Sunday, May 10, 2009

Ruth 1

  The Book of Ruth was put in its final form
after David became king in Hebron in 1011 B.C. since he is recognized
as a very important figure in the genealogy (4:17, 22). The writer may have been
Samuel or one of Samuel's contemporaries. That Solomon is not mentioned indicates that Solomon
had not yet come to the throne.


   In the Hebrew Bible, the book of Ruth does not appear after Judges. Instead,
it is found in the Writings as one of the five Megiloth ("Scrolls"),
each of which was read at one of the feasts of the nation of Israel:



  • Passover: Song of Solomon

  • Pentecost: Ruth

  • 9th of Ab (destruction of the first and second Temples, expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492): Lamentations

  • Feast of Tabernacles: Ecclesiastes

  • Purim: Esther 


Purpose of the Book:



  • Illustrates the purpose and role of the Kinsman-Redeemer and is prophetic of Christ, our Kinsman-Redeemer. It is also prophetic of the marriage supper of the Lamb.

  • Ruth is a book about loyalty and love. The heroine of the story is Ruth and it is her loyalty to her mother-in-law as well as to the Lord which is featured. The word "love" is completely absent from the book of Ruth, though it is a story of love on several levels.

  • The book also has something to say regarding the missionary ministry which Israel was to have to the world. Ruth, a Moabitess, became the recipient of special blessings as she came to believe in the God of Naomi. This book teaches us that God is no respecter of persons.

  • This book highlights the genealogy of King David.

  • It also shows the reversal of the curse which had been laid on the people of Moab in Deuteronomy 23:3. There was a ten-generation curse placed upon the people of Moab and Ammon during the days of Moses because of their inhospitality toward Israel. There is no record of a Moabite or an Ammonite being accepted into the assembly of God’s people for the next 10 generations. But this changes with Ruth. She not only enters the assembly of God’s people, but she is also included in the royal line of David. Indeed, she is mentioned in the Messianic line of Matthew 1. The Talmudic states that the language of the 10-generation law only applies to Moabite and Ammonite men (Hebrew, like all Semitic languages, is gendered).

  • This is one of two books in the Bible that is named after a woman. There is an interesting contrast between Ruth and Esther:


Ruth:



  • A Gentile girl who married an Israelite.

  • "Built the house of Israel".

  • Her descendant was David, the King of Israel.

  • Rural setting.


Esther:



  • An Israelite girl who married a Gentile.

  • Saved the people of Israel.

  • She was married to the King of Persia.

  • A Royal Palace.


Elimelech Moves His Family to Moab.


(1) In the days when the *judges ruled in Israel, a severe **famine came upon the land. So a man from ***Bethlehem in Judah left his home and went to live in the country of ****Moab, taking his wife and two sons with him.



*judges: A 400 year period of general anarchy and oppression when the Israelites were not ruled by kings, but by periodic deliverers whom God raised up when the nation sought Him again. Notable among the Judges were Gideon, Samson, and Deborah. Each of these were raised up by God, not to rule as kings, but to lead Israel during a specific challenge, and then to go back to obscurity. The days when the Judges ruled were actually dark days for Israel; the period was characterized by the phrase everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 17:6, 18:1, 19:1 and 21:25).


**famine: God specifically promised there would always be plenty in the land if Israel were obedient. God had promised the Israelites that if they departed from Him, He would discipline them by sending famine on the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 28).


***Bethlehem was about five miles southwest of Jerusalem. This is the town where David would be born (1 Samuel 16:1) and Jesus would be born (Micah 5:2, Mt 2:1; Lk 2:4; Jn 7:42). Bethlehem means house of bread or food, which is ironic since there was a famine. There, Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin (Genesis 35:19; 48:7). Micah 5:2: But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel will come from you, one whose origins are from the distant past.


****Moab was the land east of the Dead sea. It was one of the nations that oppressed Israel during the period of the Judges. The Moabites were the descendants of Lot through his incestuous relations with his oldest daughter. Moab had refused the Israelites permission to pass through their land in the days of Moses. During the days of the Judges, the Moabites had invaded the territory of Israel until being driven out by Ehud. There is a lesson here. It is that God can use anyone. He loves to confuse the orthodox by using the kind of people we wouldn’t use. He brings a Messiah out of Nazareth, a King out of Bethlehem, disciples from a fishing boat and the Son of God from a rough-hewn cross.


(2) The man’s name was *Elimelech, and his wife was **Naomi. Their two sons were ***Mahlon and ****Kilion. They were *****Ephrathites from Bethlehem in the land of Judah. And when they reached Moab, they settled there.


*Elimelech means My God is king.


**Naomi means My pleasant one or my lovely one.


***Mahlon means sick.


****Kilion (Chilion) means pining or frail. Mahlon and Kilion may have been sickly because of the famine.


*****Ephrathites: Ephrath was the ancient name of Bethlehem.


(3) Then Elimelech died, and Naomi was left with her two sons.


   The two sons would have been able to support her. We're not told how old the sons were when they moved to Edom.


(4) The two sons *married Moabite women. One married a woman named **Orpah, and the other a woman named ***Ruth. But about ten years later,


*married Moabite women: Canaanite wives forbidden (Deuteronomy 7:3), but not Moabite wives. But, Moabite men were not allowed to worship at the Tabernacle because they didn't let the Israelites pass through their land during the Exodus from Egypt.


**Orpah: Probably Hind or Fawn.


***Ruth: Probably friend or companion. Not a Hebrew name.


(5) both Mahlon and Kilion died. This left Naomi *alone, without her two sons or her husband.


*alone: Even after ten years, her sons had no children! 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. At least, in Israel, was some provision for widows.


   Here was a woman who had lost it all. People may have looked at her and said, "Your God must be judging you." But not all bad things happen as a result of punishment. God is working silently in the background to bring about His great purpose.


Naomi and Ruth Return


(6) Then Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had blessed his people in Judah by giving them good crops again. So Naomi and her daughters-in-law got ready to leave Moab to return to her homeland.


(7) With her two daughters-in-law she set out from the place where she had been living, and they took the road that would lead them back to Judah.


(8) But on the way, Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back to your mothers’ homes. And may the Lord reward you for your kindness to your husbands and to me.


   Naomi incorrectly believed that there was more hope for her daughters-in-law by staying in Moab than there was by going with her to God's chosen people.


(9) May the Lord bless you with the security of another marriage.” Then she kissed them good-bye, and they all broke down and wept.


(10) “No,” they said. “We want to go with you to your people.”


(11) But Naomi replied, “Why should you go on with me? Can I still give birth to other sons who could grow up to be your husbands?


   See levirate marriage Genesis 38:8-11, Deuteronomy 25:5-10, Matthew 22:23-26. Levirate marriage was the practice of a single brother marrying his deceased brother's widow to father children who would carry on the dead brother's name.


(12) No, my daughters, return to your parents’ homes, for I am too old to marry again. And even if it were possible, and I were to get married tonight and bear sons, then what?


(13) Would you wait for them to grow up and refuse to marry someone else? No, of course not, my daughters! Things are far more bitter for me than for you, because the *Lord himself has raised his fist against me.”


*Lord himself has raised his fist against me: Possibly, she felt that the calamity which came upon her family came because they were disobedient in leaving the Promised Land of Israel and marrying their sons to Moabite women.


(14) And again they wept together, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye. But Ruth *clung tightly to Naomi.


*clung: The Hebrew word for "clung to" is dabaq, which elsewhere refers to the ideal closeness that can be experienced in a marriage relationship. Ruth determined to stick to her mother-in-law as closely as a husband would cleave to his wife.


(15) “Look,” Naomi said to her, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her *gods. You should do the same.”


*gods: Chemosh was the god of the Moabites, the demon god who was worshipped by burning children in his honor.


(16) But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.


   Naomi’s relationship with God made an impact on Ruth. This is striking, because Naomi did not have an easy life. She had been widowed, had lost both her sons, and believed that she had caused each calamity by her husband's disobedience. Yet she still honored and loved the Lord. People should be able to look at your life, just as Ruth looked at Naomi’s, and say “I want your God to be my God.” Your trust in God, and turning towards Him in tough times, will often be the thing that draws others to the Lord.


   Ruth discovered in marrying into the family of Elimelech that there was one God in heaven, the Creator of all, who had made a covenant with his people, who loved them, who gave laws that were honorable and brought out the best in human beings. And Ruth went from darkness to light. She is grateful enough to have heard the truth about God that nothing else is as important as that. All of her conviction in life is that this truth is so valuable that she will not lose it under any circumstances, and her only life line is Naomi. So she says to her, "If you are going back to your people, I am going with you!"


(17) Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!”


   The place of a person's grave in ancient Near Eastern life was very significant (See Genesis 23; 25:9-10; 50:1-14, 24-25; Joshua 24:32). It identified the area he or she considered his or her true home. So when Ruth said she wanted to die and be buried where Naomi was, she was voicing her strong commitment to the people, land, and God of Naomi.


(18) When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more.


(19) So the two of them continued on their journey. When they came to Bethlehem, the entire town was excited by their arrival. “Is it really Naomi?” the women asked.


   It was a long walk from Moab to Bethlehem, and the trip was mostly uphill.


(20) “Don’t call me Naomi,” she responded. “Instead, call me *Mara, for the **Almighty has made life very bitter for me.


*Mara: Naomi means pleasant; 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.


**Almighty: Shaddai. She blames the tragedy on God. We tend to blame God for our tragedies. For some Christians, through their suffering, there has been a depth of character developed that is unparalleled by others who have never experienced suffering or sorrow. Out of suffering, out of sorrow, the roots can go deep into God and the life can become beautiful, and strong, and powerful. Or you can root into bitterness and your life becomes bitter and tight, and tense. It's tragic when a person gives himself over to bitterness. It's all in how you look at the situation. I can look at it and I can become bitter and say, "If God loved me then why did He allow that to happen to me?" Or I can say, "Well, the Lord has given, the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord! All things work together for good, and God has a plan and He loves me, and I know that He's watching over me. It is God working out His plan for my life.


(21) I went away full, but the Lord has brought me home empty. Why call me Naomi when the Lord has caused me to suffer and the Almighty has sent such tragedy upon me?”


   Naomi knew that the tragedy that came into her life was not because of fate, chance, or blind fortune. She felt the tragedies were an example of God’s affliction because she could not see the end of His plan. But she knew there was a sovereign God of heaven, and didn’t think she had just run into a string of “bad luck.” 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 from Moab, accompanied by her daughter-in-law Ruth, the young Moabite woman. They arrived in Bethlehem in late spring, at the beginning of the *barley harvest.


*barley harvest - therefore, at the Feast of Pentecost. Barley is typically harvested a month prior to the wheat harvest. Barley was cheaper than wheat. It was used for the feeding of animals. It was also eaten by the poor.


   It would have been easy for Naomi to focus on what she had lost. She had lost a husband, two sons, and one daughter-in-law. She had lost all kinds of material possessions. All she had left was one daughter-in-law, Ruth. But through that one thing she had left, God was going to bring unbelievable blessing into her life. It will make a difference not only in her life, but in the life of Ruth - and in the destiny of the nation Israel - and in our eternal salvation.


   This summary verse not only concludes chapter 1 but also prepares the reader for the remaining scenes of the story. Naomi had left Bethlehem pleasant but returned bitter. She had left with Elimelech, one source of blessing in her life, but returned with Ruth who would become another source of blessing for her. She had left during a famine, but she returned to Bethlehem (lit. house of bread, the place of blessing) at the beginning of harvest.



Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation of the Bible.



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