Ep 156 | Ruth; 1 Samuel 1-3, Come Follow Me (June 6-12)

[@loisparrish2146]

How blessed we are to learn at your feet.

[@talkingscripture]

We are all learning together!

[@shaunamonson9376]

I have been listening to you since the B of M and have loved your inspired messages, you have helped me understand the many messages I have missed. Thank you for your knowledge and love and sharing these special lessons. I truly love this week's lesson so much.

[@aprilgriffin7126]

Hannah’s story is our story. Our merciful Savior.

[@dankuchar6821]

Thank-you for your insight and for presenting these each week.

[@MrDaddyofseven]

I loved the story of Hannah's faithfulness while being denied the blessings she so desired. Good reminder to hold fast to the gospel regardless of the situation.

[@CindiTrunkDeseretAcademy]

As I listened to your commentary on Samuel's calling this morning, I thought how that applies to our own callings in the church. I often forget who has really called me to my current position, especially when it is difficult. If I could remember that it is the Lord who called me, I would have a better attitude about it and more willing to seek His direction and guidance and perhaps comfort. I'm going to do better! Thanks.

[@shellyloong3001]

Your comment about the square shape of the fields with the circle of grain planted inside and the corners were the places where the poor could glean in the fields brought to my mind a symbol of a square with a circle inside which represents a place where Heaven and Earth meet.

[@denisekyle6603]

This sure sounds like a similitude to the second coming , the restoration, our prophets guidance for us in these later days 🥰💞

[@DianaAnderson]

“If sin has brought you outside of the covenant… The story of Ruth is the story of the journey back to the heart of the Savior. And all that the savior is going to do to get you there.” Min 2:00 Beautiful 😍

[@DianaAnderson]

The manual prompts didn’t really speak to me this week but I particularly loved your emphasis on Ruth being outside of the covenant and being brought in and all the imagery you created there. Hard to explain how much this means to me. Thank you

[@reylainbloxham2525]

I am so grateful to be taught how to see Christ in each of the "strange" stories of the Old Testament. Brother Day, do you think the writers were hoping we would glean these truths or is so much lost in translation that it was apparent originally?

[@talkingscripture]

ReyLain, I see the text as something that spoke different things to different groups of people, all of them living in totally different time periods. To the early Christians of the first few centuries, they saw Jesus everywhere. They read him in types and shadows. Jacob in the Book of Mormon also takes this position (see Jacob 4.4-6). I do not believe all of the writings as we have them came from individuals who had any conception of Jesus, at least as how Nephi saw Jesus. I see the Jews of 600 BC rejecting Lehi’s witness of a dying and rising god. John Welch put it this way: Lehi emphasized God’s mercy to all mankind (see 1 Nephi 1:14). Of all Book of Mormon prophets, he spoke especially of the “multitude of his tender mercies” (1 Nephi 8:8; see also 1:20), of His “infinite goodness” (2 Nephi 1:10), and of the “arms of his love” (2 Nephi 1:15). That emphasis goes hand-in-hand with the fact that Lehi had prayed mightily and wept bitterly over the wickedness of his people and the stubbornness of his eldest sons. But he never gave up hope. He remained extraordinarily patient, loving, and merciful toward his neighbors who had violently rejected him and toward Laman and Lemuel, even after he knew that they would never partake of the fruit of the tree of life (see 1 Nephi 8:37) and had conspired to kill him (see 1 Nephi 17:44). Lehi’s orientation toward the Redeemer was markedly universal. Since he had read plainly in the heavenly book “of the coming of a Messiah, and also the redemption of the world” (1 Nephi 1:19; emphasis added), Lehi knew that God would redeem not only a lost and fallen Israel but the entire world-certainly a bold and unpopular doctrine in most Jewish circles in Lehi’s day. Lehi spoke emphatically about the Messiah who would come to redeem “all mankind” (1 Nephi 10:6; see also 2 Nephi 10; 2:27), and make intercession “for all the children of men” (2 Nephi 2:9-10). (See: rsc.byu.edu/book-mormon-treasury/ten-testimonies-jesus-christ-book-mormon ) I do not believe the Jews had these views in 600 BC. But remnants from the first temple and its theological ideas were preserved in the early writings and in the Psalms. And, I would add, in the beliefs and rituals of those neighbors of Israel in the ancient world. An interesting book you may want to read is The Riddle of Resurrection: "dying and Rising Gods" in the Ancient Near East by Mettinger. It is an eye opener when it comes to these ideas IMO. - Mike

[@reylainbloxham2525]

@@talkingscripture thank you for the depth of your answer! In all the years of going through the OT every 4 years and even teaching it, I have never been so enlightened to the deep symbolism and types of Christ. Your studies are being put to good use as you have this forum to "geek out" and help me/us see the context of why the "stories" are strange to us and why they apply to us now. You both have a heavenly gift and my life is blessed because of this one good thing (being able to be taught with such depth on social media) to come out of the pandemic restrictions. I guess to answer my own question- Heaven was hoping we would find the Savior as we read. Your time to answer is deeply appreciated!

[@talkingscripture]

Thanks for the kind words. I have more questions than answers regarding this specific question. I cannot read Ruth without seeing hints of Christ as we discussed in the podcast. The marriage proposal, the threshing floor, the seeds, the lineage of Jesus preserved in Ruth & Boaz, the temple - to me these are pretty good clues that there is a story within a story to be told. I do see that when Nephi talks about the "Plain and precious things" being removed from the Bible, that he is speaking of the Hebrew Bible. Jesus was literally removed from the Old Testament, especially the part of a dying and rising God. Yet these images of a dying and rising God are all over the place in the ancient world. Was Ruth written in code to preserve some of the truths associated with Jesus? I think Isaiah was. In our podcast with David Butler (see: www.ldsscriptureteachings.org/2020/10/04/ep-73-plain-precious-things-with-dave-butler/ ) David suggests that many truths were hidden in the scriptural text, encoded, and left "in plain sight" for those with eyes to see. I believe this. So where this applies, and which cases do and do not apply - these are sticky issues. But clues are there. I am so glad that you like the podcast. My geekiness is not for everyone. But Bryce and I try to give a good mix of approaches so that the podcast can reach a broad audience of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I thank you again for your kind words! -Mike