Ruth 1.1-22: Tough Beginnings

Historical Background:

Bethlehem accepts them! (surprise!)

Bethlehem accepts them! (surprise!)

Ruth is read at Savuot, Festival of Weeks, end of Festival of Weeks.

Themes:

Royal Covenant

Divine Providence

About Moab:

: 3 “No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of them may enter the assembly of the Lord forever, 4 because they did not meet you with bread and with water on the way, when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you. 5 But the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam; instead the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loved you. 6 You shall not seek their peace or their prosperity all your days forever.

Women:

Names:

Elimelech: My God is King

Naomi: Pleasant

Mahlon: Sickly

Chilion: Frail

Bethlehem: House of Bread

Ephrathites: another name for Bethlehem or nearby village

1:6-7: Return: 10 times in all the same word. Coming and going. Change!

NIB:

“Ruth as the power of revealing us to ourselves as we are rather than as we think we ought to be .

Is this a book of mere morality? Temptation: “We ought to act like her.”

What’s the point of Ruth?

Redeem (redeemer, redemption): Our of eighty-five verses, word used 23 times.

“Ruth’s faithfulness is only the instrument God uses to accomplish Naomi’s redemption… The story of Ruth becomes a story of redemption for Israel only if Israel can be persuaded to believe that redemptive efforts made by God on Naomi’s behalf will be made by God on Israel’s behalf as well.”

Story about redemption! This outsider is the ‘agent or tool God uses to bring about the redemption of Israel/Naomi. The parable-like form of the narrative encourages us to see not just that we ought to be like Ruth but that we are like Naomi… Thus a redemptive reading of Ruth will assume that the story is primarily concerned with the faithfulness of God rather than with the faithfulness of the people of God. In Ruth, redemption is based on grace, not merit. Redemption is not reward given to Naomi because of her exemplary behavior. God chooses to redeem those who seem to have done little to deserve redemption.” 893.

How can the outside be an agent or redemption?

Festival of Weeks: “Celebrates both the end of the grain harvest season and the giving of the Torah, marking the covenant between Yahweh and the people of Israel. The connection between the festival an the book is both seasonal (the action in Ruth takes place during the grain harvest) and symbolic (God’s love for Israel culminates in a marriage/covenant oriented toward redemption).

Outline:

Country of Moab: ‘sede’ is same as ‘sadday’: El Shaddiah.

Ironies:

Famine covers ‘House of Bread’

Clan named ‘Fruitfulness’ move to Moab to live, but die. NO FRUIT!

Moab becomes a place of death. Babylonian Talmud interprets them as punishment for leaving Judah…

Moab: ancient enemies.

Moab: ancient enemies.

“What are the things we think we despise until we are forced to turn to them in times of crisis?” Or “What do we seek out in desperate times that ends up killing us or making our lives unfruitful.” pg. 902

“What are the things we think we despise until we are forced to turn to them in times of crisis?” Or “What do we seek out in desperate times that ends up killing us or making our lives unfruitful.” pg. 902

Story is intended to teach who God uses as his vessels!

Vs. 6-7: ‘bread’ has returned back to to the House of Bread

vs. 8: chesed: part of God’s nature: unmerited favor- best work we have for grace.

Naomi’s desire for her daughter-in-laws is that they experience security based on new marriages.

Naomi has no hope. She is barren- the biggest social embarrassment a woman could experience.

embrassement a woman could experience.

Vs 13: bitter

The Lord’s hand has ‘turned’ against her.

Turn: 12 times in ch 1. “turn, return go back, turn back, brought back”

Orphah is not condemned in the story. She’s being obedient! “Orphah” means back of neck. She’s obedient, but her name defines her relation to the story. She is last seen facing back home...

Ruth: Not the ‘be like Ruth’ ethic!

Vs. 15-7: Ruth is passionate, and even offended that Naomi would ask her to forsake her loyal allegiance to Naomi.

No verbs in verse 16: ‘you God, my God; your people, my people”

Number 30:9: “every vow of a widow or of a divorced woman, by which she has bound herself, shall be binding upon her.”

Ruth: ‘woman friend’ ‘full-to-overflowing’

Vs 18: “Her words and actions are governed by loyalty and love, rather than by logic.”

Naomi’s silence: Came with nothing, ‘constant reminder of loss...’ Divorce rate of parents who have lost a child...

Vs. 20-21: A poem? Naomi and Mara- antithetical parallelism. “The Lord’s hand has dealt bitterly with me.” She can’t see the bigger picture. As in all grief! But as she says that, the very source of her fullness is standing right there!

“Call me mara, for the Lord has cruelly mared me”

Strong confession despite it’s brokenness: It’s the Lord who is in control. It’s the Lord who brought the affliction. It’s the Lord who turned against her. Twice using Almighty! Which confessions can we use here? Everything comes from my fatherly hand...

Problem: She didn’t come back empty: Ruth is right there!

Difficult to see the big picture when you are struck with grief...

“Shaddai” is similar in sound and identical in spelling (in the consonantal text) to the word sede, which is used in Ruth for the ‘country of’ or the ‘fields of’ Moab. At the very least, a Hebrew-speaking audience must have noticed the echoing of sounds between the use of ‘Shaddai’ in vv. 20-21 and sede in v. 22. The narrator has already demonstrated a penchant for wordplay…

Today’s Grief:

Everything will work out...

“Shaddai” is similar in sound and identical in spelling (in the consonantal text) to the word sede, which is used in Ruth for the ‘country of’ or the ‘fields of’ Moab. At the very least, a Hebrew-speaking audience must have noticed the echoing of sounds between the use of ‘Shaddai’ in vv. 20-21 and sede in v. 22. The narrator has already demonstrated a penchant for wordplay…

Not merely a geographical turn: Mental and spiritual turn as well.

Ephrathites: “Fruitful, fertile, productive”

Turning away

Trying to find plenty, but experiencing death.

Example of Aaron’s cousin?

Turning Back

Turning Bitter

Book isn’t called Naomi. Book is called Ruth, because this empty person. This person from Moab, is a nobody. She is empty, but through her ‘nothingness’, she’s going to bear a child… Naomi doesn’t see the big picture, and neither do we- especially in times of crisis and hurt!

Ruth:

Setting the Stage

During the time of the Judges: Everyone did what was right in their own eyes.

No Bread in the House of Bread

No Life in the Land of the Enemy

Bread in the Land of Bread

Emptiness and Bitterness in the House of Bread

No Bread

No Life