Ruth part 1 A journey of a lifetime.

23^rd September 2018

P.A.Thatcher

The Mustard Seed Evangelical Church.

Series: “The best is yet to come!” {Lessons from the book of Ruth Part 1}

A journey of a lifetime.

Ruth 1:1-5

In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.

Now Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.

NIV UK Version.

Background:

Our series is set in the times of the Judges, which was the 400 year period after Israel had entered the promised land under the leadership of Joshua (approx. 1500 -1100 BC). The setting of the book is laid out in verse 1 which follows on in our bibles from the last verse of Judges which describes the period as being lawless: Judges 21: 25 “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.” Proverbs 16:25 (which had not yet been written) would have been most a appropriate warning for the people; “There is a way that seems right to a man, but it's end is the way of death!”

It is this theme that is key to our understanding of the first chapter of Ruth.

The times of the judges were very dark days that were punctuated by God's blessing and salvation for His rebellious people. When reading Judges we discover that the people would sin, God would send enemies against them, as He promised that He would in the law of Moses. When things became unbearable the people prayed and God rescued them. Judges is a book that shows how depraved even the people of God can be but it also shows that God judges their sinfulness but is gracious in bringing relief to their suffering when they repent. This is most significant for our understanding of this fascinating account of a small family during those days.

So what do we learn from the verses that we read this morning. There are many lessons that might not at first be obvious. Let us consider:

• The dangers of being led by circumstance.

• The dangers of outside influences.

• The importance of the family.

The dangers of being led by circumstance:

As we begin our studies in Ruth, we must remind ourselves that the bible is always an accurate account of events that does not always comment upon the details and reasons for decisions made. The circumstances that Elimelech and Naomi found themselves in caused them to make a big decision in life. They emigrated from Bethlehem to Moab because there was famine in Israel. That was a pragmatic decision that I guess any parent would make in order to ensure that their family were fed. That might be especially true for Elimelech and Naomi, you see they had two boys to feed. The names of the boys suggest that they were both unwell, Mahlon means sickly and Chilion means wasting away. Names in the bible are usually of great significance, that being the case, who can blame their parents for taking them to a place where food is freely available? Circumstance is often a good guide for our decision making but as with this family, it can also be a poor guide.

There was famine in Bethlehem, which out of interest means house of bread, that suggests that there is something of greater significance at hand. The destination of their emigration was Moab, which was one of Israel's mortal enemies. The time of the judges was a time when tensions between the two nations were at a very low ebb. Moab were descendants of Lot by his incestuous relationship with one of his daughters. The Ammonites were descendants of Lot through the son of his incestuous relationship with his other daughter. Both Moab and the Ammonites hated the Israelites and due to their abuse towards Israel. If you read through Joshua and Judges you will soon discover some of the evil ways that this nation had treated Israel, but now Elimelech emigrates to their land. That would suggest that it was at a time in the 400 years of the judges when tensions were less problematic. It would be quite logical to conclude that the Lord was directing them to go there, just as it might have been to conclude that when Jonah was on the run, a ship was heading to Tarshish, guided him to go aboard. There are other issues at hand that suggest that to be a wrong premise.

We need to consider who Israel are, they are the people of God. Bethlehem is named such because it reminded them that God supplies bread to His faithful people. The law of Moses teaches that perfectly. God blesses His obedient people, some of the signs of which are, rain in season, sun in season, growing time and harvest time in great abundance. Famine in the land and also enemies invading, which Moab were prone to doing were signs of God's displeasure at the sin of Israel. Simply because Moab were their friends currently does not negate the significance of the failed harvest! The law of God teaches that He will withdraw the harvest when His people sin. We would do well to take this on board in the church, we will see no harvest of souls when the plans are carried out from sinful motives.

Elimelech whose name means God is King, was not being true to his name when he emigrated. Israel were under God's discipline and the only way of escape was through repentance. Remember our proverb “There is a way that seems right to a man, but it's end is the way of death!” That is exactly what Elimelech experienced!

In 1 Corinthians10:6 Paul tells us that, “the experiences of the Old Testament took place as an example for us, in order that we might not make the same mistakes that people like Elimelech did!”

So what is the lesson for us to learn?

Our name is important also, we are called Christians, which simply means that Our Saviour is king of our lives. Just as Elimelech was called to trust His God as king, through thick and thin then so are we to trust Christ for all things. Elimelech didn't trust God when his nation was under judgement and as a righteous man never influenced his people to repentance, which would have brought about relief from the famine! Instead Elimelech followed what he believed to be blessing, the grass was certainly greener in Moab but God was not with him there. His own plans were the death of him and also of his children. Sometimes in our Christian experience we go through famines of blessing, they might be attributed to personal sin or the corporate sin of the church. The last thing we should do is up sticks and run to where we believe there is blessing. We need to repent of any wrong doing and trust God for His blessing and together see God at work amongst us!

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The dangers of outside influences:

I am sure that if you have not said it yourself, then you have heard it said to a wayward child; “From your attitude, I know who you have been with!” From this account we easily deduce who Elimelech and Naomi had been associating with. Naomi and Elimelech were Ephrathites which simply means that they were Bethlehem born and bred. Ephrath (meaning fruitful) was the original Canaan name for Bethlehem, it was known as the place that epitomised God's provision for His people, and yet when the going got tough Elimelech left for more fertile ground. Before that happened there was clearly something not right in the family, the names of the boys denoted their physical health, sickly and wasting away suggests that the blessing was not there. Elimelech was guilty of not living up to his name. The names Mahlon and Chilion are not Hebrew names but are from the Canaanite nations. I suppose it would be something like A Christian calling his son Mohammed. It was not normal. Elimelech clearly had other influences long before he left Israel.

The boys then took Moabite wives, there seems to be no concern that Moab had been doing so much harm to the children of Israel. There is another issue that might be easily missed, Moabites were barred from entering the temple for worship. God had seen fit to ban them from His presence in the temple due to their sin at the time of Balaam. The outcome of all of this is that the family from Judah now were not pure in their family worship of God Almighty.

Thje family made Moab their home and were seemingly at home in that country. Through all of these things we can clearly see the influence that was on their lives. We can see where their hearts lay and it was not with the people of God and they were certainly not concerned about the true worship of their God.

When God's people follow their own wants and desires they will soon find themselves guilty of compromise in worship. To be able to accommodate our backsliding we soon embrace wrong influences and then justify them by promoting ourselves as enlightened or more spiritual than others. There has never been a day when this has been more relevant than it is today! Christians and churches are so concerned with being modern and relevant in society that very often we are guilty of embracing worldly ways rather than following the regulative principles as laid down in scripture. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being modern as long as it does not compromise scripture. That is equally true of being traditional or old fashioned! We must be faithful to the word of God rather than any other influence. We live in the modern equivalent of Moab, the world outside is barred from the worship of God because of sin. At this point we must jump forward in our thoughts to the influence that Naomi had over Ruth and Ruth's ultimate confession of trust in God. Ruth the Moabitess was included in with the people of God because she turned to God almighty for her eternal security. As we live in our foreign land we like Naomi need to bring people to know our God through Jesus Christ and then they too will be included in the true worship of God.

God wants us to be faithful to Him alone, to put aside all of our personal and corporate compromises and to trust in Him alone in all circumstances. It is this single minded faith and trust that He requires of us as individuals and as the church and then He will bless us beyond what we cane ever imagine.

Apply!

The importance of the family:

When all seemed to be ok the plans of Elimelech and Naomi came to fruition, death resulted. For Naomi it was disastrous, their journey of a lifetime became a nightmare. Three funerals came in quick succession and Naomi found herself all alone in a foreign land and to cap it all, blessing had come to Israel. The famine was over and Naomi was miles away in Moab, so she left Moab to return to Bethlehem, with Orpah and Ruth her daughters in law. As we know the end from the beginning we know that Ruth became a wonderful help to Naomi but also the way of redemption of the sad situation. But, Naomi did not know that, she was a woman in desperate grief. We need to understand why she later says the things that she does and the reasons for her attitude. I am so glad that she had a Ruth whose name means friend!

God is working His purpose out in this family and what a purpose He had. The Lord Jesus was going to be born of this Moabitess' line. How amazing is that! We will come back to it again as we continue through the book! But for now we conclude this morning's thoughts with this truth. Within the family Naomi had a friend that was so much better than she could ever imagine at the time.

It is the same with the church, we are called to be the family of God. We are each to be Ruth's (friends) with each other! Friends who support each other when the going gets tough and when griefs and sorrows cause us to react badly. Ruth just loved Naomi despite her apparent bitterness in grief. The Lord Jesus is the friend of sinners who loves us unconditionally. When we get it wrong He does not reject us,He encourages us to faithfulness.

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Do we love and encourage each other as Ruth did Naomi?

Or as Jesus does us???