Sermon Tone Analysis

From Giving Up To Getting Up

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For the next few weeks I want to take a look at the books of Ruth and Esther.

If anyone is interested, I have a bible study guide that you can use to dive deeper into these two books with learning and life application.

One of the biggest things that stands out to me about these two books is the lack of God in the text.

The narrator never talks about God in the book of Ruth.

In the book of Esther God isn’t even mentioned at all.

This might make you wonder why these books are even in the bible to begin with.

As you study these books you will quickly realize that even though God may not be explicitly mentioned, He is still at work in the lives of the people in the story.

Both books tell stories that occur at different times.

Ruth’s story occurs around 1100 BC, before Israel had kings during what is called the time of the Judges.

Esther’s story happens about 600 years later, after the fall of Jerusalem and exile of the Israelite people.

We will eventually get to the book of Esther, but for today we are going to start in the book of Ruth.

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the book of Ruth?

For many, it’s a love story!

A down and out family of widows with little to no hope until Ruth meets the man of her dreams.

It’s the kind of story that would make a great lifetime movie.

It’s one of the few books in the bible that are relatively kid friendly.

It’s a good story, but just like every other story in the bible it also has a lot more going on under the surface.

Many more connections that we could make to other parts of the bible.

Many themes are repeated here that move the unified story of the bible forward towards Jesus.

There are many details in this book that are worth pondering and studying.

There are many things God is doing in the story, whether He is mentioned or not.

I love the way Tim Mackey from The Bible Project portrays the essence of the book of Ruth...

The book of Ruth is a beautifully-crafted look at how God’s good purpose interplays with human decision.

Before we get started, let’s take a quick look at where Ruth’s story falls into the larger story of the bible.

As I mentioned earlier, Ruth appears on the scene during the time of the Judges.

This was a time in Israel’s history when they were at best a loose league of tribes.

The book of Judges is a stark contrast to Ruth.

God had promised victory to Israel if they remained faithful to Him, but defeat and enslavement if they shared their loyalties with other gods.

Israel kept going through a cycle of repetition where they would reject God and His commands, fall into oppression from foreign nations, cry out to God for help, God would rescue them, and then they would reject Him and start the cycle over.

Ruth was from Moab, but the primary setting of the story is in Bethlehem which is in Judah.

Judah isn’t mentioned much in Judges.

There is all of this turmoil going on amongst the tribes, but Judah is kind of portrayed as being a very small part of it.

In the book of Ruth, Bethlehem almost seems like an oasis.

Ruth’s story is like a little slice of peace and hope in the middle of a bunch of crudeness, violence, and evil.

The bible study I mentioned earlier summarizes Ruth’s story this way...

The story of Ruth shines like a diamond in the dark years before Israel took Saul as its king.

On one level, it is a tale of selfless love in a family, but at bottom it tells what God was doing when most of His people were doing whatever they pleased.

As you study the book of Ruth, it is very good to keep this context in mind.

In fact, if you have already opened your bibles to the book of Ruth, turn back one page and read the last line from the book of Judges.

It says, “In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.”

One final note about Ruth that is important to remember as you study is that she was a Moabite.

There is a ton of history here:

First, Israel thought of Moab as inferior people due to their incestuous ancestry.

They were descendants of Lot’s two daughters who got him drunk, then 9 months later mysteriously had a couple of little bambinos.

One of those bouncing bundles of joy was named Moab.

Second, Moab actually had a law written against them in Deuteronomy that said they were not allowed to enter the assembly of the LORD because they were hostile toward Israel and cursed them when they needed help.

Also, toward the beginning of the era of the Judges, Moab oppressed some of the Israelite tribes for 18 years until they fought for peace.

Even after the time of Ruth the Israelites and Moabites were constantly fighting each other.

The author of the story knows this and it’s probably why it is pointed out.

These facts quickly make this story extraordinary.

Especially when you consider the fact that David, Ruth’s great grandson, would eventually become king.

Now that we have a little bit of an idea of what is going on in the world around Ruth, let’s go ahead and jump into her story.

As we go through this study there are some great questions for us to ponder: Who am I similar to?

If it were me, how would I respond to their situation?

How SHOULD someone respond?

Ask yourself how this story is similar to other stories in scripture.

How are the stories related?

How does this story add to the whole story of the bible that leads to Jesus?

Notice the similarities between this story and Jesus’ life story.

Even if all you notice is the word “Bethlehem” it is a great start and a great connection to follow.

Today, most of our focus will be on Naomi.

While I have no evidence to support this thought, I could easily see her being very similar to a modern day American.

Maybe not wealthy by local standards, but compared to the rest of the world, possibly.

Ancestors immigrated to this “promised land” within the last few centuries.

Lived in a town known as the “Bread basket” for it’s crops.

Blessed.

Hard times hit so the family moves to greener pastures.

Their circumstances only get worse and she decides that God just doesn’t like her.

Clearly, this is an over-simplification of Naomi’s life.

She faces a huge burden.

The extent of which we can’t fully understand in our modern culture.

She has been compared to Job by some.

Nonetheless, it is very easy for me to step into her shoes while reading the story and realize how I tend to react in very similar ways to her.

To me, that is one thing that is so cool about both books, Ruth & Esther.

The writer isn’t preaching at us or lecturing us.

We aren’t told how we should act or respond.

We are just given someone’s testimony and allowed to see how God did great things, even though the human element still exists.

It truly is “God’s good purpose interplaying with human decision.”

To help us relate to Naomi and Ruth and see God working in our lives like He did in theirs, think about a time in your life when everything only seemed to get worse.

You were chasing the light at the end of the tunnel, but it just seemed to get further and further away.

Maybe you felt like you were in the movie “Inception” where everything around you just keeps getting turned upside down, then crumbling away all around you.

Then you finally arrive at the thought, “I wonder if God is mad at me.

If everything works together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose, what did I do wrong?”

Naomi arrives at that conclusion.

“God has lifted His hand against me.”

How did she get there?

For Naomi, Giving up on God started with “anticipointment.”

GIVING UP STARTS WITH ANTICIPOINTMENT.

I learned that idiom this week and had to use it.

It is the resulting disappointment when something that you have anticipated does not end up happening.

All we need to do is look at Naomi and her husband’s names and where they are from to see that they were probably disappointed about where their lives have ended up by the time they are in Moab...

It’s ironic that a famine has afflicted Bethlehem.

The name means “house of bread.”

The area was known for its fertility for grain crops.

Evidently there was enough disappointment there for them to move to Moab, which would be worse than one of us moving to China.

Don’t forget that Moab was essentially Israel’s enemy.

Naomi’s family were called “Ephrathites”.

That was the old name for Bethlehem, which could have been used to distinguish them as an “old-established family”.