Prolife Kitchen Table

Episode 36 - Love Among the Thorns - Baby Chris Week 36

• Presbyterians Protecting Life • Season 1 • Episode 36

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We are continuing to use Marie Bowen's excellent book, Pregnant with Promise.  The story of Lot's Daughters, Tamar and Ruth are woven together to show how God redeems the circumstances of these abused and widowed women from enemy tribes, by giving them the children who will fulfill the promise of bringing salvation to Israel through the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

Scripture references in this week's episode include:

Genesis 19; 38                 Ruth                         Luke 21:28

Genesis 3                          I Timothy 2:14         Romans 5:12

Genesis 32:25                  2 Corinthians 12:7   John 16:21

Romans 8:22

https://www.ppl.org/baby-chris

Abortion is never medically necessary

Abortion Pill Reversal https://abortionpillreversal.com 24/7 Helpline at 877.558.0333 Email: help@apr.life or Chat at the weblink above

Post abortion recovery for both women and men at https://www.rachelsvineyard.org

Life Training Institute https://www.prolifetraining.com

Charlotte Lozier Institute https://lozierinstitute.org

Guttmacher Institute https://guttmacher.org


Compelled by the gospel, PPL equips Presbyterians to champion human life at every stage. PPL.org


Host:

Just a note before we begin this week's podcast, you should know we're going to talk about the lives of women who have experienced some serious sexual sin. So if you need to listen to it on your AirPods or hustle your kids into some other room, take a pause and do that before listening further.

Host:

Welcome back to the ProLife Kitchen Table where we are loaded up for Thanksgiving! My name is Deborah Hollifield, and while my turkey is defrosting, we're going to learn a little bit more about how the accounts of the pregnant women in the Bible teach us about the never changing attributes of God, the things that we can be thankful for throughout our lives, especially that God is merciful, even when we have no one else, when we have been wronged, and when we need His help.

Host:

This week we will focus on the beloved story of Ruth. Even if you're not familiar with the Old Testament, you may have heard this verse from Ruth read at weddings. It goes: "... for where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried."

Host:

Ruth has a whole book named after her. It's quite short, and you should definitely read it after you listen to this podcast because it is a great story.

Host:

Like our story of Samson's mother from last week, this story is also set during the times of the Judges of Israel. In this lesson we're going to look at the pregnancy stories of two other women along with Ruth, who are part of a common thread of pregnancies resulting from relationships gone wrong. In all three stories the women are widows, yet their responses to hardship could not be more different. These are not warm and comfortable stories. These are women wrestling with terrible circumstances of grief, loss, neglect, and injustice. They must have found it difficult to see what God was doing in and through the circumstances of their lives. Yet when we look back on their stories from our century, we are amazed at how God's plan of redemption comes through to us through them.

Host:

I ask you to pay a bit of attention to the history leading up to the story of Ruth and the women who were setting the stage for what happened to Ruth. We have to go back before Abraham and our lesson on Hagar. During Abraham's long journey, his nephew Lot settled near the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which Genesis tells us were filled with wicked men. There came a time when God determined to destroy those cities for their wickedness, and God sent two angels to warn Lot to get out before that happened. Lot told his two sons-in-law, his daughters' husbands, about the coming judgment, and they thought it was a joke. When Lot hesitated to leave the city without his family, the angels grabbed the hands of Lot, his wife, and his daughters, and led them out, for the Lord was merciful to them. These were all who escaped, because remember Lot's daughter's husbands didn't believe his warning. The angels instructed them to flee and not to look back. But Lot's wife did look back, and she became a pillar of salt. That's Genesis chapter 19, verse 26.

Host:

Genesis 19 goes on to tell the sad story of Lot's two daughters. Lot is grieving his wife, his daughters have lost their mother, and they have also lost hope that they will ever find husbands. This emotional chaos leads one of the daughters to speak to her sister, saying, "There is no man here to lie with us, as is the custom all over the earth." And so both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father.

Host:

These days social media is full of sad posts from both men and women who are single and who are expressing their hopelessness about finding a spouse and having children. This is true of not only people of no faith, but also a lot of Christians. It's not as though the world has had all the eligible single people die off, but it can feel that way. When people believe that all that lies before them is singleness and loneliness, many of them will turn to casual sex and dating apps like Tinder, in the false hope that mimicking a marriage bed will lead to marriage.

Host:

But still, resorting to incest in order to have children remains rare, and anyone who has experienced the sin of incest has known a particularly cruel kind of sexual abuse.

Host:

Both of Lot's daughters bore sons, one of whom they named Moab, meaning from father, and the other was named Ben Ami, meaning son of my people. Moab grew to become the father of a people called the Moabites, while Ben Ami became the ancestor of a tribe known as the Ammonites. In later years their descendants brought constant trouble and war between the Moabites, Ammonites, and Israel, and relationships with them, including intermarriage, would lead Israel into worship of false gods. Yet a time is coming when God will show his redemption through a Moabite woman.

Host:

In the meantime, there's another convoluted story about a woman named Tamar, whose story is recorded in Genesis chapter thirty eight. Tamar was married to a man named Er (E R) Er, who was the grandson of Jacob and Leah through their son Judah. The scripture says that Tamar's husband was wicked, so the Lord put him to death.

Host:

In the tradition of the day, Judah, Tamar's father in law, instructed his second son Onan to lie with Tamar and then provide an heir for his dead brother. This sounds perverse to us in the twenty first century, but it was a social norm at the time, so that the family name and property could be preserved. Onan, however, wanted no part in fathering an offspring for his dead brother, because that would cause him to have to share his inheritance. For his unwillingness to preserve his brother's inheritance, God puts him to death as well.

Host:

Their father Judah, not wanting to jeopardize his remaining son Shelah, suggested that Tamar should live in her own father's house as a widow until Shelah grows up. But when Shelah reaches the age to marry, Judah makes no move to give Tamar to him as a wife.

Host:

We've seen in previous lessons how childless women in this culture have done desperate things to take matters into their own hands. This time Tamar hatches a plan to deceive Judah by pretending to be a prostitute and tricking him into sleeping with her. She sits beside a well traveled road wearing a veil, and when Judah comes by, she offers herself to him as a prostitute. Judah doesn't recognize her, so he lies with her. But then he doesn't have any money to pay her. Tamar takes some personal items from him as pledges for payment, and then goes back home and resumes her life as a widow.

Host:

Later, Judah sends her friend back to where he met the supposed prostitute with the money to pay and get his things back, but Tamar has already gone. It turns out that Tamar has conceived, and after a few months go by and her pregnancy begins to show, this widow is predictably accused of prostitution.

Host:

Judah pronounces judgment against her and sends a message to bring her out and have her burned to death. But Tamar sends back the message that "I am pregnant by the man who owns these." And with her message she sends back a seal, a cord, and a staff that belonged to Judah, which were the items that she had taken in pledge. Judah immediately understands that he has wronged Tamar by not giving her as a wife to his youngest son, and relents of his judgment, and eventually Tamar gives birth to twins, whom she names Zara and Perez. Imagine the gossip that must have surrounded this chain of events.

Host:

Well now we fast forward to arrive at Ruth. A woman from Moab. Remember, Moab is a nation born of the incest of Lot and his daughters. A woman from Moab named Ruth marries a man descended from Perez, the son of Tamar, born in scandal, who is named Boaz. The story of the marriage of Ruth and Boaz will become one of the great romance stories of the Bible.

Host:

But Ruth has a history before she meets Boaz, and part of that story is that Ruth has been left a widow herself. The way that transpired is that many years before there had been a famine in the city of Bethlehem. A man whose name is Elimelech took his wife, whose name was Naomi, along with his sons, Mahlon and Killian, to Moab to find food there. But while they lived in Moab, Elimelech dies, leaving Naomi a widow. The young men Mahlon and Killian then marry two Moabite women, one of whom is Ruth. After living in Moab ten more years, both of the sons also die. The widowed Naomi now has two widowed daughters-in-law living with her, and so she decides to return to Bethlehem.

Host:

She urges her daughters-in-law to stay behind in their native Moab and find other husbands. One daughter-in-law does stay behind, but Ruth loves Naomi and refuses to turn back and so goes with her to Bethlehem.

Host:

The book of Ruth is a wonderful romantic story about how God provides a husband for Ruth, a Moabite, in the land of Israel. Naomi and Ruth have no other means of support, and so Ruth goes gleaning for some grain in a field, and while she is working, she meets a remarkably kind landowner whose name is Boaz, who makes certain she is safe and able to gather an abundance of grain.

Host:

Ruth relates this kindness that Boaz has shown to her, and during the telling of it, Naomi realizes that this Boaz is a relative of hers and is one of the men who can redeem the family land by marrying Ruth. To accomplish this, Naomi orchestrates a plan that Ruth carries out with some success, and Boaz and Ruth are married. Ruth at last has a son with Boaz, who is named Obed, which means servant of the Lord.

Host:

So that was kind of a long way of getting to the point of how God redeems the circumstances of these abused and widowed women from enemy tribes by giving them the children who will fulfill the promise of bringing salvation to Israel through the Messiah Jesus Christ.

Host:

It's another story that shows how everybody from every generation matters in the kingdom of God to accomplish God's plans for the world.

Host:

Well, finally, in the book of Ruth, chapter four, we learn that in just two more generations, King David of Israel will also be born of Obed's descendants. And if you read chapter one of the New Testament book of Matthew, you will also see the names of Tamar and Perez, Ruth and Obed are all listed in the genealogy of our Lord and Savior Jesus. Out of our mess God brings redemption.

Host:

Unfortunately in our culture, the evils of incest, prostitution, rape, and abuse are all too well known. In their wake are left women, men, and children who are broken and in need of many different kinds of care. You might be one or you might know someone who is a victim of sexual abuse. The stories we read in God's Word reveal the redemptive nature of God and his far reaching love towards humanity. You might feel alone and abandoned, mistreated and abused, hopeless and lost, but God has a plan to bring good from all the evil that you have experienced. Even when it's our own sin that brings evil consequences upon us like Lot's daughters, God doesn't leave us without recourse. His Son Jesus Christ has come into the world to forgive our sin and to restore and rebuild our lives and give us hope and inner peace.

Host:

Well, I really love connecting the dots in Scripture through the stories of the lives of real people. I'm always amazed that some of the people that call the Bible irrelevant as though it doesn't contain the facts of life and human evil in exactly the same ways that we experience them ourselves four thousand years later. The human condition doesn't change, but thankfully neither does God's faithfulness towards us. There are many sins that call for the heavy hand of judgment from God, but only when the full weight of judgment is our potential penalty is the full, free gift of mercy necessary. Thanks be to God for his marvelous love!

Host:

And now let's take a quick break to put a bookmark in the book of Ruth so you can go back and read it again. And then come back and hear about Baby Chris's week 36, Development in the Womb.

Announcer:

Viable is a heartwarming, triumphant play of a mother burdened with secret shame, sorrow, and self-condemnation for 30 years because she chose abortion as a teenager until she experiences the healing, renewing, and restorative love of Jesus Christ in a most unexpected and unusual way. Presented by a five-member ensemble cast, Viable leads the audience through a journey of healing and restoration for post-abortive women and men through the love of Jesus Christ. Viable is endorsed by the National Right to Life Committee. You can find out how to present Viable to your church or pro-life group at ViablePlay.org.

Host:

This devotional matches up really well with our lesson about Lot's daughters and Tamar and Ruth, the women whose children were born among the thorns of life.

Host:

Hear the word of the Lord. "When these things begin to happen, look up, be watchful, for your redemption draws near." Luke 21:28. Thanks be to God.

Host:

At thirty six weeks, baby Chris is starting to feel the squeeze as he crowds the uterus. He's probably turned with his head in a downward position, lower in the pelvis, which at this stage is ideal for a vaginal delivery. This position is called lightening or dropping. There is just one more week until he is considered full term and ready to be born at any time.

Host:

As his due date comes closer, his mother's prelabor or Braxton Hicks contractions can get stronger and can be mistaken for true labor. One of the most important differences between Braxton Hicks and true labor contractions is timing. During true labor, contractions come at regular intervals and occur closer and closer together. Braxton Hicks contractions, though, come at irregular intervals and can sometimes be relieved by moving around or changing positions. Still, now is the time to pack for the hospital.

Host:

Many Bible commentators have puzzled over God's declarations in Genesis 3 that Eve and her descendants would experience increased pain in childbearing. After Adam and Eve disobeyed God's sole command, the serpent was cursed to crawl on his belly and eat dust, and the earth itself was cursed with thorns and thistles.

Host:

Adam and Eve, however, were not themselves cursed. Eve did not suffer punishment because she bore responsibility, instead she suffered the consequences of her sin. And Adam was punished "because you have listened to the voice of your wife instead of to the voice of God."

Host:

As a result, Eve and all women who came after would suffer an increase of pain and childbearing in order to bring forth the fruit of the womb, and Adam would suffer and toil with the sweat of his brow as he worked the uncooperative land in order to bring forth the fruit of the earth.

Host:

The Hebrew language has no word for pain. The word used instead is sorrow, having the multiple meaning of pain, grief, labor, or sorrow. The same word is used in both verses sixteen and seventeen and has been traditionally translated as pain in Eve's case, and toil or labor in Adam's case. But what if we were to add sorrow and grief to both verses? Would men and women be grieved and sorrowful as they both labored? Ray Steadman suggests that the pain, grief, labor, and sorrow that the human race suffers in bringing forth fruit outside the garden is the discipline of grace, and he compares it to Jacob's limp that we read about in Genesis 32;25, and the thorn in Paul's side in 2 Corinthians 12:7.

Host:

These lingering disciplines are meant to be daily reminders of what we have lost. There is no escape from the sorrow and grief of death, pain, and never ending labor, and we cannot go it alone. We need the Lord. Our actions curse the world with thistles and thorns, and the prick of the thorn of the discipline of grace is our common experience. As roses laboriously cultivated also have thorns. Our children are born as blessings in the midst of the briar patch of a pain that cannot be escaped, but which we are promised will be forgotten in the joy of new life.

Host:

As we enter the season of Advent, we might ponder its focus on our sorrow as the Braxton Hicks contractions that precede the real thing that we anxiously await, the fulfillment of the promise that will deliver us from our inheritance of pain, sorrow, grief, and labor.

Host:

Hear the word of the Lord. "For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.' Romans 8:32

Host:

Thanks be to God.

Announcer:

We hope you enjoyed this week's reflection. We encourage you to share it and join us next time on Pro Life Kitchen Table. May God bless you.

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Deborah Hollifield

Host