Ruth 01

opens up telling us roughly when the events in the book took place: in the days when the judges ruled. We don’t know exactly when during this period Ruth lived, but we may be able to at least put her life in the second half of the period due to the genealogy that closes the book. Many assume from the fact that there was a famine in the land at the time, that it was a period of God’s judgment on the land, possibly during the time of Gideon in ch6. This is not known for sure, but is a possibility.

Either way, it is safe to say that she lived during a period of time that was not the greatest of Israel’s history. It was one of the darker periods of Israel’s history, a period of time that we have begun to see during our Judges class was marked by many periods of rebellion to God that got worse and worse during the time. Even those who were judges got more and more questionable in regards to their morality.

It is in these days of darkness where Ruth takes place. This is a great book with many lessons for us that we will talk about as we study. One of the most encouraging lessons is how we see God working behind the scenes to bring about a future hope for His people. This may not be a surprise to those who have read this book, but we see by the end of the book that this family from Judah, which seems as you begin the book to be not too significant, ends up being the family through whom the second King of Israel, David, descends from. So this is an important account in the history of God’s people - an important story in our spiritual heritage.

We are introduced to some of the main characters in this story in verses 1-5 and are given a picture of the dire circumstances they are in. The patriarch of the family is a man named Elimelech (means “God is King” - v2). During this time of famine, he decides to take his wife Naomi and his two sons Mahlon and Chilion to the country of Moab. This may be a good sign of how things were in Israel at the time. This family from Bethlehem in Judah decides that the place that offers them the greatest hope for survival is outside of Israel, in Moab. They leave Bethlehem (which, ironically, means the house of bread) where there was not any bread for Moab, which interestingly was a people who in rule in Israel over God’s people for 18 years because of their rebellion to God.

It is difficult to know how to interpret this move. Was it the right move? Was it the wrong move. No commentary is given on the morality of the decision. But what we do see in this passage is that it does not turn out well for Elimelech and his family. Elimelech dies. The sons take Moabite wives for themselves. They dwell in the land for about 10 years, and then the sons die without having any children. All three women are now widows.

Things are going really badly in this situation. You have tragedy upon tragedy in these first 5 verses. Naomi here is the female version of Job in the Bible… At this point it seems like she is without hope. Her family is on the verge of extinction, and she has two women here with her that are foreigners…

Naomi hears news that the famine is over. The way she heard it was, “the Lord had visited his people and gave them food.” He has visited His people and has restocked the “house of bread” with bread. So she decides to return home. At first, both of her daughters-in law want to accompany her. They show a level of allegiance that, from what I read, was uncommon at the time. It would be common to do what Naomi encourages them in this situation, to go back home to their families. But this is not what they wanted to do at first. Even when Naomi does tell them to return to their families in verse 8, they don’t want to. They tell her that they wanted to be with her and return to Israel with her. This shows a lot about the character of these two women, but not just this. It shows that they thought very highly of Naomi. They respected her and wanted to be with her during this difficult time for her. They are loyal to her and are willing to leave their homeland. They may also be giving up their possibility of being able to remarry by going to Israel. They are willing to give up a lot to stay loyal to Naomi.

But the words of Naomi in verse 8 are very interesting. Let’s consider them for a moment:

But 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. -

These words of Naomi are very interesting… Not only does she pronounce a blessing on them, she assumes that God would be WILLING to do so - that He would be willing to bless them in Moab! Naomi’s words show that she believe God is over all nations… that He is in control and able to bless even those who are foreigners! This certainly was not a common assumption of the time among Jews, and certainly is not later on. But here you see that Naomi believed otherwise. She even uses the covenant name of God - YHWH - here. Naomi believe that YHWH will bless them. This, in my judgment, is some foreshadowing of the future. God is willing to bless foreigners through her descendant - through Jesus. He is willing to bless both Jew and Gentile.

But Naomi won’t take ‘no’ for an answer. She urges them to stay in Moab. And her motive is this: this is in their best interests. This is a very unselfish attitude on her part. She tries to show them how bleak the situation is for them if they remain with her. Naomi in her mind has no hope of having children and cannot provide husbands for these two women. She does not want to see these two women go their lives without being married again and having children, so she tells them to go back home. She, whether right or not, tells them that the hand of the Lord has been against her. She believes that the Lord is in control. He is sovereign. And in that she is right, but she views this as the greatest evidence in her mind that it would not be wise for the women to remain with her.

We see in verse 14 that the women all weep, and Orpah is persuaded and decides to go back to her family. That is a reasonable response. The text does not speak negative of her response. But what is brought out is that Ruth is not persuaded. Contrary to what is reasonable, we are told that she CLINGS to her. She will not let go! She is willing to sacrifice her future to be with Naomi.

In verse 15, Naomi pleads with Ruth once again, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.”

In other words, she is trying to use Orpah’s example to try to get Ruth to listen to reason… Orpah went back. She was willing to see the reality of the situation. She wants Ruth to see the same. But Ruth will not be persuaded.

I love her response to Naomi:

But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or to return 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. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you." -

This is an amazing display of loyalty and love. She shows Naomi that she cannot get rid of here. Her fate will be the same as Naomi’s fate. She even makes a vow here! “May YHWH judge me if I turn away from you.” That is impressive. And what can Naomi say to this. Once she invokes the name of God, there is nothing she can say to try to change her mind. She cannot persuade here to break her vow.

So Ruth chooses her mother-in-law and her God over her own family and god. Not many would make such a choice.

So it has been over 10 years since this family left. The only one who left that comes back is Naomi. The city is stirred up over her return. They area excited! But Naomi opens up and says what's on her mind regarding her situation, just as Job was. She says, “don’t call me Naomi” (which means ‘pleasant’). “Call me Mara” (which means ‘bitter’). She doesn’t cover up her discouragement. She says, “The LORD has dealt bitterly with me and has brought me back empty.” It is interesting that no one ever calls her Mara. Thirteen times in the rest of the book she is referred to as Naomi. Her circumstances don’t change what people think about her and talk about her.

Naomi says she was brought back empty (though Ruth is with her…) the tendency is to exaggerate and to make things worse when you go through situations like this. Either everything is wonderful or everything is terrible, “Woe is me!” It is often the case that our circumstances lead us to not look at the situation as it is. There were rays of hope even in her dark situation. She had the loyal Ruth with her. And the time in which they returned - it was the time of barley harvest. The LORD was clearly blessing His people here with a harvest. This shows hope for the future. God has not brought Naomi back empty. This chapter ends on a hopeful note.

We see here in this chapter two great examples for us to emulate.

FIRST, In Ruth, you see a great example of commitment and loyalty. She is willing to stick with her mother-in-law no matter the circumstances. And she is willing, it seems, to even convert to be a follower of YHWH in spite of Naomi’s claims that YHWH was against her and brought her back empty. Does this not give us a great example of the commitment and loyalty that we need to have to the LORD? Even when the physical circumstances seem dire and hopeless, we still have reasons for hope and reasons to be committed to the Lord. He would be worthy of our commitment and worship even if we got nothing out of it. But since He offers us such an amazing hope of being with Him in Heaven and the resurrection, what reason do we have to not be committed to Him? He must be more important than any other - our highest priority in life… The One we are committed to above all.

And SECOND, in Naomi you see a woman who is concerned for the interests of others - her two daughters-in-law. Instead of being selfish and wanting them to go with her, she requests that they not because there would not be much hope for them if they accompanied her…

We also see in Naomi one who sees the hand of the LORD in her life, no matter the circumstances. She desires to see God at work. Yes, her attitude may not be right where it needs to be, but she understands that her God is on the throne and in control even when her circumstances are negative physically. She understands that whether it be directly or indirectly, the LORD was at work in her life by either allowing or causing this situation to come upon her. This is how God’s people viewed God’s working in their lives. They tried to look at it from the perspective of what God was doing. You see this a lot in the book of psalms. Even as David was surrounded by his enemies and facing, in his mind, a certain death, he would say things like, “My God, why have you forsaken me?” Or “Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger” while in the same breath show trust in the Lord that He will save and deliver. No matter the circumstances, God’s people trusted that the hand of God was at work in some way, and no matter the circumstances, if God was at work, there was a glimmer of hope.

Naomi may not see the hope yet, and she is bluntly honest in her feelings about the situation. She is really discouraged here. There is a time for weeping and mourning loss. But it will not be too long until she does indeed see how the Lord is working in even her dire circumstances for the good of her family.

Even in the darkest of circumstances, God is on the throne and can offer hope to his people, including you and me. This is the God we serve. The same God who early in the book of Judges brings the Moabites against His people to judge them for their sin is the same God who will use this family, which includes a Moabite woman, to bring hope to all nations through their descendant, Jesus Christ.

Chapter 1 is a great introduction to a great book showing how God works in dark circumstances to bring about hope for His people. We will, Lord willing, see in the rest of this book, that even at this time during the period of Judges, God has not forgotten His promise to Abraham. He would from this family bring about the Messiah to bless all nations.

Ruth 01

Introduction

APPLICATION

Conclusion

Ruth 01

Introduction

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APPLICATION

Conclusion