Sermon Tone Analysis

Leader Guide ESV, Unit 9, Session 5

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Edited by Rev. Lex DeLong, M.A., June 2022.

3 Considerations for the dating of the writing of Ruth:

First

any dating of Ruth should take into consideration three critical factors.

First, the reference to “the days when judges governed” in the opening verse suggests that the author was familiar with the premonarchic period as a distinct era and that this idyllic account may have been deliberately composed against the darkness of the period as it is portrayed in the Book of Judges.

Second, the book’s interest in the Davidic house is best interpreted against the backdrop of the renaissance of the dynasty.

If the book was written after Manasseh, only the reign of Josiah (540–609 B.C.) qualifies as a chronological candidate for the origin of Ruth.

Indeed the link between the book and Josiah may be observed at several levels.

Daniel Isaac Block, Judges, Ruth, vol.

6, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 596.

The Septuagint and other ancient manuscripts included the book of Ruth in the book of Judges.

Third, a Northern provenance fits both the political and linguistic realities of Josiah’s reign.

Names:

Naomi - pleasant

Mara - bitter

Ruth - friendship (traditionally) but the etymology of the word actually remains a mystery

Summary and Goal

We saw God humiliate the proud in Samson, and in the Philistines.

Once again God used the weaknesses of His people to reveal His true strength.

Let’s turn our attention to the story of Ruth, a Moabite woman who lived during the period of the judges.

God loves and cares for the humble, the needy, and the lonely.

God wanted to make His matchless love known to Ruth, and God continues to want to make His redeeming love known to every tribe, language, and nation.

No matter how hopeless and desperate the situation may be, the Lord’s redeeming love is ever-present and stronger still.

Session Outline

1. God’s perfect love is steadfast (Ruth 1:6-9,16-17).

++2.

God’s perfect love is gracious (Ruth 2:2-3,8-12).

++3.

God’s perfect love is redeeming (Ruth 4:13-17).

Session in a Sentence

God provided a family redeemer for Ruth, demonstrating His love for all people.

Christ Connection

Boaz was a family redeemer who showed undeserved kindness to Ruth, a foreigner.

In a similar manner, Jesus is our Redeemer who has showed unmerited kindness to us and adopted us into His family.

Missional Application

Because we have been redeemed by an act of God’s love, we extend the same kind of steadfast, gracious love to others so that they too might find redemption through Jesus Christ.

P. 121 of the DDG

One of The Beatles’s most well-known songs says: “All you need is love.”

Even without a biblical worldview, they were right: To do good in the world, all you need is love.

But their perspective was off, their vision short-sighted.

It is not just love in general, but an outward directive for our love.

A love for God and a love for those around us (“neighbors,” Mt. 22:36-40).

If we know the love of God in Jesus, then our eternity is settled.

We may lose our jobs, retirement accounts, and even loved ones, but the love of God helps us endure the sufferings in this world, giving us a bright hope for tomorrow and the world that is to come.

It’s because God is love that we can love others.

Voices from Church History

“When we fully believe in our Savior’s love, then our own hearts respond with perfect love to God and our neighbor.”

1

–Martin Luther (1483-1546)

Ask the following question.

What are some characteristics of God’s love?

(eternal; sacrificial; giving; patient; kind; personal; faithful; redeeming)

Let’s turn our attention to the story of Ruth, a Moabite woman who lived during the period of the judges.

God loves and cares for the humble, the needy, and the lonely.

God wanted to make His matchless love known to Ruth, and God continues to want to make His redeeming love known to every tribe, language, and nation.

No matter how hopeless and desperate the situation may be, the Lord’s redeeming love is ever-present and stronger still.

Point 1: God’s perfect love is steadfast (Ruth 1:6-9,16-17).

During the time of the judges, a severe famine broke out in the land of Israel, forcing a family of four—a father, mother, and two sons—to migrate to Moab, where the father died.

The two sons married Moabite women, but the sons also died in the land of Moab.

The three remaining women—Naomi and her two daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth—were left helpless and hopeless, so they set out toward Israel.

Read: Ruth 1:6-9,16-17 (DDG p. 122).

6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had visited his people and given them food.

7 So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.

8 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.

9 The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!”

Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept.

.................................................

16 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.

17 Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried.

May the Lorddo so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”

Explain: Comment on some typical temptations depending on one’s season of life (ignore God in blessing or blame Him in adversity).

DDG (p.

122)

· We are most tempted to ignore God when life is going great.

In these seasons, we may not feel a need for God and sometimes, if we are honest, not even a desire.

We are quick to believe that we are the cause of the goodness we are experiencing, and deep down, we worry that God could come along and mess all of that up by calling us to do something we would rather not do.

· On the other hand, we are most tempted to blame God when life is difficult.

We hold Him responsible for causing our seasons of adversity, or at least for failing to pay attention and keep us out of them.

In these moments, we may question God’s power and doubt His love.

The Book of Ruth records the account of a family seeking to understand God amidst a time of suffering.

Famine and death had wrecked this family.

Naomi wanted to spare her daughters-in-law from any more hardship, so she spoke up.

One tearfully returned to her home, but Ruth chose to stay with Naomi.

In God’s plan, this choice of love would bring blessing not only to Naomi and the Israelites but also to the whole world.

Ask the following question.

How have you seen God provide for someone during a time of suffering?

(be prepared to give an answer of your own to jump-start the conversation)

DDG (p.

122)

Suffering brings doubts and fears to the surface, but we can know that God is always present, always loving, and always providing for us.

This is what Ruth would come to learn, but it was also what Ruth would demonstrate.

Her love for her mother-in-law was steadfast, and nothing—neither famine, alienation, nor homelessness—would lead her to sever their relationship.

Ruth’s love was a fore-shadow of the love God has for His people.

· Naomi knew the journey to Bethlehem and a new life there would be challenging.

She was homeless, broke, and alone.

Any woman would have had a hard time making it in that culture, but for Ruth, being a Moabite widow living in Israel would only compound the difficulty.

Sure the situation was dire for them in Moab, but it would have been better than in Israel, Naomi thought.

So Orpah went, but Ruth stayed.

· The steadfast fellowship of Ruth and Naomi was a gift from God. Ruth didn’t bail; God doesn’t bail.

Ruth went forward into difficulty with Naomi; God goes forward into difficulty with us.

Even as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, God is with us, comforting us, leading us, and guiding us.