BIBLE STUDIES ARCHIVE.....RUTH

RUTH

The Book of RUTH has often been called the "Romance of Redemption"....

It is a beautiful Love story of a young woman who falls in love with an older man..The spiritual signifigance of this story points ahead to the love of God, who sends "His only begotten son" into the fields of this world to find a gentile Bride and call her unto HIMSELF...

As we study this Book some interesting facts are important to know..you will use these throughout this whole study in the months to come. It will help you to understand the times this little book was written and some original meanings of names, and numbers etc.

SOME INTERESTING FACTS:

The Book of Ruth is the 8th Book of the Bible.

Interestingly, the number 8 means "New beginnings".

The Book is only 85 verses long......

Note: 8 means "new beginnings" and the number 5 means "grace"...New beginnings and lots of grace. What a POWERFUL LOVE STORY!!!

THE SIGNIFGANCE OF NAMES IN THE BOOK OF RUTH:

1. Elimelech - comes from the words in the original Hebrew Eli - meaning "MY GOD" and Melech meaning "IS KING"
thus the fullness of his name meaning
MY GOD IS KING.

2. Naomi - means "pleasant"

3. Mahlon - means "sickly"

4. Chilion - means "puny and pining"

5. RUTH - MEANING 'FRIENDSHIP'

SIGNIFICANT MEANING OF LANDS:

BETHLEHEM-JUDAH

a. Bethelehem means 'HOUSE OF BREAD".
THE CITY WHERE JESUS , THE 'BREAD OF LIFE' WOULD BE BORN CENTURIES LATER...................
B. Judah - meaning 'PLACE OF PRAISE"..

Let us dwell in the HOUSE OF BREAD, which is the WORD OF GOD,..When we eat of heavenly manna, we will experience much joy on this earth.

MOAB - In Psalm 108 God refers to Moab as HIS "washpot"...A more literal translation would be, 'MOAB MY TOILET BOWL".

When Elimelech took his family from the House of Bread and the country of Praise, where God was thier KING, he was really saying , come on my family, let us go swim in the toilet bowl for awhile.

According to Zephaniah 2:8-11 Moab had its' beginning in a cave and it's ending in a grave".

SOME IMPORTANT CULTURAL CONCEPTS OF ANCIENT ISRAEL...........

1. LEVIRATE MARRIAGE - authorized that a widow could marry her deceased husband's next, eldest, single relative.

2. KINSMAN REDEEMER - a relative could redeem a person out of slavery, orphanhood or widowhood.

Now let's glean from this beautiful Love Story as Elimelech sojourns with his family to the "Fields of Moab"..

Ruth 1:1-2

"Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem-judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons. And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion. Ephrathites of Bethlehem-judah."

Now we can see here that we are introduced to a happy Hebrew family who lived in a land where God was King, the House of Bread and Praise was abundant. Refer back to interesting facts given ..
The Bible tells us that the days of Judges was a very chaotic time in life. In the book of Joshua the Israelites had inherited a land as a gift from God Almighty Himself and Joshua dies and the judges come one by one to try and settle the land...It becomes a mess...Everything seems like it is going wrong. But remember God always goes right and as the story progresses we see a spark of Light, a ray of hope ignite in these days of darkness...A love story that will change your hearts to receive our "Kinsman Redeemer" and HIS gracious plan towards all mankind.

Now as we can see, there is a famine in the Land..Yes a "famine" in the House of Bread and the land of Praise. Where God was King.
Now, what do we do when there is a famine in the land? It isn't so much the famine as what we do with the famine...Does Elimelech pray and wait upon HIS Lord to restore all that the "locusts had stolen", and call upon the Name of the Lord ? Does HE trust that HIS King will not let them be destroyed?

Well, Elimelech tells his family, It doesn't seem as if God is King of our lives right now, He's not blessing us in the House of Bread with food..There is no bread!! We need to leave this place and move to the country of Moab where we will not starve. hmmm (physically that is)...It is a decision made in haste and not by faith...
How many of us can relate to that in our lives?

Now you must understand that Moab was an ancient enemy of Israel. It is a pagan land and the worship of other gods is prevalent. The Moabites had opposed the Israelites when they came out of Egypt in teh Exodus (Numbers 22)....
Thus, going to Moab was not a very popular decision to make if one was an Israelite at that time of Israel's history.

It appeared to be a desperate move on Elimelech's part...Apparently, he felt he had no other choice. So off to the "toilet bowl" they went...It was a trap..It was many years that they lived there and the end was death for Elimelech and his two sons, thus leaving three widows.Verse 4 in Chapter one says "they took themselves wives of the women of Moab"...meaning Mahlon and Chilion the two sons, took themselves gentile brides in a heathen land. The names of these Moabitess brides of Chilion and Mahlon were Orpah and Ruth. They dwelled in the land for a period of 10 years at this point. Verse 3 tells us that Elimelech dies and verse five tells us that Mahlon and Chilion died as well..The result, 3 widows..Naomi in a strange land with two Moabitess daughter 'n'laws.

Perhaps, a good lesson here is to wait on our God, our King during times of famine and see what HIS will is for our lives..HE promises to see us through. Have you ever been in a position where you had to trust God when the circumstances around you dictated a much easier solution to the problem? Did this increase your faith in God?

Chapter one then goes on to tell us if you read verses 6 - 22 that Naomi decides to return to Behlehem..She has learned the famine is over and desires to go back to her hometown and once again, reap the benefits of a land where God is KING.

Now this leaves an important issue, what would her two daughter 'n'laws do now. Now in verses 8 - 22 we find out what Orpah and Ruth do.

Naomi tells them to return to their own families and even in her state of desperation at that moment tells them to go back. She truly believed the hand of the LORD was against her. She obviously, knows the Lord. Her two daugher 'n'laws recognized her love for the Lord despite all her shortcomings ...

LESSON: DESPITE ALL OUR OWN SHORTCOMINGS, GOD CAN STILL USE US TO INFLUENCE OTHERS"..

This is such a gracious concept the Lord has shown during this study. WE MUST STILL TRUST GOD EVEN WHEN THINGS GO WRONG..HE IS ALWAYS "GOING RIGHT".

Now as the story unfolds, Orpah decides to take Naomi's advice and turns back to Moab. RUTH , however, says this to Naomi:

Chapter 1 : 16-17 AND RUTH SAYS , ENTREAT ME NOT TO LEAVE THEE OR RETURN FROM FOLLOWING AFTER THEE, FOR WHITHER YOU GOEST, I WILL GO;AND WHERE YOU LODGEST , I WILL LODGE; THY PEOPLE SHALL BE MY PEOPLE AND THY GOD MY GOD"...
WHERE THOU DIEST, WILL I DIE AND THERE WILL I BE BURIED, THE LORD DO SO TO ME AND MORE ALSO, IF OUGHT BUT DEATH PART THEE AND ME. "

This leaves Naomi speechless . So the two return to the land of Bethlehem-judah Where God is King and the House of Bread is filled with Praise. NOTE: They return to Bethlehem in the "beginning of the barley harvest"...verse 22

Little did either of them know at that decisive moment what God had in store for them. When they moved forward in faith .

Such a spiritual signifigance is found here. This story of God's grace and God's provision for people in their times of desperate need. This family had made a mistake when they abandoned their inheritance in Israel and made their move to the "washpot Moab. Even though Jewish boys married two gentile women , which was extremely contrary to the Law of the Old Testament, we find that this young Moabitess woman named Ruth, has made a decision to go along and worship God with the Jewish people and live in their land and die there. She has made a solid comittment in her heart.

God never leaves or forsakes us. May we grasp hold of his Grace and mercy towards us today and remember HE sent "HIS only begotten son, that whosoever shall believeth on HIM, shall not perish, but have everlasting life"...John 3:16 The whole New Testament summed up in one verse...

The journey has just begun.. In the next study we see the intimate and creative way the Lord blesses Naomi and Ruth's move back to HIM...