A Great Friendship (Ruth 1:1-22)- Dalton D. Vetter

Our text this morning is Ruth chapter one. Ruth

chapter one. It's after the book of Judges before

you get to first Samuel. In the days when the

judges ruled, there was a famine in the land.

And a man of Bethlehem and Judah went to Sojourn

in the country of Moab. He and his wife and his

two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech.

and the name of his wife, Naomi, and the name

of his two sons were Malon and Chillion. They

were Ephratites from Bethlehem and Judah. They

went into the country of Moab and remained there.

But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and

she was left with her two sons. These took Moabite

wives. The name of the one was Orpah, and the

name of the other was Ruth. They lived there

about 10 years in both Malon and Chile on Dine.

So the woman was left without her two sons and

her husband. Then she arose with her daughters

-in -law to return from the country of Moab.

For she had heard in the fields of Moab that

the Lord had visited his people and given them

food. So she set out from that place where she

was with her two daughters -in -law, and they

went on the way to return to the land of Judah.

But Naomi said to her two daughters -in -law

go return each of you to her mother's house May

the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt

with the dead and with me The Lord grant that

you may find rest each of you in the house of

her husband Then she kissed them and they lifted

up their voices and wept and they said to her

No, we will return with you to your people. But

Naomi said turn back my daughters. Why will you

go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they

may become your husbands? Turn back, my daughters,

go your way, for I am too old to have a husband.

If I should say I have hope, even if I should

have a husband this night and should bear sons,

would you therefore wait till they were grown?

Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No,

my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to

me for your sake that the hand of the Lord has

gone out against me. Then they lifted up their

voices and wept again and Orpah kissed her mother

-in -law But Ruth clung to her and she said see

your sister -in -law has gone back to her people

and to her gods Return after your sister -in

-law, but Ruth said do not urge me to leave you

to return from following you For where you go,

I will go and where you lodge I will lodge your

people shall be my people and your God my God

Where you die, I will die, and there I will be

buried. May the Lord do so to me, and more also,

if anything but death parts me from you. And

when Naomi saw that she was determined to go

with her, she said, no more. So the two of them

went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when

they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred

because of them. And the women said, is this

Naomi? She said to them, do not call me Naomi,

call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very

bitterly with me. I went away full and the Lord

has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi

when the Lord has testified against me and the

Almighty has brought calamity upon me? So Naomi

returned and roofed the Moabite, her daughter

-in -law with her, who returned from the country

of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning

of barley harvest. The story of Ruth is one of

great trials. And I actually want to begin this

morning by having you close your eyes for just

a second. And I want you to think back to a trial

in your life. Maybe it was a time when you lost

your job and you did not know how the Lord would

provide for you. Or maybe you were facing a surgery

that had many variables to it. Or maybe you had

lost a home. and you did not know where you would

live or your family would live, or maybe you

lost someone near to you, dear to you. And I

want you to think, who was there with me? What

did they do? How did they act? How did they represent

God in my life? And how did God work through

that friend? And what did God ultimately teach

you in that trial? This scenario that I just

put forth is the very story of Ruth one. You

may open your eyes now It's a story of much trial,

but a trial that is not endured alone a trial

that has a friend and So we need to examine this

trial because there's much that the Lord has

to teach us with it But the Lord has much to

remind us with it And verses one through five

will actually see that we can find God's discipline

and glory in the midst of our trial. And the

background of this text is actually found in

verse chapter one. This text opens with a trial.

And the days when the judges ruled and there

was famine in the land. The days of the judges

was a time of chaos. It was a time after Joshua

had passed and before the coronation of Saul.

It was a time that should have been prosperous,

a time of Israel going forth into the promised

land and being obedient to the words of God that

had came through Joshua. But instead Israel began

a cycle, a cycle where they fell into pagan worship

and rejected God. They were fearful to go into

the land that God had promised to them. And so

God in the midst of this trial would hear their

cries and upon hearing their cries he would be

merciful and he would send them a judge. And

then that judge would deliver them and bring

them back to peace with God. But Ruth takes place

in what's most likely the beginning of Gideon's

life. Because at the beginning of the Gideon

story we find that the Israelites did evil in

the sight of the Lord and for seven years he

gave them into the hands of the Midianites. And

the Midianites destroyed the land, they ravished

it. They claimed everything for themselves and

they left no living thing. And so that's where

we find ourselves in the story of Ruth. We see

Israel's in chaos. Bethlehem, which literally

means house of bread because it was a place of

plenty, a place of much wheat and grain and oil

and olives, was desolate. It had much famine.

And we get introduced to this family of Bethlehem.

And we see in verse two that they are Ephratites.

So this is actually a wealthy family. The Ephratites

descended from Caleb, one of the spies that Moses

had sent into the land to discover it and see

what was there. And Caleb was one of the godly

men who encouraged the people. And so this is

most likely a family of aristocrats that should

be well off. But they end up going into the land

of Moab. And Moab is enemy territory. The Moabites

came from Lot and his daughters. They came from

a sinful relationship. The Moabites were one

of the main enemies that Israel faced as they

came out of Egypt. The Moabite men or women in

Numbers 25 seduced Israelite men and had their

way with them. And Deuteronomy, the Lord says

that the Moabites, in particular, are excluded

from my assembly. And even at the beginning of

Judges, before we get to Gideon, the Israelites

were suppressed by Aglon, the king of the Moabites.

And so we approach the story of Ruth beginning

with a fairly detailed setting, actually, but

it's a setting of much trial. And we learn that

these people's names are Elimelech, whose name

actually means my god is king. See, in the ancient

world, names often reflected certain characteristics

or personality traits of people. And so Elimelech's

name, meaning my god is king, means he was most

likely known for his faith. He was a man who

loved God and represented God well. And then

his wife, Naomi, her name means pleasantness.

In the midst of trial, we find Pleasantness we

find Naomi and this means that she was most likely

known for her godly character as well Someone

that people enjoyed being around someone that

represented the love of the Lord But we have

some foreshadowing and their son's names and

these could be nicknames We're not exactly sure

but it's the names the author has given us Maylon

his name most closely Would resemble the word

for sick or sickness and then Chile on his name

means consumption which ironically represents

exactly what's going on in this text, sickness

of the land, consumption of the land, much suffering.

And so this is the first phase of hardship that

this family faces. And that brings us to the

second trial that they will face in verses three

to five. Elimelech, this godly man who seems...

He would be the main character of our story.

He's someone sojourning in enemy land, which

should remind us of Abraham, who is in enemy

land, who God provided for, who had much faith.

But he ends up dying. And this might very well

be the Lord's punishment for him going into enemy

land and not trusting the Lord. The Lord provides,

and in times of famine, he is always there. So

this could be the consequence of his disobedience

of taking his family into this enemy land. Now

I think that's just one of the reasons that God

has given this hardship. I also think it's for

his glory and we'll see that as we work through

the story. And so now Naomi, who was the wife

of Elimelech, becomes the main character. Elimelech

becomes the husband of Naomi and the sons become

her sons. And so now we know that we're going

to follow Naomi through the story and we're going

to see her as she faces her hardship and she

faces these trials. But there's actually a blessing

of sorts in these trials. There is a wedding,

two weddings actually, both of her sons get married.

One of them marries Orpa and another marries

Ruth. And both. Orpah's name and Ruth will come

into play as we go through this story, as we

go through this piece of history. And so there's

this sense of blessing that they have, a sense

of peace, and this lasts for 10 years. They dwell

in this land without a limelight, and Naomi with

the safety of her sons, they dwell in this foreign

land. But there's even a sense of hardship even

within this blessing. within the trial, another

trial within the trial and within the blessing.

There's no children. Part of marriage is children

and God does not bless them with children. Now

in the Old Testament, well throughout scripture

actually, the lack of children tends to mean

something. And it could mean that there needs

to be a growing of faith. Like in the story of

Hannah when she was barren and she prayed and

the Lord gave her Samuel. who's the main character

immediately following Ruth. But it could also

be a sign of judgment. Michael, one of David's

wives, and Samuel as he dances through the streets

tells him to stop. And for the rest of her life,

she was barren. And so there's more trial that's

maybe self -inflicted here again. But again,

this also could have a dual meaning. There's

judgment, yet it's a way to grow faith. And this

trial and hardship brings us to a third hardship,

a third trial within this trial. This is a time

of many trials within the lives of Israel. Naomi,

who has left her land, who has lost her husband,

now will lose her sons. Her sons die, and now

her daughters -in -law join her in her widowhood.

And they are stuck in this land of enemies. They

are stuck in a land that was believed to be ruled

over by a god of war, Kimosh, the main Moabite

deity who actually required child sacrifice.

And it's a foreign land. So Naomi, in this time,

would have faced great depression, a great sense

of loss. And we do not know exactly how much

of this was self -inflicted and how much of it

is the will of God or even how much of it is

just facing a sinful world, living in a sinful

world. But Naomi feels how all of us have felt

at some point in our life. She feels hopeless,

she feels abandoned. She has no husband to provide

for her any longer or children to provide for

her. This was a male -dominated society where

if there was no man, you had no protection, you

had no way to provide for yourself or for your

family. There was no husband or children to protect

her from the thieves and bandits that roamed

the streets or for the lions and the tigers and

the bears, oh my, that threatened her every day

in the wilderness, in the fields where she would

have been vulnerable. I know that we all have

felt this way at some point in our lives. We

feel hopeless, we see much loss, and maybe it

was a time that should have been plentiful, just

like the time of judges. It's a time that should

have been plentiful, but it was filled with many

trials. I know for myself this time actually

happened as I graduated college. I faced a great

trial in my faith as the system, what I believed,

how scripture was structured was broken apart.

I believed Israel was essential to the people

of God and even to this church today. But that

was slowly broken apart. And I realized that

Jesus is the true Israel and He embodies everything.

And that was a big deal because as you graduate

college, especially as a man, you're looking

into your full -time job. What are you going

to do for the rest of your life? And I had desired

to do ministry. And you cannot do ministry well

if your system of faith is being slowly broken

apart. And so I did something that I did not

want to do, and I returned to my homeland. I

did the opposite of Ruth and Naomi. I went back

home, but this was not where I wanted to be.

I wanted to be somewhere doing full -time ministry,

praying and worshiping with people, but I was

driven into a spiritual wilderness where I did

not understand confidently what I once thought

I understood confidently. And so a time where

I thought I'd be coming into my manhood, into

everything that the Lord had for me, it was taken

away or at least it felt like this. But thankfully,

I found friendship and that's actually what we

see in verses six through 18 of Ruth chapter

one. Finding friendship in the midst of trials.

Naomi, this hardship seems like it's going to

end. She's in the fields and she's working and

as she's working, she actually hears good news

from Israel. that the Lord has shown them mercy

is grace. We have no record of Israel's repentance,

but we do know that there is a blessing that

the Lord is pouring out. Bethlehem, the house

of bread, is now filled with grain again. It's

filled with wheat again, everything that Israel

needs to end this trial, to bring them out of

this famine. And so Naomi rightfully wants to

go home. She wants to go back to her people.

They were sojourners in the land of Moab. They

were meant to be temporary residents. They always

wanted to go back home. She wants to be back

with her friends and with any relatives that

she has left. But her family in Moab does not

abandon her. Orpah and Ruth and Naomi actually

take off towards the land of Judah. And as they

get to the edge of Judah, or the edge of Moab,

sorry, Naomi stops, maybe sits them down, and

she begins to make a plea to Ruth and Orpah.

She makes a plea that they should return home.

Go, return each of you to your mother's house.

May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have

dealt with the dead and with me. Naomi tells

them to return to their mother's house, which

is a very interesting phrase in Scripture, actually.

Normally in Scripture, when someone's told to

return, they're told to return to their father's

house. It's a place of provision and protection

and family. But the word of your mother's house

only occurs a couple other times in Scripture.

And primarily in the Song of Solomon, where a

wife waits for her husband to come and take her

to his dwelling, to his house. And so Naomi is

telling them to go home and do what a woman should

do. Go and find a husband. Go and find safety

for yourself. This is not an unreasonable plea.

It would seem to be the wise thing for the daughters

to go and do. They were Moabites. They would

not have been readily welcomed in Israel. And

so they should go back to their people, go back

to their mother's house and find a husband. And

Naomi actually gives them a blessing. She says,

may the Lord deal kindly with you. And this kindness

is the word hesed. I've mentioned it before.

It's a word of covenantal love. It addresses

everything that God is. It addresses his being,

his safety, his love, his grace, his mercy, his

full kindness. And Naomi's giving this blessing

to Moabite women, to foreign enemies. And I think

Naomi really does believe in the Lord and trust

that the Lord will show them kindness, will provide

for them because these daughters -in -law actually

showed her this kind of hesed, this kind of love

that comes from their inmost being. They dealt

kindly with her. They never abandoned her. They

stayed beside her. They even had traveled with

her for miles as she began leaving Moab and was

returning home. And so she asked that the Lord

give his grace as they have given theirs. And

that they should find rest in the house of their

husband. And she does what any of us do when

we're leaving someone or maybe saying a final

goodbye. Naomi kisses them. And this becomes

a moment of great sorrow as they weep together

and cry together and they recall all that they

have been through together. And these daughters

now, we see some of their friendship come into

play. They respond quickly, no, we will not return,

or we will return with you to your people. They

sound like many disciples that Jesus found in

the New Testament. Lord, I want to follow you,

I want to go with you, and I will go with you.

And the question now is, will they go with her?

Will they be like Peter? And in a moment of great

confidence, they actually speak rashly, and they

end up rejecting her. And so we see a response

of Naomi to their response. Naomi begins reasoning

again, trying to give them wisdom again, and

she begins asking them questions. You know, why

should you go with me? You have no reason. There's

no family I have that you can marry. My people

are not your people. My land is not your land.

You're our enemies. So turn back and go." And

then she makes a hyperbolic statement of, even

if I could find a husband, I'm too old to have

children, it would take a miracle for me to conceive

again. But even if I did conceive again, you

would not want to wait. They would have to wait

18, 20 years before the husbands would be marriageable

material. And at that point, Ruth and Orpah would

face their own barrenness. They would not be

able to have kids, to have children. Their legacy

would cease to exist. And so Naomi is asking

them question after question, trying to get them

to realize that the most reasonable thing for

them to do is go back home, to go back to their

people. It's the safest thing for them to do.

And Naomi actually sounds like Paul in First

Timothy, who says it's wise for widows to be

married, to remarry, because it's a place of

protection. It's a place of safety, a place where

you're provided for. And with Naomi, it comes

with a blessing of the Lord. It's a very, it's

an awesome and the most literal sense of the

word moment that Naomi has given to them. Go

back to safety, but don't go back. as a pagan

woman, go back with the blessing of the Lord.

And then we return to these girls. We need to

see their response. They have already responded

once with boldness that we will not go back.

What do they ultimately do? Do they prove faithful

or do they prove to break what they said, what

they pledged? And what we see is two different

reactions. We see a split reaction. Oprah, or

Orpa, goes back to her people. She kisses Naomi.

She returns this goodbye kiss, this goodbye farewell

well, and she goes back. She listens to this

wisdom of Naomi, and she goes to the place of

safety. But Ruth, whose name actually means friendship,

clings to Naomi. She holds fast to her. She grabs

her and does not let her go. And so Naomi tries,

one more time, to tell Ruth. She uses peer pressure

this time. Ruth, look at your sister -in -law.

Look at your family. She's going back to her

people. And not just her people, but her gods.

She's going back to be a Moabite. She's doing

what's easy, what makes the most sense. You should

go with her. And Ruth now responds to Naomi's

plea with her own plea. She says, do not urge

me to leave you or to return from following you.

And then Ruth follows it up with one of the best

statements in all of scripture. For where you

go, I will go. Where you lodge, I will lodge.

Your people shall be my people, and your God

my God. Where you die, I will die, and there

I will be buried. May the Lord do so to me, and

more also, if anything but death parts me from

you." Ruth says that she's going to follow Naomi

to the ends of the earth. Wherever Naomi lays

her head at night, Ruth will be there lying down

next to her. I will forsake my people. I will

let them go. My identity as a Moabite is dead

to me and I'm now an Israelite. And I will worship

your God as you worship. And in this moment,

I think we begin to see Ruth's faith in the God

of Israel. Maybe she had heard the many stories

of Joshua and the conquest, the capturing of

this foreign land. She probably saw it firsthand

as a Moabite even. as the kingdom began to fall

apart after the death of Aglon. And so she ties

herself to Naomi. In almost a wedding ceremony,

since she says, my family is now with your family.

Now this is not an actual wedding, but it's that

sense of two families becoming one. They're merging

into one. And that is what Ruth is doing here.

And Ruth, goes so far to not just make the statement,

but she actually invokes the covenant curses

of the Lord. May the Lord do so to me, and more

also, if anything but death parts me from you.

Ruth, as she was making the statement, calling

out on the covenant of the Lord that she would

follow the God of Israel and become an Israelite,

was most likely. dragging her thumb across her

throat showing the cutting of the covenant that

we saw in Abraham where animals were placed up

and the Lord passed before them making a covenant.

This was a normal covenantal ritual where animals

were killed and placed and a person would walk

through it signifying the making of a covenant.

Ruth is pointing to this and Ruth says that if

I break this covenant that I am making with you

today and with the Lord may he kill me. May I

face the consequences for my own sin." And Ruth

models what a true disciple looks like and a

true friend. See, I myself in my own trial needed

friends. As I was lost and the world felt like

chaos and even my faith felt like chaos to some

degree, God gave me two friends. One named Conrad

who I met actually on a Facebook group who diligently

as a brother in Christ actually would text me

daily and was willing to answer any question

I had. And then another pastor, Pastor Bruce

came alongside me and we met weekly to talk about

scripture and about the Westminster Confession

so that I could find peace in my soul. And I

do not know what I would have done if it was

without those friends. They showed me Christ,

they showed me his love, and they ended some

of my confusion. Just like Ruth has done here,

she has been a faithful friend to Naomi. She

becomes family with her. She represents God to

her throughout this text. She is a faithful disciple.

And thankfully, Naomi at this point is wise enough

to shut her own mouth. And her and Ruth begin

their journey again. They take off towards the

land of Israel. And then they end up finding

hope, finding peace in the midst of the trial

in verses 19 through 22. They begin walking into

the main town of Bethlehem, a town that is now

prosperous. It's a time of harvest. Naomi and

her family left in a time of trial and a time

of desolation, but are now returning at a time

of great rejoicing and of great praise and of

great plenty. And as they get into the town of

Bethlehem, her friends begin to recognize her,

her family begins to recognize her. Is that Naomi?

See, Naomi at this point would have looked greatly

different. It's been at least 10 years. And maybe

15 or 20, we don't exactly have the full timeline,

but we know for a fact it was at least 10 years.

She has aged. And not just aged, in the midst

of sorrow her body had changed. Her face that

was once pleasant is now maybe drooping and filled

with sorrow. And she's hard to recognize. And

as women begin to call out for Naomi, it actually

stirs up the whole town. It's a great celebration

as she comes back. But Naomi stuck in her own

sin in her own Flawed faith Rejects them calling

her pleasant. She does not want to be called

pleasant. She wants to be called bitter She wants

to be called Mara Because the Lord the Almighty

has dealt bitterly with me See Naomi, we know

Naomi has faith She sees God's sovereignty, not

just in the good and the blessings in her life,

but even in these moments, she knows that the

Lord is in control. But she has forgotten his

grace. She has forgotten that God is sovereign

and has much grace, that he is all powerful,

but he has compassion, that he does judge us

for our sins, but it's only for a time because

he has great mercy for us. But nonetheless, she

does recognize the Lord's hand in this. She says

that she went away full, she went away with family.

That's what the word full means there, that she

went away with a full household. But the Lord

has brought her back empty. I wonder what Ruth

was thinking in this moment. Did I not just maybe

a couple days ago tell you that I am now your

family, your people are mine? But she stays silent.

The story is not focused on Ruth right now. It's

focused on this flawed faith of Naomi. But this

trial, and this is why I say that I don't think

that the trial that Naomi faced in this time,

or even in our own trials, that's just because

of our sin. It's because as we go through the

whole story of Ruth, we'll see that it's ultimately

to the glory of God. Ruth finds a husband in

an Israelite man. Ruth ends up being in the family

line of Jesus. She's marked out in his lineage.

She's marked out to the greatest blessing of

all. And what we learn from this is that it's

ultimately not the end when God is our friend

and when God sends us a friend, we have the greatest

friend of all. We have a man named Jesus who,

again, Ruth was in line for. He died for us.

He sacrificed for us when we were not his friends,

when we were his enemies, when we were the Moabites

to the true Israelite. Christ died for us. And

he will not always discipline us. He disciplines

us for a time that we can learn his ultimate

love and we can learn to walk in his footsteps.

And so we should not be like Naomi where we allow

in the midst of trial to become lost in our sorrow.

And even to try to push away friendships that

the Lord has brought to us, we should embrace

them and allow the Lord to work in our lives

in the midst of trial. And we should remember

his mercy and remember his grace and ask him

for his help. We are never without a friend because

we have a friend in Jesus. Let us pray.