THE BOOK OF RUTH....RUTH & BOAZ: A LOVE STORY
Is our Jesus Christ a ♥♥♥Romantic♥♥♥ at Heart?
Does Jesus REALLY CREATE someone UNIQUELY made for each of us?
Does Jesus Christ believe in marriage?
Does Jesus give us guidelines to LOOK for in our mate?
Does Jesus believe in Happily Ever After?
Does Jesus have a plan for us?
Is Jesus Christ ABLE to TAKE US FROM THE PIT TO THE PALACE?
If the answer is YES...
Then WHERE would I FIND this in The Bible?
Does Ruth and Boaz ring a bell?
DID YOU KNOW THAT RUTH AND BOAZ ARE A PICTURE OF OUR JESUS AS OUR KINSMAN REDEEMER (OUR GOEL) & RUTH AS THE BRIDE OF OUR CHRIST JESUS?!
Turn with me now to RUTH 1...
Almighty God's LOVE STORY: RUTH & BOAZ
The background of The Book Of Ruth begins with Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and their two young sons, Mahlon & Chilion, sojourn to MOAB.
Verse 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.”
This account begins in the CLOSING days of the Judges, a 400 year period of general anarchy & oppression when the Israelites were NOT ruled by kings, but by periodic DELIVERERS ALMIGHTY GOD raised up when the nation sought Him again.
Before the famine struck, Bethlehem was a rich agricultural area (the city name means “House of Bread”), but times were tough, so he unwisely took his family to the PAGAN land of Moab.
The trip in and of itself was DIFFICULT/DANGEROUS, because they had to hike through the desolate Jericho pass, through the Judean wilderness near the Dead Sea, going across the Jordan River, into the land of Moab.
This was a definite departure from the Promised Land of Israel, and a return towards the wilderness from which God had delivered Israel hundreds of years before. These were clearly steps in the WRONG direction.
Remember too in Deuteronomy 11:13-17, Almighty God PROMISED there would ALWAYS be plenty in the land IF Israel was obedient. This tells us that Israel, as a nation, was NOT obedient.
Also, when you see the word SOJOURN in the Bible, it means to LEAVE but with the INTENT to return.
Elimelech’s short visit, turned into 10 tragedy-filled YEARS, & he nor his sons would EVER return to Israel. Elimelech means “God is king” - too bad he did not BELIEVE nor live up to his name, right?
Verses 2-5...
Tell us that Elimelech dies first, leaving Naomi to raise her sons alone. Then the sons marry two Moabite women named Orpah & Ruth. Before their 10th year in Moab, both sons WOULD die as well.
Some debate that all this tragedy was a judgment from God, but NO WHERE does God TELL us this.
The one thing we DO know & SHOULD remember is that more times than NOT, a change of scenery WON’T make anything BETTER, unless Almighty God commands us to do so.
And haven’t we ALL at times THOUGHT, if I can just MOVE AWAY from my problems, they will DISAPPEAR? But the truth is, we TAKE our problems WITH us.
WHY?
Because NO matter where you go, you BRING yourself with you - so the same problems WILL continue ONLY in a DIFFERENT place.
Mahlon and Chilion TAKING Moabite wives WAS IN DISOBEDIENCE to God; because God commanded the Israelites NOT to marry among the PAGAN NATIONS surrounding them.
So now there were THREE CHILDLESS widows - Naomi, Orpah, and Ruth. To be a childless widow was to be among the LOWEST, most DISADVANTAGED CLASSES in the ancient world & still is in some areas of the world today.
There was NONE to support you, & you SURVIVED/DEPENDED ON the generosity of strangers. Naomi had NO family in Moab, and NO ONE to help her.
Verses 6-7...
Tell us that far away, Naomi HEARD the Lord WAS doing good things back in Israel & she DESPERATELY wanted to be part of SOMETHING GOOD for a change.
Our life with Jesus should make others WANT what we HAVE in Jesus.
And this also tells us something about NAOMI, despite the danger of the journey alone, Naomi KNEW she had to step out in faith, leave what was behind, in order to be able to RECEIVE the good of The Lord.
“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. The Lord grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband.” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept.”
Verses 8-9...
Tells us that Naomi petitions her daughters-in-law to go back to Moab.
Think about it, this was selfless & wise of Naomi, she KNEW Orpah and Ruth had STRONGER/SAFER family ties in Moab than to go with her to Israel where they had NONE.
Verses 10-13 Naomi pleads with her daughters-in-law to stay in Moab, for she feels that The Lord is against her..
“And they said to her, “Surely we will return with you to your people.”
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? 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, 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!”
The phrase, “Are there still sons in my womb”, refers to the laws of ancient Israel that said if a young woman was left widowed, without having had a son, then one of her deceased husband’s brothers was responsible for being a “surrogate father” and providing her with a son.
Believing that The Lord was against her, weighed heavily on Naomi’s heart and mind. She felt that the calamity which came upon her family came because her husband was first disobedient in leaving the Promised Land of Israel and made worse when her sons married Pagan women.
But DESPITE all her fears, shames, and worries, Naomi is going BACK to the land of Israel - and going BACK to her God.
Though she felt that the hand of the Lord has gone out against her, she DETERMINED to return to God in repentance, knowing that the answer is drawing CLOSER to Him, not going FURTHER AWAY from God.
WE KNOW the whole story NOW. But think about it as it was THEN, Naomi could NOT SEE what wondrous blessings Jesus had ALREADY PREPARED for her.
This should REMIND us NEVER to despair if we believe the hand of the Lord has gone out against me.
If we RETURN TO JESUS, His hand will go out FOR US AGAIN! Naomi had no idea - NOT the slightest - of how GREATLY God was going to bless her & give her her heart’s desire in a VERY short time.
Verses 15-18 are THE WELL KNOWN first words of RUTH which show us her HEART, her LOVE, and her FAITH in Naomi & The Lord...
“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. 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.” When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her.”
Ruth was willing to FORSAKE the Moabite gods she grew up with, and embrace the God of Israel. She was CHOOSING to follow the Lord. This Gentile woman, once far from God, had drawn near to Him.
This also shows that NAOMI’s faith in GOD had had a MAJOR impact on Ruth. This is striking, because Naomi did NOT have an easy life. Yet she still honored and loved the Lord.
Our ABSOLUTE trust in Jesus Christ, and turning TOWARDS Him in tough times, will often be the ONE THING that draws others to Jesus. A BOLD stand in the WORST of times WILL change hearts and lives and win souls for Jesus.
Verses 19-21 tell us Naomi and Ruth MADE it SAFELY to Bethlehem...
“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?” But she said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 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?”
It was a LONG HARD TREK from Moab to Bethlehem, and the trip was mostly uphill. We can imagine along the way, Ruth spent the time asking Naomi all about the God of Israel and the land of Israel.
“Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara”….The name Naomi means “pleasant”; the name 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.
Naomi DIDN’T go home, & pretend everything was fine, and be “pleasant.” She was going to be honest, and say “Here I am and my life has been bitter.”
She felt, probably much like Job, that she was under affliction by God, but then she, like Job, could NOT SEE the END OF God’s plan. It would have been EASY for Naomi to focus on HER LOSES.
She HAD lost a husband, two sons, and one daughter-in-law. She had lost ALL material possessions. All she had left to her name was one PAGAN-born daughter-in-law, Ruth.
But through that ONE THING she had left, God was going to bring UNBELIEVABLE BLESSINGS into her life.
Verse 22 tells us that Naomi & Ruth arrived at the BEGINNING of the barley harvest.
And we NEED to remember that ALL THE GOOD THAT HAPPENS in the next three chapters BEGAN with Naomi’s godly REPENTANCE & HONESTY.
It will make a difference not only in her life, but in the life of her daughter-in-law Ruth - and in the destiny of the nation Israel - and in OUR GIFT OF eternal salvation.
How can this ONE woman’s decision POSSIBLY have such FAR-REACHING effects on OUR salvation?
Think about this then… Ruth marries Boaz. Ruth and Boaz are the GREAT grandparents of Jessie, King David’s father. And Jesus will be born through the bloodline of King David.
People THAT is an AMAZINGLY, WONDROUS PLAN.
Remember ALWAYS Jesus HAS a plan for you and for me.