This past Thursday, I went out on a date with my wife. We drove to Woodfield Mall; there we went to a children’s clothing store to get some clothes for our kids and J. C. Penny to get few other things. Good thing we weren’t there fore last minute Christmas shopping. We ended the night by eating at Cheese Cake Factory. It has been a while we had a date night like this! It was very nice.
As we were having a good time being together, I couldn’t help but notice how crazy the place was. There were so many people; I am sure many of them were doing their last minute shopping. It seems almost a religious thing that we do before Christmas; we know it is crazy to venture out into the malls so close to Christmas. But, we do it! For some, it is out of sheer necessity, for others it is for fun.
Today, we will look closely at a different kind of journey taken by three women. They weren’t going to the mall. They were going to
Let me briefly recapture what we have learned last week from 1:1-6.
As discussed, Ruth 1:1 tells us the story of Ruth took place during the time of Judges. Judges 21:25 captures the sentiment during that time, “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.” Although God was Israel’s King, Israel didn’t follow him instead they did whatever they wanted to do. God brought upon Israel severe famine in Israel. Bethlehem, a town of Judah, which means ‘house of bread,’ was ironically impoverished without much bread.
During this difficult time instead of seeking and waiting for God’s help in Bethlehem, Elimelech decided to take out his family out of Bethlehem and go to Moab. God brought the Israelites into his Promised Land and the Israelites were to live there trusting in God’s care for them, being faithful to God. So, leaving Bethlehem where God brought Elimelech to live and now going to Moab was like leaving the Promised Land and going back to Egypt.
What happens when the people of God do not trust God to know what’s best for them? What happens when they do what they think is the best for them? God removes his protection from his people and let them choose what they think is best for them. Elimelech and his household hoped and dreamed things would be much better to leave Bethlehem and live in Moab. They thought they would be fulfilled in Moab. But, we saw how their hopes and dreams were shattered by the deaths of Elimelech and his two sons, leaving Naomi and the two Moabites daughters-in-laws, Orpah and Ruth, widows with no children in the family. Instead of being fulfilled, Naomi after ten years of living in Moab found herself empty, helpless, and vulnerable.
But, we saw in verse 6, it was during this heartbreaking time when Naomi heard that God was on the move. The LORD noticed the Israelites living in Bethlehem, came to them, and gave them his tangible help by providing them food. Naomi was in a desperate place. When she heard what the LORD was doing back home in Bethlehem, she knew what she had to do. She was going back home; she was leaving Moab and going back to Bethlehem. She packed her stuff; she got Orpah and Ruth packing too.
1. On the way to Bethlehem, Naomi tried to convince Orpah and Ruth to return back to Moab.
Verse 7 says, “with her 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.” Now, for Naomi this was her journey back home; this was her spiritual recovery from the emptiness to the fullness only God can give to her.
What about her two Moabite daughters-in-law? For Naomi, it was going home journey, but for these two young women, the journey was leaving their home, their comfort, their culture, their values, their families, all that was familiar to them.
Naomi realized that the journey had very different meanings for her and for her daughters-in-law. So, she told her in verse 8-9, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the LORD show kindness to you, as you have show ton your dead and to me. May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.” Naomi was a considerate and reasonable woman. Her daughters-in-law were good to her and to her dead sons. She was convinced that their lives would be better if they would remain in Moab, their home country. They were still young enough to remarry the native Moabite men. So, she wished them God’s blessing for their future new marriages that they would find protection and provision from their new husbands. She kissed each of them good bye.
But, Naomi’s farewell kisses were met by cries! Orpah and Ruth wept aloud and told her in verse 10, “We will go back with you to your people.” Naomi’s warm wish for them to find new husbands in their native land didn’t convince them to leave.
I wonder what kind of mother-in-law she was that these two still young women would gladly stay with her and go to Israel, which was a foreign country to them. They didn’t jump at the opportunity to leave Naomi. They were genuinely taken by who Naomi was.
Again, convinced that they would be better in their home country than following her to Israel, Naomi tried harder to convince them to return to their home. She appealed to their common sense, to convince them that they were out of mind to want to follow her.
She told them in verse 11-13a, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husband? 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-would you wait until they grow up? Would you remain unmarried for them?” Another word, they would have no future prospect to get remarried if they were to follow Naomi. What Naomi was saying to them doesn’t make whole lot of sense unless we understand an Old Testament marriage law called the levirate law. It comes from Deuteronomy 25:5-6. Verse 5-6 says, “If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside of the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name not be blotted out from Israel.” This was an exception law to Leviticus 18:16, which says, “Do not have sexual relations with your brother’s wife; that would dishonor your brother.” The Levirate law only applied in the case when brothers lived in the same household and one of them died leaving his wife as a widow without a son. The purpose of this levirate law was to prevent the family line from ceasing.
If Naomi had other sons besides Mahlon and Kilion who died leaving Orpah and Ruth as childless widows, then the levirate laws would ensure that Orpah and Ruth would be taken cared by the other sons, thereby ensuring provision and continuation of the family line. However, Naomi was telling her that this was not the case. There were no other sons; she was too old to have any children, too old to get remarried. And, hypothetically speaking even if she got remarried and had sons right away, it wouldn’t make any sense for Orpah and Ruth to wait for them to grow.
Simply, Naomi was telling Orpah and Ruth that they would be crazy to follow her. At least in Moab, Orpah and Ruth would be able to get remarried. If they were to follow Naomi to Israel, humanly speaking there would be no prospect of marriage for them.
Verse 13 captures her sentiment well. She told them, “It is more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD’s hand has gone out against me!” Orpah and Ruth although they lost their husbands could have better future for themselves by remarrying in Moab. But, for Naomi, such future was not a possibility for her. She was empty, alone… and she presumed that was how life was going to be for her, an empty and bitter life with no hope. Naomi saw her predicament as a result of God being against her. Being convinced that God was against her, Naomi saw no reason for Orpah and Ruth to be around her and share the empty widowhood.
2. Naomi’s impassionate plea for Orpah and Ruth to return back to Moab are met by two very different responses from them
Verse 14 tells us the dramatic differences in how Orpah and Ruth responded to Naomi’s impassionate plea to return to Moab. They both wept loud again as before. But, this time, Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, while Ruth clung to her.
Orpah although initially pledged her loyalty to Naomi couldn’t resist her plea. Everything her mother-in-law said to them made sense to Orpah. Since Naomi was looking out for her daughters-in-law, Orpah made no more attempt to reject Naomi’s plea.
Ruth cried too but instead giving farewell kiss to Naomi, Ruth clung to Naomi. This verb “to cling” was also used in Genesis 2:14 to describe marriage union. It is said a man leaves his parents “to cleave” or “to be united” to his wife. Ruth was not convinced by Naomi’s impassionate plea to return to Moab.
Naomi tried one more time to convince Ruth to return to Moab. She told Ruth in verse 15, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. God back with her.” In fact, this was what Orpah was choosing. Returning to Moab meant Orpah was choosing the Moabites’ way of life and their spirituality. It meant having no more part in worshiping God of Israel, but only the pagan gods of Moab.
To Naomi’s plea for Ruth to follow Orpah’s example is again rejected by Ruth. She told Naomi in verse 16 and 17:
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. 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.”
One word comes to my mind when I consider Ruth’s response to Naomi, loyalty. By choosing to stay with Naomi and continue on the journey to Israel, to Bethlehem, Ruth was abandoning the way of life in Moab that could have afforded her a husband, stability, security, comfort, and the familiar pagan spirituality. By choosing to leave Moab, she was not just leaving a place, but a place where her families, relatives, friends lived in their particular ways. She was saying, “no,” to the way of life in her native country and saying “yes” to the way of life with an old widow, her mother-in-law Naomi, in a foreign country, Israel.
Ruth’s choice to journey with Naomi meant abandoning the worship of pagan gods in her native country while welcoming and fully embracing Naomi’s spirituality, worship of God of Israel.
When we think with common sense, logically, Ruth was making a bad choice. Ruth could have spent the rest of her life as a young widow next to Naomi, never to be fully accepted by Naomi’s people, only to be marginalized. There was no special promise of blessing given to Ruth for making the choice to stay with Naomi. There was no divine calling for Ruth to fully embrace Naomi and her way of life in Israel.
Why was Ruth so determined to go with Naomi to Israel, to embrace Naomi’s people and God as her people and God? Loyalty! She was loyal. Ruth spent the last ten years with Naomi; they went through some excruciatingly difficult times loosing the loved ones; somehow in that ten years, Ruth’s relationship with Naomi became so strong that Ruth couldn’t fathom leaving Naomi even though there was no promise for better future, but only the real possibility for more difficult times. For Ruth, leaving Naomi was not an option. It was unthinkable. Only way Ruth could ever envision being separated from Naomi was death.
By this time, Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her. There was no compromise on this one! So, in verse 18, we see Naomi stopped urging her.
3. Naomi’s response when she arrived in Bethlehem.
Their journey finally led them to Bethlehem. Immediately the town was stirred… the women were beginning to talk to each other. Ten years had passed since Naomi left, “Could this be Naomi?” Perhaps, they couldn’t recognize her right away because of Naomi’s altered appearance having gone through tragic and difficult ten years. Perhaps, they were also overjoyed to see their long lost friend, Naomi!
As soon as the people recognized Naomi, she told them, “Don’t call me Naomi… Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.” Her name Naomi means “pleasant.” Her name didn’t reflect how she felt about life. So, she asked the women of Bethlehem to stop calling her Naomi, but Mara, which means “bitter.” She told them why she felt bitter about life in verse 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.” We already saw Naomi feeling this way in verse 13.
Naomi indeed went away from Bethlehem to Moab with her husband and her two sons ten years ago. But, did she really return home completely empty? This would be true if Ruth also went back to her home, to Moab. But, Naomi returned back to Bethlehem to her country, not empty, but with her daughter-in-law. Naomi would have returned empty if it weren’t for Ruth’s commitment to follow Naomi.
The pain does this to people. When my pain was intensely bitter after my mother was killed back in 1993, I wasn’t able to see pass beyond my pain for long time. Pain has a way of distorting our perception; it has a way of limiting us from seeing the big picture. Although faithful, kind and caring Ruth accompanied Naomi back to Bethlehem Naomi, feeling raw with pain, couldn’t see this as a blessing in her life.
Chapter 1 concludes with a summary statement in verse 22. “So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law,” back in Bethlehem.” And, as Naomi heard in verse 6, indeed the LORD was on the move in Israel. God ended the long famine in Israel. Finally he brought about the change in the climate and other environmental condition to bring about a great harvest.
Applications
Now let’s see how this is applies to us. Last week we considered the impact of Naomi’s decision to return back to Bethlehem. To us the decision to return to Bethlehem, ‘house of bread,’ is really all about returning to Jesus, “the Bread of life.”
1. Be patient… you will see God moving in your life.
But, when the pain gets intensely bitter like it was for Naomi, it takes time for us to work out the feeling of being abandoned or punished by God and that God is still working for us. As we progressed through the story of Ruth, we are going to see in detail how God was kind towards Naomi and Ruth. Although, the pain was intensely bitter and blinding for Naomi, we are going to see how our God is God who was able to penetrate the cloud of bitterness and blindness with his kindness.
At this point, because of her bitter pain, Naomi was not able to see how God was moving in her life. God was kind to Naomi by providing her with an incredibly loyal daughter-in-law; yes, Naomi was empty when she lost her husband and her sons. But, she didn’t return empty to Bethlehem as she told her friends and families. She returned with an incredible woman of faith, Ruth.
When our Lord Jesus was born in the manger some two thousand years ago, only few people saw that God was indeed moving to save the man kind through this little baby in the manger. If you have been away from God for a while but you are journeying back to Bethlehem now, I want you to know that it takes some time for you to really see God moving in your life as it did for Naomi. So, be patient!
2. Live a compelling life!
Let’s also consider how Ruth was so convinced that it was right for her to go with Naomi even though humanly speaking there was no promising future for her in doing that. Initially it was both Ruth and Orpah who insisted that they went with Naomi to Bethlehem. And after Naomi’s persistent plea, it was only Ruth who remained firm in her conviction that it was right for her to go with Naomi to Bethlehem.
We don’t have any detail as to how Naomi related to her daughters-in-law in those ten years in Moab. But, judging from how they responded to Naomi, it would not be too difficult to think that Naomi was a good mother-in-law. Something about the way Naomi conducted herself in those ten years made Ruth so committed to Naomi and her way of life.
What I am suggesting to you is that Naomi even though lived in a foreign and strange country not of her own, in a place where God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was not worshiped, she lived a winsome life to convince Ruth that it was worth everything to follow God of the Bible.
The New Testament talks about our Christian life in terms of pilgrimage. Apostle Paul says in Philippians 3:20, “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.” And, Apostle Peter says in 1 Peter 2:11, “Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”
We need to be a winsome Christian. Being Christians doesn’t mean God allows us to live pain and trouble free life. But, the powerful testimony to our non-Christians friends, families, colleagues, coworkers comes from how we do our lives in spite of difficulties, trials, and hardships.
My prayer is that along our journey back to Bethlehem, each us would have someone like Ruth who cling to us because they want to draw near to Bethlehem, where Christ was born, to be the Bread of life… all because they see us living the compelling life in Jesus Christ.
3. Become a loyal person compelled by the love of Jesus Christ!
Lastly, let me comment about Ruth. What can I say? She is just an amazing woman of God! We live in the time when people are really in love with themselves. Everything seems to be disposable, even relationships. It is hard to find loyalty these days. People get into relationship with others who make them feel good about themselves, who are good to them, who care for them. But, for the same reason, people break off relationships because others no longer meet their needs or wants. I find Ruth’s commitment to follow and care for Naomi, an old widow, incredibly refreshing. It is remarkable because there was no bright future promised for Ruth. She would have done well if she did what her sister Orpah did, to return to Moab to remarry a Moabite man.
How are you like Ruth in your commitment to care for people around you even though it costs you? How are you like Ruth who didn’t pull out a calculator to see what was in for her to go with Naomi?
Can you imagine what could happen if Jesus decided to do cost analysis during his earthly ministry as a selfish person? What he was sent to do would cost his life. Yet, we see him since his birth, steadily without wavering moving towards the cross. Jesus was convinced that to die on the cross was the right thing to do because he was compelled to please the Father; he was compelled to die on the cross because he loves us. He was compelled to take on human body like you and me in order to suffer, to die and to be raised from the dead.
Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer life for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”
Are you compelled by love of Jesus Christ to love people? And, does it make you fiercely loyal person?
In this Christmas season and for the New Year to come, we can easily be sucked into the worldly pattern of going from one place to another without much thinking.
Why don’t we all go to Bethlehem like Naomi and Ruth did? Let’s go see Jesus who was born a child as our King, our Savior, our Lord!
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