The Dilemma In The Land Series

I. The Famine in the Land

1. A famine of food. 1 of thirteen in the bible.

2. The period of the famine.

a. In the days when the judges ruled.

b. Was a space of 450 years.

c. 13 judges ruled in all.

d. It was a very evil time.

e. It was a time of moral and theological degradation.

3. The famine could have come as Divine judgment for the sins of the people.

a. Leviticus 26:18-20, Deuteronomy 28:15, 23-24

b. 2 Chronicles 6:26, 7:13-14

4. The place of the famine. Verse 1, 2

II. The Failures in the Land

1. The famine of food was not the worst part of the ruin.

2. The failure was in the move of Elimelech and his family from Bethlehem to Moab.

3. The marriage of his boys to women of Moab.

4. These failures involved moral and spiritual ruin.

a. The famine of food only brought ruin to the physical and the material.

b. A famine in morals vs. materials. Which is worse?

c. Scripture warns of spiritual famine. Amos 8:11

5. The failure in the move. Verse 1

a. The disobedience in the move.

1) The Israelites were to live in the land God gave them.

2) Almost a denial of one’s faith. Joshua 23:7-12

b. The distrust in the move shows a lack of faith in God.

1) Elimelech looked at the famine through the eyes of the flesh.

2) Rather than of faith.

c. The dispatch in the move. Verse 21. The family went out full.

1) He left before he suffered much loss.

2) Shows the weakness of Elimelech’s faith.

3) Shows a discontented, distrustful spirit.

d. Elimelech was too materialistic to risk any loss in the will of God.

e. People who are unwilling to lose anything in order to be obedient to God eventually lose everything. Mark 8:8:35

6. The defiled in the move.

a. Elimelech not only defiled himself, but his whole family.

b. He used his authority to influence others to sin.

7. The distance in the move. Verse 1

a. Moab was not far away from Bethlehem.

b. You could see Moab from Bethlehem.

c. Moab was across the Jordan and the Dead Sea. 20 – 30 miles.

8. The deterrents to the move.

a. Abraham, Genesis 12, leaving Canaan and going to Egypt during a famine.

b. Hagar came, Genesis 46:3

c. The wealth of Boaz.

1) Elimelech had a kinsman

2) A mighty man of wealth. 2:1

9. The dangers in the move.

a. Moab was a result of the incestuous sin of Lot with his oldest daughter. Genesis 19:30-38

b. They were not friendly towards godliness.

c. Moab refused to let Israel travel through their land. Judges 11:17

d. Would not help Israel. Deuteronomy 23:4

10. The duration of the move. Verse 2&4

11. The failure in the marriages. Verses 3&4

c. It was a forbidden in God’s word. Ezra 9:1-2

d. Nehemiah 13:23

III. The Fatalities in the Ruin

1. The cause of the fatalities, sin.

2. The consequences of the fatalities, verse 5. Empty and desolate.

3. The departure. Verse 6

IV. The Resolve

1. Traveling in the resolve.

e. The message for the traveling, verse 6

f. The motive for the traveling for self and not God.

2. The testing of the resolve.

g. Every resolve will be evaluated.

h. Every commitment will be challenged.

i. Every decision will be disputed.

j. Every profession of faith will be protested.