Study Desk

So she lay there at his feet, but she got up before it was light enough for her to be seen, because Boaz did not want anyone to know that she had been there.

he said to his relative, "Now that Naomi has come back from Moab, she wants to sell the field that belonged to our relative Elimelech,

Now in those days, to settle a sale or an exchange of property, it was the custom for the seller to take off his sandal and give it to the buyer. In this way the Israelites showed that the matter was settled.

So when the man said to Boaz, "You buy it," he took off his sandal and gave it to Boaz.

Then Boaz said to the leaders and all the others there, "You are all witnesses today that I have bought from Naomi everything that belonged to Elimelech and to his sons Chilion and Mahlon.

In addition, Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon's widow, becomes my wife. This will keep the property in the dead man's family, and his family line will continue among his people and in his hometown. You are witnesses to this today."

So Boaz took Ruth home as his wife. The Lord blessed her, and she became pregnant and had a son.

Each time Elkanah offered his sacrifice, he would give one share of the meat to Peninnah and one share to each of her children.

One time, after they had finished their meal in the house of the Lord at Shiloh, Hannah got up. She was deeply distressed, and she cried bitterly as she prayed to the Lord . Meanwhile, Eli the priest was sitting in his place by the door.

Hannah made a solemn promise: " Lord Almighty, look at me, your servant! See my trouble and remember me! Don't forget me! If you give me a son, I promise that I will dedicate him to you for his whole life and that he will never have his hair cut."

The next morning Elkanah and his family got up early, and after worshiping the Lord , they went back home to Ramah. Elkanah had intercourse with his wife Hannah, and the Lord answered her prayer.

The time came again for Elkanah and his family to go to Shiloh and offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and the special sacrifice he had promised.

But this time Hannah did not go. She told her husband, "As soon as the child is weaned, I will take him to the house of the Lord , where he will stay all his life."

"He protects the lives of his faithful people, but the wicked disappear in darkness; a man does not triumph by his own strength.

The Lord 's enemies will be destroyed; he will thunder against them from heaven. The Lord will judge the whole world; he will give power to his king, he will make his chosen king victorious."

Each year his mother would make a little robe and take it to him when she accompanied her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.

Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and say to Elkanah, "May the Lord give you other children by this woman to take the place of the one you dedicated to him." After that they would go back home.

Eli was now very old. He kept hearing about everything his sons were doing to the Israelites and that they were even sleeping with the women who worked at the entrance to the Tent of the Lord 's presence.

A prophet came to Eli with this message from the Lord : "When your ancestor Aaron and his family were slaves of the king of Egypt, I revealed myself to Aaron.

From all the tribes of Israel I chose his family to be my priests, to serve at the altar, to burn the incense, and to wear the ephod to consult me. And I gave them the right to keep a share of the sacrifices burned on the altar.