Ruth 1:1-22.  This is such a great story.  I will try to get an introduction written soon.  But in the mean time I hope the information in the post helps you.  Today’s reading is pretty clear but there are a few things you might want to notice.

First the events in the book happen during the same time as the history in the book of Judges.  If you read through that book with us you might remember that Israel was a mess, spiritually and politically.  The book of Judges has one of the most horrifying stories in the Bible (Judges 19-21)  Judges is not in chronological order and it is possible that the events in those chapters actually happened early on in the 400 years covered in the book.  Also you might remember the very last verse in Judges, “there was no king in Israel in those days and every one did what was right in their own eyes”.  As we will see, not quite everyone.

Second in today’s reading we see a famine in Israel.  Famines were often seen as judgment from God.  That could certainly be the case (Zechariah 14:18).  We know that often drought is a cause of famine and God decides when and where the rain might fall (Matthew 5:45).  Regardless of whether or not this is a specific judgment the proper response to trouble is prayer (and repentance if necessary).  Again God is in ultimate control and we need to stay where he wants us and do what he wants us to do regardless of what is going on.  Which brings us to the third thing.

Moab was east of the southern end of the Dead Sea and was a fairly desolate area.  Israel and Moab were enemies (See Deuteronomy 23:3).  Israelites were forbidden to marry Canaanites (people who occupied the land before Israel took it over) because God knew that the Israelites would pick up their customs including their (false) gods.  In ancient times people often thought that gods were attached to the land so the temptation to follow local gods would be string, especially in times of drought and famine.  Israelite women were forbidden to marry Moabite men because Moabite men were forbidden from becoming a part of the Israelite religious culture (Deuteronomy 23:3),that would affect their wives also.

The next thing that is interesting is that the story starts out telling us about a “certain man” and only brings his name in in the second verse.  His name is Elimelech and means “MY God is king”, an interesting name considering the final verse of the book of Judges (See “What’s in a Name”).  God as king is exactly what God wanted for the Israelites but that is not where they went in their history.  The problem in the book of Judges is not that they had no human king but that they were not letting God be their actual king.  For a Jewish reader the beginning of this story would be very odd.  For Elimelech to leave the country because of a famine and go to a foreign place, a wilderness, the land of their enemies would really get a Jewish reader all twisted up.  Clearly Elimelech was not living up to his name.  Don’t miss the very end of verse 2, “and they stayed there”.  They clearly weren’t there for just a few days.  Elimelech died (I can just imagine a Jewish reader thinking, “Serves him right.”) and his sons married women from the area.  Remember it was not forbidden to marry Moabite wimen but it still would have been shocking to the Jewish readers of the story

Eventually the sons die too and the women are left alone.  So Elimelech’s wife decides to go back home, she had heard that the famine was over there, Yahweh the God of the Israelites, was giving his people food.  Again I can see a Jewish reader thinking, “See you should have all just stayed and waited.”  Naomi tells here daughters-in-law to go back to their families and find new husbands.  Orpah, the one, leaves, but Ruth, the other, refuses and stays with Naomi.  In verses 16-17 we see Ruth’s awesome commitment to stay with Naomi and take on her culture.

When they return to Naomi’s hometown, Bethlehem, the whole town ins stirred up, they remember Naomi and can’t believe she’s back.  Obviously some time has gone by, enough for the people to have missed her, but not quite enough for them to have forgotten her.  They are astounded by her appearance and situation.  At this point I should mention that Naomi means “pleasant” (See “What’s in a Name”).  Naomi is angry as she hears her name used over and over again because she thinks here life has been anything but “pleasant”.  She confronts the people and tells them to call her “Mara” from then on.  Mara means “bitter”, she feels God has given her a bitter life.

The reading ends with Naomi (notice the story teller maintains here pleasant name) and Ruth settling down and then we are told it is the time of the barley harvest.  Jewish storytellers are masters and the ending of this section leaves us wondering.  Why is it important that it is the time of the barley harvest, maybe because the famine is over, but as we will see there God is working on providing much more than barley.

We need to be careful not to walk around with a name and not live up to it. Christian means “Christ follower”, are we.  Do we just ask “WWJD” (What Would Jesus Do?) and not follow through on it.  We also need to see that God is active.  I don’t know how the three men died but it seems pretty weird that all three died in a somewhat short time span and it may have been the consequences of looking for help somewhere else rather that in God.  There were a lot of those sorts of consequences in the book of Judges and also in the book of Isaiah.  Finally we need to not become bitter when life goes badly, we broke the world God didn’t.  And I like it that in the story, from the author’s point of view (and remember God is ultimately the author of the Bible) that Mara was Naomi.  There could still be and would be pleasantness in her life.  As we go through the tough times we need to stay focused on and living for God.  We will certainly see better times ahead, even if it is only in eternity.  But often it is sooner as we will see in the life of Naomi.

God help me hang n there in tough times.  Help me stay where you want me to be.  Give me courage.  Help me keep a positive perspective.  Help me trust in you.  Thank you for caring.  Let me wait for your rain.