Orpah – 10th August 2008 am
Ruth 1:1-18
Orpah was a Moabitess, a member of an accursed race. She was born and bread in paganism. The gods of her people were fearful demon gods, the most feared of all these gods was Chemosh.
The priests of Moab were powerful and cruel. If any disaster threatened Moab – Plague, famine, or the possibility of war – then these priests turned to Chemosh. Fires would be lit underneath this image and Chemosh’s lap was constructed so that little children placed on its red hot surface would roll down a declined plane and into his fiery belly.
The priests would come around to the homes to inspect children, looking for possible victims, especially firstborn sons. With a red dye from the sea shore, they would stain the wrists of these future sacrifices – there was no court of appeal from this decision. Children with these stained wrists were doomed to a horrible death.
I wonder how many nights did Opah spent listening in on her parents whispering about this and her heart would be filled with fear and then her dreams turning into nightmares.
Then when Orpah was old enough to play with other girls, she heard about another god – a fertility goddess who offered the Moabites regeneration, also the fertility of fields and farms depended on the sexual practices in her temple.
Just as the priests kept their eyes open for firstborn sons that could be fed to Chemosh, they also kept their lustful eyes open for promising young girls who could be used for the foul trade of the temple.
These children would either grow up in fear or they would just view this as the norm. Events were about to take place in Orpah’s life that had the possibility of freeing her from all of this.
I. A Famine – 1:1-2
During the rule of the Judges, Israel suffered a serious famine which was deemed to be one of the punishments visited upon the people when they had sinned Leviticus 26:14-16 But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments; [15] And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgements, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant: [16] I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you a terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
Elimelech decided to emigrate – he took his family to another land where there was plenty of food. Was this the right move? Had it worked in the past?
Abraham
In taking the initiative to move his family to a foreign country, Elimelech stepped out of the will of God. If famine was a judgement upon the nation then he should have repented and tried to help his brethren back to God, and prayed for the removal of this famine -
Psalm 34:9-10 O fear the LORD, ye his saints: For there is no want to them that fear him. [10] The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: [17] The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, And deliver them out of all their troubles.
Elimelech should have stayed and allowed God to do something for him there and through him there. He should have allowed God to be God in his life. He should have said, “There has to be a reason for this dryness and bareness and I want to be part of the solution.” Instead, he quit.
Here’s the problem, backsliding never takes place in a vacuum, it always involves other members of the family. Elimelech took his family from Bethlehem-Judah (House of Bread and Praise) to Moab (Waste). Of the four that went to Moab, only one would come back.
What do we do when famine happens in our spiritual lives – don’t run away, rely on God, learn from it and move on in God’s will.
II. A Family – 1:4
One day a family moved into the life of Orpah, she had never met anyone like them before and she became friendly with them, especially one of their sons, she even ended up marrying Chilon.
It was a t the supper table that Orpah began to hear about their God, even though Elimelech was a backslider, he was still a believer. Maybe she asked questions about the differences between her gods and the true and living God.
She would hear stories of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The Exodus, Moses and the Passover lamb. They would describe the wilderness wanderings and how Balak, king of Moab had hired Balaam to curse the Hebrew people and after failing, he taught Balak how to corrupt them.
She heard about Joshua and the conquest of Canaan and how the judges now ruled the land. Orpah heard her mother-in-law sing some of the hymns of her people – the song of Moses or maybe the song of Deborah.
Orpah now heard about a different God to the ones of her people, a kind God, a pure God, a holy God, the true and living God, a God so different from the savage ones of her people.
III. A Funeral – 1:3, 5
Verse 3
The family was in Moab for a period of ten years, but the tragedy of unbelief and backsliding had struck long before death came in. God’s displeasure was quickly demonstrated.
First of all we have the death of Elimelech, whose name means “my God is King,” but whose life and testimony in Moab did not reflect his name at all. The life of a backslider is a lie.
God left Elimelech alone for a while to see, if like the prodigal son, he would come to his senses and return to Him. This Old Testament prodigal never did. Perhaps he liked Moab, maybe he had become too involved in Moab. God waited but Elimelech showed no signs of repentance. Then, there in Moab he died, out of fellowship with God’s people and with the living God.
Elimelech had fled with his family to Moab to escape a possible death from famine, and died in the midst of plenty leaving his wife a widow in a land of idolaters.
The first funeral in Moab was a warning word from God, a terrible, tragic, and unmistakeable word. God intends that every funeral we attend should cause us to search our hearts and examine our ways. The dead person lying in his coffin preaches his last sermon, for better or for worse, to those who have been left behind.
Maybe Orpah & Ruth spoke to their husbands. Asked about returning to their homeland, after all the stories they had heard, surely God would be able to help them. But if this was the case, the husbands did not listen.
Verse 5a
It could well be that at this point in her life, Orpah became angry at God. Did she blame Him for the death of her husband?
Verse 5b
We tend to hurry past this statement, but it is the last despairing signpost on the road of the backslidden man. Left in Moab, left in the company of the ungodly, far from the people of God. Left to fend for herself in a place where God never intended them to be.
IV. A Failure – 1:6-18
Verses 6-7
So far so Good. It looks as though Ruth and Orpah became converts. Unfortunately when we get to the end of the chapter we see that it this was not so.
It happens so many times… People make a profession of faith and take initial steps towards the Promised Land but that does not mean that they are saved. All we have in a lot of instances are aroused souls and intellectual or emotional responses to the gospel.
We see the Lord talking about this in the parable of the sower and we are told in Hebrews 6:1 let us go… Going is the acid test of whether or not an initial response to Christ is real. Look at what happened next… it is both sobering and instructive.
Verses 8-10
As they walk along the road, Naomi begins to doubt. What will her reception be like in Bethlehem when she turns up with two Moabite women? She begins to throw discouragement their way. She urges her daughter-in-laws to return to their home where they would have a much better chance of getting married again.
Discouragement – stick with the Lord – true faith….
Verses 11-15
The name Orpah means “double-minded” which would describe the dilemma she now finds herself in. Should she, like Ruth, go on to Bethlehem with Naomi, or return alone to Moab. James 1:8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
The name is also said to come from the Hebrew word for neck and could mean “stiff necked” or “stubborn.”
Whatever her name means, she made the wrong choice. Both she and Ruth had been brought into contact with the truth of Jehovah,
Orpah begins to lag behind and starts to look back at Moab. Finally she stops. She looks at the aged, childless and embittered Naomi, of who she thought highly of. She looks at Ruth who was determined to go all the way with Naomi into an uncertain future.
Then she made her decision. “I can’t go on!” she says to Naomi. “My place is in Moab.” She made her choice in favour of the rich a prosperous Moab she knew. She went back to her the demon gods of her people, back to her old way of life, and back to a lost eternity.
Orpah pictures for us all those whose souls have been roused but who have never really been saved at all.
Maybe there’s someone you know who has come forward, started out for Canaan, but has had second thoughts. Like Orpah they have come to a stop, turned back and returned to their old lives, their old gods, their old religions, their old companions.
Such people are as lost as pagans, only more so because once they had been enlightened. They have tasted of the heavenly gift, have been partakers of the Holy Spirits work of conviction, and have tasted of the good Word of God and the powers of the world to come (Hebrews 6:4-8).
Yet they have fallen away. By doing so they have shown that, as Peter said to Simon Magus in Acts 8:21 Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Moreover , the Holy Spirit solemnly says that it will be impossible for those people to be renewed to repentance because they have crucified the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame (Hebrews 6:4-6)
Verses 16-18
So Orpah turns back to Moab. Slowly she drew away from the other two. Sadly she set her face toward the city of destruction. Orpah separated herself not only from Naomi and Ruth, but from the only true God.
Her name is blotted out of the book, not only from the book of life, but her name is no more found in the Scriptures. She goes into obscurity. Calvary was enacted on that road. From the side of Naomi one woman went into an abundant life, and the other retreated into darkness and despair.
From the riven side of Jesus, one thief went to paradise, the other to perdition.
