Ruth 1:1

The Bible says in 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 Bethlehemjudah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.” Nothing is said about God in this verse, and yet the hand of God is clearly here because God uses all things for His glory and to accomplish His will. There are two really bad things from a human standpoint. First there is the famine. Sadly, human suffering is a part of life. Until Jesus returns and fixes this world, there will be suffering. Obviously, we should relieve the suffering as much as we can, but only Jesus will end it forever. Speaking about the age in which we live, Jesus said in Matthew 24:7-9, “And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.[7] For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.[8] All these are the beginning of sorrows.” A pestilence is a disease. These types of things that Jesus described will continue happening throughout the rest of human history. Once the rapture happens and all true Christians are taken to heaven, then real pandemonium will break out on the earth. It is called the Great Tribulation, and it is described in Revelation chapters six through nineteen.

God is at work, and He uses all things to accomplish His will. God was creating the lineage for the Messiah: an extremely important benefit for the human race. The second bad thing that we see in the verse above was the fact that a man of Bethlehem Judah left Israel and went to the country of Moab. This was a terrible thing to have happened because Israel was supposed to live and prosper in the Promised Land. Going to live among the heathen in Moab was one of the worse things that could happen to a family from Israel. There is one important point to notice: this man was from Bethlehem. Who would eventually be born in Bethlehem? Jesus would be born there, and Jesus would come in the lineage of the woman who came back to Bethlehem after the remnants of the family left Moab. And so the book of Ruth is all about God guiding all the events of the Israelite family that moved to Moab, and what happened in Moab, and who returned from Moab and when. And then what happened when they got back to Bethlehem. It is all about God using all things to accomplish His perfect will. The same types of things are taking place in the lives of every person on the earth. God is everywhere. God is fulfilling His will.

The Bible says in Ruth 1:2-5, “And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehemjudah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there.[3] And Elimelech Naomi's husband died; and she was left, and her two sons.[4] And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years.[5] And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband.” Now Naomi’s husband dies, and she is left with only her two sons who were not married. Even the death of her husband was part of God’s plan. Ten years pass, but God is still at work. Everything is on His time-table. Everything fits into His plan. Naomi’s two sons marry Moabite women. This also is not good from the standpoint of the Word of God and what Israelites should seek. Moabites were heathen. Moabites were among the people that Israelites were forbidden to associate with. And now Naomi’s sons have married two Moabites. And then after ten years pass, both of her sons die too. And so now we see a family of three women and no men. One woman is an Israelite and the other two are Moabites. What is going on here? Everything seems to be broken and out of sync. Much to the contrary: God is at work performing His perfect will, and setting up the situation that God wants for the lineage of Christ.

The Bible says in Ruth 1:6-7, “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 how that the LORD had visited his people in giving them bread.[7] Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters in law with her; and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah.” God’s timing is always perfect. God is going to bring a man and a woman together. That is how marriages are made. It started in the garden of Eden. God made Eve and brought her to the man. And God did the exact same thing with Ruth and Boaz, but only not as directly. It was God’s time for Ruth to meet Boaz. God was using the lives of other people to make that happen. God was changing the economic situation in Bethlehem of Judah to make that happen. God was touching Ruth’s heart to make that happen. God was keeping Ruth and Boaz single to make that happen. What a wonderful God we have.

The Bible says in Ruth 1:8-9, “And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, Go, return each to her mother's house: the LORD deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me.[9] The LORD grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice, and wept.” Notice that when Naomi talked to her daughters in law that Naomi used the name of the LORD both in verse eight and in verse nine. This means that Naomi had a personal relationship with the Lord and was a strong believer in Him. It also means that the two Moabite women knew about Naomi’s faith. We also see in these verses that Naomi had a strong and true affection for her daughters in law. She loved them. If you want to influence people for the Gospel, then learn to love.

The Bible says in Ruth 1:10-13, “And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people.[11] And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters: why will ye go with me? are there yet any more sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?[12] Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have an husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should have an husband also to night, and should also bear sons;[13] Would ye tarry for them till they were grown? would ye stay for them from having husbands? nay, my daughters; for it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD is gone out against me.” In these verses we see two important attributes of Naomi. For one thing, she was very practical. She came to learn about life that you do what you have to do in order to survive. You go where you have to go in order to survive. You do what makes sense. You do not have to wait for a vision from God to do what makes sense from a practical standpoint. God has given us a lot of freedom, and He has given us a brain. Use your brain, and you will know what you need to do. Naomi’s daughters in law were Moabites and they needed husbands in order to survive. It made no sense to Naomi that the young women would go to Israel where she thought they would have few or no options.

Another thing that we see about Naomi is that the difficulties of her life had given her somewhat of a negative view of things from the standpoint of her faith in the Lord. She kept her faith, but had a negative view of things. Notice the last phrase of verse thirteen, “the hand of the LORD is gone out against me.” There was the famine that drove her and her family out of Israel and into Moab. There was the death of her husband. There was the death of her two sons. And now she felt that she had to separate from her two daughters in law that she had grown to love. Naomi knew that God could have kept these things from happening. She knew that God was involved in all things, and that somehow He made these things happen. And so she viewed God was being against her. Of course, when we get to the end of the story, we will see Romans 8:28 in effect like it is for every believer: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God and to them that are the called according to his purpose.”

The Bible says in Ruth 1:14-17, “And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother in law; but Ruth clave unto her.[15] And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law.[16] And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:[17] Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.” Why did Ruth make a different decision than her sister in law: God. Notice in verse fifteen that Naomi told Ruth and Orpah to return to their “gods.” Naomi knew that Ruth and Orpah were brought up in a different religion than the Jewish religion, and Naomi evidently realized that most people are not going to change from the way they are brought up. That is why people need to have a deep and heart-felt conversion to Christ in order to change. It is also evident that Ruth had such a conversion to the one true God because Ruth said in verse sixteen to Naomi, “thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.” Ruth also used the name of Jehovah with respect in verse seventeen when Ruth said, “the LORD do so to me, and more also.” We see how deep and how strong and how determined was Ruth’s decision because she said at the end of verse seventeen, “if ought but death part thee and me.” We need people today to make a decision like that in reference to following Christ. If only more people would say and mean it, “I am going to follow Jesus until the day I die.”

The Bible says in Ruth 1:18-22, “When she saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking unto her.[19] So they two went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi?[20] And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.[21] I went out full, and the LORD hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the LORD hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?[22] So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter in law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.” We see an interesting use of names in these verses. The name Naomi means “pleasant.” The name “Mara” means “bitter.” In Naomi’s view of things, God had shriveled up her life, brought bad things to it, and made her bitter about life. Naomi only had part of the faith that a believer needs to have. She did believe that God was in control of all things. She was right. God did bring those bad things into her life. But Naomi did not have enough faith that because God was in control, and that He was guiding all things for a good outcome. God sees the future. God plans for the future. Eventually, Naomi would learn. Once more time passed, she would see that God made it all happen for a very good reason.

The last part of verse twenty-two says that Naomi and Ruth came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest. This also was God’s timing. This would result in Ruth meeting Boaz, her eventual husband. We know the end of the story. God was going to put Ruth the Moabitess into the lineage of King David, King Solomon, and all the other kings in that lineage. And thus, God was going to put Ruth into the lineage of Christ. Romans 8:28, “All things work together for good to them that love God, and to them that are the called according to his purpose.” Naomi finally learned this great truth at the end of the book of Ruth. We can learn the lesson simply by reading Romans 8:28 and believing it. The next time something bad happens to us, let us see if we can turn to each other and say, “The Lord Jesus brought this for a reason. It fits into God’s plan for us. It will have a very good outcome of some kind.”

___________________________________________________