Emptiness in a Far Off Land Forces Return (Ruth 1)
Introduction
What causes someone to repent? What makes someone return to God after running away from him?
Of course, it is often carrot or stick.
God woos with his kindness and mercy. God warns with his threatenings.
God’s preferred means of securing our repentance is the carrot. That is what the Apostle Paul wanted to happen for the Israelites. Paul wanted the Jews of his day to hear about God’s mercy to the Gentiles. And he wants them to be jealous and take hold of Christ as well.
So in Romans chapter 11 verse 11, Paul says that ‘salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious.’ (NIV) Paul made much of his ministry to the Gentiles, in the hope that he might somehow arouse his own people to envy and save some of them. ‘Hey’, the Jews say, ‘The Gentiles are repenting and receiving eternal life through Jesus. They are returning to God through Jesus Christ. Why don’t we? Why don’t we have a share of Christ?’
In the parable of the two sons (Luke 15), we see carrot and stick. Think of the younger son in the far off country feeding the swine.
17 "When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare (the CARROT), and here I am starving to death (the STICK)! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you (REPENTANCE). (Luke 15:17-18 NIV)
The prodigal returns knowing the kindness and love of his father, and the hardship of his situation.
Context
Over the next two months, I want to look with you at the book of Ruth. We’ve spent all last term looking at Judges. And it ended on a pretty sour note.
But that’s not all the bible tells us about the time of the Judges. We left Judges with the bad taste of unkindness, visciousness, and gang rape. But the book of Ruth is a book of tender kindness, faithfulness and steadfast love that occurred in the same time and era among God’s people. All men in Israel were not like Samson, Jephthah, Gideon, or the men of Gibeah. The book of Ruth shows how Israel was meant to operate, how God was honoured when his people followed his law, both the letter and the spirit. It shows how Yahweh fills up one empty bitter widow. And how another widow, an outsider, finds refuge and a place of rest under the shadow of Yahweh’s wings. And indeed, it will show us how a poor Moabite widow comes to be in the family tree of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ruth chapter 1 verse 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 [fields] of Moab. (NIV)
Bethlehem means ‘house of bread’. But the fields of Bethlehem are bare. There is no bread in the house of bread. There is famine. The famine in the land flowing with milk and honey shows God’s judgment. Yahweh promised famine as the result of sin and covenant unfaithfulness. God had promised them rain in season and fruitful harvests if they obeyed (Leviticus 26:3-6). But if Israel disobeyed God and rejected his laws, God said he would break down their stubborn pride, make the sky above them like iron, and the ground beneath them like bronze. The soil would not yield its crops, nor the trees their fruit (Leviticus 26:14-20).
And so, a small family of four Jews, a husband, a wife and their two sons, leave Yahweh’s people and Yahweh’s dwelling place and go to the people of Moab.
Now, the Moabites were the descendants of Lot, Abraham’s nephew. But sadly, they had fallen from the worship of Yahweh. They worshiped their god Chemosh, as well as others. The Moabites had resisted Israel’s entry into the promised land (Numbers 22-24, 25). As a result, God said they were to be excluded from the assembly of Israel to the 10th Generation (Deuteronomy 23:3-6). And most recently, fat king Eglon, who mercilessly oppressed Israel, was a Moabite, and he was defeated by the left handed Ehud.
But Elimelech takes his family to live among this people. Elimelech’s migration at first glance is simply to feed his family. And we would say, ‘Fair enough! Who can blame him?’ But Elimelech wants to feed his family his way, not God’s. And by going to the land of other gods, Elimelech shows a lack of faith. Elimelech is like Abraham who went down to Egypt for a while, and got his wife Sarah to hide her identity. It landed him into all sorts of trouble. But Elimelech soon leaves the story. Verses 3 to 5:
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.
Naomi went to Moab with a full family but an empty belly. But within 10 years, she has lost her husband and her two sons. God had taken both her husband and children away. The LORD gave, and now the LORD has taken away. And perhaps even worse, she has now two young Moabite women she is responsible for, living reminders of this disasterous move to a foreign country. Her boys have married the daughters of another god. But God had withheld children from them. And now God had taken her sons away, along with their father.
The move to Moab promised so much. But it turned out an unmitigated disaster for Naomi.
Have you ever been where Naomi was? Perhaps you or your kids have made bad choices. Perhaps you wanted to take an easy way out. Perhaps you went looking for the comfort and security of your family apart from God, and you have made an unwise, even a sinful, decision. And there are the reminders of your lack of faith constantly with you. That was Naomi. That was the situation in which she found herself. But you know what, the book of Ruth tells us that it is not hopeless. God is the one who brings good out of such tragic situations. Indeed, God steps into these tragic situations with salvation.
In verse 6, after 10 years in Moab, Naomi is ready to return. She hears that Yahweh has visited his people. There’s bread again in the house of bread. That’s the carrot. And Moab has too many bad memories. Three dead men, and not a grandchild to be seen. That’s the stick. So up she gets, with her two daughters-in-law. She hits the road to ‘return’ to Bethlehem. But return can also have the meaning of repent[1].
For Naomi, returning home would have been very difficult. It would have meant that she was confessing she had been wrong to leave. Like the prodigal son, she has to swallow her pride before she walks back into the town she left ten years before. And after her follows her two daughters-in-law.
But walking along the road with her daughters-in-law behind gave Naomi opportunity to think things out. And she realized that it may not be best to bring these young Moabite women back to Bethlehem. It won’t be good for them.
'Who was going to marry these girls? They are barren women of Moab, the enemy of our people. I cannot provide them brothers-in-law to marry. I am old. I have no husband. And no self-respecting Israelite man will want to marry them. Both their husbands have died, both have been unable to have children. Who in Bethlehem is going to purchase such damaged goods, such foreign imports? Who will want to be associated with me and my family, against whom God has raised his hand.'
And so along the road to Judah, Naomi turns to both and urges both her daughters-in-law to return to Moab. And at first it looks like she does so simply for their own benefit. Let me read verses 8 to 9:
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 [hesed] 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. (NIV)
And this blessing would be a wonderful one, except when we remember what Naomi is actually sending them back to. Naomi herself gives the game away in verse 15:
15 "Look," said Naomi, "your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her. (NIV)
Return after your sister in law. Repent of seeking after Yahweh, the God of Israel. Go back to your god Chemosh, see if he will bless you and give you a husband. Naomi first blesses them by Yahweh, but the reality is she is sending them back to Chemosh.
Here is the weakness of Naomi’s faith. She doesn’t seem to care about the god who Orpah or Ruth worships. It’s more important that they have a husband. It’s more important that they go back to their gods.
Which suggests that Naomi wants to send her daughters-in-law away partly for her own sake. Do they remind her of too many painful things? Will they be an embarrassment to bring into Bethlehem? Will all the women say, ‘Look at Naomi? She has picked up two barren Moabitesses!’
And her urgings and arguments have an effect. For she manages to get Orpah to return. But not Ruth. There is something that Ruth has seen in Naomi and in Naomi’s God that meanst that Ruth became a cling-on on the Starboard side. In verse 14, we read that Ruth clung to Naomi. The same word used in Genesis 2:24, that the man will leave his mother and father and be joined to his wife, is used of Ruth’s union to Naomi. She ain’t going anywhere. Look at what Ruth says to Naomi in verse 16 and 17:
16 But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you 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."
In fact, literally Ruth says that even death won’t even divide them, because she has decided that she will be buried with Naomi.
Ruth is a forceful, determined woman. She will follow Naomi and Naomi’s God. Ruth will worship Yahweh, Naomi’s God, whether Naomi wants her to or not. She places herself under a curse to follow Naomi’s God.
What loyalty and steadfast love this young foreign woman shows to this older Jewish widow! What is it that she has seen about Yahweh and about Yahweh’s people that she will leave everything she knows? Through the prism of Naomi’s imperfect faith, she has seen something of Yahweh that makes her forsake everything else for him.
Ruth’s is a remarkable faith, greater by far than her mother-in-law. Ruth is like the Syro-Phonecian woman, who persists with Jesus until he heals her son. She is like Jacob, who will not let go of God until he receives a blessing. Ruth is one of the forceful people entering the kingdom of God in front of even the children of the kingdom. And friends, over a thousand years later, Jesus commends those who make the decision Ruth made: In Mark chapter 10 verses 29-30, Jesus declared
29 "I tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields-- and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. (NIV)
And if you have lost good relationships with family and friends for following Christ, if you have gone without some of the comforts of home because of Jesus Christ, as you read the book of Ruth and see how God wonderfully provides for Ruth through his obedient and loving people, you are reading of the same God who promises to provide for you. You too won’t miss out, because you have sought first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all the other things you need in this life will be given to you as well. You will have your needs met. And you will receive heaven too as a free gift you could neither earn nor deserve.
Naomi gives up on trying to persuade Ruth. And the two widows continue their long walk until thy reach Bethlehem. And we read that the whole town was abuzz because of them. And the women asked, ‘Could this be Naomi?’. Perhaps so changed and altered was her appearance after 10 years away. Perhaps she was no longer the pleasant and confident woman, but haggard and destitute and hungry. Perhaps so changed were her circumstances: She left with her men, she comes back with only a widow. Verses 20 to 21 tell us where Naomi is at emotionally:
20 "Don't call me Naomi [pleasant]," she told them. "Call me Mara [bitter], 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 [or evil] upon me." (NIV)
When Naomi left, she had a husband and two sons. Now she has no-one.
Well, that’s not true, is it? She has Ruth. Verse 21 is a slight on Ruth. And the book of Ruth testifies that Naomi has not come back empty. Ruth will prove herself worth more than seven sons.
And while Naomi rightly sees God behind her coming back, and even the emptying that she has experienced, Naomi cannot yet acknowledge that Yahweh stands behind her steadfastly loyal daughter-in-law.
Again, we see in verse 13 where Naomi is at. Verse 13:
No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD's hand has gone out against me!" (NIV)
Naomi cannot yet see Ruth’s pain, so lost is she in her own.
Perhaps you too, feel, or have felt, a bit like Naomi. Life’s circumstances have dealt you bitter blows. And of course, behind your circumstances lies a sovereign and Almighty God. And perhaps there are times that you, like Naomi are feeling very bitter towards God.
And what I say to you dear friend is two things. First, look at where you are. The Lord may have brought you back empty. You may have left him full but come back empty. But the more important thing is, God has brought you back. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has in his repoitore and armoury both carrot and stick, has indeed brought you back to himself, if you have faith in Jesus Christ. And that is much better than being left in the far country, in the land of other gods, no matter how full you are. You have returned to him, and that is better by far.
Second, Naomi wasn’t empty. She was bitter, but she wasn’t empty. She had suffered, but she wasn’t suffering alone. She had Ruth. Pain at what we’ve lost can mean we don’t value what we’ve gained. Naomi gained Ruth, a remarkably loving and loyal daughter-in-law.
And so I say to you, dear friend, look a second time at what you actually have. You may not have the things you want. You may have brought some unwanted cling-ons from the place of suffering. But what has God given you that you are not valuing as you should? Naomi did not value Ruth at the beginning. Naomi probably thought of Ruth as a liability as she slunk back into Bethlehem. She will not think this in the end.
What are you undervaluing now? What have you overlooked, what have you not counted, as you do the inventory on your circumstances? The Lord God the Almighty may have taken away. But what as he given you? Do the stock take again, and you may discover, like Naomi, that God has given you something precious, a wonderful blessing you have brought with you from your years of suffering, unbidden and unlooked for, and undervalued. And this blessing clings to you like Ruth, despite the fact that you despise and reject it in your bitterness.
Verse 22 finishes setting the scene for us.
22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning. (NIV)
And with the news of the start of the barley harvest, hope is kindled. Samson’s hair has begun to grow. A savior has been born to you.
And from now on, the book of Ruth is onward and upward. If the book of Judges starts well, but ends in the sewer, the book of Ruth starts with emptiness, but ends with fullness. If you are wondering how low Ruth can go, you’ve had it.
And it wasn’t that low, because we met Ruth. A steadfast, loving, loyal, determined young woman, who will not be rent from her bitter, self-absorbed mother-in-law. She may not be valued now, but she will be before the end. And she is determined to worship Yahweh, the God of Israel, despite the impediments that Naomi puts in her path. Such persevering faith will not go unrewarded.
Conclusion
Ruth Chapter 1 is all about return, or repentance. Naomi is brought back to Yahweh’s land and people, and indeed Yahweh himself. She spent her time in the far off country, in the land of other gods. It promised security and food. But the far country wasn’t everything it was cracked up to be. It was a painful lesson to learn. She was wooed back because God had visited his people. She was driven back by the loss of everything she thought that mattered.
Have you repented? Have you returned to God from the far off country? Have you realized that the pleasures of sin are fleeting and short lived? And have you said to yourself, ‘I will go to my heavenly Father and say, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am not worthy to be called your son”’?
If you have, then know this. Your best days are ahead of you, not behind you. Like the book of Ruth, it is onward and upward from here on
And you know what, your time in the far off land was not a waste. For you will have clinging to you, stuck to you as almost an embarrassment, an as-yet undervalued and neglected blessing that you have brought from there. For such was Ruth to Naomi. And you will realize the great value of God’s gift to you before the end.
Let’s pray.
[1] Verse 6: Lit, And she arose and her daughters in law and she returned from the fields of Moab because she heard in the fields of Moab that YHWH had visited his people to give to them bread