This morning, we’re going to continue in our study in the Old Testament book of Ruth.
As we got started last week, we were introduced to a very sad story of a family who seemed to have tragedy after tragedy hit them.
Elimelech and Naomi chose to leave Israel and the famine in the land to follow their “luck” with a foreign god and his country instead of allowing the sovereign Lord of lords to protect them. Then, Elimelech died, leaving Naomi, and his sons Mahlon and Chilion to really struggle. After that, the boys married idol worshipers and then the boys died too. Now, we’re left with a widowed mother and her two widowed daughters-in-law to somewhat fend for themselves in a land that is strange and far from home for Naomi.
As I promised last week, the good news is that today we’re going to see how God is indeed working in the midst of this tragic set of circumstances. God has NOT forgotten Naomi! God is still involved in this family…even if it doesn’t look that way in the first five verses!
At some point…after living in Moab for these ten years…after having all of the men in her family die…after hearing that the famine was over in Judah, Naomi decides to pack her bags and move back home!
Ruth 1:6 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.
Despite the fact that Naomi had been living in an idolatrous land for the past decade, it’s a positive fact that she attributed the end of the famine to God’s work in the life of His people. So, she had not totally given up on the Lord!
Based on this information, she, Orpah, and Ruth start the journey back to Bethlehem. This had to be a tough decision for her to make as well. In returning home, she would be leaving the graves of her husband and boys behind. How many of you know right where your parents or grandparents or other close relatives are buried? Why…because it’s important! Coming up in a few weeks, we celebrate Memorial Day…what do people do to graves? Decorate them. Why? Out of honor and respect? But, for some reason, Naomi believed that it was more important to return to the Living God than it was to stay with the Non-living men.
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. 10 And they said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.”
We aren’t told how far along they were on the journey when the conversation in verse 8 took place. But we are told that Naomi decides that it doesn’t make much sense to take her idol-worshiping, Moabite, daughters-in-law back to Yahweh-worshiping, Judah where they would not have a family or a husband. So, she gives them the freedom to return back home.
Naomi blesses the two women and asks the Lord to show his covenant keeping loving-kindness towards Orpah and Ruth. Evidently, they were good daughters-in-law as the asks for them to be treated in the same way the took care of her and their husbands.
Naomi also prays a blessing on them that they will be able to find another husband.
Here in verse 9 is a GREAT phrase…as the ladies wept loudly at the prospect of leaving their mother-in-law. They had such a good relationship with her, that it hurt them to be separated.
I think this is a good example for us as we relate to our in-laws. Are we in the process of developing such a deep relationship that we are sorry when we leave each other’s company, or are we happy when that happens? These three women give us a great model of how families are supposed to respond to each other!
For those of you…and I will be there soon too…who are “parents-in-law”, how are you building those relationships with the spouses of your children? Do you encourage them? Do you include them as part of the family? Do you thank them for the positive things they do for your child and your grandchildren? Do you make them feel welcome when you are together?
There are plenty of families where the parents treat their sons and daughters-in-law poorly. They remind them or their own children how they never measured up to be the right kind of partner for their child. They refuse to acknowledge their special days or their worth. They refuse to go and visit or spend time with them. This list can go on and on in describing the kinds of disrespect and lack of honor that can be demonstrated.
However, here in this passage, we’re clearly reminded that healthy families care deeply about each other and show deep love towards each other. It’s also a great place to put that plug in for Mother’s Day!
For those of you who still have a mother or mother-in-law alive, make sure you treat her with honor…yes, of course today we celebrate the traditional American Mother’s Day that Julia Ward Howe started as a feminist reaction to the Civil War. BUT, more importantly, it’s critical that we serve and honor and treat our mothers with respect day in and day out. Yes, we sent my mother a Mother’s Day card, but I also try to call her several times each week to connect with her!
Now, some of you may not have someone in the “motherly generation” remaining…so, what does that mean for you. Naomi shows that it’s important for the mother to also show love, compassion, and concern for those in the children’s generation. As mothers and grandmothers, you have the opportunity and responsibility to treat your biological daughters and granddaughters as well as those who marry into your family the same way you want them to treat you!
OK…the advertisement is over…back into the text, (verse 11)
11 But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? 12 Turn back, my daughters; go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, 13 would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the LORD has gone out against me.” 14 Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
Naomi starts to discuss the lack of options for the girls. Naomi isn’t married, she doesn’t have a prospect of getting married because she is so old, and even if she were to get married and have a son right away, it would be a long time before that son could fulfill his obligation according to the Law that would have him have kids with his dead brothers’ widows in order to carry on their name! So, she is clear with the daughters-in-law that they need to get married and move on with their lives instead of remaining widows for the rest of their lives.
In the midst of this part of the story, Naomi demonstrates in verse 13 how depressed she is. She is starting to show her own self-pity and her “poor me” attitude. Here she starts to express her bitterness about the situation that she’s in. She blames God for their situation and whines that life is more bitter for her than it is for the girls. We’ll see in a couple of verses that this must have been so pervasive in her heart and mind that she wants to actually change her name to reflect her feelings against the Lord!
Here in verse 14, Orpah obeys Naomi and kisses her good-bye and heads back to her people in Moab. Some commentators and others have criticized her for her failure to stay and go to Judah with Naomi and Ruth. But, as you look at Naomi’s arguments, they are pretty solid. She isn’t having any more kids. Probably, most Godly men in Bethlehem wouldn’t marry a Moabite…let alone an idol worshiping, widow from a family who ran away from Israel to hide out in a foreign country. If you stop and think about it, it is the realistic and most logical option.
After Orpah determines to leave, Naomi once again encourages Ruth to go back to Moab and back to the idols that she worships.
Ruth 1:15 And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.”
However, verses 16-17 bring us one of the key statements in the book. This is a critical change in Ruth’s life. Her decision here makes a radical transformation in every area of her life and it impacts the lives of people for eternity!
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 LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”
In these two short verses, Ruth commits to a radical change in her life. She no longer will be an idol worshiping, foreign widow in a strange land, hoping to find her identity and desperately looking for a husband. She exchanges all of that to become a Yahweh worshiping, adopted citizen of Judah, and permanently attached to her mother-in-law and her family.
Do any of you have children, their spouses, or grandchildren or others in your family who aren’t following the Lord? This amazing transformation is sure something you should be praying for in the lives of those who are wandering away! If God was able to grab Ruth’s heart…despite her bitter mother-in-law with the bad attitude towards the Lord…think about what He can do as you graciously and fervently pray and encourage your relatives to consider their relationship with Yahweh!
As we look at these verses for ourselves, how would our lives be transformed if we were willing to say that we’re willing to do whatever the Lord asks us to do? What if we were willing to go where He sends us and stay when He tells us to stay? After the sermon, we’ll listen to a song that challenges us to do that very thing.
18 And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.
Ruth 1:19 So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. And the women said, “Is this Naomi?” 20 She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 21 I went away full, and the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the LORD has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?”
Ruth 1:22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.
Naomi finally accepts the fact that Ruth is not going to return to Moab, but rather is going to stay with her. So, they resume their journey to Bethlehem and at some point get back to town.
I don’t know for sure how things have worked here in Goodfield. But, if we go back a number of years to 1955, and a family left the community for ten years and then came back in 1965, would people notice? If the Alexanders had moved out of state and then after all that time, only Karen and her mother showed back up in a U-Haul and pulled into their driveway…would anybody notice? What would people be saying? Would anybody have said something at the old Busy Corner? Would anybody have said something at the Post Office? Would anybody have said anything at one of the grocery stores? Would anybody have called around on the party line to start the gossip about why Karen’s dad didn’t come back with her?
You know it don’t you?!?!?!
Well, the same thing happened to Naomi as she returned after ten years. We’re told that the women in Bethlehem started talking among themselves and they finally went out ant talked with Naomi. Evidently she had not kept Facebook updated, or sent yearly pictures back to her friends and relatives in town. It seems that perhaps she had aged greatly in ten years and her sorrow and bitterness made people question if it was really her or not.
As I mentioned earlier, she was so upset with God that she tells the ladies that He has not treated her fairly…in fact, Yahweh has treated her in such a bitter way that they should stop calling her Naomi which means “pleasant” and instead call her Mara, which means “bitter”. Now, I’ve known some bitter old ladies in my time, but I’ve NEVER heard one admit it, let alone tell everyone that she was so mad at God that everyone should call her Bitter to remind the community that she was in a terrible mood and that she’s just waiting for God to do something else bad toward her!!!!
Then, to make her point stronger, she tells them the whole story about how she and Elimelech had left Bethlehem when everything was perfect and her life was full of all that she needed and wanted…until God caused everything to cave in on her.
To conclude this section, we have kind of the concluding paragraph in chapter one which will lead us into the important events of chapter two. We’re told they got back to Judah as the men were beginning to harvest the barley crops. In Israel, the time for gathering barley is generally the end of April or beginning of May, so it was right about this time of year when the story took place.
Next week, as we start chapter two, we’ll see the next step in God’s great plan to take care of Naomi and Ruth…and we’ll see how God ultimately put together a couple who will be the great grandparents of King David and many generations later will be the ancestors of Christ Himself!
Close with I will Follow…Tomlin
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