Authority is irritating but necessary. Let's talk about it on this edition of Keylight. Hello, I'm Mike Kellogg and this is Keylight. A program designed to tell Christians that God isn't mad at them. Bible teaching to help get you home. Here's Steve. Thanks, Mike. I told you yesterday that I was finished with a book of judges. I'm really going to show you one more verse I want to show you. Those of you who are just joining us, what we're doing is an Old Testament survey. After I introduce each book with some of the major themes and who wrote it and stuff like that, then I become a tour director and we go through the book and I pick out maybe three, four, five, six verses that I really like. Yesterday I said we were going to finish judges and we're going to go to Ruth but I found one more verse that I just and about 50 others if I took my time but I just can't, if I do that, we're going to be doing this forever. So I have to be very selective but I can't, I just can't leave out the last verse of the book of judges and then we'll turn to Ruth and at least get started on that today. If you have your Bible, turn to the 21st chapter which is the last book of judges and the very last verse and the 21st chapter of judges. Listen to this. In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Let me tell you something. A authority can be irritating. I've got a bad authority problem. I get mad at stop signs. The best way to get me not to do something is to tell me that I have to do it. Now I'm getting better. I'm not proud of that. In fact the central problem of human nature is an authority problem. You know those people who are your friends who are atheist and non-believers and they get so upset with you because of what you believe? If I were an atheist and didn't believe in God, I wouldn't get upset with people who did. I don't get upset with people who say they believe in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny or things like that. So something else is going on here. When pagans get loud and mean and abusive, something's going on. I'll tell you what's going on. They don't like authority. If God exists then God's in charge and they're not and they don't like it. And the rest is simply a smoke screen. How do I know that? Well because I understand the proper care and feeding of pagans. But I can take something else. The reason I understand that is because I like them. You know there's sometimes I don't like God's authority either. Sometimes early in the morning I get on my knees and say, Lord would you do that for? I thought you loved me. If you really loved me you wouldn't do that. And there's silence because I don't get a vote. There's something that irritates me about that. I got stopped by a police officer in Orlando a number of months ago. And I really wasn't going that fast. I mean it was a 35 mile an hour zone. I was going to like 40. It seems to me you could cut me a little slack. And I and I got irritated and said things I shouldn't have said to him. And then I got to thinking, oh man he probably listens to key life. Or he'll know somebody who he'll say I got this guy who had this boghorn voice today for speeding and boy he was really he really was smart with me. And then I had to write him a letter asking you for goodness and all that kind of stuff. And I just hate it. That's my third problem. I'm not proud of that. That's not good. And God and I'm better than I was and I'm getting better but listen there was no king in Israel. Everybody did what was right in his own eyes. That's why God has kings and presidents. Even if you're a Democrat or a Republican and the one in isn't the one you like, authority is absolutely necessary. And that's why you need to pray for those in authority over you whether that's a church or whether that's your city or your community or your club or your nation or your world. Authority is ordained by God and Paul says in Romans that there is no authority except that which is ordained by God. Authorities important. I'll tell you something. If you think about it, if you had your choice between anarchy and colitarianism, you would choose a dictator every time. And maybe wisely because when there's no king in Israel, everybody does what is right in their own sight. Well enough on that. I have thus completed our study of the book of judges. Now I want to go with you to the next book and the old has to it which is just a delight because it's a light. And I'll tell you about that as we go along but it's the book of Ruth and it's just a wonderful story. Now when we were when we were looking at judges. I gave you some information. Let me get to my notes here. So I start talking without checking. I'm going to say some really dumb things. But the book of Ruth and I do this with every book in the Older Testament as we come to it is found in different places in the Hebrew Bible and in the English Bible. And the Bible used by Jewish friends, there are we have seen three main sections, the Pentateuch as the first five books of the Bible, the prophets and the writings in the Hebrew Bible. The book of Ruth is the last book and the third section to it the writings. In the English Bible, which incidentally is taken from the Septuagint and the Latin Volgate, the book of Ruth is the eighth book in the Old Testament. In the section that has come to be called the historical books, historical books in our English Bible, number 17 books, there are the poetic books, numbering five books, there are the prophetic books, 17 books. We've seen that the content in both the English and the Hebrew Bible is exactly the same. It's just arranged differently. Let's look at some of the introductory notes to the book of Ruth. Who wrote the book of Ruth? Don't know. Tradition said that it was written by Samuel, but at least some of it wasn't. It does make reference to David as king and at least that portion of the book was not written by Samuel, because that rule was not exercised until Samuel was dead unless they were holding say-ons as he didn't write that part. So we honestly don't know who wrote the book of Ruth. I suspect there are a number of books. Hebrews is like that too, the book of Hebrews in the New Testament. There are a number of others where we're not sure. You know, I think there's some teaching about that for those of us who are Christians and that is that sometimes God's people do God's work in a mighty and wonderful way and nobody knows their name, but I'm not going to go down that road because I don't have time. When was the book of Ruth written? Well, there's a lot of controversy about the date of the book of Ruth. Most of the controversy is centered around whether the book was post-exilic before the exile 722 BC or pre-exilic. Some have said that it was written during the time of Esra and the Amaya, and we're going to get to those books a little bit later on. And some have suggested that it was written during the time of Solomon the King because of the literary implications of the book. The scholars having all spoken, I'm going to tell you the truth. If you believe that, you'll believe anything. Probably written somewhere around 100 years after the events that are described in the book of Ruth. The event which is described in the book of Ruth took place during the time of the judges. We studied about them the last two or three weeks, and so that would date the book around circa 900 BC. The reasons I believe that to be true are too complicated to cover a year. That's another way of saying, I don't understand them either, but they center around the ancient and classical Hebrew used in the book and the literary forms of the book. But it's reasonable, without being willing to die on that hill, to believe based on a number of facts that the date of Ruth is about 900 BC. Let me tell you just a little bit, and we'll get more into detail next week when we look at this book more. Book of Ruth only contains four chapters. And it's fun. I mean, it's a great story. Woman named Naomi was married and she was from Bethlehem, and we're going to talk a little bit about that later on. That was the future birthplace of the Messiah, of course. A famine arose in Bethlehem, and Naomi's husband, a limonac, migrates to the country of Moab, and they have two sons there, and the sons marry two Moabite women. One by the name was named Oprah, the other was Ruth. And then the men die off, as it had always been so, and Naomi tells her daughters-in-law to go home back to their kindred. And Oprah says, cool, and she goes, and Ruth refuses, and goes with Naomi back to Bethlehem, where she meets and marries a man by the name of Lohaz, a kinsman of Naomi's dead husband, a limelac. And that's it. You say, what? That's it. That's the book of Ruth. Now, next week, I'm going to read you a passage from the book of Ruth, but let me just say something here as we end up this broadcast for today. When you say it, that's it. You're saying, well, it's got to have some really profound spiritual, deep, important teaching that has implications for our life today. Well, maybe, and it does, but mostly it's just a good story. You ever read a book that's not religious? You ever go to a party and just have a good time, not even bring up the name of Jesus or witness to anybody? You ever just go to the beach because it's fun to sit on the sand and soak in the sun? You ever just smell flowers without having to thank God for the flowers? Let me tell you what God says. God says, that's yours. I did that for you because I like you. You don't have to be so religious. You're driving me crazy. Well, you didn't say that, but sometimes it's okay just enjoy what God gives. You think about that? I'm in. Well, we'll talk more about that tomorrow. He listened up. I got a great offer for you. We worked out a deal with Christianity today and incorporated so you can get seven free issues to Christianity today. No strings attached, no billing, no obligation. All you got to do is give us your name and address and we'll give your name and address to Christianity today. And this is a great magazine, most popular Christian magazine in America. And you get seven free issues. Now at the end, they're going to ask you to subscribe. But you can say, no, yes. But nobody's going to hustle. Yeah, there's no manipulation. Let me know if you'd like to receive this. 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