When it comes to handyman repair jobs, I reckon there’s a strange fascination. There is for me, anyway. If you want anything fixed around the house, CALL ME.
You’ll probably be sorry.
Because to be honest, the problem is, in my own mind, I’m BOB THE BUILDER. But in practice, all I usually do is mess things up completely. Something needs fixing, and by the time I’m finished with it, it’s either BEYOND REPAIR. Or else it needs a real expert – like Louise - to redeem the situation.
Like our new cupboard for the TV. That only needed a neat circular hole cut in the back for the power-lead to fit through.
Now, we’ve got this terrific little power saw that I got from Mitre 10 for $39, and I know it’s not EXACTLY the sort of tool you’d need to cut a neat round hole in the back of a brand new cupboard, but I looked at the saw and I looked at the cupboard, and I could just imagine a nice neat hole right around the middle of the back. Besides which, if it wasn’t TOTALLY NEAT it didn’t actually matter too much, because it’s at the back. Right? And you don’t actually need to MEASURE, because you can poke a lead out just about ANYWHERE, RIGHT?
Well, the six weeks of counselling is just about done, and the experts think we can salvage the marriage. But they’re not sure about the cupboard.
The rule is, I guess, that often when you think you can fix things yourself, you end up in a bigger mess than you started with. Especially if there are some OBVIOUS GROUNDRULES that you overlook. Or decide to shortcut.
You meet a DO IT YOURSELF home-handyman type guy at the start of Ruth chapter 1. His name’s Elimelech, he’s a family man; his wife’s Naomi, and they’ve got two young sons.
And the sad news is, Elimelech’s heading for a LARGE SCALE DISASTER. It’s not obvious at first glance. But imagine you’re watching this as the opening of a movie. Ever notice it’s often the MUSIC that sets the tone in a movie? I mean, you can have the most peaceful scene you can think of, a family picnic, a young couple laughing and splashing in the surf. But the background music can paint a whole different picture. A THUMP THUMP THUMP heartbeat in the rhythm. The violins rising. And you know the peaceful scene you’re looking at is heading for disaster. It’s not the BEACHBOYS video clip you’re watching, it’s JAWS.
So before we dip into Ruth chapter 1, let me set the tone. With a little background music from Deuteronomy chapter 6 and 7. The LAWS that MOSES gave the people of Israel before they came into the promised land. The laws that every Israelite was bound to know. And live by.
Before we read the book of Ruth, we need to hear a PROMISE FROM GOD. And a WARNING.
First of all the promise. Because here’s a family living in THE PROMISED LAND. Here’s a family, if you think back to the Bible overview we’ve looked at through January, here’s a family of ISRAELITES. The people of God. Living in the time when the JUDGES rule Israel. Here’s a family from Bethlehem in Judah, the heart of the promised land.
Here they are living in the land God promised to Abraham all those years ago. The land they’ve come to out of slavery in Egypt. The land where God said, if you’re faithful to me, I’LL BLESS YOU.
I said a few weeks ago one of the great things about having the BIG PICTURE of the Old Testament in your mind is that it helps you make better sense of each smaller part. Gives CONTEXT. And here’s THE PROMISE from God that puts Ruth in context. It’s restated lots of places, but just have a look at one. Deuteronomy 6 verse 3. Words spoken LONG AGO by Moses on the plains of Moab as they’re about to CROSS OVER INTO THE PROMISED LAND.
Words reprinted on your sheet. “HEAR O ISRAEL… and be careful to obey… so that it may go WELL WITH YOU, and that you may INCREASE GREATLY in the LAND FLOWING WITH MILK AND HONEY, just as the Lord your God PROMISED YOU.”
Moses says THE LAND GOD’S GIVING YOU is a GREAT PLACE. Everything you’ll ever need. Just so long as you LISTEN AND OBEY. Live as God’s people in the land. That’s the place Israel’s going to be blessed.
That’s the promise.
THE WARNING
Here’s a warning. And it’s the second bit of background to keep in mind before we start.
Deuteronomy again. And again, maybe something that will ring some bells from a few weeks back in our Bible overview. Right from the start, God gave Israel a warning. That you’ll remember maybe from the story of Israel’s DECLINE. A warning that a long time AFTER the time of Ruth, King Solomon IGNORED COMPLETELY.
Deuteronomy 7 verse 3. Again spoken by Moses right back at the start. Here are the ground rules. When you come into the land, KEEP YOURSELVES SEPARATE. Printed on your sheet again, follow along. “Do not intermarry with the nations around you. Don’t give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons, for the will TURN YOUR SONS AWAY FROM ME to SERVE OTHER GODS… and THE LORDS ANGER… will BURN AGAINST YOU.
A promise. And a warning. A promise of BLESSING if you trust God in the promised land. A warning of disaster. If you intermarry with the nations around you.
BACK TO RUTH…
So let me ask you, knowing that, knowing God’s promise and God’s warning, what’s the background music going to sound like when you read Ruth 1 verses 1 to 4? If you know the background, you should be able to feel the tension rising right from the start.
Take it in two parts. The promise. Blessing in THE PROMISED LAND. But what if TIMES ARE LOOKING TOUGH? I mean, what if, for example, the crops are failing in the promised land. What if I can look across the river and see the GRASS IS GREENER OVER THERE? I mean, surely you’ve got to be PRACTICAL about it?
Pick up in verse 1. In the days when the Judges ruled, there was a FAMINE in the land… and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Behlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and LIVED THERE.
Here’s MISTER DO IT YOURSELF in person. Elimelech. A famine in the Promised land. So OFF HE GOES to Moab. To sort things out for himself. God’s PROMISES OF BLESSING aren’t working out too well… so time for PLAN B.
And how does it pan out? About as well as it goes when I play home handyman. Verse 3. Now ELIMELECH, Naomi’s husband… died. And she’s left with her two sons.
But there’s more. What about the WARNING. I mean, it’s one thing to walk away from the place where God promised BLESSING, but this is taking it one step further. Naomi is left with her two sons. Mahlon and Kilion. And so take a look at verse 4…
“They married MOABITE WOMEN, one named Orpah and the other Ruth.” I mean, don’t they KNOW God said not to do that? After they’d lived there about ten years, verse 5, both Mahlon and Kilion also died… and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.
Now this is tragic. And it’s not that they’ve been struck down by a lightning bolt from heaven or anything, but the end result’s the same. Here’s a family that’s gone looking for blessing far from God, a family that’s totally ignored what God’s said to do and not to do. And by the end of verse 5, the opening words of the book, you’ve got a destitute widow in a faraway land; with her two young widowed daughters-in-law.
And at the same time, what’s happened back in the Promised land? They say hindsight is a wonderful thing, but if you ask the question what would have happened if they’d stayed back in Bethlehem, what if they’d KEPT TRUSTING GOD to provide in the promised land, verse 6 gives you a pretty good idea; Naomi hears in Moab that THE LORD HAS COME TO THE AID OF HIS PEOPLE; and now there’s plenty of food. So Naomi decides it’s TIME TO GO HOME.
You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to know THE PROMISED LAND is the place to be. I don’t know, maybe Naomi knew that all along; she’s a woman, women are smarter. But one things for sure, the idea that the grass is greener in Moab doesn’t have the same appeal it used to.
And so Naomi and Orpah and Ruth pack their bags and set out on the long road home. Which, by co-incidence or otherwise, is pretty much exactly the road Israel took… when they first came into the promised land from Egypt all those years ago.
A TURNING POINT ON THE ROAD
But I guess so we don’t think that coming back to Israel and coming back to the GOD OF ISRAEL is a casual thing, in verses 8 to 18 there’s a very clear TURNING POINT. It’s a POINT OF DECISION. Because for Orpah and Ruth at least, heading to Israel isn’t something to be done lightly. And so Naomi turns to them, and she says, GO BACK. She says, this isn’t something we’re going to do lightly. GO BACK TO YOUR OWN HOME in Moab. To your OWN PEOPLE. To your OWN MUM AND DAD.
She says, I’m going back to Israel… but YOU MAKE UP YOUR OWN MINDS. Verse 8, she says to the two of them, “Go back, each of you, to your mum’s place. May the Lord show kindness to you as you’ve shown to your dead and to me. May the Lord grant that each of you will find REST in the home of another husband. Back in Moab.”
She says, I’ll be right. You’ve been KIND TO ME. But leave me. And you head back to Moab and look after yourselves. At which Ruth and Orpah burst into tears and say, no, no, we’re sticking with you. Verse 10, “Well go back with you to your people.”
But Naomi says it again. And at this point you get a glimpse of one of the ancient laws of Israel that sounds kind of strange. A law that said, if a brother dies childless, HIS NEXT BROTHER steps in and marries the widow. Especially if it’s the OLDEST SON… who’s meant to carry on the family name. Because in Israel, where the whole ownership of the promised land was passed down through family lines, the WORST THING that could happen wasn’t that you’d DIE. It’s that your FAMILY NAME would be EXTINGUISHED. Which was seen as a FATE WORSE THAN DEATH.
And at the point where Naomi’s saying TURN BACK AND GO HOME, she’s saying as well, even though I’m heading back to the promised land, I’M NOT HOLDING OUT A WHOLE LOT OF HOPE.
I wonder if you know the feeling. I mean, here she is, Naomi’s a woman who knows there’s been a price to pay for looking for blessing in all the wrong places. And now she’s turned for home again. But she’s not all that sure how things are going to go. And in terms of somehow re-kindling the family name, she just can’t see it happening. It’s OVER.
She says, GO HOME. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons that could become your husbands? Verse 12. RETURN HOME, my daughters. She says, even if I got married and had another son tonight, you’re not going to wait around til he’s old enough to marry and carry on the family line. She says GO ON HOME TO MOAB. Because heading back to the Promised Land is a LONG SHOT… and I’m not really expecting things to get any better. Verse 13, she says, No my daughters, “It is more bitter for me that for you, because THE LORD’S HAND has gone out against me.”
And so Orpah and Ruth are faced with a choice. Israel’s God. Or Chemosh, God of Moab. Find their rest with a new husband back in Moab. Or take their chances in the Promised land with a mother-in-law who’s way past her prime.
And in verse 14, they WEEP AGAIN. And Orpah says goodbye. Written out of the script of history as she heads back down the road to Moab. While Ruth, it says, CLINGS to her mother in law. And won’t let go.
Naomi says, LOOK. Orpah’s gone back. Go with her. Your sister in law’s gone back to HER PEOPLE AND HER GODS. You can still catch her if you hurry.
But RUTH is absolutely determined. She’s made her choice and she’s sticking with it. And that choice involves LEAVING BEHIND the gods of Moab and the people of Moab. And trusting her whole future to the GOD OF ISRAEL. And the PEOPLE OF ISRAEL as well.
And there’s a beautiful vow she makes in verse 16 and 17, that really makes it clear. Ruth from MOAB from now on is going to be RUTH FROM ISRAEL. She says, “Where you go, I’ll go. Where you stay I’ll stay. Your people will be MY PEOPLE… and YOUR GOD MY GOD. Where you die I’ll die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separate you and me.” She says, COUNT ME IN.
And so the turning point on the road sees two very final decisions. Orpah one way. Ruth the other. Orpah looking for REST in Moab. Ruth looking for rest with the God of Israel. With an absolute determination.
The question is, what’s she going to find there? And Naomi as well. When they get back to the Promised Land?
That’s what the rest of the book of Ruth is all about. Verse 19, they arrive in Bethlehem, tired and dusty; and straight away, they’re the talk of the town. The one who went away looking for blessing somewhere else. Now back with nothing, just as the Barley harvest is about to start in Israel. Maybe inviting cynicism. Maybe inviting criticism. But you’ll notice nobody is quite as cynical as Naomi is herself. Who’s still not expecting very much at all. She says, DON’T CALL ME PLEASANT, CALL ME BITTER. Don’t call me NAOMI any more… call me MARA. I went away full, I’ve come back empty. It didn’t work. And now I’m back.
So the question is, what are Naomi and Ruth going to find… now they’ve come back to God and his people?
CONCLUSIONS…
For a lot of people, that’s a very relevant question. Because the situation we’re looking at here in the book of Ruth is not unique, is it. What kind of welcome… if you’ve wandered far from God and you come back.
The answer’s going to play itself out in Ruth over the next few weeks. And let me tell you now, it’s a book with a VERY HAPPY ENDING. But it’s not automatic.
And from here in chapter 1 there are some tough lessons to learn. Especially if you’re the sort of Christian who’s a bit of a DO IT YOURSELF expert when it comes to organising your life the way you want it.
I was watching a bit of the Jerry Springer show the other day. One of those American day time talk show guys. And there’s Bobbie, all-American girl, CONFESSING that she’s been cheating on Jason. And she said this; she said, “I DESERVE TO BE HAPPY. That’s why I started seeing Rob. He makes me HAPPY. We TALK. He LISTENS TO ME. I deserve to be happy. So Jason, I’m leaving.”
Now let me tell you, that’s not an idea that’s limited to a few crackpot Americans on the Jerry Springer show. That’s actually the way MOST PEOPLE THINK. Including Christians. That’s the way a lot of Christians make their life decisions. And it’s the way Elimelech made his decisions as well. God might have promised blessing HERE… but I’m going to go look somewhere else.
Because I want to be HAPPY. I want to be SATISFIED. And I WANT IT NOW.
And so a Christian wife, you might hear saying exactly the same sort of thing. Well, my marriage isn’t HAPPY. And I DESERVE TO BE HAPPY. And there’s this guy at work who LISTENS TO ME. He makes me LAUGH. And so she’s gone. I know a young Christian couple, that’s exactly the story. Just a few weeks ago. And she’s CONVINCED that the thing that’s best for her, REAL HAPPINESS, is going to come from walking away from God.
Or maybe the Christian in business. And success is so close you can SMELL IT. Just a few details in the way. Easy enough to cut some corners, maybe falsify a few details here and fiddle the tax there. AND THEN I’LL SUCCEED and be rich and then I’ll be HAPPY.
Or THE PROMOTION. Got to take promotions, don’t you. Without even thinking about it. And yet suddenly you find you’re not free on Sundays anymore. Or your job asks you to move away. Where there’s NO CHURCH FAMILY to be part of. And it seems like such COMMON SENSE at the time.
Or you’re Christian and single. And you’re looking for a partner, and you can’t find another Christian who seems just right. And so instead of waiting, instead of TRUSTING GOD and hanging on, it’s so tempting to sort things out YOUR WAY. And you find that nice guy or that nice girl who has got NO INTEREST in following Jesus at all. And you say, it’ll be okay.
All sorts of ways we can make up our minds to go looking for blessings in OTHER PLACES. Which means walking away from where Jesus is. And it’s almost like you can look back over your shoulder and see Jesus fading into the distance.
And you say you’ll be better off that way. And yet it ends up in ruins.
Let me be very clear. If you haven’t done that, DON’T GO THERE. Don’t be tempted. Because the price tag is disaster. And one day you’ll look back and you’ll wonder how on earth you were so dumb.
But in the end, Ruth’s a book about COMING HOME.
Coming home isn’t something you do lightly in a situation like that. It’s not something casual and glib. But there’s a point on the road where there’s a decision to be made. Naomi’s learned her bitter lesson and she’s heading home. And RUTH’S DETERMINED SHE’S COMING WITH HER. No casual commitment.
So the question is, if you’ve messed up and you want to come home, what sort of welcome is there going to be from GOD AND HIS PEOPLE? If this is a story about you, you’d better read ahead and find out. For the rest of us, BE HERE NEXT WEEK. And we’ll find out.
