Every Day Light with Selwyn Hughes

For Reading and Meditation:     Ruth 4:2-4

Ruth, the Gentile widow from Moab, is to become the bride of the wealthy Boaz of Bethlehem. Before the marriage can take place, however, a special meeting has to be arranged with Naomi's next of kin so that the matter of redemption can be satisfactorily settled. The meeting is held at the gate of the city, the usual place...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ruth 4:5-6

Boaz';s plans to redeem Ruth were temporarily thwarted when the nearest kinsman gave a definite "yes" to his proposal that he should buy the land. But now the love which burned in Boaz's heart gives energy to his thinking and he comes up with a powerful argument that wins the day. In the...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ruth 4:9-10

We said yesterday that Jewish law required the participants in a redemption purchase to have the transaction validated in the presence of witnesses. We said also that in a way this pictures the salvation which our Lord secured for us on the Cross. He too transacted our redemption before the gaze of many. Could He have...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ruth 4:7-8

The ceremony through which a man passed when he was unwilling or unable to redeem something, and thus lost his legal claim, was both colorful and dramatic, and could be unpleasant. A widow, for example, who faced a hostile kinsman who did not want to fulfil his obligations under the law, would sometimes spit in his face and...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ruth 4:11-12

After Boaz has called upon the assembled group to witness that he accepts the full responsibility of kinsman-redeemer to Naomi which, of course, involved taking Ruth to be his wife, the elders respond by reciting the traditional blessing: "May the Lord make this woman, who has now come into your home, as fertile as...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ruth 4:11-12

We continue meditating on the words of blessing given by the elders at the completion of the legal formalities entered into by Boaz: "May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah" (v. 11). To see the real significance of these words, we have to jump ahead a little and consider some of the...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ruth 4:13

We come now to the moment we have all been waiting for - the hour when Boaz takes Ruth to be his wife. All the Bible says is: "So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife." How I wish the inspired writer of the book of Ruth had included a few more details about the wedding. I would like to know what she wore. What did Naomi say...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ruth 4:13-17

The last few verses of the book of Ruth inform us of the birth of Obed, and tell how Naomi cares for the child as Ruth and Boaz continue a normal family life in the agricultural setting of Bethlehem. Where was Ruth while the arrangements to redeem her were being made? She was waiting patiently in the house of her...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ruth 4:18-22

What is the book of Ruth really saying to us? This - through all the mistakes, blunders, heartaches, problems and difficulties of life, God is continually at work, guiding, governing, and controlling all our days. We have seen this thrilling truth illustrated in the life of the little family who, after leaving Bethlehem...

For Reading and Meditation:     Esther 7:1-10

We look now at the second highlight of the book of Esther - the downfall and defeat of the scheming Haman. This verse, and the one we looked at yesterday, form the two hinges on which the book turns. One shows us the sovereignty of God in placing Esther in the king's palace during a time of impending peril, and the other...

For Reading and Meditation:     Esther 4:10-17

We turn now to examine together the only other book of the Bible which is named after a woman - the book of Esther. This is the only book of the Bible which does not actually mention the name of God, but although His name is not to be seen, the evidences of His guiding and controlling hand are everywhere. Before...

For Reading and Meditation:     Esther 1:1-8

Esther is one of the two books of the Old Testament on which an orthodox Jew is required to make any solemn oath or vow - the other being the Pentateuch, the books of Moses. The reason for this is that Moses recounts the deliverance of the Jews from Egypt, and the book of Esther recounts the deliverance of the Jews from...

For Reading and Meditation:     Esther 1:10-12

The next person we meet in the kingdom of Xerxes is his wife, Vashti, the queen. We know very little about Vashti except that she was, to all appearances, a sensible, respectable and very beautiful woman. On the seventh day of the great banquet, King Xerxes, heavily under the influence of alcohol, directs his...

For Reading and Meditation:     Esther 1:13-22

Vashti';s refusal to obey the king's command threw the whole palace into an uproar. The Persian regime was established and built on the concept of law and order. So deeply ingrained was this idea that even the king himself was subject to the laws that he signed. Greatly embarrassed...