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A Great Friendship (Ruth 1:1-22)- Dalton D. Vetter · Fairview Presbyterian Church (PCA) Sermons

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Our text this morning is Ruth chapter one. Ruth
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chapter one. It's after the book of Judges before
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you get to first Samuel. In the days when the
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judges ruled, there was a famine in the land.
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And a man of Bethlehem and Judah went to Sojourn
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in the country of Moab. He and his wife and his
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two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech.
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and the name of his wife, Naomi, and the name
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of his two sons were Malon and Chillion. They
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were Ephratites from Bethlehem and Judah. They
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went into the country of Moab and remained there.
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But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and
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she was left with her two sons. These took Moabite
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wives. The name of the one was Orpah, and the
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name of the other was Ruth. They lived there
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about 10 years in both Malon and Chile on Dine.
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So the woman was left without her two sons and
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her husband. Then she arose with her daughters
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-in -law to return from the country of Moab.
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For she had heard in the fields of Moab that
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the Lord had visited his people and given them
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food. So she set out from that place where she
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was with her two daughters -in -law, and they
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went on the way to return to the land of Judah.
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But Naomi said to her two daughters -in -law
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go return each of you to her mother's house May
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the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt
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with the dead and with me The Lord grant that
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you may find rest each of you in the house of
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her husband Then she kissed them and they lifted
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up their voices and wept and they said to her
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No, we will return with you to your people. But
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Naomi said turn back my daughters. Why will you
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go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they
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may become your husbands? Turn back, my daughters,
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go your way, for I am too old to have a husband.
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If I should say I have hope, even if I should
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have a husband this night and should bear sons,
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would you therefore wait till they were grown?
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Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No,
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my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to
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me for your sake that the hand of the Lord has
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gone out against me. Then they lifted up their
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voices and wept again and Orpah kissed her mother
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-in -law But Ruth clung to her and she said see
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your sister -in -law has gone back to her people
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and to her gods Return after your sister -in
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-law, but Ruth said do not urge me to leave you
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to return from following you For where you go,
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I will go and where you lodge I will lodge your
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people shall be my people and your God my God
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Where you die, I will die, and there I will be
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buried. May the Lord do so to me, and more also,
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if anything but death parts me from you. And
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when Naomi saw that she was determined to go
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with her, she said, no more. So the two of them
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went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when
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they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred
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because of them. And the women said, is this
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Naomi? She said to them, do not call me Naomi,
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call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very
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bitterly with me. I went away full and the Lord
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has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi
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when the Lord has testified against me and the
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Almighty has brought calamity upon me? So Naomi
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returned and roofed the Moabite, her daughter
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-in -law with her, who returned from the country
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of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning
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of barley harvest. The story of Ruth is one of
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great trials. And I actually want to begin this
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morning by having you close your eyes for just
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a second. And I want you to think back to a trial
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in your life. Maybe it was a time when you lost
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your job and you did not know how the Lord would
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provide for you. Or maybe you were facing a surgery
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that had many variables to it. Or maybe you had
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lost a home. and you did not know where you would
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live or your family would live, or maybe you
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lost someone near to you, dear to you. And I
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want you to think, who was there with me? What
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did they do? How did they act? How did they represent
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God in my life? And how did God work through
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that friend? And what did God ultimately teach
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you in that trial? This scenario that I just
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put forth is the very story of Ruth one. You
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may open your eyes now It's a story of much trial,
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but a trial that is not endured alone a trial
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that has a friend and So we need to examine this
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trial because there's much that the Lord has
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to teach us with it But the Lord has much to
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remind us with it And verses one through five
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will actually see that we can find God's discipline
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and glory in the midst of our trial. And the
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background of this text is actually found in
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verse chapter one. This text opens with a trial.
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And the days when the judges ruled and there
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was famine in the land. The days of the judges
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was a time of chaos. It was a time after Joshua
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had passed and before the coronation of Saul.
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It was a time that should have been prosperous,
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a time of Israel going forth into the promised
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land and being obedient to the words of God that
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had came through Joshua. But instead Israel began
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a cycle, a cycle where they fell into pagan worship
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and rejected God. They were fearful to go into
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the land that God had promised to them. And so
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God in the midst of this trial would hear their
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cries and upon hearing their cries he would be
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merciful and he would send them a judge. And
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then that judge would deliver them and bring
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them back to peace with God. But Ruth takes place
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in what's most likely the beginning of Gideon's
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life. Because at the beginning of the Gideon
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story we find that the Israelites did evil in
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the sight of the Lord and for seven years he
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gave them into the hands of the Midianites. And
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the Midianites destroyed the land, they ravished
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it. They claimed everything for themselves and
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they left no living thing. And so that's where
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we find ourselves in the story of Ruth. We see
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Israel's in chaos. Bethlehem, which literally
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means house of bread because it was a place of
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plenty, a place of much wheat and grain and oil
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and olives, was desolate. It had much famine.
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And we get introduced to this family of Bethlehem.
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And we see in verse two that they are Ephratites.
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So this is actually a wealthy family. The Ephratites
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descended from Caleb, one of the spies that Moses
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had sent into the land to discover it and see
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what was there. And Caleb was one of the godly
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men who encouraged the people. And so this is
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most likely a family of aristocrats that should
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be well off. But they end up going into the land
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of Moab. And Moab is enemy territory. The Moabites
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came from Lot and his daughters. They came from
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a sinful relationship. The Moabites were one
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of the main enemies that Israel faced as they
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came out of Egypt. The Moabite men or women in
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Numbers 25 seduced Israelite men and had their
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way with them. And Deuteronomy, the Lord says
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that the Moabites, in particular, are excluded
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from my assembly. And even at the beginning of
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Judges, before we get to Gideon, the Israelites
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were suppressed by Aglon, the king of the Moabites.
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And so we approach the story of Ruth beginning
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with a fairly detailed setting, actually, but
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it's a setting of much trial. And we learn that
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these people's names are Elimelech, whose name
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actually means my god is king. See, in the ancient
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world, names often reflected certain characteristics
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or personality traits of people. And so Elimelech's
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name, meaning my god is king, means he was most
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likely known for his faith. He was a man who
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loved God and represented God well. And then
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his wife, Naomi, her name means pleasantness.
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In the midst of trial, we find Pleasantness we
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find Naomi and this means that she was most likely
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known for her godly character as well Someone
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that people enjoyed being around someone that
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represented the love of the Lord But we have
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some foreshadowing and their son's names and
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these could be nicknames We're not exactly sure
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but it's the names the author has given us Maylon
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his name most closely Would resemble the word
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for sick or sickness and then Chile on his name
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means consumption which ironically represents
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exactly what's going on in this text, sickness
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of the land, consumption of the land, much suffering.
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And so this is the first phase of hardship that
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this family faces. And that brings us to the
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second trial that they will face in verses three
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to five. Elimelech, this godly man who seems...
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He would be the main character of our story.
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He's someone sojourning in enemy land, which
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should remind us of Abraham, who is in enemy
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land, who God provided for, who had much faith.
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But he ends up dying. And this might very well
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be the Lord's punishment for him going into enemy
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land and not trusting the Lord. The Lord provides,
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and in times of famine, he is always there. So
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this could be the consequence of his disobedience
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of taking his family into this enemy land. Now
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I think that's just one of the reasons that God
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has given this hardship. I also think it's for
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his glory and we'll see that as we work through
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the story. And so now Naomi, who was the wife
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of Elimelech, becomes the main character. Elimelech
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becomes the husband of Naomi and the sons become
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her sons. And so now we know that we're going
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to follow Naomi through the story and we're going
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to see her as she faces her hardship and she
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faces these trials. But there's actually a blessing
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of sorts in these trials. There is a wedding,
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two weddings actually, both of her sons get married.
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One of them marries Orpa and another marries
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Ruth. And both. Orpah's name and Ruth will come
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into play as we go through this story, as we
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go through this piece of history. And so there's
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this sense of blessing that they have, a sense
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of peace, and this lasts for 10 years. They dwell
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in this land without a limelight, and Naomi with
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the safety of her sons, they dwell in this foreign
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land. But there's even a sense of hardship even
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within this blessing. within the trial, another
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trial within the trial and within the blessing.
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There's no children. Part of marriage is children
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and God does not bless them with children. Now
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in the Old Testament, well throughout scripture
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actually, the lack of children tends to mean
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something. And it could mean that there needs
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to be a growing of faith. Like in the story of
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Hannah when she was barren and she prayed and
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the Lord gave her Samuel. who's the main character
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immediately following Ruth. But it could also
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be a sign of judgment. Michael, one of David's
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wives, and Samuel as he dances through the streets
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tells him to stop. And for the rest of her life,
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she was barren. And so there's more trial that's
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maybe self -inflicted here again. But again,
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this also could have a dual meaning. There's
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judgment, yet it's a way to grow faith. And this
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trial and hardship brings us to a third hardship,
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a third trial within this trial. This is a time
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of many trials within the lives of Israel. Naomi,
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who has left her land, who has lost her husband,
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now will lose her sons. Her sons die, and now
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her daughters -in -law join her in her widowhood.
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And they are stuck in this land of enemies. They
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are stuck in a land that was believed to be ruled
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over by a god of war, Kimosh, the main Moabite
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deity who actually required child sacrifice.
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And it's a foreign land. So Naomi, in this time,
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would have faced great depression, a great sense
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of loss. And we do not know exactly how much
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of this was self -inflicted and how much of it
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is the will of God or even how much of it is
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just facing a sinful world, living in a sinful
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world. But Naomi feels how all of us have felt
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at some point in our life. She feels hopeless,
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she feels abandoned. She has no husband to provide
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for her any longer or children to provide for
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her. This was a male -dominated society where
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if there was no man, you had no protection, you
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had no way to provide for yourself or for your
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family. There was no husband or children to protect
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her from the thieves and bandits that roamed
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the streets or for the lions and the tigers and
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the bears, oh my, that threatened her every day
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in the wilderness, in the fields where she would
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have been vulnerable. I know that we all have
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felt this way at some point in our lives. We
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feel hopeless, we see much loss, and maybe it
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was a time that should have been plentiful, just
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like the time of judges. It's a time that should
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have been plentiful, but it was filled with many
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trials. I know for myself this time actually
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happened as I graduated college. I faced a great
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trial in my faith as the system, what I believed,
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how scripture was structured was broken apart.
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I believed Israel was essential to the people
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of God and even to this church today. But that
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was slowly broken apart. And I realized that
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Jesus is the true Israel and He embodies everything.
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And that was a big deal because as you graduate
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college, especially as a man, you're looking
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into your full -time job. What are you going
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to do for the rest of your life? And I had desired
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to do ministry. And you cannot do ministry well
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if your system of faith is being slowly broken
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apart. And so I did something that I did not
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want to do, and I returned to my homeland. I
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did the opposite of Ruth and Naomi. I went back
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home, but this was not where I wanted to be.
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I wanted to be somewhere doing full -time ministry,
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praying and worshiping with people, but I was
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driven into a spiritual wilderness where I did
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not understand confidently what I once thought
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I understood confidently. And so a time where
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I thought I'd be coming into my manhood, into
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everything that the Lord had for me, it was taken
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away or at least it felt like this. But thankfully,
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I found friendship and that's actually what we
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see in verses six through 18 of Ruth chapter
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one. Finding friendship in the midst of trials.
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Naomi, this hardship seems like it's going to
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end. She's in the fields and she's working and
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as she's working, she actually hears good news
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from Israel. that the Lord has shown them mercy
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is grace. We have no record of Israel's repentance,
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but we do know that there is a blessing that
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the Lord is pouring out. Bethlehem, the house
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of bread, is now filled with grain again. It's
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filled with wheat again, everything that Israel
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needs to end this trial, to bring them out of
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this famine. And so Naomi rightfully wants to
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go home. She wants to go back to her people.
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They were sojourners in the land of Moab. They
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were meant to be temporary residents. They always
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wanted to go back home. She wants to be back
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with her friends and with any relatives that
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she has left. But her family in Moab does not
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abandon her. Orpah and Ruth and Naomi actually
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take off towards the land of Judah. And as they
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get to the edge of Judah, or the edge of Moab,
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sorry, Naomi stops, maybe sits them down, and
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she begins to make a plea to Ruth and Orpah.
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She makes a plea that they should return home.
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Go, return each of you to your mother's house.
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May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have
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dealt with the dead and with me. Naomi tells
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them to return to their mother's house, which
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is a very interesting phrase in Scripture, actually.
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Normally in Scripture, when someone's told to
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return, they're told to return to their father's
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house. It's a place of provision and protection
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and family. But the word of your mother's house
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only occurs a couple other times in Scripture.
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And primarily in the Song of Solomon, where a
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wife waits for her husband to come and take her
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to his dwelling, to his house. And so Naomi is
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telling them to go home and do what a woman should
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do. Go and find a husband. Go and find safety
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for yourself. This is not an unreasonable plea.
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It would seem to be the wise thing for the daughters
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to go and do. They were Moabites. They would
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not have been readily welcomed in Israel. And
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so they should go back to their people, go back
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to their mother's house and find a husband. And
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Naomi actually gives them a blessing. She says,
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may the Lord deal kindly with you. And this kindness
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is the word hesed. I've mentioned it before.
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It's a word of covenantal love. It addresses
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everything that God is. It addresses his being,
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his safety, his love, his grace, his mercy, his
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full kindness. And Naomi's giving this blessing
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to Moabite women, to foreign enemies. And I think
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Naomi really does believe in the Lord and trust
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that the Lord will show them kindness, will provide
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for them because these daughters -in -law actually
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showed her this kind of hesed, this kind of love
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that comes from their inmost being. They dealt
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kindly with her. They never abandoned her. They
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stayed beside her. They even had traveled with
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her for miles as she began leaving Moab and was
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returning home. And so she asked that the Lord
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give his grace as they have given theirs. And
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that they should find rest in the house of their
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husband. And she does what any of us do when
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we're leaving someone or maybe saying a final
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goodbye. Naomi kisses them. And this becomes
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a moment of great sorrow as they weep together
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and cry together and they recall all that they
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have been through together. And these daughters
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now, we see some of their friendship come into
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play. They respond quickly, no, we will not return,
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or we will return with you to your people. They
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sound like many disciples that Jesus found in
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the New Testament. Lord, I want to follow you,
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I want to go with you, and I will go with you.
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And the question now is, will they go with her?
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Will they be like Peter? And in a moment of great
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confidence, they actually speak rashly, and they
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end up rejecting her. And so we see a response
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of Naomi to their response. Naomi begins reasoning
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again, trying to give them wisdom again, and
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she begins asking them questions. You know, why
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should you go with me? You have no reason. There's
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no family I have that you can marry. My people
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are not your people. My land is not your land.
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You're our enemies. So turn back and go." And
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then she makes a hyperbolic statement of, even
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if I could find a husband, I'm too old to have
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children, it would take a miracle for me to conceive
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again. But even if I did conceive again, you
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would not want to wait. They would have to wait
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18, 20 years before the husbands would be marriageable
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material. And at that point, Ruth and Orpah would
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face their own barrenness. They would not be
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able to have kids, to have children. Their legacy
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would cease to exist. And so Naomi is asking
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them question after question, trying to get them
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to realize that the most reasonable thing for
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them to do is go back home, to go back to their
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people. It's the safest thing for them to do.
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And Naomi actually sounds like Paul in First
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Timothy, who says it's wise for widows to be
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married, to remarry, because it's a place of
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protection. It's a place of safety, a place where
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you're provided for. And with Naomi, it comes
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with a blessing of the Lord. It's a very, it's
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an awesome and the most literal sense of the
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word moment that Naomi has given to them. Go
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back to safety, but don't go back. as a pagan
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woman, go back with the blessing of the Lord.
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And then we return to these girls. We need to
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see their response. They have already responded
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once with boldness that we will not go back.
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What do they ultimately do? Do they prove faithful
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or do they prove to break what they said, what
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they pledged? And what we see is two different
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reactions. We see a split reaction. Oprah, or
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Orpa, goes back to her people. She kisses Naomi.
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She returns this goodbye kiss, this goodbye farewell
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well, and she goes back. She listens to this
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wisdom of Naomi, and she goes to the place of
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safety. But Ruth, whose name actually means friendship,
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clings to Naomi. She holds fast to her. She grabs
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her and does not let her go. And so Naomi tries,
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one more time, to tell Ruth. She uses peer pressure
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this time. Ruth, look at your sister -in -law.
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Look at your family. She's going back to her
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people. And not just her people, but her gods.
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She's going back to be a Moabite. She's doing
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what's easy, what makes the most sense. You should
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go with her. And Ruth now responds to Naomi's
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plea with her own plea. She says, do not urge
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me to leave you or to return from following you.
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And then Ruth follows it up with one of the best
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statements in all of scripture. For where you
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go, I will go. Where you lodge, I will lodge.
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Your people shall be my people, and your God
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my God. Where you die, I will die, and there
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I will be buried. May the Lord do so to me, and
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more also, if anything but death parts me from
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you." Ruth says that she's going to follow Naomi
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to the ends of the earth. Wherever Naomi lays
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her head at night, Ruth will be there lying down
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next to her. I will forsake my people. I will
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let them go. My identity as a Moabite is dead
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to me and I'm now an Israelite. And I will worship
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your God as you worship. And in this moment,
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I think we begin to see Ruth's faith in the God
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of Israel. Maybe she had heard the many stories
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of Joshua and the conquest, the capturing of
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this foreign land. She probably saw it firsthand
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as a Moabite even. as the kingdom began to fall
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apart after the death of Aglon. And so she ties
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herself to Naomi. In almost a wedding ceremony,
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since she says, my family is now with your family.
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Now this is not an actual wedding, but it's that
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sense of two families becoming one. They're merging
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into one. And that is what Ruth is doing here.
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And Ruth, goes so far to not just make the statement,
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but she actually invokes the covenant curses
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of the Lord. May the Lord do so to me, and more
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also, if anything but death parts me from you.
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Ruth, as she was making the statement, calling
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out on the covenant of the Lord that she would
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follow the God of Israel and become an Israelite,
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was most likely. dragging her thumb across her
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throat showing the cutting of the covenant that
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we saw in Abraham where animals were placed up
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and the Lord passed before them making a covenant.
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This was a normal covenantal ritual where animals
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were killed and placed and a person would walk
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through it signifying the making of a covenant.
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Ruth is pointing to this and Ruth says that if
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I break this covenant that I am making with you
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today and with the Lord may he kill me. May I
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face the consequences for my own sin." And Ruth
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models what a true disciple looks like and a
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true friend. See, I myself in my own trial needed
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friends. As I was lost and the world felt like
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chaos and even my faith felt like chaos to some
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degree, God gave me two friends. One named Conrad
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who I met actually on a Facebook group who diligently
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as a brother in Christ actually would text me
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daily and was willing to answer any question
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I had. And then another pastor, Pastor Bruce
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came alongside me and we met weekly to talk about
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scripture and about the Westminster Confession
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so that I could find peace in my soul. And I
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do not know what I would have done if it was
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without those friends. They showed me Christ,
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they showed me his love, and they ended some
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of my confusion. Just like Ruth has done here,
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she has been a faithful friend to Naomi. She
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becomes family with her. She represents God to
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her throughout this text. She is a faithful disciple.
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And thankfully, Naomi at this point is wise enough
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to shut her own mouth. And her and Ruth begin
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their journey again. They take off towards the
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land of Israel. And then they end up finding
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hope, finding peace in the midst of the trial
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in verses 19 through 22. They begin walking into
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the main town of Bethlehem, a town that is now
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prosperous. It's a time of harvest. Naomi and
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her family left in a time of trial and a time
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of desolation, but are now returning at a time
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of great rejoicing and of great praise and of
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great plenty. And as they get into the town of
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Bethlehem, her friends begin to recognize her,
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her family begins to recognize her. Is that Naomi?
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See, Naomi at this point would have looked greatly
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different. It's been at least 10 years. And maybe
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15 or 20, we don't exactly have the full timeline,
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but we know for a fact it was at least 10 years.
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She has aged. And not just aged, in the midst
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of sorrow her body had changed. Her face that
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was once pleasant is now maybe drooping and filled
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with sorrow. And she's hard to recognize. And
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as women begin to call out for Naomi, it actually
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stirs up the whole town. It's a great celebration
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as she comes back. But Naomi stuck in her own
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sin in her own Flawed faith Rejects them calling
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her pleasant. She does not want to be called
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pleasant. She wants to be called bitter She wants
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to be called Mara Because the Lord the Almighty
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has dealt bitterly with me See Naomi, we know
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Naomi has faith She sees God's sovereignty, not
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just in the good and the blessings in her life,
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but even in these moments, she knows that the
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Lord is in control. But she has forgotten his
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grace. She has forgotten that God is sovereign
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and has much grace, that he is all powerful,
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but he has compassion, that he does judge us
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for our sins, but it's only for a time because
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he has great mercy for us. But nonetheless, she
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does recognize the Lord's hand in this. She says
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that she went away full, she went away with family.
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That's what the word full means there, that she
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went away with a full household. But the Lord
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has brought her back empty. I wonder what Ruth
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was thinking in this moment. Did I not just maybe
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a couple days ago tell you that I am now your
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family, your people are mine? But she stays silent.
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The story is not focused on Ruth right now. It's
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focused on this flawed faith of Naomi. But this
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trial, and this is why I say that I don't think
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that the trial that Naomi faced in this time,
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or even in our own trials, that's just because
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of our sin. It's because as we go through the
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whole story of Ruth, we'll see that it's ultimately
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to the glory of God. Ruth finds a husband in
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an Israelite man. Ruth ends up being in the family
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line of Jesus. She's marked out in his lineage.
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She's marked out to the greatest blessing of
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all. And what we learn from this is that it's
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ultimately not the end when God is our friend
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and when God sends us a friend, we have the greatest
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friend of all. We have a man named Jesus who,
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again, Ruth was in line for. He died for us.
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He sacrificed for us when we were not his friends,
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when we were his enemies, when we were the Moabites
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to the true Israelite. Christ died for us. And
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he will not always discipline us. He disciplines
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us for a time that we can learn his ultimate
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love and we can learn to walk in his footsteps.
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And so we should not be like Naomi where we allow
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in the midst of trial to become lost in our sorrow.
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And even to try to push away friendships that
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the Lord has brought to us, we should embrace
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them and allow the Lord to work in our lives
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in the midst of trial. And we should remember
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his mercy and remember his grace and ask him
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for his help. We are never without a friend because
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we have a friend in Jesus. Let us pray.