Remember the Poor-5

We left Ruth and Naomi beginning their journey back to Israel. Two widows with no men to provide for them or protect them.

Ruth 1:8  And 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. 1:9  "May the LORD grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband." Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. 1:10  And they said to her, "No, but we will surely return with you to your people." 

For all her faults, Naomi must have been very good to her daughter-in-law. After raising sons, Naomi finally had other women around her.

1:11  But Naomi said, "Return, my daughters. Why should you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? 

:12  "Return, my daughters! Go, for I am too old to have a husband. If I said I have hope, if I should even have a husband tonight and also bear sons, 1:13  would you therefore wait until they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters; for it is harder for me than for you, for the hand of the LORD has gone forth against me." 

Naomi pleaded for them to go back to their homes. Even pagan cultures knew that the family had to provide for widows. The problem was that Naomi was basically sending them back to the idols of Moab and an eternity apart for the only true God.

1:14  And they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. 1:15  Then she said, "Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods; return after your sister-in-law." 1:16  But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or turn back 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. 1:17  "Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the LORD do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me." 

Naomi even initially refused Ruth’s plea to go with her. But, Ruth now had been called out of her idolatry and she would not return to it.

1:18  When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her. 1:19  So they both went until they came to Bethlehem. And when they had come to Bethlehem, all the city was stirred because of them, and the women said, "Is this Naomi?" 

While Naomi had left a long time ago, her extended family with her tribe recognized her. Living within your tribe in Judah created a sense of real community that is lost is today’s world.

1:20  She said to them, "Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 

1:21  "I went out full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the LORD has witnessed against me and the Almighty has afflicted me?" 

Many people today also blame the LORD for circumstances directly related to their disobedience. The LORD had warned His chosen people to not go into other lands, to stay in the Promised Land. He also warned them not to marry outside of their tribe. Naomi and Elimelech had violated these clear commands. However, the LORD was now restoring her as He directed her to return.

1:22  So Naomi returned, and with her Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, who returned from the land of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest. 

What do two widows do to survive? The timing of their return reveals alot about the LORD’s sovereign plans and His providing for His people who obey Him.

More next Saturday.