Remember the Poor-4

Has the Bible provided us with any examples of the poor? Yes, it has and it can be found in the story of Ruth. This one historical narrative contains many of the elements of the responsibilities of the poor, the family, and the need of widows. It also reveals that we all need to obey God, even if the grass looks greener in the world around us.

Ruth 1:1  Now it came about in the days when the judges governed, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons. 1:2  The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife, Naomi; and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah. Now they entered the land of Moab and remained there. 

Moab was the son born out of incest by Lot’s daughter, as was Ammon by his other daughter. Moab was an enemy most of the recorded times in the Promised Land. Yet, Elimelech left Israel to move to a pagan country.

1:3  Then Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died; and she was left with her two sons. 1:4  They took for themselves Moabite women as wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. And they lived there about ten years. 

Elimelech died in Moab. His sons married women from Moab. All of this was prohibited by God. He had given Israel clear instructions not to marry out of the families of Israel, in fact, sons and daughters were to marry within their clans. That is those from Dan married within Dan.

Deuteronomy 7:1  "When the LORD your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you, 7:2  and when the LORD your God delivers them before you and you defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them. 

7:3  "Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons. 7:4  "For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you. 

God is very jealous for His children. There are numerous passages that repeat this warning. You shall not.. is very clear, yet Elimelech violated all of them.

1:5  Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was bereft of her two children and her husband. 

So, while trying to improve their lives by disobeying God, they made their lives worse. Elimelech was not a godly father and it would seem that he did not raise godly sons. Ignorance of God’s warnings is not an excuse from disobeying them.

Ruth 1:6  Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the land of Moab, for she had heard in the land of Moab that the LORD had visited His people in giving them food. 1:7  So she departed from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. 

So Naomi decided to leave Moab, as the food looked better in Israel/Judah. She should have said we need to return to Israel as God had commanded, but it was for her personal well being. We can’t expect to receive blessings from God when we are clearly disobeying God.

More next Saturday.