Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

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.

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.

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.