Thur.’s Devo - Ruth and the Woman at the Well

Read: Judges 21:1-Ruth 1:22; John 4:4-42; Psalm 105:1-15; Provers 14:25 The tribe of Benjamin had been reduced to 600 men who had fled to the rock at Rimmon. The leaders of the other tribes had vowed a curse on anyone who gave their wives to anyone from the tribe of Benjamin which meant that Benjamin would become extinct. The other tribal leaders met at Bethel and cried out to the Lord for Benjamin. They offered sacrifices to God and asked for wisdom. They asked around to see if anyone of the towns had not come to their mandatory meeting and they found that no one from Jabesh-gilead had attended the assembly. They sent warriors to kill everyone except the virgin women. They found 400 virgins to be wives of the Benjamites. They still needed 200 so they remembered a festival in Shiloh every year. The virgins of the town would dance a special dance. They told the remaining Benjamites to hide in the bushes and when they performed the dance, they were to go in and steal a bride. Since they wouldn’t be giving them as wives, they would be free of the curse. This satisfied their problem. “Everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” A famine came upon the land of Israel. Elimelech lived with his wife Naomi in the town of Bethlehem. The famine was so severe that they left to go to Moab to live till the famine was over. They had two sons, Malon and Kilion. Elimelech died in Moab and his two sons married Moabite wives: Orpah and Ruth. Naomi heard that the famine was over and God was blessing Israel once again. She wanted to go back to Bethlehem. Naomi’s two daughter-in-laws started out with her but she stopped them and told them to return to their own homes. She was too old to marry and they would have a better chance at marriage if they stayed in Moab. They both cried but Orpah returned to her family. Ruth insisted on going with Naomi and becoming an Israelite. When they got to Bethlehem everyone was glad to see Naomi but sad to hear she had lost her husband and sons. It was the beginning of the barley harvest so it was right after Passover and almost Pentecost. In John, Jesus came alone to Jacob’s well. He sat there tired and thirsty waiting for the Samaritan woman to come to the well to draw water. She was his assignment for the day. When she arrived, Jesus asked her for a drink. She was amazed that he would speak to her since she was a much hated Samaritan and he was a Jew. She asked him why she would want a drink from her. He told her that if she knew who he was and what God had for her, she would be asking him for a drink. He would give her living water. She asked how he would do this since he had no rope or bucket. How could he offer better water than from Jacob’s well? Jesus explained that when she drank from this well, she would soon be thirsty again. The water he was offering was a fresh, bubbling spring from with in and would give her eternal live. She would never thirst again. She wanted this water so Jesus told her to go and get her husband. She didn’t have one. Jesus knew this. He knew that five men had married her and divorced her or put her away. She came from a line of rejection and the man she was with now didn’t even care to marry her. Jesus perceived this and told her. She realized she was speaking to a prophet so she asked him a religious question about where the proper place to worship was. Jews said Jerusalem and Samaritans said Mt. Gerizim. Jesus explained that the time was coming when it wouldn’t matter where you were when you worshipped God. What was important was if you knew God in spirit and in truth. She said she knew that when the Messiah came, he would explain everything to them. Jesus told her that he was the Messiah. At that moment, the disciples returned. She ran into town telling everyone about the man who told her everything about herself. Could this be the Messiah? The disciples tried to get Jesus to eat but he had just been refreshed by doing God’s will in talking to the woman. He was filled. The harvest of souls was ripe and he was harvesting the crops. Many of the Samaritans came to hear Jesus because of what the woman at the well had told them. They became believers themselves. Lord, may our sustenance be to do your will. Fill us with your Holy Spirit.