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Judges, but it’s written during the time of Kings, and it’s important for us to remember, because what it helps us do when we look at the overall theme of Ruth, it allows us to draw conclusions as to why this book exists in the Bible, and because it follows after or during the time of the judges. But it’s written during the Kings. It’s wedged perfectly in your Bible between judges and and Samuel. When the story of the kings begins. If if you picked up a bulletin today, I know we’re you may not be able to make all this writing out. I wrote it for ants. So so if you picked up a bulletin this this morning, inside of it is a is a timeline of the Old Testament, and it will help you gather a better understanding of of where each book is taking place as it’s written in the Bible. And so I kind of cut off the left hand side there to make it a little bit bigger. All you’re missing on the left is the book of Genesis and the Book of Job, but the right includes everything that the Old Testament has to cover in the future that we’ve we’ve covered some of it, but not all of it. And it’s written in a, in a, in a time or a way that color coordinates the books of the Bible. So if you’re looking at this graph, the first line there of color, which is blue green, and then I don’t know what that is, gray at the top.
Um, those three colors represent books of the Bible. So the blue or the first 17 books of your Bible, it’s, it’s it’s the history books. And so if you first five books are really called the Pentateuch, but it includes history. The first 17 books of your Bible are the historical books. And so if you look at that, you’ll kind of see there are some books written during the same time period Exodus, Leviticus, numbers, Deuteronomy, kind of covering the same area of time, Joshua by itself and judges and Ruth covering the period of judges. And then you get to the kings first, second Samuel, first, second Kings covers this large span. And then if you’re if you’re like me, like the cheat, sometimes you can just go to Chronicles and it covers two books, cover four books. Right. And so you can see that and then Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther, to conclude on the very bottom, it gives you a sort of a timeline of how history breaks down Moses coming into the land of Egypt, which we’ve seen together, King David, which we talked about last week. And then and then it goes into the Kingdom of Israel, when Israel walks into the land of Canaan and they establish themselves through Moses, then Joshua, the Bible tells us they go through a couple hundred years under the period of judges, and then they bring a king to power to rule over them.
Saul becomes the first king, then, then Samuel, or excuse me, Saul, then David, and then finally Solomon. After Solomon, the nation of Israel just splits the divides. There’s a civil war that takes place. They divide into between King Rehoboam and Judah and Jeroboam in the north, and the northern tribes of Israel. And for the rest of Israel’s history, they’re divided after three kings. And so you see on that timeline, there’s Israel divides and the northern Kingdom. They never had a godly king that ruled over them, starting, starting with Jeroboam. And they went and ended up going into captivity in 722. And the Lord took them into captivity out of disobedience and not following after him. Conquered by the Assyrians, which is a was a horrific group of people to be conquered by. And then the southern tribe had some godly kings. And so God prolonged their stay in the nation of Israel. And so they started to be conquered. Around 606 to about 586, there was a few deportations of the southern tribe. If you read in your Bible this time period of history, it’s going to often refer to once. Once the nation of Israel splits, it’ll continue to refer to the northern tribes as Israel, ten tribes with the north, and then it will often refer to as the southern tribes as Judah.
Sometimes they’ll use the name Ephraim for the northern tribes, because it was the largest tribes out of the ten, and it used the name Judah for the southern tribes because it was the largest of the of the two tribes that went with the southern portion of of Israel, Israel goes into captivity, and then in the end they end up coming back. And Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther talk about that. The northern tribe never comes back, but the southern tribe does. Just above that you have the, the outline of of the poetic books. You have five poetic books in your Bible. I think you can only see four on the graph. Their jobs cut out. Job was written during Genesis, but you have Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, all written by Solomon. And then you’ve got the Book of Psalms, which was primarily written by David, but spans a history from the time of Moses all the way to Israel’s return from captivity. It’s it’s Israel’s hymn book, the songs that they would sing before the Lord. And you’ll notice at the at the top, the portion that really is written for the ants is is the prophetic books. You have 17 of those that conclude your Old Testament. They have five what we call five major prophets and then 12 minor prophets. And when we say major and minor, all we’re saying is one books longer and the other ones are shorter.
And so these guys, you’ll notice when they start prophesying for the nation of Israel, it comes after the nation of Israel’s dividing. It’s God’s way of of warning the nation of Israel as, as. What’s in store for them if they continue with the attitude in which they’re carrying to God? And I believe it’s the book of Ruth that’s written during that time period. As Israel Divides, Ruth is written about the period of the judges in order to encourage Israel to seek after the Lord. And we’ll get to the specifics on why in just a few moments. But the interesting thing about the book of Ruth is that this book starts in the most ironic of of ways it if I were to describe it. It’s like it’s like rain on a wedding day, a free ride when you’ve already paid 10,000 spoons. All you need is a knife, right? It’s it’s just ironic the way that God starts this book of Ruth, because your expectation is when God leads a people to a particular place for a particular reason to accomplish his will in this world, that the people of God, and having this direct command of God’s will for their lives might listen. But the case that you find as you begin the book of Ruth is that the people of God, um, failed to listen. And instead pursued their own desires. In fact, the Book of Judges, the theme of the Book of Judges is that everyone did what was right in their own eyes.
Meaning we know God’s God. But today I’m making myself God, and I would declare to God what is right and what is wrong, and I’m going to live that way. And Ruth writes with this backdrop of understanding of what takes place in the nation of Israel, and they do so with such irony, expecting the people of God to follow after God. And yet they choose contrary to that. And if I were to give just the understanding of how we get this, the first five verses explain explains this to us. And I’ll I’ll elaborate beyond that, because when you begin to read it, at first you don’t quite always catch it, but it says this now, it came about in the days when the judges governed that there was a famine in the land, and a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech, the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion Ephrathites of Bethlehem and Judah. Now they entered the land of Moab, and remained there. Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They took for themselves Moabite women as wives. The name of the one was Aupa, and the name of the other Ruth, and they lived there about ten years.
Then both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and the woman was bereft of her two children and her husband. The irony of the book of Ruth isn’t necessarily that people left the land. That doesn’t necessitate that we’re being disobedient by moving, right? I mean, God calls us to particular places to do do his will in this world. That’s what a missionary does. They they think about the way that God views this world and where God’s heart is centered for this world. And they go to places that their hearts are drawn to proclaim the name of Christ. But when it comes to the name of the person alimalek within this story, I would say that Alimalek based on these first five verses, is walking in direct disobedience of God. Why would I say that? What’s because God has just called the nation of Israel to the land of Israel. God has just said, I will set you apart in this land for my name, and through you all nations will be blessed. And the story then quickly begins in the time of judges, when Israel finally gets to that land, as soon as they’re there, where God has commanded them to go, Alimalek gets up and he leaves. So the identity of the irony that’s expressed in Ruth is found within these names. I’ve underlined them just just to point them out to you.
Elimelech is called to this place for God. His name literally means God is King. Naomi. Her name means sweetheart. And so what it’s saying to us is that God has called these people, and Elimelech is claiming that God is his king, but he’s living contrary to that. And his wife, who was intended to be sweet before the Lord, now walks in disobedience with him, because she she’s moving as well. And the Bible tells us that’s the reason that they’re moving from this land is because of famine. See, God gave the nation of Israel a promise that as you follow me, I will bless you. He was establishing a theocracy, a kingdom within a people, to identify for for these people and for all nations, where the Messiah would come. And Israel walked in disobedience and rather than blessing, contrary to that, they find cursing. Interesting. When you look at the names of the places they identify for you, they’re pointing out something directly to us as people. Ephrathites literally means fruitfulness. And and Bethlehem means house of bread and Judah means celebration. So this guy claiming that God is his king with his sweet heart, is moving from the house of bread, full of celebration and fruitfulness to the land of Moab. If you read about Moab. Bible tells us this place was established through an incestuous relationship, through lot and and his daughter. This was not a place of high honor.
When you read the Book of Amos, it even talks about Amos refers to God’s judgment that is to come on the land of Moab. And so, Elimelech, within this passage, knowing that God has called them to a particular place, determines within himself that he would leave this place of a land of blessing, a land of fruitfulness, a place of celebration, a house of bread, and gather in Moab. A place that is destitute from the Lord. And the interesting thing about Moab, when you study it as far as geographically where it’s placed, Moab lies just 50 miles east of Jerusalem. And so when you read the story and you see that the famine is taking place, you recognize with just within 50 miles of travel, the famine has ceased. Saying this, this famine that is caused is localized to the nation of Israel for a particular reason, and that is because they are walking in disobedience with God. We tell us this morning. Maybe the indication for the beginning of this book is to say this When God leads you in your life to a particular place for a specific reason, God’s desire for you is to be an example for those people in the name of the Lord. Elimelech if he lived according to the way that his name describes. Rather than run away from the place that God has called him because it was hard, he would stay within that place to proclaim the name of the Lord, that the people of God may change in this land of Judah, of celebration in the house of bread, that is Bethlehem would one would again be restored to the place that God desires for it to be? When it comes to us as people.
When God calls us to a particular place and representing his name, his desire is that we influence the people and the culture for his glory. I’ve heard it said that there there are three ways that we can respond to culture within our world. The first is this that you reject it. The second is that we embrace it. Or the third is that we redeem it. We reject it, we embrace it or we redeem it. And the thought to the response of culture is this if you reject culture and in some ways can be healthy, but if ultimately you reject culture, you run the risk of isolating the the very glory of God that God desires for you to proclaim. And and legalism becomes an area of your life that you would tend to draw to. If you embrace a culture beyond what God has called you to do, then you run the risk of liberalism, becoming more concerned with the way culture views you than than the way that God views you living in the culture. But to redeem the culture. No matter where we are, there is always a culture to work with.
God’s desire is that we understand the culture to point that culture to Christ. To not hide from it. To not become it. But to live for it in honor of Jesus. I’ve often heard it said and shared with a group on Wednesday night that the church is often referred to as the Coward’s Castle. Meaning we come on Sunday and we have this pep rally of Jesus isms with each other. And then we leave on Monday, and we can’t wait to get back to the castle to hide ourselves in the fortress. But what God’s called us to do. As to be true in our culture. And you thought of two verses in the Bible that that we constantly walk in tension with as we go in this world. Jude three says this I felt the necessity to write to you, appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all, handed down to the saints. I was thinking about social groups this week. If you ever study our history in America, you’ll. You’ll know that I think it was like out of 100 universities that began within our culture, or out of the 103 universities that started in America when America was founded, 100 of those started for the purpose of training pastors to proclaim Christ. They were Bible colleges. If you were to go to those universities today, they’re secular colleges now, meaning this the moment the Word of God is proclaimed in the world, the tendency of people at that point is to begin to dilute the message.
In Jude three. What what it’s saying, according to Jude, is that we earnestly contend to understand that the culture will constantly fight against the message of Christ and try to dilute the beauty of who Jesus is. Contend for the faith. We don’t necessarily reject it. We don’t necessarily embrace it. But we ask the question, how do we redeem it? I love how Ephesians four says that. It says, speak the truth in love. I mean, the truth is important. But let the truth be what’s offensive. Not us. Contend for the faith. Paul said it this way in Corinthians nine to the weak I became weak, that I might win, the weak I have become all things to all men, so that I might by all means save some. I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it. Meaning Paul in this passage sees the need of going into the culture rather than hiding from it and proclaiming who Christ is and why Christ matters to those people. Become all things to all people. How do we redeem it? Now, I would say within our lives, we constantly live within the tension of trying to figure that out if we want to follow after the Lord. If you study the New Testament, there are people groups who responded differently.
You study the Pharisees. They lived their life legalistically meaning rather than rather than figure out how to reach the culture, they rejected it. Or you study the Sadducees and they were considered the liberal group. And and rather than reject the culture, they they embraced it into the liberal form. But then there were the disciples. Who went into it like Paul. And sort with a heart of what God sought for the people there. Proclaiming his name for God’s glory. I would say for us there are ways to do this that is wise and ways to do this. That is unwise. And we always wrestle with that tension. Where some people might feel comfortable in helping a culture redeem. Other people might feel uncomfortable, right? This is kind of weird, but when I grew up in church, it was just an illustration for you. I grew up in church. I had to wear suits all the time. As a matter of fact, when I went to Bible college, I made me wear a suit everywhere I went, right? I got to college, I had a rebellion in my heart. So I got to college and I bought a suit. And I never untied the tire. Took that suit off. I wear I wore that same suit for four years. This. It smells horribly. It’s still in my closet today. And this is this is going to sound weird maybe to some of you, but do you know the.
The first time I ever preached in jeans in church was here? And do you know one of the struggles that I had when I did that? I felt like it was sinful. Because I was raised a particular way. But to follow after that progression of my thought, what in my head, what I thought is, you know, I want to represent Jesus on Monday the way that I do on Sunday. And so why don’t I wear on Sunday what I wear on Monday? Why don’t I just like, like the way I want to represent Jesus every day? For some people, that still makes them uncomfortable, and for others they’re thinking, dude, that is not even an issue for me, right? But there’s the tension. How do you redeem the culture? Yeah, I would say on the extreme end, I think it’s a stupid idea to go into a strip club to reach people for Jesus, right? I mean, if you want to reach someone that seems a little in a difficult scenario, try, like a satanic church or something, okay? But, you know, on the other end of that, we say to our church family, you know, everyone’s not comfortable with how they do holidays. Some people refuse to do holidays because it makes you uncomfortable. But one of the things we say to people is that God does call us to redeem culture.
And so you can you can think whatever you want about Christmas or the name of Easter instead of Resurrection Sunday. But on those two holidays, for whatever reason, people become more spiritually aware of the things that are happening in their lives. What a great opportunity to point culture to Jesus. Or if we went just way liberal. And I said, you know, Halloween, right? And we say, that’s the devil’s day. I would say it was created in a very demonic way. But to think about it differently. That is the only time of year where more than likely your neighbors coming to your door. That’s an opportunity. What do you do with that? I think there’s tension. But I think God’s desire is that we walk in purity of heart towards the moment. We earnestly contend for the faith and representing what Jesus is about. And we’re in the culture, but not of the culture, hoping to redeem the culture for God’s glory. If I looked at the life of Elimelech. And that’s what I would say is the solution. Elimelech, you’re running away from the very problem that God has called you to represent him in. Rather than going to to Moab for your answers, you understand that Jesus has called you to this place to represent his name. Here’s the way to do it. Don’t don’t reject what’s happening there. And don’t embrace it because you know it’s contrary to God.
But but contend for the faith and redeem it by representing Jesus in your culture. God has called you to a place to represent his name. And what you find in the life of Elimelech. Because of this passage of scripture, Elimelech goes into the land of Moab, where God’s will isn’t for his life, and Elimelech loses his life, saying to us, the grass isn’t greener if God isn’t directing. Where God’s will is, is the safest place for you to be in your life. And where God guides, God provides. In our lives. I think we consider opportunities of moving like Elimelech. I mean, really, he’s thinking about monetary purposes. We move for personal gain and many times weigh the monetary or physical gain. But we’re not thinking about the spiritual impact that that change would bring to our world. Meaning when you move, you’ve got to consider the influences that you’re surrounding you and your family around. And that’s what makes God’s community of believers so important. You think about your children that you’re bringing up in these environments, and you look at this passage and you could say, based on this story, that that what God would desire is for the children of Israel to marry the children of Israel, not someone of a of a pagan background. When you move the consideration of the people that you put your children in front of are the people your kids will marry.
And the people you surround yourself with are the people that will influence you positively or negatively for the Lord. Way the decision of change. It’s more than just monetary gain. Finding the story of Ruth. That. Her family dies. Her two sons. This is interesting that their names mean disease, Milan and destruction. Kilian. If you’re ever going to move apart from God’s will, what I would say is you’re opening the door of possibility for destruction in your life. If two kids named that ever want to go with you, don’t take them right? Leave them at home. It should have been warning to her or Naomi. We’re taking. Who? No. Leave who you got right. But but the indication of the stories that’s setting a basis of, of showing us what type of life they’re opening themselves up to by walking contrary to God’s will for their lives. And this is the good news for us. That when our choices are contrary to God. God never gives up on you. In verse six of the story of Ruth. Ruth finally at that moment begins to recognize God. Or excuse me, Naomi, it says. Then she arose with her daughters in law that she might return from the land of Moab. For she had heard in the land of Moab that the Lord had visited his people in giving them food. So she’s departed 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.
The story of Naomi works like this the moment that Naomi recognizes God in her life. That God begins to supply the needs of her life. Naomi remembers the Lord. And I’m not going to make light of Naomi’s situation, because what’s just happened to her was devastating for her life. But finally, in the moment of that devastation, she began to recognize her need for the Lord. Naomi describes herself in verse 19, if you just skip a little bit ahead in the passage of Scripture, it says this they both went out until they came to Bethlehem, and when they had come to Bethlehem. Talking about Naomi and Ruth together, all the city was stirred because of them. And the women said, is this Naomi? And she said to them, do not call me Naomi. Call me Mara, which means bitter. For the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. And I would contend a little bit with Naomi on this. I would say, you know, straying from the Lord is what brought you to a place of emptiness. God told you as a nation that if you follow him, he will bless you when you leave him. There is cursing, but the Lord certainly permitted whatever happened to Naomi to happen to Naomi.
But this is the thing that I enjoy about her. She understands the Lord and apart. Apart from walking with God, life got messy, but she’s still willing to come to the Lord and she’s watching God supply. But the best part of this passage is that she’s just honest about it. I think sometimes in our life, when we get to a place that’s difficult for us, we or we experience something that’s hard, we have a tendency to complain to everyone else but not bring it to the Lord. And Naomi in this passage of Scripture is recognizing God’s hands in these moments. You read the Book of Psalms, which we talked briefly about last week, and you see David’s heart. David was very honest and real about the pain that he experienced, but not just to people, but he always brought it before the Lord. Because nobody wants us to walk a life in bitterness. I don’t think God calls us to walk a life in bitterness. His spirit is intended to bring us joy. But there are times in our lives when things seem difficult, and the solution that Naomi finds in this moment is just to be honest and turn it back over to the Lord and just say, God, I know that you’ve called me to this, but right now it’s hard, and I just want to give you my heart in the moment of this difficulty, because I don’t completely understand what you’re doing.
All I know is I’m bitter right now. You’ll you’ll see within this passage at the moment that Naomi starts to turn her life back to the Lord, the Lord comes to her, the Lord begins to provide for her, and her life begins to grow back in God. In her life continues to be blessed because of what God has done. But Naomi, in recognizing God’s hand, is just honest about it. And I would say to us, as we desire to walk after the Lord, we all have a tendency or appeared in life where we’ll go through this. You look at the life of Naomi, but then the Bible goes on and describes not only Naomi has a story to relate to this, but also the the two daughter in laws of Naomi. It says. But Naomi said to the ladies after the death of her husband and son returned, my daughters, why should you go with me talking about back to Jerusalem? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may be your husbands? Return my daughters go, for I am too old to have a husband. If I said I have hope, if I should even have a husband tonight, and also bear sons, would you therefore wait until they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is harder for me than for you. For the hand of the Lord has gone forth against me.
And they lifted up their voices, and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother in law. But Ruth clung to her. The story then breaks down for us, two individuals, and their reaction to God in the same passage of Scripture. This is a a useless fact for you to know, but I found out in reading this that apparently Oprah’s name used to be Oprah, and she couldn’t pronounce it as a kid, so she changed it to Oprah. All right, so I don’t know what to do with that. It’s the lady’s book. Oprah seems important to say. I don’t, I don’t know. There you go. Useless information. But when you study, when you study this passage and you look up these names, Orpah means stiff necked. And it’s as if the scriptures are saying this to us, that when we go to a culture and we finally represent God, as Naomi is now doing in this passage of Scripture, that we’re going to find a couple of different responses based on our faithfulness to God. One is, some people might listen to what you have to say, but their hearts aren’t going to incline to go and they’ll be stiff necked. They may still care about you. They may even give you a nice kiss when they’re departing, but they’re not going to walk in agreement with you. That’s okay. What God’s called you to is to stand for him.
And the other response is this. And sometimes when we stand for the Lord, there is one that God draws out. In fact, the name of Ruth means friend. And when Naomi begins to recognize God within the Scripture and she shares her desire to go back to her land and be with God’s people and follow after the Lord, the Bible tells us that Ruth will not let her go. Ruth becomes her friend. And the irony of the story continues that in the land of judges, where God has called his people, they deny his name and find cursing rather than blessing. But in the land of Moab, where they walked contrary to God, a lady sees her need for the Lord in her life, and she turns to him, and as a friend embraces and will not let go. If Alimalek even began to carry the heart of Ruth. How blessed would the people be? And then it tells us in this passage of Scripture, which I would say the pinnacle verse of what the book of Ruth is about, it tells us why her attitude just brings such blessing in the life of her. Naomi, it says. Then she said, behold, your sister in law has gone back to her people, and her gods return after your sister in law. But Ruth said, do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you. For where you go I will go and where you lodge, I will lodge.
Your people shall be my people and your God, my God, where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you from me. And so Ruth says in this passage, I just want you to understand how deep my commitment is to follow after this God who is calling to this land. It’s with this desire upon her heart that God works in the life of Ruth to redeem the culture. God, I want to see change in this land. And so the expression of us in this passage has got, wherever you go, I’m going, and God, wherever you guide, I will follow your lead. God, wherever you lodge. That is the place I want to be. And a moabite finds the grace of God. I would say that at the end of this, Ruth is just committing her life to the extent that she can even offer it to follow after Naomi and love, and after the God that Naomi loves. You think what what Ruth is signing up for in these moments, you consider within the culture of this time, that the way that women are viewed as very lowly in Ruth is a woman. Not only is she a woman, but she’s a widow. Not only is she widowed, but she’s poor. Not, not not only is she poor, but she is a moabite.
The people of Israel had a tendency to treat other people outside of their own people in such a negative way that other people wouldn’t want to be around them. But being a woman and being poor and being a widow and being a moabite didn’t stop Ruth from going and listen to this. Ruth was even willing to do this with a bitter old lady. The only person she knows. How would you like that for a traveling companion? I’m going to send you across the world to people that are going to reject you. I’m going to give you a friend. And you know what? She is a bitter old lady. You know, I might just hang in Moab for a while. But but Ruth is saying this, that what I understand what God is calling you to do. I just want to be present, to experience the Lord. I love what God does. He introduced in chapter two to a guy. Turns out to be a romance story. Go figure. Right. It tells us in verse one. Now Naomi had a kinsman of her husband. A man of great wealth of the family of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz, and Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, please let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after won, and whose sight I may find favor. I’ll stop right there and explain this. In the land of Israel they had a law that the people couldn’t harvest.
The people that owned land and crops couldn’t harvest the edge of of their land. They were to leave the edge of their land barren, so that people of low income could go into the land and work for their food and gather food to feed their families. And that’s what’s happening here. And she said to her, go, my daughter. So she departed and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech. Now, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, May the Lord be with you. And they said to him, May the Lord bless you. Boaz is on the last verse. You see a godly individual concerned with the people there that are coming to his land to glean from it, who need to supply for their lives. And he walks past them and says, God bless you. May the Lord bless you. What’s taking place within this section of Scripture that’s setting up this thought within the Bible? It’s a term that’s called kinsman redeemer. Meaning when when a when a male figure would die of a particular household within the nation of Israel. Sometimes that land would be bought off, or to be sold to supply for for the family, and a kinsman of that family could then step in.
Once that land was bought, he could go to the individual that bought the land and say, hey, we want to keep this land within the name of the family. And so I want to, I want to buy it to supply for this family that that whose husband had just passed. And the law went even further than that. It said that the closest kinsman had the first opportunity to buy the land. But not only did he have to buy the land, he also had to marry the widow. And so in these moments, it’s setting up for us the idea of Boaz meeting Ruth and what it’s going to ultimately lead to is that Boaz would be the kinsman redeemer of Ruth. He would go to the land that that Naomi had lost from the death of her husband. And by law, this gentleman who owned it had to sell it to Boaz so he could redeem the family and marry Ruth. Boaz sets up this picture that images Jesus. Ruth and Naomi living in a land contrary to God, turned to the Lord, come back to the land of Israel, and they are redeemed in following after God there is a kinsman redeemer. The name Boaz means a pillar in front of the temple. It’s as if to say that now that Naomi and Ruth are turning to the Lord, God is using Boaz as a redeemer to usher them into the temple before the presence of God.
He becomes their kinsman Redeemer. So why this book? Why during the time of Kings, are they going all the way back to the period of judges a few hundred years, just to write a story about this lady who lost her family? Why do that? One, I would say this. Each one of us can connect to a character within the story in some way. Each one of us relates to an individual that’s spoken of. Elimelech is someone who’s fooled themselves into thinking God’s their king when he’s not. There’s a saying that says in Christianity we we have knowledge beyond our obedience. Meaning we learn a lot about the Bible, but we don’t practice it. I would say that’s alimalek. He’s all about reading God’s Word but not applying God’s Word. He’s all about saying he loves God but not showing it in his life. Or what about Naomi? Life’s a struggle. And it’s a reminder of the nation of Israel in the midst of your struggle, if you just turn back to him. He supplies needs. He meets you where you’re at. If you just expose your heart before the Lord. What is he? What’s he going to do? Or. Or maybe we’re like Oprah or Oprah or whatever you want to say. Where? Where we see the things about God, but we’re just too stiff necked in ourselves to turn it around. Or what about Ruth? You’re a friend of God.
Or Boaz, who sees the need of meeting people where they are and just ushering before the presence of the Lord. All of us can relate to this story. Yeah. I think more importantly, as we see people that we can relate to, it’s I think it’s important in the character understanding that all of us found a place to tie ourselves into this story and relate to it. And if we’re honest, we probably, at some portion of our life can relate to every character in this story. But I think the bigger picture of what Ruth is painting through her story. That’s what God’s desire is for the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel in these moments, have gotten to a place within their existence where they are divided. They’ve become the tribes of the North and the tribes of the South. When God has called them to be one people in unity for him, living for his glory. And she’s going all the way back to the time of the judges. And she’s just saying, guys, do you do you remember why God even put us in this land? I mean, we all get to that place in our walks with God where we just need to take a step back because we’ve made big issues out a little issues, and we forgot the primary purpose that God even led us to a particular place to begin with.
And that’s for his glory being seen in our culture for his name’s sake. That’s what’s important. It’s not the color of the drapes or whatever color we paint the outside of the church. In the future, if we even do anything to the ugly outside. It’s not about that. We’ll make those issues, but it’s not about that. We exist for one reason. And Ruth in this story is looking over the nation of Israel, and she sang to the people. Do you just remember what God has called us to? Do you remember that when God has called us, he’s promised us that the Messiah would come through David, and it’s our job to represent that in the culture, not not hide from it and be legalistic, not not embrace it and become liberal, but just to redeem it in Christ. And so he says in chapter four. So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife, and he went into her, and the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. Then the woman said to Naomi, blessed is the Lord who has not left you without a redeemer today, and may his name become famous in Israel. May he also be to you a restorer of life and a sustainer of you in old age, for your daughter in law who loves you and is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him. And listening to Solomon was born Boaz, and to Boaz, Obed and Obed was born Jesse, and to Jesse was born David.
Ruth is writing this book, I would say even primarily to the northern tribes of Israel. Because once the nation of Israel split into, they never followed a king of the line of David. And David was the place through which the Messiah would come. And she’s writing this story in a roundabout way, to the nation of Israel and saying, do you remember what gave us our identity? Do you remember what we’re about? Do you remember where the Messiah is coming? It’s through the line of David, as if she is now representing God to this world and saying, just come back to him and understand what he’s called you to do in this world. This book. Points us to being a representative to a broken world, to just remind them of the name of Jesus. For you to look at important verses of the Old Testament. The promises that this book is living on comes in Genesis 12. We’ve looked at this together when when Abraham, the very first Jew, was, was given the promise from God as building a nation that says, and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great. And so you shall be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. And in you all families of the earth will be blessed.
And Ruth is writing this book and she’s saying, listen guys, through us all nations will be blessed. We aren’t even getting the story right. But, but, but this girl from Moab saw the importance of God and come to our nation. How shameful is it for us that we can’t even get it right? But someone from the outside can. From the land of Moab. Through us. All nations will be blessed. And second, Samuel and seven calling David and promising about his throne. It says, your house, David, and your kingdom shall be endure before me forever, and your throne shall be established forever. Meaning when the Messiah came, the nation of Israel was looking for the Messiah to establish his kingdom. I would say he has. But not completely. We looked at this at Christmas. I promised the Old Testament. Isaiah nine for a child would be born to us talking about Jesus. A son will be given to us, and the government will rest on his shoulders. And he, his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Ruth has taken the identity of the nation, saying, guys, this is what Christ has called us to. The Messiah is coming through the line of David, and we’re so divided right now that we can’t even see the beauty of what God is doing. Can I can I tell you this morning that the pointing of what Ruth is saying is that in the unity of the church, as it unites on the very purpose for which God establishes us, is a powerful force for him that represents him not only to a culture, but to all nations.
And for us this morning. It’s a reminder to keep what’s important as important before God, to put on the front of our mind the cause of Christ and the hope that comes through him. So God has called us to so much more than a petty misunderstanding of seeking physical gain as we go throughout this world, but to represent him and to think about his glory wherever he may call us, to proclaim his name. To us. I would say this this morning. The morning of Ruth goes like this stop calling God your King when he isn’t. And allow him in so that he may direct you. Alimalek stop fighting against God’s will and open up your brokenness to the Lord. Naomi, stop being stiff neck. Orpah. The Lord has so much for you. If you would just lay down your life and love for him. When you travel away from God, you open the door for disease and destruction apart from him. But come to the house of bread. Be called the Friend of God as Ruth. Celebrate his presence and usher people in before his presence, as Boaz has done. You know the beauty of Ruth.
Is that Ruth is writing about the promise of a messiah who would come. The astounding part for us this morning is that we get to look back at this book and say, he already has. What Ruth predicted hundreds of years before Jesus has come true in Jesus. And Ruth knew it was happening and pointing everyone to him. How more important it is for us after this book has been proclaimed hundreds of years later to say, hey, Jesus has come to set you free and his house is a place of celebration, and before him is a as a place of feasting that Jesus will provide if you just come to him. How do we do that? With this attitude. Wherever God leads you in this world, whether it’s out of Moab to a particular place to represent him, or you’re already living in the place that God has called you to represent him. The attitude of Ruth is the way that we see God work when we do it together. And it’s saying this For God, wherever you go, I will go. And wherever you lodge, I will lodge God. Your people shall be my people, and God you are my God. Whatever extent God calls you. God doesn’t ask you to flee from culture. God doesn’t ask you. To embrace it. But rather God’s calling all of us to redeem it. If our desire is to see his name proclaimed throughout our valley comes on the people of God, resting in this verse and trusting in him.