Ruth
Chapter 1
Running From a Problem
“The efforts which we make to escape from our destiny only serve to lead us into it." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
The book of Ruth is a superb piece of literature. Even if it were merely a work of fiction and not an inspired book of the Bible, Ruth would still be worth reading. The author was a great story teller. His use of contrast, irony, and such literary device is brilliant. He is able to make his point without the reader even noticing. He's able to tell the story without commentary or judgment, yet lead the reader exactly where he wants us to go. Ruth is a great story. If you haven't yet read all the way through it, I'd encourage you to. A great story of love, life, and hope. In fact, with a little minor editing and an fairly easy updating to modern life, Ruth could be a Lifetime movie of the week. It has all the elements tragedy, 'a strong, brave young woman against all odds', a knight in shining armor coming to the rescue, and a beautiful love story. A truely great story but, why is Ruth included in Scripture? What is it that that the Holy Spirit is trying to teach us? How does the book of Ruth converge with theology? Here are a few themes that we'll discover during this study:
Contrasts the depravity of the time of the Judges with a family following Yahweh, showing that in even the worst of times, God has His remnant.
Displays God's concern for Gentiles, giving us a glimpse of Gentiles being grafted into Israel's vine.
Gives a practical example of a kinsman redeemer and foretells of Christ, our kinsman redeemer.
Tells of God's working to provide a king for Israel and a Savior for the world.
Shows God's 'Hesed' - loving kindness to His people.
Shows how God works "behind the scenes" in everyday lives to accomplish His purposes.
In the Days When the Judges Ruled It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it wa s the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way What do we know about the days of the Judges? This was a low point of Jewish history. Israel, overall, was in a state of apostasy spiritual and moral corruption was commonplace. The Jewish people were "Canaanized" for the most part, reflecting the pagan lifestyle of the people around them.
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Jdg 17:6, 21:25 Why was there no king? king? God was to be their their king. But, the people rejected God's God's kingship. kingship. When you have no spiritual king, no moral leadership, you're left with a situation like in the book of Judges - everyone does what's right in their own eyes. I become my own king, my own judge, my own God. That sounds pretty modern. It sounds just like our day. But, keep in mind, "everyone was doing what was right in his own eyes." It's not like they didn't care about their decisions. They were trying to do the right thing. But, without God, they had no grounding. I think we live in a time like that. It's not like people are purposely trying to do wrong. They try to do the right thing. But they tend to do what's right in their own eyes. "You can't judge me. How can you say what I do is wrong? What makes you think your morality is superior to mine?" And they'd be right if there is no moral authority. One person's morality would be as good as the next.
A Famine in the Land So, in the midst of this atmosphere, came a famine. Here is our first instance of irony. There was a famine in Bethlehem. Do you know what the word "Bethlehem" means? Literally, it's "the house of bread." Bethlehem was Israel's bread basket. And yet, there's no food in the house of bread. Why was there a famine? Well, we're not told, exactly. The writer doesn't comment and there's no record of famine in Judges. But, we do know that Israel is a covenant community. Moses explained that there would be great blessings when the people kept the covenant and obeyed God's law. But, conversely there would be severe judgment when they strayed. God sent famine to Israel when she would turn her back on Yahweh. Given the times, I don't think it's a stretch to say that was the case here. So there was a famine... a severe food shortage in Israel. So what do you do? Well, for the Israelites, famine was meant to be a "warning light" like your "check engine" light. A signal that there's a problem. What do you do when the yellow light comes on? You need to get the car checked out, find out what's wrong & fix it. There's another way you could handle it. You could ignore it or run away from the problem. That's what one family decided to do. There was a man named Elimelech, which (irony #2) means "My God is king." In a time when there was no king in the land because God isn't recognized as king, we're introduced to Mr. My God Is King. Did he pay attention to the warning light? Did he bow to God's sovereignty and adjust his ways? No. He said "Well, if there's no food here, I'll go to where where there is plenty to eat." Seems like a reasonable solution. solution. What else is a guy to do? It makes a certain amount of sense. Doing what's right in your own eyes is usually justifiable as long as God's word is left out of the equation.
Sometimes, when we try to fix a problem by doing what seems right, we only make things worse. Back in the mid 1800's millions of blackbirds deviating from their normal migratory pattern decided to land on the farm of Dr. Fredric Dorsey, in the state of Maryland. He tried everything to get them to fly away, but to no avail. Guns and firecrackers were ineffective. So he scattered wheat soaked in arsenic over his fields. The blackbirds, eager to wash the foreign substance from their throats, rushed to the new by stream, and millions of them dropped dead in that stream. By the next morning the congestion of dead birds had dammed up the stream, and Dorsey's farm was flooded and completely under water. His solution was worse than the problem.
Escape to the 'Far Country' So, Elimelech decided he'd take his family over to Moab. What do we know about Moab? Moab began out of incest between Lot and his daughter. Moab refused to help Israel when they were on their way to the Promise land. Balak, the king of Moab hired Balaam to curse Israel. Eglon, another Moabite king defeated Israel and made her a vassal state for some 18 years. Moab worshipped a pagan god named Chemosh, a fertility god like Baal. Chemosh worship was known for fertility rituals(orgies) and human sacrifices. Moab was a long-standing enemy of God's people. But, Elimelech's little family, never the less, decided that Moab was the place to be. He, his wife Naomi (meaning Pleasant), and his two sons Mahlon (sickly) and Chilion (frail) went off to sojourn in Moab, to stay "a little while" The funny thing about wandering off to the Far Country is it's always for "a little while." We might decide to 'take a break' from church and spiritual things for whatever reason (and we usually think it's a darn good one!), but just for a while. We'll be back soon. We won't be gone long. But, it rarely works out that way. The longer we stay away, the harder it is to get back. So, the 'little while' becomes years, maybe decades of wasted time. For Elemelech's family it was at least 10 years. The sojourn of vs. 1 became 'remaining' in vs. 2. They had settled down in Moab. How attached they became to the culture of Moab, were not told. But, I'd suggest that it would be hard not to be pretty engrained into the culture after 10 years. If you're someplace for that long, it's home. Although, I think we have evidence that they didn't completely abandon their Jewish roots and their belief in God. But, the two sons were involved in the culture enough to take Moabite wives - women from a pagan culture who knew nothing of Yahweh, who came out of a pagan religion worshipping a pagan god. Israel was commanded not to marry Canaanite women, not so for Moabite brides. However, there were restrictions on them from joining into the assembly of worship for 10 generations. ( Deut. 23:3-4) It may not have been completely forbidden, forbidden, but there are plenty of
warnings and examples in Scripture to suggest that marrying a pagan is unwise, un wise, to say the least.
Tragedy Strikes We're not told how long Elimelech was in Moab before he died, but the text seems to suggest it wasn't long. Naomi was left to be a widow. Her loving husband is gone. That's a great heartbreak, to be sure. I'm sure she grieved deeply. But, as terrible as it was, losing a husband was a fairly common thing at that time. It was, no doubt, fairly rare for man to live into old age. She was still being taken care of. She still still had her loving sons that that would look after her. Then, the unthinkable happened! Both of Naomi's sons die. Tragedy upon tragedy. Can you imagine her grief? To lose your beloved husband husband and then your only only two children? But, we may may not even appreciate how devastating this was for Naomi.. In those days, there was no Social Security, no welfare system. There was no system that would provide for a widow without the support of a man. Naomi was in dire straits and she knew it. She faced a life of abject poverty at best and a very real possibility of eventual starvation. Another distressing factor in her situation is that there now is no heir. The family name seemed destined to die. In those times, keeping the family line perpetuated was paramount. To have no male heir meant that there was no future, no hope for Naomi. But, here we find Naomi at the foot of three graves, in a foreign land, without friends or family, except two daughters-inlaw... two young pagan women that she's now responsible for. The author wants us to pause here. He wants us to absorb Naomi's despair. What will she do? What will she do to fix this appalling situation? Is there a future? Is there hope? Good news comes to Naomi, though. The famine had lifted and there was again bread in the House of Bread. So she decides it's time to make the journey back home to Bethlehem. Naomi, Ruth, and Orpah begin the 50 mile trek.
Three Women at a Crossroad Naomi's Crossroad: Naomi had come to her crossroad. She decided it was time to get back to where she belonged. It was time to return to her God and to the land of blessing. But, somewhere along the way, Naomi came to a realization. She decided that it might not be such a good thing to take her daughters-in-law back to Bethlehem.
Now, I have to confess, I'm really not sure that I have Naomi figured out. The one thing troublesome about the narrative type of story telling is that we're not given any commentary to understand what the characters are thinking. The book of Ruth contains 85 verses, 56 of which are dialogue. We're told what the characters say, we aren't always given an idea of why. Sometimes it can be difficult difficult to come to a conclusion about about what they are doing. I'm sure that Naomi is a believer in God, but throughout the book, I have to wonder about her motivation. It seems that although she is a believer, she's still living by the spirit of the age. I think that faith becomes clear in several places throughout the book. But, it just seems to me that Naomi still tends to 'do what is right in her own eyes' - doing what makes sense without always taking God into account. Naomi tries to convince the girls to go back to Moab. She explains that there's no guarantees in following her. Orpah and Ruth are heading to a land of strangers. It's not likely that they'll find husbands (and a husband is the difference between living well and poverty) Naomi has a sense of responsibility toward them, but she's not in a position to provide for them. She certainly can't provide them with husbands. So she pleads them to return to Moab, their families, and their gods. Naomi!! No! Why would she send them back to worship Chemosh? Does she really want them to live their lives in idolatry and immorality? I don’t doubt that she is genuinely concerned for their welfare. But, is she thinking right? It may be, as some commentators suggest, that she’s trying to cover up for her disobedience. She doesn’t want her Bethlehem neighbors to talk behind her back about the pagan women that married into her family. Orpah's Crossroad: The girls have a decision to make. Do they leave everything they’ve ever known? Do they risk it all to follow Naomi to a strange land and an uncertain future? Orpah had to decide between the uncertainties of a new life and the comfort of what is known. She, no doubt, gave it deep thought. She didn’t want to leave her beloved mother-inlaw. But, Naomi's argument did eventually persuade Orpah who kissed her and headed back toward home.
Ruth’s Crossroad: Ruth had the same decision to make, but the outcome was entirely different. She faced the same risks, the same uncertainties as Orpah, but something caused her to choose the opposite. She wouldn't consider abandoning her beloved mother-in-law. She said "I'm going wherever you go. I'm going to live where you live. I'm taking your people as mine and your God as my own,"
This is a great tribute to Naomi. Obviously she had made a huge impression on Ruth and inspired a deep love and commitment. But, that wasn't the only commitment that Ruth made. She committed herself to Yahweh. This was Ruth's confession of faith: "Your God will be my God." She understood the risks. She knew that she was giving up almost everything that she's ever known. But, Ruth learned a math lesson. She concluded that God plus nothing equals
everything; and everything minus God equals nothing. The faith of Naomi's (and no doubt also Mahlon) must have made a big impression on Ruth. The only thing that Ruth knew about the God of Israel was the witness of this family. She never went to Church. She never read a Bible. And yet, she learned enough from their witness and lives to place her faith in God. You know... Maybe, just maybe, Naomi was trying to draw Ruth's faith out when she pushed for her to return to Moab. Maybe she was asking Ruth to "count the cost" of discipleship. Just a thought. But, after hearing Ruth's beautiful confession, Naomi had nothing more to say. They continued their trek back to Bethlehem.
Back to the Future So the two women are back in Bethlehem and the town was abuzz! Naomi's friends came out to greet her. It's been a long time with no word and I'd imagine that they weren't sure if Naomi was still alive up to this point. They were excited to see her again. Yet, this wasn't the same old Naomi. She'd gone through quite a bit. She had changed. The years have made their mark on her appearance and tragedy has taken it's toll on her demeanor. She was changed enough that they asked, "Is this Naomi?" Naomi's reply was "Don't call me Naomi (Pleasant) Call me Mara (Bitter) because God has dealt bitterly with me. She said, "When I left here, I was full but God has brought me back empty. I have nothing. Was she right? Was she left with nothing? How do you suppose poor Ruth was feeling, standing there right beside her? I really don't want to be too hard on Naomi. She's been through more than most of us could bear. She has lost virtually everything. She is facing a future that (as far as she knows) is very bleak. She is suffering terribly. BUT, she has come home with a daughter-in-law who was willing to give up everything to be by her side. Naomi still needs to learn that math lesson. She's not empty, by far, if she has the Lord. You know Naomi did have some good theology in at least one area. She was very strong when it comes to God's sovereignty. She attributed the lifting of the famine to be God's hand, so I assume she'd say that the famine, itself was from God. She didn't blame her circumstances on blind luck or mere chance. She understood that it was the hand of God behind all that's happened. But, she seems to lack in the understanding that God is good and His purposes are always good. Unfortunately she didn't have the opportunity to read Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God
all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. The story is far from over. God is at work behind the scenes. Just wait, Naomi. He's not done with you. The last verse is And they came to Bethlehem at the telling. Can you imagine a sly smile on our story tellers face as he says "
beginning of barley harvest. " He's hinting that things are about to change for the better.
So What? What can we take away from this chapter?
Doing what seems right or sensible isn't always the best way to go.
Running from a Problem usually only makes things worse.
If you get away from God and are in the middle of that downward spiral, turn around and GO HOME.
Tragedy and adversity can result in a bitter attitude if we don’t keep in mind that God is Good and His Purposes are Always Good.
God + 0 = EVERYTHING; Everything - God = 0
