Sunday School Lesson 20: All the City...Doth Know That Thou Art a Virtuous Woman

The book of Ruth is one of the irritating books in the Bible to me. I always hate it when people try to make scripture out of stories that don't necessarily discuss the will of God or the doctrine of Christ, both of which I find lacking in this book.  True, Ruth displays the Christlike attributes of love, charity, loyalty, faith, etc., and she has a great conversion story in a time of frequent defections, but in my mind, it lacks the meat to give it a full lesson when we used the same amount of time to cover the whole moses story from burning bush to plagues and liberation to passover to parting the Red Sea.  How is it that all that gets a grand total of 45 minutes and this story of a woman who says, "No, I don't want to go back to live with my mom and dad" gets the same?

The lesson manual says it is to give us a glimpse of what life was like for normal people during the reign of the Judges, but I'm not buying that.  The bible wasn't written as a history book, after all.  The book of Ruth was written well after the fact (the opening verse hints at it, but it is later made quite clear in chapter 4 when the author decides he needs to explain the custom involving the shoes when the kinsman failed to redeem Ruth).  When I began re-reading it this time through, I decided that I think it was written specifically to explain the genealogy of David. I think it's like the people who do genealogy now and don't want just names to take to the temple; they want stories that make them feel closer to their ancestors in a good way.

There are people who believe that the book was written shortly after David took the throne and people wanted to know more about his heritage. I'm with them.

There are other people who believe it was written much later, in response to Ezra's command to the Israelites to put away their foreign wives.  This group of people feel that the book was a rebuttal to the argument that "all non-jews lead you to idol worship."  Here was an example tied to the greatest of Israelite kings that demonstrated that there were times when a heathen could be a great addition.

Ruth 4:7 Ah, the custom of the shoe.  The reason for all this shoe business was the law given in Deuteronomy 25 that if a man died, his brother should go in unto his wife and have sex with her.  The child of this union was legally considered the son of the dead man, and inherited his property.  However, it sometimes happened that the brother didn't want to do his job--there was really not a lot in it for the man, since, if the woman didn't have any children, his brother's property would go to him once she was too old for child-bearing or got married to someone else anyway.  So they created the custom of the shoe, centered on public humiliation.  In Ruth, they make it out to be a fairly inconsequential thing, and perhaps by the time of Ruth, it really was.  It's clear that the custom was fading, because by the time of writing the book, it was so far out of practice that they had to explain what it was.  In the time of moses, however, it seems quite a bit more severe.

Here's Ruth:

And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it...redeem thou my right to thyself; for I cannot redeem it. Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things: a man plucked off his shoe and gave it to his neighbor: and this was a testimony in Israel.

And here's the original in Deuteronomy 25: 5-10

And if the man like not to take his brother's wife, then let his brother's wife to up to the gate and unto the elders, and say, My husband's brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of my husband's brother. Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak unto him: and if he stand to it, and say, I like not to take her; then shall his brother's wife come unto him in th presence of the elders and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, so shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother's house. And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed. 

So she gets to spit in his face, take off his shoe and he has to change his name to the guy who didn't love his brother. I wonder if the custom of sleeping with your dead brother's wife is still done within the Jewish community?  I've asked Betsy to ask our neighbors who are practicing Jews.

In the case of the nameless kinsman (definitely would have been named if he had been a go-to guy for Ruth.  Bummer for him.), the obligation was not quite as firm, since he was not the actual brother of either Naomi's husband or Ruth's, so maybe that's part of why they didn't spit in his face or change his name.

Despite my frustrations with the book, Ruth is one of a very small number of women mentioned, and an even smaller number who get discussed at any length in the Bible, and she was very faithful and righteous, and became an ancestor of Christ: props to her.

Sunday School Lesson 17: Beware Lest Thou Forget

Deuteronomy 6 Moses addresses the entirety of Israel using "thou." Thou is second person singular. The Old Testament is interesting grammatically because they are operating on centuries old constructs, many of which have faded from everyday language.  Oddly, enough, once he hits verse three, he actually switches to "ye" for some reason.  "Ye" is the original objective tense of "you," "you" being at that time the direct object case of "ye." This happens all the time in scriptures (the random switch from 2nd person singular to 2nd person plural), and I always wonder, (particularly when it's the Lord speaking and it happens) whether it was intentional and we're supposed to get something out of it; or perhaps it was unintentional, meaning, Moses knows he's addressing an entire group of people, and subconsciously conjugates one pronoun in the plural, even though he's technically addressing them using a collective noun; or, perhaps a translator made a clerical mistake and should have been more thorough in verifying that his translation was consistent.  It happens a lot in the Doctrine and Covenants, which is untranslated, eliminating that as an option, but you can add to the list that Joseph Smith was using "thee," "ye," etc. with nothing more than a 3rd grade formal education and possibly didn't fully understand them either, considering they were well out of common usage by the 1800s.

Deut 6:5 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. This is the source of Christ's answer to the Pharisees when they wanted to know which commandment was greatest.  Oddly enough, I was pretty mature before I realized this was here, and that he was not making up commandments on the spot when they asked him.

Deut 6:6-7 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. I love this part.  The Israelites have become something unique in the world. As a group, they have been subjected to the most consistent application of discrimination and abuse that I can think of.  Millennia of shared mistreatment by the rest of the world has given them a strong sense of identity.  In the book, This is My God, the author talks about their identity.  He believes that it was not only the shared suffering that has created it, but their obedience to the law of Moses. I think this commandment is about families.  If we make it a point to talk about gospel truths in our homes, our children will grow up knowing them, and that will give them the basis for an identity that is not tied to what other sociopathic teenagers try to tell them when they are going through high school and struggling to figure out who and what they want to be.

Deut 6:17-18 Ye shall diligently keep the commandments...And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the Lord.  This is interesting to me.  He says keep the commandments and then follows it up with an instruction to also do that which is right and good, indicating that keeping the commandments he has laid out is insufficient to cover all situations and possible actions.  You need to also make good judgements in order to always do the right thing.

Honoring Womanhood

I gave a talk to day on Honoring Womanhood.  Below is the transcript.  I had to wait till today to post it because I wanted Betsy to be able to hear it without having read it first.  It went pretty well.

I have been assigned the topic of Honoring Womanhood.  At first, I was just going to tell you all about Betsy, but then I realized that not everybody can live up to that standard and I didn’t want you to feel bad.

President Hinckley said,

Of all the creations of the Almighty, there is none more beautiful, none more inspiring than a lovely daughter of God who walks in virtue with an understanding of why she should do so, who honors and respects her body as a thing sacred and divine, who cultivates her mind and constantly enlarges the horizon of her understanding, who nurtures her spirit with everlasting truth (President Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, September 1988, p. 11).

Women are the pinnacle of God’s creation. When God created the earth, he pronounced it good. When he created the animals, the sun, moon, stars, plants, and all the other wonders, he pronounced them all good. The first time he said something was not good was when he created man; he said, It is not good that the man should be alone (Gen 2:18). He then created woman, and only after he had created woman did he look upon every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good (Gen 1:31).

God joined man and woman in marriage and commanded that men should be faithful to their wives and that wives should be faithful to their husbands. One of the simplest ways we can honor womanhood is to keep our covenants regarding fidelity, chastity, and virtue. We have been commanded by God to do so and are under his condemnation if we fall short in this area.  When the Nephites neglected their wives, the Lord said, I, the Lord, have seen the sorrow, and heard the mourning of the daughters of my people…because of the wickedness and abominations of their husbands (Jacob 2:31).

We honor womanhood when we follow the law of chastity to the fullest, when we engage only in those behaviors and practices that build up our moral strength and avoid those behaviors which undermine our moral groundings and erode our testimonies. We honor women when we avoid those activities which demean and debase women, modesty, or virtue.

In the doctrine and covenants, the Lord said, 22 Thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart, and shalt cleave unto her and none else.  23 And he that looketh upon a woman to lust after her shall deny the faith, and shall not have the Spirit; and if he repents not he shall be cast out. 

One of the greatest ills facing the world today is the propagation of pornography. In the scriptures, pornography is equal to adultery.  Christ said, Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.  29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. (Matt  5:28) Notice that he says it is the eyes that offend.

Pornography is quite literally a deadly sin. King David said, 27 Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?  28 Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? … whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.  33 A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away.( Proverbs 6:23-33)  There can be no room in our lives for this activity, and there is no room to justify it as harmless.

There was a young man who was hiking in the mountains; when he started at the bottom, it was a warm summer day. When he got to the top of the mountain, it was colder, and there were patches of snow. At the top, he came across a poisonous snake which was so chilled from the cold that it could not get back down to the warm.  The snake asked the boy to carry it to the bottom of the mountain, and the boy declined, saying, you are a poisonous snake and will surely bite me and I will die.  The snake, however, was eloquent and continued to speak to the boy pleasantly until the boy decided he could carry the snake on a stick.  He picked it up, holding the stick well away from his body but it was cumbersome, his arms grew tired, and the snake was so polite and pleasant to speak to that he slowly held the stick closer and closer to his own body and eventually dispensed with the stick altogether, and settled the snake inside his jacket.  As they descended, it became warmer and the snake was revived. It bit the boy and as he fell to the ground, he asked, how could you do this to me? I thought you would not hurt me. The snake replied, You knew what I was when you picked me up and slithered away.  

I want to read a scripture from proverbs that discusses adultery. In the original version, David is discussing how an adulterous woman can be a snare for a man. I have modified the pronouns slightly to give it a modern feeling.    21 With … fair [images it] caused him to yield, with the flattering of [lies it] forced him.  22 He goeth after [it] straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, … 24  Hearken unto me now therefore … 25 Let not thine heart decline to [its] ways, go not astray in [its] paths.  26 For [it] hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by [it].  27 [Its] house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.( Proverbs 7:21-27)

When we honor women, we avoid this evil.  Paul said that we should Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof( Romans 13:14). If you have a problem with pornography, make it inaccessible. There are products which can filter the internet, locks that can be applied to broadcast media that can, as Paul said, and eliminate the provision for the lust.

Job said, I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl (Job 31:1 NIV translation).  That imagery is powerful to me, and harks back to what Christ said about ensuring your eyes do not offend. 

Society’s movement toward moral listlessness is a result failing to honor our mothers. Our mothers teach us to speak kindly, to withhold negative comments, to use clean language, to remove our hats when we enter a building, to bow our heads when a prayer is offered.  They do not tolerate profanity or vulgarity. Crude jokes are not welcome in their presence.  Boys do not make comments about a girl’s body in front of their mothers.  Mothers teach us to serve, to express gratitude and to ask nicely.  They demonstrate modesty, restraint, and love. 

All of these Christ-like behaviors are under attack. Elder Richard G Scott said, Satan has unleashed a seductive campaign to undermine the sanctity of womanhood… He well knows women are the compassionate, self-sacrificing, loving power that binds together the human family. (Elder Richard G. Scott, Ensign, May 2000, p. 36).

In our efforts to honor womanhood, we need to do all in our power to avoid those behaviors which debase women, and pay attention to whether we are acting on the lessons that our mothers so lovingly and patiently imparted, most particularly in our relationships to our own wives and mothers.  Are we courteous?  Do we express our gratitude?  Betsy and I had been married for at least 5 years when I found out that whenever I changed a diaper, she heard, “I love you, Betsy,” and every time she changed a diaper, she was saying, “I love you, Russell.”  This is an interesting insight into her mind, and I’m pretty sure she’s not alone in this mindset.  Somehow she is able to express love in the daily actions she performs.  I am confident that her way of doing things that need to be done around the house is much closer to God’s way of doing them than mine is. When I do something that needs to be done, I’m saying, “That needed to be done, so I did it,” when I should be saying, “I love you, Betsy.”   

Honoring women, chastity, and virtue is so more than simply avoiding inappropriate media.  It is a mindset that praises modesty, that pays sincere compliments, and that expresses gratitude for small acts of service.  As we honor chastity, virtue, and womanhood, we will find that our hearts become purified.  We will become like the people of Mosiah who had no disposition to do evil.  To those who delight in their covenants and honor their wives and mothers, sin becomes something you are simply not attracted to. Instead, your love and attraction for your eternal companion will grow.  I know that my heart fills with love for my wife more constantly when I am living in accordance with the will of the father.  I find that my frustrations at home are more frequent when I have been less diligent about my personal prayers and scripture study.  As you honor your covenants, and honor your wives, mothers, and daughters you will be richly blessed. 

Plants and Animals in God's Plan

I've been thinking more and more about the donkey talking to Balaam and what that means for animal intelligence and how we ought to treat them.

It really seems to indicate that we need to increase the respect we have for all of God's creations. I'm not advocating we all become vegans or anything; I think it is important to note that the donkey does not express any resentment over her position as beast of burden, but rather specifically criticizes his thoughtless treatment in the one instance. God said in D&C 89 that he had created both the plants and the animals for the use of man but cautions that they are to be used with prudence, judgement and thanksgiving.

Still, what would our pets say to us if they could speak? "Stop kicking me"? "Your son keeps shooting me with a BB gun"? Or would they say, "you've been a responsible owner who has treated me with the
dignity of a creation of God"? What would our yards say? One of the first commandments given to Adam was to tend the garden of Eden, to take care of it, and he was given dominion over all the animals, and responsibility for the earth. Those commands pass to us as his progeny. What will the resources of the earth tell God about our personal comportment towards them when we stand to be judged? I am not speaking of the treatment of mankind collectively, I am referring to our individual behavior.

There are people who blame mankind for the documentable increase in global temperature over the past century or so. There are others who deny that mankind is the culprit; some go so far as to deny that the world is experiencing climate change at all. I find the debate interesting to watch.

Scientists document increases in temperature and say it is due to the rise in use of this or that technology with a harmful side effect. They invest heavily in alternative technologies and push for a shift to the new stuff. Politicians respond to lobbyist pressure to impose changes to the product or a shift to the new product. Whether the activists invested because they believed in the new stuff or they pushed for the new stuff because they had invested in it is a moot point. The interesting
part to me is that nothing seems to impact the climate change. It still happens.

The scandals that surround those trying to prove the changes, the willful ignorance of those who refuse to acknowledge that there used to be a glacier covering most of Ohio, the retrofitted models, the Hollywood fervor created with movies about the end of the world caused by human mistreatment of the planet--none of this is relevant to the fact that we have an individual responsibility imposed by divine command to take good care of this world and to have stewardship over the animals on it.

I'm not talking about joining the Al Gore sensationalist bandwagon; I'm talking about pruning our trees, mowing and watering our lawn, and planting flowers, gardens, and other things to beautify and give variety to the face of the earth. I do not mean joining the vegan movement; I mean taking our dogs for a walk, avoiding over-eating or over purchasing, causing waste, not abandoning animals for which we have assumed responsibility.

We need to feel and express gratitude for all these things. Feeling it is something internal, but the expression is demonstrated in whether or not we litter when no one is looking, hurt an animal because it is funny or consume more than we need.