Ruth Ch 1 – Study

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Ruth 1 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Ruth 1:1,2

1 In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So 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 Elimelek, his wife’s name was 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.

A. Find Out:
  1. Who was ruling at this time? v.1a
  2. What occurred? v.1b
  3. Where did the man live? v.1c
  4. Where did he go to live? v.1d
  5. Who did he take with him? v.1d,2
B. Think:
  1. Read Judges 2:10 -16. What was life like in the time of the judges?
  2. Bethlehem means “house of bread”. What was it at this time?
  3. What therefore is the picture being conveyed to us here?
C. Comment:

     In these two opening verses we have some poignant truths. The time of the judges was not a glorious time in Israel ‘s history, but a time of constantly going away from God and then being restored by Him through judges that He raised up.

     Let’s consider first the details behind these verses. We are simply told that there was a famine in the land. In the Law of Moses, God had said He would bring famine when there was disobedience and it is ironic that this family flees from the town known as a house of bread, or place of supply. Elimelech means “My God is king” so he was obviously born, and named, in a time when faith was high. However, Mahlon means “sickness”, and Chilion means “consumption” which indicates that when they were born, they seemed to be weakly children where the blessing of God was missing, a time of low faith in other words! This seems to be confirmed by the action of this man and his family: they flee from the Promised Land to a land of idol worshippers who had no relationship with God.

     So let’s consider the implications of all this: our circumstances can sometimes indicate the displeasure of God. The state of our western society indicates the withdrawal of the blessing of God (read Romans 1:24 -32 and note that those things which are so seen in our society are in fact the judgement of God on the society!) But running away from it is no answer, as we will soon see!

D. Application:
  1. Face the state of our society and call out to God for mercy for it.
  2. Running away isn’t the answer. Seeking God is!
Passage: Ruth 1:3-7

3 Now Elimelek, 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 Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she 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.

A. Find Out:    
  1. Who died? v.3
  2. What did the sons do? v.4
  3. What period of time passed? v.4c
  4. What happened to them? v.5
  5. What did Naomi hear? v.6
  6. What did she do? v.6b,7
B. Think:
  1. Reminder: where are this family now living?
  2. Reminder: who are they?
  3. How would you summarise what happens to this family?
C. Comment:

     This is a grim picture. This family has fled from the land of covenant with God to a godless neighbouring land because the circumstances at home didn’t seem good. Now the husband dies. For this family that would be disastrous with the main breadwinner being removed. There is no indication of any thought of returning home to the security of their own village or town, and so they continue life in this foreign land and actually become more and more integrated in it as the two sons eventually marry local girls.

     Time passes, in fact ten whole years, but no children appear on the scene which also speaks of barrenness or unfruitfulness. This land is a curse on this family! After ten years both sons die. This seems more than a coincidence! Is the removal of all the men from this family the judgement of God on them? After all, God holds the men responsible in families. Should these sons have made moves to return home, after all they are Jews!

     Finally Naomi hears that the famine in Israel has ended, so she decides at last to return home. A bit late really! Her entire family has been devastated and all she is left with is two foreign daughters-in-law. A pretty miserable picture! Oh yes, miserable by human standards but with God no situation is beyond His redemption. That is what this book is all about. Watch this space!!!!

D. Application:
  1. Don’t expect blessing when you are in an alien place.
  2. Christians receive blessing as they express the kingdom of God.
Passage: Ruth 1:8-18

8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, ‘Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. 9 May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.’

Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud 10 and said to her, ‘We will go back with you to your people.’

11 But Naomi said, ‘Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? 12 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 – 13 would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!’

14 At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.

15 ‘Look,’ said Naomi, ‘your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.’

16 But Ruth replied, ‘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. 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 even death separates you and me.’ 18 When Naomi realised that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

A. Find Out:
  1. What did Naomi now suggest to the two daughters-in-law? v.8,9
  2. How did they respond at first? v.9c,10
  3. What did she say wouldn’t happen? v.11-13
  4. What response did this get? v.14
  5. So what did Naomi try to do one final time? v.15
  6. But what was Ruth’s response? v.16-18
B. Think:
  1. What did Naomi want for these two girls?
  2. What did she know she couldn’t do for them?
  3. How would you summarise Ruth’s final response to her?
C. Comment:

     Naomi is just about to start the journey to go back to her land. Initially the two daughters-in-law go to go with her. Here is an indication of the closeness of this little group that has come about over the last ten years or so. But as she is about to go, Naomi realises that this isn’t really a good option for these two girls. They would do better to stay in their own familiar land and find new husbands, than come back to a land that is completely foreign to them. In this she exhibits care and compassion.

     After further persuading, one of them, Orphah, agrees to stay. The call of home overcomes anything else, but with Ruth it’s completely different. We’re not told what it is that makes Ruth come with Naomi. It may be just the bond she has formed with Naomi over the years, it may be the Lord prompting her, we don’t know. When we consider her words it is a case of complete commitment to Naomi.

      Verses 16 and 17 are perhaps the classic example in the Bible of commitment, which has three elements to it. First it is a commitment to a place: wherever you go, I’ll go. Second it was a commitment to people: whoever are your people, they will be my people. Finally it is a commitment to God: whoever is your God will be mine. Somehow Ruth had found such security with Naomi that she was able to make such a wholehearted commitment. When we come to Christ, this is the same level of commitment he requires of us.

D. Application:
  1. The call to “go back to the world” is often strong. Resist!
  2. When Christ calls us to follow, the commitment level is total.
Passage: Ruth 1:19-22

19 So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, ‘Can this be Naomi?’

20 ‘Don’t call me Naomi,’ she told them. ‘Call me Mara, 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 upon me.’

22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.

A. Find Out:
  1. Where did they come to, and what was asked? v.19
  2. What did Naomi say about herself? v.20
  3. What did she say had happened to her? v.21
  4. What time was it when they got back? v.22
B. Think:
  1. Why do you think the whole town was stirred?
  2. How would you summarise what Naomi is feeling?
  3. Do you think she is justified in feeling this?
C. Comment:

     Naomi and Ruth eventually arrive back at their home town of Bethlehem . It is not a big town and so very soon the word has spread throughout the town that she is back – back without her husband or her family, back only with a foreign girl who is her daughter-in-law. The town is buzzing with this. Questions must be getting asked: what happened?

     Naomi’s answer is intriguing. She is an understanding and very self aware woman. She says she ought to have a change name for the old Naomi (which meant ‘pleasant’) is gone and the new Naomi ought to be called Mara (which means ‘bitter), because that is what she now is. Today we would call someone bitter who is acid, unpleasant, resentful, and angry, yet from all that follows I’m not sure that is what she feels. Yes, she is someone in deep anguish because she has lost her sons and her husband, that is certainly true, and that is real. The reality is that she is in deep distress.

     But note her awareness of the Lord. She first of all refers to Him (twice) as the Almighty – the one who is sovereign over the affairs of men and women – and twice she declares that her state has been caused by the Lord. Let’s not try and duck that – perhaps she is exactly right, perhaps their deaths were the hand of the Lord. If that is so, understand that the Lord does not delight in such deaths (Ezek 18:23 ,32) yet there are times when He does bring death. If there was no other way to bring this chosen vessel back to Bethlehem and bring about what is going to happen, then perhaps that had to be the way. The end result is going to be amazing.

D. Application:
  1. Often at the time we cannot see the overall plan and life seems hard.
  2. Avoid acrimonious bitterness. Keep a right heart.