A firestorm has been brewing as of late over revelations of lavish and questionable spending at eHealth Ontario, a provincial agency tasked with creating electronic health files.
A freedom of information request revealed the agency spent $5-million in untendered contracts in only four months, from its inception in late September, 2008, to January, 2009.
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=1664274
The worst thing to do in an era of ever increasing public accountability is try to cover up or give up responsibility when accountability is required. Whenever we make mistakes if we fail to admit them and take responsibility, the consequences are often much worse.
God had disciplined Naomi for acting in unbelief by leaving Bethlehem and going to Moab. She had lost her husband and her two sons. She, with her two daughter’s in law, were in a desperate situation.
The Book of Ruth places a characteristic emphasis upon the sovereignty of God in human life, and His gracious provision for those who love His law and trust in Him completely. In the ancient world news of events was carried to a large extent by caravan traders, mariners, and other travelers. As a result, ancient peoples were usually well informed about current events (see Num. 21:1; 22:4–5), unless they lived in a remote area of a country such as Egypt. Tidings accordingly reach Moab that the famine has abated in Canaan, an eventuality that is attributed quite properly to the Lord’s compassion for his people. Suddenly her homeland beckons to Naomi, and she clearly feels that she, Orpah, and Ruth will be able to partake in some way of the nation’s prosperity by returning as a family. Once among her own people, Naomi and her daughters-in-law could expect to receive the humane treatment that Israelite law accorded to widows (Deut. 14:29; 16:11; etc.) (Elwell, Walter A.: Evangelical Commentary on the Bible . electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Baker Book House, 1996, c1989, S. Ru 1:8).
When you find yourself in difficult circumstances because of God’s discipline or because of someone else’s disobedience, you can make one of three decisions. You can decide to 1) Cover Up, which is what Naomi did. You can decide to 2) Give UP, which is what Orpah did, or you can decide to 3) Stand up, and believe God, which is what Ruth did.
1) Covering up in Difficult Circumstances: The testimony of Naomi. Ruth 1:6-10.
Ruth 1:6-7 [6]Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the LORD had visited his people and given them food. [7]So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.
Naomi was a grieving widow, stripped of the earthly joys of husband and family by divine judgment (MacDonald, William ; Farstad, Arthur: Believer’s Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1995, S. Ru 1:6).
• Naomi represents all those who believe God, and after a time of great trial, return to the people of God and the place of blessing.
God visited His faithful people in Bethlehem, but not His disobedient daughter in Moab. The meaning of the fact that the LORD had visited his people and given them food (visited: paqad )is clarified in a beautiful psalm about God’s care (Ps. 65:9–10).
• Given the setting in the days of the judges, this can only mean that God’s people repented and saw his favor restored. The people of Bethlehem had repented an experienced God’s grace and favor. The macro situation of Bethlehem is now being played out in the micro lives of Naomi, Ruth and Orpah.
• (Iain M. Duguid. Esther & Ruth. Reformed Expository Commentary. P&R Press. 2005. p. 136.)
Naomi heard the report that the famine had ended; and when she heard the good news, she decided to return home. There is always “bread enough and to spare” when you are in the Father’s will (Luke 15:17, KJV).
• The Lord God always deals with His children as a wise and loving father (Heb. 12:5-11) Because He loved Naomi, the Lord would not allow her to stay in Moab. He would not permit her to continue there, away from Bethlehem, away from His people, away from His worship (Donald S. Fortner. Discovering Christ in Ruth. Evangelical Press. 1999. p. 27).
• How sad it is when people only hear about God’s blessing, but never experience it, because they are not in the place where God can bless them.
• People often miss the blessing of God because they only seek it when, where and how they want. God often blesses when we don’t expect, when we are willing to minister wherever opportunity arises and in whatever circumstances warrant.
• This morning we must ask ourselves am I willing to go wherever God calls, to do whatever He wants, whenever He asks? If we are honest and place restrictions on that service, then we risk and may have already lost on blessings.
Biblical examples are numerous of repentant return. Abraham had to leave Egypt and go back to the altar he had abandoned (Gen. 13:1–4), and Jacob had to go back to Bethel (35:1). The repeated plea of the prophets to God’s people was that they turn from their sins and return to the Lord.
Isaiah 55:7 [7]let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
• Remember this story is put in the context of the times of the Judges. The need for Naomi’s repentance is a personal story that would relate to the national need of Israel.
• This story of repentance is a calling to each of us. Sin is treason against God and a fleeing from Him. God calls each of us to repent and return to Him. He promises compassion and pardon through faith in and because of the sacrifice of Christ.
The problem with Naomi’s actions here in Ruth was that although her decision to return to Bethlehem was right, but her motive was wrong. She was still interested primarily in food, not in fellowship with God. You don’t hear her confessing her sins to God and asking Him to forgive her. She was returning to her land but not to her Lord. She was still walking by sight, interested only in her physical well-being. She was still living for the physical and not the spiritual.
• True faith does not desire anything above God Himself.
Until then Naomi had looked on her daughters-in-law as only bearing her company for a while before parting. But being now far from their place of residence, on the highway from Moab to Judah, she stops, and bids them return (Lange, John Peter ; Schaff, Philip ; Cassell, Paulus ; Steenstra, P. H.: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures : Book. Bellingham, WA : Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2008, S. 17)
But something else was wrong in the way Naomi handled this decision:
Ruth 1:8-10[8]But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May the LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. [9]The LORD grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!" Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. [10]And they said to her, "No, we will return with you to your people." (ESV)
Not only did Naomi have a wrong motive but she also took a wrong approach. She did not want her two daughters-in-law to go with her. If it was right for Naomi to go to Bethlehem, where the true and living God was worshiped, then it was right for Orpah and Ruth to accompany her.
Naomi, sensing that the prospects of her daughters-in-law for remarriage in Israel would be slight, urged them to stay in Moab. Her telling each of them to return to her mother’s house was unusual in a male-dominated society. Since Naomi was thinking of their remarriages, she may have referred to their mothers because her daughters-in-law would have discussed their wedding plans with their mothers (Walvoord, John F. ; Zuck, Roy B. ; Dallas Theological Seminary: The Bible Knowledge Commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures. Wheaton, IL : Victor Books, 1983-c1985, S. 1:420).
In Ruth 1:8 when Naomi wishes that the Lord would deal kindly with Ruth and Orpah she was expressing the repeated theme of (hesed, Heb.) covenant loyalty. ḥesed (NIV “kindness”) cannot be translated with one English word. It is a covenant term, wrapping up in itself all the positive attributes of God: love, covenant faithfulness, mercy, grace, kindness, loyalty. In short, it refers to acts of devotion and lovingkindness that go beyond the requirements of duty. Divine acts of ḥesed would bring the opposite of the pain and grief these women have all been experiencing for more than a decade. Specifically it could involve the application of the covenant blessings specified in Lev 26:3–13 and Deut 28:1–14 (Block, Daniel Isaac: Judges, Ruth. electronic ed. Nashville : Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001, c1999 (Logos Library System; The New American Commentary 6), S. 633).
• The word expresses both God’s loyalty to His covenant and His love for His people. Here Naomi expressed the hope that the Lord’s covenantal love would extend to her daughters-in-law, who were outside the land of Israel and were not Jewish (Radmacher, Earl D. ; Allen, Ronald Barclay ; House, H. Wayne: Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Commentary. Nashville : T. Nelson Publishers, 1999, S. Ru 1:8).
Naomi should have said to them what Moses said to his father-in-law:
Numbers 10:29 [29]And Moses said to Hobab the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, "We are setting out for the place of which the LORD said, ’I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will do good to you, for the LORD has promised good to Israel." (ESV)
• Instead, Naomi tried to influence the two women to go back to their families and their false gods.
• If you think that faith in God if fine for you and whatever gods others believe in is fine for them, then you don’t really believe. Either God is who He says He is and the only way to eternal life, or He is not God at all.
Please turn to Psalm 132
In Ruth 1:9, Naomi wishes that her daughters-in-law find rest. What Naomi failed to realize that true rest is only found in the presence of God. Psalm 132 is a royal psalm expressing God’s covenant with the house of David. The book of Ruth shows how the fulfillment of this covenant came through Ruth in the lineage of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of David.
(Read Psalm 132)
Naomi should have realized that even though hardships (Ps 132:1) God is faithful to His promises. Psalm 132 talks about a dwelling place of worship where God would dwell with His people in a unique way. Ruth abandoned the corporate worship that God commanded for His people. She therefore was not receiving provision/bread (Ps. 132:15) in Bethlehem.
• Whenever we depart from corporate worship we loose the blessing of peace, joy (Ps. 132:9, 16) and rest (Ps 132:8, 14) expressed here.
The question that must be asked, is why would a believing Jewess, a daughter of Abraham, encourage two pagan women to worship false gods? I may be wrong, but I get the impression that Naomi didn’t want to take Orpah and Ruth to Bethlehem because they were living proof that she and her husband had permitted their two sons to marry women from outside the covenant nation. In other words, Naomi was trying to cover up her disobedience. If she returned to Bethlehem alone, nobody would know that the family had broken the Law of Moses.
Whenever we make a mistake like Naomi, what keeps us from correcting the problem? It is often pride. One of the reasons why she may have asked here daughters in law to return to Moab, is that they would be living proof of her disobedience.
• The basis of true repentance is swallowing our pride and confessing our sin to God. True repentance, like in this circumstance in Ruth, means changing our direction. Naomi needed to return to the place of blessing.
Proverbs 28:13 [13]Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.
• When we try to cover our sins, it’s proof that we really haven’t faced them honestly and judged them according to God’s Word. True repentance involves honest confession and a brokenness within. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise” (Ps. 51:17). Instead of brokenness, Naomi had bitterness.
In Ruth 1:9, the author states that Orpah kissed Naomi. This expresses the Oriental manner when friends are parting (Jamieson, Robert ; Fausset, A. R. ; Fausset, A. R. ; Brown, David ; Brown, David: A Commentary, Critical and Explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments. Oak Harbor, WA : Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997, S. Ru 1:9).
Illustration: Sin, covering up: Bandaids on the Bathroom Mirror
The foolishness of trying to cover up our sin is well illustrated with the story of the drunk husband who snuck up the stairs quietly. He looked in the bathroom mirror and bandaged the bumps and bruises he’d received in a fight earlier that night. He then proceeded to climb into bed, smiling at the thought that he’d pulled one over on his wife.
When morning came, he opened his eyes and there stood his wife. “You were drunk last night weren’t you!”
“How did you know”?, he asked. “Well, she said, if you weren’t, then who put all the band-aids on the bathroom mirror?” (Galaxie Software: 10,000 Sermon Illustrations. Biblical Studies Press, 2002; 2002)
When you find yourself in difficult circumstances because of God’s discipline or because of someone else’s disobedience, you can decide to 1) Cover Up, which is what Naomi did. You can decide to or
2) Giving up in Difficult Circumstances: The testimony of Orpah (Ruth 1:11–14).
Ruth 1:11-14a [11]But Naomi said, "Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? [12]Turn back, my daughters; go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, [13]would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the LORD has gone out against me [14]Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, (but Ruth clung to her). (ESV)
Please turn to Deuteronomy 25
There is an interesting implicit assumption that is behind Naomi’s words to Ruth and Orpah. Naomi assures them that she is beyond childbearing, and thus unable to provide more sons to ensure the continuity of the line through levirate marriage.
Deuteronomy 25:5-6 [5]"If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. [6]And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel. (ESV)
According to the custom of levirate marriage (Deut. 25:5–9; Gen. 38:8; Matt. 22:24–28), when a married brother died without leaving posterity, his brother should marry the widow (his sister-in-law) in order to raise up seed for the deceased brother. The purpose was to guarantee inheritance for the family and achieve security for the widow. Naomi was explaining that it would be absurd for the women to return with her. There was no chance of marriage because she had no sons to be their husbands; to provide sons she would first have to marry a brother of her deceased husband. Thus, Naomi was alluding to a double levirate marriage (Believer’s Study Bible. electronic ed. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1995, S. Ru 1:11).
Orpah, having soberly considered the words of her mother-in-law, proved to be a leaving widow, choosing the easiest and most convenient course (MacDonald, William ; Farstad, Arthur: Believer’s Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1995, S. Ru 1:6).
• Orpah represents those who profess faith in Christ, but do not possess it.
Orpah started to go with Naomi to Bethlehem (Ruth 1:6). She had pledged that she would return with Naomi (Ruth 1:10) but Orpah was a woman of indecision. When Naomi appealed to Orpah’s natural desires (Ruth 1:8) to return to her parents house and her desire for a husband (Ruth 1:9) her emotionalism was not enough to commit her to follow through on her previous pledge.
• She made an emotional pact. But it did not last. Decisions based upon sentiment and emotion rather than upon sound judgment do not usually last very long
o In many ways, Orpah represents those who take up a profession of faith in Christ in order to satisfy someone else, or in the heat of an emotional experience. Anything born in the storm will die in the calm. (Donald S. Fortner. Discovering Christ in Ruth. Evangelical Press. 1999. p. 28-29).
Three times Naomi told Orpah and Ruth to return (Ruth 1:8, 11–12).
In Ruth 1:13, she suggests that God was to blame for the sorrow and pain the three women had experienced (the hand of the LORD has gone out against me). True faith trusts in God and believes God works circumstances together for believers (Rom. 8:28)
Had Naomi been walking with the Lord, perhaps God could have used her words of faith and a confident testimony in the midst of trial to win Orpah to the faith and her return to Bethlehem with Orpah and Ruth could be seen as a testimony to the power of Godly repentance and grace.
The book of Hebrews was written to tell us, “don’t go back! Keep going forward”. The Jews wanted to go back to Egypt and God disciplined them because of their unbelief.
• When life because difficult, Orpah’s commitment wavered. Instead of trusting God to give her a new life, Orpah went back to her old life in Moab and was never heard of again.
When she saw them hesitating, Naomi began to reason with them. “I’m too old to have another husband and bear another family,” she said. “And even if I could bear more sons, do you want to waste these next years waiting for them to grow up? You could be in your mother’s house, with your family, enjoying life.”
Orpah was the weaker of the two sisters-in-law. She started to Bethlehem with Naomi, kissed her, and wept with her; yet she would not stay with her. She was “not far from the kingdom” (Mark 12:34, NIV), but she made the wrong decision and turned back. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but we wonder whether her heart was really in it; for her decision proved that her heart was back home where she hoped to find a husband. Orpah left the scene and is never mentioned again in the Scriptures.
• Orpah was easily persuaded to go back to Moab, to go back to her family and to her gods. Orpah’s kiss (Ruth 1:14-15) showed that she had affection for Naomi, but she had greater affection for Moab and for all that Moab offered.
• Like Orpah, many today see great value in Christ and have affection for him, but cannot and will not follow him, because they simply cannot find it in their hearts to forsake the world (Donald S. Fortner. Discovering Christ in Ruth. Evangelical Press. 1999. p. 29).
Illustration: Traders vs. Investors
We all have seen the effect of those who have given up on the economy.
In his newspaper column called “Market Report,” Bill Barnhart once explained the difference between investors and traders in the stock market.
“A trader in a stock,” writes Barnhart, “is making decisions minute-by-minute in the hope of shaving off profits measured in fractions of a dollar. … An investor, on the other hand, typically buys or sells a stock based on views about the company and the economy at large.”
In other words, traders are wheelers and dealers. They pursue short-term profits. Traders may have no confidence whatsoever in the companies in which they buy stock but they buy, smelling an immediate payoff.
By contrast, investors are in it for the long haul. They “chain themselves to the mast.” Investors commit their money to a stock, believing that over a period of years and even decades the stock will pay strong dividends and steadily grow in value. Investors aren’t flustered by the typical ups and downs of the market because they believe in the quality of the company, its leaders, and its product.
In the kingdom of God there are also investors and traders. They come to Christ with very different goals. Traders in the kingdom want God to improve their lot in this world. If following Christ means pain or hardship, they sell out.
But investors in the kingdom stay true to Christ no matter what happens in this world, knowing that eternal dividends await them (Larson, Craig Brian: 750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers & Writers. Grand Rapids, MI : Baker Books, 2002, S. 68).
When you find yourself in difficult circumstances because of God’s discipline or because of someone else’s disobedience, you can decide to 1) Cover Up, which is what Naomi did. You can decide to 2) Give up in Difficult Circumstances: The testimony of Orpah (Ruth 1:11–14). Or you can decide to
3) Stand up, and believe God. The testimony of Ruth (Ruth 1:15–18).
Ruth 1:14b-18 [14](Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law), but Ruth clung to her. [15]And she said, "See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law." [16]But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. [17]Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you." [18]And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more. (ESV)
Ruth was a cleaving widow, clinging to Naomi in spite of the latter’s discouragements. When Ruth chose a new life with Naomi, she knew that it wouldn’t be easy. There was hard work and poverty ahead since they were without a male provider. There was separation from home and loved ones, too (MacDonald, William ; Farstad, Arthur: Believer’s Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1995, S. Ru 1:6
RV Revised Version).
• Ruth represents all those who have genuine faith: faith that endures trials, temptations and endures to the end.
The concept meant in the phrase Ruth clung to her, uses the same verb as that used of marriage in Gn. 2:24, ‘Therefore shall a man … cleave unto his wife’ (RV). Ruth, in total commitment, put care for Naomi before her own interests (Carson, D. A.: New Bible Commentary : 21st Century Edition. 4th ed. Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill., USA : Inter-Varsity Press, 1994, S. Ru 1:8)
Please turn to Deuteronomy 30
Besides the literal meaning (of physical clinging) , to cling was also used of strong affection or of covenant faithfulness among men (Gen. 2:24; 34:3; 2 Sam. 20:2; 2 Kin. 11:2) or between men and God (Deut. 10:20; 11:22; 13:4; 30:20; Josh. 22:5; 23:8) (Believer’s Study Bible. electronic ed. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1995, S. Ru 1:14).
Deuteronomy 30:15-20 [15]"See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. [16]If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. [17]But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, [18]I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. [19]I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, [20]loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them." (ESV)
• This is the message of the book of Ruth in calling people to genuine faith and upholding covenant faithfulness.
• Naomi’s failure to uphold God’s commandments resulted in death. Her repentance and returning to the land was a return to covenantal faithfulness and life.
Naomi was trying to cover up; Orpah had given up, but Ruth was prepared to stand up! She refused to listen to her mother-in-law’s pleas or follow her sister-in-law’s bad example. Why? Because she had come to trust in the God of Israel (2:12). She had experienced trials and disappointments, but instead of blaming God, she had trusted Him and was not ashamed to confess her faith. In spite of the bad example of her disobedient in-laws Ruth had come to know the true and living God; and she wanted to be with His people and dwell in His land.
Ruth’s conversion is evidence of the sovereign grace of God, for the only way sinners can be saved is by grace (Eph. 2:8–10). Everything within her and around her presented obstacles to her faith, and yet she trusted the God of Israel. Her background was against her, for she was from Moab where they worshiped the god Chemosh (Num. 21:29; 1 Kings 11:7, 33), who accepted human sacrifices (2 Kings 3:26–27) and encouraged immorality (Num. 25). Her circumstances were against her and could have made her bitter against the God of Israel. First, her father-in-law died, and then her husband and her brother-in-law; and she was left a widow without any support. If this is the way Jehovah God treats His people, why follow Him?
God delights in showing mercy (Micah 7:18), and often He shows His mercy to the least likely people in the least likely places. This is the sovereign grace of the God “who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4, KJV).
Ruth’s statement in Ruth 1:16–17 is one of the most magnificent confessions found anywhere in Scripture. First, she confessed her love for Naomi and her desire to stay with her mother-in-law even unto death. Then she confessed her faith in the true and living God and her decision to worship Him alone. She was willing to forsake father and mother (2:11) in order to cleave to Naomi and the God of her people. Ruth was steadfastly “determined” to accompany Naomi (1:18) and live in Bethlehem with God’s covenant people.
• We also find here a stirring example of a complete break with the past. Like Abraham Ruth decided to leave her ancestors’ idolatrous land to go to the land of promise. And Ruth did it without the encouragement of a promise. In fact she made her decision despite Naomi’s strenuous encouragement to do otherwise (Walvoord, John F. ; Zuck, Roy B. ; Dallas Theological Seminary: The Bible Knowledge Commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures. Wheaton, IL : Victor Books, 1983-c1985, S. 1:421).
• Ruth, with complete resolution, walked through the door of commitment and closed it behind her. Her statement was more than a commitment to Naomi. It was a commitment to her God, His worship, His will, and His people. It is the calling that God desires from each of us. We must burn the bridge leading back to the world. We must not long to go back to the life of before faith in Christ, but continually see it for what it is, futility and ultimately death.
• Like Ruth, we are called to publicly profess Christ as our Lord and Savior, vowing to walk with Christ our God for ever in newness of life. Like Ruth, let each of us be resolutely determined to follow Christ all the days of our lives (Donald S. Fortner. Discovering Christ in Ruth. Evangelical Press. 1999. p. 30).
(Format note: Outline from Warrne W. Wiersbe. Put Your Life Together: Studies in the Book of Ruth. The Good News Broadcasting Assocation. 1985. Some base commentary from Wiersbe, Warren W.: Be Committed. Wheaton, Ill. : Victor Books, 1996, c1993 (An Old Testament Study. Ruth and Esther), S. Ru 1:6)
