Rute 1

Rute 1:16

Spurgeon - Ruth deciding for God I. Affection for the godly should influence us to godliness. Many forces combine to effect this. 1. There is the influence of companionship. 2. The influence of admiration. Let us therefore copy the saints. 3. The influence of instruction. When we learn from a teacher we are affected by him in many ways. Instruction is a kind of formation. 4. The influence of reverence. Those who are older, wiser, and better than we are create in us a profound respect, and lead us to follow their example. 5. The influence of desire to cheer them. 6. The influence of fear of separation. It will be an awful thing to be eternally divided from the dear ones who seek our salvation. II. Resolves to godliness will be tested. 1. By the poverty of the godly and their other trials. 2. By counting the cost. 3. By the drawing back of others. 4. By the duties involved in religion. Ruth must work in the fields. Some proud people will not submit to the rules of Christ's house, nor to the regulations which govern the daily lives of believers. 5. By the apparent coldness of believers. Naomi does not persuade her to keep with her, but the reverse. She was a prudent woman, and did not wish Ruth to come with her by persuasion, but by conviction. 6. By the silent sorrow of some Christians. Naomi said, "Call me not Naomi, but call me Bitterness." Persons of a sorrowful spirit there always will be; but this must not hinder us from following the Lord. III. Such Godliness must mainly lie in the choice of God. 1. This is the believer's distinguishing possession: "Thy God shall be my God." 2. His great article of belief: "I believe in God." 3. His ruler and lawgiver: "Make me to go in the path of Thy commandments" (Ps 119:38). 4. His instructor: "Teach me Thy way, O Lord" (Ps 28:2). 5. His trust and stay (see Ru 2:12): "This God is our God for ever and ever, He will be our guide even unto death" (Ps 48:14). IV. But it should involve the choice of His people: "Thy people shall be my people." They are ill spoken of by the other kingdom. Not all we could wish them to be. Not a people out of whom much is to be gained. But Jehovah is their God, and they are His people. Our eternal inheritance is part and parcel of theirs. Let us make deliberate, humble, firm, joyful, immediate choice for God and His saints; accepting their lodging in this world, and going with them whither they are going. (C. H. Spurgeon.) (Ruth 1 - Biblical Illustrator) FOR WHERE YOU GO, I WILL GO 2Sa 15:21; Mt 8:19; Jn 13:37; Rev 14:4 In effect, Ruth was forsaking all that she had ever known to follow the one true God. She was following in the footsteps of Abraham, who had forsaken his family and his homeland in response to God’s command (Ge 12:1, 2, 3, 4, He 11:8, 9 -see notes He 11:8; 9). Although not as famous, Scripture records the commitment of another foreigner named Ittai the Gittite a Philistine was in a group of 600 men from Gath who had come to the side of David in Jerusalem. As King David fled Jerusalem, this group of 600 marched by David who then addressed Ittai saying "Why will you also go with us? Return and remain with the king, for you are a foreigner and also an exile; return to your own place. You came only yesterday, and shall I today make you wander with us, while I go where I will? Return and take back your brothers; mercy and truth be with you." And here although the context is not the same, we see Ittai's loyalty to David for he "answered the king and said, "As the LORD lives, and as my lord the king lives, surely wherever my lord the king may be, whether for death or for life, there also your servant will be." Therefore David said to Ittai, "Go and pass over." So Ittai the Gittite passed over with all his men and all the little ones (their families) who were with him." (2Sa 15:19, 20, 21, 22) Later when David organized and numbered the army at Mahanaim, Ittai was given command of a third part of the force, and seems to have enjoyed equal rank with Joab and Abishai (2Sa 18:2,5,12). Compare Ruth's famous commitment with Peter's profession - "Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You." (Jn 13:37) Peter however momentarily shrank back (Mt 26:75), but did eventually follow through, tradition teaching that he was crucified upside down (cf Lk 22:31,32). WHERE YOU LODGE, I WILL LODGE: Every place you go, I will go. Every place you live, I will live (ICB) where you take your rest I will take my rest (BBE) She did not know if she was going to a cottage or if she would even have a place to lay her head, so total was her sweet surrender. This is reminiscent of Jesus' reply to those professed a desire to follow Him. A certain scribe came and said to Him "Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go." And Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head. (Mt 8:19, 20) Ruth was willing to follow Naomi wherever it led! YOUR PEOPLE SHALL BE MY PEOPLE: Ruth 2:11-12 Ps 45:10; Isa 14:1 As Boaz reiterates in the next chapter, Ruth "left (her) father and (her) mother and the land of (her) birth, and came to a people that (she) did not previously know" (Ru 2:11-note) and sought refuge under the wings of "the LORD, the God of Israel" (Ru 2:12-note) Boaz's declaration implies that Ruth's parents were still alive, making her commitment to the "Chosen People" even more striking. Ruth as a foreigner or “sojourner” was entitled to certain privileges such as the right to glean the harvest fields (Lv 19:10). However, Ruth was not simply a foreigner, but a Moabite and the Law stated that no Moabite could “enter the assembly of the Lord… forever” (Dt 23:3) because of what the Moabites had done to Israel during the wilderness journey (Nu 22-25; Nu 31:15, 16). Moabites were so abhorred that Jews were forbidden even to “seek their peace (or) their prosperity” (Dt. 23:6). Whether she was aware of this is unknown. Henri Rossi - her thoughts go farther than simple association with Israel; she identifies herself with the people, whatever their state might be, in order to belong to the God of Israel, the true God who does not change: “Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.” YOUR GOD, MY GOD: Jos 24:18; Da 2:47; 3:29; 4:37; Ho 13:4; 2Co 6:16;17, 18, 1Th 1:9-note BLESSED BE THE TIE THAT BINDS This expression 'the tie that binds' is used to describe a common idea or belief that links people together. It can also be used plurally as 'the ties that bind'. For example, you may say: ''We are family, held together by the ties that bind. Nothing will tear us apart." In short it is a shared belief that links people together, in this case the greatest belief of all, the belief in the living God of all creation! Blessed be the tie that binds Our hearts in Christian love The fellowship of kindred minds Is like to that above. Your God, my God - This is the actually the second mention (of 3 total) of Elohim, the first being in Ru 1:15 referring to the "gods" of the Moabites. Here and in the last use of Elohim in Ru 2:12+ the reference is to the true and living God. It should not be missed that Ruth makes this confession during the dark days of the judges when the majority of the "chosen people" chose to forsake the living God and cleave to dead idols that are no gods (Jdg 2:12-13+). BRIEF DIGRESSION OF NAMES OF GOD IN RUTH - Although the name "God" (Elohim - see study - only found in Ru 1:16+, Ru 2:12+) or "LORD" (Jehovah - see study) occurs less than 20x in the book of Ruth (18x in 15v - Ru 1:6+, Ru 1:8, 9+, Ru 1:13+, Ru 1:17+, Ru 1:21+ twice; Ru 2:4+ twice, Ru 2:12+ twice-, Ru 2:20+; Ru 3:10+, Ru 3:13+; Ru 4:11-14+) or Almighty (Shaddai - Ru 1:20, 21+), God is clearly in control from the beginning (famine in land) to end (fertility of Ruth). God is sovereign, (what word do you see in "sovereign"?) which in simple terms means that He is in complete control over ALL the affairs of nature and history and has the absolute right to act according to His perfect will and His good pleasure. The Bible in general and Ruth in particular is the story (history = "His-Story") of God working out His sovereign plan of redemption for the world toward a conclusion which is so certain that we can stake our very life on it. So don't think that the paucity of the mention of God's name in Ruth suggests that He is absentee (as Deism teaches) or that He is not actively involved. It follows that no "famine" just "happens" in the land, but that God sovereignly controls every famine. Ruth's action of turning from the idols of Moab and unto Jehovah is an excellent illustration of the meaning of genuine Biblical repentance (click discussion) and it reminds us of the picture of repentance among the pagan, idol worshipping Thessalonians who heard the gospel from Paul For they themselves report about us (Paul, Silvanus, Timothy 1Th 1:1) what kind of a reception we had with you and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God (1Th 1:9+) It has been well said that faith is not only believing in spite of evidence but obeying in spite of the consequence. Ruth and Esther point the way to that kind of dynamic and exciting faith and all believers do well to emulate their excellent example. True faith is not based on empirical evidence but on divine assurance (He 11:1+) and ''is the gift of God'' (Ep 2:8+) Alexander Maclaren characterize Ruth's words this way:Put the sweet figure of the Moabitess beside the heroes of the Book of Judges, and we feel the contrast. But is there anything in its pages more truly heroic than her deed, as she turned her back on the blue hills of Moab, and chose the joyless lot of the widowed companion of a widow aged and poor, in a land of strangers, the enemies of her country and its gods? It is easier far to rush on the spears of the foe, amid the whirl and excitement of battle, than to choose with open eyes so dreary a lifelong path. The gentleness of a true woman covers a courage of the patient, silent sort, which, in its meek steadfastness, is nobler than the contempt of personal danger, which is vulgarly called bravery. It is harder to endure than to strike. The supreme type of heroic, as of all, virtue is Jesus Christ, whose gentleness was the velvet glove on the iron hand of an inflexible will. Of that best kind of heroes there are few brighter examples, even in the annals of the Church which numbers its virgin martyrs by the score, than this sweet figure of Ruth, as the eager vow comes from her young lips, which had already tasted sorrow, and were ready to drink its bitterest cup at the call of duty. She may well teach us to rectify our judgments, and to recognise the quiet heroism of many a modest life of uncomplaining suffering. Her example has a special message to women, and exhorts them to see to it that, in the cultivation of the so-called womanly excellence of gentleness, they do not let it run into weakness, nor, on the other hand, aim at strength, to the loss of meekness. The yielding birch tree, the 'lady of the woods,' bends in all its elastic branches and tossing ringlets of foliage to the wind; but it stands upright after storms that level oaks and pines. God's strength is gentle strength, and ours is like His when it is meek and lowly, like that of the 'strong Son of God.'… How many hearts, since Ruth spoke her vow, have found in it the words that fitted their love best! How often they have been repeated by quivering lips, and heard as music by loving ears! How solemn, and even awful, is that perennial freshness of words which came hot and broken by tears, from lips that have long ago mouldered into dust! What has made them thus 'enduring for ever,' is that they express most purely the self-sacrifice which is essential to all noble love. The very inmost longing of love is to give itself away to the object beloved. It is not so much a desire to acquire as to bestow, or, rather, the antithesis of giving and receiving melts into one action which has a twofold motion,--one outwards, to give; one inwards, to receive. To love is to give one's self away, therefore all lesser givings are its food and delight; and, when Ruth threw herself on Naomi's withered breast, and sobbed out her passionate resolve, she was speaking the eternal language of love, and claiming Naomi for her own, in the very act of giving herself to Naomi, Human love should be the parent of all self-sacrificing as of all heroic virtues; and in our homes we do not live in love, as we ought, unless it leads us to the daily exercise of self-suppression and surrender, which is not felt to be loss but the natural expression of our love, which it would be a crime against it, and a pain to ourselves, to withhold. If Ruth's temper lived in our families, they would be true 'houses of God' and 'gates of heaven.' (Click) How did Ruth know Naomi's God ("your God")? Clearly Naomi’s relationship with God had had an impact on Ruth. The application is clear -- Can people look at your life, as Ruth looked at Naomi’s, and say "I want your God to be my God!"? Our trust in God, and turning towards Him in tough times (as exemplified by Naomi who still blesses/prays for them in the name of Jehovah - Ru 1:8, 9), will often be the very thing that draws others to the Lord. Let’s be the kind of persons who draw others to us, and through our friendship, to our God. Spurgeon draws out this application - "This was a very brave, outspoken confession of faith. Please to notice that it was made by a woman, a young woman, a poor woman, a widow woman, and a foreigner. Remembering all that, I should think there is no condition of gentleness, or of obscurity, or of poverty, or of sorrow, which should prevent anybody from making an open confession of allegiance to God when faith in the Lord Jesus Christ has been exercised. If that is your experience, then whoever you may be, you will find an opportunity, somewhere or other, of declaring that you are on the Lord’s side." (Click Surgeon's sermon on Ruth 1:16: Deciding for God) Looking at these events from a slightly different light, the events suggest that ten years of Naomi’s "compromise" in Moab was not accompanied by Ruth confessing the God of Israel. Yet as soon as Naomi says, "I’m going back to the God of Israel and put my fate in His hands" Ruth stands with her. Do you see an application to your own life? If we think we will persuade our friends or relatives to come to Jesus by our compromise, we are mistaken. We may be very sincere, albeit sincerely mistaken. Only a Spirit emboldened stand for Jesus is what we must exhibit. Spurgeon said "Ah! you will never win any soul to the right by a compromise with the wrong. It is decision for Christ and his truth that has the greatest power in the family, and the greatest power in the world, too." THOUGHT - Do you have unsaved family members? Most of us do. The important lesson is to remember that you should not try to coerce or coax them into the kingdom by a watered down or compromised "Christian" message. Don't make the word of Christ, the word of the Cross void (empty) of its life giving power (1Cor 1:17, 18+).