This passage allows us to encounter several small parables involving in which something or a situation is compared to the kingdom of God. The Kingdom of Heaven invokes imagery of some ethereal place where Christians will go and live eternally glorifying God, but that is not exactly what Jesus is talking about here. Throughout his ministry, Jesus refers to the kingdom of Heaven and when he does so he says things like, the kingdom of Heaven is near or the kingdom of Heaven here. When we talk...

Background: The book of Ruth is a book which is rich and full of meaning and symbolism. A story in which almost every name given is...

The Hebrew people had been working for, dying for and suffering for the Pharaohs. Then God came and brought them out of Egypt, out of the...