The Return to Bethlehem

The Return to Bethlehem

Ruth 1:6-22

The providence of God is one of our favorite doctrines of the bible. When everything is going great, we talk about how good God is, and how He has a purpose and a plan for our life. It’s not until things go south and we are suffering or maybe we have lost a loved one that we begin to question who is in charge. We begin to ask God, “why is this happening to me?”

Very few of us can have the strength of Joseph. Who was sold into slavery by his brothers and spent years in prison in Egypt.

After he had risen to second in command in all the land, his brothers stood before him, and he had his chance to get revenge. But Joseph was able to say, “That which you intended for evil God used for good.” Because Joseph realized that God used his suffering to save his family.

A modern-day example of trusting God through suffering is Joni Eareckson Tada. She was seventeen when she dove into Chesapeake Bay. She misjudged the depth of the water, and she severed her spine leaving her a quadriplegic for the rest of her life. Instead of becoming bitter she became one of the most prolific Christian authors of our time.

She said, “My weakness, that is my quadriplegia, is my greatest asset because it forces me into the arms of Christ every single morning when I get up.”

Perspective is everything when you are facing challenges in life. That’s what we learn from this story. We can trust God through the tragedies we face. (Read)

6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the land of Moab, for she had heard in the land of Moab that the Lord had visited His people in giving them food.

7 So she departed from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.

8 And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me.

9 “May the Lord grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband.” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept.

10 And they said to her, “No, but we will surely return with you to your people.”

11 But Naomi said, “Return, my daughters. Why should you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?

12 “Return, my daughters! Go, for I am too old to have a husband. If I said I have hope, if I should even have a husband tonight and also bear sons,

13 would you therefore wait until they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters; for it is harder for me than for you, for the hand of the Lord has gone forth against me.”

14 And they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.

15 Then she said, “Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods; return after your sister-in-law.”

16 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back 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.

17 “Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus, may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me.”

18 When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.

19 So they both went until they came to Bethlehem. And when they had come to Bethlehem, all the city was stirred because of them, and the women said, “Is this Naomi?”

20 She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.

21 “I went out full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has witnessed against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?”

22 So Naomi returned, and with her Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, who returned from the land of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest. [1](Pray)

In our passage this morning Naomi is an example of a Christian with a bitter heart, and her bitterness clouds every decision she makes. She can’t see anything good in her life. All she can see is the tragedy she has endured.

Granted she has experienced incredible loss. The loss of her husband and her two sons, and she feels empty inside. But instead of being able to see the good things she has; her two daughters-in-law who are willing to stand by her side and accompany her in life, she rejects them and blames God for her circumstances. She doesn’t take any responsibility for the decisions she has made.

But God, in His grace provides Ruth who is experiencing the tragic loss of her own husband as well. Yet Ruth is not only faithful to Naomi, but she is faithful to the Lord. And in God’s divine providence He is going to begin to bless them both.

The lesson we learn from this passage is we can trust God through the tragedies we face.

The first thing I want you to see in this passage is the departure, Vs. 6-7. Naomi makes the decision to leave Moab and return to Bethlehem, but it really wasn’t much of a decision at all. There was nothing left for her in Moab, and it was time to go home.

There are two things about Naomi’s departure that stand out to me in these verses. 1. Is what we see. Notice her reason for going home, Vs 6 says, “she had heard in the land of Moab that the Lord had visited His people in giving them food.”

Isn’t it interesting that Naomi’s reason for going back to Bethlehem, is based on the same reason she left there in the first place. It is based on food. Remember she left Bethlehem because there was a famine in the land.

So, her decision to return has nothing to do with communion with God or fellowship with God’s people, but it is all about meeting her physical needs in the world.

Warren Wiersbe says, “her decision was right, but her motive was wrong. She was still focused on food, not fellowship with the Lord! Naomi was actually returning home a defeated believer, a widow gripped by despair and a deep sense that she was forsaken by God.”[2]

She is an example of a Christian who is not walking by faith but is walking by sight. There was nothing spiritual driving her decision. Her eyes are fixed on the world, and she couldn’t see what God is doing in her life.

Notice she hears that God has provided for His people. She can only hear about it because she is not present for it. She is not where she is suppose to be. She is disconnected from God and from God’s people, so she is not receiving God’s blessings.

Let me ask you this, Are you only hearing of God’s blessings in the lives of others, or are you able to see what God wants to do in your life?

Sometimes we are too close to the forest to see the trees. We become so fixed on the world that we can’t see the blessings of God right in front of us. (Rich young Ruler). Is the stuff you have more important than what Jesus has to offer?

2. The second thing that stands out to me is; what we don’t see. Naomi’s decision to go home doesn’t involve repentance or confession. She isn’t asking for forgiveness or taking any responsibility for her mistake.

Now we don’t know if the decision to leave the promised land was only her husbands’ decision. Perhaps Naomi was blameless in that mistake. Nevertheless, she did leave, and she stayed there for ten years after her husband died.

And now as she decides to return home there is no grievance over her sin. In fact, we see that she blames God for here circumstances. And now God is taking her back to the point of her mistake. Back to Bethlehem where her sin began.

Many times, in a Christians life there is reoccurring sin, because we have never repented and confessed of that sin, but we have simply tried to move on from it. And God will not let us do that. God will continue to take us back to where that sin began until we get it right. (Reminds me of when I get in an argument with my wife. I don’t get to just move on.)

Psalm 34:18 says, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted. And saves those who are crushed in spirit. [3] The one thing Naomi needed above all else was a broken heart of repentance.

The next thing I want to show you in this passage is the diversion, Vs. 8-13.Naomi is far from God, and she allows the bitterness of her heart to cloud her judgment. She creates a series of diversions to prevent her daughters-in-law from going with her.

Notice 4 times in these verses she uses the word return. It is obvious she doesn’t want these two to go and the question is why? I think there are a couple reasons.

First, Naomi knows her daughters-in-law will not be welcomed in Bethlehem. They will be welcomed over time, but they are Moabite women, and the Moabites were enemies of Israel.

Second, and more importantly, Naomi knows they will be a living reminder of the sin and mistake she has made. Every time she see’s these women, she will remember what she did.

How she left the promised land and went to live among God’s enemies. What an embarrassment that would be for her for the rest of her life. So, she must talk these two out of going with her and she turns to diversion.

Notice she begins with a blessing in Vs. 8, “And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me.”

She blesses them but this is the most impersonal blessing I have ever heard.

First, in the ancient world a woman didn’t return to her mother’s house but to her father’s house. So, essentially what Naomi is saying is “I am not your mother.” Go home to your own mother.

And notice she doesn’t use the names of her sons. She doesn’t say, “You have been kind to Mahlon and Chilion, but she calls them the dead. She says, “you have dealt kindly with the dead.

The impersonal blessing turns into a futile prayer in Vs. 9. She says, ““May the Lord grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband.” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept.”

Now I have no doubt Naomi genuinely cared for these ladies, and they cared for her. But think about what she is doing. She is trying to talk them out of going to God’s promised land and living among God’s people.

She is talking them out of coming to know the one true God for themselves. This is the equivalent of someone asking you about your church and you telling them to go home they don’t need God.

Then we see Naomi change her strategy and she diverts them with reason, Vs. 11-13. Here Naomi’s logic begins to make sense. Naomi was old, she wasn’t going to have more children, and even if she did the women couldn’t wait for them. So, their prospects of finding a husband were better in Moab than Bethlehem.

The problem with her logic is the only chance these women have of coming to know God is to follow her back to Bethlehem.

Naomi is an example of a Christian who doesn’t place any value on God. There is no commitment to the Lord. Her faith is so weak she doesn’t share it. She doesn’t consider that their future is brighter where God is and where they can be with God’s people.

I performed a funeral service for a minister once and after speaking for about 15 minutes on how committed he was to the Lord and his church, I was standing next to the casket and the man’s neighbor walked up to me and said, “You know, I didn’t even know he was a Christian.”

I was shocked by that statement. What an indictment. I think the worst thing anyone could ever say about you is those who lived closest to you didn’t know you knew the Lord.

Well Naomi was acting like a woman who didn’t know the Lord. And truly she had walked away from God a long time ago. But what’s amazing is God had not walked away from her and He was working in her life in a way she was not even aware of.

We can trust God through the tragedies we face.

The next thing I want you to see in this passage is the determination, Vs. 14-18. Here Ruth was determined to follow Naomi back to God and back to God’s people.

Look at Vs. 16 “But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back 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. “

Four times Ruth had been told to go home, but instead she clings to Naomi. Think of everything she is abandoning at this moment. She is choosing life with Naomi over her family, she is choosing Bethlehem over Moab, and she is choosing God over idolatry.

This is one of the most incredible conversions in the bible. She is completely forsaking who she was to become who God wants her to be.

This is an example of what takes place in the Life of every believer who comes to know the Lord Jesus Christ. Your entire perception of life changes and you are willing to walk away from the world to have God. (Phil. 3:7-8). (I trust) That is what has taken place in Ruth’s life. She has been saved.

Notice the oath she makes in Vs. 17, “Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus, may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me.”

Notice the faithfulness and commitment. Not only do her words show us a total commitment to Naomi, but the word “Lord” here is “Yahweh” and that tells us she knows exactly who she is making her commitment to.

What is amazing about the conversion of Ruth is the obstacles to her faith she has to overcome.

1. Consider the fact that Ruth has watched her sister-in-law turn back and go home. Naomi’s reasoning got to Orpah, and she made what seems to be the right decision. She goes back to her people where she can be taken care of by her family and possibly find a future husband.

This seems like the logical choice, but Orpah misses out on the opportunity to come to know the one true God and she will never be heard from in the Bible again. She disappears from the pages of scripture. But consider the affect this had on Ruth who is now the only Moabite women going to Bethlehem. She has lost the support of her sister-in-law.

2. Consider Naomi’s witness. I don’t know how Ruth came to know God as her Lord, but I doubt it was through Naomi. All we read about is how bitter Naomi is and she blames God for her circumstances. Perhaps Ruth learned about Yahweh from her husband before he passed away. We don’t know, what we do know is Naomi’s attitude toward God is an obstacle Ruth has to overcome.

Notice Naomi’s reaction to Ruth after she makes this incredible oath and commits her life to her. Vs. 18 says, “When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.”

What this means is Naomi stopped talking to Ruth all together. For the next 50 miles on the journey to Bethlehem Naomi was full spite and resentment, and she ignored her daughter-in-law. What an incredibly poor witness and what an indictment against Naomi’s relationship with God.

Instead of setting the example and encouraging Ruth that God is faithful and would take care of them and meet their needs in Bethlehem She gave her the cold shoulder, because she had long since given up on God.

Let me ask you this, what is your witness to the world? Are you able to see when God is at work in some else’s life? Are you an encouragement or are you an obstacle? Our witness should teach people we can trust God through the tragedies we face.

The final thing I want to show you in this passage is the reception, Vs. 19-22. Naomi and Ruth arrive in Bethlehem to an outcry of support and celebration. Yet Naomi continues to play the victim.

Notice Vs. 19, “So they both went until they came to Bethlehem. And when they had come to Bethlehem, all the city was stirred because of them, and the women said, “Is this Naomi?”

The word “stirred” here is the word “seismic.” It means there was something of an eruption when they came into town. The people were excited to see Naomi. Notice what they say, “Is this Naomi?” Naomi is welcomed home with open arms.

But Notice there is no mention of Ruth. She was probably not accepted at first. But God’s people would eventually accept her as one of their own because of her faithfulness to Naomi and to God.

That teaches us that all of Naomi’s worries were unfounded. She had no reason not to trust God and allow her daughters-in-laws to come with her. She still doesn’t take any responsibility for her actions, and she continues to blame God for her circumstances. But now you can feel the tension in the story resolved. Naomi has been welcomed home, back to her people and back to God.

What we realize in this moment is God is always faithful even when we are not. We can trust Him to come through in the tragedies we face, even when we don’t sense His presence. Even when we can’t see the results, God is always at work in our lives.

Romans 8:28 says, God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love the Lord, those who have been called according to His purpose. You and I are called according to the purpose of God, and we can trust Him to come through in our life.

Notice the final phrase of Vs. 22, “And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.”

Not only is God faithful and forgiving but He wants to bless Naomi and Ruth. He has brought them home in His perfect timing and according to His perfect plan, right at the beginning of the harvest. And the best part of the story is He has already produced a harvest in the heart of Ruth.

Now, God is going to begin to provide for them in a way they never could have imagined, not only food but a family. And the same thing is true for everyone who puts their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. We can expect not only to be forgiven but to be blessed. God doesn’t do anything halfway.

Now that doesn’t mean life is always going to be easy. Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble, but be of good cheer I have overcome the world.”

What that means is when you put your trust in Jesus Christ you will overcome the world as well. And that’s what we learn from this passage, we can trust God through the tragedies we face.

[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 update (Ru 1:6–22). (1995). The Lockman Foundation. [2]Leadership Ministries Worldwide. (2001). Judges, Ruth(p. 296). Leadership Ministries Worldwide. [3] New American Standard Bible: 1995 update (Ps 34:18). (1995). The Lockman Foundation.