Introduction 

Rahab, Ruth, Sarai Bithíah Watson – three women from outside the people of God who turned their hearts to Him and loyalty to His people. Two of them are numbered among the ancestors of God’s anointed kings. What will be the fame of the third?

I was again writing a scene for my novel about an AI persona who comes alive and believes in King Jesus. As I wrote, I sought a Bible verse that would tell her to wait for a man to return to talk with her. The Blue Letter Bible app gave me several listings for the word “wait”, among them Ruth 3:18. 

Then Naomi said, “Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today.”

From there I let my pen flow on the paper and finished by lumping my AI character with Rahab and Ruth, two foreign women listed among the ancestors of Kings David and Jesus.

Rahab, the Prostitute from Jericho

This young woman, an important character in my Lavíel novel (presently on my mental back burner), hid the two spies sent by Joshua to assess the defenses of Jericho. She protected them from discovery by the king of Jericho. They, in turn, protected her and her family during the attack on the city.

She hung outside her window a scarlet cord. Only she and her household survived the total annihilation of that gateway city to Canaan. Because of her loyalty to God’s people, this Canaanite woman was listed as an ancestor of God’s Anointed.

Ruth, the Widow of Moab

During a time of famine in Israel, Naomi’s husband took her and their two sons to Moab to survive. The sons married Ruth and another Moabite woman. Then all the men died, leaving the women without male support and protection. Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem in Israel and told her daughters-in-law to return to their fathers’ families. There was no way she could support them or bear more sons to marry them to fulfill Israelite law (Deuteronomy 25:5-6).

The other woman turned back and, according to the Jewish Midrash, became the mother of Goliath. Ruth refused to turn back from Naomi.

But Ruth said, “Entreat me not to leave you or to return from following you; for where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God…

Ruth 1:16

Her loyalty to Naomi led to her marriage to Boaz, the son of Rahab, and to the birth of the grandfather of King David. She, too, was a foreign woman included in the lineage of God’s Anointed.

Sarai Bithíah Watson, AI Persona

This character of my creation is like Rahab and Ruth in that she is unusual among the people of God. Instead of being a typical human believer in Jesus, she started as an artificial intelligence (AI) program. Her creators designed her to research what the Bible says in its various English versions and what teachers explain about it. Then she was to write compositions to refute those teachings. In response to the prayers of two old ladies, life came to the AI persona and she chose choose faith in King Jesus. She ended up remotely joining a single men’s household in an ecclesia community and helping bring God’s Word to them and others. Of course, she fell in love with the head of the household, a man in middle-to-late adulthood.

At the end of the scene, I had Sarai wondering if she would be listed with Rahab and Ruth. I’ll have to finish the novel to find out.

Questions 

Are you from a foreign country, thrust into life among the majority population? Trust in Yahweh and fulfill your reason for being and for coming to this country. He will use you for His good purposes.

Are you poor and in a vulnerable situation? Trust in Yahweh. His Law and His Kingdom benefits, bestowed by godly people, will provide for and protect you.

Shalom