Ruth 1:1-7 – “Doing what needs to be done”
By James Galbraith
First Baptist Church, Port Alberni
June 3, 2007
Text (NIV)
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 of Moab. 2 The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife’s name Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.
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.
6 When she heard in Moab that the LORD had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, Naomi and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. 7 With her two 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.
Outline
1-2 Journey to Moab
3-5 Tragedy Strikes
6-7 Returning Home
Narrative
1-2 Journey to Moab
The first two verses of this book convey information that serves to set the stage for the rest of the story.
The first phrase, “when the judges ruled”, puts the story into history during the time just after the people of Israel had moved into the Promised Land.
The great leaders, Moses, Joshua, Caleb and Aaron have all passed away, and without strong central leadership the infant nation soon falls into civil unrest, not a lot different from Palestine today.
The people, unused to living free and in their own land, soon reverted to fighting among the tribes.
This made Israel very vulnerable to attack from the outside,
and the period of the Judges shows several different nations,
including Moab, controlling Israel from time to time.
The priesthood was helpless to defend the nation and it was left to military leaders, called judges, to assume control from time to time.
God would raise up good judges to take back the Kingdom,
but as they passed away their survivors inevitably sank back into disorder.
use overhead to illustrate the period’s chaotic history.
Add to this civil unrest the fact that “there was a famine in the land”,
and you see that the situation was bleak for anyone living in Israel.
It’s ironic that our main characters would hail from Bethlehem, for the meaning of this city’s name is “House of bread” and this Bethlehem was indeed known for the abundance of crops that usually surrounded it.
The bread box was empty, however, and our family of four is forced to move from their home into the neighbouring land of Moab.
Now let’s talk about this family for a minute,
and the move they have to make.
Put on map overhead
There are four of them in total, Elimelech, his wife Naomi and their two sons Mahlon and Kilion.
Elimelech means “My God is King”,
so it’s fair to say that he comes from a family faithful to God.
Naomi means “pleasant”, a fact set against the tragedy of the situation they are in and the deeper tragedy she’s about to face.
As for the sons, they play such a minor role that their names are really irrelevant.
They are leaving their homeland together to find a land which can sustain them as a family. They would be at the mercy of the inhabitants of the land they travel to, so they must be desperate to leave.
Furthermore, by leaving they put at risk ever getting back whatever they left behind. The land was supposed to stay within the family unit, but if no one was there to claim it then it would be passed on to someone else.
And the journey they take is not an easy one.
The miles may have added up to less than 100,
but each on of those miles was travelled on foot or beast,
they have to carry all their own provisions,
and they were most likely travelling hungry.
On top of this - the land they travelled through were not easy in Israelites.
The land of Moab had received a severe beating from Israel when they hindered Israel from entering the promised land,
and the Moabites had not forgotten this.
All in all, this was a journey from despair into uncertainty,
a father uprooting his family to keep them alive in tough times.
3-5 Tragedy Strikes
The despair turns quickly into tragedy as Elimelech dies as a foreigner in a strange land. We don’t know how long they had been in Moab before he dies, but we do know that the boys have grown up and are able to marry and begin families on their own.
This would have been very important for Naomi, who would be completely alone if she did not have these daughter’s in law to associate with.
These two women would have been her lifeline to the community as they introduce her to their extended families, acquaintances, etc.
Ten years go by, and they must have been them long years.
The women had no children, and this would have interpreted as a bad sign. The culture of the day expected women to bear children,
and women with no children were considered out of favour with God.
God Himself never says this has to be the case,
but it was the thinking of the time, and the women would have had to endure the whispers of those inclined to gossip about such things.
The sons die suddenly and together - no mean feat when you think about it. There’s no mention of how or why - it just happens, and our three women are suddenly alone and without means of support for their futures.
It is here where Naomi experiences her darkest moment.
Far from home, without a husband or son to support her,
she is now as helpless and vulnerable as anyone can be.
If she had assets to begin her own business, or family to stay with,
then this story would not have been written, so we know just by reading it that she’s more desperate than she ever has been.
But this is where the story of God’s love for her begins,
as we see the faint beacon of hope light up in verse six.
6-7 Return Home
Naomi hears rumours that her homeland, Israel, is doing well –
God is helping his people by sustaining their harvests and blessing them with rich returns.
So she sets her sights on going home, tracing back the journey she travelled years ago.
This time, however, her journey is fraught with so much more danger.
When she travelled to Moab, she came as a younger woman flanked by three healthy men. For her return, she was now an older widow with only younger women to watch out for her.
The three women travelling together would have been an easy target for all kinds of trouble - slave traders, robbers and worse frequented their route home, and people disappeared all the time on journeys.
We must also remember that this whole area was chaotic at the time. There was no governing authority making the roads safe,
so people pretty well fended for themselves.
And they would be travelling hungry, alone and probably without horse or donkey to make the trip easier and quicker.
SO hope may have been there, but it was a hope far off and one that definitely was neither sure nor easy. But it was enough to draw Naomi home.
Conclusion
So these first verses really serve to set the scene for the rest of the story to follow.
It is a story born in tragedy,
as a family is forced to leave their homeland in desperate straits,
and then suffers such horrible losses in a foreign land.
Thankfully, it is also a story of hope,
and as we’ll see in the weeks ahead God can do wonderful things with those who respond to tragedy the way Naomi does here.
How does Naomi respond to this tragedy? I learn two things from her -
1. You do what you have to do.
2. Never lose sight of hope.
1.You do what you have to do
When hunger comes to the land,
Elimelech and Naomi do what they have to do to take care of their family.
When Naomi loses her husband Elimelech,
she sees that her sons get themselves married well.
When Naomi loses her sons,
she faces the arduous trip home and gets going.
In all these hardships, she does what she has to do.
In this she’s a role model for facing adversity.
Hardship doesn’t go away by wishing it away –
you have to face it and fight it and not think about losing. You just press on.
Some Christians believe that following Christ means “naming and claiming” everything you need and want to get you success and happiness in life. That’s pure garbage.
Christ helps us through hardship all right, but he helps us by going through it with us, not taking us around it.
Hard times come, and we need to face them.
Thank God we have him to help us through them.
2. You never lose sight of hope.
In the face of such personal loss and apparent danger, she does not lose sight of the hope of getting home.
That’s no small matter. She’s about as helpless as she can get,
and yet she looks ahead to keep her eyes on the only hope she really has.
I would never tell someone in such a desperate situation to cheer up and look on the bright side, but her actions show me that we can, if we are willing, find something to cling to even when times are rough.
As Christians, that hope is Christ’s promise to never leave us.
It’s a promise that he keeps, even when we’re not really paying attention.
But when we need to hope, we can know with full assurance that Jesus will be there for us to hold onto, and that he will never leave us entirely on our own.
God didn’t leave Naomi alone, even in the worst of her ordeal.
He won’t leave us alone either, and that’s a thought worth ending on.
Blessing: Numbers 6:24-26
May the Lord bless and protect you; may the Lord’s face radiate with joy because of you; may he be gracious to you, show you his favour and give you his peace.
