As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:
1And
it was in the days of judging one judging, it was a famine in the land and it
was a man from Bethlehem Judah going to sojourn in the fields of Moab, he and
his wife and his two sons. 2And the name of the man [was] Elimelech
and the name of his wife [was] Naomi and the name of his two sons [was] Mahlon
and Chilion. [They were] Ephrathites from Bethlehem Judah and they went [to]
the fields of Moab and they lived there.
I have been studying through the book of James and enjoying
it immensely. However, I need to take a break and go back and do some OT study
for a while, then come back. My mother suggested perhaps I could study in the
book of Ruth, which I think is a great idea. I really enjoy this book and it would
be a pleasure to slow down once and actually ponder over what is written.
Before I embark, I want to note something about how I study
the Bible, for the benefit of anyone who might stumble across this blog. Of
course I first of all believe it is the Word of God and as such it is no
different than sitting at His feet and listening to Him teach and speak. Second
of all I believe it is intended primarily as a book of discipleship. What I mean is that I view it no differently than
if I were actually present, not only listening to what is taught but also
watching the people involved – how they act, how they interact, how they make
good decisions, how they make bad decisions, etc., and trying to learn all I
can from them.
As the Bible says in one place, “He who walks with wise men
will be wise.” In another place it says, “Beat a fool and the simple learn
wisdom.” On the one hand, there is great benefit to keeping company with wise
people. You can not only learn from what they say but also from watching
everything they do. It’s just good to be with them, to “walk with them.” On the
other hand, it is good to note when other people are making foolish choices and
then to see the consequences they suffer. It is a wise person who can learn
from other people’s mistakes. Such is the Bible. Every single page is an
opportunity for us to either walk with wise men or to observe fools and in the
end to learn from both. Every page is an opportunity to let the Lord disciple
us, to teach us, train us, prepare us to live our own lives.
All that being said, I have every intention of, on the one
hand, trying to get at the exact point the Lord may be making, while on the
other hand learning everything I can just from watching the people and what
goes on. Someone once called the former “deductive” study but the latter “inductive.”
They told me they’d never heard anyone doing inductive study. My response would
be “That’s too bad. Discipleship is not just a point in time activity. It is an
entire lifestyle of not only listening but also watching”.
The bottom-line of all of this is that someone out there
might spend a great deal of time trying to find the “point” of the book of
Ruth, then they may make the case that it is foolish to be coming up with
practical observations from every verse. I heartily disagree with that
position. There may very well be a “point” to the book of Ruth and I agree we
should do our best to discern it. But we’ll have wasted a fabulous opportunity of
discipleship if we don’t closely watch the people involved along the way and
learn everything we can from them.
And so it begins. Once upon a time, in a land far, far away
there lived a man named Elimelech ...
What is interesting to me, even in the first few verses, is
that, on the one hand, practically every phrase is significant, while on the
other hand, it is all so common and simple. On the significant side, the book
opens in the “days when the judges ruled.” That is the time when “There was no
king in Israel. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” The events
of this book occur during that chaotic, tumultuous period when the people of
Israel seemed bent on self-destruction. Under the leadership of Moses, then
Joshua, the nation had done fairly well. In spite of gross failures, overall,
their good leadership kept the Lord in His rightful place over them. After
that, the book of Judges reads like a horror story. The constant cycle of sin
and judgment will only end with the ministry of Samuel, which prepared them for
the rule of David. This book, occurring in that period of confusion, is clearly
intended to record for us how we got from the horrific “days of the judges” to
the marvelous kingdom of David.
Also, it is obviously not surprising to us that it centers
in Bethlehem. Interestingly, if you consider Ruth a continuation of the book of
Judges, this is the third story in a row that concerns Bethlehem. In Judges 17&18,
we read of the Levite from Bethlehem whom Micah hired to be his private priest.
Then in 19-21, we read the sickening story of the Levite who took a concubine
from Bethlehem, then the horrific tale of her cruel murder and the events that
followed.
As Ruth opens, once again we find ourselves in Bethlehem. I
suspect, in their day, the fact this is the third story in a row centering in
Bethlehem was intended that they would notice, “Hmmmm. There is something
significant about Bethlehem.” Again, for us who read these words this side of
Jesus’ first coming, we “know” why this is all so important. Bethlehem isn’t
just an obscure little village to us. It is the birthplace of Jesus, the
birthplace of the Messiah. We know too it also will be the home of a boy named
David who we know will rise to be king and lead the nation of Israel to the
very zenith of their human history. So we know it is important.
All of this leads to my “on the other hand …” pretty much no
one knew any of this. Elimelech was just a man with a wife and two sons who
lived in a little village. And into this commonplace world of theirs trouble
entered. A famine.
Is not all of this true of us too? In a sense we all live in
a pretty much vanilla world. We’re nobody special, living nowhere special. And
every time we turn around we get clobbered by some difficult situation. One way
or another we deal with it. And it would seem like, who cares? What difference
does it really make in the end? And yet, just like Elimelech, we probably
cannot even imagine what God is up to. Elimelech could have never imagined that
the very events that occurred would make him a great-great grandfather to King
David, and ultimately to the Messiah Himself. Who knows what God is up to in
the humdrum and the seeming miseries of our lives? I will bet that in Heaven we’ll
find out our story was no less sensational than Elimelech’s. Like him, we just
can’t see it now.
Was it right for him to take his family to Moab? Part of me
wants to say no, that Israelites shouldn’t leave Israel. That line of thinking
leads to – maybe that’s why he and the boys died there, etc., etc. Another part
of me wants to feel the whole matter is painfully familiar and say, “I don’t
know.” As we face our own personal troubles, we deal with them as it makes sense
to us at the time. We might even think we’re praying, we’re really seeking the
Lord’s will, and yet, years later, in retrospect, I find myself saying, “That
was a really bad choice.” So … I don’t know.
Right off the bat, I find the book of Ruth to be a dead
ringer for my own life. We just live and the Lord is up to something!
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