Scripture Explains Scripture

Two questions occurred to me as I read the Old and New Testament readings. One was new, so we will start with it. It is probably somewhat trivial. Why did John the Baptist go around baptizing people? Incidentally that was the same question that was aked of him. John 1:24
Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. 25 They asked him, and said to him, “Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

So my question is not trivial. They asked John the same thing. And his answer was quick and concise. When Jesus came to him for baptism, John testified. (1:33, 34)
I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

He confessed that he did not recognize the One, but had been given a sign.
‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One...”

Now if you had been told that you would see the Spirit descending upon the One who is God’s son and Who baptizes in the Holy Spirit, would you just sit around home watching the local swimming hole? Not on you life. John hit the road, baptizing everyone he could find and convince.

As a kid, I was a Cub Scout. We were told that if we tried to sell a ticket to the Scout Jamboree to an unknown merchant, we would get a ticket to win a prize. I hit every place in town, including the beer joint. (Oops, I hope Mom didn’t see me going into or coming out of there.) The proprietor replied to my query, “No I can’t go, but I have this for you!” And he handed me one of the coveted tickets. I traded it for a scout hatchet that I still have in the garage today.

John found an even better prize. Instead of going to a Jamboree, we are going to a Jubilee. Who have you asked about attending the Jubilee?

The second question was posed by someone who may have even had nefarious motives. Levirate marriage was introduced in the Old Testament. If a man died without offspring, his brother was to take his deceased brother’s wife and raise children for him. This is the core of the story of Ruth. Boaz was not the closest relative, but the closest declined, so Boaz took his place and got Ruth, to boot.

The question arose when someone was reading the lineage of Jesus and the name of neither Mahlon or Chilion appeared. The specific woman taken by which man is not defined, but we will find the answer later in 4:10. Hang on. Ruth was the widow through which the inheritance of Elimelech would pass.

The genealogical list is given in Ruth 4 and in Matthew 1 and Luke 3. (If you have been following my Genesis class, you know that genealogies are fascinating, and illuminating.)
Now these are the generations of Perez: to Perez was born Hezron, 19 and to Hezron was born Ram, and to Ram, Amminadab, 20 and to Amminadab was born Nahshon, and to Nahshon, Salmon, 21 and to Salmon was born Boaz, and to Boaz, Obed, 22 and to Obed was born Jesse, and to Jesse, David.

All three list Boaz, Obed, Jesse, and David. So what happened to Mahlon? Read on. Ruth 4:10 quotes Boaz addressing the Bethlehem city council: (Ruth’s husband was Mahlon.)
Moreover, I have acquired Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, to be my wife in order to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance, so that the name of the deceased will not be cut off from his brothers or from the court of his birth place; you are witnesses today.”

Read carefully. Boaz did not supplant Mahlon from his place in the godly line. Boaz rightly was listed there. But Mahlon was preserved “on his inheritance,” and his name was not cut off from his brothers or the court of his birth place. God explains what needs to be known, and sometimes other trivialities that might trip us up.

Read the Bible. It is good for the soul.