In our lessons, we started a series of Bible Stories about David. I figured that way I wouldn't have to come up with a topic for a while. There's always a lot of good stuff about him!

To start out, we discussed his heritage. In addition to other people, we discussed two women whose faith put them into the Hall of Faith.

The book of Joshua is a MAN's book. It starts and ends with battle. :booyah: There are spies and intrigue. Joshua had sent two spies into Jericho to check it out. The king of Jericho discovered their presence and sent troops to take care of them. They ran to the house of a lady named Rahab who protected them through the night.
In Joshua chapter 2, we find the story of Rahab. We are told that she was a prostitute, though the NIV does have a footnote that says, "Or innkeeper." Scholars say that she may have been a temple prostitute - one who is forced to work in the fertility temples. Either way, her career was not a pretty one, especially according to men of God.
Rahab, however, knew that God was on the side of the Israelites, that they had come to take over Jericho, and that they would be victorious. She protected them when the troops came looking for them, and when the troops left, she helped the spies escape.
She asked them to spare her and her family when the Israelites overran her city, and the spies made the promise. She said that she would hang a red scarf out of her window. That would indicate where she lived.
She declared her faith in the Lord, and was saved by it. Because of her faith, God put her in a position as an ancestor of royalty. Rahab married Salmon, who was the father of Boaz. Read on...

During the time of the Judges, there was a famine. A man named Elimelech took his wife, Naomi, and their two sons to live in Moab. His sons married Moabite women named Orpah and Ruth. Then Elimelech died. Later the two sons died. There were now three widows named Naomi, Orpah and Ruth.
Naomi told her daughters-in-law that she was returning home to Israel. "Go back, each of you, to your mother's home. May the LORD show kindness to you, as you have shown to your dead and to me. May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband." (Ruth 1:8-9)
Eventually, Orpah returned to her home. Ruth, however pledged devotion to Naomi saying, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me." (Ruth 1:16-17)
So Ruth and Naomi made their way to Bethlehem and found a place to live. Now, women in those days were not allowed to work. Widows depended upon their sons for support. Their property was left to a relative. Naomi's sons were gone, and Ruth was childless. So, Ruth went to 'glean' in the wheat fields of a man named Boaz.
Boaz saw Ruth and thought she was hot. He told his servants to leave extra grain for her to pick up. When Ruth returned home with a huge amount of wheat, Naomi asked where she got it. "In the fields of Boaz," was her reply.
Naomi brightened, "Boaz is a close relative!" He could marry Ruth and thereby obtain all of Elimelech's property, keeping it in the family. Well, Ruth went to where Boaz was sleeping with his servants in the wheat field and untied his sandals. This was a symbol that she wanted to marry him. He agreed.
Ruth and Boaz were married, and had a son named Obed.

Obed had a son named Jesse. Jesse had a son named - David. And through the years, the royal line of Israel was tracked, and eventually there was a man named Joseph in the kingly line. His wife was named Mary, and Mary's son was - you got it - Jesus, the annointed one.

The faith these two women demonstrated in the Lord gave them a place in history. People will always study these women - among others - to find examples of faith. Learning from their example, we can see that God blesses those who follow Him. Believe on the Lord God, and you too will see His blessings in your life.

cool....thanks Clay! :thumbsup: