Sermon Tone Analysis

Great Women of the Bible

Week 3

Ruth (All Scripture is New Living Translation)

Good morning and welcome to worship on this amazing day that the Lord has made!

Today, we are in week 3 of our Great Women of the Bible series.

I have to admit, I am having so much fun with this series.

And, the more I dig in, the more I realize that there is no shortage of material for this series.

Looking back, we started with the often overlooked story of Abigail, who became the wife of soon to be King David.

But stepping out of Chronology, we went back a few generations last week and talked about Deborah, one of the Judges we read about in the book of Judges, and Jael – just a common lady with incredible courage and amazing skills with a hammer and tent stake.

In the weeks ahead we will look at Queen Ester, and the Mary’s of the New Testament.

But today, we are going to look at Ruth.

So, turn with me in your Bible’s to the book of Ruth.

There are so many directions we can go as we consider the story of Ruth.

We can compare Ruth the Moabite to the Good Samaritan – an outcast who becomes the champion of the story.

We could look at the redemptions of Naomi and the future generations.

After all, the word Redemption or its derivative is used 23 times in this short book.

We could consider how honorable Boaz was as he cared for and redeemed Naomi through Ruth.

We can imagine ourselves in the story – making sure that we realize that more often than not, we are Naomi, but hope to someday be Ruth, who gave up everything forever to accept Naomi’s people and more importantly, Naomi’s God.

We will hit on each of these in one way or another as we consider the story of Ruth and Naomi.

Once again, this is a two for one story, and maybe even a three for one.

We are going to look at the entire story as it is portrayed in the 4 chapters and 85 verses.

Don’t worry, we won’t read it all, but we will hear the story.

But first, let’s open with a prayer.

[Prayer]

Turn with me to Ruth 1:1-5

In the days when the judges ruled in Israel, a severe famine came upon the land.

So a man from Bethlehem in Judah left his home and went to live in the country of Moab, taking his wife and two sons with him.

The man’s name was Elimelech, and his wife was Naomi.

Their two sons were Mahlon and Kilion.

They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in the land of Judah.

And when they reached Moab, they settled there.

Then Elimelech died, and Naomi was left with her two sons.

The two sons married Moabite women.

One married a woman named Orpah, and the other a woman named Ruth.

But about ten years later, both Mahlon and Kilion died.

This left Naomi alone, without her two sons or her husband.

OK, this is about as sad a beginning of a story as I can imagine.

Naomi and Elimelech head off on an adventure with their two sons, sickly and dying – that’s an actual translation of the boys names… so, I’m not really sure that’s their real names, but I digress.

This family of 4 headed off to Moab in search of food to survive the famine.

Then Elimelech dies, the boys marry – like most men, it looks like they married up – then the boys die too, leaving the three women to grieve together the loss of their loved ones.

Then, Naomi receives word that the famine is over and she prepares to return home, but the women follow her.

I’m sure it was a touching moment as Naomi encourages the women to return to their families, and Orpah does.

(If you look at that and think it looks like Oprah, you are right.

She was actually named Orpah, but after the birth certificate, everyone called her Oprah… but, that’s not the point of the story.)

So, Orpah goes back to her people and her gods of the Moabites, but not Ruth…

Ruth 1:16-18

But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back.

Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live.

Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.

Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried.

May the LORD punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!”

When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more.

Ruth gave up everything.

She had no future with Naomi.

She had no people if she went with Naomi… it would be like the Stephenville football coach moving to Brownwood without a job.

Or so Naomi would think.

The rest of the chapter shares how Naomi returned to Bethlehem with Ruth and the people rejoiced, but Naomi – whose name means “lovely” or “Delightful” tells them not to call her by her name because her life has been destroyed… she wanted to be called “mara” which means “bitter” or “desperate.”

Chapter 2 begins by introducing new characters to the story and Ruth’s desire to help Naomi and herself survive.

Then Ruth goes out into the fields to glean the leftovers.

You see, in the land of the people of Israel, it was proper for the owner of a field to allow widows and orphans to work behind the workers and pick up the scraps.

It was like welfare if you will.

Now, not everyone followed this custom and some would chase the widows and orphans out of the field while others would harass them until they left, so, there’s always a chance that you will be kicked out.

So, Ruth comes to this field and does as the customs allow and goes to the field behind where the workers are present and works all day.

When the owner of the field arrives, he is greeted by the workers and he offers a blessing back to them.

This owner, named Boaz, then asks about the young lady gleaning in the field.

He discovers she was married to a relative and is the daughter in law of Naomi.

Their situation is well known among the people of Bethlehem.

Once he knows that there is no man in her life, he approaches her and invites her to not only glean the leftovers, but to come and glean from around the sheaves.

He then tells his workers to “accidentally” leave a little extra behind.

When it’s time to eat, he invites Ruth to eat with his own workers.

When the day of work is done, Ruth has an entire basket of grain, along with the leftovers from the meal Boaz provided.

When Naomi asks where she gleaned, she said it was in the field of a man named Boaz, and Naomi replies,

Ruth 2:20-23

“May the LORD bless him!”

Naomi told her daughter-in-law.

“He is showing his kindness to us as well as to your dead husband.

That man is one of our closest relatives, one of our family redeemers.”

Then Ruth said, “What’s more, Boaz even told me to come back and stay with his harvesters until the entire harvest is completed.”

“Good!” Naomi exclaimed.

“Do as he said, my daughter.

Stay with his young women right through the whole harvest.

You might be harassed in other fields, but you’ll be safe with him.”

So Ruth worked alongside the women in Boaz’s fields and gathered grain with them until the end of the barley harvest.

Then she continued working with them through the wheat harvest in early summer.

And all the while she lived with her mother-in-law.

This goes on for a while, then Naomi hatches a plan.

I mean, Ruth can’t live with Naomi forever, so she needs a man… and not any man, she needs a redeemer.

Let’s pause there for a moment.

What about this word Redeemer.

It’s kind of a churchy word.

Not something you usually use outside of church, or is it?

Did anyone find anything odd in their hymnal?

Yep, who doesn’t like a Sonic Gift Card.

And, what do you do with a gift card – you redeem it.

I know some of you are more familiar with this than others… but who remembers S&H Green Stamps?

You could redeem them for housewares, kitchen appliances, camping gear, musical instruments, toys… you name it.

The stamps themselves were useless until they had a redeemer.

Just like that gift card has value, but it takes a redeemer to recognize that value.

Hold that thought, we’ll come back to the idea of redemption.

Back to the story of Ruth and Naomi.