Going back to the blessing of the Sons of Jacob and then the tribes by Moses, it becomes clear that both Joseph and Judah have leadership roles within the nation. Joseph gets the blessing of Abraham and most of the attention in Gen 39 and Dt 33. After this introduction, Psalm 2 describes a three way conversation between the Father, His Son and a narrator.

In the Parable of the Weeds the common assumption is that weeds represent persecution of the faithful within the church. While that is surely part of it, perhaps more insidious are weeds that bring with them ideas that interfere with character development of the faithful. The resulting lack of virtue undermines the liberty that God wants us to have.

After the people of Gibeah murdered the Levite's concubine, he sent evidence to all of the tribes asking that that evil be removed. The rest of the tribes asked Benjamin to deliver up the men of Gibeah. When they refused, the resulting civil war nearly eradicated Benjamin from Israel.

Naomi instructs Ruth on how to claim the right of redemption from Boaz, her close relative. The resulting marriage brings together the descendants of Terah. It also illustrates how Christ is able to redeem all of humanity.

In the Roman Empire during the life of Christ and the ministry of the apostles, the gospel would have been understood as the announcement of a new king. That understanding was the source of conflict with the Pharisees and with the secular authorities. The modern church, having lost that understanding of the word has allowed itself to be taken out of the political arena.

After the death of Samson, the tribe of Dan was unable to hold the territory allotted to them by Joshua and so migrated to the north. They picked up an idolatrous Levite in the process. In the next vignette, a reprise of the Sodom story, a Levite and his concubine are abused while staying the night in Gibeah. This sets up the Benjaminite Civil War.

Naomi, her husband and two sons, move to Moab during a famine in their home town of Bethlehem. Naomi's two sons marry Moabite women. Over time her husband and two sons all perish leaving her and her daughters-in-law as widows. Naomi decides to return home and tells the other two to return to their families. Ruth refuses and stays with Naomi as she returns to Bethlehem.

Numbers 10 represents the high point of the wilderness generation. The tabernacle is finished and they have set out for the Promised Land. It all starts to fall apart in Numbers 11 with the result that that generation dies in the wilderness. Similarly, in Matthew 13 Y'shua switches from plain speech to cryptic parables indicating that he is done trying to reach the Jewish leadership. The problem in both cases was the same.

Samson continues to ravage the Philistines and so enable the tribe of Dan to hold the territory allotted to them by Joshua. The Philistines finally discover the source of his great strength and manage to bind Samson - to their ultimate destruction.

After giving advice on how to create and maintain a healthy, caring community, Paul concludes the letter with instructions for remaining personally effective in the great spiritual battle. In this, he draws on Isaiah and the Psalms to explain what each piece of the believer's equipment is to accomplish.