Ruth 1:1-5
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Glad to go through this…my grandma’s name was Ruth. :)
Also, it is a welcome optimistic shift from the heaviness of Judges.
Ruth 1:1 (ESV)
1 In the days when the judges ruled...
1a - In the days when the judges ruled...
oh wait, Judges again?? yup
Ruth starts with THREE tie ins to the book of Judges
(1) In the days when the judges ruled
The people of Israel were...
…doing evil in the sight of the Lord
…doing whatever was right in their own eyes… they did not include the Lord in their plans
Ruth 1:1 (ESV)
1 ...there was a famine in the land...
(2) There was a famine in the land
This was a fulfillment of the consequence the Lord promised for disobedience
1 “You shall not make idols for yourselves or erect an image or pillar, and you shall not set up a figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the Lord your God.
2 You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.
18 And if in spite of this you will not listen to me, then I will discipline you again sevenfold for your sins,
19 and I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze.
20 And your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield its increase, and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit.
The Lord has responded to Israel’s continued disobedience as He said he would…with famine in the land.
Ruth 1:1 (ESV)
1 ...and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.
(3) A man of Bethlehem is on the move
1c - A man of Bethlehem went to sojourn in Moab
In the epilogue of Judges, we saw two Levites
Dan - The Levite from Bethlehem (Moses’ grandson)
Benjamin - A Levite took a concubine from Bethlehem, who left him to return to her father in Bethlehem. He went to her father to take her back again and on his return came to Gibeah (Judges 19)… :(
So, again, we find ourselves in Bethlehem, what is it’s significance?
The writer emphasizes Bethlehem as the setting of the book of Ruth, mentioning the city by name 8 times in the four chapters…5 times in chapter 1. Seems like the writer finds it significant.
1>We know from the birth story of Jesus in Matthew 2, Bethlehem is where the Messiah was prophesied to be born
Micah 5:1–5 (ESV)
1 Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops; siege is laid against us; with a rod they strike the judge of Israel on the cheek.
2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.
3 Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel.
4 And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth.
5 And he shall be their peace.
One will come who is to be ruler in Israel
Whose coming is from old, from ancient days! …Colossians 1:17 “17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
He will shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord
They shall dwell secure
He shall be great to the ends of the earth
He shall be their peace
2>It is where Rachel passed away during childbirth
17 And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son.”
18 And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin.
19 So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem),
Again back to Matthew 2, we know Herod sought to kill the Messiah when he was born and ordered all the boys two and under be killed in Bethlehem and it is said this is in fulfillment of...
15 Thus says the Lord: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.”
I’m not going to read all of Jeremiah 31, but theme of the chapter is how the Lord will turn their mourning into JOY!
13 Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
14 I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, declares the Lord.”
and the whole of the chapter ends pointing us to the establishment of the New Covenant...
31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,
32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord.
33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
The name of the city Bethlehem is thought to mean, “House of Food (or Bread)” …it speaks of the provision of the Lord. To me it is significant that IN SPITE OF and MANY TIMES through great pain, the Lord faithfully provides for His people even still.
3>In 1 Samuel 16 we read of the anointing of King David was in his hometown of Bethlehem.
It is here that the Lord told Samuel as he surveyed the sons of Jesse
7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
During the time of the Judges, the people are looking…IN ALL THE WRONG places for leadership. God has a plan to provide for them. Through their pain, he will bring about a king after His own heart. And furthermore, He will bring forth the King of all Kings, Jesus from this ancient village in the fertile valleys just six miles south of Jerusalem.
so again...
Ruth 1:1 (ESV)
1 a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.
1d - with his wife and two sons
2 The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there.
2a - Their names:
His name: Elimelech - God is King (cf: Abimelech - My father is king)
How fitting is it…that for hundreds of years in the time of the judges, the people are looking for who will lead them and the Lord’s message to them throughout has not changed, God is King.
His wife: Naomi - Pleasant
His sons: Mahlon & Chilion
2b - They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem
2c - They went into country of Moab & remained there
3 But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons.
3 - Elimelech died and was left with her two sons
4 These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years,
4a - Mahlon & Chilion took Moabite wives
presumably after their dad died while they were in Moab
Orpah & Ruth
4b - They lived there about ten years
5 and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.
5a - Mahlon & Chilion died also
5b - The woman (Naomi) was left without her two sons and her husband.
The book of Ruth...
Naomi begins this story without even a hope for an heir and miraculously ends it with one in her lap (inclusio)
14 Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel!
Ruth is a story about the origin of Kings of Israel and even more so about the coming Messiah
It is also a story about God’s provision through pain of loss
GO WITH THIS...
Where you are doesn’t solve who you are…Florida is often seen by people who move here as some sort of utopia that will solve the problems of their past…but you cannot erase your past...wherever we are, we are still broken people living in a broken world
Elimelech moved his family away from a famine…he still passed away early…and so did his sons.
Some read this as God’s judgement on Elimelech for leaving the land of promise…I don’t read it that way.
The people of Israel were corporately disciplined with famine for their unfaithfulness to His covenant with them
The Land God gave them effectively spit them out!
Elimelech did what he had to do to preserve his family within that context…move.
That said…moving did not save them from the brokenness of our world.
We make our plans, but tomorrow isn’t promised wherever we are?
One of the most important things you can learn in parenting is to not threaten a discipline you are not able to follow through on. I may have told this story but I learned this lesson as a camp counselor in Oklahoma....New Life Ranch: kids acting up at lights out…finally I said, “if you don’t quiet down, you are going to run the circle drive” (it was probably a mile long circle around a playing field and swimming pool)… I had to follow through that night AND supervise a camper running the circle drive.
A famine came to Israel, just as God had promised it would if Israel forsook the Lord
God is faithful
He is faithful to bless
He is faithful to discipline
As Elimelech’s name says...God is King
It is IMPRESSIVE how stubborn we are to resist this truth. The Lord is King.
He is a worthy King
Worthy of our praise
Worthy of our adoration
Worthy of the laying down of our lives for His Kingdom sake.