Ruth

Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz.

  And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.”

   Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.”  So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.

  Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, “The LORD be with you!”

   “The LORD bless you!” they answered.

  Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?”

  The overseer replied, “She is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi.  She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.’ She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.”

  So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me.  Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”

  At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?”

  Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before.  May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

  “May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servants.”

  At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.”

   When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over.  As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her.  Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.”

 ¹⁷ So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah.  She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.

  Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!”

   Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said.

  “The LORD bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers.”

  Then Ruth the Moabite said, “He even said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.’”

  Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.”

  So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

~Ruth 2:1-23

Based on this part of the story of Ruth, what is Ruth known for?  What reputation goes with her to the field?

• I believe she is known for the kindness that she has paid to her mother-in-law.
• Ruth is given a good reputation because Boaz orders his men not to reprimand her

Using verses 7, 17-18, describe what this day's work must have been like for Ruth.

• I think for any human being, this must have been some hard and posibly back killing work, especially since this isn't a job that is likely given to woman in these times.

One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, I must find a home for you, where you will be well provided for.  Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor.  Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking.  When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.”

  “I will do whatever you say,” Ruth answered.  So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do.

  When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down.  In the middle of the night something startled the man; he turned—and there was a woman lying at his feet!

  “Who are you?” he asked.

   “I am your servant Ruth,” she said. “Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a guardian-redeemer of our family.”

  “The LORD bless you, my daughter,” he replied. “This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor.  And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character.  Although it is true that I am a guardian-redeemer of our family, there is another who is more closely related than I.  Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to do his duty as your guardian-redeemer, good; let him redeem you. But if he is not willing, as surely as the LORD lives I will do it. Lie here until morning.”

  So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be recognized; and he said, “No one must know that a woman came to the threshing floor.”

  He also said, “Bring me the shawl you are wearing and hold it out.” When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and placed the bundle on her. Then he went back to town.

  When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, “How did it go, my daughter?”

   Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her and added, “He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, ‘Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’”

  Then Naomi said, “Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today.”

~Ruth 3:1-18

When Boaz was sleeping at the threshing floor instead of at home, was Ruth's behavior immoral?  What was she asking Boaz by her behavior?

• The answer to this question could be put up to debate possibly.  If we put her behavior in today's terms, her behavior would be immoral because she was basically going to sleep with a family member, and we could imply that she was about to have sex with him.

Through Boaz, God honored Ruth's faithfulness to Naomi and to himself.  If you have been faithful through difficult circumstances, how has God shown his faithfulness to you?

• I suppose a way I could say that God has shown his faithfulness to me is when I see my friends support me in my times of trouble.

Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat down there just as the guardian-redeemer he had mentioned came along. Boaz said, “Come over here, my friend, and sit down.” So he went over and sat down.

  Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, “Sit here,” and they did so.  Then he said to the guardian-redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our relative Elimelek.  I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line.”

   “I will redeem it,” he said.

  Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the dead man’s widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property.”

  At this, the guardian-redeemer said, “Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it.”

  (Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.)

  So the guardian-redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it yourself.” And he removed his sandal.

  Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon.  I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown. Today you are witnesses!”

  Then the elders and all the people at the gate said, “We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the family of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem.  Through the offspring the LORD gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.”

~Ruth 4:1-12

Who do you think was happiest at this wedding?  Ruth?  Boaz?  Naomi?  Why?

• I'm thinking Boaz was the happiest because this was a way that he could keep also the precious family ties from Ruth or Naomi's previous marriages

What does the outcome of this story tell you about God's providence, his devine guidance?

• That God always brings the right person to us in good time

How have you experienced God's providence and his devine guidance in your life?

• Through prayer and the support of my friends

So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.  The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel!  He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”

  Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him.  The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

This, then, is the family line of Perez:

   Perez was the father of Hezron,

  Hezron the father of Ram,

   Ram the father of Amminadab,

  Amminadab the father of Nahshon,

   Nahshon the father of Salmon,

  Salmon the father of Boaz,

   Boaz the father of Obed,

  Obed the father of Jesse,

   and Jesse the father of David.

~Ruth 4:13-22

After all of Ruth's sorrow's, what is her situation now?

• She is happily married again and bore a sone to Boaz

Naomi's restored joy is described, but nothing is said of Ruth's.  In your own words, describe what sort of joy Ruth must have been experiencing.

• she must have been exstatic to have given birth to her first child for sure.

Think about a time in your life when your joy was restored.

• I would say that moment was when I had a huge fight with a friend but then after a time of seperation we were able to come back together again and be friends once more.

Do you own any valuable papers that express a kind of "covenant"? If you drew up a covenant between yourself and God, What would it say?

Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine,

~Exodus 19:5

I think some good examples would be my Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education that I earned at Lebanon Valley College, and myFBI, and Child Abuse clearances, as well as my certificat of certification for education in the state of Pennsylvania.  I think the covenant that would be drawn up between me and God would say "By the power of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, this covenant is presented to Sarah Elizabeth Degnitz for showing her strong-willed faith in Me, and embraces that faith with everlasting arms."

Can you think of advice that proved especially helpful to you? What was it, and why was it beneficial?

If I go back to the days of my student teaching semester, I did get some good advice from my supervisor when it came to students becoming unruly in teh classroom.  The one thing I remember is if things are starting to get out of hand, if they are away from their seats, tell them to go sit down in thier chairs and be quiet.  Make sure that every student is quiet and ready to participate again.  When they are, continue the activity as you have planned it to go.  This was beneficial to me because it helped me to have better classroom management.

Naomi

In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab.  The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.

~Ruth 1:1-2

Describe what you think the family of Elimelek and Naomi may have been like.  Keep in mind the meanings of their names; Elimelek ("my God is King"), Naomi ("pleasant"), as well as the meaning of their hometown, Bethlehem ("house of bread").

• I imagine this family was very strong in its faith and got along well with each other.

How is this family similar or different from yours?

• I would say it is very similar!  Everyone one in myine is strong in their faith and for the most part - there's no telling that Elimelek and Naomi's family didn't fight at all - we all get along fairly well

Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons.  They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years,  both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.

~Ruth 1:3-5

Choose three or four words you think would describe what Naomi experienced here.

• shock, grief, bitterness

When Naomi heard in Moab that the LORD had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there.  With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.

~Ruth 1: 6-7

What kind of reception do you think Naomi expected on her return to Bethlehem with her Moabite daughters-in-law?

• I think she was hoping to be welcomed back home

If you have ever faced a totally unclear future, what did you learn from that situation?

• that if you stay patient with God, you will be able to recieve any answers you should hear in your heart faster

 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the LORD show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me.  May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.”

   Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”

  But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands?  Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons—would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD’s hand has turned against me!”

  At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.

  “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”

  But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.  Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”  When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

~Ruth 1:8-18

What do these verses reveal about the relationship that Naomi and Ruth had?

• that they had a pretty close bond after Ruth was married to her son

If you have a daughter-in-law, how could you be a Naomi to her?

• Well, I'm not married right now, I don't have children of my own - yet I'm old enough to have both, but definitely not old enough to have a married son right now - but if I was asked this question again many years down the road, I would treat my daughter-in-law as if she was a daughter of my own and always make her feel welcome in my house.

So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”

  “Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.  I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”

  So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.

~Ruth 1:19-22

Was the Lord at fault for Naomi's circumstances?  Was he at fault for her bitterness over them?

• No, far from it in both senses I believe!  God is never at fault for anything; He never brings harm to anyone on purpose.

Describe one situation for which you have held or do hold bitterness?

• At times it does seem a little silly but in the past you could say that I have held bitterness as to why I have been without a significant other.  But really, that's the time where you need to just sit back and be patient with reality. As a friend told me recently "Trust Him to find *him*"

What is more important in life: your circumstances or your reactions to them?  Explain your answer.

• In a way, I'm thinking that one's reactions are more important.  Any circumstance can be god or bad But it's the way we react to them that can impact the way we treat that circomstance.

Delilah

Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah.  The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, “See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.”

  So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”

  Samson answered her, “If anyone ties me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”

  Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him with them.  With men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the bowstrings as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.

  Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied.”

  He said, “If anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”

  So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. Then, with men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads.

  Delilah then said to Samson, “All this time you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied.”

   He replied, “If you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric on the loom and tighten it with the pin, I’ll become as weak as any other man.” So while he was sleeping, Delilah took the seven braids of his head, wove them into the fabric and tightened it with the pin.

   Again she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom, with the fabric.

~Judges 16:4-14

Why was Delilah so willing to betray Samson?  Why do you think Samson played along, giving her false answers?

• She probably wanted to find out how strong he really was for herself, if she didn't know already
• Because he thought he was pretty invicable and could not be fooled in case there was a trick involved

What are Samson's strengths?  What are his weaknesses?

• I think his strength could be that he was a strong leader of his people, both physically and in mind, but I think his weakness could be that he fell in love with a deceitful woman

What are Delilah's strengths?  What are her weaknesses?

• her strength was that she was able to woo a man and have him do what she demanded, but her weakness would be that when she warned Samson, he was able to get away too fast.  Perhaps if she didn't warn him he would have been captured by suprise?

List five areas where you think you are strong.  Now list five areas where you think you are weak.  What can you do to improve in those weak areas?

• Music, teaching, faith, listening to others, being compassionate towards others
• conversing with others, assertiveness, making eye contact, staying disciplined in a consistent practice time, confidence
• a lot of what I think I need to do to improve these areas is to just not worry about what people may think about me and just go for it! 

Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you won’t confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret of your great strength.”  With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was sick to death of it.

  So he told her everything. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite dedicated to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.”

~Judges 16:15-17

How exactly do you think Delilah wore Samson down so that he told her the truth about his strength?

• she probably would continuously say some antagonistic words towards him that he just wanted her to be quiet for once

What does such nagging do to a relationship?  If you ever nagged someone to do something, how do you feel when you get what you wanted?

• I think continuous nagging turns a relationship sour.  Well, I don't believe I have ever nagged to someone to get them to relent or conform, but even though it isn't really right to feel this way, but I guess if I were the nagging type, I guess I would be satisfied.

When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. 

~Judges 16:18

How can you tell if someone is speaking the truth?  How important is it to be able to discern the truth?  From your children?  From your husband or boyfriend?  From your pastor?  From politicians?

• In this world of advancing technology, I would say that it would be best to tell that someone is telling the truth if you are right in their presence.  Usually, in order to assure someone that I'm telling the truth through an E-mail or chat message, I usually say something like "I'll be very honest." 
• I think with all of these people mentioned it is very important to be able to know that they are telling you the truth.  I think that if you let someone get away with lying to you, and find that out later on, you are going to end up very hurt and want to know why they lied to you.  That's why I think it's so important to be honest with anyone, whether they are your friend,  son/daughter, spouce/boyfriend/girlfriend, parisioner, neighbor, enemy, you name it!  Everyone deserves to know the God-honest truth from one another, no matter how much that truth will hurt.  Everyone will be much better off that way with that kind of knowledge.

After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him.  And his strength left him.

  Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”

   He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had left him.

  Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison.  But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.

~Judges 16:19-22

Not only did Samson's strength leave him, according to the end of verse 20 the Lord left him.  Does it suprise you that Samson didn't realize this right away?  Why or why not?

• no, I don't believe this suprises me because he was so deep in sleep that he had no idea that his head was shaved.

When have you felt at your weakest spiritually?  Did you feel this way because God has left you?  Or because of something you have done yourself?

• I probably felt pretty weak when I had found out the one time that I was not going to be able to student teach in the fall of 2007.  However, I don't think I have felt like God had ever really put me beside myself.

Now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate, saying, “Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands.”

  When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying,

   “Our god has delivered our enemy
   into our hands,
the one who laid waste our land
   and multiplied our slain.”

  While they were in high spirits, they shouted, “Bring out Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them.

   When they stood him among the pillars, Samson said to the servant who held his hand, “Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them.”  Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform.  Then Samson prayed to the LORD, “Sovereign LORD, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.”  Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other,  Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.

~Judges 16:23-30

Why do you think the story of Delilah is important?  What can she teach us?  Who finally wins in this story?

• Because we should be faithful to all our loved ones
• Not to decieve anyone into the hands of our enemies
• Even though he dies, Samson is the winner

In what area of your life do you need renewed faith that good will triumph?

• I would say at this time putting more trust into my future.

Jael

Then Deborah said to Barak, “Go! This is the day the LORD has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the LORD gone ahead of you?” So Barak went down Mount Tabor, with ten thousand men following him.  At Barak’s advance, the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot.

  Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim, and all Sisera’s troops fell by the sword; not a man was left

~Judges 4:14-16

How did God accomplish this great victory?  Compare Judges 5:4-5.

• This is what Judges 5:4-5 says:
  
  “When you, LORD, went out from Seir,
     when you marched from the land of Edom,
  the earth shook, the heavens poured,
     the clouds poured down water.
  The mountains quaked before the LORD, the One of Sinai,
     before the LORD, the God of Israel.
  
  "At Barak’s advance, the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot."  I think that Judges 5:4-5 is a more poetical form of how God accomplished the great Victory over Sisera

God has proven over and over again that he can do what we think is impossible.  What impossible things has he accomplished in your life?

• The one thing I can think of is that he helped me to get into a great college that I knew I would enjoy being a part of

Sisera, meanwhile, fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was an alliance between Jabin king of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite.

  Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Come, my lord, come right in. Don’t be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she covered him with a blanket.

  “I’m thirsty,” he said. “Please give me some water.” She opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him up.

  “Stand in the doorway of the tent,” he told her. “If someone comes by and asks you, ‘Is anyone in there?’ say ‘No.’”

~Judges 4:17-20

Use three adjectives to describe Sisera.  Think about the fact that he was running away from the slaughter of his men.  But also think about the fact that he was the sole survivor.

• cowardly, needy, demanding

Use three adjectives to describe Jael.  Pretend you don't know what she is going to do.  Pick your adjectives based only on these four verses.

• friendly, kind, compassionate

Which characteristics of Sisera and Jael are worth imitating?  Which are worth forgetting?

• I would say that Jael's characteristics are more worth imitating and Sisera's characteristics are more worth forgetting

But Jael, Heber’s wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died.

  Just then Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. “Come,” she said, “I will show you the man you’re looking for.” So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera with the tent peg through his temple—dead.

~Judges 4:21-22

What made Jael able to do what she did?  Fear?  Bravery?  Desperation?  How much did the more brutal culture she was a part of have to do with her actions?

• I would say bravery.  Even in a land riddled with constant war, the individual needs to know how to survive on there own.  There can't be any room for fear or desperation.  This was a time where if you believed something needed to be done, it had to be taken care of right away.

“Most blessed of women be Jael,
   the wife of Heber the Kenite,
   most blessed of tent-dwelling women.
He asked for water, and she gave him milk;
   in a bowl fit for nobles she brought him curdled milk.
Her hand reached for the tent peg,
   her right hand for the workman’s hammer.
She struck Sisera, she crushed his head,
   she shattered and pierced his temple.
At her feet he sank,
   he fell; there he lay.
At her feet he sank, he fell;
   where he sank, there he fell—dead.

~Judges 5:24-27

Why do you think Deborah praised Jael for such a savage deed?

• Because Sisera was oppressing her people, the Isrealites and that such an action is not normaly seen being done by the hand of a woman

What is the ultimate lesson behind the story of Deborah and Barak and Jael and all of the death woven within it?

• always trust God to make something happen when you think it might be impossible to take care of yourself

Does your church's celebration of the Eucharist, or Lord's Supper, resemble the Jewish passover described here? How are they similar or different?

There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again.

~Exodus 11:6

The verse above and the next two paragraphs I will post below come from a study section in my Bible titled "Independence Day: An Unusual Way To Celebrate Freedom".  The two paragraphs come from the sub section titled "Passover's New Meaning":

Much later, Passover night would take on an even broader experience.  During one particular passover feast, as thousands of Jews were bringing there choice lambs to Jerusalem, one man was selected as the Passover Lamb for all humanity (I Corinthians 5:7).  The words "When I see the blood, I will pass over you" ([Exodus] 12:13) come to convey a whole new meaning.

Today, though Jewish people still celebrate passover, most Christians do not.  Rather, that ceremony has been incorporated into a new one called the Eucharist, or the Lord's Supper, with Christ representing the passover lamb.  Although much of the ceremony's content has changed, one thing has not.  The Lord's Supper, too, memorializes a time of pain and of bloodshed, a time of freedom and deliverance.  It, too, was God's act alone.  He gets the credit.

I wouldn't say that it would exactly resemble the Jewish passover.  The similarity would be that it is a rememberance of God's work in history.  I think the way that it could be seen as different is that , in the Jewish tradition, unless I'm wrong and I do invite comments to correct me, kindly of course please, that the passover is moreso a celebration of how God was in the past, where as the Chrisitan tradition see God ever-present in the Eucharist. 

Again, please leave any comments as to how your church's Eucharist might be resembled, and if you might agree or disagee with me!  All I ask is that the coments are clean.