Ruth 1: Loyalty and Loss
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Thank you. Spencer didn't mention that I also teach Sunday school at 9.30. So if you like getting up early on Sunday, you should be here for some excellent Bible teaching. And it's been a privilege to share in the ministry of this church. We're going to be looking at the book of Ruth. And if you don't have a Bible under your seat, there are some little blue Bibles.
And Ruth is found on page 127. And if you don't have, you can just take that Bible home with you if you would like to have it. We'd love to share that with you. To kind of introduce it a little bit, I'm going to tell a story that was interesting. Benjamin Franklin, by the way, was our ambassador to France during the Revolutionary period in the United States. And when he was in France for about three years as our ambassador, he would occasionally attend the Infidels Club.
You know what the Infidels Club is? It's kind of like the atheist club. And they love to talk about scientific things and search for literature and beautiful stories. And one time, Benjamin Franklin, it's reported that he chose to translate the book of Ruth out of the Hebrew context into the contemporary French way of thinking. And he changed the names to protect the innocent or the guilty, whichever one. He changed the names so that nobody would know.
And after reading the story, these Infidel Club members said, Wow, that is one of the most beautiful stories we've ever heard in our life. Where did you get that story? And he said, from the Bible. And of course, that was a bit of a shock to him. Ruth starts with, in the days when the Judges ruled. And of course, Ruth follows the book of Judges.
And the book of Judges is all about rebellion. It's just constantly turning away from God. God bringing oppression on them by capturing them by enemies and making them slaves. And then they cry out to God. And God sends a deliverer they call Judges. And the deliverer would deliver them, such as Samson or Deborah, Gideon, those Judges.
But they were all a part of this period of time when there was so much rebellion going on. J. Vernon McGee says that the book of Ruth is like a precious pearl in the swine pit of Judges. Because that was the period when the book of Ruth was written. And the book of Judges, by the way, has rebellion written all over it, just back and forth. And the book of Ruth has, well, Redeemer written all over it.
Matter of fact, the word Redeemer or redemption appears over 20 times in the book of Ruth. It's a powerful story. And Larry Crabb was teaching a Sunday school class on the book of Ruth. He ended up writing a book. He's a fairly famous Christian psychologist. Wrote a book called Shattered Dreams.
And the basic idea of the book was that God uses the pain of loss and shattered dreams to help us discover what's really important. And that's our desire to know God as he is in an intimate way. We're going to consider the effects of loss in the life of Naomi. And we're going to consider the effects of loyalty in the life of Ruth. Naomi experienced such extreme loss that she went into deep depression and bitterness. Because she said, God has dealt bitterly with me.
And, of course, Ruth is going to demonstrate one of the most amazing demonstrations of loyalty that you can imagine. So let's dig in. We're going to turn to Ruth, chapter 1. And I'll read verses 1 through 5 to get it before us. But before we do that, let's pray.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your amazing word that gives light in our darkness, that gives understanding in our confusion, and enables us to know the true living word, Jesus Christ. I pray that the Holy Spirit would come and be our teacher this morning, that we would indeed be able to understand your word. And we pray that in Jesus' name. Amen. Ruth, chapter 1, verses 1 through 5.
In the days when the Judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem and Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Malon and Chilion. And they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem and Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there, but Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. And these took Moabite wives. The name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other was Ruth.
And they lived there about ten years, and both Malon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband. Famine in Bethlehem. That's kind of an oxymoron, interesting way of putting it. Bethlehem means house of bread. And there's no bread. No bread in Bethlehem.
There's a famine, and it's a painful famine. And they're doing without, you know, Bethlehem. You remember Bethlehem. Oh, little town of Bethlehem, how still we see the light. The hopes and fears of all the years are not met in thee tonight. It was a very different picture than when Jesus Christ came.
When Elimelech was there facing the reality, my family is going to die of starvation if we don't get out of here. And so they decide to move on to Moab. And, of course, Jesus made an amazing promise, because he is the bread of life. He said, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall not thirst. First, he is the real house of bread.
Not Bethlehem. But, of course, he was born into Bethlehem. And so it's a beautiful picture of what God is doing. But Elimelech takes his family into Moab, hoping to find bread, since the house of bread didn't have any bread. What's your life missing that you think would make you happy and satisfied? I got a call from a friend a couple of years ago, and he was calling on his cell phone from Russia.
I said, what are you doing in Russia? He said, I'm here to get a wife. A wife? I'd been in counseling with him before, and I knew that he had had a couple of American wives, and they didn't work out too good, so maybe he thought this Russian wife, they might be a little more submissive or cooperative or whatever. I don't know what the deal was. But anyway, what are you looking at that might make you happy and satisfied?
But Elimelech ends up dying, of course, and now poor Naomi is a widow in a foreign land, but at least she's got her two sons. Her two sons can go out and do spare jobs and make a little bit and be able to get along. And then Naomi's sons decide to marry some Moabite women, but ten years later, the sons die. Well, now we've got trouble. These Moabite girls are widows. Now, depending on Naomi that's a widow, and in this male society that they were living, it was not an easy thing to make it.
Matter of fact, your basic Social Security plan was children. That's why they wanted to have lots of kids, so that at least one or two of them would take care of them in their old days because there was no government providing some kind of Social Security. So Naomi is stuck with a couple of girls that are despised by Israelites, so if she takes them back to Israel, it's not going to go well. And of course, racism was pretty standard back in those days, and so for Naomi to stay in Moab, she's of course facing all the rejection that goes along with that. So this book of Ruth is a fascinating book because when you consider everything that's happening here, in the Bible you hope God's going to come through with some kind of miraculous something or other, but this book has no miracles, it has no revelations, it has no appearances of angels, it doesn't have anything supernatural in it.
It's just showing how God is the King and He's going to be in charge and He's going to make things work out, but right now they're not working out too well. Matter of fact, some commentators suggest that the name of the head of the family, Elimelech, means God is King, and maybe this was a subtle way of saying God is King, but He's in the background right now and things are not working out according to His way. I believe that God works in a supernatural way even though there are no miracles or major revelations. God works in our lives in a natural setting a lot of times just to accomplish His supernatural purposes and I believe He's done that in my life.
Well, let's move on and check out Naomi now who's going to try to think maybe if I return to Bethlehem it'll be better. So, beginning at verse 6, we're going to read to verse 8. It says, 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. 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. But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, Go, return each of you to her mother's house that the Lord may deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me.
So here, both of Naomi's sons are now dead. She's left a helpless widow. She's in a foreign land. No hope. And all of a sudden this glimmer of hope. I hear there's food back in Bethlehem.
So let's head back to... So she decides to go back. She's going to go back and stay with her relatives wherever she can. Robert Frost said that home is where when you go there they have to take you in. And so she's hoping that when she gets back somebody, you know, kind of like Mary and Joseph had to stay in a stable or something anyway. She's going to go back with her two daughters-in-law.
And on the way back, Naomi says a very strange thing in verse 8. But Naomi said to her two daughters, Go, return each of you to her mother's house. May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt kindly with the dead and me. That is your husbands and with my husband. You've dealt kindly. The word kindly is the word hesed.
It's a very fascinating word. Hesed. The kindness of God. The word is also translated steadfast love in Psalm 136. Matter of fact, in Psalm 136 it repeats 26 times. The steadfast love of the Lord endures forever.
The steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. Orpah probably had a skeptic's attitude to this God is good all the time. You ever hear that? You know, someone says God is good and somebody else says all the time and then somebody says all the time God is good. I think Orpah probably had a little skeptic's to that. But Ruth may have seen something different in Naomi and God had worked in her heart in a way that she saw Naomi maybe trusting God the way Job did.
When Job's friends were criticizing him he finally said though he slay me yet will I trust him. Wow. Evidently Naomi is doing that. she continues to refer to God as Yahweh Y-H-W-H Yahweh from the Latin it can be translated Jehovah but it's the personal name of God. Yahweh has been okay he's dealt bitterly with me but I still trust him. Naomi has not been afraid to face her pain and loss but she still acknowledges God and even looks for that bright moment when oh yeah back in Bethlehem I understand there's food now. So the story comes in a time of Judges remember when God would be punishing his people for the sins not of Naomi's but she's going to be living with the consequences.
With the consequences. So let's look at as Naomi tries to convince the girls to go back beginning in verse 9 down to verse 14 the Lord grant that you may find rest each of you in the house of her husband then she kissed them and lifted up their voices and wept and they said
To her no we'll return with you to your people 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 turn back my daughters go your way for I am too old to have a husband if I should say I could have hope even if I should
Have a husband this night and should bear sons 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 then they lifted up their voices and wept
Again and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law but Ruth clung to her so Ruth has this amazing kind of loyalty after Naomi has prayed for him may the Lord deal kindly with you may he show his chesed to you as you've shown chesed
To me and to my passed away husband and sons but they promised to go with her but you have no prospects she said what are you doing normal Israelites they won't marry you and I can't produce any more boys that could
Marry you and do you understand that God has attacked me did you see that phrase the hand of the Lord has gone out against me not the hand of the Lord is against me not the hand
Of the Lord has been with me the hand of the Lord has gone out again it's attacked me God is attacking me you don't want to go with me this time they weep again
And Orpah kisses her and says goodbye and off goes Orpah back she's smart she's doing the sensible things she's reasonable she realizes I'm going to be a foreigner in Israel and they're not allowed to marry Moabites I'll never be able to do anything and so she
Does what Naomi suggests and she goes home but Ruth on the other hand she has a different plan but before we move to Ruth how about if we look a little bit more at Naomi's misery and loss in verses 19 through 22 so we're going to go to the
End of the chapter and then go back and pick up the part with Ruth 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 and she said to them do not call me Naomi call me Mara for the almighty has dealt very bitterly with me 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 the whole town was stirred and they're looking at Naomi and they're thinking wait a minute this lady maybe she's a little past mid life
But good night she looks like an old woman and they asked the question is this this is Naomi her name means pleasant or lovely and she says don't call me Naomi anymore call me tomorrow that means bitter
Because God has dealt bitterly with me I left full and now I'm back empty I have nothing now when she left full she didn't mean you know full of bread because they didn't have any bread what she meant is I had a husband
I had two boys I had a family I was in good condition and now what have I got nothing empty my life matter of fact she says Yahweh has testified against me that's actually a legal term
That's talking about one giving testimony in a court case and she has been found guilty and punished and then she refers to God as the almighty that's El Shaddai and El Shaddai is the one who is great
That can do anything he can accomplish amazing things but all he's done is heaped all this trouble on me how do we handle pain when we're dealing with situations like this when one loss after another again
And again and again we might turn to self-pity and try to get others to join our pity party some folks say hey I can make it determination I'm going to make it through any of you that have
Seen Gone with the Wind you remember Scarlett O'Hara up there in that it was a potato patch and she was looking for a little lost potato that might have been left
And this is what Scarlett O'Hara says as she's standing out there in that barren land as God is my witness I will never be hungry again that's the way some
People face the struggles and difficulties some of us might hide our struggles with a big smile fine I'm fine fine I'm good how about you
Good good fine yeah I'm good some people to avoid pain go to the extreme of suicide that's a permanent solution and if it's not the right
One don't try it it's pretty stupid some just get busy get busy with dinners and activities and do this and do that and a little bit of social
Gatherings but let's consider what a difference it made when Ruth decided to be loyal in this situation with her mother-in-law amazing loyalty of Ruth I'm going to read you that passage from 15 to 18 we'll back back up to get the
Rest of chapter 1 so she said see she's talking now to Ruth of course because Orpah has gone back see your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to
Her gods return after your sister-in-law but Ruth said do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you for where you go I will go
Where you lodge I will lodge your people shall be my people and your God my God where you die I will be buried
May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you and when Naomi saw that she
Was determined to go with her she said no more so Naomi tries to turn Ruth back by using a little peer pressure come
On your sister in law she's doing the right thing why don't you go back to Naomi attitude is basically this I'm not anybody
That can do anything for you now we're going to discover in the rest of the book that God is somebody that can do something for both
Naomi and Ruth here's another part of her attitude Ruth I can't do anything for you but as we work our way through this book
We're going to discover that God can because he's going to be with Naomi and Ruth now here's even more interesting about her attitude
It seems like it's this way to me she says not only that I don't want to do anything for you go back but
The story is going to reveal the reality that God can do with impossible situations things we never could have imagined so when we
Get to the end of the book we're going to know that God was ordaining the circumstances in such a way to give Naomi
The continuation of her family and Ruth a place in the royal genealogy of King David and on into the royal genealogy of Jesus
Christ the ultimate redeemer it's going to be a beautiful picture as we work our way through the book of Ruth then the speech that Ruth gives
Here one commentator said it's more famous than the Gettysburg address really I mean I grew up in a traditional church where we were
Biblically illiterate you know I didn't know much except to repeat the liturgy and the stuff that you went through so I didn't really know about
Ruth's little thing but later on when Kit and I got married my sister actually sang the song this whole passage she sang it entreat
Me not to leave thee that's a sweet way to say it from the old King James Bible but here she's saying do not urge
Me to leave you or return from following you for where you go I will go and where you lodge I will lodge and
Your people shall be my people your God my God where you die I will die so her attitude Ruth's attitude is don't even
Talk to me about not going with you because I'm going with you you see some relationships are more important than other issues that
You know like standing in society or being successful and Kit and I were missionaries for 18 years in Spain and we were in our about
The eighth or ninth year we were beginning to be a little effective we got a church planted it was really going great and then I
Was trying to start a church in a town near there and over in this other town over there and then helping out our
Other missionaries doing things and I was traveling going constantly and finally Kit came to me I mean we're missionaries alright she came to me and
She said why don't we separate I want a divorce I can't live like this anymore she said she described this word picture a
Counselor said help him understand with a word picture she said I feel like I'm a donkey pulling a cart and the family is
The cart back there and I'm pulling with all of my might and there's a stick held out there with a carrot dangling in
Front of me and I keep trying to get a bite of the carrot and I could never get the carrot and I could
Never get the carrot and she said you're the carrot I was trying to win the world for Jesus and losing my wife well through
The effective counseling we managed to get things straightened out and we stayed together and oh wow what if I had missed these last 30
Something years with kids it would have been a horrible thing Ruth told Naomi I don't care where you go I will go with
You it doesn't matter Jeral and Elisa it was interesting Elisa had graduated from college and Jeral had graduated from high school a year or two
Late because we bounced him back and forth from Spanish to English to English to Spanish and so he graduated a little bit older but
He was just a high school kid and he was working digging holes to put in posts for real estate signs and that was
His Job at the moment and they were talking marriage and my wife is concerned for Elisa and so she takes Elisa aside and
Says Elisa listen if you were to marry Jeral it's like getting on a train without knowing where it's going and Elisa said to
My wife I don't care where the train is going I just want to go with him that's truth truth that's commitment that's loyalty
That's amazing and then she says I'll lodge where you lodge it's not like you know a vacation lodge on the lake any house can be
A home if I can just be with you we had an interesting experience of having met some friends that were from the upper
Society of Columbia when I was at Columbia Bible College our first year we lived in a trailer in the woods and I met this fellow I
Think I bought some insurance from him or something and I went to his office and he had this high up office with big
Windows overlooking the high rises of Columbia South Carolina and I'm looking at this office and wow this guy he is important and we
Went for dinner to his house and oh my goodness I've never been in a house so nice and what furniture they had it
Was just phenomenal and he drove us around in his Mercedes and everything was fine but then one day it all crashed and bankruptcy
Hit and he lost his office downtown he lost his house he even lost his furniture you believe that I didn't know people rented
Or mortgaged their furniture so when he lost everything so he comes driving up he rents the trailer in the woods next to us
And he drives up in his Mercedes with his two kids and they get out and we're helping them get set up and I
Said where's your wife and he said she left me she said she's not going to live in a trailer in the woods well
Ruth is not like that true loyalty is till death do us part that that expression of Lord of course is what we say
In a wedding ceremony but it does come from the Bible it it says that Ruth clung to her in verse 14 which is
The same Hebrew expression that we see in Genesis 2 24 that a man shall leave his father and mother and cling to his wife
They're clinging together it's a beautiful picture of the importance of commitment to people you know this kind of commitment to friendship Mark Zuckerberg has made billions of dollars on that
Kind of friendship that people are trying to preserve these friends throughout their life that they no longer live close to because of the
Importance of being committed to one another it's similar to the call that Jesus gave Jesus said God in in in in Matthew 10 37
Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and in verse 18 it says that Naomi saw her determination Naomi
Naomi recognized has said in Ruth and Orpah and that Orpah had before Orpah decided to go back and she said as you've been kind to me may God be kind to you this word
Has said it embodies love and generosity and kindness enduring commitment has said that's an interesting word and it's a Hebrew word say it with me has said has said let's try it has said has said is in Psalm 136
Translated steadfast love you know when you're doing Bible study a dictionary can be a great thing you know what the dictionary says about steadfast the steadfast love the first definition is firmly fixed in place
Immoval that's steadfast second definition not subject to change that's steadfast love God steadfast firm in belief and determination or adherence to something loyal God's loyal love or has
Said endures forever surely Ruth is banking on knowing God by sticking with Naomi Kit and I did not have has said within ourselves to have this kind of loyalty to one another we had
To turn to God to restore what we had lost in those first 18 years of marriage Jesus compared the disciples to a woman giving birth before his crucifixion and in John 16 22 he says you have sorrow now
But I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice and no one will take your joy away wouldn't you like to have unshakable joy that is there permanent
Even though the situation might be sad like losing Jesus of course in this situation wouldn't you like to have that unshakable joy it's by knowing Jesus in his resurrection power he says I'm going
To come back and you're going to see me and you are going to experience newness of life that's what it says in Romans 6 it says we're buried in baptism but raised to
Walk in newness of life wouldn't you like to have a new life that kind of loyalty can come by knowing Jesus Christ this is the way Paul describes it in the loss that can
Accompany the commitment of loyalty to Jesus Christ Paul says in Philippians chapter 3 verse 8 I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord he lost all the benefits of being
A zealous Jew by becoming a follower of Jesus Christ and in order to do that there's got to be faith in verse 9 he said believers really want to be right with God I count everything a loss let's move to verse 9
Not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law but that which comes through faith in Christ the righteousness that comes from God that depends on faith in other words I'm not confident of my chesed to be loyal to him I'm confident
In his chesed to be loyal to me and that's where I place my faith in him it doesn't depend on my chesed like Ruth Paul was ready to lose his people and his religion and put all his hope
In Christ the deepest desire of our life is found in verse 10 that says that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share in his sufferings becoming like him in his death
As the band comes up would you like to know Jesus the way Paul did who could count every benefit in life that he had as rubbish in order to know Christ and be found in his
Chesed his steadfast love that endures forever your part is to have faith in God's loyalty in God's chesed his steadfast love that never ceases your chesed may fail but you're putting your faith in his
Chesed you're trusting him to keep you faithful to be a real believer we must trust him completely that he really is better than everything else in life and in him we can joyfully
Face the loss of anything in life accept the presence of him in our life let's pray father I pray that you would help us to be genuine in our desire to express to you you can take the
World you can have it all forgive me Jesus I need him I can do it without anything else but I've gotta have Jesus working in my heart because I'm crucified with christ nevertheless I live yet not I
It's christ who lives in me and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me oh my friends please trust Jesus and him alone I pray in his name amen