Scripture Introduction
In his old radio show, Thru the Bible, J. Vernon McGee said, “The Book of Ruth is a pearl in the swine pen of the judges.” I’m not sure I would say just that, but these people did live in the time of the judges (about 1100 B. C.), which were not the best years for Israel. McGee also correctly notes that this book is a pearl. In fact, verses 16-17 of chapter one are a pearl among the pearls – Ruth’s vow to go where Naomi goes and die where she dies as a committed follower of God and a member of the covenant community.
Ruth’s words are often recited at weddings, but not properly so. They better fit a baptismal service; these are words of conversion and commitment. God brings Ruth to faith through the testimony of Naomi and her family, and this is her promise not to turn away when testing comes. She chooses to hope in God’s future rather than in earthly pleasures. Let’s read her story from God’s Word in Ruth chapter 1.
[Read Ruth 1.1-22. Pray.]
Introduction
When the Apostles preached the gospel (as recorded in the book of Acts), they pleaded with people to turn to God.
Acts 3.19-20: Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ [Messiah] appointed for you, Jesus….
Soon a miracle produces an example of this turning:
Acts 9.32-35: Now as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda. There he found a man named Aeneas, bedridden for eight years, who was paralyzed. And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” And immediately he rose. And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.
The Bible uses this same idea of turning in Acts 11.21 when describing the evangelistic success of the early church: “And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.”
In all these examples, God reminds us that becoming a true Christian changes our thinking so that we now move toward God. Apart from Jesus, people naturally move away from God and away from the community of believers. They are not excited by talk about God-things, about devotion to the Bible, or worship and evangelism. Working out the faith with other believers before a holy God is neither interesting nor enjoyable to them, so they move away from that.
The gospel, however, converts: it changes our thinking so that, suddenly, we want to know God. Now the Bible fascinates us, prayer and confession delights, evangelism thrills and worship is the highlight of our week. True believers do not take lightly the holiness of God, but we do now know both that holiness is happiness and that Jesus made a way for sinners to know the true and living God. As a result, we turn – rather than continuing to move away from the Lord and his people, we vow to go where they go and die where they die as a committed followers of God and members of the covenant community.
So a visible and outward effect and sign of conversion is turning toward God. And that is the main idea in chapter one of Ruth. Notice, please, that in twelve times in seventeen verses “turn” or “return” occurs. The change happens after Naomi has spent ten or so years in Moab.
Ruth 1.6: Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard… that the LORD had visited his people and given them food.
Ruth 1.7: 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.
Ruth 1.8: But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother’s house….
Ruth 1.10: And they said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.”
Ruth 1.11: But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me…?
Ruth 1.12: “Turn back, my daughters; go your way, for I am too old to have a husband….”
And after Orpah agrees and goes, Naomi says to Ruth…
Ruth 1.15: “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.”
Ruth 1.16: 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.”
Ruth 1.21: “I went away full, and the LORD has brought me back empty….”
Ruth 1.22: So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab…..
[Explain why such technical study and detail.]
From the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament: "Hebrew Word" (shûb) (re)turn: the twelfth most frequently used verb in the Old Testament, appearing just over 1050 times.... The Bible is rich in idioms describing man’s responsibility in the process of repentance. Such phrases would include the following: ‘incline your heart to the Lord’ (Joshua 24.23); ‘circumcise yourselves to the Lord’ (Jeremiah 4.4); ‘wash your heart from evil’ (Jeremiah 4.14); ‘break up your fallow ground’ (Hosea 10.12); and so forth. All these expressions of man’s penitential activity, however, are subsumed and summarized by this one verb "Hebrew Word" (shûb). For better than any other verb it combines in itself the two requisites of repentance: to turn from evil and to turn to the good….
“The theologically most crucial use of "Hebrew Word" (shûb), is in passages dealing with the covenant community’s return to God (in the sense of repentance), or turning away from evil (in the sense of renouncing and disowning sin), or turning away from God (in the sense of becoming apostate). In such contexts "Hebrew Word" (shûb) is used 129 times....
“To be sure, there is no systematic spelling out of the doctrine of repentance in the Old Testament. It is illustrated more than anything else. Yet the fact that people are called ‘to turn’ either ‘to’ or ‘away from’ implies that sin is not an ineradicable stain, but by turning (a God-given power), a sinner can redirect his destiny. There are two sides in understanding conversion, the free sovereign act of God’s mercy and man’s going beyond contrition and sorrow to a conscious decision of turning to God. The latter includes repudiation of all sin and affirmation of God’s total will for one’s life.”
In Ruth 1, God illustrates repentance by showing us three people who turn, so that we might examine our lives and see what turning we may need to do.
1. The Turning of Naomi: We Must Turn Back to the Lord and His Blessings
Naomi hears that God has visited his people and given them food. She decides to return to Bethlehem. Her two daughters-in-law leave with her, traveling part of the way, but then Naomi urges them to go back home.
That seems strange to me. I thought Naomi would want her daughters-in-law with her, for companionship at least, but also because she would want them to come to worship the true God. So why does Naomi push these women away?
I think she realizes that Ruth and Orpah might not be truly committed to the God of Israel. There had been serious conflict between Israel and Moab over the years, and the Moabites were not well liked. Balak was the King of Moab who asked Balaam to curse the people of Israel, and when Eglon was King of Moab, Israel was defeated by the Moabites. A Moabite widow coming to live in Israel would have a very difficult life: Naomi saw for Ruth and Orpah lives of abject poverty, scorn, and loneliness. After all, God is in control, but cannot be trusted to please us.
So Naomi’s words makes sense, in a way. Her ultimate argument is in verse 13b: “No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the LORD has gone out against me.” In other words, “Don’t come with me, dear daughters, because God is against me. You may end up as hurt and bitter as I am. I can give you nothing. Stay away from me and from the path of hardship I must trod. Return to Moab.”
But note well: Naomi herself goes back to the covenant community built around the God of Israel.
There are two lessons I would ask you to consider from Naomi’s response. First, notice how easily we can exaggerate our hopelessness. Naomi has been hurt; God has shattered her dreams. (We will consider her feelings in detail next week.) But has she not closed her eyes to the rays of hope which shine from behind the clouds of God’s frowning providence? God ended the famine, giving food to his people and a way home to Naomi. God preserved a kinsman to care for Naomi and continue her family line. God worked in Ruth’s heart to make her want to be with her mother-in-law. But Naomi’s bitterness closes her eyes to the mercy which is also working in her life. Soon she will be great-grandmother to King David and in the family line of Jesus. Are you so sure, Naomi, that you are empty?
Let us guard our hearts against bitterness when our dreams are shattered, for “Behind a frowning providence, he hides a smiling face.”
Second, please note that Naomi goes back. Bible students often discuss whether Naomi had any faith, given her bad attitude. Yet I agree with John Piper who said, “I would take Naomi’s theology any day over the sentimental views of God which dominate evangelical magazines and books. Naomi is unshaken and sure about three things: God exists. God is sovereign. God has afflicted her.”
When Naomi hears that God has visited his people, she returns. Yes, she is doubtful of God’s good feelings toward her. Yes, she feels hurt by her circumstances. Yes, she is bitter and angry. But she returns.
She reminds me of the disciples in John 6. Jesus has just finished one of his difficult and demanding sermons. He has said things hard and offensive. The crowds grumbled about his words. Then John tells us that after Jesus said these things, “many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the Twelve [his closest friends], ‘Do you want to go away as well?’ Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God’” (John 6.66-69). That is not rousing support! Peter basically says, “I don’t like your sermons either, but you are God’s appointed, so what can I do?”
Naomi says something similar: God has afflicted me, and I am unhappy about it, but where else would I go? He is God and, ultimately, it is he “to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4.13).
This is not where we want faith to end. But if you are under the frowning providence of God, this is a step in the right direction. Turn back to the Lord and go where he blesses. Return to the church, and the covenant people, and to corporate worship, even in your hurt and bitterness, for to whom else can we go?
Now in contrast to Naomi, notice, please…
2. The Turning of Orpah: We Must Not Turn To the Treasures of the World
When Jesus was here he said things like this: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16.24). And this: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10.37). And this: “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Jesus turned people away; he did not want disciples as a result of sentimentalism; he told people to count the cost before they made the commitment.
Naomi tells Ruth and Orpah to do the same. “Think,” she says. “You will not have a husband or children; instead, you will have trouble and hardship. Turn back.”
And Orpah does. Like Lot’s wife, she looks back longingly to her family and friends and some opportunity for good fortune, and she decides that is a better life.
The Bible does not promise a life of comfort and ease. It does promises an eternity of reward and joy, but that destiny is often reached by the path of suffering. Orpah realized that the way was difficult and turned aside to a more pleasant path.
Many a soul has turned aside from the pursuit of God for the pleasures of this world. Let us make sure that our hearts are turned to the Lord and the rewards of eternal life.
3. The Turning of Ruth: We Must Turn To the Lord and His People, Trusting Him for Satisfaction
Ruth’s hope was not sentimental! She has wisdom beyond her years and Naomi has mades every effort to dissuade her. But despite an apparently hopeless future of widowhood, childlessness, and poverty, Ruth takes Naomi’s hand and walks with her to Bethlehem: “Where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. 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.”
Notice three things about Ruth’s turning and testimony.
First, she shows true faith. Ruth sees, in a way few of us can imagine, the cost of commitment. But temporary pleasures and a life of relative ease do not entice her; she wants something better, lasting joy and full satisfaction.
Like Moses: “By faith Moses… refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11.24-27).
Ruth came to trust in Naomi’s God in spite of Naomi’s bitterness. She leaves the Moabite god, Chemosh, and commits herself to the faith of the covenant people. True faith turns to God for a future hope and promise.
Second, Ruth demonstrates ideal womanhood. She sees beyond present bitter setbacks; she is not controlled by a demand for the securities and comforts of the world; she has courage to go when God leads into the unknown; she is radically committed to relationships with the people God brings into her life. Women like Ruth are not prized by the media, but here is the kind God honors and entrusts with the work of his kingdom.
Third, Ruth lives and extraordinary faith in a very ordinary life. She was not sawn in two or locked away in jail; she did not smuggle Bibles into China or write any books about Christian courtship. What does she do? She returns a widow to a foreign land, works as a farmhand, and obeys and serves her mother-in-law. She worships Jehovah, loves her husband and raises godly children. Other than in the book of Ruth her name is mentioned only in Matthew 1.5 to note that her son was Obed, in the family line of Jesus.
4. Conclusion
Lewis Bayly, The Practice of Piety: Directing a Christian How to Walk, that He May Please God, 1613): “If Ruth left her own country, and followed Naomi, her mother-in-law, to go and dwell with her in the land of Canaan (which was but a type of heaven), only upon the fame which she heard of the God of Israel (though she had no promise of any portion in it), how you should follow Christ into the heavenly Canaan, where God has given you an eternal inheritance, assured by an holy covenant, made in the word of God, signed with the blood of his Son, and sealed with his Spirit and sacraments!”
