Ruth 1-1-5 notes by Kasey Castillo

Ruth 1:1-5 Bible Study notes                                 Kasey Castillo

 

Good morning, everyone!  So good to be here this morning–great to be here–I am so grateful to be able to share with you. We will pray and we will dig into Ruth 1:1-5, and you can go ahead and turn there in your Bibles.

 While you’re doing that, I want to give you a head’s up:  when I first started preparing today, what jumped off the page at me and what I felt compelled to focus on was the first phrase of our text:  it came about in the days when the judges governed.  

We are actually going to spend quite a bit of time on this today.  Today when you leave here, someone is going to ask you, “Hey, how was your study in Ruth.  And you’re going to want to say, “I don’t know how Ruth was, we studied Judges”.  But that is the nature of going deep, verse by verse, you get the whole Bible–Amen!  

 But what I do hope, is that you walk away this morning knowing God’s love for you–His loyal, covenant love.  This is the name of our series–God’s Steadfast Loyal Love–and it truly is the message you hear today; God loves you with a loyal, committed, never going to give up on you chesed way. 

In Hebrew the word lovingkindness is chesed.   Chesed is generally used to denote God’s love for man, it is used throughout the Old Testament to describe God’s character:  it is faithfulness or loyalty and associated with covenant, loyal love.  

One commentator said, “Chesed captures love as faithfulness in action, the commitment that sustains relationship despite circumstances.”

Let’s pray 

Ruth 1:1:   Now it came about in the days when the judges governed, that there was a famine in the land.

The days of the Judges were very, very dark days.     The key verse in the book of Judges, repeated over and over over again is: “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did whatever seemed right to him.”    

 The last five chapters of Judges is an epilogue and reads like a story, just the book of Ruth. It shows how chaotic and spiritually dead the Israelites had become.  It tells the story of a various people living during this time, all of them doing whatever seemed right in their own eyes. 

 It opens with a young man confessing to his mom that he stole some silver from her. Her reply is, “Blessed be my son by the LORD”, and he gives the silver back to her. Oh, how nice, the young man confessing to his mom, and her blessing him in return. 

 Mid-story is a tragic account of a young lady, concubine, a piece of property, being seized by her “husband” and given by him to a gang of violent, wicked men, for perverse violent-sexual pleasure.  These men gang rape her all night, she crawls back to where her husband is staying and dies on the porch. Judges 19:27 says, “when her master arose in the morning and opened the doors of the house to go on his way, then behold, his concubine was lying on the doorway of the house with her hands on the threshold.  So sad.    his gross self-righteousness, he cuts this poor women into twelve pieces, sending each piece to a tribe throughout Isreal, in a call for civil war against the Benjamite’s, who were responsible for this horrific event.  The epilogue finishes with the tragic account of God’s chosen people, his precious covenant people, brother against brother, tribe against tribe, in war with one another, killing each other. 

When I read these five chapters, with my corrupt heart I can miss how much immorality is at every. Single. Turn.  I can read right past it. Or, on the flip side, I can read it with my religiosity glasses on and count literally dozens and dozens of laws these people are breaking.  But what we really want to do when we reflect on these tragic stories, is think about God’s heart. He is grieved by this.  He loves these people with a covenant loyal love.

How did things get so bad? How did this epilogue open?  Do you know what that mom did when her son returned the stolen silver?  In an attempt to bless her son, she gave part of it to the silversmith to have idols made.  He intentions “seem okay” --they may have even been doing it to try to get closer to the One True God.  But to God, it is a break in a marriage covenant.  And it breaks His heart

The idol worship, the idolatry breaks His heart.  He sees how what the seemingly little compromise of making an idol - quite possibly in an attempt to get closer to Him– breaks His heart–because even in the Old covenant It was truly a covenant relationship a marriage relationship based in grace and love.

And when an Israelite forgot what God had done for him–redeemed him out of the bondage of Pharoh in Egypt and forgot God’s chesed, covenant loyal love for him, and instead chose to go the way of the Canaanites, it broke God’s heart.  

When we make compromises and allow idols in our hearts, and flirt with devotion to anything or anyone, other than the One True God, it breaks His heart, because He loves us with a covenant loyal love.  And He sees where it can take us. 

I mentioned the Canaanites–it was actually seven different nations–all of them commonly referred to as the Canaanites.  They were his enemies because they hated GOD. They worshipped and served false idols–Baal and Ashtaroth. They were utterly wicked, making sexual immorality a practice in their religious rituals, along with human sacrifice.  This is what was going on when the story of Ruth takes place.

They were His enemies because He knew how they could hurt His beloved covenant bride, the Israelites.  He know they would distract His beloved people and ultimately make them turn from their One True God and break the covenant bond.    Idolatry among the Israelites tragically became widespread.  

And we see the consequences in the epilogue of Judges. 

It grieves the Lord’s heart more than we will ever understand for him to see his chosen covenant people falling into idolatry.

So, this is the time in history where the book of Ruth takes place.

I promise you, the rest of the passage will be quick, so stay with me.  

Ruth 1:1-5 And a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons. 2 The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife, Naomi; and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah. Now they entered the land of Moab and remained there. 3 Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left with her two sons. 4 They took for themselves Moabite women as wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. And they lived there about ten years. 5 Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was bereft of her two children and her husband. 

A very tragic setting for the story of Ruth. 

 

Okay, I thought I’d do something a little different today, and that is to observe and interpret the text with the five Ws and the H, who what when where and why.  We obviously already covered the WHEN. 

WHO:  We have Elimelech, Naomi, their.  Mahlon and Chilion of Bethlehem -so they were obviously Jews, Israelites, God’s chosen, covenant people, and then these two Moabite women, gentiles, Orpah and Ruth

WHAT - Well it seems as though Elimelech and his wife are having a very rough go it:  There was famine in their land, food was hard to come by; I believe this was God’s judgment on the nation of Israel as a whole, as keeping with His end of the Old covenant.  Terms of old covenant included what was to happen if the nation of Israel as a whole were to reject the LORD and turn to idolatry, one of them was agricultural failures.  

For example, Deuteronomy 29:22 says, “The Lord will smite you with consumption and with fever and with inflammation and with fiery heat and with the sword and with blight and with mildew, and they will pursue you until you perish.”  

But we must never lose sight of how much it grieved God ‘s heart. 

This is a good place to mention, of course that under the Old Covenant, a priest offered an animal sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins on behalf of a person.  Once again, this is showing God’s chesed love for His people, His patience, His mercy, His goodness. Speaking of the animal being sacrificed, Leviticus 4:35 says, 35b “and the priest shall burn it on the altar on top of the food offerings presented to the Lord. In this way the priest will make atonement for them for the sin they have committed, and they will be forgiven.”

For Elimelech and Naomi, things must have been very bad as we can see by what named their boys:  Chilion means “wasting away,” while Mahlon means “sickly.  

First, they were going to sojourn (which coneys visiting; or being transient) there in Moab; then they end up remaining there. The word remaining there emphasizes settling in a place or putting down roots. 

While in Moab, Elimelech dies; the two sons marry Moabite women (it just keeps getting worse and wors–it’s like you don’t want to keep reading) they live there ten years, and then the sons die, leaving Naomi without a husband, or sons.  This is a dire situation for her. 

Marrying Moabite women was not explicitly forbidden by God, as was marrying Canaanite women; but it certainly was unwise.  Being from Moab there was a pretty good chance they worshipped Chemosh, a Canaanite deity with a sacrificial system involving human sacrifice.   

 WHERE They are leaving a region, Bethlehem, that means “house of bread”, given and Elimelech and his kinfolk by God Almighty; to go to a region entrenched in idolatry and hostile toward God.  Bethlehem was within the boundaries of the Promised Land promised by God in the old covenant.  They move to Moab-Moab was not within the boundaries of the land promised by God in the old covenant.  

This is very disturbing.  

HOW:  The text conveys nothing about how they did this. In the most basic sense–how they did it is they likely walked there.  

But what the text does not say, says it all…not a single mention here of how any of them prayed about their move, or how they regarded the LORD in this very big decision in life; which It turns out to be a bit of irony as we learn that Elimelech’s name means “my God is king”,  

You definitely get the sense of sort of floundering through life with no guidance from God or trusting Him.  Elimelech was doing what seemed right in his own eyes.  

His sons seems to do the same thing by making the unwise decisions to marry women from Moab. 

It is very, very easy for me to say to myself, “wow, Kasey, stop being so harsh, what’s the big deal.  Elimelech was just trying to feed his family…Moab was known for being fertile; and who else were the sons going to marry in Moab–common lighten up. 

Let’s go back to God’s heart, and His covenant love.  I am sure this grieved the LORD immensely as Elimelech’s lack of trust in the LORD took him and his family into Moab, a place full of God’s enemies; a territory outside of the covenant, a territory of human-sacrificing idolaters.  The Lord was grieved because He know the Moabites could harm Elimelech and his family.  This seemingly small sin of moving to Moab was a compromise that lead to a deeper problem:  the sons marrying Moabites. 

Elimelech’s story, just like the last five chapters of Judges, shows a microcosm of what was going on during the times of the Judges:  a little compromise lead to a tragic situation.  

WHY Why did these men seem to flounder through life without any regard for their LORD.  Why did have to Elimelech die?  Why did the sons die so tragically, apparently at young ages before having children of their own?  Why did the LORD allow this?  

Before we tackle these questions, let’s read:

 Exodus 20:2-3;5-6 Then God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of [a]slavery.3 “You shall have no other gods [b]before Me.  5 You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments

 

Let’s examine this passage:

1.         First, God makes the connection between being the Israelites’ one true God and bringing them from Egypt–paramount to establish a relationship between the one true God and the folks he rescued.  Redemption established the foundation for the covenant.  Why?   This is why God made a point to constantly remind His people of His redemptive work in saving them from Egypt.  

2.         The LORD lays out His first commandment of the Ten Commandments:    no other gods–only the one true Yahweh (YHWH).  NO IDOLS!   This demands exclusive loyalty.   

By the way, I don’t want to assume we all understand this:  but by idols, God means anything, anyone, who could take a higher priority than God in our life.    

3.         Then He says, “for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God”.   

When we hear the word jealous, most of us think of it negatively, a jealous person being insecure, petty and needy. It’s like “ick”.  But here it is radically different.  I believe this word in the Old Testament is used only to describe God and not human beings. It is God’s burning need for exclusivity not only because he is God, but because he is well aware of the destruction ultimately can happen in our lives when we turn into idolatry. 

In Hebrew jealous mean righteous zeal. It is an intense, burning will to protect and care for those He has redeemed.  

5.        Verse 6: but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.  

There’s that word, chesed, Lovingkindness— chesed–the loyal, covenant-keeping love we have been talking about all morning.  

Why did Elimelech and his sons have a hard time trusting the Lord why did they flounder through your life, lacking thrust and obedience? 

The answer to this question not only applies to Elimelech and his sons, but to everyone.  They forgot who redeemed them from bondage in Israel (as we forget who redeemed us from bondage of sin

they did not understand or believe God’s chesed love for them; so, in return they had a hard time trusting Him, loving Him and obeying Him in return.  

 

WHY did the men have to die, leaving Naomi, Ruth and Orpah alone.  At the heart we are speaking here of human suffering.  Why does God allow it?   

We do well to pause during these times, and think about God’s heart, and how grieved He is when anyone is in pain or suffers.

I do not think that God was angry with these men, or that he viewed these men as his enemies.  Nowhere in Scripture does it point to that.  They clearly did not trust the LORD and made dumb choices in life, but they were not enemies of God.   Did God pass judgment on them–is that why they died?  This is a great example of where misunderstanding of God’s character really messes people up.   Remember!  God is the same now as He has always been!  Malachi 3:6 For I am the Lord, I do not change. And that He wishes no man should perish... 2 Peter 3:9 

We must truly understand that His ways are not our ways Isaiah 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. 9“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.

We do not know why they died, but we know the most important part:   God had a redemptive plan for this tragedy as we will see when we study the book of Ruth.

 

Judges 5:31 says, “Thus let all Your enemies perish, O Lord!  But let those who love Him be like the sun When it comes out in full strength.” 

 

When I read this verse, I think of Naomi, Ruth and Boaz.  They seem to understand God’s chesed love for them. They loved the Lord; what a contrast between them and the idolater-enemies of God. 

We will see in Ruth that Naomi at first misunderstands God and His character.  But He shows her the way, and we get to see this unfold this, Summer.

We will see Ruth display chesed love, loyal love, as she abides with Naomi and demonstrates sacrificial love—choosing The LORD under very difficult circumstances.

And then there is Boaz, a man who did not leave Bethlehem during the famine.  We will see Boaz demonstrate lovingkindness as he redeems Ruth and enters into a marriage covenant with her. Our hearts will be full as we discover God’s redemptive plan coming out of this tragic beginning. 

 

And look at the testimony these three leave, as sun shining in its strength in a very, very dark time in Israel's history.  The sun is powerful, is a source of energy, and overcomes the darkness.  And it represents hope.  And, ultimately, all of this points to the hope of Jesus Christ.  In His omniscience and mercy, the LORD knew humans were incapable of loving God the way we should—incapable of chesed love.  

Our hearts are desperately corrupt.  Jeramiah 17:9 says, “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?”

So, the LORD provided a New Covenant, whereby sinless Jesus Christ would redeem all sinners by being the perfect and final sacrifice on the cross. 

 

Hebrews 10:12 says, “but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God.”

 

The covenant that miraculously fixes the heart itself, making genuine chesed love for Him possible from the inside out, by the power of the Holy Spirt.  

 

As I prepared for today and was praying for all of you, I have been praying that you would know, deep in your heart, God’s chesed love for you as He gave you Jesus Christ, your one and only, final redeemer.  But Jesus Christ demonstrated His chesed love for us, He knows and understands your struggles, your suffering. 

 

Isaiah 53:3 says, “He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”

 

Hebrews 4:15-16 “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

 

This morning let us grasp His chesed love for us, and may this equip us to live a life where our testimony would be like the sun rising it its might.  

Let’s pray.