Does God take lives as part of accomplishing His plan?

[pebble]

Hello. I came across this PDF entitled "God's blueprint of redemption in the Book of Ruth"...

http://www.yeshuasharvest.org/images/Th ... wnload.pdf

At the lower left corner is a footnote that states...

""What a reader in 1,000 B.C. would have understood from the opening verses of Ruth:

Now it came about in the days when God was King, that He sent a test by a famine to the land. And a certain man of the House of Bread in the land of Praise went to live in Moab (a place which God had strictly forbidden Israelites to go) with his wife and his two sons.

The name of the man who disobeyed God the King was My God is King, and the name of his wife, Pleasant; and the names of his two sons were Diseased and Devoured, they were from the area of Fruitfulness, from a town called the House of Bread in the land of Praise. Now they entered the land of Moab and stayed there.

So My God is King, Pleasant’s husband, died; and she was left with her two sons. They did the worst thing possible, they took for themselves Moabite women as wives; the name of the one was Back of the Neck and the name of the other Friend. God gave Pleasant and her two sons about ten years to repent and return to Him and their inheritance, but they stayed in Moab.

So God took the lives of Diseased and Devoured, and Pleasant was bereft of her two children and her husband.""


I'm just curious if God would indeed do that, kill two heard-hearted people (the sons) to redeem another (Naomi), as well as place Ruth in the lineage of Yeshua/Jesus.

 

[andrew]

I think God can do with us as he will. It's a hard lesson, but it looks to me like God took Ezekiel's wife just to make a point (as a prophetic sign). There is no evidence of any wrongdoing on anyone's part. From Ezekiel 24:

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, behold, I take away from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke. Yet neither shall you mourn nor weep, nor shall your tears run down. Groan but be silent; make no mourning for the dead; tie your turban on you, and put your sandals on your feet, and do not cover your lips, and do not eat the bread of men.

So I spoke to the people in the morning. And in the evening my wife died, and I did in the morning as I was commanded.

Questions presented: Would you be willing to give your life, literally, as part of accomplishing God's plan? Could you do as Ezekiel was commanded and not grieve if God took your beloved wife to illustrate a sermon?

 

[pebble]

Gee, that's hard. I don't put much value on mine but a beloved's...

But Ezekiel's wife was already saved and among the saints?

How about Naomi's sons? Even if they got used to the life in Moab and has to be offed to make things happen, was there a chance for them to be saved?


BTW, what is the difference between a desire of the eyes and desire of the heart?

I'm thinking Ezekiel's wife must have been a great beauty and the prophet doesn't want to take her off his sight, which would be an obstacle to his duties.


Thanks for that verse sir, Ezekiel was allowed to groan and I was feeling guilty for feeling pain in following His will. At least, we are allowed to suffer in silence.

 

[JustAGuy]

I think yes. Paul said it's a win-win situation, living or dying. So for us Christians, we're happy to either live or die, whichever better helps God do his good stuff. It's hard to trust our kids and spouse(s) will be ok wo/us however I'm very confident God knows what he's doing and if he chooses to take me home now it's for my benefit (and the benefit of everyone around me). I love he has a long range view, he knows what's needed to do the most good for the most amount of people.

Lots of schools of thought on the second question. This topic has resulted in several major denomination creations over the last 800 years. Suggest searching the web for Calvinism vs Lutheranism vs Arminianism. FWIW, I'm Arminianist but don't agree w/the part on open theism.

 

[andrew]

But Ezekiel's wife was already saved and among the saints?

How about Naomi's sons? Even if they got used to the life in Moab and has to be offed to make things happen, was there a chance for them to be saved?

BTW, what is the difference between a desire of the eyes and desire of the heart?

All great questions that I don't have a clue what the answer would be, and see no reason to speculate.

The third question might be answerable with a word study (thank God for modern software tools!!), but I don't know offhand what the difference would be.

 

[pebble]

Thanks everybody. Most enlightening points.

@Brian

Sir, it did state there "So God took the lives.." and I was not taking that particular version of the story hook, line, and sinker. A lot of stuff I've come across are based on assumptions and presumptions with hidden agenda. For instance, there was this anti-polygamy article that said God permitted or allowed Leah to die in time so that Jacob will not continue to live in sin.

Fact, sir, most anti-polygamy positions are based assumptions and presumptions and if I hadn't questioned those, I'd still be out there.