The last five chapters in Judges give insight into the religious and moral state of the time. God shows us through these stories what happens when people worship in their own ways.
Micah and his mother, living in the mountains of Ephraim, thought they could set up their own shrine where they would worship God with images, an ephod, and other household idols. Micah really thought that the Lord would be good to him (Judges 17:13)! He also appointed his own priest. It isn’t as if it was far to go to the appointed place of worship at Shiloh! He chose rather to do what was right in his own eyes.
The story of a Levite and his concubine describes how the nation of Israel was virtually torn to shreds. The Levite divided his murdered concubine into twelve pieces and sent them throughout the territory of Israel. The end result of the narrative concludes with a theme of Judges: everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
But God’s Story continues with a narrative that breaks into the cycle of Judges to show that the alternative to idolatry and moral atrocities is a personal faith in God. The story of Ruth helps us see that the only safe procedure in a time of idolatry is to have much more than right answers: it is to have right attitudes. The path of faith is that ‘everyone does what is right in God’s eyes’.
Sharing:
- The last five chapters of Judges close in a bad way. There is the decline of the priesthood in Israel, and the perversion of worship. When worship is taken into our own hands, everything crumbles.
- Micah’s story is a good example of ‘like mother, like son’.
- The closing of Judges teaches us a lot about the waning influence of Joshua. The people did what was right in their own eyes!
- If the Bible ended with Judges, it would be a ‘scary’ Bible! It would be disappointing. We would be left with chaos. But if we read it as God’s Story, we are left with a faithful God who ruled His people through judges, even though Israel did not acknowledge God as their King.
Ruth is God’s Story of love, devotion, and redemption. It presents a Moabite woman who forsakes her heritage in order to cling to the people and the God of Israel. It illustrates the truth that even in the darkest times God does not leave Himself absolutely without witness. It brings out the resilience of women when they work in solidarity. It presents a God who is concerned about the day-to-day affairs of ordinary people. God is behind the encounter between Ruth and Boaz meeting in the field. Boaz was the kinsman-redeemer of Naomi’s husband Elimelech, where God directed Ruth to glean. God also arranged where no one would see Ruth sneak into and out of the threshing floor where Boaz slept. God also gave Ruth a husband and then a son, named Obed. He later became the grandfather of an important king.
Ruth easily falls into two parts:
- Love Demonstrated (1-2)
- Love Rewarded (3-4)
Sharing:
Another outline by each chapter:
- Love’s Request
- Love’s Response
- Love’s Resolve
- Love’s Reward
We saw in Judges that oaths or vows were taken very seriously, and the consequence of a foolish vow could result in unnecessary chaos. We finally read of an oath that can be seen as the central theme in the story of Ruth. It is found in Ruth 1:16:
“Entreat me not to leave you,
Or to turn back from following after you;
For wherever you go, I will go;
And wherever you lodge, I will lodge;
Your people shall be my people,
And your God, my God.”
This oath comes out of a good relationship between two women, Naomi and Ruth. We meet Naomi in the land of the Moabites, where the descendants of Abraham’s nephew Lot, settled. Naomi escaped the famine in their homeland of Judah by moving to Moab with her husband, Elimelech. He died, and so did the sons married to Ruth and Orpah. Naomi encouraged her two daughter-in-laws to return to their mother’s house. This blessing was given in a society where the personhood of a woman is attached to her having a husband.
Orpah accepted Naomi’s instructions and returned home. Her choice should be respected. In a patriarchal society, choices are made for women, but in this story, the women made bold choices for themselves that shaped the rest of their lives.
Ruth’s oath declared that her commitment to Naomi was final. She had decided to change even her religious and cultural identity in order to stay with Naomi. This was a significant decision by a young woman, even without taking into account the fact that she might be choosing a life of singleness in a society that valued marriage and children.
Naomi returned to Bethlehem with bitterness because she felt, as stated in Ruth 1:13 that “the hand of the Lord has gone out against me!” She regarded the deaths of her husband and two sons as a punishment from God. She repeats this view when the women of Bethlehem greet her, recorded in Ruth 1:20-21: “Do not call me Naomi [Pleasant]; call me Mara [Bitter], for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?”
Sharing:
- Ruth had seen the God of Israel in her mother-in-law, so she was already in love with and committed to this God.
- Ruth also saw an honest woman in Naomi, who admitted her bitterness toward God, yet she did not forsake Him. The loss of her husband and son was a great loss for her. It is easy to say we should not be bitter when going through hard times. But there can be bitterness and disappointment, and as Naomi shows, we can still seek after God. We should not deny it when we are bitter and sad and not liking life; God wants us to be honest. It is possible to struggle through hard times and still worship God.
- Naomi was probably not happy with the fact that her sons married Moabite women. It was a blessing for her to have her daughter-in-law follow the God of Israel.
- Naomi’s husband had left Israel because of famine in the land, but he also left God’s will by moving to enemy territory. The Moabites were Lot’s descendants and treated Israel like an enemy.
- Naomi was out of God’s will, possibly by no fault of her own, but she was still in the middle of God’s plan. Ruth came to know the God of Israel through Naomi.
- Ruth’s motive to go with Naomi was because she loved Naomi’s lifestyle and saw God in her. She had a good ‘woman’ friend in her mother-in-law.
- Ruth’s desire to follow the God of Naomi came from God Himself.
- Ruth went with Naomi, not knowing if she would get married. Her chances for marriage in Israel were not great.
- As soon as Ruth arrived in the town of her mother-in-law, Bethlehem, she knew how to deal with life. She established a good reputation, even though she was a Moabite.
- God’s Story so far as we have read shows that all those who followed after God were moved by God to do so; God reaches out to us, and we respond.
Elimelech and Naomi were of the tribe of Judah and from the city of Bethlehem, where they had rights to ancestral property. But when Naomi’s husband and sons died, she was unable to regain the property apart from two legal customs: ‘leviratic marriage’ and ‘the redemption of the land’. This second custom obliged the next of kin to buy back the property which had been sold due to foreclosure or poverty so as to keep it in the family (Leviticus 25:25-28). The first custom required the nearest relative of a deceased man to marry his widow (Deuteronomy 25:5-10). Any offspring from this union carried the name and inheritance of the former husband. Since Naomi was beyond childbearing years, her daughter-in-law Ruth became her substitute in marriage and bore a son to perpetuate the family name. Boaz accepted the obligation of both customs: as the ‘redeemer’ he legally cleared the land of all further claims and as a responsible male relative he married Ruth and fathered a son to continue the family name.
Boaz was the son of Rahab, the harlot found in Jericho. When Ruth returned home at the end of a day’s work and related the day’s experience, Naomi learned that Boaz was one of their relatives. Naomi explained to Ruth how to make her approach to Boaz. He addressed her with tenderness and promised to do the kinsman’s part if a nearer relative refused to do it. The prayer of Boaz was fulfilled when God rewarded Ruth with the gift of a husband and a son: “May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge” (Ruth 2:12, NIV).
God took a woman at the lower end of society as a foreigner, a woman, and a widow, and made her part of the history of Israel.
In preparation for our next session, read God’s Story in 1 Samuel 1-31 that finish up the period of the Judges with Eli and Samuel; it also gives the narrative of Saul as the first king over Israel; and it concludes with the preparation of David as the next king over Israel.
Sharing:
- Boaz saw the dowry beyond its physical significance. Boaz saw qualities in Ruth that were better than any physical dowry. He met a ‘Proverbs 31’ woman!
- A hint of the tribe of Judah being upright is seen in the life of Boaz. He is the son of Rahab. He was a faithful man who followed the Law of Moses, both in Leviticus 25 (preservation of the land) and Deuteronomy 25 (kinsman redeemer). He was the only one willing to be the kinsman redeemer. During the bad time of the Judges, which is when Ruth’s narrative took place, there were those who followed God.
- Boaz didn’t have to marry Ruth, but he went out of his way because he loved her. This love story is God’s benefit to Boaz for doing the right thing.
- Did God contradict Himself when He said to kill the Moabites, but then used Ruth? Ruth’s life was changed and she was obedient to God. It is a picture of God using evil for good; and only God can do that. It is not for us to sin so that good can come from it! Ruth was not living as a Moabite. God was drawing Gentiles to Himself even then! Foreigners were permitted to join the Israelites from the beginning of the story of the Hebrew people.
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