” become (verse 19)?
What is the foundation of what the “foreigners
and strangers” have become (verse 20)?
Who is the “chief cornerstone” (verse
20)?
What does the “whole building”
rise to become (verse 21)?
What are believers being “built
together” to become (verse 22)?
In your opinion, what is the basic
message of this passage?
In your opinion, how can we see the
transition of a curse to a blessing in the passage?
In your opinion, how is Ruth in Ruth
1:11-22 an example to both the “uncircumcised” and the “circumcised”
of Ephesians 2:11-22 about how to respond to Jesus?
In your opinion, what does Ephesians
2:11-22 help us understand about what Matthew intends for us to learn from his
inclusion of Ruth in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1:5-6a?
In your opinion, what do these passages
from Deuteronomy, Ruth, Matthew, and Ephesians teach us about God’s ability and
reconcile and join?
In your opinion, what can Ruth teach us about
becoming God’s dwelling today?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
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