Ruth
Notes
Transcript
Why is Ruth important? Because it connects the time of the Judges to King David and ultimately to Jesus Christ as Ruth is in the genealogy of Christ
Matthew 1:1–6 (NKJV)
1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:
2 Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. 3 Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram. 4 Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon. 5 Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, 6 and Jesse begot David the king.
David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah.
It is interesting the women God chose to be in the line of Christ!
Ruth also is a testimony to the grace of God. Ruth, after all, was a Moabitess. Moabites were forbidden to worship in the temple to the tenth generation due to their treatment of Israel in the wilderness.
3 “An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the Lord; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord forever, 4 because they did not meet you with bread and water on the road when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.
Finally, we see another great picture or type of Jesus in the OT through Boaz, the near kinsman (or Go-el) to Naomi. A picture of our Go-el, our kinsman redeemer Jesus Christ, who would pay all of our debt before God and defeat our enemies.
Ruth 1 (NKJV)
The book of Ruth is an elegant love story and a story about redemption. We also learn about the kinsman redeemer.
In Ruth 1:1
1 Now it came to pass, in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, went to dwell in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.
The time period that the book of Ruth took place was at the end of the period that the judges ruled after Moses and before the kings ruled. The famine that is mentioned in the text is one of thirteen mentioned in the bible as stated by Chuck Missler.
The man and his family had to hike through the desolate Jericho pass, through the Judean wilderness near the Dead Sea, going across the Jordan River, into the land of Moab. This was a definite departure from the Promised Land of Israel, and a return towards the wilderness from which God had delivered Israel hundreds of years before. These were clearly steps in the wrong direction.
When it says, “went to sojourn”: This means to leave with the intention to return. The next verse tells us the name of the man was Elimelech and his intention of short visit turned into ten, tragedy-filled years - and Elimelech never returned to Israel. The name Elimelech means "God is king" - but he didn't really live as if God was his king.
2 The name of the man was Elimelech, the name of his wife was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion—Ephrathites of Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to the country of Moab and remained there.
When Elimelech fled the famine in Judah with his family , they left everything behind even their land. They could not sell their land because it did not belong to them, it belonged to the Lord. They had nothing.
These are the meanings of Elimelech’s family members - Elimelech means God is my King, Naomi means Pleasant, Mahlon means Sickly or unhealthy, and Chilion means wasting or puny or to perish.
The meaning of Bethlehem is the house of bread. We can now see why Mary and Joseph had to travel to Bethlehem the city of David. As his Great- Grand parents were from Bethlehem.
It is also interesting that Jesus having been born in “The House of Bread” (Bethlehem) declared Himself to be the bread of life’
John 6:35 (NKJV)
35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
Obviously, bread means much more than food.
3 Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left, and her two sons. 4 Now they took wives of the women of Moab: the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth. And they dwelt there about ten years.
Orpah name means Fawn or Gazelle, and Ruth means Friendship or Desirable
5 Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died; so the woman survived her two sons and her husband.
To be a childless widow was to be among the lowest, most disadvantaged classes in the ancient world. There was no one to support you, and you had to live on the generosity of strangers. Naomi had no family in Moab, and no one else to help her. It was a desperate situation. It was time to go back home.
6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had visited His people by giving them bread. 7 Therefore she went out from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. 8 And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each to her mother’s house. The Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. 9 The Lord grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband.”
So she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. 10 And they said to her, “Surely we will return with you to your people.”
11 But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Are there still sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? 12 Turn back, my daughters, go—for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, if I should have a husband tonight and should also bear sons, 13 would you wait for them till they were grown? Would you restrain yourselves from having husbands? No, my daughters; for it grieves me very much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me!”
I believe that Naomi is referring to the levirate law< As most of you know this will be a big part of this story and is spoken of in Deuteronomy 25:5-10.
5 “If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall not be married to a stranger outside the family; her husband’s brother shall go in to her, take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. 6 And it shall be that the firstborn son which she bears will succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel. 7 But if the man does not want to take his brother’s wife, then let his brother’s wife go up to the gate to the elders, and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to raise up a name to his brother in Israel; he will not perform the duty of my husband’s brother.’ 8 Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him. But if he stands firm and says, ‘I do not want to take her,’ 9 then his brother’s wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, spit in his face, and answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who will not build up his brother’s house.’ 10 And his name shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal removed.’
Even Jesus referred to the Levirate law. (from GotQuestions.com)
In Matthew 22, Jesus is confronted by the Sadducees with a convoluted question based on the Law’s requirement of levirate marriage: “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. Finally, the woman died. Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?” (Matthew 22:24–28). Jesus cuts through the hypothetical and teaches the reality of the resurrection (verses 29–32).
What do you guys think about marrying your brother in law?
We continue;
14 Then they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
The word for “clung” here is the same word used for Gods original design for marriage in Gen 2, that a man should leave his parents and cleave to his wife. Meaning- cling, cleave, keep close.
What do you think caused Ruth to cleave to Naomi?
15 And she said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.”
But what happened to Orpah? She is never mentioned again in scripture. According to Hebrew Midrashic commentary it is believed by some that she had four sons, one of them being Goliath the giant.
From an article on the Hebrew Midrash on Orpah;
The reason why the Rabbis depict Orpah in such a negative light apparently lies in their perception of her as the antagonist of Ruth. They are presented as sisters, which merely intensifies the difference between them. From the moment of their parting, Orpah becomes the negative of Ruth. The Rabbis present the latter as a paragon of modesty (see the entry: “Ruth”), while Orpah becomes a symbol of promiscuity. Ruth is the mother of David; Orpah is the mother of Goliath. Ruth adheres to Israel and thereby adopts all its positive qualities, even becoming the mother of the Israelite royal line; Orpah returns to Moab, thus reverting to being a Moabitess, estranged from all that is Israelite.
Now back in or text. notice the contrast of Ruth to Orpah;
16 But Ruth said:
“Entreat me not to leave you,
Or to turn back from following after you;
For wherever you go, I will go;
And wherever you lodge, I will lodge;
Your people shall be my people,
And your God, my God.
17 Where you die, I will die,
And there will I be buried.
The Lord do so to me, and more also,
If anything but death parts you and me.”
During her marriage and after her husbands death, Ruth continued to follow her gods. It was during this declaration the she began to follow the God of Israel.
It seems clear that the God of Israel, Yahweh, was very attractive to Ruth through the life of Naomi. Even in the worst situation, the death of her entire family, God was shining through her.
As born again spirit filled believers the Holy Spirit is shining through us in when we don’t realize it. You never know when a “Ruth” is watching you and me.
18 When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her.
They set out for Bethlehem from Moab which is present day Jordan. The trip was between 50 and 75 miles. it was a long journey for two women to take alone.
19 Now the two of them went until they came to Bethlehem. And it happened, when they had come to Bethlehem, that all the city was excited because of them; and the women said, “Is this Naomi?”
20 But she said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 21 I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?”
Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara: The name Naomi means "pleasant"; the name Mara means "bitter." Naomi used this to tell the people of Bethlehem that her time away from Israel, her time away from the God of Israel, had not been pleasant - it was bitter.
Naomi wasn't a phony. She wasn't going to go home, pretend everything was fine, and be "pleasant." She was going to be honest, and say "Here I am and my life has been bitter."
Yet, in the midst of all these bitter circumstances, Naomi was not bitter against the LORD. We can imagine one of the villagers asking, "Naomi, if God has dealt very bitterly with you, if the LORD has brought you home empty, if the LORD has testified against you, then why have you come back?" And she would have said, "Because I want to get right with Him again. Things have been terrible, and the answer isn't in going further from God, but in drawing closer to Him."
22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. Now they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.
