Life is like a rollercoaster ride! If we pause and think about it for a moment, we will realize that our lives are filled with eager ascents, dreadful dips, triumphant twists, and tragic turns. And we are usually flown for a few unexpected loops along the way. Some of us have enjoyed the blessings of being raised in a loving family, receiving a solid education, getting a good job, falling in love, getting married, having children and grandchildren, enjoying good health, and maybe even retiring with a little money. Likewise, some of us have also endured the bitterness of family dysfunction, academic failure, unemployment, breakups, divorce, infertility, disease, financial stress, and the death of a loved one. Many of our lives teeter tend to back and forth between agony and ecstasy, emptiness and abundance, bitterness and blessing. This is exactly what we find in the opening chapter of the Book of Ruth!
A Refugee Crisis (1-2)
Our story takes place during the days when the Judges ruled in Israel. It was a period of history stained by political anarchy, economic idolatry, and spiritual apathy. An ominous cloud lingered over the land and the nation’s character was conformed to its palpable presence. Instead of uniting together to promote the common good and facilitate human flourishing, the society succumbed to selfishness and God’s chosen people turned their backs on each other. Indeed, these were dark days for Israel and there was little hope on the horizon.
To make an already bleak situation even bleaker, a famine struck the country. The rain did not fall and crops did not grow and there was a vast food shortage in Israel. This created a Middle-East refugee crisis where many families were forced to abandon their homes and livelihoods to seek food and welfare in foreign lands.
In the midst of this calamity, there was a little Israelite family living in the little town of Bethlehem which was located in the region of Judah in southern Israel. Bethlehem was a farming town; it was a community especially known for its production of barley. As a matter of fact, the name Bethlehem literally means “house of bread” and it acted as the bread basket for the whole region. The food shortage forced this family of Ephrathites (a small clan in the tribe of Judah) to flee their hometown of Bethlehem and seek refuge on the east side of the Dead Sea in the enemy territory of Moab, whose fertile fields fared better in the famine. So, Elimelech and Naomi loaded up their two boys Mahlon and Kilion and they moved to the enemy territory of Moab.
Can you imagine the desperation of packing up your family and a few belongings and fleeing to another nation because you fear for your life? Can you ponder the pain of leaving everything you know behind and going to a place with a different language and culture and not having any friends? Can you envisage the anxiety of entering a country where the people don’t really want you; where they are skeptical about your religion, culture, and motivations for being there?
When we consider the hopelessness of living in a land ravaged by violence and deprivation, it might cause us to wonder where God is in all of this! But amidst these bitter circumstances, I sure am glad that the Moabites welcomed this family with open arms. What a blessing for their enemies to take them in and provide for their physical needs!
Misfortune in Moab (3-5)
This little family from Bethlehem boarded the rollercoaster of bitterness and blessing again when they reached Moab. Not long after they arrived, Elimelech, the patriarch of their family, died. We don’t know any of the details surrounding his death—all we know is that he died, and everyone is left to wonder why. Naomi’s love was snatched away from her and now she was left as a single mother with the challenge of raising two boys alone in a foreign land.
Even though they were burdened by the bitterness of death, as time went on, they were blessed again when the two boys met and married the Moabite girls, Orpah and Ruth. Just as the grief of losing Elimelech gave way to the joy of gaining two lovely daughters-in-law and the hope of rocking grandchildren to sleep, tragedy strikes again. For some unknown and unexplained reason, both Mahlon and Kilion died. Now we have three weeping widows mourning the death of their husbands—three wounded women, three shattered souls, three hopeless hearts!
When we read stories like this in the Bible or experience things like this in our own lives, it causes us to ask the question “Why?” It doesn’t seem to make any sense! Why would God take this family all the way to Moab if Elimelech was just going to die anyway? Why would God allow Mahlon and Kilion to marry Moabite girls if they were just going to die anyway? What is the purpose of all of this?
We ask these same kinds questions about our own lives! Why would God allow me to get hired for the job if he knew it isn’t going to be a good fit for me? Why would God allow me to get married if he knew it was going to end in a painful divorce? Why would he allow us to have a baby if he knows the baby is going to die? Why would he cure me of cancer if he knew that I would turn around and have a heart attack? We are constantly riding the rollercoaster of bitterness and blessing, and it often doesn’t make any sense!
The Blessings of Loyalty and Love (6-15)
As Naomi coped with the burden and bitterness of death, she decided to return to her hometown of Bethlehem. Without a husband or a male heir, she was emotionally, socially, and economically destitute. There was no reason for her to stay in Moab. Besides, she had heard the news that the Lord had visited her people back in Israel and had blessed them with food again.
While the three widows started walking toward Bethlehem, Naomi realized that it didn’t make any sense for her daughters-in-law to accompany her. They would be better off staying in their own country and they should go and take care of their own mothers rather than her. Naomi blessed and kissed them and they all wept together. But in a display of remarkable loyalty and love, both girls refused and said that they would rather live with Naomi among her people.
Naomi deeply appreciated the girl’s gracious gesture, but she pleaded with them to return to their own people, employing a hyperbolic line of reasoning to argue her point, “Am I still capable of having sons and supplying you with husbands? Suppose I got married again and had more sons. Would you wait until they grew up? Don’t be ridiculous! Go home, my daughters!”
After all, she did not want them to drag them into her bitterness and frustration with God.
Naomi’s argument eventually achieved its intended effect upon Orpah, who kissed her mother-in-law and did the sensible thing and returned to Moab. Ruth, on the other hand, refused to go. She wrapped her arms around Naomi, clung to her tightly, and uttered one of the most powerful promises in the entire Bible, “Wherever you go I will go, and wherever you live I will live. Your people will be my people and your God will be my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I do not keep my promise. Nothing but death will separate you from me.” (vs.16-18) (Wow! Most people try to find an excuse to get away from their mother-in-law, but Ruth finds a way to stay with hers.) After such a dramatic declaration of loyalty and love, what could Naomi say? So, they walked to Bethlehem together.
This scene shows us that even in the midst of bitterness, God still blesses his people. Sometimes he does it with material provisions and other times by bringing someone alongside of us to help us bear the burden. Sometimes he blesses us through people or circumstances that we would least expect.
Back when I was in seminary in Massachusetts, Jennifer and I were in a car accident on our way to church one Sunday morning in November. The roads were icy and our tires were as bald as an eagle’s head. I knew our tires were in bad shape but we just didn’t have enough money for new ones. So, our car slid into a stone wall and sustained enough damage that it had to be towed. This unfortunate experience was frustrating to say the least, but it was a blessing that neither one of us was injured.
I remember thinking, “Wow Lord, this is the thanks I get for going to church, preaching your word, and doing your work.” I was worried because I knew that we didn’t have enough money to cover the towing bill, let alone the insurance deductible for repairs. But it all turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Before we left church that morning, someone had already paid our towing bill, someone else paid our deductible and gave us a car to borrow, and when we got our car back from the shop, it had four brand new tires on it. Had we not endured the bitterness of the accident, we never would have experienced the blessings of the church! (This experience also gave me first rate education on the importance of having good tires!)
Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever gone through a bitter experience, but then God turned it into an unexpected blessing?
Bitterness and Emptiness (16-21)
Well, sometimes it’s difficult to see the blessings in the midst of the bitterness; sometimes our bitterness blinds us to the blessings.
This is what happened to Naomi. When she and Ruth arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was excited to see them. With surprise and joy, the women greet her, saying, “Is this Naomi?” But Naomi doesn’t recognize the blessing of a benevolent greeting. Instead, she sputters, “Don’t call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Lord has made my life bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty.” (I wonder how this comment made Ruth feel?) Mara went on to wallow in self-pity, blaming God for bringing these calamities upon her. Now she had endured a horrendous ordeal, but she still had the power to choose how she would react.
There are many people in our world today who are just like Mara. When misfortune or calamity strikes, they respond with bitterness rather than recognizing the blessings God has given them. They shake their fists at God and take their anger out on the people around them. They allow their situation to sink their soul into self-absorption, resentment toward God, and ambivalence toward others. I know people who have been angry toward God for more than fifty years. They still resent him for something that happened to them years ago.
We cannot control everything that happens to us in this world, but we can control how we react to it. How about you? Are you holding on to bitterness toward God or someone else because of something that happened to you? Let it go! Forgive as the Lord forgave you! This is why Jesus died on the cross! Don’t let bitterness blind you to the blessings God has bestowed upon you!
Notice how this scene ends. The narrator summarizes that Naomi and Ruth returned from Moab, and he mentions that they just happened to arrive at the beginning of the barley harvest. He adds this literary detail to clue us into the fact that Naomi and Ruth’s story isn’t finished yet. He was still working in and through them and he still had a plan for both of their lives. So, what is that plan? Come on back next week and find out!
Until then, just know that as our lives teeter back and forth between bitterness and blessing, we always have hope because the God is in control and he is accomplishing his plan!