Ruth Quotes

“People need to know that they are not alone, that they have not been abandoned. Basic human contact—the meeting of eyes, the exchanging of words—is to the psyche what oxygen is to the brain. If you’re feeling abandoned by the world, interact with healthy people, if they can be found.
Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: a woman’s guide to husband material, pg 43”
― Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: A Woman's Guide to Husband Material

“In addition to his other descriptions, Boaz is also a farmer. Agriculture was the 1st step toward civilizing a man. No wonder Yahweh made Adam a farmer before He made Adam a husband. (compare Ge 2:15 to Ge 2:18)
Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: a woman’s guide to husband material, pg 45”
― Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: A Woman's Guide to Husband Material

“Every storm ends. The skies are usually clearer; the soil is usually richer; that combination will help you to be more receptive to community love.
Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: a woman’s guide to husband material, pg 27”
― Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: A Woman's Guide to Husband Material

“Ruth must have loved Yahweh, because she would live at the bottom of the social ladder for a long time. Despite her conversion, for the rest of her life, she would wear the stench of an outsider. As this chapter’s subhead states, Ruth was at the bottom of God’s community.
Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: a woman’s guide to husband material, pg 27”
― Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: A Woman's Guide to Husband Material

“Rejection can make a legend out of the common woman—if she can fight past the rejection.
Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: a woman’s guide to husband material, pg 29”
― Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: A Woman's Guide to Husband Material

“There comes a time when we must rebel against the stop signs, detours, and bad counsel to stick with Yahweh. All those no’s create character, with a deeper shade of empathy. Carry on Ruth. To hell with all those human roadblocks.
Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: a woman’s guide to husband material, pg 29”
― Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: A Woman's Guide to Husband Material

“Converts leave something of themselves behind when they leave their homeland. Yahweh is not the King of Moab. He’s the King of Israel. Some things still live inside converts that can come back to life, should they re-embrace their former culture.
Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: a woman’s guide to husband material, pg 30”
― Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: A Woman's Guide to Husband Material

“Maybe her silence was another way to express scorn. There is a saying: empty vessels make the loudest sounds. Maybe that was the principal behind Naomi’s silence. Maybe she was emptied, spent, angry.
Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: a woman’s guide to husband material, pg 31”
― Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: A Woman's Guide to Husband Material

“Ruth, as a teenage convert, is less than zero. As a Moabite, she is 10 generations away from citizenship. Less than zero. This setback, however, is a small setback for someone with huge faith. (Mt 17:20) As tragic as Ruth’s situation seems, humans can adapt to, and overcome, anything. You can too.
Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: a woman’s guide to husband material, pg 36”
― Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: A Woman's Guide to Husband Material

“Why does Yahweh strengthen us instead of removing our problem? He prefers that we grow in valor, rather than coddle us into weakness.
Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: a woman’s guide to husband material, pg 39”
― Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: A Woman's Guide to Husband Material

“Fresh activity is the best way to conquer depression. Ruth, not the type to linger in grief, took the initiative to contribute to her very-small household. Ruth was anxious to know and be known by her new community.
Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: a woman’s guide to husband material, pg 41”
― Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: A Woman's Guide to Husband Material

“Ruth’s adoption wasn’t too far from what today’s natural Jews must do, when they want to join the Messiah’s heavenly family: “but when the completion of the time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born a subject of the Law, to redeem the subjects of the Law, so that we could receive adoption as sons.” –Gal 4:4-5
Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: a woman’s guide to husband material, pg 43”
― Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: A Woman's Guide to Husband Material

“If grief is a spiral, we must ask ourselves: are we spiraling up or down? On some days we may not be able to answer that question. You can only follow the best you can, but grief hits like a storm that clouds our North Star while pushing us off course.
Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: a woman’s guide to husband material, pg 27”
― Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: A Woman's Guide to Husband Material

“Like the other faithful men who stayed in Israel, Boaz endured the famine. Long before our birth, millions faced tragedies—without a word—because they busied themselves with solutions.
Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: a woman’s guide to husband material, pg 46”
― Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: A Woman's Guide to Husband Material

“This casual exchange destroys the superstition that God’s holy name should never be spoken aloud or written. The facts are, faithful servants have used God’s holy name—in common parlance—from ancient times to the present. (Joh 17:26) For example: long before Moses was born, his mother had a given name that contained God’s holy name: Jochebed = “Yah-is-glory” (#H3115).
Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: a woman’s guide to husband material, pg 46”
― Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: A Woman's Guide to Husband Material

“Some women, who know their legal rights as a gleaner, might rush the field, running, grabbing, and galloping home without expressing gratitude to the landlord. Not Ruth. Despite her impoverished state, she still behaves with the decorum of a princess.
Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: a woman’s guide to husband material, pg 49”
― Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: A Woman's Guide to Husband Material

“Like all of us, Boaz must have suffered a crisis of meaning that comes with the financial setbacks of a famine. His community watched him face, and sometimes get defeated by weather and ever decreasing opportunities. But, Boaz stayed. Real men stay.
Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: a woman’s guide to husband material, pg 51”
― Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: A Woman's Guide to Husband Material

“One enduring aspect of godly conditioning, is shared intelligence that helps avoid future failures. Shared intelligence teaches us that things break—people break.
Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: a woman’s guide to husband material, pg 52”
― Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: A Woman's Guide to Husband Material

“There are many professions, but for a woman of the soil, she may need the services of an attorney once in a lifetime. But Ruth will need a farmer 3 times a day for the rest of her life. How fortuitous: Boaz is a farmer. A woman needs a farmer (or a farmer-type) through her entire life cycle.
Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: a woman’s guide to husband material, pg 71”
― Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: A Woman's Guide to Husband Material

“Consider Ruth’s evening walk from the barley fields to town. That difficult walk home must have reminded her how alone she was; not because she was new in Bethlehem, but because she was tired, carrying a heavy bag of grain, with no husband to help her.
Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: a woman’s guide to husband material, pg 71”
― Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: A Woman's Guide to Husband Material

“Until we are alone in the world, we may not realize the extent of how our community is designed for couples. Ruth was no longer part of that couple-community. Even if invited to gatherings, Ruth would still feel awkward in a setting of mostly couples—and the couples would feel awkward for her . . . and nothing feels worse than that.
Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: a woman’s guide to husband material, pg 71”
― Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: A Woman's Guide to Husband Material

“How sad that religious communities don’t put more effort into matchmaking, since the practice has divine origins. Sometimes outsiders know, for some rhyme or reason, that some individuals just rhyme, when they are together.
Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: a woman’s guide to husband material, pg 71”
― Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: A Woman's Guide to Husband Material

“What a strange creation we are. We are no more than a thin-skinned volition, propelled by intent, through a sea of other people’s coercions.
Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: a woman’s guide to husband material, pg 145”
― Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: A Woman's Guide to Husband Material

“Lovers of luxury have always been among us. They usually self-collate into a confederacy of upper-crust who are lured by exciting distractions that borrow their time, rarely giving it back. Instead of loving people and using money, Gogs love money and use people. (1Joh 2:16) Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: a woman’s guide to husband material, pg 6”
― Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: A Woman's Guide to Husband Material

“The book of Ruth is all about husbandry, in the form of numeric patterns, word play, scribal irregularities, and Bible codes. At the very least, this short story will teach you that marriage covenants are sacred gifts—even in strained marriages. (Ru 2:12) Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: a woman’s guide to husband material, Introduction”
― Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: A Woman's Guide to Husband Material

“The book of Ruth can reveal how a good woman can find a good man. Husbandry is the careful management of resources. Do men still exist who realize that? How a man treats his wife matters to Yahweh. (1Pe 3:7) Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: a woman’s guide to husband material, Introduction”
― Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: A Woman's Guide to Husband Material

“No problem can hide from a relentless student of the Bible. The book of Ruth is a remedy for the 21st Century. Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: a woman’s guide to husband material, Introduction”
― Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: A Woman's Guide to Husband Material

“With so many Judges spread throughout Israel, how is it that only 13 were worth mentioning in the book of Judges? Some people are given titles they never live up to. Others display a title’s quality without ever receiving the title. Boaz behaved more like a Judge than Bethlehem’s actual Judges. Titles, alone, have very little impact on justice—which explains why a famine had recently ravaged Israel. Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: a woman’s guide to husband material, pg 2”
― Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: A Woman's Guide to Husband Material

“Did the people of Nineveh migrate to Athens after hearing Jonah’s pronouncement of doom? No. They repented where they stood. Although they were foreigners, the Ninevites prayed to the God of Israel, fasted, and asked Jonah to intercede in their behalf. (Jon 3:5-10) Yahweh took note of Nineveh’s sincerity and spared them. Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: a woman’s guide to husband material, pg 3”
― Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: A Woman's Guide to Husband Material

“Throughout history these Gogs were called by various names. Today, we may know them as Wall Street, Madison Avenue, Sicily, Columbia, 5th Avenue, Broadway, Hollywood, Silicon Valley, etc. All these are more than locations. They are international business entities—legal and illegal. If it’s incorporated, it’s a monster that feeds internationally; if it can bring glory to the ungodly, you are probably looking at a modern-day Gog. (2Tim 3:1-5) Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: a woman’s guide to husband material, pg 4”
― Michael Ben Zehabe, Ruth: A Woman's Guide to Husband Material