This study began with a correction from last week’s final study of Habakkuk. I quoted from a number of Lutheran scholars, with short thoughts from them. I discovered since then that one of the Old Testament commentaries I used was not written entirely by Dr. Walter Roehrs. The Habakkuk study notes were actually written by Dr. Martin Franzmann. He should have been credited for the quotes that I listed as from Dr. Roehrs. My apologies for that, as I try to be as accurate as possible with these s...
This study began with a correction from last week’s final study of Habakkuk. I quoted from a number of Lutheran scholars, with short thoughts from them. I discovered since then that one of the Old Testament commentaries I used was not written entirely by Dr. Walter Roehrs. The Habakkuk study notes were actually written by Dr. Martin Franzmann. He should have been credited for the quotes that I listed as from Dr. Roehrs. My apologies for that, as I try to be as accurate as possible with these studies and give credit where it is due.
I chose the Book of Ruth as our next study after reading recently a sermon written by a former professor at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Dr. Jeffrey Gibbs, on Ruth Chapter 1. We just finished the study of Habakkuk, which focused on the questions that the prophet had for God when he could not understand why God was allowing terrible things to happen to the Southern Kingdom of Judah and Jerusalem. Habakkuk had to learn to “live by faith” in God and His ways, even if he could not understand many things.
Dr. Gibbs’ sermon was a good reminder that terrible things also happen to individuals and families in ways that we and they cannot understand. That is what the Book of Ruth is about and yet how God can be at work for good, even in such very personal situations that we and others have to deal with, at times.
The Book of Ruth is found in our English Bibles fairly early in the Old Testament, right after Joshua and Judges. When Moses died, Joshua was chosen to lead the people of Israel into the Promised Land and to help them get settled there. What followed after Joshua died was a very unsettled period for the various tribes of God’s people. They were to get well established in the land and serve the One True God faithfully. Instead, many of the people drifted away from God and began to follow the false gods and evil ways of the non-Jews who lived around them.
God raised up a number of “judges,” leaders who were to call the Jews to repentance and back to true belief in God and His ways and help them in troubled, dangerous times. This would work for a while, and then people would slip away from God again until another “judge” was given to them to help them. In general, this period of a few hundred years could be summarized by the last line of the Book of Judges, “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes,” instead of doing what was right in God’s eyes and following Him.
The story we will study begins then, in Ruth 1:1, “in the days when the judges ruled.” It happened near the end of this period when there was a famine in the land, a lack of food and water, usually caused by drought or prolonged warfare and other such trouble, as we still see in our world today.
In Ruth 1:2, a man from the tribe of Judah, who lived in Bethlehem, decided to take his family and travel to the land of Moab to find food and better living conditions. The intent was to “sojourn” there - live there temporarily and then return to Israel. The man’s name was Elimelech, which means “God is my King,” and his wife was Naomi, whose name meant “pleasant.” They had two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. (Some commentators say that their names meant “sickly” and “fragile,” but there is no solid evidence for these meanings. Unfortunately, as we have seen with Jonah and other books, very liberal scholars claim that the Book of Ruth is a parable and not a true story of real people, but the New Testament tells us otherwise.)
Ruth 1:2 also tells us that this family was “Ephrathites.” That term refers to the region in which they lived, where Bethlehem was located. See Micah 5:2-5a, where the term is also used in a very important prophecy about the place where the Savior Jesus would be born. There was nothing wrong with the family going to another country to seek food. We know that Jacob had sent some of his sons to Egypt to get food during a famine, too, when they were finally reunited with Joseph. See Genesis 42ff. Others had certainly traveled to other countries, also.
Bethlehem was located in Southern Israel, about 6 miles south of what would later become Jerusalem. To get to Moab, the family had to travel north and go around the Dead Sea and cross the Jordan River and then travel south again to reach Moab. The trip was 100+ rough miles. You can trace the trip if you have a map of Old Testament Israel in your Bible.
Verse 2 ends with the statement that the family “remained there” in Moab. The reason for staying longer quickly becomes clear. Tragic things begin to happen. In verse 3, we hear that Elimelech dies, and Naomi is left in sorrow to parent her sons by herself. This was a very difficult situation, as widows had few resources or help. In verse 4, the two sons marry Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. Jews were forbidden to marry many non-Jews, but Moabites were not included in that list, at least at the time that this story happened. Then the tragedy continues, with the death of both Mahlon and Chilion, over time (Ruth 1:5), That left Naomi alone with her two daughters-in-law and no good way to provide for everyone.
Naomi is very sad with grief and very bitter that God would let all these bad things happen to her and her family. She does not understand. She finally decides that she must go back to Israel and hope that a relative or some kind Jewish person would help her. Read Ruth 1:19-21 to see how Naomi describes her situation. She used to be “pleasant,” but now is only “bitter.” She left Israel “full” and hopeful, but now she returns to Israel “empty.” Why would the Lord bring such “calamity” upon her?
Put yourself in Naomi’s situation. How would you feel? What would you say, especially in weak moments? Have you ever been in circumstances like this? The Scriptures are very honest about Naomi’s struggle. She still calls God her Lord, using the special name for Him as the One True God, but she cannot comprehend how all this could have happened. Her pain and despair are very great.
We will talk more about this and the parts of Ruth, Chapter One, that we have not yet covered. We will see that God had not abandoned Naomi and even gave her some hope for her very gloomy life. He still had plans, even amazing plans, ahead for her and her life. She too was called to “life by faith” in her personal life, even in very dark times, as we also are called to live.
