Ruth 1
McGeeCHAPTER 1THEME: In the land of Moab
Ruth 1:1
This verse that opens the Book of Ruth covers a great deal. In fact, it sounds like modern newspaper reporting. When I was in college I had a job working on a newspaper, the Memphis Commercial Appeal. As a cub reporter, I went out with some of the other reporters. Also I got acquainted with the city editor, who was a very nice man, and he attempted to help me all he could. Well, I tried to write up a story of an incident we witnessed one night in Memphis and presented it to the city editor.
He read it, just pushed it aside, and said he couldn’t use it. Then he told me that there are two things which are always important to get into the first sentence of any article that’s newsworthy: the time and the place. In fact, he said, “Get as much in the first sentence as you possibly can.” The next time you’re reading an important article on the front page of your paper, notice how much information is included in that opening sentence. Sometimes the first sentence is an entire paragraph, and it just about tells the whole story right there. It tells you what the incident is, where it took place, when it took place, and generally how it took place. Now the Holy Spirit of God is a very wonderful reporter. And so in this very first verse He gives the time and the place. The time: “when the judges ruled.” Those were dark days. In one sense, they were the darkest days in the history of the nation Israel. You will recall that the Israelites had been in Egyptian captivity, and God had redeemed them by blood and by power, and had brought them through the wilderness. Then He brought them into the Promised Land. And what great promise there was. You would think that this new generation, whose fathers had known the rigors of slavery in Egypt, would serve God in a very wonderful way. But, you know, they didn’t. The Book of Judges tells a sorry and sordid story of a departure from God, of how a people began by serving the living and true God, then turned from Him to idolatry and moral corruption, then how they cried to Him when the enemy oppressed them, and how He raised up judges to deliver them. I agree with those who are saying right now that America must have revival or she will probably have revolution. Frankly, if you want to see a sweeping revival in this country, don’t pray for revivalpray that God will put the church through the fire, and I’ll guarantee that will bring revival. It has always brought revival among God’s people in the past, and it did in the nation Israel. When they got far from God, judgment cameHe sent them into slavery, or an enemy came and defeated them. Then in their suffering they cried out to God. And God was so gracious. He always raised up judges to deliver them. The Book of Ruth fits into this period of the judges. The incidents that are recorded here take place on this black background of the judges, a time when a man like Samson was a public figure. Today, when scandals have shaken our own country, think of the scandal of a Samson! During the period of compromise, corruption, and confusion, this lovely story takes place. It is light in the midst of darkness. This is the way God writes, is it not? He writes the story of salvation on the black background of sin, and He put this lovely little story on the black background of the time of the judges. This is the picture that we have before us. It is “in the days when the judges ruled.” Not only that, but we’re told that the place was Bethlehem-judah. Now that indeed is very interesting. Bethlehem-judah has real meaning for a child of God today. And, frankly, Jesus Christ would never have been born in Bethlehem if the incidents recorded in the Book of Ruth hadn’t first taken place in Bethlehem. As you sing “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” remember that the Christmas story began way back in the incidents which transpired in the little Book of Ruth. These are the incidents that will concern us as we move into this very wonderful portion of Scripture. The meaning of the name Bethlehem-judah is interesting. Actually, the names in the Bible have a real meaning. Bethlehem means “house of bread,” and Judah means “praise.” That’s a wonderful place to livedon’t you agreein the house of bread and praise? The story of Ruth begins and ends there. And that’s the place where Jesus was born. Because the names in the Bible, and especially in the Old Testament, have specific meanings, we miss a great deal by not having a translation of the names. I wish we did. At least we have in the notes of certain Bibles an explanation of the meanings of some of the names. It adds a wealth of meaning to the Word of God, as it does in this instance. “And a certain man of Beth-lehem-judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.” He lives in the house of bread and praise, but he goes to sojourn in the country of Moab. There’s something in the Word of God about Moab that’s quite interesting. It’s almost humorous. In Psa_108:9 it says, “Moab is my washpot.” Now that’s what God says of Moab. You see, these were an outcast people. They had a very sordid and sorry beginning, and Moab just doesn’t stand out very well in the Word of God. One way to paraphrase what God says about Moab might be to say, “Moab is my garbage can.” Now will you look at this for just a moment. Here’s a familya certain man, his wife, and his two sonsthat goes over to the land of Moab. They leave the house of bread and the house of praise and they go over to eat out of a garbage can. Did you ever hear that story before? I’m sure you immediately will be reminded of the parable that our Lord gave about a prodigal son. He left the father’s house in which there was plenty, and he went over to the foreign country, where he longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating.
I do not think our Lord made up that story. In fact, I do not think He made up parables. I think every parable He gave was a true incident. Probably there were many sons in that day to whom His parable could have applied. And from that day to the present that story has been repeated in literally millions of lives. I talked to a young man here in Southern California not too long ago who had run away from his home in the East.
That was his story. He accepted the Lord out here, and we called his father right from my study. How his father rejoiced! That story, my friend, has been lived by many sons. But here it’s the story of a prodigal family. When famine came to the land, they left. They got frightened. Well, their father Abraham got frightened also, and when a famine came to that land during his lifetime, he ran off to Egypt. And now here’s another famine. This is one of thirteen that are mentioned in the Bible. Every time a famine is mentioned in the Word of God, it’s a judgment from God. This is not only the time of the judges with dark days, but these are the darkest of the dark days when this incident took place. They didn’t believe God could take care of them in the house of bread and of praise, so they ran off to the land of Moab. Now I would like you to get acquainted with this family. It is an interesting family.
Ruth 1:2
The name of the man is Elimelech. His name means “my God is King” or “the King is my God.” Here is a man who has a name that’s really meaningful. Just think of the testimony he gave where he worked. When they called him, they didn’t say, “Elimelech,” in English. They said, “My God is King,” or, “God is my King.” My, that’s a wonderful name to have, isn’t it? Why, his very name is a testimony. It’s mighty bad, though, to have that name and run off to the land of Moab. He doesn’t act as if God is his King. The name of his wife is Naomi. Now if you were to look up her name in a good Bible dictionary, you’d find that her name means “pleasant.” Well, I’d like to give her a really good name. I think her name really was Merry Sunshine. She was a wonderful person. She was the type of individual who always had a very happy outlook upon life. There are many Christians like that today. They always see the bright side. They always register that, and they live above their circumstances instead of being under their circumstances. Some people are always complaining, always finding fault, but not Naomi, not Merry Sunshine. Elimelech and Naomi have two sons. Their names are Mahlon and Chilion. The name Mahlon means “unhealthy,” and Chilion means “puny.” She had two sickly boys. And I imagine Naomi had quite a testimony in Bethlehem because of that. Many people said, “I just don’t see how Merry Sunshine can be so radiant and so joyful when she has the burden of those two unhealthy boys.” Well, that’s her story. And we’re told that she and her husband were Ephrathites of Bethlehem-judah. “And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there.” They not only went to Moab, they made their home there. Now although the prodigal son got into the pigpen, finally he said, “I will arise and go to my father” (Luk_15:18). Sometimes a prodigal stays in the pigpen a long time, and this family, unfortunately, stayed too long. And do you know what always happens to a Christian familyor to an individual who is God’s childwhich runs off to the far country? They always get a whipping in the far country. You know, that father who received his prodigal son when he came home, could have said to the servant, “Go get me my razor strap.
I’m going to whip this boy within an inch of his life. He ran off and spent my money and disgraced my name. I’ll teach him.” But he didn’t do that. He threw his arms around the boy. He told the servant to go kill the fatted calf and to bring the best robe for his son. You see, many Christians today think that God is a very stern, harsh Father and that if you come back to Him, He won’t receive you, but He’ll punish you.
He won’t whip you, friend. You’ll get your whipping in the far country. That’s where the prodigal son got his, and I’ll tell you, he got a good one. And this family here is going to be taken to the woodshed. They’re going to get a whipping in the far country. But they are, I think, a fine family. “My God is King” is the father, the head of the family. And there’s Merry Sunshine, the wife and mother, and then there are the two sickly boys, Mahlon and Chilion. They go to the land of Moaband they go to eat out of the garbage can and they continue living there. Notice what happens.
Ruth 1:3
I told you they were going to have trouble in the far country, and they did. It always happens. John says, “There is a sin unto death” (1Jn_5:16). I do not know what the sin unto death is for you. For Ananias and Sapphira it was a lie to the Holy Spirit. I don’t think that’s a sin unto death today. If it were, we’d be very busy conducting funerals in the church. But I don’t think it’s the same for every Christian. When you get away from God, that’s when trouble comes. Now the husband died. Notice what happened after he died.
Ruth 1:4
Now the very minute that they did that they broke the Mosaic Law. You see, having gotten out of fellowship with God and going to the far country, the next step is always in apostasy; it’s to continue on in sin, and even to multiply it. And that’s what they did. They broke the Mosaic Law and took wives of the women of Moab. Orpah means “deer” or “fawn.” It means she was the athletic type. And you wonder why an athletic type of girl married one of these sickly boys. But she did. After meeting Orpah, we come to the one we’re really interested in: Ruth. And I could give you about ten different meanings for the name Ruth. It means “beauty”; it means “personality.” And she had this characteristicshe was beautiful but she was not dumb.
She is a remarkable person, and I hope that you’re going to fall in love with her because she happens to be one of the ancestors of Jesus Christ. In other words, in His humanity, He had the blood of Ruth flowing through His veins. We’re going to get acquainted with her. She married Mahlon in the land of Moab. There is a word I’d like to use to describe her, but Hollywood and the high-pressure publicity of our day have spoiled it. It would be glamour.
Certainly, in the best sense of the word, that would apply to Ruth. And why she ever married this sickly boy is difficult to understand at first, but I think we will understand it later on. Now this prodigal family is in the far country. Trouble has already come to them, and more trouble is going to come to this mother and wife. She has lost her husband, and her two sons have married women of Moab.
Ruth 1:5
Now I was expecting that, by the way. I didn’t think that they’d make it through another hard winter, and they didn’t. And these two boys, Unhealthy and Puny, died. Now she has lost her entire family, and all she has left are two little daughters-in-law, foreign girls. That’s all she has. I tell you, trouble did come. And the prodigal family, like the prodigal son, got their whipping in the far country.
Ruth 1:6
The famine was over back in the Promised Land, and there was bread again in Bethlehem, the house of bread and praise. And so now she wants to return home. It’s interesting. The prodigal family and the prodigal son will long for the father’s house. And if they don’t long for the father’s house, they just don’t happen to be the children of the father. The prodigal son will never be happy in the pigpen.
He just wasn’t made for a pigpen. He hasn’t the nature of a pig. He has the nature of the father, and he will eventually say, “I will arise and go to my father.” Now the pigs love pigpens. There is a story that Peter gives to us in 2Pe_2:22, which I call the parable of the prodigal pig. “…The sow that was washed [has returned] to her wallowing in the mire.” You see, one of the little pigs got all cleaned up and told the prodigal son, “You seem to be sold on going home, and I want to go with you.” And so the pig went home with the prodigal son, but he didn’t like it up thereclean sheets on the bed and a clean tableclothugh! He told the prodigal son, “Why don’t we put the food in the trough and all of us jump in and have a big time? And why do we have to have clean sheets?
I like mud better.” And finally the little pig said he’d arise and go to his father. And you know where his old man wasdown there in the pigpen. And the prodigal pig went back to the pigpen; he always will. And the prodigal son will always go home, friends. You can depend on that. But today it’s confusing.
On the freeways of life there are prodigal sons going to pigpens and prodigal pigs going up to the father’s house, and they ought not to be. Sometimes they get into the church, and they start causing trouble. Like a pig when he gets into the father’s house, he starts causing trouble in the church. He’s a troublemaker, but eventually he’ll end up back in the pigpen. You just have to wait, you see. So eventually this family must go home. Finally Naomi says she’s going back to Bethlehem-judah.
Ruth 1:7
Now Naomi is going to talk to her daughters-in-law just like a Dutch uncle. She’s going to tell them what the situation is going to be when they get to Bethlehem. You see, the Moabites and the Israelites just didn’t have anything to do with each other. The Israelites had no dealings with the Moabites, just like later on they didn’t have any dealings with the Samaritans. Now here Naomi tells them that because they’re Moabites it’s going to cost them something to go up with her to Bethlehem. They’d never be able to marry again, and these were young women. It would mean perpetual widowhood and poverty for them because she had lost all of her property.
Ruth 1:8
Now she had a wonderful word for them. They’d been good daughters-in-law. And you know, it’s difficult for a mother to feel that any girl is worthy of her son. But here’s one who could say of these foreign girls that they had made good wives. But she encourages them to return and go back to their own mothers and not to go up with her because of what it would cost them. And she says,
Ruth 1:9
This is truly a womanly scene. Naomi tells them that if they stay in the land of Moab, they can remarry among their own people; but if they were to go up with her, they wouldn’t have a chance. Here are these three women standing in the crossroads in the land of Moab. When I visited the land of Moab, I thought of these three women. Around any bend of the road there in that wild country, on those roads that twist and turn, you might be able to see these three, Ruth and Naomi and Orpah. There they stand, and they’re weeping. They have their handkerchiefs out, and I call this the meeting of the handkerchief brigade. They’re all weeping.
Ruth 1:10
Now their first decision was, “We’ll go with you.”
Ruth 1:11
You see, the Mosaic Law said that when a man died, the nearest of kin was to marry his wife, and if there were a brother he was the one to marry her. This was a very strange law indeed, and we’ll see it later on here in the Book of Ruth because this is the story of the kinsman-redeemer. So here Naomi just talks turkey to them. She tells them how it is. “If you go with me, you can never get married. My people couldn’t identify themselves with you. It’d be too costly. You’ll really be outcasts because we don’t have any dealings with the Moabites.”
Ruth 1:12
And so Naomi urged them to stay in their own land. She made it very plain. She said, “Even if I had more sons, which I never will, but if I did, would you wait for them to grow up? Why, you’d be robbing the cradle. You wouldn’t want to do that.”
Ruth 1:13
You see, God had judged Naomi’s family, and she told them they’d have to bear that. She didn’t want them to go with her for that reason. Now here we go again.
Ruth 1:14
Now we come to the parting of the ways. As I said, you might come around the curve in any road in Moab and see these three women. And had you and I gone by in that day and seen these three women in eastern garb weeping there, we would have thought that nothing of importance was taking place. But, my friend, I’ll tell you how important it is: the decision made that day will determine whether Jesus Christ will be born in Bethlehem or not. And if the right decision is not made, you might as well send word to the wise men not to come, because He won’t be born there. It may not look important to us, but a tremendous decision was being made. We find that Orpah kissed Naomi, but Ruth clung to her. Orpah turned back, and that’s exactly what Naomi said for her to do.
Ruth 1:15
Orpah made the decision to go back. Her decision for God had not been real, you see. She goes back to idolatry. And when she goes back, she walks off the pages of Scripture into silence and into oblivion. We never hear of her again. But Ruth made a decision for God, and when she made this decision, it was for time and eternity. And you’ll find her mentioned in the very first chapter of the New Testament. She’s in the genealogy that led to Christ. Naomi wants to test her to see if she’s genuine or not. She told her to go back to her gods, to go back with her sister-in-law.
Ruth 1:16
She made an important decision there. It’s a sevenfold decision, and it’s a decision for God. And this is what I believe is genuine repentance, friend. This is the kind of repentance that means something. That’s exactly what the New Testament says. 2Co_7:10 says, “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.” Ruth made this decision. She continues,
Ruth 1:17
Now that’s Ruth’s sevenfold decision, and it’s a real decision for God. I want you to notice this because this is very important in this day when believers make a great deal of their dedication to God, and they promise God a great deal, but they don’t carry through with it. I believe God holds us to it. What we need today are folk who make real decisions for God. The decision of Ruth was that kind of decision. First of all, Ruth said, “Whither thou goest, I will go.” In other words, she’s saying to Naomi, “I made a decision to go with you, and I’m going with you. I’m not using this as a passport just to get into Palestine.” And the second phase of her decision is, “And where thou lodgest, I will lodge.” In other words, she would not only go with Naomi, but she’d also identify herself with her. “I accept your poverty.” She bears the same name now, as she had married Merry Sunshine’s son, and she will stick right with Naomi. Her third statement, “Thy people shall be my peopleI’m forsaking my people, idolators, and I’m identifying myself with God’s people.” And, friend, you can’t make a decision for God unless you identify yourself with God’s people. It’d just be impossible to do otherwise, you see. And Ruth knew that. She said, “You say I’ll be an outcast.
All right, I’ll be an outcast, but thy people will be my people.” And then the fourth, “Thy God my God.” Now I can explain why this girl Ruth decided to marry that unhealthy boy that moved into the neighborhood who’d come from the house of bread and praise over in the Promised Land. The reason, I think, is evident. For the first time she heard of the living and true God. She met a family that knew the living and true God, and she married into that family because she had come to know the living and the true God. “Thy God will be my God.” What a decision she had made! And not only that but, “Where thou diest, will I die.” That is more meaningful to Ruth than it would be for you and me today. What she’s saying is this, “The hope of Israel is my hope.” You see, the Israelite believed that someday he would be raised from the dead to live in that land.
That was the hope of Abraham. He never believed that he was going to heaven. He believed he would be raised from the dead right down here, and that’s the reason he bought the cave of Machpelah and buried Sarah there, and he himself was buried there. Isaac had that same hope, and even old Jacob, who died down in the land of Egypt, said he wanted to be buried back up there where his fathers were buried. This was because they had a hope of the resurrection of the dead. They were seeking “a city …whose builder and maker is God” (Heb_11:10), which will be a reality on this earth someday.
That’s the Old Testament hope. When the Lord Jesus said to His disciples in the Upper Room in Joh_14:2, “…I go to prepare a place for you” away from this earth, that was brand new, you see. God’s promise to Abraham was to give him an eternal home on this earth. And Ruth said not only that where Naomi died she would die, but also, “And there will I be buried.” You see, her hope is in that landjust as the hope of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had been. She had now the Old Testament hope. Then the seventh part of her decision is this: “…The LORD do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me.” What a decision she’d made!
She said, “I didn’t make this for just a day or for an hour. I made this decision for time and for eternity.” What we see in Ruth is genuine and real repentance. We hear a great deal today about repentance, and the average notion is that repentance means shedding a few tears. You will recall that 2Co_7:10 says, “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation.” Note that repentance is not salvation; it leads to salvation. “…But the sorrow of the world worketh death.” What is the sorrow of the world? Well, it’s to shed tears. The worldling can shed tears. Now look yonder at the crossroads again with these three women there.
Orpah shed just as many tears as Ruth did. Her handkerchief was just as damp as Ruth’s was. What’s the difference between these two women? The difference is quite obvious. Orpah shed a great many tears, but hers were not tears of real repentance. What is real repentance?
The Greek word used in 2Co_7:10 is metanoia. It means “to change your mind.” It means to be going in one direction, then to change your mind, turn around, and go in the other direction. A lot of people come to a place where they’re under conviction, and they intend to changeor at least they say they doand they shed a few tears, but they keep right on going the same way. And that’s exactly what Orpah did. She shed the tears right along with Ruth, but she didn’t turn around and go to Bethlehem and make a stand for God. No, she went back to idolatry.
And a lot of folk are like that todaythey just shed tears. Tears are not repentance, friend, although they may be a by-product of repentance. My dad used to tell about a steamboat which plied on the Mississippi River years ago when he was a boy. He said it had a little, bitty boiler and a great big whistle. When this boat was moving upstream and blew its whistle, it would start drifting downstream, because it didn’t have enough steam to do both. There are a lot of folk like that today. They have a great big whistle and a little, bitty boiler. They have never come to a saving knowledge of Christ.
Oh, they’ll shed a lot of tears over their sinsthey blow their whistleand they’re very emotional. They love to give testimonies full of emotion, but their lives don’t measure up. I know several men who can make people weep when they get up and give their testimonies. They have tears in their voices, but I wouldn’t trust those men at all. I don’t think they’re born-again men at all, just emotional. They are like Orpah. During my ministry I have learned to put less confidence in tears than I formerly did. I found out that these sob-sisters today can shed tears, but they don’t really make a decision. Sometimes a person can be dry-eyed and make a decision for Christ, and it’s genuine and real. Years ago when I was a pastor in Pasadena, two couples came forward on Easter Sunday morning. One couple blubbered all over the place. They cried and wept so that we couldn’t make any sense out of what they were saying.
But they made a big impression on the officers who thought this couple was really genuinely saved. They were not. I pulled them out of two cults, and the pastor who followed me told me he did the same thing. The other couple was dry-eyed. Because they didn’t shed a tear, one of the elders called me aside and asked, “Do you think they’re converted?” Well, that’s been at least twenty-five years ago, and every now and then I see that couple, and they’re still standing for the Lord. Let me just ask you a personal question: Did you really make a decision for Christ, or did you just shed a few tears?
Tears themselves are meaningless, and the sorrow of this world worketh death, friend, and that kind of repentance is no good. But repentance that is genuine is not to be repented of. It will lead to salvation, and you’ll be genuinely convertedas was Ruth. Ruth makes a real decision for God. She says, “I accept the poverty. I accept being an outcast. I also accept the fact that I will remain a widow the rest of my life.” She was willing to accept all of that in order to take a stand for God. She makes her decision to go back to Bethlehem with Naomi. Now Merry Sunshine knew Ruth
Ruth 1:18
She knew that when this girl made a decision, it was a real decision, it would stick; so she didn’t need to say anything else to Ruth. And so we follow them.
Ruth 1:19
Now they have returned. The prodigal family is coming home, but it’s not a family now. Actually, it’s just this widow Merry Sunshine, who doesn’t look like Merry Sunshine, and a little foreign girl by the name of Ruth. And the people of the city ask, “Is this Naomi? Is this Merry Sunshine?”
Ruth 1:20
Now I do not know too much about mathematics, but I do know this: it’s a long way between being full and being empty. Having zero and having everything is just about as far apart as you can put figuresor put anything. On one hand, empty; on the other hand, full. She went out full; she comes back empty. Friend, may I say this, if you’re a child of God, you have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies, and you have everything in Christ. When you go out from His presence and lose your fellowship, you’re going to find out something.
You’re going to find out that you get your whipping in the far country and you’re going to come home empty, and I mean empty. But, thank God, when you come home that way, just like the prodigal son did, you’ll find the Father waiting to receive you with outstretched arms. He’ll bless you in a way that He’s never blessed you before. He’ll be very good to you. That’s the thing that happened to the prodigal son. A robe was given to him, a fatted calf was killed for a banquetall of this for the boy who returned home. Now Naomi had told her friends to call her Mara, Gloomy Gus. She says, You’d think maybe they would change her name to Gloomy Gus, but they didn’t. And the Spirit of God leaves it that way also. “So Naomi [not Mara] returned.” The Spirit of God says that she’s going to be Merry Sunshine again.
Ruth 1:22
This is a good time to arrive in Bethlehem. We have left the land of Moab, and in the next chapter we’ll be going into the fields of Boaz near Bethlehem.