Three Funerals and a Wedding

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way” (J. K. Rowling, A Tale of Two Cities).

The story of Ruth begins with a Jewish family that flees famine and anarchy in their homeland in search of safety and a better life.

Women were often invisible in Bible times.

The story of Ruth begins with a Jewish family that flees famine and anarchy in their homeland in search of safety and a better life.

Ruth 1:1–2 NIV

In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.

The days when the judges ruled were dark days in Israel. The Book of Judges tells us several times that they were times when “there was no king in Israel” and “everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” In other words, lawlessness, anarchy, and oppression reigned. Elimelek and Naomi were Ephrathites, that is, residents of Bethlehem, the hometown of David and the birthplace of Jesus. There was a famine in the land. In OT times, famines were often God’s discipline on his erring people. Because of the famine, Elimelek took his family to live in Moab. He was looking for ‘greener pastures’ and ‘a better life’.

Do you think this was a good idea?

Bethlehem was in in the Promised Land, the place God promised to his people. But because of the corruption and the economic crisis (famine) in the land, Elimelek reasoned that his family would be better off in Moab. The Moabites were a heathen nation, sworn enemies of God’s people who worshipped a pagan deity called Chemosh. How strange that Elimelek and Naomi would seek a better life away from the Lord’s Promised Land in the embrace of a pagan people.

The Moabites were a heathen nation, sworn enemies of God’s people Israel. How strange that Elimelek and Naomi would seek a better life away from the Lord’s Promised Land in the embrace of a pagan people.

So how did this work out for Elimelek and Naomi?

Ruth 1:3–5 NIV

Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.

Elimelek and Naomi courted disaster when they fled from the Lord’s place and his people. Yes, there was a famine, but doesn’t God know how to look after his people in the midst of a famine? Elimelek and Naomi fled Judah to escape death, but all three men died there. What a tragic irony! Naomi had three funerals and she was left as the most vulnerable person in society: a poverty-stricken widow with no family.

We cannot run away from our problems because the root cause is usually an unbelieving and disobedience heart, which we take with us.

Naomi blamed God for her suffering. She failed to realise that they courted disaster when they fled from the Lord’s place and his people. Jesus … .

“You can’t run away from your problems. No matter how difficult our circumstances may be, the safest and best place is in the will of God. … In times of difficulty, if we die to self and put God’s will first, we can be sure that He will either take us out of the trouble or bring us through.”

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Warren Wiersbe

As so many of my tribe have packed for Perth in search of a better life for their families, I have often wondered if they are not courting disaster too. Are they walking entirely by sight and judging the abundant life in worldly terms? Children in prosperous western nations are growing up godless. What does it profit a family to gain the whole world yet forfeit its children’s souls?

All children are at risk. Some are at risk from poverty, but others are at risk from prosperity. They have everything to live with, but nothing to live for.

Dan Brewster

Scene 1 ends with three funerals, and Naomi bereft of her husband and sons. She is left with her two daughters in law.

Scene two opens with the good news that “the LORD had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them” (v. 6). Surprise, surprise—God looked after those who stayed in Bethlehem. Naomi decides to return home. Her two daughters-in-law, both Moabite women, pledge to go with her. However, Naomi realises that she has nothing to offer them; they are better off returning to their families. So she urges them to return to their homes. Orpah eventually concedes and kisses her mother-in-law goodbye.

“But Ruth ...”—those are the exact words the Holy Spirit chose. “But Ruth” was unlike any normal person. I always notice the words “But God” in the Bible; here it is “But Ruth.” Listen how Ruth answered Naomi’s encouragement to return to her family:

Ruth 1:16–17 NIV

But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”

Ruth 1:

The false prophet Muhammad famously said that “women are deficient in intellect and in religion.” If only he had met Ruth, he might have known better. This is one of the most remarkable statements of covenant faith and loyalty in all Scripture, and it is found on the lips of a young pagan woman.

These are the words of a woman who has come to know Yahweh. Despite Elimelek’s disobedience and Naomi’s doubts, Ruth had come into a living relationship with Yahweh that overflows in her bold and courageous confession of commitment not only to Naomi, but to God and to God’s people.

Why wasn’t Ruth afraid of what awaited? Because he had found the abundant life that is in Christ alone. (She knew him as Yahweh.) R. A. Torrey rightly said that it is very difficult to scare someone who has true faith.

Ruth 1:18–19 NIV

When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”

Ruth 1:18-

Now we get a glimpse into Naomi’s state of mind. She was angry at God and seemed to blame him for her misfortunes.

Ruth 1:20–21 NIV

“Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”

Naomi blamed God, but failed to realise that their own unbelief and disobedience had courted the disaster that befell them. We should not judge her too harshly. She had suffered terribly. She had lost everything and buried the three people she loved most in the world. She was depressed and despondent.

“When Naomi realised that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her” (). The two of them returned to Bethlehem.

Naomi blamed God, but failed to realise that their own unbelief and disobedience had courted the disaster that befell them. She did not recognise—or perhaps she did could not own—the fact that their own sin was to blame.

Naomi did not realise that God had a plan and that he was at work providentially. A great light was about to break into her darkness.

When we first meet Naomi, she is bitter towards God, who has treated her harshly and unfairly.

Ruth 1:13b NIV

would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!”

Ruth 1:13b NIV

would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!”

“No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me.”

Ruth 1:20–21 NIV

“Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”

Why was she so bitter towards God? How had God made her life bitter and afflicted her and brought misfortune upon her? The answer is found in the first part of the story.

The New International Version Chapter 1

No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD’s hand has turned against me!”

The New International Version Chapter 1

No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD’s hand has turned against me!”

Ruth 1:13 NIV

would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!”

Ruth 1:13 NIV

would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!”

Ruth 1:1–2 NIV

In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.

Talk about “walking by sight” and living for material well-being only. Talk about “Moab” in biblical perspective.

Ruth 1:3–5 NIV

Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.

So this is why Naomi was angry at God. She had buried her husband and her two sons—three funerals!

Naomi blamed God for her suffering. She failed to realise that they courted disaster when they fled from the Lord’s place and his people. Yes, there was a famine, but doesn’t God know how to look after his people in the midst of a famine? Jesus … .

Matthew 6:25–34 NIV

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

“You can’t run away from your problems. No matter how difficult our circumstances may be, the safest and best place is in the will of God. … In times of difficulty, if we die to self and put God’s will first, we can be sure that He will either take us out of the trouble or bring us through.”

Warren Wiersbe

Elimelek and Naomi fled Judah to escape death, but all three men died there. How ironic! We cannot run away from our problems because the root cause is usually an unbelieving and disobedience heart, which we take with us.

Naomi blamed God, but failed to realise that their own unbelief and disobedience had courted the disaster that befell them. She did not recognise—or perhaps she did could not own—the fact that their own sin was to blame.

Naomi, the embittered believer

There were little signs of God’s providence all around, but Naomi’s vision was clouded by bitterness and depression. In the spirit realm, we see with the heart not with the eyes.

Signs of God’s Providence

They happened to arrive in Bethlehem “as the Barley harvest was beginning” ().

Naomi happened to have a relative, a man of standing, whose name was Boaz ().

Naomi happened to have a daughter in a million, who would be worth more than seven sons ().

Since the two widows were penniless, Ruth decided to go an glean in the fields behind the harvesters. The Law of Moses permitted the poor to pick up whatever fell during harvesting.

Ruth 2:3 NIV

So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.

Ruth 2:4–5 NIV

Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, “The Lord be with you!” “The Lord bless you!” they answered. Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?”

Ruth 2:4-5

Do you see more providence at work?

Do you see more providence?

“As it turned out” she gleaned in Boaz’s field, who just happened to be Naomi’s relative. “Just then” Boaz happened to arrive. Coincidentally—NOT!—Boaz happened to be a godly man (Did you notice how he greeted his harvesters?) and he happened to notice Ruth.

Boaz turns out to be as godly a man was we find anywhere in the OT. He treats Ruth with remarkable kindness. First, he speaks kindly to her, calling her “my daughter.” Second, he invites her to glean in his field all harvest. Third, he instructs the workers not to lay a hand on Ruth. (Yes, she is in a vulnerable and dangerous position.) Fourth, he invites her to eat with them during the meal time. Fifth, he commands the harvesters not to reprimand her or rebuke her. Sixth, he instructs them to leave plenty of “droppings” for her to collect.

Ruth was blown away by his kindness. As a poor, foreign widow, her social status was lower than a servant, but he treated her treated her as a noble woman.

Ruth 2:10 NIV

At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?”

Ruth 2:13 NIV

“May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servants.”

Ruth 2:13

Boaz’s response to Ruth shows that he knew about her faith and godly character.

Ruth 2:11–12 NIV

Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

How wonderful when a young woman is known for her chastity, loyalty, and integrity.

Ruth arrived home with an abundant supply of barley. Naomi was amazed. She asked, “Where did you get all that barley?” For the first time in the book, she starts to sense God’s providence at work. She exclaims, “Blessed is the man who took notice of you.” When she learned that the man was Boaz, she exclaimed, “The LORD bless him!” It seems that Naomi’s vision was returning as she started to see God rebuilding the broken places of their lives. Ruth continued to glean in Boaz’s field until the barley and the wheat harvests were finished.

Application to today, e.g. God at work and has a purpose.

There are signs that Naomi’s faith is returning. She sees some signs of God at work and renewed hope breeds restored faith. Assuming the role of matchmaker—most women find it easier to resist chocolate than to resist playing matchmaker—she hatches a plan to propose marriage to Boaz. (Shall we infer that it is a biblical principle that the woman should propose?)

She concocts a plan that to our ears sounds strange. Knowing that Boaz would be winnowing barley that evening and would sleep on the threshing floor, Naomi this is what Naomi tells Ruth to do:

Ruth 3:3–4 NIV

Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.”

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She obeys. Boaz wakes up in the middle of the night to find a young woman lying at his feet.

Ruth 3:9 NIV

“Who are you?” he asked. “I am your servant Ruth,” she said. “Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a guardian-redeemer of our family.”

Although love is in the air and Boaz is clearly attracted to Ruth, this entire exchange is not a sexual act per se. It is a request for Boaz to marry Ruth. When God gave the Promised Land to Israel, the land was divided by family. The land was to remain in the family. If someone had to mortgage their land to pay debts, a close relative was to redeem the land, to buy it back. There was a second law too: if a man died without children, his nearest relative (usually a brother) was to take his wife and the children born inherit the land and would carry on the deceased man’s name. In the Law of Moses, these two laws are separated, but in the customs of Ruth’s time it seems they have merged.

(More on the culture of levirite marriage and redemption.)

The Bible says that “faith without works is dead,” and some have added that “faith without hints is dead too.” ....... It was within the plan and purpose of God, but if Naomi did nothing, nothing would have happened. God calls us to walk by faith and to act on faith.

Boaz didn’t hesitate.

Ruth 3:10–11 NIV

“The Lord bless you, my daughter,” he replied. “This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character.

The Bible says that “faith without works is dead,” and some have added that “faith without hints is dead too.” ....... It was within the plan and purpose of God, but if Naomi did nothing, nothing would have happened. God calls us to walk by faith and to act on faith.

Boaz did not delay. The following morning he met with the first-in-line guardian-redeemer. He told him that he was first-in-line to redeem Elimelek’s land. The man immediately said, “I will redeem it” (). Then Boaz dropped the bombshell—you get Ruth as a wife with the land; it is a package deal.

Ruth 4:5 NIV

Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the dead man’s widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property.”

The man instantly changed his tune to, “I cannot redeem it” (). He was probably picturing the conversation with his wife when he got home. “Honey, great news. I got a new piece of prime property. Oh by the way, there’s one little snag—it comes with another wife.”

Boaz quickly closed the deal.

Ruth 4:9–10 NIV

Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon. I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown. Today you are witnesses!”

Then an amazing thing happened. Boaz and Ruth had a son, Obed. He was a gift from God in two senses:

He represented God’s reversal of Naomi’s misfortune.

He became an ancestor of David and of Jesus.

Three Funerals and a Wedding

Scene 1: Three Funerals ()

Scene 1: Three Funerals ()

Scene 2: Bitterness and Belief ()

Naomi, the embittered believer

Scene 3: Providence and Purpose ()

Ruth, the noble woman

Scene 4: The Marriage Proposal ()

Scene 5: Marriage and Mission ()