Reasoning Through the Bible

Ruth 1–2 shows the difference between turning toward God and fully committing to Him.
Orpah begins the journey toward Israel but eventually returns to Moab. Ruth does the opposite. She leaves her homeland, her people, and her former gods behind and tells Naomi, “Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.” Her words are more than family loyalty—they represent a wholehearted commitment to Yahweh.
When Ruth and Naomi arrive in Bethlehem, the town is stirred by Naomi’s return. Naomi asks to be called Mara, meaning bitter, because she believes the Lord has afflicted her. Her grief is understandable, but she cannot yet see what God is preparing.
The story then introduces the biblical practice of gleaning. Under the Mosaic Law, landowners were required to leave portions of their harvest for widows, foreigners, travelers, and the poor. This system provided help while still allowing those who were able to work for their food.
Ruth does exactly that. Rather than demanding assistance, she humbly asks permission to glean behind the harvesters.
Then one of the most important statements in the story appears: Ruth “happened” to come to the field belonging to Boaz.
Boaz is wealthy, respected, related to Naomi’s late husband, and positioned to become a kinsman-redeemer. His meeting with Ruth looks accidental from a human perspective, but the story begins revealing God’s providential arrangement of ordinary circumstances.
God’s provision often does not arrive through spectacular miracles. Sometimes it appears through a field, a harvest, a conversation, or simply being in the right place at the right time.
Scripture: Ruth 1:14–2:9
Series: The Book of Ruth — An RTTB Study
  Questions discussed in this session include:
Does God always recognize those who turn Him? 
 What value is there in taking care of the human needs of a loved one?
 Can we keep one foot in the old life and one foot in the new? 
 Is there a Biblical way to have welfare?  
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The Book of Ruth begins during the dark period of the Judges, when Israel was marked by disobedience, idolatry, and judgment. Yet Ruth offers a striking contrast: even in a corrupt culture, individuals can still live faithfully, and God can work quietly through ordinary people and painful circumstances.
In this opening session, Glenn and Steve introduce the major themes of Ruth, including redemption, kindness, rest, providence, love, grief, and restoration. Ruth and Boaz will eventually become the great-grandparents of King David, and Ruth will also appear in the genealogy of Jesus Christ.
The story begins with a famine in Bethlehem, whose name means “house of bread.” Elimelech leaves the promised land with his wife, Naomi, and their two sons and travels to Moab. There, Naomi loses her husband and both sons, leaving her in a foreign land with her two daughters-in-law.
The session pauses to consider the deep grief that follows the loss of a spouse and other loved ones. Steve shares personally about the death of his wife and how his relationship with God, his daughters, and other believers helped him continue through sorrow.
When Naomi hears that the Lord has again provided food in Judah, she begins the journey home. She urges Ruth and Orpah to return to their families. Orpah leaves, but Ruth clings to Naomi and makes one of Scripture’s most memorable declarations:
“Where you go, I will go… your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.”
At this point, Naomi believes that the Lord has turned against her. She cannot yet see that God is using these very circumstances to bring blessing, redemption, and a future greater than anything she could imagine.
Scripture: Ruth 1:1–18
Series: The Book of Ruth — An RTTB Study
  Questions discussed in this session include:
 If tragedy happens, is God sill working?  
What does it indicate when the Jews leave a land? 
Can grief be overwhelming? 
Can good come out of tragedy? 
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May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve

Why did God command Israel to destroy the people of Canaan?
Passages in Deuteronomy and Joshua describe commands to destroy entire Canaanite populations, including soldiers, families, livestock, and cities. These passages raise one of the most difficult moral questions in the Old Testament and are often used by skeptics to accuse God of cruelty or injustice.
In this topical discussion, Glenn and Steve examine the larger biblical context surrounding the judgment of Canaan. The study begins with God’s sovereignty as Creator and giver of life. Because life comes from Him, He possesses authority over life and death in a way that human beings do not.
The Canaanites were also not presented as innocent people. Their culture included child sacrifice, sexualized worship, idolatry, and practices that eventually corrupted Israel when the nation failed to carry out God’s command completely.
God’s judgment was not sudden or arbitrary. Israel remained in Egypt for approximately four centuries before entering Canaan, and the biblical pattern shows that God repeatedly warns people before judgment. Rahab demonstrates that a Canaanite who recognized Yahweh, believed, and submitted to Him could receive mercy.
The discussion also considers four possible ways God could respond to evil: permit free choices and judge them, permit evil without judgment, prevent every evil choice and eliminate meaningful human freedom, or remove children before they mature into the same evil practices.
The central conclusion is that God’s actions must be understood within His holiness, sovereignty, patience, justice, and complete knowledge of every possible outcome.
Topical Study: The Judgment of Canaan
Series: Reasoning Through the Bible Topical Series
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May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve

Who is the Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament?
This phrase appears repeatedly in passages involving Hagar, Abraham, Moses, Balaam, Gideon, Samson’s parents, and the nation of Israel. At first glance, readers may assume this is simply another created angel. A closer examination, however, reveals that the Angel of the Lord speaks with God’s authority, accepts identification with God, gives divine promises, receives worship, forgives or judges, and is feared as Yahweh Himself.
In this topical study, Glenn and Steve examine several important Old Testament appearances of the Angel of the Lord. Hagar calls Him the God who sees her. In Genesis 22, He tells Abraham that he did not withhold Isaac “from Me.” In Exodus 3, the Angel of the Lord appears in the burning bush and identifies Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The study also considers appearances in Judges, including the Angel of the Lord speaking to Gideon and appearing as a man to Samson’s parents. These passages show that He could appear physically and converse with people while still being identified as Yahweh.
Isaiah 63 and Zechariah 12 provide further evidence by distinguishing between divine persons while affirming the deity of the One who suffers, delivers, and is pierced. These passages contribute to the biblical foundation for the deity of Christ and the doctrine of the Trinity.
The Angel of the Lord is best understood as the pre-incarnate Son of God—Jesus Christ appearing before His birth in Bethlehem.
Topical Study: The Angel of the Lord
Series: Reasoning Through the Bible Doctrine Discussions
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Judges 20-21 brings the Book of Judges to its tragic conclusion. After learning of the horrific crime committed at Gibeah, the tribes of Israel unite and demand that Benjamin surrender the guilty men. Benjamin refuses and chooses tribal loyalty over justice.
Civil war follows.
Israel seeks God’s direction before battle, yet loses twenty-two thousand men on the first day and eighteen thousand on the second. This raises a difficult question: What should believers do when they are following God’s direction, opposing evil, and still appear to be losing?
Rather than abandoning God, Israel continues to seek Him. The people weep, fast, offer sacrifices, and return for guidance. God eventually promises victory and delivers Benjamin into their hands.
The victory, however, creates another crisis. Israel had made an emotional vow not to give its daughters in marriage to the men of Benjamin. After nearly destroying the tribe, the people regret what they have done and begin searching for ways around their own vow.
Their solutions reveal how distorted their sense of justice has become. They destroy Jabesh-gilead and take its surviving young women. When that does not provide enough wives, they permit the remaining Benjamites to kidnap women from a feast at Shiloh.
Israel attempts to correct one evil by committing additional wrongs.
The book closes with its defining statement: “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
Judges warns that when people reject God’s Word as the standard of truth, sincerity, emotion, technical rules, and human reasoning cannot produce righteousness.
Scripture: Judges 19:30-21:25
Series: The Book of Judges — An RTTB Study
Is there a limit to how depraved humans can get? 
What should you do when you’re doing what the Lord wants but still failing?
Can God allow pain for a purpose? 
Can we deal with God as with a shady businessman?  
Support the show
Thank you for listening!!  Please give us a five-star rating to help your podcast provider's algorithm spread RTTB among their listeners. 
You can find free study and leader resources at the following link - Resource Page - Reasoning Through the Bible
Please prayerfully consider supporting RTTB to help us to continue providing content and free resources. You can do that at this link - Support RTTB - Reasoning Through the Bible 
May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve