The Book of Ruth, The Book of Ruth you always hear about the book of Ruth. I was excited to get in on this action.
Its a short little book. One days reading. There is NO smiting, NO rape, NO murder, NO curses...
We have Naomi, who's husband dies, we have her two sons and two daughters in law, Ruth and Orpah (which is actually where Oprah got her name, I was mistaken earlier.). The sons die also and Naomi is stuck with her d.i.l.'s
They are living in the land of Moab, and when all the fellas kick the can Naomi decides to head home to Judah.
Naomi, I'm sorry to say is feeling betrayed by God. She has grown bitter and grumpy. She's a real Debbie Downer, as she thinks the Lord has turned His back on her. She tells the girls to go home to their families. There will be no one to marry them if they come with her and they will end up taking care of this grumpy, bitter old gal.
Orpah is like "yeahhhh maybe you're right...see ya!" she head for the hills.
But dear sweet Ruth is determined to stay. We then get 1:16-17. Which is a lovely way of expressing your love for someone, I think.
And it is also a very hard thing to say to someone who has grown so bitter with life. Sometimes you do want to follow Orpah, to say "see ya sucka".
These are the energy suckers in our lives.
I had an aunt who did have a horrible life, like Naomi, she lost her child, lost her husband, lost her business...she was the most bitter person I have ever know. She was like a dementor (harry potter ref.) she sucked all the joy from the room, and I tended to want to avoid her, luckily my love for her was stronger than that desire. She died 2 years ago and think it was the happiest day of her life.
I digress
So Ruth and Naomi make it home. When they get there Naomi tells everyone to call her Mara, which means bitter. She isn't even trying to pretend shes alright. Ruth is told to go and glean the fields of a rich relative. Remember the rule about leaving the stuff that falls whilst harvesting for the poor? That's what I think shes doing. And well the rich guy tells the her to take from another field which is better. He also tells his men to not molester her (sweet!) and to leave a little extra, because she is taking such good care of Naomi.
Enter: Mr. Nice Guy
Naomi then has Ruth go and sleep at his feet so he will decide to marry her, even though she is a foreigner. (Which I fell is a littttle tricky, and we were having such a positve story time!) He's so nice that when he finds her there and she asks that he take her, as they are family, he tells her that there is a closer family member for her to marry.
After he tells her this, he has her stay the night anyway. And guess what? He doesn't have sex with her, wow! Right?! Yeah, he is Mr. Nice Guy
The other guy doesn't want her and so Mr. Nice Guy get to marry her and they have a son. And Naomi is his wet nurse. The son then becomes the father of Jesse who is the father of David.
So there we have it, The Book of Ruth.
Happy ending.
Peaceful.
Just good people doing what is right.
And not for any hidden agenda.
Very simply, for Love.
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2 comments:
Everything Crystal said was exactly right.
I'm gonna expound on some more things I got out of it....
Naomi, like many of us, blamed God, or thought God was punishing her for some reason. People have this misconception that if you're a Christian or true believer that nothing bad should or will happen to you. That someone how you'll escape tragedy your whole life. And that is simply not true. God never promises that. He only promises to turn those situations around for our good. This is the root of where we get all of those sayings like, there's good in everything, and what doesn't kill us makes us stronger, etc.
How great an attribute is loyalty. Ruth is so loyal and faithful to Naomi it just amazes me. Loyalty is so huge to me personally. I love loyal people and despise unloyal people. Loyalty breeds faithfulness (to God), patriotism (to country), and devotion (to loved ones). Ruth is the best of people. She is hard working and loyal. You'll notice she didn't beg for food, she worked for it. She was given because people knew she was a hard worker, not only for herself, but that she helped her mother-in-law with what she recieved. And God blessed her and caused others to show her favor.
Ruth and Naomi after the tragedy were seemingly destined to live poor, bitter lives. But because Ruth stayed faithful and exhibited Godly character, the Lord turned her life around (and even Naomi who blamed the Lord was blessed just for being near Ruth), and they had probably a better life than they would have had the tragedy not taken place. Afterall, Boaz was wealthy and strong, and Naomi's husband was not wealthy nor were her sons healthy, as evidenced by them having to leave when the famine came and the meanings of their sons' very names. Not to mention that they seemed to die early. Ruth was blessed in every way. God's blessing would, as He promised earlier, continue to her descendants on down the line.
I just wanted to point out, too, that Ruth was a Moabite, not and Israelite, she was a convert. Her loyalty even applied to her new family. In 3:10 Boaz acknowledges that she could have sought after other, younger, men, but she did was she was supposed to by reminding what she thought was Naomi's next of kin of his right to redemption/claim to her.
Tomorrow is 1 Samuel 1-5
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