Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

I want us to learn this evening a little bit of how we are to study and apply OT narrative

-So often when we read our OT, we aren’t exactly sure how to interpret and apply it

-We read these accounts, and we think they’re cool, but then what?

-So often times this leads to allegorizing the text

-I’m David, and Goliath is my school debt, or my horrible boss at work, and I’m supposed to conquer these things with my faith

Or we look for some application, some “go and do” thing in the text:

-When Elijah went to the cave, God wasn’t in the wind, earthquake, or fire, but in the still small voice.

So I need to try really hard to hear God’s whisper in my life

And we often don’t know what to do with OT narrative.

So over the next 3 weeks, I not only want us to go through the account of Ruth, but I want us to learn some principles about how to ready OT narrative, and understand what the author is trying to communicate and how to apply it

-Now, there in front of you is a brief diagram about how most stories in life work

**explain diagram

Now why is that important?

-Because the author is telling us a narrative, a story

-It’s a true story!

it’s an historical account

-Nevertheless, the author is not just trying to communicate facts; he wants us to understand things about God and man and our relationship with Him

-So, it’s important we follow the narrative and what the author is trying to communicate so we don’t end up with an application that’s not very good, or we just allegorize the account to mean something to us that it doesn’t mean

So, let’s jump into our account:

-We do not know the author of Ruth, but this was probably written sometime during the period of the book of Kings and Chronicles

-So when a King was reigning in Israel

Exposition and Conflict (vs.

1-5)

Now, right off the bat, we’re going to employ 2 of our principles:

-The first is we need to understand the world in which this is taking place

-So, for the next little bit, you all are OT Israelites during the time of the monarchy

-We need to see this account from their perspective, the people from whom this book is written

Secondly, in OT narrative, we need to note the speed of the account

-The author speeds up and slows down the account based on what he wants us to focus on

Vs 1.

“In the days when the judges ruled”

-The narrator tells us this because this was a dark time in Israel’s history

-There was no central king or ruler

-So the people end up doing whatever they think is right instead of following the Law of God

-They would rebel against God and worship other gods

-They would be judged by God

-He would allow them to be conquered

-The people would repent and cry out to God

-God would send a judge to deliver them and help lead them

-And this cycle would repeat itself

It’s in this bleak setting of idolatry and godlessness that our account is set

“a famine in the land”

-Any Israelite would know that in the OT, this was a sign of judgement from God

this is repeated in Deut.

28

So the narrator tells us that during this time of what was probably judgment, in the a bleak time of spiritual desolation, we meet a man from Bethlehem

-Now Bethlehem would have been well-known by anyone reading this, because it is the birthplace of King David

-And this is ultimately where the narrator ends his account

-He ends with the coming of King David

-So our ears are supposed to perk up at the mention of Bethlehem

“A certain main of Bethlehem, Judah, went to dwell in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons”

-Now, when you hear Moab, you’re supposed to be repulsed, or filled with righteous indignation

-Moab was one of the sons of Lot that he had through his incestuous relationship with one of his daughters

-So Moab was one of these nations that kind of has some relation to Israel

-But in Numbers 22-24, we have an extensive account of the way Moab tried to destroy Moab

-The Israelites were passing near the land of Moab on their way to finally attempt to possess the Promised Land for the 2nd time

-The Moabites see the Israelites and are afraid of them because they seem so powerful and numerous

-They say, “what are we going to do about this?”

-So their king, a guy named Balak, goes and tries to hire a false prophet named Balaam to curse the Israelites

-To make a long story short, God doesn’t allow that to happen and Balaam is only able to bless Israel

-To make matters worse, when this doesn’t work, in Numbers 25 the Moabites decide to entice Israel into idolatry and sexual immorality, and this does work

-A bunch of Moabite women entice the men of Israel into sexual immorality and to sacrifice to their idols

-And God sends judgement on the Israelites and kills 24,000 of them

-And it probably would have been more if Phinehas, the zealous priest, had not stepped in and fought for the Lord’s glory and reputation by killing one of the immoral couples

Because of these incidents, this is what Yahweh says about the Moabites right as Israel is about to enter the Promised Land:

-So if you’re an Israelite during OT times, you understand that this man’s choice to leave the Land of Promise, even though they were experiencing judgment, and to go to dwell in the land of pagans is wrong

-There should have been a seeking after God and genuine repentance

-The OT is clear that when there is judgment from God, the Israelites must turn and repent and seek Him

But instead of seeking the Lord, this man just decides to leave the land of promise and go to the land of pagans

Vs. 2

-they remain in the land of Moab

Vs. 3

-Elimelech dies

-Naomi is now a widow

-But she has two sons, so all is not lost!

-In this culture, yours sons carried on your family name and inheritance

Vs. 4

-Her sons marry Moabite women

-This is once again supposed to make us appalled as OT Israelites

-Marrying foreigners was a big deal to God

-So this family starts out leaving the land of promise, choose to stay, and then the 2 sons choose to marry pagan women

Vs. 5

-the final blow comes when both sons of Naomi die

-All of a sudden, this woman is left without a husband and now left without her two sons

-And it’s very significant that although the text indicates that the sons were married for about 10 years, both their wives are barren

And as OT Israelites, we would view this as God’s judgment in light of the Mosaic Law

When the Israelites failed to obey the Covenant, one of the judgments was a failure to produce children.

-So this woman has gone to a pagan land with her family against the revealed will of God, and truly, she has lost everything there

Scene 1

Vs.

6

-We really see here the narrator’s view on God

-And that is that God is Providentially in control of all things

Why do I say that?

-There are only 2 times when the author himself mentions God

-Here and in Ruth 4:13

-So at the beginning and at the end, the author attributes events that we may see as ordinary — a famine ending, a woman conceiving — as ordained by the hand of our Sovereign God

-Despite the sin of His people, God has chosen to have mercy and grace and compassion on them

-Our God is a God who desires to show mercy and grace to sinners, and is providentially able to do so in any circumstances

-So Naomi hears that God has ended the famine, and she’s ready to go back to the Promised Land

Vs. 7-9

So Naomi starts out on this journey, and her daughters-in-law follow her