Bible Story Background

 

This is a story of a woman, Naomi and her daughter-in-law, Ruth.  When their husbands die, Naomi tries to send Ruth back to her family.  Ruth decides to stay with Naomi and try to provide for her. Ruth is a Maobite whom the Israelites considered cursed and would never choose to assist.

 

In ancient Israel, women with no family men (husbands, fathers or brothers) to care for them would often be left out of the community.  Without community they could even starve to death.

 

Ruth goes to work in a field “gleaning”  which means picking up the dropped grain, or leftovers and brings it back to her mother-in-law.  She also brings her back what she saved from her lunch. They could now sell what they had gleaned in the marketplace.

 

It was the custom of the Israelites to provide for the poor, the widow, the stranger and the orphan by allowing them to gather what was left behind after harvesting a field.  Farmers would even leave the edges of their fields for the sake of those who had nothing. 

Bible Story Background

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• Paul and his companion Silas are traveling through Europe preaching about Jesus. 

• At this time in history, Philippi is  a leading city in Greece and a Roman colony. 

• Paul and Silus encounter a slave girl who has a “mantic” spirit (could be understood as a fortune teller) and raises money for her owners.  She follows Paul and Silas around shouting that they are there to proclaim a way to salvation. This could be considered a challenge to belief in the current pagan gods and therefore illegal.   

• Paul cures her but this costs her owners her ability to earn money for them.  So they have Paul and Silas thrown in jail. 

• Paul and Silus are Roman citizens and therefore should have been entitled to better treatment. Roman citizens were entitled to a trial before any punishments could be administered.  Paul claims that their treatment has been a miscarriage of justice.  

• A “household” at this time means not only the jailer’s immediate family but also his extended family (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.) and all the servants.

Bible Story Background

 

In Biblical Times, because of the lack of modern-day scientific information, the word leprosy would have referred to many different types of skin illnesses including psoriasis and severe acne.

 

Ancient Israelites believed that holiness included many qualities including bodily wholeness. No one with bodily imperfections was worthy to enter the Lord’s sanctuary.  They were considered unclean.

 

Also, during that time, the community was of primary importance to the life and wellbeing of the people. Without community people died. Lepers polluted the environment and thus had to be excluded from it.

 

Leprosy was considered a sign of deserved punishment. Lepers were considered morally and ritually unclean. It was believed their leprosy was a consequence of their sin. No matter the severity of their condition they were cut off from society.

 

To touch a leper rendered a person unclean; that person must also undergo ritual cleansing in order to be whole again.

 

 The only way to be restored to the community was to be ritually pronounced clean by the priests. Only then could they be allowed to come back into the community.

 

Jews and Samaritans hated one another and had very different views of faith.