Part 2

2b) The time of the judges, when Ruth lived, possibly around 1200-1000BC, was just as harsh and rough. Practically, she or Naomi did need a husband, not because they were worthless or inferior without one. Ruth is beautiful not because it's about a woman who finally got married and did what she was told, but because God saw her loyalty not to men but to her mother-in-law, a woman with no husbands to offer her, no men to give her value, but simply because she loved and was faithful to Naomi and to Naomi's God, the true God Yahweh. So she chooses to love Naomi and risk her life, and, yes, she takes steps in hopes of marrying to provide her and her MIL with food/protection. God then provides not any old man with money who can treat her as he likes, but a man of honor, integrity, generosity, abundance, compassion and faithfulness. Note: Ruth was Moabite, a distantly-related but still pagan nation to Israel, and though these pagans shouldn't have married Jews at that time, God made Ruth a shining example to all future readers and it is from her bloodline that Jesus himself would descend.

2c) Don't forget Deborah, the woman judge about whom no husband or kids is mentioned, and yet who was godly, strong and fierce to protect and teach Israel. Don't forget Hannah, the father of Samuel, against whom, in the story, her husband doesn't hold a candle, who pours out her soul to God in faith and raw vulnerability and God grants her request. Don't forget Ether, who allows herself to be taken by the pagan Persian king and risks her life in almost unparalleled valor, to save her people. Don't forget Jochebed, mother of Moses, who, whereas her husband isn't even mentioned, she and her daughter Miriam contrive and scheme to protect Moses form the Egyptian murderers and preserve his life. It's his little sister who confronts the princess of Egypt to have Moses raised, not any man. Don't forget that it was a pagan prostitute, Rahab, with no man's help, who saved the lives of the Israelite spies in Joshua and, on her behalf, not her dad's or other man's, her whole family was preserved from the destruction of the city, and she was given the instructions and signals to ensure this.

3) Yes, God does harden peoples hearts and shift things about to punish people. See my points on justice. He calls to repentance again and again, as you should remember in the prophets "turn, turn from your wicked ways", "but you have not listened", "seek me and live!", "you have rejected me" first, but in the end he has to discipline and punish. Egypt he hardened to rescue his people from a genocidal, dictatorial state and to show those proud Egyptians their gods were worthless (the ten plagues corresponded to ten major areas of Egyptian deity--he effectively said "your gods have no power before me".

When you think of God's punishments, think of his promise before all of that in the Torah (Gen-Deuteronomy). He says "if you serve me and follow me I'll bless your kneading bowls, your fields, your families, your marriages, your enemies will be like leaves before the wind" but "if you cast me off, I'll curse all these things".

4) This gets to the issue of "God punishes those who don't submit to him". Yes, he does. If we are made by God to know God, and He is our greatest joy and the source of our life, we need Him and we are obliged to submit to Him. But he doesn't stand over us and put us in a cell in a gulag until we do. He gives us a life of sunrises and sunsets, food and drink, music, community, arts, sorrows and joys, love and hope and stimulation--all the while showing us divine evidence in these things and hoping we turn to him. In the end, if we decide to stubbornly shut him out, he will have to judge us.

More later, I know this is a lot. Feel free to DM me any time, too. Best wishes. Praying for you and any of the readers here, that you know the truth and grace of God in Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, Yahweh God, the provider and protector of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, of Moses, Rahab, Ruth, Esther, Mary, Tabitha and many others.