1 In the days when the judges ruled, there was a
famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife
and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab.
During a famine the wealthy in Israel were responsible for
assisting the less fortunate. Elimelech
was a wealthy land owner who according to Jewish tradition fled his home in
Bethlehem in order to keep his wealth secure during the famine. This displays a TOTAL lack of faith in
God. He was very much a secular Jew no
matter the meaning of his name. We will
discover in this book that he sold all his land and took his wealth with
him. There are a few things you need to
know about this particular setting.
The man’s name means, “God is my king.” His very name declared a lie because his
actions prove that God was not his king or he would not have disobeyed the law
to flee. He also would not have gone to
Moab. Jonah the prophet fled because he
did not want to give God’s warning to the people of Nineveh. God captured him anyway and sent him
back. Elimelech’s sin was far worse. He abandoned the poor, the widows and the
destitute rather than share his wealth with them. This is a good lesson for this country’s
wealthy to consider.
The name Bethlehem (house of bread) in Judah means it is the
Bethlehem where Jesus was born. There is
another Bethlehem in Galilee. David and
Jesus were born in Bethlehem in Judah or Judea.
It is SW of Jerusalem. The other
Bethlehem is only ten miles from Nazareth (North of Jerusalem) where Joseph and
Mary lived. Some argue that the
Bethlehem of Jesus was the closer one, but how likely is it that they would
have traveled in a caravan for more a day before realizing Jesus was not with
his other family members if they were only traveling ten miles (Luke
2:41). Bethlehem in Judea is four hours
by car from Nazareth today. That is
where Jesus was born. It is about 150
miles from Nazareth.
The final point is that they ran away to Moab. Moab means, “From the Father,” and began as
an incestuous relationship between Lot and his daughter. In the beginning God ordered Israel to treat
them with courtesy and not attack them but Moab didn’t get the message. They sought to attack Israel every chance
they got and the final straw was when they refused to help Israel and offer
them bread and water when God released them from Egypt. It says in Deuteronomy 23:3-4,
“An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the
congregation of the Lord; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter
into the congregation of the Lord for ever: Because they met you not with bread
and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt; and because they
hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse
thee.” It goes on to say that we should
not pray for them or their blessing ‘forever. (v6)’
This is the nation that Elimelech chose to flee to. They were family…of sorts, but family that God
had ordered cut off. This is one of
those circumstances where Satan must have believed that God had made a
mistake. Under a curse like this no
offspring from a Moabite could ever enter the congregation of God. No king could ever come from this family…right?
2 The man's name was Elimelech, his wife's name
Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were
Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there. 3
Now Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left with her two sons.
Mahlon, whose name means Sick, and Kilion whose name means
Puny were the two grown sons of Elimelech.
Because they were adult they were as guilty as Elimelech for making a
move to live amongst the cursed Moabites.
Immediately after settling in Moab Elimelech
died. It wouldn’t have been so bad had
they just passed through Moab, but they chose to settle and find rest in the
land of those for whom God said there would be no rest.
Now Naomi is bereft and rather than returning with what
money they still have to Israel, they decide to stay, further angering God. Her eldest son ‘sick’ was now the head of
household. It was at this moment when we
see what happens when you do not train your children in the ways of God. He couldn’t see the correlation between his
father’s instant passing and his decision to live in a cursed place with a
cursed people. They lived in Moab and
rather than return to the land of their God and chose to adopt the ways of Moab
and marry Moabite women. This was forbidden
by God.
4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and
the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, 5 both
Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her
husband.
First God killed Elimelech immediately upon his
DECISION to live in the cursed nation and then after marrying Moabite women and
living with them for ten years without any offspring the two men died. Consider how much they paid in doctor visits
in that pagan land to try and keep Sick and Puny alive. You can’t live in disobedience to God’s Word
when you are His chosen and expect to flourish.
It makes you wonder if they died right after the family bank account was
emptied and they were destitute.
At any time in that ten years they might have repented and
returned to Israel and God. Ten is the
number of completion and the fulfillment of the law. There are ten commandments. In Genesis 15:16 God told Abraham that his
children would return to Canaan in the fourth generation after the “sin of the
Amorites was complete.” God allows a
complete season for repentance. It is
that important to Him. Mahlon and Kilion
failed to do so.
In 1 Thessalonians 2:16 we hear of those who “fill up the
measure of their sin.” God is
gracious. If at any time we cease from
our sins and repent He will redeem us.
God asks, “Will you will be saved?”
The Holy Spirit draws you. If you
hear His voice and harden not your heart he will redeem you. They hardened their hearts until they
died. Ten years means God allowed them
the full measure of time to repent. They
did not.
6 When she heard in Moab that the LORD had come to
the aid of his people by providing food for them, Naomi and her
daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. 7 With her two daughters-in-law she
left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would
take them back to the land of Judah.
One must remember that in this period of history a woman had
little in the way of rights. She was
raised and taught that her responsibility to the family and her people was to
bear an heir. This is why Sarah, Rachel
and others were so incensed about their barren wombs. God had said to man and woman, “Go forth and
multiply,” and they could not. Rachel
and Leah are not known for their great faith or their wisdom. They are the matriarchs of Israel and created
a nation through their own wombs and the wombs of their maids. It is for this that they are honored.
To Naomi’s great sorrow and horror she has no living seed
and no grandchildren to carry on. She
has two Moabite daughters who, in her mind, will not be received into Israel’s
embrace. She has heard that God has
lifted the famine, the test he allowed to test His people, and for the first
time in her life she is free to choose for herself what path she will
follow. She is without father, without
husband and without even an eldest son to cover her. She is alone before God and has chosen to
return to Him. She began down that road
and then stopped to consider her two daughters.
8 Then Naomi said to her two
daughters-in-law, "Go back, each of
you, to your mother's home. May the LORD show kindness to you, as you have
shown to your dead and to me.
There is a rule of release.
If a person is released from their responsibilities you must release
them three times. This makes sure they
know the importance of the decision they are making and acknowledge you have
given them every opportunity to turn back.
Verse eight is Naomi’s first attempt to release her Daughters-in-law
from their responsibilities to the family.
Naomi must have been a wonderful mother-in-law considering their
responses to her.
9 May the LORD grant that each of you will find
rest in the home of another husband." Then she kissed them and they wept
aloud 10 and said to her, "We will go back with you to your
people."
In this first response they chose to stay with her. Their love for her was obviously very strong
and the desire to remain in this home rather than to go back home to parents
who thought you married with your own life.
This is the first time they refused the offered release. Both Ruth and Orpah loved their mother-in-law
but one loved both she and her God. Hebrew
tradition says that Orpah and Ruth were princesses and highly favored in
Moab. Even now the one was beginning to
question her faith and future. Their
names give you a hint of their decision.
Ruth means friend. We
have many sayings for friend. In 424 BC
Euripides said, “A friend in times of trouble is a true friend but money will find
many friends.” We would say, “A friend
in need is a friend indeed.” Naomi as
been translated as gazelle but it actually means mane or the back of the neck. A gazelle will run away and show you the back
of their neck.
11 But Naomi said, "Return home, my daughters. Why would
you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your
husbands? 12 Return home, my
daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there
was still hope for me--even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to
sons-- 13 would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried
for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the
LORD's hand has gone out against me!"
Naomi is telling them the absolute truth. She is too old to bear more children and is
unlikely to remarry anyway. She has had
her chance and barring a miracle from God she must feel totally abandoned. In verse 13 she reveals the depth of her pain
and says, “It is more bitter for me than for you…” They are still young, probably in their mid
to late 20’s. Verse 11 counts as only
one admonition because it is part of the same statement.
14 At this they wept again. Then Orpah kissed her
mother-in-law good-by, but Ruth clung to her. 15 "Look," said
Naomi, "your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her."
This is the final opportunity to leave. Orpah did not wait any longer. She kissed her mother-in-law good-by after
the second release but Ruth would not let Naomi go. Naomi made one more offer as was required to
make sure she would in no way be accused of deception but Ruth loved her
mother-in-law too much to leave and had developed a true and vibrant
relationship with God.
16 But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave
you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will
stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there
I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything
but death separates you and me."
This is one of the most powerful statements of faith in all
the Bible. Even secular colleges
reference this statement as an example of the finest writing. This statement is just as powerful as a
marriage covenant and reflected the intense love she had for both God and
Naomi. It also displays her level of
faith and a tremendous vow to the Lord.
Whether she would be accepted by those in Israel, she has fully accepted
them. We will see in Boaz’s comments
that Ruth WAS in fact accepted by many of the people in Bethlehem. That in itself was unheard of in that period
of history.
Her people were the hated Moabites who refused to meet
Israel upon their exodus from Egypt with bread and water. They were the people who sought Balaam the
prophet to curse Israel. It was through
Balak the leader of Moab that Moab was cursed, but it was through Ruth and her TIKKUN, the miraculous mending, that
Moab was somewhat redeemed before God.
18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to
go with her, she stopped urging her. 19
So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in
Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed,
"Can this be Naomi?"
Naomi had done her duty and now she bore the responsibility
of both herself and her daughter-in-law.
Notice that from verse six to verse 19 they had not stopped walking
toward the goal of Bethlehem. Naomi had
set her course toward home and would not be stopped. Now the two of them traveled together, happy
in each others company, until they arrived in Bethlehem where their arrival
caused a stir.
The word for stirred was hum
which means to cause a tumult. It means
the town was turned upside down at their return. It’s like Bill Gates returning home broke
after the crash of Microsoft. EVERYBODY
was talking. Some were angry to see them
knowing full well the reason for her husband taking them away. In many minds it was God’s judgment to see
the uppity nose in the air family of Elimelech return home poor and
destitute. Others who loved God and knew
His desire for restoration would openly receive them back with love and
compassion. In the flesh this would be a
difficult time for Naomi and Ruth. They
had no husbands and were two of the many widows that abounded in Israel, a
burden upon the nation, dependent upon handouts, hoping for grace.
20 "Don't call me Naomi, " she told
them. "Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. 21 I went away full, but the LORD has
brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted me; the
Almighty has brought misfortune upon me."
This statement of hers probably did more to stop outrage
than any other. If you know you have
been judged harshly by God, why would you deny it? None of us are perfect. God says he gives grace to the humble and
resists the proud. The world is full of
‘pride’ parades and according to the Bible, God is resisting your life and
bragging. We have very little to be
proud of. All that we have has been
given by God.
Naomi says, “Why call me Naomi (pleasant) when God has taken
all from me. Call me Mara (bitter). In
reality, her life is not yet ended and by faith will one day be restored (Job
19:21). One day she will be Naomi again when
God has redeemed her from her husband and sons sin. She will have a future because God is a
redeeming God (Ruth 4:7, Ephesians 5:16-17, Colossians 4:5-6).
22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth
the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest
was beginning.
Observe the timing of God.
Their travels and their arrival back at home came the day after
Passover. By this timing God equates
their time in Moab to be like their time in Egypt. They arrived the beginning of barley harvest,
the day AFTER Passover, a day of new beginnings. Her husband and sons were those who did not
place blood on the doorposts and lintels of their lives. They were taken by the death angel. She and her daughter made the step of faith
and were honored for it. It was a time
of great deliverance and by God’s grace would be a time of reaping for them as
well.
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