TITLE: A Love Story
Text: Ruth 1-4
Date: February 17,2008
Location: Sulphur Spring
Introduction: Thursday was Valentines Day, the Day that we traditionally tell our spouses or those we love how much we love and care for them. I was listening to WAY – FM this week and one of the D.J.’s was discussing what he was going to do for his wife. He said that he was going to rent 3-4 ‘chick-flick’s’ for her and then let her watch them while he took care of their two boys. Now for those of you who may not understand what a ‘chick-flick’ is they have also been described by many men as ‘sappy love stories.’ Let me give you a few examples. According to MSN, Movies here are a few of the top 10 chick flicks. Pretty Woman, staring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts came in at #10. “When Harry Met Sally, starring Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal” came in at #8, and the #1 ‘Chick Flick’ according to MSN was “Gone with the Wind” starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh. Now I know those of you under the age of 25 would probably put “The Notebook” in the top 10 but I guess it just hasn’t stood the test of time yet.
The point I’m trying to make here is that love stories have been popular at the Box Office for many, many years. A couple of hundred years ago, before movies were invented books were the main source of entertainment for many people.
When Benjamin Franklin, one of our founding fathers, served as the Ambassador to France, he occasionally attended what was called The Infidels Club -- a group that spent most of its time searching for and reading literary masterpieces.
On one occasion Franklin read the book of Ruth to the club, but changed the names in it so it would not be recognized as a story from the Bible. When he finished, the members of the Infidel’s club, many of whom claimed to be atheists, were unanimous in their praise. They told him it was one of the most beautiful short stories that they had ever heard, and demanded that he tell them where he had found such a remarkable work of art. As a God fearing man, Franklin enjoyed telling them that it came from the Bible!
Some of you here this morning may have never read or heard this beautiful love story, which is the main reason I’ve chosen to share it with you this morning. So if you’ll turn in your Bibles to the book of Ruth we are going to read the first 5 verses of chapter 1.
Now before we go any further let me give you some important background information to this story.
Timing: The first verse tells us that these events took place during the time when the judges ruled the land of Israel. This was a dark period of time for the nation of Israel. The book of Judges describes this time period as a time “when everyone did as he saw fit.” Which simply means that sin was running ramped. Consequently God was forced to punish them for their sin and disobedience, which he did by sending a severe famine upon the land. Verse 1 tells us that the reason that Elimelech took his family to Moab in the first place was because of a famine that had come upon the land of Israel. So the people of Israel were suffering the consequences of their sin and disobedience. But instead of repenting of their sins, some of the Israelites including this family tried to get away from the judgment of God by moving to other countries. In this case the country of Moab.
The country of Moab was located in what is today Modern Day Jordan. It was and still is a very fertile region located on the Eastern shore of the Jordan River. Moab was a land known for its rich soil and adequate rainfall so Elimelech traveled to a place where he was sure his crops wouldn’t fail. It would have taken them about a week to travel the hundred miles or so between Bethlehem and Moab. Unfortunately Moab had traditionally been one of Israel’s fiercest enemies, and on at least one occasion had influenced the Israelites into sexual immorality and the worship other gods.
Unfortunately, when they got to Moab things got worse instead of getting better. Elimelech died, leaving Naomi and her two sons living in a foreign land. The two sons decided to marry Moabite women and settle down in Moab. They live there for about 10 years before they too died. At this point, Naomi decides enough is enough and makes the decision to return to Bethlehem.
Surprisingly her two grieving Daughter-in-Laws, Ruth and Oprah decide to accompany her back to Israel. During their journey Naomi’s love and concern for Oprah and Ruth motivated her to tell them to turn around and go back home. Look at verse 8 with me.
“But on the way, Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go back to your mothers’ homes instead of coming with me. And may the LORD reward you for your kindness to your husbands and to me.”
Initially they both said no, that they wanted to stay with Naomi, but she eventually convinced Oprah to return to Moab. Ruth on the other hand shows a great deal of loyalty and commitment to Naomi and refuses to turn back. In what has become a classic verse of Scripture she looked at her mother in law Naomi and said,
"Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. I will go wherever you go and live wherever you live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. I will die where you die and will be buried there. May the LORD punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!" 1:16-17 (NLT)
When Naomi realized that there was nothing she could say or do that was going to change Ruth’s mind the two women continued their journey back to Bethlehem.
Verse 19 says that when the two women arrived in Bethlehem it caused quite a stir. I’m sure that the people of Bethlehem had a lot of questions for Naomi, like where her husband and sons were, and who this young Moabite woman was. Several of the women from Bethlehem ran out to greet them. They called Naomi by name, and said, "Welcome back Naomi," it’s good to see you, were glad you’re back. Naomi’s response must have shocked them. She said,
"Don’t call me Naomi, (Which means Sweet One), instead call me Mara, ( Which means bitter One). Because God has indeed made me bitter. He has taken my husband and both of my sons from me. When I left Bethlehem, I was full, but now, upon returning I am empty.”
I want to pause here for just a second because I believe it’s important for you to understand Naomi’s frame of mind. Naomi blamed God for her husband’s death as well as her sons.
Unfortunately, this is something that Naomi has in common with many people today. They blame God when someone they love dies.
6 years ago today, Jimmy Hatter was sitting about right there when he suffered a massive heart attack, and despite the quick response and hard work of Dr. Pulliam, Stacy Hunt and others, Jimmy was later pronounced dead at the Medical Center. Betty Ruth could have been bitter about that. In fact she recently told me that some people were surprised that she could still come to church here, but her response to that was well there’s no other place that I’d rather be.’ Thankfully, Betty Ruth did not allow her grief to turn into bitterness the way Naomi’s had.
Naomi obviously blamed God for all of the heartache and suffering that had come upon her family. In doing this she made a couple of mistakes that we need to be aware of so we don’t make the same mistakes.
First of all, her focus was on herself and her circumstances instead of on God. As I have shared with you recently our relationship with God must be our primary focus in life. Naomi had allowed her circumstances to cloud her judgment and her thinking, especially when it came to her relationship with God.
A second mistake I believe Naomi made was that she refused to take responsibility for her own sins and the sins of her family. Instead she blamed God and accused Him of afflicting her and bringing all of this heartache upon her. But let’s get back to the story.
After finding a place to stay and getting settled in, Ruth takes the initiative and tells Naomi that she is going to go out and gather up some grain. There was a law in Ancient Israel designed to help those who were poor. The harvesters were not to clean up or gather all the loose barley and wheat after they harvested the crop. The gleanings were left for the poor to pick up. This was before “food stamps” or "Welfare" had been thought of so God made built-in provisions for the poor. So this tells us something else about Ruth. Not only was she a very loyal person, but she was also someone who took the initiative. She saw what needed to be done and went out and did it. According to what we read in chapter two she worked hard all morning and only took a break when she needed to get out of the sun for a few minutes.
The owner of the land where Ruth is gathering barley came by to check on the harvest and immediately noticed her, and ask the foreman of his crew about her. The man told her that she was the woman who had come back from Moab with Naomi. Boaz was related to Naomi’s husband and so he walked over to Naomi and thanked her for everything she had done to help Naomi. He also told her that she was welcome to work in his fields anytime and that He would make sure the field hands didn’t harm her in any way. (This reminds me of just how bad the spiritual climate was in Israel at the time. Because ‘everyone did what seemed right to them’ an attractive young widow would most certainly been in danger of being taken advantage of.) In fact when Ruth told Naomi about meeting Boaz and about his offer she encouraged Ruth to only gather in his fields. In Chapter 2:22 she says,
“It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with his girls, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.”
So Ruth took her Mother-In-Laws advice and continued to work exclusively in the fields of Boaz until the harvest was over. Not only did Boaz tell the men who were working him not to touch Ruth, but he also told them to make sure they left a little extra wheat and barley for her to pick up. Which tells us something else about this man named Boaz. He wasn’t a greedy man. In fact he cared more about this woman that he had just met than he did about making money.
In Chapter three, Naomi decides to play cupid and do a little match making between Ruth and Boaz. She told Ruth to get cleaned up, put on a little perfume along with her best outfit and go down to the threshing floor, and find Boaz. But the advice she gives Ruth seems strange to us. Look at 3:3, with me, she says,
“don’t let Boaz see you until he has finished his meal. Be sure to notice where he lies down; then go and uncover his feet and lie down there. He will tell you what to do."
At first it seems as if Naomi is encouraging Ruth to seduce Boaz but that really wasn’t the case. You see Naomi knew that Boaz was not only a man of Character but that he was also well aware of the Jewish law concerning widows.
You see as I mentioned earlier, Boaz was related to Naomi’s husband in some way, although the Bible doesn’t really tell us in what way.
Since God had given each family of each tribe a section of land, this land was extremely important to Israel. In order to make sure it stayed in the family, the kinsman redeemer law was instituted. If a man died and left a widow and no sons, his nearest relative would be given the opportunity to buy his land and marry his widow so that she could have sons to carry on the deceased’s name. This relative would be obligated, at his own expense, to buy back the property and give it back to the relative who had sold it. If the nearest relative refused, then the next closest kin would take on the role of the redeemer. There was a catch, however. The kinsman-redeemer couldn’t make the decision to redeem on his own. He had to be asked by the widow to buy back her husband’s land.
Ruth was aware of this law, and she knew that Boaz being the man of Character that he was would do the right thing if given the opportunity. So that’s what she was doing. By sending Ruth to the threshing floor, Naomi was presenting Boaz with the opportunity to do the right thing and become their “Kinsman-Redeemer.”
Naomi told Ruth exactly what to do, which again seems a little strange to us. She found out where Boaz was, let him go to sleep, then sneaks over to him, uncovers his feet and lays down. In the middle of the night, something wakes Boaz up and he realizes that his feet are uncovered. When he looks down there to cover them up he notices Ruth and says, ‘Who are you and what are you doing here?”
Ruth replied by saying, “I am your servant Ruth, Spread the corner of your covering over me, for you are my family redeemer." The word that is translated covering here is translated as “wings” in chapter two, when Boaz had his first conversation with Ruth, he had said, “May the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge, reward you fully.” So in reality Ruth is asking Boaz to shelter her under his wing and to redeem her. In short, she is making a marriage proposal to him!
He responds by telling her that He admires her for her loyalty, and for the fact that she hasn’t been chasing the younger men all around town. Then he informs her that while it is true that He is related to her by marriage that there is someone else who is a closer relative who should first be given the opportunity to be the Kinsman redeemer. He assures her that if that man refuses to take the responsibility that He will.
The next day Boaz goes down to the city gate, which is where the city elders met and where most of the business was conducted. When the other man arrived Boaz informed him of Naomi and Ruth’s situation. He was interested in buying the land but didn’t want to marry either one of the women. He told Boaz that he was forfeiting his right as the Kinsman – Redeemer, which allowed Boaz the opportunity as the next of kin.
Boaz turned to the city leaders and those gathered there at the city gate and said,
Then Boaz said to the leaders and to the crowd standing around, "You are witnesses that today I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Kilion, and Mahlon.
And with the land I have acquired Ruth, the Moabite widow of Mahlon, to be my wife. This way she can have a son to carry on the family name of her dead husband and to inherit the family property here in his hometown. You are all witnesses today." V.10
Then the leaders and all the people standing there replied, "We are witnesses! May the LORD make the woman who is now coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, from whom all the nation of Israel descended! May you be great in Ephrathah and famous in Bethlehem.”
V.11.
So Boaz and Ruth get married and she conceives a son, and the give the boy the name of Obed. Ruth being the woman of character that she was allowed Naomi to serve as the baby’s grandmother and nurse. Obed grew up and became the father of Jessie, who grew up and became the father of David, who grew up and became the King of Israel.
Hundreds of years later Jesus was born in Bethlehem and the gospel of Matthew includes both Boaz and Ruth in his family tree.
Now isn’t that a wonderful love story. But what if anything can we take home with us today. What lessons can we learn from this short story?
(1) I think one of the lessons we need to learn is to take responsibility for our own sins and our own lives. In the beginning of the story, Naomi blamed God for the hardships she was going through. Sometimes we make the same mistake. We need to realize that God sometimes allows us to go through difficult circumstances so we will return to Him.
(2) A second lesson we can learn from this story is to be men and women of Character. Boaz, Naomi and Ruth all proved to be people with impeccable character, and God rewarded them for it by allowing them to play a part in his plan to Redeem a lost world.
(3) A third lesson we can learn is about the Providence and Sovereignty of God. He used the circumstances and events that took place in these individuals lives to fulfill his will and purpose. He used the famine to cause Naomi and her family to flee to Moab, where one of her sons married Ruth. He used the deaths of Naomi’s husband and sons to motivate Naomi to return to Bethlehem. When she and Ruth returned to Bethlehem He inspired Ruth to go to the field of Boaz to pick up grain, which set the stage for the rest of the story.
God is just as envolved in our lives today as He was in the lives of Naomi, Ruth and Boaz. All we have to do is open our eyes and we will see that He loves us and is using whatever circumstances and events that come our way to mold us and make us into the people He wants us to be, so He can in turn, use us the way He used Boaz and Ruth.
**Portions of this sermon were taken from Brian Bill’s sermon, “A Loyal Love Story” found on Sermon Central.com.
