Ruth: From Survival to Revival

1:1-22, 3:11 (Pastor Heo)

Naomi and Ruth

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.   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.   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.

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.   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.   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.”  

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!”  

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.”   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.”  

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?”   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.”   22  So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.

…

3:11  And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All my fellow townsmen know that you are a woman of noble character.

Last Sunday, we studied Judges, today is Ruth. Judges = book of judgment from God (failure stories as a cycle – in 5 stages – rebellion, retribution, repentance, restoration, rest)

• Judges = disaster that came when the ppl of God turned away from him.
• Ruth = blessing that came when the foreigner (Gentile) came to the true God.

Ruth – in the time of Judges – very terrible days – disaster, misfortune, disobedience, disunity, foreign oppression.

But it affects, reflects a very short, temporary time of peace between Israel and Moab.

Ruth – named after the main character (daughter-in-law of Naomi).

There are 4 chapters, it covers only 12 years in all. 10 years in the land of Moab, 2 years in Bethlehem.

Story:

Chp 1:

In the times of Judges, there was a famine in Israel (esp. Bethlehem = “house of bread”). Elimelech = moved to Moab with wife and two sons (who married Moabite women). He died shortly thereafter.

After about 10 years, both sons died – only 3 widows were left.

One day, Naomi heard that the famine was over in Israel (God had visited his people by providing food again). Naomi decided to return home. The other two started out with her but Naomi eventually said, “Hey, thanks, that’s enough, just go ahead and go back home.” Orpah kissed Naomi goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. “Don’t urge me to leave you – wherever you go, I’ll go, wherever you die, I’ll die, etc” (3:16 = KEY VERSE = “your God will be my God”).

Her decision was too strong for Naomi to stop her – so the two of them arrived at Bethlehem.

Chp 2:

The harvest for barley had just started at that time. They were poor and homeless – no money, no job, nothing. Naomi was old, Ruth young, so she had a responsibility to do something to provide for her mother-in-law. She said, “Let me go into the fields and glean some grain.” “OK.”

She went to Boaz’s field to glean (coincidentally…maybe). He was a distant relative of Naomi.

At that time, the men cut the grain, the women followed to gather it up, in a third line, the poor, fatherless, widowed, homeless, foreigners, were allowed to come and pick up the leftovers.

Boaz eventually came to his field and noticed Ruth – he asked the men in charge “Say, who is she?” “She’s a foreigner from Moab – the daughter-in-law of Naomi.” Actually, he’d already heard about what she’d done for her mother-in-law and he blessed her for her sacrifice and work, “Just stay in my field and glean from here until the harvest is finished.” He blessed her with food and drink and ordered his workers “Do not touch her, do not rebuke her, do not molest her – in fact, pick out some grain specifically for her.” She picked up 10kg/km? of grain.

In this way, Naomi and Ruth lived together happily until the harvest season almost finished.

Chp 3:

One day, Naomi said to Ruth, “I must find a husband for you.” (She was thinking Boaz) – they had a levirate marriage as a custom at that time (it means “husband’s brother” – leviritic marriage) – if a man dies without a son, his nearest relative marries the widow in order to continue the family name of the brother.

So, if MANY brothers live in the same place, and one brother marries without a son, then a surviving brother should take the widow as his wife and carry on the name of the son who had died.

This was not required – the son was not forced to marry the widow, the next relative/brother would have a chance to marry the widow. (Based on Deut 25:5 – this is a kind of family and inheritance custom “If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. His brother should take her and marry her and fulfill his duty as a brother-in-law to her.”)

According to this system, Naomi said, “Hey, tonight could be a huge chance for you.” Boaz would definitely be threshing – with a party and drinking and sleep outside. She told Naomi to get all cleaned up and attractive like a bride, “then go to the place he is threshing, but don’t let him know you’re there – when he sleeps, approach him, lift his cover, lie down at his feet.” This was the action of a request for marriage at that time.

Ruth did it all. Boaz was surprised to wake up and find something at his feet “Who’s there?” “It’s Ruth – you are the kinsman-redeemer – you are responsible to care for me, please marry me.” He praised her, “Wow, you are a woman of noble character, yes, I will do everything you ask. But wait. There is another closer kinsman than I, if he wants, I will not, but if he does not, then I will.” The other didn’t want, so Boaz got the girl.

Ruth eventually became:

1. the great grandmother of David – the greatest king of Israel – and
2. the great, great… grandmother of Jesus. (Matthew 1 … “Boaz, father of Obed, (mother Ruth), the father of Jesse, the father of David.”

So what lessons can we learn from this story? MANY – but let me say just a few:

#1: Decision is VERY important

Yes, our lives are a continuation of decisions – big or small. Sometimes ONE single decision can make EVERYTHING different. Sometimes we can know our decisions reveal and show WHO is really my king. We can say, “Jesus is my king” but your decisions SHOW whether or not that is true.

There is a big contrast between Elimelech (father-in-law) and Ruth: good/bad, right/wrong

1. Elimelech’s decision during the Famine

He turned to Moab (in the “house of bread” no bread is not by accident – but as a result of their disobedience and rebellion against God) – No food = discipline from God. In this case, he SHOULD repent and turn to God, NOT turn and run away from God to another place. Deut 23:3 “No Moabite, no Ammonite, nor any of their descendants may enter the assembly of God even to the 10th generation.” At that time, this was an EVIL culture.

Yes, if he’d gone as a missionary, OK, but to go and live there and mix with them, this is further disobedience.

Elimelech means “God is king” – but his decisions don’t show that… His actions reveal that his king is himself.

It is very EASY to say with our lips “Jesus is my king” but he is never deceived with our lip service.

If he is TRULY king, he must be so in EVERY area (even the really hard and painful ones).

As soon as he arrived in Moab, he died soon. And his two sons died soon as well. We don’t know how, but we know it was a WRONG decision.

2. Ruth’s decision after the Famine

She had a chance to go back and marry with another young man of her own country. But her decision was to cling to her miserable foreign mother-in-law.

So, she abandoned:

• her entire family, friends, language, culture, food, land, EVERYTHING,

In order to gain:

• a foreign, miserable, mother-in-law.

WOW. Stupid. Foolish. (That’s what we think.) But God thinks, “Wow. Best decision. Eternal decision.” – Ruth says, “Your God, my God.” She abandoned ALL things temporary to gain eternal things.

Yes, even today, Jesus tells us, “I tell you the truth, no one who has left family and friends, and land, etc, for me will not receive 100 times more in the life to come.”

If we abandon all things for HIM, we gain all – as Paul wrote, “Whatever I’ve gained, I consider it as loss, and whatever I’ve lost, I consider it as gain. All things are rubbish in the light of Christ.”

• Ruth = us, the church
• Boaz = Christ, the “kinsman-redeemer”

This word is repeated 13 times “kinsman (close relative) redeemer”.

Yes, we were once just like Ruth – far from God, hopeless, helpless, foreign, poor – but God redeemed us like Boaz – VERY rich, kind, graceful, compassionate, and he rescued us and redeemed us and brought us into his family.

1 Peter 1:18-19 “We know it was not with perishable things we were redeemed, but it was with the precious blood of the Lamb – He redeemed us from the curse of sin by BECOMING the curse for us.”

Christ redeemed us so that the blessing of Abraham might come to us (Gentiles) as well.

Yes, in chp 1, when Naomi returned to Bethlehem, the neighbors welcomed her, but she said, “Don’t call me Naomi (happy), but call me Mara (bitter)” – she thought that God condemned her and sent her trouble.

BUT IN FACT, God had a wonderful plan for her so that she might experience a BETTER revival from mere survival.

Like this, God has a wonderful plan to rescue us from mere “survival” and lead us into “revival” – this is the wonderful plan of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

His promise: “Yes, we know that in ALL these things, God is working all things together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8)

His plan for our future is a wonderful life – eternal life – abundant life in our LORD Jesus Christ. God is working (always) for the good of those who love him and have been called according to his purpose and design.

Let’s pray.