Podcasts about when naomi

Passion for Persia Showcasing a Dazzling Culinary History Presented by Naomi Duguid Traveler, writer, photographer, cook Here in the west, though we may know a little about the great Persian empires of times past, we have been cut off from an appreciation of Persian culture by complicated geopolitics. And we're not familiar with the old deep-rooted connections between the various peoples in Iran and neighboring countries. In the travels of award-winning culinary scribe, Naomi Duguid, this acclaimed author has come to see Iran and the Caucasus countries, together with Kurdistan (in Iraq) as a fascinating culinary region. When Naomi first traveled to Georgia in 1989, it was part of the USSR and felt very remote. She says the food was dazzling, remarkable, a whole new take on some very familiar ingredients. Now Georgia and the other Caucasus countries, Azerbaijan and Armenia, are in the western sphere. Their giant neighbor Iran has been isolated politically for decades, but now it too is slowly becoming more accessible to visitors from the west. Despite a great diversity of languages, religions, landscapes, all these places share a culinary history, and esthetic, while also having distinctive local cuisines. Naomi will take us traveling there, through photographs and stories, to see the landscapes and to engage with the remarkable and generous people and food traditions she encountered in her travels. * ** Biography: Naomi Duguid, traveler, writer, photographer, cook, is often described as a culinary anthropologist. Her newest book TASTE OF PERSIA: A Cook's Travels Through Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, & Kurdistan was just published this month. Copies will be on hand for purchase, with all profits used to fund the Culinary Historians of Chicago. Naomi is the author of the acclaimed BURMA: Rivers of Flavor (winner, 2013 IACP culinary travel cookbook award), and the co-author of six earlier award-winning books of food and travel: Hot Sour Salty Sweet: A Culinary Journey Through South-East Asia; Seductions of Rice; Flatbreads and Flavors;Home Baking; Mangoes and Curry Leaves; and Beyond the Great Wall: Recipes and Stories from the Other China. The books explore home-cooked foods in their cultural context, with recipes and photographs as well as stories. Naomi is a frequent contributor to Lucky Peach, and is a contributing editor of Saveur magazine. She conducts intensive cultural-immersion- through-food sessions in northern Thailand each winter, as well as food-focused tours to Burma/Myanmar (for details of the tours this coming winter seehttp://www.immersethrough.com). Recorded at Kendall College on Saturday, October 1, 2016 www.CulinaryHistorians.org

Kristen Thibodeaux 16 But Ruth replied, “Don't ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. 17 Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!” 18 When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more.

Ruth 1 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane. 1 In the days when the judges ruled in Israel, a severe famine came upon the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah left his home and went to live in the country of Moab, taking his wife and two sons with him. 2 The man's name was Elimelech, and his wife was Naomi. Their two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in the land of Judah. And when they reached Moab, they settled there. 3 Then Elimelech died, and Naomi was left with her two sons. 4 The two sons married Moabite women. One married a woman named Orpah, and the other a woman named Ruth. But about ten years later, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion died. This left Naomi alone, without her two sons or her husband. 6 Then Naomi heard in Moab that the LORD had blessed his people in Judah by giving them good crops again. So Naomi and her daughters-in-law got ready to leave Moab to return to her homeland. 7 With her two daughters-in-law she set out from the place where she had been living, and they took the road that would lead them back to Judah. 8 But on the way, Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back to your mothers' homes. And may the LORD reward you for your kindness to your husbands and to me. 9 May the LORD bless you with the security of another marriage.” Then she kissed them good-bye, and they all broke down and wept. 10 “No,” they said. “We want to go with you to your people.” 11 But Naomi replied, “Why should you go on with me? Can I still give birth to other sons who could grow up to be your husbands? 12 No, my daughters, return to your parents' homes, for I am too old to marry again. And even if it were possible, and I were to get married tonight and bear sons, then what? 13 Would you wait for them to grow up and refuse to marry someone else? No, of course not, my daughters! Things are far more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD himself has raised his fist against me.” 14 And again they wept together, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye. But Ruth clung tightly to Naomi. 15 “Look,” Naomi said to her, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. You should do the same.” 16 But Ruth replied, “Don't ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. 17 Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!” 18 When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more. 19 So the two of them continued on their journey. When they came to Bethlehem, the entire town was excited by their arrival. “Is it really Naomi?” the women asked. 20 “Don't call me Naomi,” she responded. “Instead, call me Mara, for the Almighty has made life very bitter for me. 21 I went away full, but the LORD has brought me home empty. Why call me Naomi when the LORD has caused me to suffer and the Almighty has sent such tragedy upon me?” 22 So Naomi returned from Moab, accompanied by her daughter-in-law Ruth, the young Moabite woman. They arrived in Bethlehem in late spring, at the beginning of the barley harvest.

When Naomi saw how things were working out for Ruth and realized that God was involved, she found hope. Her attitude changed and she began to help Ruth to figure out her next steps and find her a home. Sermon Notes: bible.com/events/48695120

When Rebecca’s brother and sister-in-law started having marriage problems, Rebecca prayed earnestly for their reconciliation. But they divorced. Then her sister-in-law took the children out of state and their dad didn’t protest. Rebecca never again saw the nieces she dearly loved. Years later she said, “Because of trying to handle this sadness on my own, I let a root of bitterness start in my heart, and it began to spread to my family and friends.” The book of Ruth tells about a woman named Naomi who struggled with a heart of grief that grew into bitterness. Her husband died in a foreign land, and ten years later both her sons died. She was left destitute with her daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah (1:3–5). When Naomi and Ruth returned to Naomi’s home country, the whole town was excited to see them. But Naomi told her friends: “The Almighty has made my life very bitter. . . . The Lord has afflicted me” (vv. 20–21). She even asked them to call her “Mara,” meaning bitter. Who hasn’t faced disappointment and been tempted toward bitterness? Maybe even on a daily basis! Someone says something hurtful, an expectation isn’t met, or demands from others make us resentful. When we acknowledge to ourselves and God what’s happening deep in our hearts, our tender Gardener can help us dig up any roots of bitterness—whether they’re still small or have been growing for years—and can replace them with a sweet, joyful spirit.

"Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem, and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the LORD will give you by this young woman." - Ruth 4:11-2 "Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king." - Matt 1:5-6 A Widowed Daughter-in-lawIf you haven’t picked up on this yet, our journey through the Old Testament on our way to Jesus often reads more like the plot to a soap opera than a religious text. This goes to show us that God uses all kinds of people from every type of background to bring about his plan for the world.This episode in the drama of Scripture starts out very dark. I mean no sooner do we get introduced to the main characters than they start dying off. There’s a man named Elimelech from Judah who moves to Moab because of a famine and there he and his two sons die, leaving his wife Naomi with two daughters-in-law. One of them goes back to her family and our story follows Naomi and Ruth as they go to live in the little town of Bethlehem.Gleanings and SandalsAs soon as they get settled in Bethlehem, Ruth gets to work. You see God had already made a way for faithful Jews to take care of the poor and Boaz was a faithful Jew. It just so happened that this takes place in the time of the harvest and Ruth just so happened to stumble across Boaz’s field. As was their custom Boaz’s workmen would harvest the fields but would leave anything that fell to the ground for the poor to pick up for themselves. This is where Ruth comes in. She was busy all day picking up the leftovers when Boaz noticed her. He had already heard of the kindness she had shown to Naomi and he wanted to help reward her so he told his men to leave out even more for her. When Naomi hears about this she realizes that Boaz is in a unique position to help because he is a close relative of theirs and could be their redeemer.I realize that some of this might be confusing because it is talking about ancient Jewish traditions and customs, but the really crazy part is that these practices had been a part of the Jewish culture for generations and now God is using them to bring about his plan of salvation through Jesus. Then we come to the climax of the story. Boaz decides that is going to redeem them but he has to get past another relative who is first in line. This guy doesn’t want to ruin his own inheritance so Boaz redeems them and hands over his sandal, which is kinda like a handshake. The deal is done...Read the full article at: https://www.swoutfitters.com/resource/advent-12-davids-moabite-grandma/Follow the whole study of The Things Concerning Himself at:https://www.swoutfitters.com/advent/Every day, Dec. 1-25, we'll be publishing daily advent study posts (written and audio versions) on our website. You can also access the audio recordings on the Snowbird App, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.

In the days when the judges ruled,  there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. 2 The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there. 3 Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband. 6 When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. 7 With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah. 8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. 9 May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.” Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud 10 and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.” 11 But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? 12 Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons—13 would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!” 14 At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. 15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.” 16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. 19 So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?” 20 “Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty  has made my life very bitter. Ruth 4:13 So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. 14 The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! 15 He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.” 16 Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. 17 The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.*

Then she started to return with her daughters-in-law from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had considered his people and given them food. So she set out from the place where she had been living, she and her two daughters-in-law, and they went on their way to go back to the land of Judah. But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back each of you to your mother's house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant that you may find security, each of you in the house of your husband.” Then she kissed them, and they wept aloud. They said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.” But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters, why will you go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? Turn back, my daughters, go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. Even if I thought there was hope for me, even if I should have a husband tonight and bear sons, would you then wait until they were grown? Would you then refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, it has been far more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the Lord has turned against me.” Then they wept aloud again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.So she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” But Ruth said,“Do not press me to leave you  or to turn back from following you!Where you go, I will go;  where you lodge, I will lodge;your people shall be my people, and your God my God.Where you die, I will die—there will I be buried.May the Lord do thus and so to me, and more as well,if even death parts me from you!”When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.

0 (0s): Well, good morning. Welcome to Harvest. Church thanks for coming this morning. Hello to everyone. 1 (6s): And then the loft and up on the patio, it's everyone watching at home. 0 (10s): It's awesome to be together. All one big family. So welcome wherever you're watching from with those of you here with me on campus, I'd like to stand and we'll begin standing. If you're able and let's invite the Lord's presence and praise, we begin. Thank you, Lord, that when we gather in your name that you promise to be in our list. And so we welcome you. Holy spirit, just to come in this time is to minister to every heart. Let's pray, especially for anyone who's just hurting this morning. Maybe hurting physically, maybe hurting within the city. 1 (49s): How would you meet us? Right where we hurt, 0 (52s): Or how would you meet us in our and our need and our brokenness? God, I asked for healing and restoration just to wash over us. Just let your love just cast out all anxiety and fear this week And this how much you care for us. 1 (1m 13s): Thank you. 0 (1m 17s): And we're going to sing a new song this morning and the song talks a lot about how God makes away. And there seems to be no way. And he's the God who parts the seize for us. He's the God who moves mountains. Some of you might know this, and I hope she can. The chorus goes like this way, man. 1 (1m 39s): Promise keeper lied in the darkness by God. That is soon Tom is the guy in the dark and my God and when I feel it's work and can never stop, never stop. 1 (5m 41s): Never stop. Never stop. by God. 1 (8m 22s): Sometimes you just put a new song and you put words upon our lips. 0 (8m 27s): So God we just flipped our praises to you this morning. 1 (8m 35s): God in this crazy world. 1 (19m 4s): What? The world, the world needs more. You want more of you in our lives. We want to reflect you. Jesus. 0 (19m 16s): 1 (19m 31s): Yeah, just soak in his presence. Just a moment. If you want to shut your eyes and just welcome him renewed, just pray with Jesus. 1 (20m 15s): You continue to minister to our hearts is so easy to just grow weary. It's so easy to forget. So help us to remember your faithfulness. 0 (20m 38s): I just pray that you would open our hearts to receive your word this morning. Let's pray a blessing over Jeremy, as he brings the word today, and that you would flow mightily through him and God would you be in our fellowship as we lift each other up, you share each other's burdens. That's pretty the, you give us courage just to reach out to someone this morning, we're hurting and to ask for prayer where you give us courage to reach out to someone and say, can I pray for you, God, that you would be the body of Christ working together to see your kingdom come here in our city and on the earth we ask all of this beautiful negative. 0 (21m 28s): Amen. Good stuff. Church awesome. Yeah. And we're going to take time to greet some folks around you. So please take a minute to say hi to somebody and we'll be back in just a few minutes with some announcement. 2 (21m 44s): Hey everyone. Welcome. We're all having so much fun talking to each other. This is great. All right. I love how social everyone is. It's so fun. So fun to see a welcome, everyone. Welcome to all of you that are joining us online and joining us from the laughed from the patio, from the sanctuary. It's so fun to see all of your guys, the smiling faces. Okay. I have a lot of things to announce. So bear with me. Okay. If you are new or if you have a question or if you want to know about a group or need any sort of information about Harvest Church visit the info table. 2 (22m 29s): It is a, there's a big sign that says welcome across the front of it. There are big banners that show you where it is. It's halfway up the driveway, or if you're elsewhere, then halfway up from the sanctuary. Okay. Let's see. We would love to have you fill out a communication card. You can do that by filling out. There should be a card in front of you in a seat in front of you or at one of the tables by one of the venues, fill this out and turn it into a collection box or to the welcome booth table. And you will get weekly emails. People will reach out to you about a group. If you want to join a group, or if you want to volunteer for kid's ministry, I'm the kid's ministry director. 2 (23m 12s): I highly recommend it. I'm also a plug for that real fast. If you want to volunteer for kid's ministry, but you're like, I don't know enough about the Bible. I'm not smart. And whatever the case is, you don't have to know everything. Cause if you did, no one would be eligible. No one would be able to do it. And so if you go, if you're, if that's your concern or if you're worried about, if you're a man and you're like, I want to volunteer in kid's ministry. And you're like, but I can't because I'm a man, not the case. We have lots of guys, the volunteering kids ministry, my plug is over a visit the info booth. If you want to volunteer, okay. Murder, mystery night, the deadline for that is today. So if you haven't signed up for that yet, and then you have to do it today by the end of the day. 2 (23m 54s): Cause if you don't, then it's literally, it's cut off at the end of the day. So that's for ages 20 to 40. And it's going to be on October 30th in the loft from six to 9:00 PM. And it's $5 to be a part of that. So it's going to be a super fun, exciting night, baptism and bonfire. So the baptism and the bonfire are happening on the same night. It's a week from yesterday. So it's next Saturday, October 17th at 4:00 PM. At the end of Grande just on the beach, straight out from where Grande Avenue ends. They are doing a baptism class for that right now. So if you're interested in being baptized, they're meeting right now in the Church office, which is up the Hill. 2 (24m 34s): So if you guys, if any of you want to get baptized, just go ahead and run up the Hill right now. And you can be a part of that if you want to get baptized and you're decided tomorrow and the baptism classes over reach out to us and we will figure out a way to make it happen. Okay? Let's see. 3 (24m 52s): Oh, 2 (24m 52s): Baptism and bonfire. Sorry. One more thing. There will be hot dogs. There will be smores and there will be hot chocolate. So bring a beach chair, bring a blanket, bring beach toys, bring the whole family and come and enjoy. I'm so bad at this guys. I apologize. Okay. Growth track. Moving out. If you are new to Harvest Church or newer, and you've never been a part of the growth track, it is a great opportunity to learn about Harvest. Church learn about the history, learn what we're all about, learn about why we're non-genetic denominational, why we're Bible based. All of the things. It is a great thing to be a part of. It's a four week class. 2 (25m 33s): It meets on Sunday mornings during the 11:00 AM service starting on October 25th. So sign up for that at the info table. Okay. We are doing a celebration of life service for Mike on October 17th, this upcoming Saturday at 11:00 AM here at the Church we're in need of some, either strong men or strong women to help set up. We need, we need people who can lift chairs off of chair rocks, who can lift tables. If you're a man, you can do that. Great sign up, please. If you're a woman and you can do that. Awesome. Please sign up. We need help with that for the celebration of life specifically, it's at 11:00 AM this upcoming Saturday. 2 (26m 14s): So if you're sign up for that, you're only signing up for like an hour next Saturday and that's it so, really easy and it's fun. So yeah, sign up for that at the info table as well. Okay. We're done. All right. Thank you for bearing with me. All of you who actually did, and pastor Jeremy is going to be bringing us the word today. 3 (26m 37s): Thanks, Leslie. 5 (26m 45s): Awesome. Great, great announcements. Thank you. I heard it said past month or so that we need more precedent in times, right? We keep seeing all over the news that there's all these, this is unprecedented times and in our, with our health and economy and, and, and the presidential candidates and, and they keep saying, this is unprecedented. I think we need more precedent at times, right? Would you guys agree with me? 4 (27m 11s): And I'm so, cause I get to be a 5 (27m 15s): Getting do, bring the word these next two weeks, pastor Steve has been leading us through this, this COVID crisis. He has his, he's taking the brunt of a lot of, just a lot of things. And so we are just stoked that we were able to as a staff and, and just to be able to send them out and get some refreshment or encouragement vision. And so he's out there meeting with the Lord. And, and so we're, we're just going to, we're going to pray for him this morning and then we'll pray for the, the time and the word this morning. So pray with him please. Heavenly father. We thank you that, that pastor Steve has led from the front Lord. 5 (27m 55s): And during these times, Lord, we thank you for, for this church that the doors are open. That, that, that we are Church that we're meeting here, Lord, and, and that we're, we're meeting with each other, the fellowship that the lien hands on a prayer, all those things they'll worship Lord, that, that, that goes on Lord. We thank you for that Lord. And it's and it has what it has. It come at a cost for pastor Steve. So the Lord will you be with him, Lord, will you pour into him this next week or so? And just a refresh his spirit. We thank you, Lord, that he gets to go out Lord and, and, and do that Lord. So, but with us here, Lord, I believe that you just have a message. Lord, you just have a, you have a word for each of us this morning and, and, and next week as well or God. 5 (28m 37s): And when you speak to us, we speak to our hearts. We use just speaking to our condition, Jesus name, we pray. Amen. So we're going to be in the book of Ruth this next two weeks. I get two, I get two weeks and the book of Ruth, we're going to try to accomplish a Ruth chapters one and two this week. And, and we're gonna have three and four next week. And with that, Ruth is my, is one of my favorite books. The Bible we have Genesis, I think is like my, my, my ultimate favorite and Ruth would be a close second to that. You know, we, we, we see in the book of Ruth that it, I like to say it's Ruth is humanity. And four chapters, 85 verses just a little over, just a little under 2,700 words. 5 (29m 22s): Hebrew words is found the book of Ruth and each word is just skillfully crafted it's and it's not just a beautiful story, cause there's so much that's happening underneath the surface that you can just kind of floss over when you read through the book of Ruth in the matter of 15, 20 minutes. So I'm excited to kind of jump in. We're going to take a very distant approach and kind of just dive in a few spots, dive in where I think the Lord wants to reach us today. But what I would, I hope we will all walk out is that God is he's the God of the Insignificant and Ordinary he's the God of the and Insignificant Ordinary and why. And, and the current that we see under the book of Ruth is this Providence of God. 5 (30m 6s): God sovereignty mixes somehow matches with our freewill and God is working out things in our life and through our lives, you see just at face value, read it through the book of Ruth and the beautiful story that comes out. You have all these things that come up, you have grief, you have joy, you have sorrow friendship, family, betrayal, redemption, you have drama, you have loneliness, compassion, romance, scandal, bravery, faith, grace, love, you have weddings and you have death. That's just, it just all their humanity in four chapters. And so what I want to show is that there's no such thing as an insignificant detail to our Lord and our understanding of God is so framed by what we think of God is God just the God of the big things is God just the God of, of, of the important, the, the, the things that we might think, Oh, well, God only cares about those big, those important things or has God also so intimately acquainted our lives. 5 (31m 16s): There was a German theologian. He said this, tell me how lofty God is for you. And I will tell you how little he means to you. So often the bigger we think of God, Oh gosh, this is this big, he's this cosmic force, all the things, the less intimate, the less we think he has to do with us. Tell me how lofty God is for you. And I will tell you how little he means to you these two weeks. We're only going to scrape the surface and maybe, maybe you, Steve gave me the glimmer of hope. Maybe we can jump into some, some things later on down the road, go into depth, but let's jump into the book of Ruth chapter one. 5 (31m 57s): It answers one of the questions of this is in the darkest of times, how does a person live a life that makes a difference? And the darkest of times, how does one live a life that makes a difference? And, and Ruth is going to show us, and he's going to show us and the simple things and the way we treat others and our business dealings and preparing a meal for a family, for your family, washing dishes, doing the laundry. It's the simple day to day things Insignificant as the main thing to us aren't to God first one starts out. It says, now it came to pass. And the day's when the judges ruled that there was a famine in the land. And that's so that's, that's up the time period with which the book of Ruth was written. 5 (32m 37s): It was in the time of the judges and, and the book of judges ends with this verse. And it's it's it's right where we're at. It says in those days there was no King in Israel. Everyone did what was right in the eye, in his own eyes, there was no King and everyone was doing what was right in their own eyes. I can relate to that. I think we can all relate to that. Remember the time when my parents left my brother and I home alone for the first time and ride, what no parents around this is awesome. What are we going to do? We're going to have a BB gun wore in the house. 3 (33m 13s): 5 (33m 16s): I don't, I don't, I don't suggest that I don't suggest cutting a Q-tip and half and putting it in your seven 60 pump master, and then pump it up a few times and shooting your brother and the leg. I don't, I don't remember that may or may not have happened may or may not have left a hole in my brother. And he may or may not have chased me around the house the next 20, 30 minutes. So the authority wasn't home. So we did what we wanted. And our times we, you know, we've taken God out of our government, out of our schools, out of the public spheres. And, and, and there's even the sense of trying to take God out of churches. And it feels, it's just, this is where we're at. And it's like, everyone is doing what is right in their own eyes. 5 (33m 57s): Yeah. I grew up with the sane. My friend said over and over in junior high and high school, it says, if it feels good, do it. If it feels good doing, and I watched my friends who listened to that and who went down that path of, Hey, if it feels good, they did it. I believe there's a famine. There's a drought in our land now, too. It was a famine of, of, of truth, of common sense of compassion, of love for calling men. Those, the things that seem to be lacking in our time and this time that they were in the time of judges, there was a famine and there was a drought. 5 (34m 40s): And that led to the lack of food for the nation of Israel. See God him. And Deuteronomy 11 had promised that as long as the, the Israelites were obedient, there would always be plenty. And so it seems like this is a dark, dark time. And even in the book of judges, that there was a famine in that, that there was this lack of, of just doing what was right as a nation. And so as the book of Ruth narrows it down, it goes from the nation is how the nation was doing as a whole. Now it's going to go to a family because God uses individuals. He uses families. So verse one and two is the name of the man was Elimelech. And the name of his wife was Naomi. And the names of their two sons were may Hahn and Chilean and their from Bethlehem. 5 (35m 25s): And they went to the country of Moab and they remained there. So they leave the land of Israel, the leave, the land of promise. And they go to, to journey to this land of Moab, because they were trying to find food and find the bed. Now, Bethlehem, interestingly enough means house of bread. That's what Bethlehem means. The house of red. And Elimelech his name means my God is King. So my God is King D decides to uproot his family out of the land. And they go and they travel to Moab and he takes with him, his wife and her name is pleasant or pleasant. One. That's what Naomi means. And the significance of those names. She was pleasant. And maybe this shows the, the, the names of they gave their son the show's the times and the difficulties and the struggles they were having their family cause a male, a Hawn or Mohan. 5 (36m 14s): His name means SIC. And his brother chili on his, his name actually means pining or wasting away. So we have Elimelech and his wife, Naomi, and their two sons pining and wasting away and show the condition, show the struggles that that family was going, going through. And so they think they come down two and they think the best thing to do is to leave the house of bread and to go Sojourn in another country. And that sojourning turned into the remaining and it turning into, into settling down. And so often I think people try to hit it. Elimelech why would you leave the land of promise? 5 (36m 54s): Why would you leave the house of bread? And yet, I think he's just a father trying to do what's best. As he's watching his two sons waste away and the drought and the family, and that's brought on and they go to the faraway land, Elimelech ends up dying and Naomi's husband died. And she was left with her two sons. That's a lot to happen in a far away land to lose a spouse, to lose the, the, the, the covering the head of the family. She was now widowed now. And we found herself in a place of, she was being witty. 5 (37m 35s): She was widowed in the foreign land, and they took two wives, or the other woman of Moab, the sons did. And the name of the first was Orpah. And the name of the other was Ruth. And they dwelt there about 10 years. So you have orphan and her name actually means neck or, or like gazelle. Something about her neck stood out and Ruth, her name means friend. And what I'll, what I'll dive into deeper next week is the picture that's going on here. You have the beautiful story, but there's a picture that God's weaving in. It was, it's actually prophetic because Naomi is a picture of the nation of Israel. And now we have Ruth and Ruth has a friend. 5 (38m 19s): Well, Jesus called us friends. He says, you are no longer slaves, but you're friends. And they, they, they, they went there dwelled there about 10 years. And so they're there for 10 years and they're in a foreign land. There's no father. So the two sons, and it says, and as it came to pass verse five, the both Mahan and chili on died. So the woman survived her two sons and her husband. I mean, just sit in that loss for a little bit. All of Naomi's hopes, all of her dreams, all of her protection have all now died. 5 (39m 2s): The hurt, the pain, no family there to support no, no, no comfort, no community of God to support her in this time. So we have left as a house with three widows in it. Naomi has no children left. They both passed away. And now we have two women who are bearing two women. Who've been married with their husbands for 10 years and, and not have had any offspring had any children to, to pass on that line of, of Elimelech. And not much has made her that, that Ruth is barren, but the end of the book, there's this glimmer. Cause, cause that's what the beauty of this narrative is that in the end, we're going to see Ruth. This is Barry woman in the beginning that we see Ruth as a, as a, as a barrier in the end, we're going to see that the Lord opens her womb and now it's going from the family. 5 (39m 52s): And now we're going to, we're going to even narrow it and close. And we're going to go from the family to the individuals. And so Naomi arises with her daughters in law that they might return from the country of Moab. And for she heard in the country of Moab, that the Lord had visited his people by giving them bread, bread had returned to the house of bread. So she arises a Rose from her losses. She realizing all the pain and all the while she still has to move on, she still has to do something, just the travel and of 70 miles over, over a mountain, across the river dangers. I mean all that stuff there because God y'all way God had visited his people and theirs. 5 (40m 34s): Therefore, she went out from the place where she was and her two daughters went with her and, and she, she looks at her two times and she's like, you don't need to follow me. I am nothing. And she, she talks about the, that the Lord's hand had gone against her. She says, go return each to her mother's house. And verse eight, the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with me, dealt with the dead. And with me, those years of pain and grief and loss route, and Naomi had been milled down, she had been crushed. She feels like if there's nothing left, like there's no hope why you girls don't need to come with me. 5 (41m 16s): But verse nine, she says that she, that the Lord may grant you rest, that you may find arrest each in the house of her husband. And that is one of the designs of marriage. That marriage be a place of rest that is God's design. And so she desires that for her, her, her two daughter and loss go find rest and the house of her husband. So she kissed them and lift up. So the, so she kissed them and they lifted up their voices and wept. And surely we return with you as these people, you know, to your people. And it was a nice sentiment, but they weren't both willing to go there. And often in our grief and our loss, people try to reach out and people try to help. 5 (41m 58s): But when I, when I lost my dad to cancer, I remember a specific conversation and I, I understand the heart, but, but she's like, Oh, you know, trying to, trying to find words. And she's like, well, I understand what you're going through. Cause I just lost my dog. And there was two, there was like, I want to say some things. And the other was like, I just, I realized, I realized you're trying to empathize. And, and I just, you just have to take for face value. But I, I like how job's friends handled it. When Joe went through all of his losses, at least for the S the first part of it job, his friends came and sat with him in silence, in the midst of all of his lost for seven days. 5 (42m 43s): For seven days, they just sat there with Jobe and the friends that have, have comforted me and walked through my losses in my life. They were there. Just the ones that, Hey, I'm here for you. I don't know what to say. I don't have the right words, but I'm just here for you. If you need anything, just let me know. So you, after seven days, that's when job's friends opened their mouth and that's when it just went downhill, right? This went downhill. So Naomi says the second 10, and turn back my daughters, why don't you go with me? But there's still sons in my womb that they may be your husbands. And she's, she's talking about the law of the love, right. Marriage. And we'll leave that for later. So she views and she understands that God has come against her. 5 (43m 24s): She says, the hand of the Lord has come up, has come against her. And if she only knew we have, we I've redone as, as getting to overlook the whole book of Ruth and having read it. And haven't understood the gospel message and all that stuff. We know that God has awesome and amazing plans for new home. And she doesn't in that moment of grief and loss and pain and hurt all that stuff. She just thinks that the Lord has come against her. If somebody could just whisper into her ear, Jeremiah 29 11 for, I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord plans to prosper you and not to harm you plans to give you a hope and the future. Can you imagine that? 5 (44m 4s): And her daughter-in-laws, they lifted up their voice and they wept again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her or putt goes back off the pages of scripture and into, into oblivion. We never hear of her again. And they always seen an believe. She says to Ruth, now this is the third time she urges her. Go back, go back to your people. Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods return after your sister-in-law that's significant. You see back to she's saying, go back to your gods, go back to Chemosh. That was the God that the Moabites worshiped go back to the, the, the destroyer, the subdued. 5 (44m 47s): That's what, that's what she washed meant. She must was the God that accepted human sacrifice. She says, look, I have nothing left. And she washed, maybe Chemosh will be kinder than my God. Y'all the way the show's her, her, her just her hurt and her pain in Ruth hearing that will not turn back for. There's something that she's seen. And Naomi and Ruth said, and this is some of my fear versus the book of Ruth 16 and 17. 5 (45m 27s): But Ruth said, intrigued me not to leave you or to turn back from following you forever, where you go, I will go. And wherever you lodge, I will lodge your people shall be my people in my, and your God, my God, where you die, I will die. And there I will be buried. This is her statement of faith and that it, they, they, they have stay this and colleges. It's just a beautiful, beautiful literary work. And it has that Adam and Eve ring to it as well from Genesis two, where Adam says, this is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. Ruth is like, I will not leave you. 5 (46m 7s): I have clung to Ruth. She, where does she get this faith? She was raised in a gentle idol worshiping country. And now she's ready to abandon everything that she knew. Her family, her friends, her community, all of that is to follow after Naomi and to have Naomi's God be her God. How could that be? When Naomi had nothing but loss and pain and hurt. And I believe that it's because as Naomi was being crushed, there was something sweet that was still coming out of her. The way you create fragrance or perfume is you actually take the herb or the plant and you crush it. You grind it up so that it gives its full aroma. 5 (46m 50s): Paul would say later in the second Corinthians for, we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved. And among those who are perishing to the one, we are a realm of death, Lena death, and to other, the aroma of life leading the life we can in our times of crushing, still be that aroma to Christ that, that lead other the other say, I don't know what it is about you. You're going through some tough stuff, but there is something in you. There's something I desire. And that's what Ruth was doing. She was, she was like, despite the crushing, she was still said, your people are my people, your God, my God. So when they only saw ruse determination, she just moved on. 5 (47m 34s): And it says, as they came to Bethlehem and verse 19, all the city was excited because then they see two figures, two women returning from Moab. And it had been many years has been at least 10 years. And they look and they're looking, they're excited. And they said, Oh, is this Naomi life has been hard on her. Is this Naomi? And she says, I don't call me. Naomi, call me, Mara. See Naomi means pleasant, but she's now she's saying, call me, Mara for Mara means better. We can see where she's at. She's in a place of bitterness. She said, I went out full of verse 21. 5 (48m 15s): It and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi? Why do you call me pleasant? Since the Lord has testified against me? And the almighty almighty has afflicted me and I I'm, I'm thankful for it. Cause she, she has a way of speaking her mind. She has a way of going, Oh yeah, I lost everything, but I'm okay. I'm good. She doesn't do that. She's like, she's in this place of bitterness and God will still meet her there. And the people will meet her there. How often do we get asked? How are you doing? And we say, Oh, I'm good. I'm smiling when we're hurting inside the church. And I think our, this community should be a place of just authentic community. And it's my personal belief. 5 (48m 56s): And this, this, this is my understanding. As I've read through the story and traders say, I think that Naomi had a lot to do with them leaving Israel and the first place. I think I, my it's my personal belief that Naomi was like, Elimelech look at our sons. Why are we staying in this godforsaken place of Bethlehem? Why we need to leave this place? Look at our sons. They're dying. If we don't do something there, they're going to waste away. And so sh maybe she was positive. My thought she was the one, the impetus of pushing them out into the land of Moab. We have to go find food for our kids. We have to do something. And so now she's come back and she feels like she's just completely empty is because she, maybe it's my thought that she was the one who's pushing for that. 5 (49m 42s): And she's like, board's gone against me. I was the one who wanted this. Now the Lord is coming against me. Just think back to those evening conversations when the boys were in their beds and the husband and wife, a little luck, and now we're just talking. So I think, I think it's way. And it's obviously weighing heavy on Naomi. So Naomi returned in the us and Ruth and mobilize her Don law, went with her and verse 22, you and who returned from the country MOBE. And now they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest. This is, this is the season ender. This is the last episode like, Oh wait, why, why? There's like something's changing. 5 (50m 22s): The barley harvest has mentioned, food has not been mentioned this whole time, other than the lack of food. And now we have the barley harvest. The barley harvest has mentioned this. Okay. There's, there's a glimmer of hope. There's something happening. And it doesn't, God always give us those little glimmers of hope in the, in the loss and the hurt and the pain. And there's those little glimmers of hope that just get us, get us by just sometimes day by day, sometimes hour by hour, minute by minute, the loss of my dad was just at times unbearable. He was 51. 5 (51m 2s): I was, I had just turned 24 and I didn't know how I was going to make it. So we grew up in the central Valley and up in the, up in this year as there, there was this mountain that for whatever reason, I was always drawn to look at. This is Sawtooth peak and it's this diamond shape peak that just kind of stands out in the mountains. And, and it was like whenever there was a clear day, I could just see Sawtooth peak, whether it was snow on it or whether it was the evening sun and the setting on it. It was, it was just, it was, I loved looking at Sawtooth peak and it was like one day I woke up in that mountain was just gone. My dad was no longer there. And the, that loss that just hurt and every like the Lord has carried us through Florida's Curtis through the, it was like the little acts like our Church would come and help us out with little projects. 5 (51m 57s): My mom w with my dad had had in his, in God, given him foresight had, had had a life insurance policy that allowed my mom to buy it, the house over the fixer upper of her dreams. And there's like this little, like these little shimmers of, of, of God just, just so I'm here, I'm here. I'm still working. I'm not done. And that'd be the end of chapter one. We have this little glimmer, but let's quickly get into route two. Now. I don't know why verse one. I do not know why this has mentioned, but it says there was a relative. So we just go from the darkness the, the hard times, and there a glimmer of hope of the bar of the Harvest and now it mentions in verse one. 5 (52m 39s): Now there's a relative of Naomi's husband, a man of great wealth of the family of Elimelech and his name was Boaz. Well, full stop. Why is that in there? Why do you, why, why does that get added right there at the beginning of chapter two, right? And the narrative. Why does that get plucked in there? And we there's so many questions we should ask Bo ass. Who is Bo ass? Why was he mentioned? Well, he's a family of Elimelech. So he's a kinsmen to the family. He's the man of great wealth Boaz. His name is means in him, his strength in him, his strength, Solomon as he's building his temple later on would have two pillars at the front of the temple. 5 (53m 20s): One of those tent, one of those pillars, he named Boaz. And if you're single and the reason this maybe is say, is he married? Why isn't he married? I don't know. We'll get him. Maybe we will talk about that next week. So you've got it now. Okay. So Boaz, this guy, this guy that was introduced into the narrative. Okay. Put that aside. Let's continue on with Ruth and Naomi. Cause that's where we're at. Right? So Ruth inverse to the Ruth, the Moabite has said, and only please let me go out to the fields and glean heads of grain after him in whom site I may find favor. And she said, go, my daughter Russi Ruth. Didn't want to remain static. She wasn't just going to stay there. 5 (54m 0s): She just knew that she had to go do something. There was no welfare system to take care of them. There was no one God who was going to bring food to the door. She had to go out and do something. And this is where God in his, in his sovereignty. And his foresight had had put in the law of gleaning and allowed the reapers as they gleaned the harvest fields to only make one passed through. And they had to leave the corners and the reapers also, whatever they spilled or left was left was there for the widow's and the destitute. So if your bag, if you're lifting up your bag and it spills out the bottom, you had to leave that whole pile there. You couldn't take, you couldn't take it with you In verse three. 5 (54m 44s): And then she left. So Ruth goes out, she looks North, she looks South. She looks East, she looks West. Where's she going to go? There's fields surrounding Bethlehem. Where is she going to go? First three. And she left and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And it says, and she just happened to come to the part of the field, belonging to Boaz, who was the family of Elimelech second mention. It says she happened. Or the King James says she just so happened. The Bible God's sovereignty. Things just don't just happen. But it also doesn't say anything about some light coming and shining on that field, like Ruth steps out. 5 (55m 28s): And it goes, where should I go? And there's like this spotlight from heaven, there was no, there was no like being pushed along by some unseen force. She just simply stepped out in faith and said, I need to, to say, I need to do something. And where do I go? And the sovereignty of God in the freewill of her to choose where she wanted to go. She just so happened that she ended up in this field and it was idleness that says, I can't just stay idle. I need to, I need to go out and provide, I need to do something. And then I mentioned Boaz and Boaz is brought into the story. He says, he comes to his Reaper's in the field and says the Lord be with you. And they said, in response, the Lord bless you. And that just shows Boaz his character, that he is the Lord of the harvest that he takes care of his workers. 5 (56m 14s): And his workers just love him in return. And Boaz said to his servant, who was in charge of the reapers whose young woman is this, this unnamed servant gives her, him the report that, Hey, yeah, that's, that's Ruth. She returned with the mobile. She's the mobile fetus she returned with Naomi. And that she asked, Hey, can I come glean in your field? After the reapers? She was plaintiff. She didn't just say, there's a law allows me to do this. She said, can I do this? So she's polite. She's hard working, not demanding. And also probably very tired from the 70 mile journey that she had just gone on. So Boaz goes and speak to her specifically. He says, Boaz. He says to Ruth in verse eight, you listen to my daughter. 5 (56m 57s): Will you not do not go glean in another field nor go from here, but stay close by my young women. Let your eyes beyond the field, which they reap and go after them. Have I not commanded the young men not to touch you? And then if you're thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn. And so in response, Ruth falls on her face, first 10 bows down the ground and says, why have I found favor in your eyes that you should take? Notice of me since I am a foreigner, that Hebrew word for grace is Kaine. And it's a, it's a meany of grace or favor. See, grace is the basis by which she's given all these blessings, this unearned undeserved favor as a mobile just woman, the law would keep her out, but grace would bring her in the law, keeps out, but grace is brought, brought her in and Boaz, recounts, like it's been fully reported of all that you've done for your, for your mother-in-law, for your, for your, your, your deceased husband and, and how you've left everything to come here. 5 (58m 4s): Your, your reputation has preceded you. And he says, in verse 12, the Lord repay you and full reward. Be given by the Lord of the God of Israel under hoons wings, you shall come for refuge. She CA Ruth had left her father's protection. Ruth had left her husband, his protection. He had died. And after the loss of my dad, the loss of my mom, the Psalm 65 was my GoTo verse for a long time. And that says a father to the fatherless and a defender of the widow is God. And his Holy habitation. God is the protector. 5 (58m 44s): And Ruth, you have come under your way as God. And he will protect and provide for you. And she said, let me find favor in your sight. My Lord for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to me. And then at mealtime Boaz does something that was not in the law. You didn't have to invite people, the forerunner into your home to share a meal. And yet she does that at mealtime, at lunchtime, come here. He says, and eat the bread and dip your peace and joy and the tip of your piece of bread in the vinegar. And so she sat beside the reapers and he passed parched greens, her and she ate and was satisfied. One of those little details that we missed, that the Bible doesn't miss the Bible does the, there's no word he reword. 5 (59m 27s): That goes unspoken. That Hebrew word for vinegar is climates helmets. And that is a vinegar of wine. So here we have Boaz offering to Ruth, essentially wine and bread, the communion elements, amazing. And Ruth just takes, she, she, she accepts it and then she keeps them back thinking of her mother in law, back at home. So she Rose up to glean and, and it's like, you know, a 30 minute lunch break. 5 (1h 0m 8s): And she leaves a little bit early. She gets up to go to work and, and Boaz has the time to sit there at his, at the lunch break with his men in the, and the reapers. And he gives these, these commandments for her. And he says also, verse 16, let grains of the bundles fall purposely for her and leave it that she may glean and do not rebuke her. See, now grace has turned into gifts, letter, verse 15. I missed that. Let her even glean among the sheaves and do not reproach her. He is now just giving her gifts upon gifts. The new King, James ranch renders it handfuls on purpose or handfuls of purpose. 5 (1h 0m 48s): And I love this cause it w w what was Ruth thinking as she's began to glean out in the field and like, Oh, wow, they miss this whole stock. Oh, wow. There's a, there's a clump of, of, of a barley here. Wow. This is hardly. And those are good workers. Like, they're like, why are they leaving so much behind? This is amazing. And it seems like it just all goes right over her head. She's just picking what she has right there in front of her. Maybe she's a little ditzy, maybe not my sister. I love my sister. And I asked her for permission, but she took a, one of her classes in high school. There she was, and she walks into a classroom and she was like, mr. 5 (1h 1m 31s): Parker, the teacher, mr. Parker, that who's the teacher. And she's like, mr. Parker, I didn't realize there was a basement in this classroom. And he's like, Oh yeah. That's where we keep all the wine for school. And it's nice and cool down there. She's like, I didn't realize there's been a basement. So I've been coming to his classroom for a whole year. I didn't realize there's a basement. She sat down and like, everybody started chuckling. She's like what? It was a door that was just on the ground. She thought it was a she'd walked into class thinking it was a basement. It was just a door on the ground. And maybe Ruth was having them on those moments. Like, wow, I just don't understand all this grain on the screen. Well, Naomi's going to help her figure it out. Cause she what she ends up doing. She goes, she goes and beats it all out and takes all that. 5 (1h 2m 14s): She gleans, it. She has a whole barley and that was a good measure. And it says, then she took it up. What she, and she went into this city and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. And she brought out and gave it to her. What she'd kept back after she'd been satisfied. It was huge. This was not a gleaning you would normally get in one day. And her mother in law said to her, where have you gleaned today? And where did you work? Blessed to be the one who took notice of you. And so she took her mother-in-law. And so she told her mother-in-law who'd, she'd been working with that day. And she said the man's name with whom I worked today is Boaz in him. His strength is Boaz. See Ruth had been completely oblivious to what had happened all that day. 5 (1h 2m 55s): Naomi was not Naomi that knew that there was something going on the Lord. And then Naomi said in verse 20, the daughters in law blessed to be he of the Lord who has not forsaken his kindness to the living and the dead. And Naomi said to her, this man is a relation of ours. One of our close relatives. He is our Goel, our kinsmen Redeemer. And all of a sudden the woman who'd went out full and come back empty is all of a sudden realizing the plan that she's in the middle of. Oh my goodness, this is incredible. This man is showing you great favor. We left full, but we came back empty, but really she came back full this go, and this is a kinsman Redeemer. 5 (1h 3m 44s): And she encourages Ruth don't don't don't don't go anywhere else. Go to that field, go to that, go to Boaz field, stay by those workers. There's protection in that. And as she says, it is good. My daughter that you go out with this young woman and that people do not meet you in any, any other fool field. So verse 23. So she stayed close by the young women of Boaz to glean until the end of barley Harvest and we'd Harvest. And she'd dwelt with her. Mother-in-law the barley harvest was the time of Passover. The weed harvest wen all the way through until the time of Pentecost. The first fruits of the wheat harvest were presented to God at CA the Pentecost. And now we begin to see the Providence of God unfolding, and we're not done. 5 (1h 4m 27s): This is just a glimmer of the hope. And now the thing is, things are in motion and things are gonna happen in the book of Ruth and what, what it goes to shows that being faithful to the very little things that God puts in front of, you got a reward that in those Insignificant details that we just floss over and think, Ugh, that's not much. No. See Jesus said, the very hairs on your head are numbered. That's incredible. That shows how intimate it's not, he's not some big, all powerful way out there got his intimate God that would know each and every hair on my head, each and every hair on your head. There's nothing missed. 5 (1h 5m 14s): I had a chance this a couple of couple weeks ago, and a couple came into the church for prayer and the, the guy that I was my friend that we were praying with for this couple, he he's just said, I believe the Lord has a few things that he wants to speak to you. And, and, and to, especially for her. And he began just speaking little things. I don't think you've told anybody about this, but, and he just started going into some really minutiae details. The God had revealed to my friend for her, and she just started bright. She broke down crying, and I've never told anyone this stuff. 5 (1h 5m 59s): She had come as a partner to help to help her, her, her guy, fiance, tail, her fiance. She come as like, Oh, I'm just, he's, he's here to help. But then God began revealing and speaking things into her life. And she just melted because all of a sudden she realized God knew every little thought and intended for heart. And how incredible is that? That God, there's no detail too small for our, for our God. Tell me how lofty God is for you. And I will tell you how little he means to you. How about tell me how, how much God knows how God knows the hairs on our head and how much he loves you. 5 (1h 6m 46s): I think when we simply obey the Lord and inner faithful to the task, bigger, small, that brought to pass before us, God will lead and guide our way. Even in these, even in these darkest of times, let me pray. 3 (1h 6m 59s): 5 (1h 7m 13s): Lord. As we sing in that first set, the shoe or the way maker that even when we don't see it, we know that you're still working. Lord God, I believe that's a song Ruth and Naomi might've been able to sing at this moment. The thought you turned your hand was against them. And yet your hand was not. Your hand was for them. You were going before them Lord. And how, how often are you going before us? And we just miss it. Lord, God help us to see Lord speak, speak words of life into us. Lord God, as the darkest of times, start to encroach around and give us that faith. Just to simply take it step by step. 5 (1h 7m 54s): This, this walk of faith that you've given us Lord to be obedient and the little things as well as the big, the big things Lord God or do you are working in our midst. Thank you, Lord Jesus name. We pray 3 (1h 8m 10s): 1 (1h 8m 41s): magnify and exalt your name, 0 (1h 18m 49s): Our affection, and our devotion. We bring to you very live 1 (1h 18m 54s): Because he laid down 0 (1h 18m 59s): And maybe be forever changed because we've been in your presence because words 17 deeply into our hearts, God, and took root. We pray that a bit. Bear good fruit this year, 1 (1h 19m 12s): Help us 0 (1h 19m 12s): The love of those. We come in contact with your kind of 1 (1h 19m 19s): Low from our hearts. 0 (1h 19m 23s): I thank you for our church family. We just lift up everyone who's watching right now. And who's here on this campus. How would you strengthen us? Would you give us wisdom and discernment to walk out this crazy time of life? There's so much going on in the world. And so many distractions. God, we look to you and we listen for your voice, your leading your team. 1 (1h 19m 48s): So we welcome you 0 (1h 19m 50s): To work in our lives all this week and pray the chief, keep us all safe and healthy until we gathered together again. The precious name of Jesus. Somebody say, amen. Amen. Oh, it's so good. Church yeah. 1 (1h 20m 6s): Awesome. 0 (1h 20m 8s): Well, if anyone would like some prayer this morning, there'll be staff and other volunteers. We'd love to pray for you. Come right on up. Otherwise, have a great week. We'll see you next Sunday.

As we continue through the book of Ruth we look this week at chapter 2, where Ruth takes advantage of the welfare laws in Israel to glean grain, and is treated wonderfully by a close relative named Boaz. When Naomi sees this her bitterness is replaced by faith in God.

Hello and a beautiful Tuesday morning to you in the name of Jesus. We are still talking about acting our new starts. Ruth 1:8-18(NLT) "8 But on the way, Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back to your mothers' homes. And may the Lord reward you for your kindness to your husbands and to me. 9 May the Lord bless you with the security of another marriage.” Then she kissed them good-bye, and they all broke down and wept.10 “No,” they said. “We want to go with you to your people.”11 But Naomi replied, “Why should you go on with me? Can I still give birth to other sons who could grow up to be your husbands? 12 No, my daughters, return to your parents' homes, for I am too old to marry again. And even if it were possible, and I were to get married tonight and bear sons, then what? 13 Would you wait for them to grow up and refuse to marry someone else? No, of course not, my daughters! Things are far more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord himself has raised his fist against me.”14 And again they wept together, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye. But Ruth clung tightly to Naomi. 15 “Look,” Naomi said to her, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. You should do the same.”16 But Ruth replied, “Don't ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. 17 Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!” 18 When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more. In a bid to follow our desires, there will be opposition on the way, there will be adversity. No matter how much vision we have seen, no matter our conviction, no matter our confession. It will not exempt us from opposition. We can confess all that we want, we can see all we want. We will still face oppositions. When the ladies said to Naomi "we are going to follow you no matter what" from verse 11-14, Naomi began to reel out the reality of the situation. "Nothing is going to happen, I am not going to remarry and I cannot not guarantee you a husband". Orpah said "...you know what? I had better go back I don't think I can handle this!" But in the midst of that, Ruth's resolved was strengthened and she still acted courageously. She said "...in spite of all the challenges, in spite of the opposition waiting for me, in spite of the hardship, I will stay with you. Your God will be my God, your people will be my people where you die I will die." She acted out her resolve. Understand this for, everything you desire to do, for everything God has shown you. you will need to act courageously. Jesus said to His disciples in Mark 5 "let us go until the other side" Then a storm arose. Even if God is leading you sometimes storms will come. But even in the midst of the storm, you must resolve to act courageously. It is courageous acts that birth God's miracles. As you act courageously this today, may God open the heavens more over your life and may miracles burst out for your in your way In Jesus name. God bless you! God keep you!! Have a lovely day.

Hello and a lovely Monday morning to you in the name of Jesus. I pray this will be a great week this is the last week of the month of August. I pray you will finish well and finish strong in the name of Jesus. We will be looking at acting the new start. We have talked about change starting on the inside and coming on the outside, we have talked about seeing a new start, we have talked about speaking a new start now it is important we act out our new start, it is important we take actions. Ruth 1:8-18(NLT) says "But on the way, Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back to your mothers' homes. And may the Lord reward you for your kindness to your husbands and to me. May the Lord bless you with the security of another marriage.” Then she kissed them good-bye, and they all broke down and wept. “No,” they said. “We want to go with you to your people.” But Naomi replied, “Why should you go on with me? Can I still give birth to other sons who could grow up to be your husbands? No, my daughters, return to your parents' homes, for I am too old to marry again. And even if it were possible, and I were to get married tonight and bear sons, then what? Would you wait for them to grow up and refuse to marry someone else? No, of course not, my daughters! Things are far more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord himself has raised his fist against me.” And again they wept together, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye. But Ruth clung tightly to Naomi. “Look,” Naomi said to her, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. You should do the same.” But Ruth replied, “Don't ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!” When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more". Wow! That's a strong one it's one thing to have dreams, desires and speak all the things we have inside of us. It's another thing for us to see the manifestation on the outside. It's great we are pregnant but the Joy of pregnancy is actually the delivery of the baby and the delivery of the baby goes through a process. You know in the hospital, they would say you would have to go through the labour room. Labour is about work and about action. Yes! It is good to speak, but it is in the acting it is when we acts things out that it is established in our world. When we act out our conviction, we commit God to perform it, to act on our behalf and perform those things which we act out. The same thing when people see the things we do, they begin to believe in our conviction. Ruth and Orpah her sister-in-law had said so many things like we will go with you Naomi, we will not leave you even though our husbands are dead. The three of us are widows, we will stay with you but when the stack reality began to show up and Naomi said listen I have nothing to offer you. No husband, no child I can't do anything. Eventually, Orpah went back but Ruth stood with her decision. Why did she stand with her convictions? Because of something called Courage. Ruth was courageous that even in the midst of no guarantee, even with everything that happened she had lost her husband now she is leaving her home to a new place she went courageously because she knew God will sort her out. If you are going to see God work on your behalf, we need to act courageously when we act courageously we will find out that God is waiting for us, waiting to confirm all our actions with great signs and wonders and wonderful testimonies following. As you act courageously this week, may you see God's hands. May you see the manifestation of these things you desire in the name of Jesus. God bless you! God keep you!! Have a lovely day.

There is scarcely a more attractive figure in all of Scripture than Ruth.She is a Moabitess (Ruth 1:4). She lives in troubled times, and faces her own terrible grief. She and another Moabitess, Orpah, marry two recent immigrants called Mahlon and Kilion. These two men and their parents had arrived in Moabite territory to escape famine back home in Bethlehem. Some years pass, and the men’s father — Elimelech — dies. Then both Mahlon and Kilion die. That leaves the three women: the Moabitesses’ mother-in-law Naomi, and the two Moabitesses themselves, Orpah and Ruth.When Naomi hears that the famine back home is over, which was the original reason for their migration to Moab, she decides to go home. Families often worked in extended clan relationships. She would be looked after, and the pain of her loneliness would be mitigated. Wisely, she encourages her two daughters-in-law to stay in their own land, with their own people, language, and culture. Who knows? In time they might even find new mates. Certainly they cannot reasonably expect Naomi to produce them!So Orpah accepts the counsel, stays home in Moab, and nothing more is heard of her again. But Ruth clings to Naomi: “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried” (Ruth 1:16-17). She even puts herself under the threat of a curse. “May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me” (Ruth 1:17).Ruth does not mean this to sound heroic. She is simply speaking out of her heart. Had she come to a genuine and consistent faith in the Lord God during her ten-year marriage? What kind of solid and subtle links had been forged between Ruth and the Israelite members of this extended family, and in particular between Ruth and Naomi?Our culture makes all kinds of snide remarks about mothers-in-law. But many a mother-in-law is remarkably unselfish, and establishes relationships with her daughters-in-law that are as godly and as deep as the best of those between mothers and daughters. So, apparently, here. Ruth is prepared to abandon her own people, culture, land, and even religion, provided she can stay with Naomi and help her.She could not have known that in making that choice she would soon find herself married again. She could not have known that that marriage would make her an ancestor not only of the imposing Davidic dynasty, but of the supreme King who centuries later would spring from it. This podcast is designed to be used alongside TGC's Read The Bible initiative (TGC.org/readthebible). The podcast features devotional commentaries from D.A. Carson’s book For the Love of God (vol. 1) that follow the M’Cheyne Bible reading plan.

When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more. - Ruth 1:18 NLT Read Transcript: Determined to Go on PastorPriji.com Become a monthly partner towards revival in Africa: Donate Here

This Sermon was given on Mother's Day 2020 by the Rev Peter Moore for the Congregation of Greenfield Presbyterian Church, Berkley, MI. The Scripture Reading is Ruth 1:6-18 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) Naomi and Her Moabite Daughters-in-Law 6 Then she started to return with her daughters-in-law from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had considered his people and given them food. 7 So she set out from the place where she had been living, she and her two daughters-in-law, and they went on their way to go back to the land of Judah. 8 But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back each of you to your mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. 9 The Lord grant that you may find security, each of you in the house of your husband.” Then she kissed them, and they wept aloud. 10 They said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.” 11 But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters, why will you go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? 12 Turn back, my daughters, go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. Even if I thought there was hope for me, even if I should have a husband tonight and bear sons, 13 would you then wait until they were grown? Would you then refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, it has been far more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the Lord has turned against me.” 14 Then they wept aloud again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. 15 So she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” 16 But Ruth said, “Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. 17 Where you die, I will die— there will I be buried. May the Lord do thus and so to me, and more as well, if even death parts me from you!” 18 When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.

The Blessing - Mother's Day 2020 - The Book of Ruth Big Idea: I am blessed when I am fully satisfied in God. Ruth 4:13 So Boaz took Ruth into his home, and she became his wife. When he slept with her, the Lord enabled her to become pregnant, and she gave birth to a son. Then the women of the town said to Naomi, “Praise the Lord, who has now provided a redeemer for your family! May this child be famous in Israel. May he restore your youth and care for you in your old age. For he is the son of your daughter-in-law who loves you and has been better to you than seven sons!” Naomi took the baby and cuddled him to her breast. And she cared for him as if he were her own. The neighbor women said, “Now at last Naomi has a son again!” And they named him Obed. He became the father of Jesse and the grandfather of David. Ruth 1:6-18 Then Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had blessed his people in Judah by giving them good crops again. So Naomi and her daughters-in-law got ready to leave Moab to return to her homeland. With her two daughters-in-law she set out from the place where she had been living, and they took the road that would lead them back to Judah. But on the way, Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back to your mothers' homes. And may the Lord reward you for your kindness to your husbands and to me. May the Lord bless you with the security of another marriage.” Then she kissed them good-bye, and they all broke down and wept. “No,” they said. “We want to go with you to your people.” But Naomi replied, “Why should you go on with me? Can I still give birth to other sons who could grow up to be your husbands? No, my daughters, return to your parents' homes, for I am too old to marry again. And even if it were possible, and I were to get married tonight and bear sons, then what? Would you wait for them to grow up and refuse to marry someone else? No, of course not, my daughters! Things are far more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord himself has raised his fist against me.” And again they wept together, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye. But Ruth clung tightly to Naomi. “Look,” Naomi said to her, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. You should do the same.” But Ruth replied, “Don't ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!” When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more. 3 Ways to be Satisfied in God: 1. See our belief as a blessing - John 20:29 “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." 2. See our benefits as a blessing - What do you have now that you saw as blessing when you first received it? 3. See our burdens as a blessing - Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” Matthew 5:3-11 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek,for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” Blessing is whatever God wants to give me so that I will be fully satisfied in Him.

This week on Rural Health Leadership Radio we're talking about several of the challenges rural health leaders face with Naomi Sweeney from the State Office of Rural Health and Primary Care at the Arkansas Department of Health. Her state office has recently received approval to sponsor 10 Critical Access Hospital CEOs in attending the National Rural Health Association Rural Hospital CEO Training Program. Their vision is to these 10 CEOs return and share what they have learned with other rural hospital CEOs across the state. The expectation is that there will be a lot of good measurable data on the improvement at participant facilities once they implement the lessons learned. They see a tremendous value in this program and look forward to seeing how it affects rural health across the state. “You cannot make a difference from an office chair alone, let people see your face.” ~Naomi Sweeney Naomi Sweeney is the State Office of Rural Health Coordinator for the state of Arkansas. She is housed within the Office of Rural Health and Primary Care at the Arkansas Department of Health. Naomi is a graduate of the University of Central Arkansas. She has a Master of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics, and she has over 14 years’ experience in public health-related fields. When Naomi began her work at the Arkansas Office of Rural Health and Primary Care in November of 2018, she was responsible for recruitment and retention of medical professionals in rural and underserved areas of Arkansas through programs such as Nurse Corps, various National Health Service Corps programs, and the J1 Visa program. Naomi has an excellent track record in the field of public health, with plenty of public speaking experience, a heart for community service, and a desire to improve the health of rural Arkansans.

Ruth 1:15-18 15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.” 16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. 

Ruth 1 (NIV) Naomi Loses Her Husband and Sons 1 In the days when the judges ruled,[a] there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. 2 The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there. 3 Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband. Naomi and Ruth Return to Bethlehem 6 When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. 7 With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah. 8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. 9 May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.” Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud 10 and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.” 11 But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? 12 Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— 13 would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!” 14 At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. 15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.” 16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

On today's inspiring episode, I'm speaking with the lovely and talented Naomi McDonald, author of ... Away to Me, My Love: A Sheepdog’s Tale of Two Lives A former horse trainer and sheepherding competitor, Naomi is a shamanic practitioner. She is also an animal communicator and workshop presenter. In her workshops she uses a unique combination of quantum physics, metaphysics, and the healing traditions of the ancient medicine men and women to create powerful opportunities for self-discovery. In "Away to Me, My Love", horse trainer Naomi McDonald impulsively buys a "shy" Border collie pup named Luke, and she believes it's fate. However, puppy Luke shows no signs of herding instinct, and a trainer tells her to put him down. At every juncture, Naomi must decide whether or not to abandon her dream of entering herding competitions with her beloved dog. Despite her earnest desire to enter this new, exciting world with respect and belonging, she inadvertently makes an enemy who can change everything for her and for her beloved Luke. When Naomi has a vision of a past life, she realizes her journey with Luke involves more than meets the eye, more than she ever imagined. With the help of a medicine woman, Naomi learns that Luke is her teacher, not only for herding competitions but also for a spiritual journey that would take her into the world of shamanic healing, animal communication, and spiritual beings most people cannot see. Author Naomi McDonald tells her true story with love and joy, disappointment and sorrow to show that ordinary people who have past-life pain and childhood trauma can find guidance and peace in unexpected places. Now a certified shamanic practitioner, Naomi has studied with spiritual-wisdom teachers around the world. She is a spiritual guide, teacher, and author. It all started with a dog named Luke. You can find out more about Naomi below ... Website: http://naomibmcdonald.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/naomi.mcdonald.186 By the way, if you are ready to share you story and write your book, go to Write a Book University to get a free video course to help you on your book writing journey ...

Naomi and Ruth Return to BethlehemWhen Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.”Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!”At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.“Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

The Faithfulness of Ruth, of Boaz, of God Fr. John Wallace October 27, 2019   Today we’re going to look at the Book of Ruth. At its core it’s a beautiful story of redemption. And in it we encounter Amazing Faithfulness! The Faithfulness of Ruth. The Faithfulness of Boaz. And the Faithfulness of God. The book of Ruth takes place at a dark time in Israel’s history. It’s near the end of the time of the Judges. A time marked by lawlessness, by war, and by famine. A time in which the people allowed their hearts to wander far from God. In fact, the last few chapters of the Book of Judges end with this refrain: “In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.” It was a time that needed hope! That needed people of faith to do the right thing! It was a time that needed God. Ruth in a way is like an Abraham figure. In Genesis 15 it was Abraham’s faith in God - his belief - his trust - that was counted as righteousness. If you remember, Abraham was called out of the Land of Ur - to leave his home and his family and his land - to follow God and begin a new age of faithfulness to him. And Ruth is also called out of her own land - the land of Moab. And she leaves her home and her family and through an act of faith begins a new chapter for the people of Israel. But why was this story recorded about a Moabite widow? What makes her story so special? Why are we talking about her faithfulness 2,500 years later? We find out in the last chapter of the Book that Ruth was the Mother of Obed - who was the father of Jesse - who was the father of David - who became Israel’s greatest king. And the Gospel of Matthew starts like this - “This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham.” And Matthew lists Ruth as one of Jesus’s ancestors. Which means Ruth the Moabite - is the great, great, great - (29 greats) grandmother of Jesus. OK - So let’s look at Ruth’s Faithfulness. Then Boaz’s faithfulness. And finally - God’s faithfulness. First - Ruth’s faithfulness. The story starts with hardship. It’s a time of famine in Bethlehem. So Naomi (who will become Ruth’s mother-in-law) moves with her family to Moab - a sworn enemy of Israel - to try to make a life there. When they get there, Naomi’s husband, Elimelech, dies. Then her sons get married to some Moabite women. One marries a woman named Orpah, and the other marries Ruth. But then her sons also die - leaving Naomi widowed - without a husband and without her sons - in a foreign land. When she hears that God has blessed her homeland with rain and a harvest - she decides to return to Bethlehem. Better to be a widow in your hometown than to be a widow in the land of your enemy! And she tells her daughters-in-law to stay in Moab, return to their father’s houses where they will be cared for - and find husbands for themselves among their own people. But Ruth refuses to leave Naomi and speaks some of the most beautiful and faithful words in all of Scripture. She says: Don’t tell me to leave you! 16 … Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Isn’t that beautiful?! That’s Ruth’s faithfulness. She wants to remain with Naomi. She wants to serve Naomi’s God. No matter what it costs! She’s going to leave everything she has known, her family, her homeland, her everything - to make Naomi’s people her own people. And Naomi’s God - her God. And you know what? God can use that kind of faithfulness! And he does! And so Ruth comes with Naomi to Bethlehem. And when they get there, Ruth tells Naomi - “let me go into the fields to glean - so we can have food.” Back then, in Israel there was a law about gleaning. It was the law that landowners couldn’t harvest everything from their land. They had to leave gleanings for the poor. It was how the poor were cared for at the time. They could go in after the harvesters and collect whatever had fallen or wasn’t harvested. That’s what Ruth wanted to do. And so she did. And the field she began to glean in happened to belong to a man named Boaz - a relative of Elimelech - Naomi’s husband who had died. Let me read this from chapter 2 2 And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain, behind someone in whose sight I may find favor.” She said to her, “Go, my daughter.” 3 So she went. She came and gleaned in the field behind the reapers. As it happened, she came to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech. 4 Just then Boaz came from Bethlehem. He said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you.” They answered, “The Lord bless you.” 5 Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, “Who is this young woman?” 6 The servant answered, “She is the Moabite who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. 7 She said, ‘Please, let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the reapers.’ So she came, and she has been on her feet from early this morning until now, without resting even for a moment.” We learn several things here: One: Boaz was a close relative of Elimelech - Naomi’s late husband. And he was wealthy. We also learn that he’s an honorable and faithful man. When he got to the field he greeted the workers: The Lord be with you! and they replied - The Lord bless you. Ruth has found herself in the field of a good man. And the last thing we learn is that Ruth is a hard worker. She worked and gleaned in the field all day - without taking a break. Listen to what happens next: 8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Now listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. 9 Keep your eyes on the field that is being reaped, and follow behind them. I have ordered the young men not to bother you. If you get thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.” 10 Then she fell prostrate, with her face to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your sight, that you should take notice of me, when I am a foreigner?” 11 But Boaz answered her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. 12 May the Lord reward you for your deeds, and may you have a full reward from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge!” I love that. Boaz is so impressed by Ruth’s faithfulness to Naomi and he wants to protect her. And he prays that she will be rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel - under whose wings she has come for refuge! When she comes home that night with her gleanings, Naomi is amazed by how much she has brought. And she asks, “who’s land were you gleaning in” When Ruth says that she was gleaning in Boaz’s land - and that Boaz had been kind to her, Naomi rejoices! Boaz is a relative! And a good man! And best of all - He can act as a redeemer for them! Let me explain what it meant to be a Redeemer in Israel. Redemption was a beautiful thing! And Redemption had a very specific meaning. To redeem something meant to buy it back! You could redeem a piece of property or a field that had fallen into the hands of another family. Or you could redeem (or buy) a family member to get them out of prison or out of slavery. Sometimes families would lose their property. Maybe they fell on hard times. And so they’d have to sell it to pay debts. Or maybe they didn’t have land - so they had to sell themselves into servitude for a set amount of time - or until the debt was paid. Property, or people, in that condition could be redeemed. But that’s not the beautiful thing about redemption. The beautiful thing is who was able to perform the redemptions… Who was able to act as redeemer! The laws about the redeemers were very clear in Old Testament times. In Israel there was something called a go-el, a Kinsman-Redeemer. And In order to be able to redeem a field, or a person who is in prison or in indentured service, you had to be a relative. You had to be family. And not just any family, but close family. The Go-el (the kinsman-redeemer) had to be the nearest relative. And the reason is - The whole idea was to keep the family land in the family! If someone else bought the land - They were just buying it for themselves. But if the Go-el - the nearest relative redeemed it - it kept the land in the family. And it turned out that Boaz was a close relative of Elimelech - and so he could be the redeemer - to buy back Elimelech’s land - and provide for Naomi and Ruth. When Naomi realized all of this - she rejoiced! God was showing them favor! And she told Ruth that she should propose to Boaz. Because that was the other thing about redeeming the land. If Boaz redeemed the land - because the heir to the land was dead (Naomi’s son / Ruth’s husband) he would also have to marry Ruth - the heir’s widow. So she could have a son who could inherit the land. and keep it in the family. That was another law at the time called Levirate Marriage. It was about preserving the lineage of a close relative that had passed away. But here’s the thing - when Ruth asked Boaz to act as redeemer - this is what she said to him: she said “spread your cloak over your servant, for you are go-el.” She was asking him to protect her, to cover her with his cloak, to be the redeemer of their family, and to make her his wife. And he gladly agreed. He had noticed her. She had been kind to him. And he saw how she had been gracious to Naomi. And even though she was a foreigner in his field - in his eyes, she was a treasure. But there was one problem - there was another who was closer in relation to Elimelech - so before Boaz could act as redeemer, he had to give this other man the option to do so. But when the other man found out that he would have to marry Ruth, the moabite, he refused. So Boaz was free as the nearest willing relative to act as Go-el and to redeem Naomi’s land. And as kinsman-redeemer, he also got a bride named Ruth. And soon she gave birth to a son, named Obed. The father of Jesse, the father of David. That’s Boaz’s faithfulness. And all of that is beautiful! But what’s even more beautiful - is God’s faithfulness. So let’s go all the way back to the Exodus when God is promising to save his people from Egypt. Listen to this from Chapter 6 2 God spoke to Moses and said to him, I am the LORD. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob… and I established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. 6 Say therefore to the people of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. 7 And I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. “I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God.” You know what God was saying? He said - I will redeem you. I will be your Go-el. I will be your redeemer. And remember - The Go-el had to be the nearest relative! And God says to Moses - I want to be your Go-el! In Matthew 13 Jesus tells his disciples that 44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered; and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” I used to think that that was about us selling everything we have in order to get the kingdom of heaven. And it might be! And if it is the kingdom of heaven is totally worth it! We absolutely should sell everything we have to buy the field and get the treasure that is the kingdom of heaven. It’s totally worth it! But now I’m not sure that’s what it is anymore! What if instead - the man who found a treasure in a field - is Jesus? Like Boaz who found Ruth in a field. And what if the treasure in the field is us? And what if the man covered the treasure to protect it? Just like Boaz covered Ruth to protect her with his cloak? And what if the man in his joy sold all he had, and gave up everything so he could buy the field like Boaz bought and redeemed Naomi’s field? And what if buying the field / redeeming the world meant - like Boaz - that he could marry his bride? 44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered; and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” What if the treasure is us and the field is the world. And the man is Jesus who in his joy gave up everything and bought that field? Some commentators say that the Scroll in Revelation 5 - the one with the seven seals - the one that only Jesus, the Lamb of God, was worthy to open - some commentators say that it contains the unfolding of all of history. Other commentators say it’s the deed to all creation. Like a deed to a piece of land - or a field - in need of redemption. We don’t know for sure! But we do know that only Jesus was worthy. Only Jesus was able to break the seal and open the scroll. And we also know that Only Jesus could be our go-el. Only Jesus - who was both God and Man - could pay the price to redeem the world and marry his treasured bride! Listen to this from Revelation, Chapter 5. No one was found worthy to open the scroll. Only Jesus, the Lion of the tribe of Judah was worthy. And then it says: 6 Then I saw between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders a Lamb standing as if it had been slain… 7 And He went and took the scroll from the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne. 8 When he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And They sang a new song, saying, “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain (and listen:) and by your blood you redeemed for God people from every tribe and language and people and nation; 10 and you have made them to be a kingdom and priests serving our God, and they will reign on earth.” Why was he worthy to break the seals and open the scroll? Because he was our Go-el! Because he paid the price of redemption. Because he redeemed us by his blood. That’s the faithfulness of God. Back in Genesis God promised Moses that he would redeem his people. That he would do what only our nearest relative could do. And so when the time was right he came as one of us. And became a full member of the human family - became our nearest relative - so he could be our Go-el! And he was Born - the Son of Mary, the Son of David, the Son of Ruth and Boaz, the Son of Abraham, the Son of God. And he paid the price of redemption with his blood on the cross. Thanks be to God! Thanks be to God for his faithfulness, for the faithfulness of Ruth and Boaz. And for the faithfulness of his Son Jesus - our Savior and our Redeemer. Amen.

When Naomi was choosing to leave Moab to return back to Bethlehem, Ruth clave to her. Ruth also made an unconditional commitment to love and remain faithful to Naomi until her death, regardless of what may transpire. That exhibits the type of unconditional commitment of our love of others, especially in our marriages and in our church.

Happy Mother's Day! Women Speak Sunday Ruth 1:1-17 1 In the days when the judges ruled,[a] there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. 2 The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there. 3 Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband. 6 When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. 7 With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah. 8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. 9 May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.” 10 Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud 10 and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.” 11 But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? 12 Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— 13 would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!” 14 At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. 15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.” 16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”

In this week's episode we will be discussing Ruth 1:14-22 Ruth 1:14-22 (NIV) 14 At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. 15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.” 16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. 19 So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?” 20 “Don’t call me Naomi,[a]” she told them. “Call me Mara,[b] because the Almighty[c] has made my life very bitter. 21 I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted[d] me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.” 22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning. Footnotes: a. Ruth 1:20 Naomi means pleasant. b. Ruth 1:20 Mara means bitter. c. Ruth 1:20 Hebrew Shaddai; also in verse 21 d. Ruth 1:21 Or has testified against

Naomi Loses Her Husband and Sons 1 In the days when the judges ruled,[a] there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. 2 The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there. 3 Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband. Naomi and Ruth Return to Bethlehem 6 When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. 7 With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah. 8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. 9 May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.” Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud 10 and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.” 11 But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? 12 Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— 13 would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!” 14 At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. 15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.” 16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. 19 So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?” 20 “Don’t call me Naomi,[b]” she told them. “Call me Mara,[c] because the Almighty[d] has made my life very bitter. 21 I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted[e] me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.” 22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning. Ruth 4:18-22 The Genealogy of David 18 This, then, is the family line of Perez: Perez was the father of Hezron, 19 Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab, 20 Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon,[a] 21 Salmon the father of Boaz, Boaz the father of Obed, 22 Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David.

Naomi Loses Her Husband and Sons 1 In the days when the judges ruled,[a] there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. 2 The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there. 3 Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband. Naomi and Ruth Return to Bethlehem 6 When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. 7 With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah. 8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. 9 May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.” Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud 10 and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.” 11 But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? 12 Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— 13 would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!” 14 At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. 15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.” 16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. 19 So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?” 20 “Don’t call me Naomi,[b]” she told them. “Call me Mara,[c] because the Almighty[d] has made my life very bitter. 21 I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted[e] me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.” 22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning. Ruth 4:18-22 The Genealogy of David 18 This, then, is the family line of Perez: Perez was the father of Hezron, 19 Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab, 20 Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon,[a] 21 Salmon the father of Boaz, Boaz the father of Obed, 22 Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David.

Ruth 1:6-18Hear what the Spirit is saying to the church from the book of Ruth:6 Then she started to return with her daughters-in-law from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had considered his people and given them food. 7 So she set out from the place where she had been living, she and her two daughters-in-law, and they went on their way to go back to the land of Judah. 8 But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back each of you to your mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. 9 The Lord grant that you may find security, each of you in the house of your husband.” Then she kissed them, and they wept aloud. 10 They said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.” 11 But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters, why will you go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? 12 Turn back, my daughters, go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. Even if I thought there was hope for me, even if I should have a husband tonight and bear sons, 13 would you then wait until they were grown? Would you then refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, it has been far more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the Lord has turned against me.” 14 Then they wept aloud again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.15 So she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” 16 But Ruth said,“Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you!Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge;your people shall be my people, and your God my God.17 Where you die, I will die— there will I be buried.May the Lord do thus and so to me, and more as well,if even death parts me from you!”18 When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God

Hebrew Word: Hesed - loving kindness, mercy Our sister, Ashley Mejias, gives the final message, the summary of our series on the Book of Ruth. But Ruth said,“Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you!Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge;your people shall be my people, and your God my God.Where you die, I will die— there will I be buried.May the Lord do thus and so to me, and more as well,if even death parts me from you!”When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them; and the women said, “Is this Naomi?” She said to them,“Call me no longer Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me.I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty;why call me Naomi when the Lord has dealt harshly with me, and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?”So Naomi returned together with Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, who came back with her from the country of Moab. They came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Ruth 1 Naomi Loses Her Husband and Sons 1 In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. 2 The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there. 3 Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband. Naomi and Ruth Return to Bethlehem 6 When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. 7 With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah. 8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. 9 May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.” Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud 10 and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.” 11 But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? 12 Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— 13 would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!” 14 At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. 15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.” 16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. 19 So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?” 20 “Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. 21 I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.” 22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.

In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab (Ruth 1:1). The book of Ruth is one of the rare books in the Bible in which women are the main characters. The story itself is short, and is about two women, a widowed mother (Naomi) and her Moabite daughter-in-law (Ruth), who returned to Bethlehem after they had emigrated to the land of Moab because of famine. It tells how they survived and how their life was restored through their kinsman-redeemer, Boaz, who married Ruth, and in whose genealogy later came David. When they had not yet returned to Bethlehem, Naomi told her two daughters-in-law to return to their own mothers and remarry, but Ruth insisted on going with Naomi, and said: Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her (v. 16). This confession of hers functioned in the same way as that of Rahab who were saved from destruction by her faith in the God of Israel. Both were gentile, yet were made heirs of God by faith just as we were adopted as God's children and heirs by our faith in Christ. When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her (v. 18). It was at the time of barley harvest, just before the celebration of the Passover, when they arrived Bethlehem. Ruth went out for gleaning in the fields, and it so happened that she went to the field belonging to Boaz, who was one of Naomi's kinsman-redeemers. Ruth, without knowing it, asked the foreman of the workers to let her glean among the sheaves, which was not normally allowed. The foreman told her to wait till he would ask Boaz about it. So she waited for the arrival of Boaz, and finally: Just then (lit. Behold!) Boaz arrived from Bethlehem (meaning 'house of bread') and greeted the harvesters, "The LORD be with you!" "The LORD bless you!" they called back (2:4). The writer makes a big deal out of the entry of Boaz into the story as if Boaz came as a savior for these two women who were struggling to get their bread. One of the characteristics of the book of Ruth is that the story contains some expressions and descriptions that seem to allude to something deeper and more spiritual, or some kind of events in the future as prophecies. The above description of the greetings between Boaz and his harvesters is one of them. It somewhat reminds us of the entry of Jesus to Jerusalem. Boaz said to Ruth: My daughter, listen to me. Don't go and glean in another field and don't go away from here. Stay here with my servant girls. Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the girls. I have told the men not to touch you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled (vv. 8-9). You can see how Boaz allowed Ruth to work gleaning together with the servant girls of his own, and even allowed her to drink water freely from the jars prepared for his workers. At the time of a meal, he let her sit among his own servants and eat the same food that they ate. He even took some roasted grain and handed it to her. She ate all she wanted, and had some leftover, which she took home and gave to Naomi. Definitely, Boaz treated Ruth in a very special way. This is how God thinks about us, and takes care of us, who were once alienated from him and his blessings, but were adopted into his family to be his children and heirs.

Our story has taken us from creation, through struggle, out of bondage, beyond the wandering in the desert and the into the attempt to have humans interpret God's laws. This has led to famine in the land, with a family fleeing from Bethlehem into Moab. When Naomi, an Israelite woman, is left without a husband or sons to protect her in the patriarchy of the ancient near east. But her question, worries, and desperation are found all around us today. How can we respond?

Ruth 1:1-18 1 In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. 2 The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there. 3 Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband. Naomi and Ruth Return to Bethlehem 6 When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. 7 With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah. 8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. 9 May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.” Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud 10 and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.” 11 But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? 12 Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— 13 would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!” 14 At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. 15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.” 16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.