Is Ruth the ultimate Proverbs 31 Woman

mark kennedy

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I think the bride in Song of Solomon is a better candidate. Her groom was building a house while for years she had been working on what would be the family garden. She rose before dawn, in the second chapter she meets with her groom just before dawn as the are getting started with their day. She negotiates a lease for a vineyard with Solomon just after her and her new husband had just taken their vows:

Solomon had a vineyard in Baal Hamon;
he let out his vineyard to tenants.
Each was to bring for its fruit
a thousand shekels of silver.
But my own vineyard is mine to give;
the thousand shekels are for you, Solomon,
and two hundred are for those who tend its fruit. (Song of Song 8:11-12)
Either one would fit the bill. Notice she is using her own money for this, money she no doubt earned, probably doing something a lot like the virtuous woman of Proverbs 31.

Grace and peace,
Mark
 
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Ruth in being a direct ancestor of Christ was the crossroad for the kinsman redeemer to come in. She was the great-grandmother of David and being so entitled David to not being pure enough to enter the temple proper. Luckily on the spiritual side God had him covered. Jesus also legally, with His being w/o father would have been excluded from the temple.

Ruth's statement to Niomi 'my God shall be your God' won her her place.
 
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Isaiah 11:10
And in that day the root of Jesse, Who stands as a banner to the peoples - Him will the nations seek, And His resting place will be the glory.
Matthew 1:5
And Salmon begot Boaz of Rahab, and Boaz begot Obed of Ruth, and Obed begot Jesse,
Isaiah 11:1
Then a sprout will come forth from the stump of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit.

It's a direct line to Christ and from Christ a direct line to the Father. In those teachings the dross is cut away.​
 
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It would be likely that a number of Godly women in Scripture would share some strong characteristics with the woman of Proverbs 31. :)
Don't you think that all women do also? And if that's the template of the church then so do men.

WOMAN. . . . . . . . .

When God created woman he was working late on the 6th day.......

An angel came by and asked." Why spend so much time on her?"

The lord answered. "Have you seen all the specifications I have to meet to shape her?"

She must function on all kinds of situations,
She must be able to embrace several kids at the same time,
Have a hug that can heal anything from a bruised knee to a broken heart,
She must do all this with only two hands,"
She cures herself when sick and can work 18 hours a day"

THE ANGEL was impressed" Just two hands.....impossible!

And this is the standard model?"

The Angel came closer and touched the woman"
"But you have made her so soft, Lord".
"She is soft", said the Lord,
"But I have made her strong. You can't imagine what she can endure and overcome"

"Can she think?" The Angel asked...
The Lord answered. "Not only can she think, she can reason and negotiate"

The Angel touched her cheeks....
"Lord, it seems this creation is leaking! You have put too many burdens on her"
"She is not leaking...it is a tear" The Lord corrected the Angel…

"What's it for?" Asked the Angel..... .
The Lord said. "Tears are her way of expressing her grief, her doubts, her love, her loneliness, her suffering and her pride."...

This made a big impression on the Angel,
"Lord, you are a genius. You thought of everything.
A woman is indeed marvellous"

Lord said."Indeed she is.
She has strength that amazes a man.
She can handle trouble and carry heavy burdens.
She holds happiness, love and opinions.
She smiles when she feels like screaming.
She sings when she feels like crying, cries when happy and laughs when afraid.
She fights for what she believes in.

Her love is unconditional.
Her heart is broken when a next-of-kin or a friend dies but she finds strength to get on with life"

The Angel asked: So she is a perfect being?
The lord replied: No. She has just one drawback
"She often forgets what she is worth".
 
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mark kennedy

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I do not think that it is Ruth because she did not have a son who was a king. Lemuel is identified as a an unknown king. However, his praises, at least, are directed to his mother-Proverbs 31:1.
Most of Proverbs was compiled a few hundred years after Solomon and David had already passed. It was common for kings to marry off their daughters to foreign kings, Solomon's first wife was Egyptian for example. The bride in Song of Solomon has a family name that appears no where else in Scripture, just a theory but I think her mother was from Lebanon, I think her mother had married into an important Jewish family. Something like that could be going on here, perhaps one of Solomon's daughters married into a royal family in a neighboring country. Like the other proverbs it emphasizes hard work and wisdom, rich in virtue. She took a seat with the elders who would have sat as judges near the city gate, any problems could be brought to them. It sounds like when she was in town she would sit down with them and help them figure out perplexing problems they were considering. Using wisdom she had heard in the courts of her father Solomon.

By the time Hezekiah and his men compiled so many of the proverbs a lot of history had passed. This passage was actually an acrostic, the first letter of each line starts with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Important history was sometimes recorded like this, Lamentations for example was an acrostic poem. Redemptive history in the Old Testament was not written in the formal and rigid fashion it is today, the OT is a kind of poetic prose. With this poem we get a window into the sacred history and wisdom of the ancient Hebrews. It suggests to me that the wisdom of the Hebrews spread across their national boarders and had influence among people of other nations.

Just some of my thoughts on the subject guys but I feel like this is a piece of history, wrapped in sacred poetry. A memorial to the legacy of the wisdom of the united kingdom in Israel. It's just a glimpse of what life was like so very long ago. It could be Ruth but it is more likely one woman among many who were a part of that sacred history, remembered fondly in the wisdom literature of the ancient Hebrews.

Grace and peace,
Mark
 
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Just some of my thoughts on the subject guys but I feel like this is a piece of history, wrapped in sacred poetry. A memorial to the legacy of the wisdom of the united kingdom in Israel. It's just a glimpse of what life was like so very long ago. It could be Ruth but it is more likely one woman among many who were a part of that sacred history, remembered fondly in the wisdom literature of the ancient Hebrews.

Grace and peace,
Mark
:oldthumbsup: Like MT Horeb, standing on Holy Ground, were all ornamentations of self are left behind. I agree.
 
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Doesn’t Ruth represent the bride and boaz the bridegroom.?
Isn’t it a contrast of Jesus and his church?
Typologically yes it is representative of the gentile church being grafted in.
 
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Jonathan Leo

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Typologically yes it is representative of the gentile church being grafted in.
Watched a sermon one time and the pastor said everything in the OT either points or represents Jesus. He went on to show the anology in Ruth. It was brilliant
 
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