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Series Introduction
Tonight we are beginning a new series titled “Ruth: From Ruin To Redemption.”
This will be an 8-part series taken from the Book of Ruth
In this series, we will move through the Book of Ruth verse-by-verse from beginning to end
The Book of Ruth is one of the most unique and beloved books in all of the Bible
It’s only 4 short chapters, and can be sat down and easily read in 15 minutes
Yet, it is beautiful little book, with a compelling story filled with loss and love, pain and joy, and risk and redemption
Ruth is one of only two books in all of Scripture named for women
The other is Esther — Esther was a Hebrew woman married to a Gentile king; Ruth was a Gentile woman married to a wealthy Hebrew farmer
The Book of Ruth fits chronologically right in the middle of the Book of Judges (even though it comes right after it in our Bibles)
Her story takes place during the darkest days in all of Israel’s history
After Joshua had conquered the land, the judges ruled and eventually people fell into rejection of God’s truth and the country was filled with violence, idolatry, and corruption.
Even the “heroes” of the time of the judges were people who had patterns of weak faith and irresponsible decisions
Gideon had a great moment of faith when invading the Midianites with 300 men, yet later on he failed to seek God’s leadership for the everyday decisions he made as a judge.
Eventually, one of Gideon’s 70 sons (who he had with multiple different wives) killed all of the other sons to so that he could make himself king, and when he became king he was a godless and violent man.
Samson famously had great physical strength but lacked moral integrity, and he eventually had his greatest victory by sacrificing his life in shame to destroy a temple filled with Philistine idol-worshippers
Neither of these tales are particularly bright, yet they are far from the bleakest moments of the times of the judges for Israel.
By the end of the book of Judges, the last verse before the book of Ruth begins, we see a summary of the wickedness plaguing Israel:
Because of this, the story of Ruth stands out like a tiny ray of sunlight in a cold, dark abyss.
She is a simple Gentile woman, who shows a kinder, Godlier spirit than all of Israel.
Her story is a shining example of the way that God is still present, working in people’s lives, even when the world seems like a crazy, awful place.
The Book of Ruth is broken into 4 different acts, much like a play, and we’ll take 2 weeks to look at each one.
We’ll analyze the different characters (like Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz), and we’ll tell their stories from different perspectives.
We’ll walk our way through the narrative, and we’ll take time to look at some of the odd, cultural nuances and why they made sense in that day
By the end, we will all have a firm grasp on the people of this story and the way God worked in their lives.
Each week, we’re going to look at what each part of the story teaches us about God and about people.
My prayer is that in each part you’ll see two things:
How God is faithful, loving, kind, and providential for His people.
How God’s people should take that faithfulness, love, kindness, and grace and reflect it back into the world around them
Let’s begin.
Part 1: Responding to Ruin (featuring Ruth and Naomi) — Ruth 1:1-18
Introducing The Thought
“What do you do when it all falls apart?”
Telling The Story
Situation: The setting, background, characters, etc.
Our story opens with a sentence that sets the stage for this time period in Israel: things are bad.
There is corruption and political unrest
There is violence and war
There is wickedness and idolatry
And now, to top it all off, there is not enough food
It was nothing short of a “Great Depression” for Israel and its people.
Next, we’re introduced to a man and his family
Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and their two sons Mahlon and Chilion
So, Elimelech decides he is taking his family and leaving.
It’s their country, their home.
But its unrecognizable from days gone by.
There is nothing for them there.
They packed their bags, and they left Israel behind.
You can imagine the sadness and emotions that came with this journey — their home was so destitute they had to abandon it
And, they had to go to a place that was totally foreign to them.
To put it simply, things were pretty bad.
Elimelech had to take his family somewhere where they could survive, so he chose the closest neighboring area to the east called Moab.
Even though Bethlehem ironically means “house of bread,” the dry region there made it ripe for famine if they didn’t have enough rain.
Whereas Moab has more rivers and porous soil, making it an easy choice for their move.
Show map on screen
When Elimelech took his family and left, he would’ve either gone north to Jerusalem and followed some key roads to Moab, or he could’ve taken the southern route that you see drawn on the map.
Now, the Israelites and the Moabites were neighbors, but they were not friends
The Bible has story after story of the hostile relationships between Israel and Moab (the wilderness wanderings, war with King David, war with Ahab, etc.)
The Moabites were descendents from some pretty awful circumstances surrounding Lot’s family, and from that point forward there was always bad blood with Israel
On top of that, they were pagans that faithfully worshipped the false god Baal.
So even though Elimelech is leaving Israel in all of its wickedness, the place he’s going to isn’t going to be much better off from that standpoint
But, there was one thing Moab had that Israel didn’t: food.
Stress: The trouble that gives the story its dynamic
If Naomi thought things couldn’t possibly get worse, she was wrong
By the end of verse 5, Naomi has gone from having a family and living in her home country to being displaced, widowed, and alone.
Not only did she lose her husband, but both of her sons.
Culturally speaking, she was completely destitute.
In this day, men were the sole providers for their families.
She was a woman who was widowed and had no sons or grandsons to care for her.
She was also an old woman, and unable to remarry.
Naomi had truly lost everything: her home, her husband, her sons, and now she couldn’t even support herself.
It’s important to understand how tragic it was for a family in this day to lose all generations without hope for another like this
In Israel, extinction of the family name was the greatest tragedy that could happen to a group of people
Not only had Naomi lost these people, but there were no children to carry on the name.
In addition to her being alone, her husband’s family is on the brink of extinction.
Naomi’s pain is deep, and her lack of a family to carry forward only deepens it
So now what does Naomi do?
She has no home, no family, and no way to support herself.
The only connections she has are with her two daughter-in-laws, Moabite women that her sons married before they died.
At this point in the story, things look as hopeless as can be.
Should she wait out death?
Should she try to make her way home?
What options does she have?
Search: The various solutions explored as the story unfolds
Naomi decides to make the long journey home
Verse 6 tells us that Naomi heard some good news: God had intervened in the famine Israel was experiencing and given the people food to eat
This would’ve been good news on many fronts, first from the practical standpoint — they had food again, but also from the standpoint of God’s faithfulness.
As we know, Israel was anything but worthy of God intervening and ending their famine.
They had rejected him over and over and had no interest in following Him.
Yet, God was faithful, and would not leave His people.
Out of His faithful kindness, He “visited His people.”
This is enough reason for Naomi to return.
She probably has a better chance of surviving at home with her own people than in Moab.
Naomi tells her Orpah and Ruth, her daughter-in-laws, to return to life with their family
Naomi is leaving, and in this culture, it would make the most sense for Orpah and Ruth to return to their home and start over
With the mention of her “mother’s house,” she’s essentially telling them to go and remarry and start new lives.
The mother played a significant role in arranging marriages in that day, so Naomi was trying to encourage them to go and find new husbands while they were young.
Naomi tells them, in her own culture’s ways, “Goodbye, and God bless you.”
There is a sense of hopelessness here.
She’s freeing them from any relationship to her, and in addition to that, she’s turning them over to God’s care because she knows she can’t care for them on her own.
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