May 16:
Considering today's readings, I'm seeing themes of slavery through a defaulted debt, incorporation into the entirely one-sided Covenant of David, and the need to ask to be redeemed. What a beautiful collection of passages reminding me of my glorious redemption!
Ruth 3-4: Old Testament Levirate marriage seems a very strange custom to us; and yet the book of Ruth gives us a hint at how we are grafted in (Romans 11:17) to the Root (Revelation 22:16) of Israel. Just as by the time of Ruth, the “loosed shoe” tradition had apparently been slightly modified and made more civilized, (Compared to Deuteronomy 25:7-10), might the initiation of the marriage have been modified somewhat? (Perhaps in light of the events of Genesis 38?) It’s compelling to me that Ruth, in effect, made the marriage proposal by uncovering Boaz’ feet and putting herself under his feet. It was then his opportunity to spread his fringes/edges/wings (kanaph) over her, indicating that she would be under the protection of his family. What’s compelling about it is that we have to ask to be incorporated into God’s family through Jesus. Even though it’s not His will that any should perish (2 Peter 1:9), even though He so loved the world that He gave Himself for it (John 3:16), even though His sacrifice is propitiation for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:2).
Psalm 89:19-52: There’s an emphasis in this section that seems most important: in Psalm 89:33, there’s a promise that God won’t take His lovingkindness from David, even if his children forsake His law. He won’t allow His faithfulness to fail. His mercy “will I keep for him forevermore and my covenant shall stand fast with him.” (Psalm 89:28) Is this not an explanation of the Covenant God made with David after he determined to build the Temple? (1 Chronicles 17:7-14/ 2Sam 7:5-17) Is it not ultimately applied to Christ for our sakes, Isaiah 53:3/Acts 13:34?
1 Timothy 6: What is the significance of the contrast between institutional slavery in the Roman system, (Timothy being the son of a Roman and a Jewish woman and living in Ephesus), and lack of contentment? We might imagine Timothy would need to be pastor of a church containing both the slaves and the masters: how would the concerns of each be addressed in light of their basic equality before God? Note that there is not a word about the overthrow of the system, and undoubtedly many Christian slave-owners under the U.S. government took this as a tacit endorsement of their practice, which had continued uninterrupted since Roman times. These are primarily instructions for those already in the institution of slavery, that they serve in a conscientious way for the sake of the gospel, especially for those who have Christian masters. To do otherwise, to escape in the way Onesimus had done, would be essentially like defaulting on a debt, which was the most common way people became enslaved. That’s where envy, lack of contentment and the desire to be rich comes in to play as a contrast. The error slave-owners under the U.S. system made was the they had come to participate in a system, knowingly or unknowingly, that was based on what 1 Timothy 1:10 called “menstealers,” (<g405> andrapodistēs), which itself was a product of envy and lack of contentment. As Paul said in another place (Romans 7:7), he had not known sin, except of the law’s statement, “Thou shalt not covet."
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