Monthly Archive for January, 2010

Ruth 1:19f

Published on January 5, 2010 in Ruth. 0 Comments
Read Introduction to Ruth

 

19 Now the two of them went until they came to Bethlehem. And it happened, when they had come to Bethlehem, that all the city was excited because of them; and the women said, “Is this Naomi?” 20 But she said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 21 I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?” 22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. Now they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.
 
1:19 Now the two of them went until they came to Bethlehem.
 
It was a long arduous journey from Moab to Bethlehem (about 60-75 miles). This trip would have taken over a week.
 
And it happened, when they had come to Bethlehem, that all the city was excited because of them; and the women said, “Is this Naomi?”
 
Evidently Naomi experienced significant change in the eyes of the women of Bethlehem. She was a desperate and desolate widow. The town was abuzz because of her return.
 
1:20 But she said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.
 
The name “Naomi” means pleasant but “Mara” means bitter. She left Bethlehem with a husband and two sons now she came back without any of them. Naomi chose to focus on her hardships. She forgot that God is faithful to His promises.
 
The word “Almighty” is “Shaddai,” the one who is sufficient. By using the name “Almighty” for God she put emphasis on His great power to provide. She understood that grief in her life came from God. She could not avert God’s design for her life.
 
1:21 I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?”
 
Naomi contrasts her former life with her present situation. She claims that the Lord brought her back “without a thing,” or empty-handed. This statement is ironic since Ruth stood by her side as she spoke, a gift of God.
 
1:22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. Now they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.
 
This statement provides closure to the previous scene as well as makes transition to the next scene in the barley field.
 
PRINCIPLE: Acceptance of God’s sovereignty is the place of rest in the believer’s life.
 
APPLICATION: We need to place all our experiences under the arrangement of God’s sovereignty. Accepting God’s sovereignty is the only place we can cope with the pain and uncertainties of life. No tragedy in life is an accident but God’s hand is on each of them. God can make all things work together for good (Ro 8:28).

 

Ruth 1:11f

Published on January 3, 2010 in Ruth. 0 Comments
Read Introduction to Ruth

 

11 But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Are there still sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? 12 Turn back, my daughters, go—for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, if I should have a husband tonight and should also bear sons, 13 would you wait for them till they were grown? Would you restrain yourselves from having husbands? No, my daughters; for it grieves me very much for your sakes 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. 15 And she said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” 16 But Ruth said: “Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever 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. The Lord do so to me, and more also, If anything but death parts you and me.” 18 When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her.
 
1:11 But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Are there still sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?
Naomi attempted to insist three times (vv. 11-12, 15) that her daughter-in-laws return to Moab but she expects negative answers to her questions. A woman not married in the Near East was in a difficult situation. There was no financial security. The daughter-in-laws would have a much higher likelihood to remarry in Moab.
1:12 Turn back, my daughters, go—for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, if I should have a husband tonight and should also bear sons,
Naomi’s point is that it is too late to roll back the clock. Her daughter-in-laws have much greater potential to marry and bear children if they go stay in Moab.
1:13 would you wait for them till they were grown? Would you restrain yourselves from having husbands? No, my daughters; for it grieves me very much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me!”
Naomi did not want her daughter-in-laws to go through her lamentable circumstances and sad situations of a poor widow in a foreign land. She saw the sovereign hand of God on her life.
1:14 Then they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
Ruth’s clinging in the Hebrew suggests strong commitment. This could have meant that she would never marry or have children in Israel. She did not as yet know about Boaz.
Orpah returned to her people and parted ways with Naomi.
1:15 And she said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.”
Again, for the third time, Naomi urged Ruth to return to her home in Moab. She cited the situation of Orpah to encourage her to do so.
There is no further reference to Orpah. She stayed in Moab and remarried there.
1:16 But Ruth said: “Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people,
Ruth fastened her life to Naomi. She made a total break with the past. She left her idols and ancestry and made a four-fold commitment to Naomi.
And your God, my God.
This phrase is the climatic statement of Ruth’s pledge. Orpah went back to her gods (1:15) but Ruth chooses the God of Israel as her Savior. Ruth made an unqualified commitment to Jehovah and binding break with Moab.
1:17 Where you die, I will die, And there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, If anything but death parts you and me.”
Ruth’s commitment went to the extent of death. She invoked God’s judgment if she were to break her commitment to Naomi.
1:18 When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her.
Naomi stopped trying to convince Ruth of not going with her to the Promised Land.
PRINCIPLE: The nature of commitment must be total.
APPLICATION: Ruth was in the family line of the Messiah. Because of Ruth’s total commitment she found herself in the genealogy that led to Christ. The genealogy of Jesus in Matthew four cites the names of five women including Ruth. This was the wonderful result of leaving her god Chemosh (the national god of Moab).

Ruth 1:6f

Published on January 3, 2010 in Ruth. 0 Comments
Read Introduction to Ruth

 

6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had visited His people by giving them bread. 7 Therefore she went out from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. 8 And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each to her mother’s house. 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 in the house of her husband.” So she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. 10 And they said to her, “Surely we will return with you to your people.”
 
1:6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had visited His people by giving them bread.
 
It was the Lord who stopped the famine, not Baal.
 
“Return” is a key idea in the book of Ruth.
 
1:7 Therefore she went out from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.
 
Naomi tells her daughter-in-laws that because they were Moabites, it would be difficult for them in the Promised Land.
 
1:8 And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each to her mother’s house.
 
Naomi encouraged her two daughter-in-law to return to their homesteads.
 
The Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me.
 
The term “deal kindly” with you in the Hebrew is not merely an attitude or emotion, but an attitude that leads to actively benefit another person. This word is thematic in the book of Ruth. The idea is deep and enduring commitment to another. It is a covenant of loyalty oriented word. The word is a grace leaning word because God gives His mercy even when it is not deserved. God will enable Naomi’s daughter-in-laws to find rest.
 
Naomi saw that the prospects of her daughter-in-laws were better in Moab so she encouraged them to stay.
 
1:9 The Lord grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband.” So she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept.
 
The word “rest” carries the idea of security as security in marriage. This word carries the idea of protection and refuge. Naomi wanted her daughters-in-law to understand that if they came to live in her country, it would be very difficult for them to find a husband. They would experience cultural dislocation.
 
1:10 And they said to her, “Surely we will return with you to your people.”
 
Both Moabite women wanted to return with Naomi.
 
PRINCIPLE: Believers ought to openly recognize God’s hand in their circumstances.
 
APPLICATION: God puts the pieces together in His providential care over us. We may have no conscious awareness of what He does. God works all things together in His plan. God does not act in an isolated way but continuously over everything that happens to us. Things do not happen by chance; God rules. We ought to openly glorify Him for this.

Ruth 1:2f

Published on January 2, 2010 in Ruth. 0 Comments
Read Introduction to Ruth

 

2 The name of the man was Elimelech, the name of his wife was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion— Ephrathites of Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to the country of Moab and remained there. 3 Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left, and her two sons. 4 Now they took wives of the women of Moab: the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth. And they dwelt there about ten years. 5 Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died; so the woman survived her two sons and her husband.
 
2 The name of the man was Elimelech, the name of his wife was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion— Ephrathites of Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to the country of Moab and remained there.
 
Elimelech left Bethlehem for financial reasons for Moab. He took up residence in the Gentile land of Moab. The Moabites sought to curse Israel through Balaam (Numbers 22). God commanded that a Moabite should not enter the congregation of Israel (Deuteronomy 23:3).
 
3 Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left, and her two sons.
 
Naomi’s sons sustained her financially after her husband’s death.
 
4 Now they took wives of the women of Moab:
 
It was against the Mosaic Law for Israelite men to marry Gentiles. There does not appear to be a prohibition of women marrying Moabites.
 
the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth.
 
Ruth was a Moabitess who married one of Naomi’s sons (Mahlon), an Israelite. It is interesting that the book of Ruth is named after a Gentile Moabitess. She became the great-grandmother of David (4:17).
 
And they dwelt there about ten years.
 
Moab was a bad experience for Naomi. Her husband intended to only “sojourn” there but it became a protracted experience.
 
5 Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died; so the woman survived her two sons and her husband.
 
A desperate situation for a Naomi arose when her two sons died leaving her without adequate income and destitute. We have a tragic picture of a woman left with her two daughter-in-laws without an adequate source of income.
 
PRINCIPLE: We can run from our problems but we cannot hide from them.
 
APPLICATION: Death and depravity are stark realities of life. Gaping wounds come our way. When we are at the end of our tether, remember God is on the other end! In the darkest of times God is at work.  

Ruth 1:1

Published on January 1, 2010 in Ruth. 0 Comments
Read Introduction to Ruth

 

1:1 “Now it came to pass, in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, went to dwell in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.
 
The book of Ruth opens with adversity. A man from Bethlehem called Elimelech moved to Moab because of a famine in the Israel. While in Moab, all the male members of a family die. The issue revolves around what will happen to the women left behind.
 
1:1Now it came to pass, in the days when the judges ruled,
 
The days of Ruth were the times of the Judges. These were the days when “every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6; 18:11; 19:1; 21:25). This was a time of unbelief and rebellion against God. It was a period of oppression, anarchy, apostasy, moral decline, and turbulence in Israel (1250-1050 BC). The time frame was between the death of Joshua and the crowning of Saul. 
 
that there was a famine in the land.
 
Famine in Bethlehem precipitated the events of Ruth. Famines were means of God’s discipline of Israel (Le 26:18-20; Dt 28:15,23-24). God disciplined the people in the period of the judges (Judges 2:10-19). The Israelites worshipped Baal and Ashtoreth. Baal was believed to be in control of crops which related to famine. Sexual intercourse between Baal and Ashtoreth (female god) was supposed to produce fertile land. Thus, divine control of crops is a major issue in the book of Ruth.
 
Midianite oppression of Israel for seven years by invasions caused famine to come upon the land. This famine was divine discipline upon the nation Israel for her unfaithfulness. 
And a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah,
 
Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, was a landowner in Bethlehem (5 miles south of Jerusalem) who fell on hard times financially. The idea that he was from an insignificant town called Bethlehem is noteworthy because the first king of Israel will come from Bethlehem. Jesus was a descendant of David and was born in Bethlehem.
 
went to dwell in the country of  Moab,
 
The Moabites descended from Lot (Ge 19:27), thus, they were distant relatives of Israel. This is where Elimelech waited out the famine. His brother Boaz did not go to Moab.
 
he and his wife and his two sons.
 
The move to Moab was a foreboding event. Elimelech left the land of promise across to the east side of the Jordan River. Moab was on the east side of the Dead Sea.
 
PRINCIPLE: We can run from our problems but we cannot hide from them.
 
APPLICATION: People who run from their problems never fully face the realities of their lives. They cannot resolve their problems if they do not deal with them.