Matthew 1:5 Ruth 1:1 Sometimes it's dangerous to be an outsider. Turn to Ruth 1 This December we're unpacking the surprising truth, that the message of Christmas is not for the holy & the whole, but for schemers, sinners, outsiders, and the broken. In Other Words, the message of Christmas is for people just like me and you. We're discovering that by looking at four characters in the genealogy of Jesus. Four women who stick out like a sore thumb, because women weren't usually included in genealogies of that day. Tamar – the message of Christmas is for schemers Rahab – the message of Christmas is for sinners This morning we'll see that the message of Christmas isn't for the holy and the whole, but for outsiders like Ruth, and like you and me. Two Questions: The Pain of Ruth was an outcast because she was a Genesis 19:20-27 Sodom and Gomorrah have been destroyed Abraham’s nephew Lot has been rescued His wife is turned into a pillar of salt Lot and his two daughters are holed up in a cave Lot’s daughters get him drunk and sleep with him His firstborn daughter becomes pregnant and has a son named Moab Hundreds of years later (Numbers 22-24), the Israelites are wandering in the wilderness The Moabite people are afraid of them so their king Balak hires a prophet named Balaam to curse them Balaam is unable to curse Israel from the outside, so they infiltrate them from the inside Moabite women seduce Israelite men, and God’s people begin worshiping the false gods of Moab Deuteronomy 23:3-4—“No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of them may enter the assembly of the Lord forever, because they did not meet you with bread and with water on the way, when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.” Ruth 1:1 says this story happened in the days when the Judges ruled Since Boaz, one of the main characters in Ruth, is the son of Rahab who was rescued from Jericho, this has to be fairly early in the period of Judges. Perhaps shortly after the death of Joshua. Judges 3 tells us about one of the very first judges that led Israel, a man named Ehud. He was a lefty assassin who delivered the Israelites by killing a fat king named Eglon. Can anybody guess the ethnicity of King Eglon? . In fact, Jewish rabbinic tradition says that King Eglon was Ruth’s father. Although there is nothing in the text to suggest such a connection, it may indicate common belief that Ruth’s story occurred during the years that Israel was enslaved by Moab. Ruth was an outcast because she was Ruth was an outcast because she was Ruth was an outcast because she was “But she has a connection to God’s people by marrying Naomi’s son!” The Power of God Uses His Instruments God Uses God Uses God uses a A Picture of Two redemptions in Ruth… Of her Of her Boaz the Redeemer