In Need of a Redeemer
Ruth 4:13-15
When you hear the word wilderness, some of your may think about the barren landscape of the desert, others the swamp or the jungle far removed from any human being. For the Israelites, they thought of the Judean wilderness, a barren place of very little water or food, filled with dangerous animals and steep slopes as far as the eye could see. This was a place where people ran to escape those who were seeking to harm them. Thus, it was a place of refuge. It was also a place to seek God. In the barrenness, silence and solitude, people came to the wilderness to seek and to hear God’s voice. Because of its harsh conditions, the Judean wilderness for the Jewish people became a metaphor of the difficult, painful times in life. But it can also be a time of great blessing as well. Thomas Merton writes of Hebrew people’s time in the wilderness: “the desert was the region where the chosen people had wandered for 40 years cared for by God alone. They could have reached the promise land in a few months if they had travelled directly to it. God’s plan was that they should learn to love him in the wilderness and that they should always look back on the time in the desert as the idyllic time in their life with him alone.”
The Book of Ruth is only four chapters long and as a result, you may have overlooked it. But it tells the story of two women, a mother-in-law and her daughter-in-law and their journey through the wilderness of death. The story begins with the Elimelek and his wife Naomi moving from Bethlehem which is in the midst of a famine to Moab. They have two sons who marry Moabites women. In the first few verses of this book, we see that not only does Elimelek die but so do two his sons. These women now have no one to provide or care for them. At that time, this was a life of guaranteed poverty and starvation because women could not work or own property. In what seemed to be a series of events conspiring against Naomi, her entire world is turned upside down. The key word for the Book of Ruth is turn. The word ‘turn’ is important as it or some derivative of it like ‘return’ is used more than 50 times in the book of Ruth. What the Scriptures seem to be saying to us is that not only do the wilderness moments represent a turn of events but they will spark a turn of us, either to God or away from God, either to our loved ones and friends or away from them. And that is exactly what happens to Ruth and Naomi. Naomi tells her daughter-in-laws to go back to their maternal homes in the hope that their families would take them in and they could start life over again. This was really their only hope for survival. One daughter-in-law goes back to her family but the other, Ruth, says, “Where you go I will go, and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” Refusing to leave Naomi, these two women head on a journey to Israel.
There are several things we learn about the wilderness experience. First, it can lead us to blame God. It had only been 10 years since Naomi had left, yet the change was noticeable. She had left married and came back widowed, had left energized but came back weary. Granted, she had more gray hair and wrinkles but the biggest change was her attitude. Her family sees her and calls out by name, “Look, there’s Naomi!” She responds, “’Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara (The name Naomi in the Hebrew language means pleasant and the name Mara means Bitter), Call me Mara because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.’” Now names in Biblical times had meaning. They were who you were and who you would become. So Naomi is saying bitter is who she has become as a result of her losses and she blames God.
Second, many times the events that lead to wilderness experiences are beyond our control. You can't control when someone is going to die, or when a famine is going to come. Sometimes, the wilderness is the result of circumstances beyond our control. This can lead to an even greater sense of helplessness because you can almost feel like you have no control. Have you been there, when the events of life seem to conspire against you and your world is turned upside down and you feel as if you are at the whims of the world? It could be through the loss of a loved one through death, a divorce, the loss of a job or a home or even a close friend.
You may feel like you have no control but you do. The third thing we learn about the wilderness experience is that you can choose how you will respond to the wilderness experience. Notice the difference between Naomi and Ruth. Both are devastated by the loss of their husbands, families and homes. They’re both facing a life of hardship and poverty. Naomi has given up, is isolating herself from her loved ones, is angry at God and becomes bitter. Ruth on the other hand draws close to Naomi choosing family, God and hope for the future as she says, “Your people will be my people and your God my God.” You have a choice in how you respond to the wilderness, who you become as a result of that experience and who you turn to.
Fourth, look for God’s favor. Chapter 1 ends with these words: “they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.” Ruth and Naomi find themselves back home but still in need. Hungry, they arrive at the exact time of the harvest and God provides. Sometimes when good things happen to us, we say “I got lucky!” or “What a coincidence!” But there is no way of reading the book of Ruth and being able to say that everything that happened to them happened by chance. God reached out to Naomi and Ruth and they received God’s favor. The word favor is found 70 times in the English translation of the Bible. Favor is goodwill. This is God’s kindness and blessing given to those who love Him. The Bible records numerous examples of God’s favor upon His people causing them to experience many breakthroughs. Joseph experienced God’s favor as he went from prison to Pharoah’s palace. Job attributed all of the things he had in life to God’s favor and blessing. Esther found favor with the King as she and her people faced destruction. Mary received God’s favor when she was chosen to be the mother of the Messiah. God’s favor is God’s good will, grace, blessing and provision for our life. God’s favor reminds us God is always trying to reach down and help us during difficult time. So it‘s particularly in those times that we need to attune our hearts and mind to the voice of God and be aware of God’s favor when it comes. That’s when we have to know that God’s love surrounds us and is comforting us.
There are three ways Ruth and Naomi find favor with God, though God is not limited to these. First is companionship. Ruth makes the choice that she’s not going to leave Naomi but that together, they will walk through the valley of the shadow of death. God never wants you to be alone in the wilderness. First, his presence is always there with us, loving us, guiding us and strengthening us. Secondly, God will often bring alongside a companion to walk with us through the wilderness: someone to care for you, to talk with you, to listen to you, to encourage you, to strengthen you and sometimes even to carry you when you don’t have the strength to go any farther. God never wants you to walk through the wilderness alone. It’s too dangerous and we are too vulnerable.
Second is through the provision of our physical needs. Jewish law provided for the poor and hungry by allowing them to glean the fields or pick up what had fallen on the ground after the harvest. Lev 19:9 Ruth tells Naomi she is going to go find them some food and “she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz.” Now Boaz was a rich man who just happened to be Naomi’s husband’s cousin. Ruth didn’t know this. Boaz sees Ruth in the field and how hard she is working and tells his servants to let Ruth gather all she wants. Now Ruth is thinking she has found favor with Boaz, but in reality it is God that is favoring Ruth by allowing all of this to work out for her good. What are the odds that Ruth and Naomi would arrive at harvest time, Ruth at a field they discover is owned by Naomi’s relative and that Ruth finds favor with the owner amidst all of the other poor gleaning the field? Make no mistake, this is God’s favor.
Third is a redeemer. God often provides the means, the circumstances or the person to help us out of the wilderness. Naomi and Ruth are both penniless and without a male to protect and provide for them. And then God’s favor comes. Enter the kinsman redeemer law. This law said it was the responsibility of a kinsman to act on behalf of a suffering relative who has become impoverished or indebted. Naomi had nothing but her husband’s land which she could not own. So Boaz agrees to buy the land thus providing for Naomi financially.
And then there was God’s favor on Ruth. Because Boaz was a generation older than Ruth, Jewish law said the woman had to propose or ask for the man to become her husband. For a widow, to marry again meant that you not only had someone to love but be loved, but that you had someone to provide and care for you and provide for your safety and security. Boaz accepts and agrees to marry Ruth. And thus, he becomes Ruth’s and Naomi’s redeemer and like Rose said of Jack in the movie “Titanic,” “he saved me in every way that a person can be saved.” But it doesn’t stop there.
Here’s the last thing we learn about the wilderness; the best is yet to come! Ruth becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son who will carry on Elimelek’s family name. To have your family name end through death of the male line was considered to be a curse. Ruth 4:14-15 says, "Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel! He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him." Their son was named Obed. Obed became the father of Jesse and Jesse is the father of a shepherd boy named David. It is from the house of David that Jesus, our Savior comes. In the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1, we see that Ruth is mentioned, which is unheard of in Jewish genealogies because they only included male heirs. Only God could turn this story of pain and tragedy and use it to bring about the birth of a Savior. This is why Paul writes in Romans 8:28: “And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” God has a way of working things out and turning even the bad to good, reminding us that the best is always yet to come. Thanks be to God! Amen.
