Ruth 1:1-18, “Would you leave Bethlehem for the world?”
Today’s scripture lesson comes from Ruth 1:1-18 from the lectionary reading. The book of Ruth, though short, is significant in the Bible as it shows God’s salvation for both Israelites and Gentiles, how Christ the Redeemer redeems us, the hopeless people like Ruth, makes His own. Ruth was a great-grandmother of King David. In other words, the family line of Christ goes back to this gentile Moabite woman, Ruth. Do we see that God had Gentiles in mind when it came to saving humanity?
Today, out of all these verses we read, we will focus on verses 1-5 only to think about what it means to be Christians and how we should stay in God’s bosom no matter how our life circumstances twist and turn.
Let’s read verse 1, “In the days of when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab.” Their names were “Elimelech and Naomi, and their two sons were Mahlon and Kilion.”
Here, we see families who were residents of Bethlehem leave their hometown for a foreign land, Moab because they experienced famine in their homeland. Let us pause and think about what this means for us. Do you know who they were? They were supposedly God-fearers, people of Yahweh, Jehovah God. Elimelech means “God is King,” and Naomi means “pleasantness or sweetness” in God. From his name, Elimelech, we know he was supposed to make Jehovah God his King, and Naomi found “pleasantness and sweetness” in her life because of God’s blessings. But when they experienced “famine,” they sought help elsewhere than their King Yahweh God. Where? Moab! they sought help in Moab, embracing Chemosh, the Moabite god, as their own. In ancient times, it was believed that a deity or a god had power only in the geographical region occupied by his worshipers, so a foreign country meant a foreign god and religion. Along the line, the symbolic and biblical meaning of Moab here is an enemy of God, a sinful world, practicing burning their firstborn sons to Molek, an abomination to Yahweh God, the Creator.
When they had famine in their land, this family from Bethlehem decided to leave the fold of God for Moab. They left Bethlehem, –Beth (house), lechem (place of bread) –, which means “house of bread,” signifying “bread of heaven,” –the bread of life. Remember Jesus was born in Bethlehem as the bread of life? These people, Elimelech, Naomi, Mahlon, and Kilion, left the “house of bread” and went to live in Moab. As a result, his life was wasted away in the land of Moab; he died there. Naomi, whose life was sweet and pleasant, became “bitter,” Mara. In verse 20, she says, “Don’t call me Naomi anymore, but call me Mara.” As a result of her sin, deserting God, her life became “bitter” from being “sweet.
What does this teach us? We have our identity as Christians, supposedly to follow Jesus to death. However, in our reality, when we face “famine,” the difficulties in life, instead of following Jesus and seeking God’s help, we leave God for worldly measures and principles, turning against God. The result is death if we do that. Instead of being fulfilled or getting what we desire, only tragedies await, such as death and bitterness in life. No matter what happens in life, experiencing “famine” or other difficulties, we must cling to God and stay put in His fold, the source of our life and happiness, to experience God’s abundant grace.
Unfortunately, many Christians leave “Bethlehem,” “the house of bread,” their God, and go to Moab, to Chemosh, the Moabite god. Instead of seeking God with their whole hearts, they move away from God, thinking they can avoid their misfortune, their “famine,” by embracing worldly measures and principles. Elimelek, Naomi, and their children might have believed that if they took refuge under the protection of the Moabite god, they would no longer have to endure “famine.” Contrary to their hope, however, their reality of living away from God was tragic. They got “sick and wasted away.” How do we know that? Their children’s names were Mahlon, which means “sickly or sickness,” and Kilion, which means “wasted away or consumption.” Children are what we beget. Figuratively, their living in sin, living away from God, resulted in being sickly and wasted away. Elimelech, Mahlon, and Kilion all died in the land of Moab.
In today’s time, many left God for the world; it might have seemed like a reasonable thing to do for them. That is why our church is not full. The world out there might appear to promise riches, comfort, relief, and pleasures in life. But do we know that moving away from God will eventually lead us to eternal damnation if we do not return to God? We need to be where God is. We must be in “Bethlehem,” “the house of bread.” Then, where is the “house of bread” in our time? It is the sanctuary where worship happens. It is the worship in which we meet God. Many people do not come to worship for various reasons. Some might have reasonable excuses. We readily excuse ourselves by not coming to Sunday worship. After the Corona era, many people became accustomed to staying away from the church. How many of them know that they are being further and further away from God, leaving less and less room in their lives for God to work? People do not have the fear of God even when they are far away from the life of worship. Do we know that Sunday school cannot replace worship? Worship is when we offer our hearts, minds, spirits, and bodies as living sacrifices to God. When true worship happens, our whole beings become rejuvenated, filled with the joy of the Lord. That is when healing happens because “the joy of the Lord is our strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). When we are sick, we must worship God all the more in truth and Spirit because the joy of the Lord is our strength!!!
The second thing we must learn from our text is that strong Christians can also fall from God’s grace. There is no such thing as “once saved is always saved.” Those people who are born-again Christians who have made Christ their King and the Lord can also fall from God’s grace and be lost forever if they leave the fold of God unless they return to God. As we learned, Elimelek and Naomi were strong God-fearers who made God their King, yet they fell. They sinned; that was why they experienced “famine.”
The land of Canaan, where the Israelites lived, was of hills and valleys. No irrigation system could be developed. They did not have a Nile like Egypt. Do you know how long the Nile River is? It is approximately 4200 miles, the longest river in Africa, if not in the world. In ancient agricultural societies, a river like the Nile was necessary. But the Israelites did not have abundant water; they only had to depend on God for water for farming and raising cattle. Deuteronomy chapter 28 specifies that if they obey God’s commands, God will bless them richly, giving them early and late rains in the land. If they do not obey God, then they will starve and thirst, God said. In this context, if there was a famine in the land, it meant they disobeyed God, not following God’s commands. That was why they experienced “famine.”
The reality of sinful human beings is to face “famine.” That was why Jesus was tempted in the desert, an arid area with nothing but stones and sand. The embodiment of sinful human beings, Jesus, faced the “desert.” Because the first Adam sinned and was stripped of the Garden of Eden, where water, trees, and fruits were abundant and had all humans could desire, humans had to face “famine.” The reality of sinful human beings is death. We are to return to the Lord to experience the abundance in life instead of “famine.” Do we experience thirst and “famine” in life? We might have to return to the Lord to experience God’s wonders and promises. Again, the joy of the Lord is our strength!
The third lesson is our God is gracious to those who persevere. In verse 6, Naomi heard that God came to help His people and provided food for those who stayed, persevered, and sought God in Bethlehem. Our God does not abandon His people who wait and seek Him. How important for us to stay put in Bethlehem where God resides! Our God is gracious; He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to quench our thirst and hunger. The bread of Heaven came to feed us and give us eternal life. Amen!