Naomi
What a remarkable woman! And what a remarkable book, Ruth. I love this book for a number of reasons. Though it is not filled with epic battles and gallant warriors, it is filled with the revelation of God's wonderful, transforming grace. Grace is the triumphant one in this book.
And what hope it speaks to us today! We live in a fragmented world full of broken people who have experienced loss and tragedy in their life. Yet no one is beyond grace and its healing help and power when we reach out to the King of Grace, Christ Jesus. His grace still triumphs today.
The book of Ruth is a short book so it will be a short study. However, the revelation of God's Word is lifechanging. I hope you enjoy it.
So, where does Naomi's story begin?
Ruth 1:1 In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land...
So this story begins in a very dark time. The book of Judges tells us that when the judges ruled it was a continual history of rebellion against God. It was a nonending cycle of rebellion, oppression, repentance, and deliverance. Because there is a famine in this story, we know it is a time of God's judgment upon Israel. Right now God is the judge and the Israeli people are being chastised for their sins.
One: The tragedy
Ruth 1:1-5 So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live in the country of Moab. The man's name was Elimelek, his wife's name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there. Now Elimelek, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They married Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Kilion died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and husband.
One of the primary purposes behind Ruth 1:1-5 is to show us the tragedy and grief of Naomi's life.
This is a woman who has been hit with one bitter blow after another.
So let's look at the tragedies in her life.
One: Famine. 1:1 in the days when the Judges ruled, there was a famine in the land
So Bethlehem is struck with a horrible famine. In this famine everything has died; crops;
livestock; everything! There is nothing left. In desperation, Elimelek decides if his family and
children are going to have any kind of future, they have to leave and find it elsewhere.
As a woman who knows the Law of God, Naomi understood this famine came from God.
Leviticus 16 If you walk in my statues and observe my commandments and do them, I will give you rain and the land will yield its increase. She understood she had lost everything
because she was living in a rebellious nation under the severity of God's judgment.
Two: Loss of home and family. 1:1 (so they) went to live in the country of Moab
When Elimelek made the decision to move to Moab, Naomi lost her home and all her family
ties. In submitting to her husband's decision, she lost all the people that was most precious to
her.
Three: Elimelek dies. 1:3 Now Elimelek, Naomi's husband, died
Naomi's husband died! This had to be devastating. Not only losing someone you love, but
losing them in a strange land and left to cope and fend for yourself. And by now what is Naomi
to feel? God has judged us! We should have never left our home and our people. We deserted
our country and our people to try and escape God's judgment in hopes of having some kind of
future. And where did we escape too?! A land of gross idolatry! We have sinned greatly against
the Lord!
Four: Naomi's sons marry pagan Moabites. 1:4 They married Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth
This had to go against everything Naomi believed and stood for. Yes, she came to love Orpah
and Ruth, but when her son began dating idol-worshipping women, it had to be devastating.
Now my children are bearing the consequences for our actions! Their hearts are turning from
our God and our faith, being absorbed into this pagan culture. Oh God, what have we done?!
Five: Mahlon and Kilion die. 1:5 both Mahlon and Kilion also died
Friends, there can be nothing more shattering than the death of your children. To outlive your
children is every parents worst nightmare.
So Naomi has lived a very bitter life, the last ten or so years filled with tragedy and heartbreak. It has been one bitter blow after the other.
Life can be unfair, sometimes tragically unfair. Even now faces pass through my mind of people I love, both saved and unsaved, who have been devastated by tragedy at no fault of their own. Spouses who died so early in life. Children perishing in a fire. Health taken and bed-ridden for life.
In this fallen world no one is exempt from calamity and suffering.
And even as the Lord's people, sometimes we can be tempted to believe God must be angry at me. I must have done something terribly wrong for the Lord to punish me this way. I have heard those bedside confessions.
However, in the midst of it all God extends His precious grace to us. He bestows to us the comfort and the sustaining strength that we need. Like Naomi, though some tragedies are so great they leave their painful scars, still we come out in the triumph of God's grace, singing songs written in our hearts about God's unfailing faithfulness. We will cross the finish-line triumphant, where God will wipe all tears from our eyes.
Right now in our story Naomi is in a very dark place in her life, overwhelmed with grief and hopelessness. But little does she know her story is not over yet. There is another chapter to be written. With outstretched arms, grace is waiting for her in the grain fields of Boaz.
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