Naomi and Ruth (Part B)

She's still going to be the jolly believer after this? Is she going to be upholding the name of the Lord?

Is she going to be delusional? Is she going to live in reality, or is she going to hide behind a non-reality? Some people, they live in a non-reality. They look like they get away with life. They annoy the rest of us, but they look like they get away with things. They just say, deal with reality, will you? I guess I'm the only person dealing with reality right now.

But anyway, we will see that Naomi is a survivor. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the Book of Ruth. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching.

Today, Pastor Rick will continue his message called, Naomi and Ruth, as he teaches in Ruth Chapter 1. When trouble comes into our lives, we can do a couple of things. We can endure it, try to escape it, or we can try to use it. Probably an element of all of those belong to it, but trying to use the pressure that comes in our lives, because it's a law of physics that pressure makes things contract, and the pressure's on squeezing you. What's going to come out? And of course, that's why we like Paul and Jeremiah, because we see these men being pressed and what comes out of them is beneficial to us.

I want that. Their honesty and their perseverance. Verse 2 continues, in the name of the man was Ahimelech, in the name of his wife Naomi, in the names of his two sons were Malhon, Killian, Ephrathites of Bethlehem, Judah, and they went to the country of Moab and remained there. Well, Ahimelech, the names, the meanings of the names in this little book are quite interesting.

Ahimelech means God is my king. Malhon is first son, and it's pronounced a little differently in the Hebrew, but I don't speak Hebrew, so I'm going to pronounce it the way I look at it. Malhon means sickly. His brother's name, Killian, means wasting away or failing. Not very good names to stick on your kids. Hi, my name is sickly. Naomi's name means joy, so mom and dad grab the good names.

God is my king and joy, but the boys get stuck with the, they were probably born that way. One commentator said they were probably named after the times they were born in, and I don't think so. I don't think there was a famine so much in the time they were born.

I think they were sickly and just made it through birth. Naomi will try to rename herself. She has this dramatic moment, don't call me Naomi Pleasant, call me Mara Bitter, you know, don't call me Pleasant, call me Bitter. But anyway, Orpah, who is the Moabite daughter-in-law of Naomi, who goes back to her people, her name means neck, like of an animal, and the implication is stiff neck, stubborn. And maybe, I don't know, when she was at birth and soon after when they named her, they just, you know, she's a stubborn little thing. Ruth, friendship is the meaning of her name. Boaz, his name sounds just strong, strength, that's the name what Boaz means, strength.

And Obed, who will be his son, the name means worshiper. So all the names, if you know, you go over them, you do a little look up on the names, you find that it does tell a story in and of itself. Well, as I mentioned, the children named after the circumstances, so much, so rich with history is this section here on these characters.

For example, these two boys are sickly and they're living in Moab territory. That means they're not, and there's no nice Jewish girls around, so they marry these Moabite girls who are probably not, I don't want to say they're unattractive, but they're not as like Esther and Abigail and Sarah, where their beauty is pointed out. And that is just a true part of the story, that these two women were more what we would say plain Janes, there's just nothing outstanding about them, but not necessarily, again, unattractive. Because the Moabite men would not have been cooperating, the Moabite families would not have been cooperating with them on this. And I think that plays some significance in the story when Ruth and Boaz begin, when they meet, and we'll come to that in several chapters from now.

And I think it also makes the story down to earth, because, you know, you just can't put, you know, Hollywood tries to put the best socially appealing faces before us, and with no regard to reality. And the Bible does not do that. It says they were in Bethlehem, Ephrathites, that's the ancient name for Bethlehem, and they went to the country of Moab following the food, again, we've already commented on that. And when they got to the land of the Moabites, to some degree they would have to assimilate. The Moabites worshiped, their primary god was Chemosh.

Child sacrifice was associated with him, very much so. We get that in the book of Kings, second Kings would come across it outright. But these were enemies of God's people, the Moabites. Moses had to deal with Balaam, who was asked by Balak, the Moabite king, to come curse the Jews.

Eud had to deal with Eglon, you know, he stabbed him and the knife was swallowed up because Eud was, you know, pretty heavy. And they were Moabites. And you say, well, with this history of conflict between the two, why, why are they moving, going to Moab's territory? Wouldn't they say, you know, these are our enemies, we're not going there. Well, interesting enough, people get over things, even as nations from time to time.

Not always, but from time to time. For example, just I think yesterday, the Israeli Air Force had a joint operation in Germany with the German Air Force. Well, you know, you can look back and it was just a little while ago, Nazi Germany was trying to exterminate the Jews and yet things change.

Here they are as allies and it's not been that long of a time. So there's another true part of the story, you could say. Verse 3, then Ahimelech, Naomi's husband, died and she was left and her two sons. Now they took wives of the women of Moab, the name of one was Orpah and the name of the other was Ruth and they dwelt there about ten years. Verse 3, it just passes over it, her husband died, it leaves out all the pain, the sorrow that goes with that. Of course if you've ever gone through these things, you know what's involved. In verse 4, these are the two wives that married these two Jewish men.

Ten years and no children. I think because the men were sickly, I mean we get that indication because Ruth does end up having a child with Boaz, but that ten years away from home was Naomi's life. They were, when they left the Promised Land, they left the place of worship and when they left the place of worship behind, it gets risky. We see this today when Christians relocate for whatever reason and worship is not a primary, you know, it's not essential, trouble is not far behind. But often we see Christians move away for a job or school or whatever and they look for a place to worship and they go about it. It may take a little time to find the ideal place, but they know it's very important and they stay balanced.

But when they don't and they're left by themselves, there are consequences. I think there's a little bit of that here when they left the Promised Land, they left Shiloh behind. But we know that there were problems at Shiloh during the days of Eli and we'll be getting that when we get to Samuel. Now we go at verse 5, then both Malhon and Killian also died, so the woman survived her two sons and her husband. No surprise given their names that it seems to be a premature death, perhaps they died together.

Perhaps there was an accident, perhaps it doesn't tell us what happened. But here poor Naomi lost her husband and now her two boys. The depth of her sorrow, I think, goes deeper than the sorrow of Ruth and Orpah, looking at it that way.

And it looks like these tragedies, these two, they happened in rapid succession, one after the other. And it is a fact that life is, this opening chapter shows us that it's difficult for Naomi outside the Promised Land. All she has are these two Moabite women and probably Moabite neighbors that are not, you know, vicious to her also.

They're nice neighbors there, just because they're not Jews does not mean there were no other nice people in the world. But they lost everything, this family. So the woman survived her two sons and her husband, a woman of great misfortune. How is she going to land? What is going to happen to her? Is she still going to be the jolly believer after this? Is she going to be upholding the name of the Lord?

Is she going to be delusional? Is she going to live in reality or is she going to hide behind a non-reality? Some people, they live in a non-reality. They look like they get away with life. They annoy the rest of us, but they look like they get away with things. They just say, deal with reality, will you?

I guess I'm the only person dealing with reality right now. But anyway, we will see that Naomi is a survivor. Verse 6, then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab. She had heard in the country of Moab that Yahweh had visited his people by giving them bread. So probably through the caravans coming along, she now finds out that times in Israel have changed and the crops are growing and she wants to go back home.

She's not making it well here. To be a widow, to be without a husband as a grown woman outside of your father's home at this time in history, it was not an easy ride. It was hard on multiple levels and that's why the Old Testament prophets, they're very serious about God's protection over the widows and the orphans.

People just would take advantage of them and there were needs that they had in that society that they could not get, not easily. And so this was going to be a life of hardship for her for a long time. It really, the outlook was pretty bleak. She's going home but that didn't mean things were just going to fall right into place and somebody was going to give her a job at a Fortune 500 company because she's family. And she was not being blessed where she was here in the land of Moab.

That became clear and so she's looking to leave. David, King David, years later will send his parents to Moab in exile to protect them from bloodthirsty King Saul. And well, here are the roots of course with Naomi and Ruth and there's the connection because Ruth's mother and father are still alive. We get chapter 2, it will tell us that Moab will make a comment, you could have gone back to your mother and father but you chose to stay with Naomi. So that's some more information about the character of Ruth and the link between Moab and David's taking his parents there to protect them from Saul. Now verse 7, therefore she went out 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. Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, go return each to her mother's house. Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me.

This is, now we're getting into the dialogue and it's already yielding fruit for us. When she says, it says she's returning to the land of Judah, she pronounces a blessing on them. She's willing to let them go. She needs their companionship or she would benefit greatly from their companionship so they head towards Judah and Naomi just, this is not right. I can't take these girls with me back home. They need to be free.

They're still young. They can find husbands. I have nothing to offer them and Naomi is ready to give them up and she's going to, as I mentioned, pronounce a blessing to them.

Go return each to her mother's house. She says, the Lord, Yahweh, deal kindly with you as you have dealt with me and the dead. That's telling you about both women, Ruth and Orpah, that these were good girls. They were good to their mother and father-in-law. They were good to their husbands, their mother-in-law, rather than trying, you know, we're good for my boys, you know, rather than that junk. She just, you know, they had this beautiful relationship. I hate that. I have to tell you. You know, grandparents had meddled.

You look, you had your chance. Don't go meddling. Let the kids raise their kid.

I mean, I'm not talking about life or death situations, but I'm talking about just, you know, back off. I don't want anybody messing with my, my home is my castle. And I want my son's home to be his castle.

And I don't want to go there and act like, you know, it's an extension of my home. So, I've had my little rant about that. And there's plenty more.

There's plenty more. Because I see that. You know, I see marriages and people meddling and sticking their nose in it. Shut up.

You had your marriage. See it all the time. It's not right. Anyhow, some of you are like, I'm guilty.

I hope not. It's like, yeah, you know, it's tough. It's hard. You wanted to.

You got to zip your mouth shut and just let them run. And another, no, there's no more right now. Verse 9, Yahweh grant that you may find rest each in the house of her husband. So she kissed them and lifted up their voices and wept. So she's praying for their future. Again, another virtue to release them, to ask a genuine blessing on them, knowing that it would really be nice to have them go with her to that 70 mile trek around the Dead Sea.

And she's giving it up. And their emotions poured out because Ruth and her love touched their hearts. It's not like, yeah, good riddance.

I never liked you either. It's like, yeah, that's the right thing to do. There's this outpour. They lifted up their voices. They loved each other. The three widows.

They loved each other. And it's clear, but just by these words. Just because Orpah chooses to go back doesn't mean she wasn't loving. And, you know, don't point in giving up on her. I mean, she made the wrong choice, but we'll get to some of that. Verse 10, they said to her, surely we will return with you to your people.

How noble is that? No, we're going to go with you. They did not just, you know, just jump on the first opportunity to be away from Naomi. But Naomi said, turn back my daughters. Will you go with me?

Are there still sons in my womb? That they may be your husbands? She's approaching this logically. She's being logical here. She said, think about it. I have nothing to give you.

Your people will give you more than I can give you. She refers to them as her daughters in the text, not her daughters-in-law. She doesn't say, go back my daughters-in-law.

In a term of endearment. And again, you see this star in Naomi rising up and you say, you know what, these two girls, they never met a person like Naomi. Not a woman like Naomi before.

That's where it made it hard to leave her. That's why Ruth said, I'm not going. Because there's nobody like you that I know.

I've never met. I was born in the wrong religion. I was born in the wrong church. And I found the right one.

And let's go to verse 12. She says, turn back my daughters, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, if I should have a husband tonight, and should also bear sons, would you wait for them till they were grown?

Would you restrain yourselves from having husbands? No, my daughters. For it grieves me very much for your sakes that the hand of Yahweh has gone out against me.

This is remarkable. She lays it out. Again, as I've been saying, I have nothing for you and I won't let you do this to yourselves. She says, it breaks my heart for your sakes that God has broken my heart. Well, she says, turn back. We look at that from purer eyes and we say, turn back to what?

Apostasy? I think she's giving the opportunity to Orpah as well as to Ruth. You've met Yahweh. You know Kim Ocean.

The rest are frauds. You can come with me if you really want to. I think that is in what she is saying. Because Ruth picks it up. And I think Orpah just said, you know, there's a guy from high school. Please, you know. Anyway, it's a bleak outlook. This dreadful past. And she's facing the music.

The facts are the facts. And this is the voice of faith battered. Not defeated. She's still asking blessings on them in Yahweh's name. She has not come to the place of Job yet. Well, maybe, you know, she's certainly, she's going to get there.

But she's, she's got that struggle happening. It's not uncommon in the Old Testament to blame God for what he allows. It's not uncommon in our lives. He allows it. And God in the end says, yeah, in the end it is me.

What are you going to do with that? And we trust. That's what faith is all about. Otherwise, faith is a joke. Faith is just something to get something. Faith is supposed to mean, no matter what happens, to me and my heart and my feelings are going to stick with the Lord. That's what faith is supposed to be. You can lose some of that reality in the language of Scripture because the language of Scripture is so beautiful and about other people sometimes.

But it is supposed to be about us. And so she, yes, she suffered. She has not turned her back on Yahweh. She had converted these girls to him.

Not likely the two boys would have married these, these women if they had retained their allegiance to their pagan gods. And I'm not ready to blame all of Naomi's troubles on moving to Moab. There were people in the Promised Land with troubles. We just finished that in the two chapters of Judges. It grieves my heart very much for your sakes, she says here in verse 13, that the hand of Yahweh has gone out against me. It is a frank and logical analysis of the situation.

There is no way that you can come along and say, oh come on, that's a bit much. No, it's really not enough to express the hurt that she had gone through and these two women went with it with her. So what did they do is they burst out into tears with her. Reminiscent of Jacob. After they had come back from Egypt, his sons not knowing that Joseph was vetting them, was filtering them. Joseph said, you guys are brutes and before I be nice to you, I need to find out if you're still the monsters that threw me in the pit. And so he runs them through this rigorous course. And he's got the whole eye makeup on. So that's why we don't wear eye makeup, because it makes you mean.

Men, anyway. Jacob, they come back and they say, you know, he kept Simeon. Jacob said, well I never liked, he was my least favorite son anyway.

No, he doesn't do that. What we get, Genesis 42, and Jacob their father said to them, you bereaved me. Joseph is no more. Simeon is no more.

You want to take Benjamin. All these things are against me. Well who could blame him? Life's picking off his children.

And there he's, you know, Simeon is in jail and I could bring Benjamin back just to get bread. And so he loses his, you know, he has this moment. All these things are against me. And that's what Naomi is saying. And that's what we have said sometimes.

If you live long enough and you do something, God, you're going to have these moments. It is not the language that we want to hear, but it is the reality that she is facing. And who can criticize Jacob and who can criticize Naomi for this? She's returning to the land of God, hurt by God, still believing, still calling on his name in prayer. Otherwise, we wouldn't have this story. Verse 14, then they lifted up their voices and wept again.

There's that outburst of tears. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. See, the narrator, he says it's the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law. But when Naomi speaks, it's not daughter-in-law, as I mentioned, it's my daughters. Orpah yields. She said, I can't argue with this.

I'm going home. Which meant she's going back to her pagan gods, because in those days you just could not live in a pagan environment and last unless you were some sort of super, you know, believer. But Ruth, Ruth couldn't do it. Ruth refused to do it. And nobody's going to make Ruth. So it says just five little words in English, but Ruth clung to her.

Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth wouldn't let go. Thanks for tuning in to Cross Reference Radio for this study in the book of Ruth. Cross Reference is the teaching ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. To learn more about this ministry, visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com. There you'll find additional teachings from Pastor Rick, and we encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. When you subscribe, you'll be notified of each new edition of Cross Reference Radio. You can search for Cross Reference Radio on your favorite podcast app, or just follow the links at crossreferenceradio.com. That's all the time we have for today, but we hope you'll join us next time as we continue to learn more from the book of Ruth, right here on Cross Reference Radio.