The first thing I did was take a look at how many times the word “rubies” was used in the Bible, and what else the Bible had to say about them. Using the same website from before, I looked up the word “rubies” and found it was used in the King James Bible 6 times.

In Job 28:18, Proverbs 3:15, and Proverbs 8:11, we see three times that wisdom is worth more than rubies. In Proverbs 20:15, we see that knowledge is worth more than rubies. In Proverbs 31:10, we see that a virtuous woman is worth more than rubies. Lamentations 4:7 also mentions rubies, but I felt like it was talking more about the color, as part of a description. So how valuable were they then, and how valuable are they now? I mean, when I think of valuable things in the terms of material worth, I think of gold or diamonds.

So, I started with a local jewelry store, and asked how did rubies compare to diamonds and gold. I was surprised to find out that rubies are rarer than diamonds, and considered of a higher worth. So, I decided to do some research on my own, and ended up at the website for the American Gem Trade Association. According to the website, as late as 1550, “the finest one-carat ruby cost eight times more than a comparable-quality one-carat diamond”. Later, around 1894, “the same ruby was only two times as expensive as its diamond equivalent”. Since the worth of rubies has diminished over the last couple of centuries, it makes me wonder how much more they were worth before then. Which makes me think that rubies must have been a big, big deal in Biblical times, even more so than diamonds, gold, and other things.

But then that made me think of the worth of women in general, how our society views them, the lies we hear, the lies we believe, the lies we tell ourselves. How many women right now believe they are of little or no worth? How many societies, cultures, and religions still treat their women as property? How much do we value women?

I didn’t really know where I was going with this post when I started. But as I sit here and think more on this verse, I think there are many women around the world that could benefit from hearing how much worth they have, and how much God loves them. Too often, women are treated like sex symbols, property, slaves, or inferior humans, and they believe the lies. They believe they have no worth, because society tells them that they have no worth. But it is a lie…

Do you feel worthless? Do you feel like what you do has no value? House wives in particular are prone to falling for this lie, especially after toiling all day making meals, doing laundry, wiping noses, working all day, only to be asked at the end of the day…”So what DID you DO all day?” Since all the things I do today, are basically all the things I did yesterday, and the day before, sometimes, it can feel like there is no value, or no worth to what I do. But, it has worth to God!

I personally believe that everyone is called to be a missionary, but we are all called to different mission fields. And sometimes, your “mission field” is the family you live in. For years, I have felt that my children that were growing, and developing an understanding of God WERE my mission field. These children do not belong to me anyway, they are “property” of God’s, and HE has trusted me to raise them up, and one day, to hand them back over to Him. I worry sometimes, about the condition that I will give them back in. But I struggle each day to maintain the goal of keeping the focus on Him, even though I don’t always succeed as well as I would like.

Raising children, and keeping a home, ARE worthwhile pursuits, regardless of what society says. I may not have a perfect home, I might burn supper sometimes, I might even have an entire society of dust bunnies in residence under my sofa. God does not call me to be perfect, but He does call me. There may be days when I get discouraged, and feel like what I do has no importance, and feel like all I am doing is “shoveling snow in a snowstorm”, but as long as I keep my focus on Him, I have worth. And the more virtuous I become, the more strong, efficient, and able I become, the more worth I have. May I one day be more valuable then the most precious ruby…

But for now, let’s start by reading Ruth 4.

So yesterday, Boaz told Ruth that he would like to marry her, but since there was another relative that was closer, Boaz felt like he should talk to him first. Ruth 4 starts out with Boaz going to talk to that relative. Boaz goes to the gate of the city, I guess the gate is where people met and gathered to socialize. The relative of Ruth comes by, and Boaz asks him to sit and talk. Boaz explains that Naomi had returned, and that she had sold some land of Elimelech’s. Boaz asks the relative if he would like to buy Elimelech’s land back, since he has first choice, because if not, Boaz would like to step in and do it. The relative said he would buy the land from Naomi. Then Boaz told him that he wasn’t just buying the land from Naomi, but from Ruth as well.

I got a little puzzled with this part, so I talked to one of my trusty friends, and they helped me out. Apparently, it went like this…

When a man died, that man’s land was supposed to stay in his family. But, sometimes, widows out of financial necessity, sold it for money. That man’s male relatives had a RESPONSIBILITY to step in for the man, to redeem his land, marry his wife, bear him children, and carry on his name. Apparently, Boaz knew exactly what he was doing. He told the relative about the land first. Land was very important in those times, so the relative was excited to be able to buy it. If it was just Naomi, it probably would not have been a problem for the relative. Naomi was older, and past the time of bearing children, so he would not have married her, she would not have been able to bear children to carry on her dead husband’s name. But that was not the case with Ruth. If the man bought the land, he would also have to marry Ruth, bear children with her, and make sure the land went to her children. When the relative says, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance”, this probably means he was already married, and had kids of his own. I think that Boaz already knew this, and had a pretty good idea that the relative was going to say no. Boaz took a risk that he could have said yes, and Boaz would have lost Ruth, but it sort of would have been wrong to do it that way, and Boaz was an honorable man.

The relative gives Boaz permission to buy the land and marry Ruth, and then says, “We have a deal, here is my shoe.” This required another phone call, because I felt like I was missing something, but apparently, that was a custom. One person that I spoke to suggested that in those days, the average person could not read or write, so they would hand over their shoe. Later, if the deal came in question, the person could say, “No wait, I have proof…see, I have his shoe.” But then, the next verse says, “And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all the people, Ye are witnesses this day”, so it seems to me that would have been proof enough. If anyone else knows more about this custom, please feel free to share, I find it very curious.

Then the elders prayed blessings on Boaz and Ruth. Boaz and Ruth were blessed with a son, which was sort of like a double blessing. Children were considered blessings in those times, but sons were special blessings. And the women all praised Naomi, telling her how blessed she was. What a long way Naomi has come from “bitter”! They named the child Obed, and later, Obed grew up, and had a son who was named Jesse, and Jesse grew up and had a son, who was named David. Remember back in the beginning of the study of Ruth, when I said my husband mentioned it was all part of a bigger plan? Ruth’s obedience was significant, because we know that David had a very important descendant…Jesus.

I learned something else rather interesting today. I have wondered several times what happened to Orpah, Naomi’s other daughter in law. I was talking with someone and this topic came up. We already know that one of Ruth’s descendants was David. Well, one of Orpah’s descendants was…Goliath. I never knew that until today. Ruth and Orpah chose very different paths, that ultimately put their descendants on opposite sides of things. I wonder if David and Goliath ever knew.

Also on my prayer list is a request for a little friend of mine. Her name is Dana, and she is about 2 I think. She suffered a second degree burn on her chest, and also has MRSA. Maybe you could say a prayer for her.

I started by reading Ruth 3. When we left Ruth at the end of chapter two, the harvests had finished. Since they had completed the harvests of several grains, I suppose Ruth and Boaz ended up spending a good bit of time around each other. It doesn’t say what Ruth and Boaz thought of each other, but I wonder if Ruth wasn’t a bit sweet on Boaz, since he had been so nice to her, and if she was possibly mooning over him. And Naomi says, “shall I not seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee?” Or, as my mind translated it…”Don’t worry about it, I have a plan!”

So Naomi begins to explain the plan to Ruth. She says she knows where Boaz is, he is still at work processing the barley. She tells Ruth to get all cleaned up, use perfume, dress pretty, and go to Boaz, but to wait until he finishes eating and drinking. Then she says that Ruth should wait until he lies down, and uncover his feet, and lie down beside them.

Now, I didn’t understand this part, so I gave a friend of mine, who is a pastor’s wife, a call, and she was very helpful in explaining. Apparently, things were very different in that time. If a woman was a widow, it was the responsibility of the husband’s brother, or next of kin, to step in and marry her, provide her with children, and make sure any property stayed in the family to carry on the man’s name. This much I sort of knew, but I didn’t get the part about uncovering his feet, and lying beside them. She said that uncovering the man’s feet was the woman’s way of saying “I choose you to step in and take over for my husband”. It was an act of submission. I found it interesting that it was the woman who initiated this and not the man, but my friend said it was probably set up that way to prevent the woman from being forced to marry someone she didn’t want to marry. If the man accepted the woman’s request, he spread his cloak over her as a sign of promise.

So, Ruth did as Naomi suggested, and uncovered Boaz’s feet, and laid down. Some time during the night, Boaz woke up and found Ruth there. He didn’t know who she was at first, but Ruth basically said, “It’s me, spread your cloak over me, I choose you”. Then Boaz blesses her and says, “thou hast shewed more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, inasmuch as thou followedst not young men, whether poor or rich.” Him commenting that she chose him instead of a younger man makes me think that he must have been quite a bit older than her. Then he tells her he will do what she asks, because everyone knows that she is a virtuous woman.

But wait! He tells her that he is not her closest relative. Boaz explains that there is another who is closer. Boaz says he will go speak to this other relative, and see if they will step in and care for her, but if not, then Boaz will do it. I wonder if Boaz was worried about being able to provide children for her because of his age, and I wonder if this other relative was much younger.

When morning came, Ruth got up before anyone else. Boaz told her not to let anyone else know she was there. He had her hold her veil open, and he filled it with grain to take home. Then she left to go back to Naomi.

Ruth gave Naomi the grain that Boaz had sent, and told her everything that had happened. Then, she settled in to wait. How anxious Ruth must have felt, waiting while others decided her fate. I know this was the culture back then, but many would have a hard time in this age with someone else choosing the one they would marry.

Oooohhhh…it’s a cliff hanger! I feel like a commentator on a tv show! Will Ruth marry Boaz? Will Boaz find someone else to marry her? Will she stay a widow? Tune in tomorrow to find out!

So, today I read Ruth chapter 2. We meet Boaz, who was a “kinsman” of Naomi, or relative. It doesn’t say how they were related, just that they were. But it does tell us that he was wealthy. Ruth asks if she can go to his fields and “glean”, or pick up the leftovers that the harvesters leave behind. So, she goes, and it just so happens that she ends up in the fields belonging to Boaz. Although, I am sure it didn’t “just happen”, I suspect God was directing her.

Boaz arrives, sees the workers, and says “The LORD be with you. And they answered him, The LORD bless thee.” This makes me think that Boaz is a Godly man, one who treats even his workers well. And his workers respond by praying a blessing upon him, which means they probably had a great relationship with one another. He sees Ruth working, and asks one of the workers who she is. His servant tells him it is the girl who came back with Naomi from Moab.

I got into a discussion about this with someone over the weekend, and this is what they explained to me. In those days, they didn’t have social services or welfare. But the poor needed a way to feed themselves and survive. So, when farmers harvested fields, they purposely left some that they didn’t harvest. This way, the poor could come and harvest it, and if they didn’t own farms, or couldn’t physically plant them, this would give them a source of food. It also provided a “job opportunity” for those who didn’t have one, not a hand out, but work for those who wanted it. And apparently anyone could show up and work, so they next part was interesting.

The servant tells Boaz that Ruth had asked permission to glean, which she really didn’t need to do, but showed respect. He also told Boaz that she had been there since morning working. I get the impression that her asking permission got their attention, and her working diligently all day kept it.

Then Boaz speaks to Ruth, and tells her to stay working on his fields, and to “abide here fast by my maidens”. He also says, “have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee?” I suppose that a young woman traveling alone was probably not very safe in those days, but Boaz, who just met her, is protecting her, and taking care of her, even providing water for her to drink.

Ruth falls to the ground, bowing before Boaz, and says, “Why have I found grace in your eyes?” I found myself feeling very sorry for Ruth at this point. Her husband died, she left her home, her family, her culture. She traveled to a foreign land trusting a “new God” that she barely knew. She went to seek work to provide for herself and her mother in law, who she really had no obligation to care for, but chose to do so anyway. She worked all day in a stranger’s field picking up what the workers dropped. And when the closest thing she now has to a relative approaches her, telling her she can work, and drink if she gets thirsty, she drops to his feet and basically says, “Why are you being so nice to me, I am a foreigner.”

Boaz tells her he has heard what she has done, that her husband died, she left her family and her home, and traveled to an unknown land with an unknown God to care for Naomi. Then at mealtime, he invited her to eat, and “dip thy morsel in the vinegar”. I do not know the significance of dipping the bread in vinegar, or if there is any, but if anyone else knows what this means or why they did it, please share!

After they finish eating, she goes back to work, and Boaz has a word with the other workers. Basically he tells them to leave behind extra on purpose, to make sure that she gets quite a bit. She worked hard all day, and at the end of the day, she had “an ephah of barley”. What is an ephah? I had to look that up, but it turns out to be about a bushel, and barley is just a wee little grain, so for her to gather a bushel of barley in a day by hand, by picking up basically what other people dropped, she really must have been working hard!

Ruth goes home and gives the barley to Naomi. Also, when Ruth had eaten, she had saved some of her food, and brought that home to Naomi as well. Naomi wanted to know all about Ruth’s day, and Ruth tells her about Boaz and all that has happened. And then Naomi says, “Blessed be he of the LORD, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead.” I can almost envision the joy on Naomi’s face, as her inner heart transforms from “my life is bitter” to “the Lord has not forgotten me”.

Ruth tells Naomi that Boaz told her to come back, and Naomi tells her to keep going, and not to go to any other fields. She finishes the barley harvest, and then the wheat harvest, and chapter 2 ends.

I have read through Ruth before, but I have never looked at it as deeply as I have today. I feel convicted of being annoyed, when I have to go to my kitchen and prepare a meal, to go to my refrigerator, freezer, and pantry to choose food that is ready for me, and prepare it to serve as a meal to my family. There is so much in life to distract us, to pull us away from where our hearts really should be. Some days, as the day has slipped away from me, and it is mealtime, and I realize that I haven’t given thought to the evening meal, I find myself annoyed as I attempt to “throw something together”. I don’t realize how blessed I am to have food sitting waiting to be prepared, electricity, running water, all the modern “conveniences” of cooking that others only dream about. Today’s assignment is to prepare a meal for your family. If you live alone, prepare a meal to bless someone else. As you are preparing the meal, pray for the ones that the meal is for.

Elimelech was married to Naomi, and they had two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. Now for some reason, Elimelech packed up his family and moved them from Judah to Moab, although I am not sure why, because I get the impression that Moab might not have been a good place to live. Mahlon and Chilion got married to Orpah and Ruth. First Elimelech died, then Mahlon and Chilion died, and Naomi was left with the two girls. So, Naomi decides to go back to Judah.

It doesn’t tell us why Elimelech took his family to Moab, and it doesn’t tell us why he and his sons died. I mean, I know there was a famine going on, but I wonder if there wasn’t somewhere else he could have gone. I was wondering if moving to a pagan land and taking pagan wives was part of why God allowed the men to die, but as my hubby pointed out, it was part of the master plan.

Naomi decides that she wants to go back to Judah, and tells the girls that they should return to their homes. Then she says, “it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD is gone out against me”. It was as if Naomi felt like she was being disciplined by God for something, but I am not sure what it is, unless it was because they moved to a pagan land. Interestingly enough, even though she felt this way, she is returning to God, and not bitter because of the events that have occurred.

Orpah decides to do just that, but Ruth decides to go with Naomi. Ruth wants to follow Naomi’s God. When they arrived, Naomi decided to call herself “Mara” which means “bitterness”. I imagine that if I lost my husband, my children, and my home, that I could easily become bitter. But I get the impression that Naomi is not bitter, but rather is swallowing a “bitter pill”, moving forward, and doing her best in the face of adversity. Since Naomi tried to persuade Ruth to return to her family and her “gods”, I would think that Ruth was raised in a pagan home, and not a Godly one. But, since Ruth decided to follow Naomi and “her” God, that makes me think that Naomi must have been a Godly woman, who had a profound effect upon Ruth. I would think it must have been difficult for Naomi to even suggest to the girls to return to their homes, knowing they were going back to a pagan lifestyle. But, I also think that Naomi would not have wanted to force her beliefs upon the girls, but would want them to choose it for themselves. Fortunately, Ruth did.

But I think the verse that stands out for me the most is verse 4, which says, “And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years.” If I am understanding this correctly, Ruth married Naomi’s son, and lived with them for ten years. But, Ruth didn’t turn to God until Naomi decided to return to Judah. So, even though Naomi may have been a Godly woman, living with Ruth for TEN YEARS did not have the effect on her that the decision to leave Moab had.

~strong in character

~more efficient

~grateful for the privilege of preparing meals for my family

~consistent

Lord, I pray for the salvation of…

~C.G.

~B.L.

~W.S.

~J.B.

~T.C.

~J.S.

~R.S.

~B.S.

Lord I pray for…

~Little Dana, who is dealing with a second degree burn, and MRSA, please comfort her and heal her.

Remember the concordance we looked at yesterday, with the three verses? If you look, you will see that there is a number next to most words. Each time the word “virtuous” is used in these verses, you will see the number 2428. Clicking that number brings us to a page that tells us more about the word.

I really don’t know much about Hebrew or Greek, so sometimes, I am quite surprised when I look at some of these words. The word “virtuous” comes from the Hebrew word “chayil”, and it means strength, might, efficiency. Translated, we could say who can find a “strong, mighty, efficient” woman.

When I look at this definition of a woman, it makes me think of my great grandmother. To look at her, most people probably would have considered her frail, she was thin and small, hunched from osteoporosis, and riddled with arthritis. Yet, her faith was strong. She lived each day, only with one purpose…to do everything for God. The funny thing about Granny was that she was deaf, but apparently she was the only one not quite aware of it. She would talk to God all day long, and since she “whispered”, she figured everyone else could not hear her. As she went about her day, she could frequently be heard saying “Well Lord, we got a job ahead of us, we need to get this done…” or “Well, thank you for helping me with that…”  Granny was the very definition of a person who prayed without ceasing, and she was one of the earliest examples of Christ to me.

And while she definitely was not physically strong, she was very strong in character. I have no memories of her ever trying to repay evil with evil, she always sought ways to bless others, even those who sought to do evil to her. Nothing ever got her down, not that I ever saw. If troubles came her way, she never wallowed in pity, she just figured God had different plans than she did. She took every hit that life threw at her, and kept going forward for God.

She was the epitome of efficiency, nothing was ever wasted, nothing was ever out of place. She didn’t have much, and what she did have was not fancy. But it was always neat, tidy, and well cared for. Even her movements were not wasted. I never saw her running around, panicked, and overwhelmed. She planned her chores and tasks before she did them, and organized her kitchen in such a way that it flowed from task to task.

Even to this day, Granny is the person I always wanted most to be like. Instead, I find myself resembling Paul more…”For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.” (Romans 7:15, NKJV)

So, how do I change? Well, first of all, I am building a new prayer list for the new year, so I think praying to be strong in character will be the first item on my new list. I am going to attempt to pray through this list daily.

A practical application would be to find ways to be more efficient. Organization is not my forte, it is something I have struggled with all my life. I start my day with a grand plan to get the dishes done, and hopefully find the bottom of my laundry pile, but I am easily distracted, and more often than not, by then end of the day, have spent the majority of my time doing other things.

Being more efficient is too broad of a category for me at this time, so I will focus on a smaller challenge. With eight people, laundry seems to overtake my house. I struggle with consistency. Some days I can crank out load after load, others, I don’t even want to see the washer and dryer. So, my challenge for the month of January will be to get my laundry under control. I will attempt to go through each person’s wardrobe, eliminate what is not usable, and organize what is. I will also attempt to keep up with the washer and dryer, and hopefully by the end of January, can see what the bottom of a laundry hamper looks like!

Do you keep a prayer list? I like to start a new one each year, so I can look back over it a year at a time. I can list long term goals, like praying for personal growth issues. I have a section for my “top ten”, ten people I want to pray for every day, but sometimes, it gets longer than ten. I also have a section for prayer requests, like if someone gets sick. Its nice to keep the list, and update it as prayers get answered, and look back at the end of the year and see all the prayer requests God has answered. Whether you write in a book, or keep a typed file on your computer, if you don’t keep a written prayer list, you might want to consider starting one.

Also, is there an area of your life that you need more efficiency in? Maybe it is finances, some household task, menu planning, is there some area that needs work? Post your challenges, we can keep each other accountable, and glean advice and wisdom from each other!

I have been thinking on this for a few weeks, how I wanted to start, what I wanted to accomplish, and what I wanted to focus on. I want to spend some time thinking about what a virtuous wife was from a biblical viewpoint, but mostly I want to look at how these verses apply today, and some practical applications of them.

I started by looking up the word “virtuous” using an online concordance, the results of which can be found here.  Feel free to click any links I use, they will open in a new window, and will not navigate you from this page.

The first thing that I found interesting was that using the King James Version (which I will use mostly), the word virtuous is only found three times in the whole Bible. The second interesting point is, each time this word is used, it is used in describing women. We will look more in depth at the word virtuous itself in the next couple of days.

I read through the entire passage, to try to get a mental image of what a virtuous wife looked like. I have to be honest, I am a bit intimidated by this woman! When I look at what she accomplishes, and compare myself, I find myself lacking. Some have even suggested that this does not represent one woman, but instead, represents different stages of a woman’s life. I am not sure that I agree with that idea, but I could be wrong.

Today’s assignment is to read through the entire passage, Proverbs 31:10-31.  For your convenience, here is a link to an online Bible. The link will take you to the King James Version, but you can change the version using the drop down menu at the top. What kind of woman do you envision when you read this passage? Do you imagine a business woman, perfectly groomed? Or do you get the image of a homemaker, with an immaculate house? What does a virtuous woman look like to you? Do you know people personally who fit your “idea” of a virtuous woman? What is it about them that sets them apart from other women? Do you consider yourself to be a virtuous woman?

Please share your thoughts and ideas, but please always remember that this is a public blog, so use discernment when posting personal information!