I do!

A More Pleasant Kingdom

(Ruth 1, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, November 29, 2015)

(1-5) Three sad deaths

[1:1] In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. [2] The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. [3] But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. [4] These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years, [5] and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.

Naomi (pleasantness) went away to Moab with her husband, Elimelech (my God is king), and their two sons, Mahlon (sick) and Chilion (wasting away). They went there because of a famine “in the land” of Israel. While they were in Moab, the two boys married Orpah (gazelle) and Ruth (friendship). All three men died, leaving three widows, one an older woman, and the other two young women who would be expected to marry again and to have children. Naomi was grieving the loss of her husband and both of her sons. Very sad.

(6-18) Where you go, I will go
[6] Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the LORD had visited his people and given them food. [7] So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. [8] But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother's house. May the LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. [9] The LORD grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. [10] And they said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.” [11] But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? [12] Turn back, my daughters; go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, [13] would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the LORD has gone out against me.” [14] Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
[15] And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” [16] But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return 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. [17] Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” [18] And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.

The three women set out on their journey together to Israel. The word had reached even the fields of Moab that the LORD, the God of Israel, “had visited His people and given them food.” Somewhere along that journey, Naomi had a difficult conversation with the two young girls. Was it really wise for them to go back to Naomi's hometown? Would it not be better for each of them to return to their own people in Moab and seek to marry again?

One of the girls finally agreed to go back to her family, but Ruth, the widow of Mahlon, insisted on staying with Naomi. In asserting her dedication of loyalty, Ruth used the language of marital commitment. First she clung (cleaved) to Naomi. Naomi's earlier hope for the young women was couched in the terms of God's steadfast love for His people: “May the LORD deal kindly ([hesed] be faithful according to His own covenant promises to His people) with you.” Now Ruth gave an eloquent promise of her own hesed love for this elderly woman in need. Ruth would follow Naomi in her travels. She would live where Naomi lived. She would be a part of the people of Judah and trust in Yahweh, the God of hesed love would be her God. Ruth would die and be buried in Naomi's land. This solemn commitment was sealed with an oath: “May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” Naomi finally agreed to Ruth's intentions. There was no way to dissuade her from her settled determination to love her mother-in-law for as long as they both lived.

(19-22) Naomi returns and Ruth is with her
[19] So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. And the women said, “Is this Naomi?” [20] She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. [21] I went away full, and the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the LORD has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?”
[22] So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.

When Naomi returned home to Bethlehem (the same city of David that would be the birthplace of Jesus after the passage of over 1000 years), “the whole town was stirred because of them.” The women who had known Naomi more than a decade ago now saw that their companion of earlier years had changed. Her name was still “pleasantness,” but she had no pleasantness within her heart. Grief had taken its toll on Naomi. Now she called herself Mara (bitterness).

Naomi testified to the truth that her God was “the Almighty.” The Lord of all, who gives and who also takes away, “brought me back empty.” She felt God's judgment in her tragedy. The weight and proximity of her sadness had made the hesed covenant faithfulness of the Lord seem distant and fleeting. Yet the person that God would use to show his wonderful mercy was right next to her. The surprising gift of God to her, Ruth the Moabitess, perhaps seemed like a burden as a poor stranger to Bethlehem. Yet from Ruth would come the line of the best Kinsman-Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. The present blessing of Ruth, the near future of her marriage to Boaz, and the distant future of her most important progeny as King over the most pleasant kingdom imaginable, were all hidden from from her. All she saw was her emptiness and distress.

The Lord is with us in the bitterness of disappointment, but can we see Him? We need to have an eye for new beginnings sent by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We need to hear His promise of marriage to us in our distress. “I will be your Friend forever.” This is His Word to you: “You shall be My people, and I will be your God.” At the cost of His own life, Jesus has secured for us the fullness of God's own covenant faithfulness. In Him, God says, “I do!” to you.

Old Testament Reading—Malachi 1 – The Lord's Love for Israel and The Priests' Polluted Offerings

Gospel Reading—Luke 1:26-38 – Birth of Jesus Foretold