Ruth 1:8-22
Notes
Transcript
1 Now it came about in the days when the judges governed, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife and his 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, Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah. Now they entered the land of Moab and remained there.
3 Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left with her two sons.
4 They took for themselves Moabite women as wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. And they lived there about ten years.
5 Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was bereft of her two children and her husband.
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.
Introduction
Introduction
There is a false picture out there that Christians are to always be smiley, happy people, holding hands.
Of course, there is false teaching that portrays the gospel as something that brings prosperity and good things.
The so-called health and wealth gospel, started from the word of faith movement is rampant and spreading around the globe.
Maybe you have watched the straight up demonic behavior of Kenneth Copeland or laughed at Jesse Duplantis’ antics about private jets, or you know someone personally that believes that they will have wealth by claiming it in faith.
But this isn’t just something that the greedy schisters are out there peddling, this belief has made it into everyday churches.
In 2023, Lifeway Research found that more than half of American Protestant churchgoers say that their church teaches that God will bless them if they give more money to church and charities.
3 out of 4 that Lifeway polled said that they believe that God wants them to prosper financially, and many believe that they have to do something in order to receive material blessings from God.
But is this what is revealed to us in scripture?
Last month we saw that many in Naomi’s time believed the same thing, only they didn’t worship the God of the Bible, they worshipped a false idol in Ba’al.
And though the desired out come is different, they wanted rain and fertility for their crops, animals, and wives, we just want cash and cars, the fundamental belief is the same.
If we want to be materially blessed, we must do something to appease God to get it.
But how does this square up, not only with scripture, but with our experience?
The reality of suffering, suffering of all kinds, is one of the clearest motifs of scripture.
Job, Joseph, Ruth, David, Jeremiah, Peter, John, and Paul and many more lives retold in scripture are full of accounts of suffering.
This does not jive with the message of the many forms of the prosperity gospel we have today, and sometimes it doesn’t jive with our natural way of thinking!
But the bitter providence of God, as we discussed last time, is not capricious or whimsical.
Like Bro. Kyle taught us from Pauls letter to the Thessalonians, it is all on purpose.
God uses the trials and suffering in our lives to mold us, and more than that, He uses it for His glory.
This is one of the lessons of the Book of Ruth.
As we continue going through the story of Naomi, we remember that she started full.
She had a husband and two sons.
They obviously had means, because when the judgement of God came on the nation by way of famine, they were able to move to the country of Moab.
Her two sons were blessed with wives, Orpah and Ruth.
Everything seemed to be going well, until her husband died.
She was left a widow, then both of her sons died.
5 Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was bereft of her two children and her husband.
From fullness to emptiness. She was bereft, or left behind.
Poor Naomi had nothing left, but to make her way back to Bethlehem.
On the way back, she started to try and convince her two daughters-in-law to go back to their home and try to remarry.
And that is where we pick up the story again.
The bitterness of suffering has fallen on Naomi, Orpah, and Ruth, but we will see the hand of God shown to them in the response of Ruth and her loyalty and faith.
What I really want to show from our text today is that…
Every believer must have faith through the bitter providence.
Every believer must have faith through the bitter providence.
By not turning back like Orpah. v. 8-14
By not turning back like Orpah. v. 8-14
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.
One of the key things, one of the main reasons, why so much suffering in scripture is spelled out is that we get to see the rest of the story.
We get to see, spoiler alert, that Naomi goes from full to empty and back to full again.
We see that Job loses everything, but in the end it is restored double.
We see the deacon Stephen in Acts boldly proclaim the gospel, and while he is being stoned to death, we get a description of heaven where he would soon be when his suffering was finished.
We are to learn these accounts, so that we know that, for the believer, suffering is not the end.
That gives us true hope to see us through the temporary, light affliction toward weight of glory that is coming afterwards thanks to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Our three ladies didn’t know the end of the story, they were living through it, live and in 3D.
Naomi, in the midst of her bitterness, tries to encourage Orpah and Ruth to return.
Remember, they are on their path back to Bethlehem, and every once and a while their loss would come back to their minds and they would stand their and sob and weep.
Naomi wants them to go and try to find a husband in their own country so that they wouldn’t be destitute like she was.
But on the path back, they said they wouldn’t return.
10 And they said to her, “No, but we will surely return with you to your people.”
So Orpah and Ruth made it clear that they were going to stay with Naomi.
But then Naomi turns up the heat on them.
From her position as an old widow, she reminds them that there is no chance that she could have more children, and that even if she could start right away, it would be years for them to wait until her children were old enough to marry.
She then ends her argument at the end of verse 13.
13 …No, my daughters; for it is harder for me than for you, for the hand of the Lord has gone forth against me.”
The NASB here says it is harder for me than for you, but it is important to note that the word is more bitter, like the ESV translates it is exceedingly bitter for me.
Naomi is letting it all out, she is mourning her loss and the bitter providence of God, uncensored to her daughters-in-law.
There is an honest, real expression of pain in her words.
She doesn’t hide her feelings, she doesn’t give a pretence that she is not angry or hurting.
She is mourning what she has lost.
There is a time to soldier on through pain, but there is also a time to weep.
There is a real need for mourning, remembering the sting of death has been taken away, but a real grief and sadness from loss, especially in bereavement.
We have almost forgotten this.
We have memorials and celebrations of life, which are good, but the loss and understanding that death is not how it’s supposed to be are real as well.
As believers, Paul commands us in
15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.
The preacher tells us in Ecclesiastes there is a…
4 A time to weep and a time to laugh; A time to mourn and a time to dance.
But there is a Christian way to express these feelings and not sin while we weep.
Paul told the Thessalonians that we can express grief a different way
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.
We grieve differently, because we have hope.
We don’t have to lie to ourselves and each other that this world of sin and suffering is all that there is, because we have hope.
But Orpah didn’t have hope.
Starting on the path to Bethlehem, she couldn’t see through the suffering.
She didn’t trust that their could be any good come from waiting and relying on Naomi’s God.
If she was going to survive, she would have to make her own way.
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.”
They cried some more, Orpah kissed them goodbye, and that is the last we heard of her.
Maybe she went home, married a wealthy prince charming, had a bunch of kids, and lived happily ever after into old age.
We don’t know.
But we do know she went back to Moab and back to her false god.
A false god who could offer no hope through this life or the next.
My dad used to tell us that you could learn from everyone, some you learn what to do, and some you learn what not to do.
We all have suffering to pass through in this life, and some suffering brings what’s called a crisis of faith.
Jesus told the parable of the sower in Mark chapter 4.
He mentions some of the seed was sown on rocky grown that didn’t have enough soil to grow deep roots. When the sun came up, it scorched the plants and they withered away.
He explained later in
16 “In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy;
17 and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away.
This is what happened to Orpah, she had faith that was shallow, only skin deep. She married a Hebrew, so she followed the Hebrew’s God.
When he was taken, her faith left as well, and she turned back.
Brothers and sisters, don’t have a faith like Orpah’s.
When the suffering comes, make sure your faith is deep enough to stand the scorching Sun of pain and grief.
Get the truth of the hope that we have in Christ down into your marrow, so that when you are injured, the gospel fills your veins again with faith and hope.
By remaining faithful like Ruth. v. 14-18
By remaining faithful like Ruth. v. 14-18
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.
Ruth did the opposite of Orpah.
Bereft of her husband as well, she commited to going with Naomi into a strange land.
Remember, these are two widows, and at this time, there were no governmental programs to support the poor.
They would have to rely on what they could scrounge up for their sustenance.
But there was something different about Ruth, she would remain faithful to Naomi out of love, but there is also an air of hope to her statement.
The author says that Ruth clung to her.
This is not insignificant. This is language of a deep love and a real commitment.
Husbands and wives leave their parents home and cling to each other.
The Hebrews were commanded to cling to Yahweh in
20 “You shall fear the Lord your God; you shall serve Him and cling to Him, and you shall swear by His name.
This is covenantal language.
Ruth, the Moabitess, the one who used to worship Chemosh, is displaying something that is meant to be a characteristic of the people of Yahweh.
Naomi again compels Ruth to leave and follow Orpah back, but Ruth will have none of it.
Look at the language Ruth uses in her famous promise to Naomi.
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.”
This is the language of covenant.
Remember when God made His covenant with Abraham, and had the animals cut into two, and the torch and firepot went between them?
This signified that if God were to break the covenant, which He could not do, He should be cut up like those animals?
Thus may Yahweh do to Ruth if she leaves Naomi.
And even though death may separate them physically, she would even be buried where Naomi is buried.
Not even death would separate them.
What a beautiful picture of a real faith.
And remember, Ruth isn’t in it for the prosperity or the health and wealth, they had nothing.
She was in it out of pure love and care for her mother-in-law.
This promise represented a leaving behind of everything Ruth had known.
She completely turned away from her old life, and went on to a new life in Bethlehem.
Naomi’s trust in God, even in bitter suffering, had pointed Ruth to the truth.
This is one of the things that glorifies God in the suffering of His people.
Moses lead the people out of slavery in Egypt, and after all of the ordeals he came back to his father-in-law, Jethro.
8 Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardship that had befallen them on the journey, and how the Lord had delivered them.
This led Jethro to say
11 “Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods; indeed, it was proven when they dealt proudly against the people.”
And Jethro worshipped Yahweh.
Paul was imprisoned in Rome and he wrote the Philippians
12 Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel,
13 so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else,
14 and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear.
How will God use your suffering? or your response to it?
We may not know exactly, but we know it will be used in some way for His glory.
We can look at Ruth’s testimony and covenant of faith as an example of how we can keep and grow faith in these hard times we are called to go through.
We also must keep the faith, even in times of bitter providence…
By not listening to the unfaithful around us. v. 19-22
By not listening to the unfaithful around us. v. 19-22
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.
Ruth was determined, as we have seen, to stay with Naomi until the end.
So they make it back to Naomi’s home village of Bethlehem.
And their return has caused such a stir!
All of the gossips around town see the state which they came back in were stirred.
This can’t be Naomi!
For some reason I picture a disney cartoon scene, where the townspeople are going on with their chores, whispering to one another, “Did you hear Naomi’s back?”
Can you imagine what they are saying?
What did they do to deserve this?
Did they participate in the worship of Chemosh in Moab?
I knew when they left, in fact, I said so at the time, that God was going to punish them!
Like the disciples asking our Lord, “what did this blind man or his parents do that he was born blind?”
Look at Naomi’s response.
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?”
You see the name Naomi means “pleasant,” and certainly what had happened to her wasn’t pleasant.
She was to be called Mara from now on which means, “bitter.”
She is not swayed by the gossip, even though she is hurting from her suffering, she realizes that this has come from Yahweh Shaddai, God Almighty.
She bends the knee to the Sovereign Almighty God, El Shaddai.
Shaddai is one of the names that God revealed as He dealt with Abraham, Issac, Jacob, and Joseph.
He used it with Abraham when He promised Him a child in his old age.
He used it with elderly Jacob when Jacob sent his children away to Egypt to get grain in the famine.
And He used it with Joseph in Jacob’s prophecy about Joseph’s fruitfulness.
Joseph especially had to trust in this promise as it took years of suffering for God to work that out.
Yahweh’s character is expressed through the name Shaddai as the One who is at His best when man is at his worst.
And this is the name that Naomi uses when she is describing the bitterness of God’s unfolding plan for her life.
Maybe it seems like Naomi is just being bitter at God, agreeing with those gossips around her.
But I don’t think so, I think she is recognizing, from down here in human land, from a human perspective what the preacher said in Ecclesiastes.
14 I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and striving after wind.
And she would have to wait and see and learn what the preacher learned in
5 Just as you do not know the path of the wind and how bones are formed in the womb of the pregnant woman, so you do not know the activity of God who makes all things.
Rachel makes all kinds of crafts, she’s very talented.
Some of the things she makes, you cannot tell what it will be until it is finished.
Sometimes, the things don’t turn out too well, but usually they do.
Everything that Yahweh Shaddai makes turn out beautiful.
But they are like the beautiful tapestries, if you are looking at them from the back, all you see is a tangle of seeming unrelated colors and loose ends, and knots.
But if you turn it around you see that all those loose ends come together to make a beautiful, coherent piece of art.
What better example can their be than the suffering servant, Christ.
Even Peter couldn’t see what good could have come from throwing His life away by going to Jerusalem, but after the resurrection Peter saw the whole picture and then it made complete sense.
This is what Naomi would see at the end of her story, that all of this mess, what she said in verse 21
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?”
Would be turned around into the blessing of God!
Praise God she didn’t listen to all those around her that didn’t have the faith to encourage her in her time of bitterness and pain!
Conclusion
Conclusion
Brothers and Sisters, flock as Bro. Kyle said, much of God’s word has been given to us, not just to help us through suffering, but to point us through the suffering to our gracious, Almighty God.
Remember, everything God does is for a reason, even though it may look like a mess right now.
He truly is working everything out for His children.
This is a call for us who believe to rest in faith in Yahweh Shaddai, even through times of pain.
To show the faith of Ruth, to not turn back like Orpah, and to rest like Naomi did even in her bitterness.
And as we will see, amazingly and in ways that they couldn’t even imagine, God will work beautiful things out of their suffering.
If you don’t know Christ, this hope is not yours.
The sin and suffering of this life IS your best life.
Turn from your old life and false gods, and turn to the new country and the true God by placing your faith in the God who saves.
