Ruth, Samuel 1-6

Hm, perhaps it is more expedient that I skip the summaries and go straight to what I think are interesting points. I heard an interesting thing about the story of Ruth, in that it is the opposite of the previous story concerning Samson. Samson was born into two covenants - the covenant of Israel and the covenant of the Nazarite. Yet the text seems to point out specific instances where he breaks parts of both covenants - marrying outside the covenant, touching dead corpses, shaving his hair, etc. - and thus in the end loses all that he had. Ruth, in contrast, was born outside the covenant but through her free agency chose to follow her mother in law and follow her God. She becomes integrated into the bloodline of Abraham and, as we see later, an ancestor to the Savior.

The stories in Samuel 1-6 are very interesting. Samuel is called at an early age - something many people criticize about Joseph Smith - and is prepared by the Lord for his later work. The story of the Ark of the Covenant is very interesting too, especially in that those of the heathen religion understood very well that there was something real about the power of God and the Ark, and in the end offered a sacrifice to Him as they returned the Ark, but continued to follow their gods. It is another example that miracles produce no faith by their own merit - it must be interpreted correctly by the viewer, and the resulting faith (based on the evidence provided by the miracle) must be followed up by repentance.