A Model Israelite
Ruth 1:1–18 NKJV
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 Bethlehem, Judah, went to dwell in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech, the name of his wife was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion—Ephrathites of Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to the country of Moab and remained there. Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left, and her two sons. Now they took wives of the women of Moab: the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth. And they dwelt there about ten years. Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died; so the woman survived her two sons and her husband.
Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had visited His people by giving them bread. Therefore she went out from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each to her mother’s house. The Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband.”
So she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. And they said to her, “Surely we will return with you to your people.”
But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Are there still sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? Turn back, my daughters, go—for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, if I should have a husband tonight and should also bear sons, would you wait for them till they were grown? Would you restrain yourselves from having husbands? No, my daughters; for it grieves me very much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me!”
Then they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
And she said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.”
But Ruth said:
“Entreat me not to leave you,
Or to turn back from following after you;
For wherever you go, I will go;
And wherever 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.
The Lord do so to me, and more also,
If anything but death parts you and me.”
When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her.
Today is celebrated by Protestant churches as Reformation Sunday. we remember that on October 31, 1517, a monk posted a list of 95 theses for debate among the scholars of the University of Wittenburg, Germany. they addressed many of the abuses of the church of the common people, especially the sale of indulgences which could be purchased from the church as a payment to sin or even a license to sin, They were written in Latin which only the scholars knew, so Luther was not intending to start what we now know as the Reformation. But they were quickly translated into German and spread like wildfire among the German people, thanks to the recent invention of the printing press. The Reformation took a life of its own as a movement. Several doctrines were emphasized as the basis for the reformation of the Roman Catholic Church. One of these was a return to Scripture alone as the basis of the rule of faith. No practice or doctrine which was contrary to the teaching of Scripture was to be admitted as essential for salvation. Some of the Reformers went even further and did not allow any practice which was not directly advocated in Scripture interpreted by clear reason. Another doctrine of the Reformation is that salvation is in Jesus Christ alone. A third doctrine was that salvation was by grace through faith alone in Christ apart from any works. Another truth was that Christ alone is High Priest and mediator between us and God. One need not go to saints or Mary to intercede in our behalf. The priesthood of all believers was also held rather than a certain select group of priests. These and other doctrines characterized the Reformation.
The Reformation marked a distinct change in the areas of Europe to which it spread, It rebuilt the foundations of the church which had been badly corroded due to massive corruption. We do well to remember this in a day in which even the Protestant churches have corrupted both faith and doctrine.
This seems like a long introduction to our text which comes from the Old Testament Book of Ruth. Ruth indeed was a saint, As this is also All-Saint’s Sunday in which we remember the saints who have gone before us as examples and is celebrated in all Christian Churches. As the lectionary text from the Old Testament is this passage from Ruth which we read, it is easy to see how it fits All-Saints Day. But how does it fit Reformation Sunday? Let us see.
The narrative of the text is well-known in the Church and is a favorite study in Sunday School and for Mother’s Day. Ruth, indeed, was a woman of great faith. In fact, because of the Resurrection, it can be said that she is a woman of great faith who is with the Lord. It is a right matter that we remember such an example of faith. But as we shall see, there is even more to the story than this.
When we look at the genealogy of Ruth, we are told that she was a Moabitess. Moab was the son of Lot through incest with his older daughter who had got Lot drunk that she might conceive seed. His younger daughter did in conceiving Ammon. (Genesis 19:30-38) This is an entirely miserable story. Lot was the nephew of Abraham, and for a time would have been considered Abraham’s heir, seeing that Abraham and Sarah had no children at this point and were considered to be past the age of bearing children. Upon return with Abraham from Egypt, they had become so wealthy in livestock that the land could not bear both Abraham and Lot to dwell together. So Abraham gave a choice to Lot in which Lot chose what appeared to be better land around Sodom because it was well watered. It was a terrible choice which led to catastrophe. It would have been better for Lot to have given all of his possessions away and clung to Abraham whom God had given a special promise. (See my sermon “Lot’s Lot” for more information.
It would have been good for the story of Lot to have ended with his rescue from Sodom rather than the miserable episode we have just mentioned. why was this included? We know from Moses that when Israel wanted to go through Moab en route to the Promised Land. It also mentions in Numbers 25:1-3 that Moab seduced some of Israel in the Wilderness to worship Baal-Peor and that some of the Israelite men had slept with Moabite women. Deuteronomy adds this curse:
Deuteronomy 23:3–4 NKJV
“An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the Lord; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord forever, because they did not meet you with bread and water on the road when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.
So, the addition of this lurid act of Lot’s daughters was to demonstrate that Moab was cursed. And as a result of their inducing Israel to sin, no Moabite was ever allowed to join the congregation of Israel. Outsiders (Gentiles) could be admitted in ten generations and become Israelites, but not those of Moab or Ammon.. We can see that this would exclude Ruth and her descendants from joining Israel.
Ruth lived at the end of the time of the Judges. The final conclusion of the Book of Judges says:
Judges 21:25 NKJV
In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
The time of the Judges makes for one of the more miserable reads in the Bible. The Book starts out well. As long as Joshua lived and the elders after them, Israel was faithful to the Covenant. But those who followed backslid. As a result, the LORD sent people to trouble Israel in order to bring them to their senses. One of these was Eglon, the King of Moab in Judges 3 who oppressed Israel. Israel repented and was delivered through the hand of Ehud. So, it wasn’t all that long before Ruth’s time that there had been bad relations between Moab and Israel.
The Book of Ruth tells us that a famine was in Bethlehem of Judah. The name of the settlement means “House of Bread.” But there was no bread in Bethlehem, at least not enough. Perhaps this was punishment from the hand of the LORD. But as we shall see, the LORD had a greater purpose in mind. It was during this time that a man named Elimelech left with his wife and sons to the land of Moab. Why would someone whose name is being translated “My God is King” leave Israel for the cursed land of Moab? Boaz and others remained in Bethlehem, and the LORD took care of them. But Elimelech decided to cast his lot with Moab who served other gods including Baal-Peor. In other words, Elimelech played the Moabite. This would become a curse to him. He would die in Moab along with his two sons. Not only this, but his sons died there as well. The line of Elimelech seemed to be cut off from Israel. Elimelech’s wife was too old to have any more children, so even the practice of a near kinsman to marry Naomi and raise up sons to Elimelech was futile by human means. Naomi, whose name means “pleasant” wanted to be called “Mara” which means “bitter.”
All Naomi had to her name was two Moabite daughter’s in law, Orpah and Ruth. This also seemed to be hopeless. Even though the LORD had blessed Bethlehem again with bread which means that Naomi could return, she had no hope that her Moabite daughter’s in law would be accepted in Bethlehem, no less to act as the means of raising sons to her late husband Elimelech. Naomi did not want to handicap her daughter’s in law. She told them to go home to their father’s house and their gods.
We can see the pain in Naomi when she entreats them to leave. why she should desert her daughters to the gods of Moab which were not gods at all is puzzling but understandable in her situation. She seems to have genuinely cared for them. They might marry Moabite husbands and have children so that they would not be cut off and destitute. In her opinion, if they followed her to Israel, they would be strangers. No man would marry them as no offspring of a Moabitess would ever be granted citizenship in Israel. The nearer of kin than Boaz refused to marry Ruth for this reason and cast his shoe to tell Boaz to do the dead himself. He would not risk his inheritance with Moabite offspring as Moabites were both cursed and hated.
Orpah was persuaded to return home. Naomi kissed her good bye. We do not know what ever happened to her. But Ruth was adamant to cling to Naomi. She would follow Naomi to death, no matter what. No matter what the residents of Bethlehem thought of her, she would follow the God of Israel. This is an amazing act of faith on her part.
We who have studied Ruth privately, in Sunday School, or through preaching know the rest of the story. God allowed this Moabite woman to catch the eye of a man named Boaz, who showed compassion to her and her mother-in law. She told the men to leave extra grain to be gleaned. Naomi then knew what she needed to do. she told Naomi to not where Boaz took his siesta in the heat of the day, to uncover his feet and to lie down next to him. This was understood by custom as a demand for Boaz to act the part of the next of kin and to beget children unto the line of Elimelech. Boaz comes to the council and declared his intention to marry Ruth the Moabitess and raise a son to Elimelech. After the closer kin rejected the duty, Boaz marries Ruth, and bear a son named Obed who inherited the land Elimelech owned, He would bear a son named Jesse who would bear at least eight sons, the youngest of which was David.
But, according to the Law of Moses, would not the children be considered as foreigners and denied entrance into Israeli citizenship? After all, Scripture is the verbally God-breathed Word of God. Such opinion that a person of Moabite ancestry was to be denied citizenship was not the idea of Moses but of Yahweh Himself. What the LORD decrees cannot be set aside. This makes for quite a dilemma here is we understand this prohibition against Moabites racially and genetically. This requires us to understand who is an Israelite in a different way than by race. Ruth was admitted to the congregation of Israel. Not only this, her great grandson would be King David, the greatest of Israel’s earthly kings. Therefore, The LORD must have considered her to be an Israelite and not a Moabite. When did this happen? Again, let us read Ruth 1:16-17:
Ruth 1:16–17 NKJV
But Ruth said:
“Entreat me not to leave you,
Or to turn back from following after you;
For wherever you go, I will go;
And wherever 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.
The Lord do so to me, and more also,
If anything but death parts you and me.”
She became an Israelite by her confession of faith in the God of Israel. This is the Reformation idea demonstrated that salvation is by faith alone in the God of Israel. As we know that another of Ruth’s descendants, the LORD Jesus is the Incarnate God of Israel. So it is by faith alone that people are incorporated into the people of Israel. It has nothing to do with race. We can see the opposite corollary as well. Not believing in the God of Israel cuts one off from the Covenant. We see in the Book of Joshua that Achan and his family were cut off from Israel for playing the Babylonian. Achan forfeited becoming on of the earthly forefathers of the LORD Jesus. Who took his place. Was it not his brother who married Rahab the harlot who was a Canaanite? she was included in Israel by faith whereas Achan was cut off by unbelief and disobedience. The line of Jesus is filled by women who would have been disqualified by earthly race but were incorporated by faith. So faith is standing for everyone in the congregation of Israel. It does not matter whether one was Jew or Gentile. What matters is that they believe on Jesus Christ. Likewise, unbelief cuts one off from Israel, whether they come from Gentile or Jewish stock. It is essential that we understand this on Reformation Sunday.
So, Ruth, therefore, is the model Israelite. We see the hand of God working through her and taking what seemed to be a hopeless earthly situation and to include her in Israel. The promise of God to Abraham is fulfilled through her, the promise that in Abraham’s seed that all the world would be blessed. The cursed Moabitess as now blessed in Israel through Ruth as much as Tamar and Rahab are the means of the cursed Canaanites to enter into the blessing. This is more than physical representation on the promise as the ancestors of the human nature of Jesus. They are eternally blessed in the risen Lord and to a land and city far greater than any earthly Israel or Jerusalem. This should be what we hope for. The world is cursed. There is violence and deceit everywhere. We groan in this age. We also groan for our own sin. We do not hope in ourselves but in the LORD Jesus Christ who is our standing in Israel.
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