April 27, 2022 • 34 mins
See how two women changed the course of the nation of Israel and helped usher in her glory days under the united monarchy of Saul, David, and Solomon.
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Jani Ortlund (00:02):
Welcome to He restores my soul with Jani
Ortlund, where you can findencouragement for your busy life
through God's renewing mercy.
Hello, everyone. I'm so gladyou're listening in again on
this discipleship series. Ithink that you are probably
(00:23):
drawing to a close of your yearof discipleship, as I am in my
group. But keep listeningthrough these final few podcasts
on discipleship so that you'llknow how to bring your group to
a close before you dismiss forthe summer.
(00:44):
If you are like my group, thanyou are reading through the Old
Testament right now, probablysomewhere in Second Chronicles.
And I want to help youunderstand the Old Testament a
little bit better, and finishour overview of the Old
Testament in these next twopodcasts. I believe this
(01:08):
information will help youunderstand better what you are
reading and apply it to your ownlife.
Now leaders, before the meetingbegins, you want to make copies
of the Old Testament timeline tohelp your disciples see visually
(01:28):
what I'm talking about. You canfind those in Episode 135 from
December 15, 2021. So pause thepodcast and go back to that
episode, which is entitled,"What the Old Testament is All
(01:49):
About," from December 15, 2021,and make copies for your group
of the Old Testament timeline.
If you plan to continue usingweekly calendars to pray for one
another, make sure you havecopies of those as well,
leaders.
(02:12):
Now during this time together, Iwant you to start with
accountability. Foraccountability, discuss with
your disciples how their quiettimes are going. What about
their verses of meditation andtheir memory verses? I think it
would be wise for you to pausethe podcast and have each member
(02:35):
of the group recite her versesthat she's memorizing, tell you
a little bit about what she'slearning, how it's been helpful,
what struggles she has;encourage each other and hold
each other accountable for thispart of your assignment.
Now that you've finished withaccountability, let's head into
(02:57):
our teaching section for today.
Today, we want to continue ourOld Testament survey—that
overview, that bird's eye viewof the Old Testament—and we're
going to finish this overviewnext week. Hopefully over the
summer months, you will all keepreading through your Old
Testament, even when you're notmeeting and holding each other
(03:21):
accountable week to week. Maybeyou can set up a text where you
check in once a week and leteach other know how it's going.
It always helps to have someoneread along with you when you're
in a reading program like this.
Do you remember the basic themeof the Old Testament, which was
(03:44):
stated weeks ago as we beganthis? God is imposing His reign
of peace and righteousness uponthis rebellious world through
the agency of Abraham's seed,and He will not be defeated. As
He establishes this rule, man iscontinually rebelling, but God
(04:09):
is continually saving. Let merepeat that once more. This is
our basic theme of the OldTestament. You can see it in
every book (04:18):
God is imposing His reign of peace and righteousness
upon this rebellious worldthrough the agency of Abraham's
seed, and He will not bedefeated. As He establishes this
rule, man is continuallyrebelling, but God is
continually saving man.
(04:42):
Now we have studied in previousepisodes, how God formed the
nation of Israel through hismiraculous acquisition of a
people, his intentionalrevelation of His laws for this
people to follow as a kingdom ofpriests, and a this people's
conquest of the Promised Land(which you've read about in
(05:05):
Joshua). We also have spent sometime talking about the cycle. We
see in the book of Judges, whichwent on for over 350 years. Do
you remember that cycle wetalked about?
Well, the priestly rule of thejudges proves ineffective,
(05:29):
climaxing with the Ark beingcaptured in1 Samuel 4. Do you
remember that last verse that wespoke of from Judges 21:25: “In
those days there was no king inIsrael. Everyone did what was
right in his own eyes.”Why did God judges people?
(05:51):
Because they sinned.
Continually. They kept onsinning. Psalm 78:54-64 talks
about putting God to the test,rebelling against the Most High.
The Psalmist tells us in Psalm78 that his people disobeyed.
(06:13):
They were disloyal. They werefaithless, they were unreliable.
And so God judged them.
Now why did they rebel? Why werethey disloyal and faithless and
unreliable? Well, I see threereasons.
First of all, they hadn't beentaught the Word of God (Judges
2 (06:34):
10).
Secondly, a new generation whenthey rose up, didn't want to
fight. They were hesitant tobreak down their opponents
altars. We see this in Judges3:1-2. But let me tell you there
is great value in engagingyourself in God's battles. Let's
(06:56):
not resist that.
And then thirdly, we see fromJudges 5:16-17 that they put
material prosperity beforefighting for God.
Therefore, God kindly andmercifully has a new act of
(07:39):
salvation.
So today, I want to talk aboutIsrael's greatest period in
history, the United Monarchy,perhaps you can find that on
your Bible timeline that youleaders copied off for you.
Let's begin by talking about twowomen who changed Israel's
(08:02):
course. God is going toestablish a kingship, and two
women are responsible forturning around the nation: Ruth
and Hannah. I love this. Why isRuth in the canon? Why is it
included in the Bible? Becauseof the very last word: David. If
(08:28):
you turn to the end of the bookof Ruth, you will see that Boaz
is David's great-grandfather.
This story of Ruth tells us howIsrael's greatest king came to
be. We can learn much about howGod works in this book of Ruth.
(08:48):
But a major theme we will see isthat God rewards those who
choose Him, those who want him,and God bypasses those who are
uncommitted. As God accomplishesHis purpose on earth, He rewards
the faithful and He bypasses theuncommitted.
(09:14):
Now how do I see this? Well,look at Ruth 1:14-16. Turn there
now. Here we can see thecontrast between Orpah and Ruth.
In Ruth 1 (09:32):
14-16, we see that Orpah kissed and then she
departed. She gave hermother-in-law kiss and then
left. Ruth chose God and stayedwith her mother-in-law and
became part of God's plan torescue his people through the
(09:55):
Eternal Kinsmen Redeemer.
We also see the contrast betweenthe nearer kinsmen and Boaz. We
see this in Ruth 4 (10:06):
5-6. Now the nearer kinsmen, was, well, I
think he was a littleself-centered. He was more
interested in his own money thanin doing the right thing. He
says, “I don't want to redeemRuth, lest I impair my own
(10:31):
inheritance.” Boaz chose tohonor God, and do the right
thing by redeeming Ruth.
What about Hannah? Oh, this wassuch a bleak time in Israel's
history. It's the time of thejudges where there were idols
(10:54):
everywhere, and everyone wasdoing what was right in his own
eyes. How does God enter intothat? He listens to a barren
woman's cries. This is theturning point of Israel's
history. First Samuel chapterone, turn there right now as a
(11:15):
group. Israel needed a greatleader to rebuild the social and
religious unity of the nation,and to set up the monarchy.
Hannah would be the one to openthe door to Israel's greatness.
I love that.
Now, Hannah's problem seemsalmost trivial in light of all
(11:37):
that Israel is going through. Abarren woman? But that is the
whole beauty of this account.
God cares for Hannah in heragony. When she turns to him, he
meets her. In fact, he was theone who allowed that pain, which
finally draws her to Him. We
read in 1 Samuel 1 (12:00):
5, that it was the Lord who had closed her
womb. Look there in 1 Samuel1:5. Do you see it? “The Lord
had closed her womb.”Now we see Hannah's prayer.
Let's talk about it, both of herprayers, really. What can we
(12:21):
learn about God? What can welearn about prayer through this
turning point in Israel'shistory?
We see in 1 Samuel 1 (12:32):
7, that this had been going on for
years. We can see from this thatour prayers are not so much
trying to get God to do what wewant, but they are preparing us
(13:01):
for what God is going to do. IfGod is waiting to answer one of
your prayers, it's not becauseyou haven't tried hard enough to
get God to do what you want himto do. He's using this waiting
period to prepare you for whathe's going to do next.
(13:22):
And I love to see in Hannah'sprayer here that our motives
don't always have to be pure.
Hannah was tired of herhumiliation, she wanted a son.
That's okay to bring yourprayers to God. Just keep
bringing them to him.
(13:43):
Thirdly, I believe Hannah'sprayers show us that when we
pray for a long time over a hardsituation, those prayers can
change our perspective. Look atthe way she prays in 1 Samuel
2 (14:03):
1-10. Her prayer is recorded here. Now, she prays for a
kingdom and a king. Look at 1Samuel 2:10.
“The adversaries of the Lordshall be broken to pieces;
(14:24):
against them he will thunder inheaven. The Lord will judge the
ends of the earth; he will givestrength to his king and exalt
the horn of his anointed.”And her son Samuel was going to
anoint Israel's first threekings, and two of the greatest
kings in Israel.
(14:50):
Samuel is the last judge. Let'sturn in our Bibles as a group to
1 Samuel 8 (14:57):
4-9.
“Then all the elders of Israelgathered together and came to
Samuel at Ramah and said to him,“Behold, you are old and your
(15:25):
sons do not walk in your ways.
Now appoint for us a king tojudge us like all the nations.”
But the thing displeased Samuelwhen they said, “Give us a king
to judge us.” And Samuel prayedto the Lord. And the Lord said
to Samuel, “Obey the voice ofthe people in all that they say
(15:45):
to you, for they have notrejected you, but they have
rejected me from being king overthem. According to all the deeds
that they have done, from theday I brought them up out of
Egypt even to this day,forsaking me and serving other
gods, so they are also doing toyou. Now then, obey their voice;
(16:07):
only you shall solemnly warnthem and show them the ways of
the king who shall reign overthem.”
Well, as you can see there, inverse seven, Israel rejected God
as their king. God is patientwith us. He lets us try it our
(16:32):
own way. He gives us warnings,which you can find in 1 Samuel
8 (16:38):
10 and following where Samuel warns against kings. God is not
capricious. That's why our Biblestudy is so important. We can
learn to do it God's way.
Now I want to teach you for justa minute about how to evaluate
(17:01):
the kings of Israel. Way back inDeuteronomy 17:14-20, God talked
about when the children ofIsrael would ask for a king and
he talked to them about what itwould be like to have a king.
Their kings were to be chosen byGod. We see this in 1 Samuel
16 (17:25):
12, where David is chosen by God, we won't take time to turn
there right now. They were to bechosen by God through one of the
prophets.
Secondly, they were to have agift or charisma to be a king.
In 1 Samuel 1 (17:42):
18, we read this, “One of the young men answered,
“Behold, I have seen a son ofJesse the Bethlehemite, who is
skillful in playing, a man ofvalor, a man of war, prudent in
speech, and a man of goodpresence, and the Lord is with
(18:06):
him.”Do you see that gift or charisma
to be king? He had a skill, hepossessed leadership qualities
he was talented, virtuous, hehad a warrior mentality, a
willingness to fight the Lord'sbattles, and he was
(18:26):
impressive—the presence of Godwas on him.
So how do we evaluate the kingsof Israel? They were chosen by
God, they had a gift or charismato be king, and then finally
(and this was most important ofall), they had a servant
(18:47):
mentality. A servant was thehighest title God could give to
his earthly king. And we seethis through different scripture
passages. First of all, theservant king would be obedient.
(19:08):
He would subordinate himself tothe priests, to the Word of God,
the Torah and the prophets. Hewould be a wise man who could
interpret historical situationsso that he could rule the
country politically andmilitarily. We see this as God
talks about his king inDeuteronomy 17:18-20. We're not
(19:32):
going to turn there right now.
But you can read that if youwant. First of all the king
would have a civil servantmentality by being obedient.
Next, he would have themotivation of a servant. He
would have the mentality ofserving his master, not himself.
(19:54):
I think it's important to seethis so I'm going to ask you to
turn to 1 Samuel 26 (19:58):
23 where we'll see this in David. Saul
realizes in this passage thatDavid had the opportunity to
(20:19):
kill him, as Saul had tried tokill David, and Saul is saying,
“I've sinned.” Look at 1 Samuel26:22-24:
“And David answered and said,“Here is the spear, O king! Let
one of the young men come overand take it. The Lord rewards
(20:40):
every man for his righteousnessand his faithfulness, for the
Lord gave you into my handtoday, and I would not put out
my hand against the Lord'sanointed. Behold, as your life
was precious this day in mysight, so may my life be
precious in the sight of theLord, and may he deliver me out
(21:02):
of all tribulation.”You see, David had a mentality
of serving God before servinghimself. He was obedient. He
served his master, God, and hewas dependent on God. In
Deuteronomy 17 the king was toldnot to build up his army, or his
(21:23):
treasury, or his house. That's
from Deuteronomy 17 (21:31):
16-17.
This is how we are to evaluatethe kings of Israel as we read
through the Old Testament (21:40):
were they chosen by God? Did they
have charisma, or a gifting tobe king? And did they have the
servant mentality of obedience,and have a godly motivation to
serve God and not themselvesdepending on him? Think of those
(22:00):
ways to evaluate the kings asyou're reading through the Old
Testament. It will help you tojudge the kings accordingly.
Now, I want to take just aminute or two and talk about the
wisdom literature that you'regoing to be reading through this
summer as you read through yourBible. Remember the Five Books
(22:23):
of the wisdom literature? Job,Psalms, Proverbs, Song of
Solomon, and Ecclesiastes.
Job is a book on the universalproblem of suffering. It's
really worth taking in andseeing how God deals with
(22:45):
suffering. You will see that insuffering the main question God
answers is not “Why?” but “Who”.
We want to know why—“Why are youletting this suffering happen,
God?”—and God says, “I want youto understand who. I want you to
come and understand more of me.”Next, the book of Psalms is the
(23:09):
hymnbook of the temple. Thereare three different kinds of
Psalms (23:14):
laments—petitions; the crying out to God—and then
psalms of thanksgiving, andpsalms of praise. Oh, we enjoy
the Psalms, don't we? We benefitso much for them. Enjoy the book
of Psalms. If you're in my Biblereading plan, you'll be reading
(23:35):
Psalms all during the month ofJune.
And then you come to Proverbs.
Proverbs is a book of maximsabout four different kinds of
people (23:46):
the wise, the naive, the foolish, and the scoffer. We can
learn a lot from Proverbs. Theseare not promises, they're
maxims; they show us how lifeoften works.
Then God gives us Ecclesiastes.
Now, Ecclesiastes is just asermon. The writer is an
(24:12):
apologist, like FrancisSchaeffer. He forces us to
re-evaluate our lives so that wecan attach significance to that
which is truly significant.
Finally, in the wisdomliterature, is the Song of
(24:33):
Songs, or some Bibles list it asthe “Song of Solomon.” Now, let
me tell you, I believe firmlythat the Song of Solomon is not
about our relationship toChrist. Some Bible interpreters
interpret this book that way. Ido not because the Bible never
(25:00):
pictures Christ as a sexualpartner. This is a book that
shows us that men are called tobe men and women are called to
be women, and we rejoice inthis; we can enjoy this.
(25:21):
So these five books, remember,are called “The Wisdom
Literature.” They're right therein the middle of the Bible.
Enjoy reading them and gainwisdom from them.
Now there's one more thing Iwant to teach on, before I end
my teaching time today, andthat's the temple. I think it
(25:46):
would be very helpful if youhave a study Bible to pause the
podcast, and look up a pictureof the temple so you'll know
what I'm talking about as we gothrough this. Go ahead, pause
the podcast and find a studyBible or a picture of Solomon's
temple online and look at it aswe talk about it.
(26:11):
There are three great kingsduring this period, which we're
calling the United Monarchy.
They're Saul, David, andSolomon. Solomon's reign was one
of great prosperity and peace,and he built the temple, the
most famous building in all ofthe Bible.
(26:35):
Now, temples for the ancientswere not buildings into which
people came to meet God. But forthem, they were what we might
call “God houses”—buildings, sobeautifully made and kept, that
when priests offered propersacrifices there, God would be
(26:57):
pleased and would want to cometo his house and answer their
prayers.
Solomon's temple had two rooms,and then it had side chambers.
You can see if you're looking ata picture of the temple, these
rooms. The first room was calledthe Holy Place. It was 60 feet
(27:19):
long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feethigh (very high!). The second
room was called the Holy ofHolies, and it was a 30 foot
cube. Isn't that interesting? Itwas a cube. The side chambers
(27:41):
were three stories high, andthey were used for storage and
treasury vaults.
Now, the temple wasdistinguished from every other
religious building of its day inthat it had absolutely no idols.
All the interior lines lead tothe Ark of the Covenant in which
(28:06):
were placed—do you remember?—thetwo tablets that Moses put in
there. What were written on thetablets? The 10 Commandments.
The lid of the Ark of theCovenant was called the mercy
seat. At the heart of the templewas the Word of God, covered by
(28:27):
the mercy seat. Oh, I love that.
Solomon, now was the last kingbefore the kingdom divides. What
happened after Solomon? Why didthe kingdom divide? Well, I
believe it's because Solomon wasdivided. He was divided in four
very important ways (28:52):
his obedience, his building program,
in his love, and in his faith.
Let's talk about that. Solomonwas divided in his obedience. He
multiplied armies, He multipliedhis wives, He multiplied his
money. He was divided in hisbuilding program. He had seven
(29:15):
years for the temple, and hespent 13 years for his own
house. He was divided in his
love. Turn to 1 Kings 11 (29:26):
1-3.
This shows us how he is divided
in (29:39):
“Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the
daughter of Pharaoh (29:49):
Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and
Hittite women, from the nationsconcerning which the Lord had
said to the people of Israel,“You shall not enter into
marriage with them, neithershall they with you, for surely
they will turn away your heartafter their gods.” Solomon clung
(30:13):
to these in love. He had 700wives, who were princesses, and
300 concubines. And his wivesturned away his heart.”
Oh, my Solomon was divided inhis love: God versus his wives.
(30:35):
He was also divided in hisfaith. Look at 1 Kings 11:4-8:
“For when Solomon was old hiswives turned away his heart
after other gods, and his heartwas not wholly true to the Lord
(30:58):
his God, as was the heart ofDavid his father. For Solomon
went after Ashtoreth the goddessof the Sidonians, and after
Milcom the abomination of theAmmonites. So Solomon did what
was evil in the sight of theLord and did not wholly follow
(31:20):
the Lord, as David his fatherhad done. Then Solomon built a
high place for Chemosh theabomination of Moab, and for
Molech the abomination of theAmmonites, on the mountain east
of Jerusalem. And so he did forall his foreign wives, who made
(31:41):
offerings and sacrificed totheir gods.”
Do you see how he was divided inhis faith? He was divided in his
obedience in his buildingprogram, in His love, in his
faith. Therefore, Solomon leavesbehind a divided kingdom.
(32:03):
Socially they were divided—therewere the very rich and the very
poor—and religiously, he builtthe high places.
Let me ask us all, whatdivisions do we see in our
hearts in our lives? Are ourhearts wholehearted, undivided,
(32:25):
toward the Lord? Do our livesshow a single purpose? Or do we
somehow show divisiveness in ourown hearts toward God and toward
others? Oh, let's be women whoare wholeheartedly devoted to
(32:46):
God.
Now, I want you to take a briefbreak a five minute break, and
then come back.
All right now leaders for thesecond part of your discipleship
group, I want you to choose oneof your ladies to share about
her biography. Give her 20minutes to share and discuss it
(33:08):
together. And then take time toshare your prayer requests and
decide how you will pray foreach other this week. Are you
still sharing your weeklycalendars for prayer needs? If
so, pass those out and pray foreach other, and then give your
disciples an appropriateassignment requiring their quiet
(33:31):
times and their Biblememorization and praying for one
another. Make sure you knowwho's going to give her
biography report next week. Andthen close by singing or saying
your blessing over each otherfrom Numbers 6:24-26. May the
(33:53):
Lord restore your souls as youmeet together this week. God
bless you.
Heidi Howerton (34:03):
Thank you for joining us today. This podcast
is generously funded throughRenewal Ministries. If you would
like to discover more aboutGianni and raise ministry or
make a donation, visit theirwebsite at renewal
ministries.com. If you have aquestion for Danny or would like
to learn more about thispodcast, please visit our
website at He restores mysoul.org
Welcome to He restores my soul with Jani
Ortlund, where you can findencouragement for your busy life
through God's renewing mercy.
Hello, everyone. I'm so gladyou're listening in again on
this discipleship series. Ithink that you are probably
(00:23):
drawing to a close of your yearof discipleship, as I am in my
group. But keep listeningthrough these final few podcasts
on discipleship so that you'llknow how to bring your group to
a close before you dismiss forthe summer.
(00:44):
If you are like my group, thanyou are reading through the Old
Testament right now, probablysomewhere in Second Chronicles.
And I want to help youunderstand the Old Testament a
little bit better, and finishour overview of the Old
Testament in these next twopodcasts. I believe this
(01:08):
information will help youunderstand better what you are
reading and apply it to your ownlife.
Now leaders, before the meetingbegins, you want to make copies
of the Old Testament timeline tohelp your disciples see visually
(01:28):
what I'm talking about. You canfind those in Episode 135 from
December 15, 2021. So pause thepodcast and go back to that
episode, which is entitled,"What the Old Testament is All
(01:49):
About," from December 15, 2021,and make copies for your group
of the Old Testament timeline.
If you plan to continue usingweekly calendars to pray for one
another, make sure you havecopies of those as well,
leaders.
(02:12):
Now during this time together, Iwant you to start with
accountability. Foraccountability, discuss with
your disciples how their quiettimes are going. What about
their verses of meditation andtheir memory verses? I think it
would be wise for you to pausethe podcast and have each member
(02:35):
of the group recite her versesthat she's memorizing, tell you
a little bit about what she'slearning, how it's been helpful,
what struggles she has;encourage each other and hold
each other accountable for thispart of your assignment.
Now that you've finished withaccountability, let's head into
(02:57):
our teaching section for today.
Today, we want to continue ourOld Testament survey—that
overview, that bird's eye viewof the Old Testament—and we're
going to finish this overviewnext week. Hopefully over the
summer months, you will all keepreading through your Old
Testament, even when you're notmeeting and holding each other
(03:21):
accountable week to week. Maybeyou can set up a text where you
check in once a week and leteach other know how it's going.
It always helps to have someoneread along with you when you're
in a reading program like this.
Do you remember the basic themeof the Old Testament, which was
(03:44):
stated weeks ago as we beganthis? God is imposing His reign
of peace and righteousness uponthis rebellious world through
the agency of Abraham's seed,and He will not be defeated. As
He establishes this rule, man iscontinually rebelling, but God
(04:09):
is continually saving. Let merepeat that once more. This is
our basic theme of the OldTestament. You can see it in
every book (04:18):
God is imposing His reign of peace and righteousness
upon this rebellious worldthrough the agency of Abraham's
seed, and He will not bedefeated. As He establishes this
rule, man is continuallyrebelling, but God is
continually saving man.
(04:42):
Now we have studied in previousepisodes, how God formed the
nation of Israel through hismiraculous acquisition of a
people, his intentionalrevelation of His laws for this
people to follow as a kingdom ofpriests, and a this people's
conquest of the Promised Land(which you've read about in
(05:05):
Joshua). We also have spent sometime talking about the cycle. We
see in the book of Judges, whichwent on for over 350 years. Do
you remember that cycle wetalked about?
Well, the priestly rule of thejudges proves ineffective,
(05:29):
climaxing with the Ark beingcaptured in1 Samuel 4. Do you
remember that last verse that wespoke of from Judges 21:25: “In
those days there was no king inIsrael. Everyone did what was
right in his own eyes.”Why did God judges people?
(05:51):
Because they sinned.
Continually. They kept onsinning. Psalm 78:54-64 talks
about putting God to the test,rebelling against the Most High.
The Psalmist tells us in Psalm78 that his people disobeyed.
(06:13):
They were disloyal. They werefaithless, they were unreliable.
And so God judged them.
Now why did they rebel? Why werethey disloyal and faithless and
unreliable? Well, I see threereasons.
First of all, they hadn't beentaught the Word of God (Judges
2 (06:34):
10).
Secondly, a new generation whenthey rose up, didn't want to
fight. They were hesitant tobreak down their opponents
altars. We see this in Judges3:1-2. But let me tell you there
is great value in engagingyourself in God's battles. Let's
(06:56):
not resist that.
And then thirdly, we see fromJudges 5:16-17 that they put
material prosperity beforefighting for God.
Therefore, God kindly andmercifully has a new act of
(07:39):
salvation.
So today, I want to talk aboutIsrael's greatest period in
history, the United Monarchy,perhaps you can find that on
your Bible timeline that youleaders copied off for you.
Let's begin by talking about twowomen who changed Israel's
(08:02):
course. God is going toestablish a kingship, and two
women are responsible forturning around the nation: Ruth
and Hannah. I love this. Why isRuth in the canon? Why is it
included in the Bible? Becauseof the very last word: David. If
(08:28):
you turn to the end of the bookof Ruth, you will see that Boaz
is David's great-grandfather.
This story of Ruth tells us howIsrael's greatest king came to
be. We can learn much about howGod works in this book of Ruth.
(08:48):
But a major theme we will see isthat God rewards those who
choose Him, those who want him,and God bypasses those who are
uncommitted. As God accomplishesHis purpose on earth, He rewards
the faithful and He bypasses theuncommitted.
(09:14):
Now how do I see this? Well,look at Ruth 1:14-16. Turn there
now. Here we can see thecontrast between Orpah and Ruth.
In Ruth 1 (09:32):
14-16, we see that Orpah kissed and then she
departed. She gave hermother-in-law kiss and then
left. Ruth chose God and stayedwith her mother-in-law and
became part of God's plan torescue his people through the
(09:55):
Eternal Kinsmen Redeemer.
We also see the contrast betweenthe nearer kinsmen and Boaz. We
see this in Ruth 4 (10:06):
5-6. Now the nearer kinsmen, was, well, I
think he was a littleself-centered. He was more
interested in his own money thanin doing the right thing. He
says, “I don't want to redeemRuth, lest I impair my own
(10:31):
inheritance.” Boaz chose tohonor God, and do the right
thing by redeeming Ruth.
What about Hannah? Oh, this wassuch a bleak time in Israel's
history. It's the time of thejudges where there were idols
(10:54):
everywhere, and everyone wasdoing what was right in his own
eyes. How does God enter intothat? He listens to a barren
woman's cries. This is theturning point of Israel's
history. First Samuel chapterone, turn there right now as a
(11:15):
group. Israel needed a greatleader to rebuild the social and
religious unity of the nation,and to set up the monarchy.
Hannah would be the one to openthe door to Israel's greatness.
I love that.
Now, Hannah's problem seemsalmost trivial in light of all
(11:37):
that Israel is going through. Abarren woman? But that is the
whole beauty of this account.
God cares for Hannah in heragony. When she turns to him, he
meets her. In fact, he was theone who allowed that pain, which
finally draws her to Him. We
read in 1 Samuel 1 (12:00):
5, that it was the Lord who had closed her
womb. Look there in 1 Samuel1:5. Do you see it? “The Lord
had closed her womb.”Now we see Hannah's prayer.
Let's talk about it, both of herprayers, really. What can we
(12:21):
learn about God? What can welearn about prayer through this
turning point in Israel'shistory?
We see in 1 Samuel 1 (12:32):
7, that this had been going on for
years. We can see from this thatour prayers are not so much
trying to get God to do what wewant, but they are preparing us
(13:01):
for what God is going to do. IfGod is waiting to answer one of
your prayers, it's not becauseyou haven't tried hard enough to
get God to do what you want himto do. He's using this waiting
period to prepare you for whathe's going to do next.
(13:22):
And I love to see in Hannah'sprayer here that our motives
don't always have to be pure.
Hannah was tired of herhumiliation, she wanted a son.
That's okay to bring yourprayers to God. Just keep
bringing them to him.
(13:43):
Thirdly, I believe Hannah'sprayers show us that when we
pray for a long time over a hardsituation, those prayers can
change our perspective. Look atthe way she prays in 1 Samuel
2 (14:03):
1-10. Her prayer is recorded here. Now, she prays for a
kingdom and a king. Look at 1Samuel 2:10.
“The adversaries of the Lordshall be broken to pieces;
(14:24):
against them he will thunder inheaven. The Lord will judge the
ends of the earth; he will givestrength to his king and exalt
the horn of his anointed.”And her son Samuel was going to
anoint Israel's first threekings, and two of the greatest
kings in Israel.
(14:50):
Samuel is the last judge. Let'sturn in our Bibles as a group to
1 Samuel 8 (14:57):
4-9.
“Then all the elders of Israelgathered together and came to
Samuel at Ramah and said to him,“Behold, you are old and your
(15:25):
sons do not walk in your ways.
Now appoint for us a king tojudge us like all the nations.”
But the thing displeased Samuelwhen they said, “Give us a king
to judge us.” And Samuel prayedto the Lord. And the Lord said
to Samuel, “Obey the voice ofthe people in all that they say
(15:45):
to you, for they have notrejected you, but they have
rejected me from being king overthem. According to all the deeds
that they have done, from theday I brought them up out of
Egypt even to this day,forsaking me and serving other
gods, so they are also doing toyou. Now then, obey their voice;
(16:07):
only you shall solemnly warnthem and show them the ways of
the king who shall reign overthem.”
Well, as you can see there, inverse seven, Israel rejected God
as their king. God is patientwith us. He lets us try it our
(16:32):
own way. He gives us warnings,which you can find in 1 Samuel
8 (16:38):
10 and following where Samuel warns against kings. God is not
capricious. That's why our Biblestudy is so important. We can
learn to do it God's way.
Now I want to teach you for justa minute about how to evaluate
(17:01):
the kings of Israel. Way back inDeuteronomy 17:14-20, God talked
about when the children ofIsrael would ask for a king and
he talked to them about what itwould be like to have a king.
Their kings were to be chosen byGod. We see this in 1 Samuel
16 (17:25):
12, where David is chosen by God, we won't take time to turn
there right now. They were to bechosen by God through one of the
prophets.
Secondly, they were to have agift or charisma to be a king.
In 1 Samuel 1 (17:42):
18, we read this, “One of the young men answered,
“Behold, I have seen a son ofJesse the Bethlehemite, who is
skillful in playing, a man ofvalor, a man of war, prudent in
speech, and a man of goodpresence, and the Lord is with
(18:06):
him.”Do you see that gift or charisma
to be king? He had a skill, hepossessed leadership qualities
he was talented, virtuous, hehad a warrior mentality, a
willingness to fight the Lord'sbattles, and he was
(18:26):
impressive—the presence of Godwas on him.
So how do we evaluate the kingsof Israel? They were chosen by
God, they had a gift or charismato be king, and then finally
(and this was most important ofall), they had a servant
(18:47):
mentality. A servant was thehighest title God could give to
his earthly king. And we seethis through different scripture
passages. First of all, theservant king would be obedient.
(19:08):
He would subordinate himself tothe priests, to the Word of God,
the Torah and the prophets. Hewould be a wise man who could
interpret historical situationsso that he could rule the
country politically andmilitarily. We see this as God
talks about his king inDeuteronomy 17:18-20. We're not
(19:32):
going to turn there right now.
But you can read that if youwant. First of all the king
would have a civil servantmentality by being obedient.
Next, he would have themotivation of a servant. He
would have the mentality ofserving his master, not himself.
(19:54):
I think it's important to seethis so I'm going to ask you to
turn to 1 Samuel 26 (19:58):
23 where we'll see this in David. Saul
realizes in this passage thatDavid had the opportunity to
(20:19):
kill him, as Saul had tried tokill David, and Saul is saying,
“I've sinned.” Look at 1 Samuel26:22-24:
“And David answered and said,“Here is the spear, O king! Let
one of the young men come overand take it. The Lord rewards
(20:40):
every man for his righteousnessand his faithfulness, for the
Lord gave you into my handtoday, and I would not put out
my hand against the Lord'sanointed. Behold, as your life
was precious this day in mysight, so may my life be
precious in the sight of theLord, and may he deliver me out
(21:02):
of all tribulation.”You see, David had a mentality
of serving God before servinghimself. He was obedient. He
served his master, God, and hewas dependent on God. In
Deuteronomy 17 the king was toldnot to build up his army, or his
(21:23):
treasury, or his house. That's
from Deuteronomy 17 (21:31):
16-17.
This is how we are to evaluatethe kings of Israel as we read
through the Old Testament (21:40):
were they chosen by God? Did they
have charisma, or a gifting tobe king? And did they have the
servant mentality of obedience,and have a godly motivation to
serve God and not themselvesdepending on him? Think of those
(22:00):
ways to evaluate the kings asyou're reading through the Old
Testament. It will help you tojudge the kings accordingly.
Now, I want to take just aminute or two and talk about the
wisdom literature that you'regoing to be reading through this
summer as you read through yourBible. Remember the Five Books
(22:23):
of the wisdom literature? Job,Psalms, Proverbs, Song of
Solomon, and Ecclesiastes.
Job is a book on the universalproblem of suffering. It's
really worth taking in andseeing how God deals with
(22:45):
suffering. You will see that insuffering the main question God
answers is not “Why?” but “Who”.
We want to know why—“Why are youletting this suffering happen,
God?”—and God says, “I want youto understand who. I want you to
come and understand more of me.”Next, the book of Psalms is the
(23:09):
hymnbook of the temple. Thereare three different kinds of
Psalms (23:14):
laments—petitions; the crying out to God—and then
psalms of thanksgiving, andpsalms of praise. Oh, we enjoy
the Psalms, don't we? We benefitso much for them. Enjoy the book
of Psalms. If you're in my Biblereading plan, you'll be reading
(23:35):
Psalms all during the month ofJune.
And then you come to Proverbs.
Proverbs is a book of maximsabout four different kinds of
people (23:46):
the wise, the naive, the foolish, and the scoffer. We can
learn a lot from Proverbs. Theseare not promises, they're
maxims; they show us how lifeoften works.
Then God gives us Ecclesiastes.
Now, Ecclesiastes is just asermon. The writer is an
(24:12):
apologist, like FrancisSchaeffer. He forces us to
re-evaluate our lives so that wecan attach significance to that
which is truly significant.
Finally, in the wisdomliterature, is the Song of
(24:33):
Songs, or some Bibles list it asthe “Song of Solomon.” Now, let
me tell you, I believe firmlythat the Song of Solomon is not
about our relationship toChrist. Some Bible interpreters
interpret this book that way. Ido not because the Bible never
(25:00):
pictures Christ as a sexualpartner. This is a book that
shows us that men are called tobe men and women are called to
be women, and we rejoice inthis; we can enjoy this.
(25:21):
So these five books, remember,are called “The Wisdom
Literature.” They're right therein the middle of the Bible.
Enjoy reading them and gainwisdom from them.
Now there's one more thing Iwant to teach on, before I end
my teaching time today, andthat's the temple. I think it
(25:46):
would be very helpful if youhave a study Bible to pause the
podcast, and look up a pictureof the temple so you'll know
what I'm talking about as we gothrough this. Go ahead, pause
the podcast and find a studyBible or a picture of Solomon's
temple online and look at it aswe talk about it.
(26:11):
There are three great kingsduring this period, which we're
calling the United Monarchy.
They're Saul, David, andSolomon. Solomon's reign was one
of great prosperity and peace,and he built the temple, the
most famous building in all ofthe Bible.
(26:35):
Now, temples for the ancientswere not buildings into which
people came to meet God. But forthem, they were what we might
call “God houses”—buildings, sobeautifully made and kept, that
when priests offered propersacrifices there, God would be
(26:57):
pleased and would want to cometo his house and answer their
prayers.
Solomon's temple had two rooms,and then it had side chambers.
You can see if you're looking ata picture of the temple, these
rooms. The first room was calledthe Holy Place. It was 60 feet
(27:19):
long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feethigh (very high!). The second
room was called the Holy ofHolies, and it was a 30 foot
cube. Isn't that interesting? Itwas a cube. The side chambers
(27:41):
were three stories high, andthey were used for storage and
treasury vaults.
Now, the temple wasdistinguished from every other
religious building of its day inthat it had absolutely no idols.
All the interior lines lead tothe Ark of the Covenant in which
(28:06):
were placed—do you remember?—thetwo tablets that Moses put in
there. What were written on thetablets? The 10 Commandments.
The lid of the Ark of theCovenant was called the mercy
seat. At the heart of the templewas the Word of God, covered by
(28:27):
the mercy seat. Oh, I love that.
Solomon, now was the last kingbefore the kingdom divides. What
happened after Solomon? Why didthe kingdom divide? Well, I
believe it's because Solomon wasdivided. He was divided in four
very important ways (28:52):
his obedience, his building program,
in his love, and in his faith.
Let's talk about that. Solomonwas divided in his obedience. He
multiplied armies, He multipliedhis wives, He multiplied his
money. He was divided in hisbuilding program. He had seven
(29:15):
years for the temple, and hespent 13 years for his own
house. He was divided in his
love. Turn to 1 Kings 11 (29:26):
1-3.
This shows us how he is divided
in (29:39):
“Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the
daughter of Pharaoh (29:49):
Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and
Hittite women, from the nationsconcerning which the Lord had
said to the people of Israel,“You shall not enter into
marriage with them, neithershall they with you, for surely
they will turn away your heartafter their gods.” Solomon clung
(30:13):
to these in love. He had 700wives, who were princesses, and
300 concubines. And his wivesturned away his heart.”
Oh, my Solomon was divided inhis love: God versus his wives.
(30:35):
He was also divided in hisfaith. Look at 1 Kings 11:4-8:
“For when Solomon was old hiswives turned away his heart
after other gods, and his heartwas not wholly true to the Lord
(30:58):
his God, as was the heart ofDavid his father. For Solomon
went after Ashtoreth the goddessof the Sidonians, and after
Milcom the abomination of theAmmonites. So Solomon did what
was evil in the sight of theLord and did not wholly follow
(31:20):
the Lord, as David his fatherhad done. Then Solomon built a
high place for Chemosh theabomination of Moab, and for
Molech the abomination of theAmmonites, on the mountain east
of Jerusalem. And so he did forall his foreign wives, who made
(31:41):
offerings and sacrificed totheir gods.”
Do you see how he was divided inhis faith? He was divided in his
obedience in his buildingprogram, in His love, in his
faith. Therefore, Solomon leavesbehind a divided kingdom.
(32:03):
Socially they were divided—therewere the very rich and the very
poor—and religiously, he builtthe high places.
Let me ask us all, whatdivisions do we see in our
hearts in our lives? Are ourhearts wholehearted, undivided,
(32:25):
toward the Lord? Do our livesshow a single purpose? Or do we
somehow show divisiveness in ourown hearts toward God and toward
others? Oh, let's be women whoare wholeheartedly devoted to
(32:46):
God.
Now, I want you to take a briefbreak a five minute break, and
then come back.
All right now leaders for thesecond part of your discipleship
group, I want you to choose oneof your ladies to share about
her biography. Give her 20minutes to share and discuss it
(33:08):
together. And then take time toshare your prayer requests and
decide how you will pray foreach other this week. Are you
still sharing your weeklycalendars for prayer needs? If
so, pass those out and pray foreach other, and then give your
disciples an appropriateassignment requiring their quiet
(33:31):
times and their Biblememorization and praying for one
another. Make sure you knowwho's going to give her
biography report next week. Andthen close by singing or saying
your blessing over each otherfrom Numbers 6:24-26. May the
(33:53):
Lord restore your souls as youmeet together this week. God
bless you.
Heidi Howerton (34:03):
Thank you for joining us today. This podcast
is generously funded throughRenewal Ministries. If you would
like to discover more aboutGianni and raise ministry or
make a donation, visit theirwebsite at renewal
ministries.com. If you have aquestion for Danny or would like
to learn more about thispodcast, please visit our
website at He restores mysoul.org
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