Summary: A story of lost hope, expectation and security for a season.

Don’t Lose Your Connection Pt. 1

Ruth 1:1

Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehemjudah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.

12 Judges

1-DEBORAH 2-GIDEON 3-SAMSON 4-OTHNIEL 5-EHUD 6-SHAMGAR 7-TOLA 8-JAIR 9-JEPHTHAH 10-IBZAN 11-ELON 12-ABDON.

Deut 8:3

And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.

Matt 4:4

It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Elemilech took with him: Wife=Man’s Joy Son’s=Man’s Pride

Ruth 1:2

And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehemjudah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there.

[Elimelech] God is my king [Mahlon] Infirmity [Chilion] Finished

[There was a famine] Probably occasioned by the depredations of the Philistines, Ammonites, etc., carrying off the grain as soon as it was ripe, or destroying it on the field.

Left Betlehem - Which means House of Bread

Moab - Fields-the name of a man and a nation-A son of Lot by an incestuous union with his older daughter-Moab became an ancestor of the MOABITES

The Targum says: "God has decreed ten grievous famines to take place in the world, to punish the inhabitants of the earth, before the coming of Messiah the king. The 1 st In the days of Adam 2 nd in the days of Lamech 3 rd in the days of Abraham 4 th In the days of Isaac 5 th in days of Jacob 6 th In the days of Boaz, who is called Abstan, (Ibzan,) the just, of Beth-lehem-judah; 7 th In the days of David, king of Israel; 8 th In the days of Elijah the prophet 9 th In the days of Elisha, in Samaria; 10 th is yet to come and it is not a famine of bread or of water, but of hearing the word of prophecy from the mouth of the Lord; and even now this famine is grievous in the land of Israel."

Judges were given rule over Israel because they would not adhere to the word of God

Moab = No Structure- No Foundation- No Covering

Ruth 1:3

And Elimelech Naomi’s husband died; and she was left, and her two sons

Naomi’s Left with a burden and a blessing

[Naomi] Beautiful or amiable

Burden - Husband’s death - Death of a union Blessing- two sons

These Losses were Indicative to:

1) Dead Dreams 2) Dead Expectations 3) No Hope 4) No Security

Ruth 1:4

And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years.

They transgressed the decree of the word of the Lord, and took to themselves strange women.

Deut 23:1-4

He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord.

2 A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the Lord.

3 An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the Lord for ever:

4 Because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee.

Many marriages are made with foriegners and has a possible pre-numpt with the devil.

Ruth 1:5

[Mahlon] Infirmity

[Chilion] Finished