"A Strange Kind of Faithfulness"

The opening verses of our text introduce a cast of characters and tell us about their general circumstances. The first person introduced is a man named Elimelech. Sometimes names carry some significance, and in view of the much repeated phrase in the book of Judges "in those days Israel had no king," it is refreshing to see that at least one family in Bethlehem acknowledged the fact that Israel did have a king. The name Elimelech means "God is king."

A famine had hit Canaan, and as a result, Bethlehem was not able to feed its people. The Hebrew language of our text indicates that when Elimelech left, he fully expected to return. But the Lord had other plans. Elimelech died and left behind a widow and two unmarried sons.

The sons, Mahlon and Kilion filled the emptiness of their lives by marrying Moabite women. Israelites were forbidden from marrying Canaanite women, but the Moabites were cousins to the Hebrews through Abraham’s nephew Lot. We don’t know why there were no children from either marriage.

But after Naomi had spent some ten years in Moab, after her husband and sons had died, she hears that food was once again available back home. Naomi and her two daughters-in-law leave. Good manners required that the person who was leaving be given some company for a while along the road. In oriental countries, it was rare for good-byes to be said in the home. On the way back to Bethlehem, it was Naomi who took the initiative to say goodbye, not Ruth or Orpah.

When courtesy had served its purpose, Naomi tried to make it clear that she wished to return to Bethlehem alone. Since marriage was about the only occupation available to women in those days, Naomi was thinking about their best interests. She knew that as foreigners, they would have trouble finding husbands. Naomi even becomes almost discourteous with Ruth and Orpah as she tries to get them to stay behind.

Naomi’s words convinced Orpah, but Ruth stayed, content to remain a daughter. She pledges her whole self to Naomi. For Ruth, leaving Naomi was impossible. She was no longer a Moabite at heart, nor was she still a worshipper of the Moabite god Chemosh. Naomi was the only one of the Lord’s people she knew, and she would cling to her and those like her for the rest of her life.

In some ways, you could say that the book of Ruth is also about Naomi. The opening and closing frames of the book focus on Naomi. In the opening she is revealed as one who goes out full, and yet because of the death of her husband and sons, comes back empty. In the closing, those who know Naomi’s story are able to proclaim that God has made her life full again, not only with food, but with a kinsman redeemer, a life renewed, a daughter-in-laws love, and now with a child that was legally her grandson.

In the text, Naomi sets out a choice for Ruth: she can either have the Lord’s blessing in her own land with a husband and a home, or she can be without husband and home because she has stayed with one against whom the Lord has turned His hand.

To us, that would seem like an easy decision – almost a no-brainer. Imagine how easy it would be to get people to come into the church if being a Christian meant having prosperity and riches in this world. People want their best life now – not just a promise of something better later on.

Unfortunately, Christians can’t always point to success stories of being delivered from an illness or protection from earthly harm when inviting others

Christianity would be a lot more appealing to others if we could point to earthly security and blessing, and a prosperous life as the results of faith. So when we hear the choice Naomi sets before Ruth, we might think that it would be an easy decision.

But in the face of what looks like an easy decision, Ruth makes what seems like a strange choice. She shows us a strange kind of faithfulness that arises from the mysteries of God’s love and lives by following Him.

Ruth’s answer to Naomi comes from a different perspective than that of our world. She clings to Naomi, a woman against whom the Lord had turned his hand, rather than cling to the blessings of this world. Ruth’s strange kind of faithfulness is born from the mystery of God’s love.

The God of Israel is not limited by the situations of this world. The life of Naomi might have been filled with bitterness and death, but Yahweh has the power to bring life from death and to work victory from defeat. In the larger story of this book, you can see how God works in the midst of death to bring about a new life: a son for Naomi.

As the book closes, we are pointed to a larger story in the Scriptures. There we see how God works through this child and his descendants to bring about salvation for all. Here is the mystery of God’s love. Jesus Christ is that One who suffered the fullness of God’s wrath. On the cross, the Father’s hand was turned against him. Yet in this One is the fullness of our salvation.

From his cross and empty tomb He brings forgiveness and new life to all. This new life involves a strange kind of faithfulness – a faithfulness that not only arises from the mystery of God’s love but also lives by following Him.

In the text, Ruth professes her faithfulness to Naomi, and in the rest of the book we see her live this out. Ruth’s love does not create a life that holds on to temporal matters of prosperity, but instead creates a life that holds on to a person – that identifies with Naomi – that one against whom the Lord had turned his hand, and follows her into a strange land with a strange God. Yet in that land and in that God is her blessing.

In a much greater way, we enact a similar profession of faith in our lives everyday. We find ourselves turning away from the promises of worldly wealth and security and clinging to the one against the Lord had tuned his hand, finding in Him our true security and life everlasting.

In a strange kind of faithfulness, we hold on to Jesus, the one rejected by His Father, because we know the mystery of God’s love. In faith, we identify with Him, and in faith we trust that wherever we go, whatever the circumstances this world offers us, in Him we have Yahweh’s love.

It’s frightening to think about the mess that we and those around us – or even those before us have made because of our sin. The family line of the Moabites began with the disgusting sin of incest. But that makes the fact of Ruth being an ancestor of Christ all the more glorious. God sent his Son to redeem us poor lost sinners.

Through the blessing of a son, a descendant who would be an ancestor of David and an ancestor of Christ, Ruth and Naomi were blessed. Even though the Moabites brought God’s curse and wrath on themselves because of their sins, we are blessed by the sinless One who came into this world to take our sin upon himself. Amen.