Ruth was a foreigner who went to Israel for economic reasons; there was a drought in Moab. As soon as she got there, she made use of Israelite customs to support herself from someone else's harvest. She even engaged in deliberate sexual seduction!
And without her, there would have been no King David, and no Davidic line (including Jesus).
Has it occurred to anyone out there that the Book of Ruth is a deliberate polemical tract aimed at criticising an ethnically-based definition of who are God's People? He who has ears to hear, let him hear what God is saying through the Book of Ruth!
Yeah, I know the come-back. I'm not American, so what would I know? Yeah, I'm Australian, and more than half of Australia's population has at least one parent born overseas. My home city, Parramatta, was the second European settlement in the entire continent, now part of greater Sydney. Here are some stats:-
"The most common country of birth in Parramatta is India representing 30.9% of the population, outnumbering Australian born residents at 24.8%. The next most common are China 8.9%, Nepal 5.5%, Philippines 2.5% and Iran 1.3%. However, only 6.8% identify their ancestry as Australian; the other common self-identified ancestries were Indian 27.3%, Chinese 15.3%, English 8.5% and Nepali 5.5%. About one quarter (24.4%) of people spoke English at home; other languages spoken at home included Hindi 10.4%, Mandarin 8.8%, Nepali 5.3%, Tamil 5.0% and Telugu 4.3%."
I have a Chinese couple living to one side of my home, an Indian couple on the other side, and a Muslim Lebanese family directly opposite. It's a great place to live!
People are hyper-sensitive it seems. Anything said is sieved for Red v Blue and pro this, pro that. What has happened to the USA? Stress and depression are on display, where hair triggers abound. Time for leadership that is for all the people all of the time. Cut the me vs you, and bring on teamwork ... otherwise, as is said, 'divided we fall'.
I've been involved in politics here in the Land of the Worried Wombat, in a Third Party that held balance of power for 20 years. Thankfully, we have a voting system that many outsiders find strange, or even offensive.
We have COMPULSORY voting. Everyone who is entitled to vote MUST register, and everyone who is registered MUST vote (religious exemptions such as Jehovah's Witnesses are excused). Of course, nobody checks how you vote; if you want, you can write "they're all corrupt!" across the ballot if you want, so long as you turn up and get your name ticked off. Compulsory voting is no more an imposition that Jury Service, and is done much more quickly. But it is a good way of ensuring that parties that pitch their message to extremists are shunned by the sensible centre. The stark divisiveness seen in America would not survive in Australia.
Second, we have preferential voting for the House of Reps seats. If no one candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, then the candidate with the smallest vote is excluded from the count and those votes are re-allocated to the candidate marked as second preference. This process is continued until one candidate has more votes that all others combined. In effect, it is a 'runoff vote' conducted without having to have a second or third polling day. This means that someone can vote for the candidate they REALLY want, without the fear that they are 'wasting' a vote. If their preferred candidate is excluded, the full value of their vote passes to their next-best choice. This has the advantage of making political parties appeal to a wide range of voters instead of focussing purely on their base. In Australia, elections are won in the Centre, which gives stability.
Third, we have Proportional Representation for our Senate. There are six States in Australia, and each elects six senators on a two-term basis. To be elected Senator, a candidate needs to score one SEVENTH PLUS ONE of the vote. This means that only six can meet the threshold. If a party gets 15% of the vote, they get one seat. 30% gets two seats, etc. If the initial vote elects five or less on primaries, then each elected senator takes his quota of votes with him and the remaining votes are distributed according to preferences as for the House.
Over the last few Senate elections, each major party has typically scored around a third of the total vote, with minor parties picking up the other seats. This means that the Government of the day usually needs to negotiate with one or more other parties to get a bill through the Senate. A party that demonises their opponents will have a lot more trouble doing that than a party that can negotiate and compromise. Again, this acts to bring government back to a sensible centre and minimise extreme divisions.
America needs to overhaul how it does voting; get rid of the system that rewards divisive tactics and move towards a model based on consensus.
Thank you. I am completely perplexed why people found the post so awful.
Good post!
Astute observations, Murray.
A blast from the past :)
Ruth was a foreigner who went to Israel for economic reasons; there was a drought in Moab. As soon as she got there, she made use of Israelite customs to support herself from someone else's harvest. She even engaged in deliberate sexual seduction!
And without her, there would have been no King David, and no Davidic line (including Jesus).
Has it occurred to anyone out there that the Book of Ruth is a deliberate polemical tract aimed at criticising an ethnically-based definition of who are God's People? He who has ears to hear, let him hear what God is saying through the Book of Ruth!
Yeah, I know the come-back. I'm not American, so what would I know? Yeah, I'm Australian, and more than half of Australia's population has at least one parent born overseas. My home city, Parramatta, was the second European settlement in the entire continent, now part of greater Sydney. Here are some stats:-
"The most common country of birth in Parramatta is India representing 30.9% of the population, outnumbering Australian born residents at 24.8%. The next most common are China 8.9%, Nepal 5.5%, Philippines 2.5% and Iran 1.3%. However, only 6.8% identify their ancestry as Australian; the other common self-identified ancestries were Indian 27.3%, Chinese 15.3%, English 8.5% and Nepali 5.5%. About one quarter (24.4%) of people spoke English at home; other languages spoken at home included Hindi 10.4%, Mandarin 8.8%, Nepali 5.3%, Tamil 5.0% and Telugu 4.3%."
I have a Chinese couple living to one side of my home, an Indian couple on the other side, and a Muslim Lebanese family directly opposite. It's a great place to live!
People are hyper-sensitive it seems. Anything said is sieved for Red v Blue and pro this, pro that. What has happened to the USA? Stress and depression are on display, where hair triggers abound. Time for leadership that is for all the people all of the time. Cut the me vs you, and bring on teamwork ... otherwise, as is said, 'divided we fall'.
Amen, David!
I've been involved in politics here in the Land of the Worried Wombat, in a Third Party that held balance of power for 20 years. Thankfully, we have a voting system that many outsiders find strange, or even offensive.
We have COMPULSORY voting. Everyone who is entitled to vote MUST register, and everyone who is registered MUST vote (religious exemptions such as Jehovah's Witnesses are excused). Of course, nobody checks how you vote; if you want, you can write "they're all corrupt!" across the ballot if you want, so long as you turn up and get your name ticked off. Compulsory voting is no more an imposition that Jury Service, and is done much more quickly. But it is a good way of ensuring that parties that pitch their message to extremists are shunned by the sensible centre. The stark divisiveness seen in America would not survive in Australia.
Second, we have preferential voting for the House of Reps seats. If no one candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, then the candidate with the smallest vote is excluded from the count and those votes are re-allocated to the candidate marked as second preference. This process is continued until one candidate has more votes that all others combined. In effect, it is a 'runoff vote' conducted without having to have a second or third polling day. This means that someone can vote for the candidate they REALLY want, without the fear that they are 'wasting' a vote. If their preferred candidate is excluded, the full value of their vote passes to their next-best choice. This has the advantage of making political parties appeal to a wide range of voters instead of focussing purely on their base. In Australia, elections are won in the Centre, which gives stability.
Third, we have Proportional Representation for our Senate. There are six States in Australia, and each elects six senators on a two-term basis. To be elected Senator, a candidate needs to score one SEVENTH PLUS ONE of the vote. This means that only six can meet the threshold. If a party gets 15% of the vote, they get one seat. 30% gets two seats, etc. If the initial vote elects five or less on primaries, then each elected senator takes his quota of votes with him and the remaining votes are distributed according to preferences as for the House.
Over the last few Senate elections, each major party has typically scored around a third of the total vote, with minor parties picking up the other seats. This means that the Government of the day usually needs to negotiate with one or more other parties to get a bill through the Senate. A party that demonises their opponents will have a lot more trouble doing that than a party that can negotiate and compromise. Again, this acts to bring government back to a sensible centre and minimise extreme divisions.
America needs to overhaul how it does voting; get rid of the system that rewards divisive tactics and move towards a model based on consensus.
I'm South Australian :).
Totally agree. Now their pres wants to ban postal voting ... whatta place.
Ah! The land of Janine Haynes! Congrats!