Ruth - Book of

Yesterday I read the whole book of Ruth, (it is only 4 short chapters). Last night while mentally reviewing the book of Ruth, I started wondering about Naomi's husband Elimelech. He was an Ephrathite of Bethlehem. The injunction, directly from Jehovah, was that Israelites have no dealings with foreigners. The Moabites were singled out even though they were ancestrally related through Abraham and Lot. (Lot was Abraham’s nephew and one of Lot’s daughters was the mother of a child named Moab who became the people (nation) of the Moabites.)

So why would an Israelite man move to a foreign land that didn’t worship the true God? Again, it was famine that drove his decision, but did he consider the long-range effects? Could he have expected that his sons would become old enough to marry Moabite women -- something forbidden by Jehovah? Elimelech was already dead by the time his sons married, so his wife was left to deal with the fallout of his decision. There is also no mention of Naomi taking the dead bodies of her husband and sons back to the land of Israel for a rightful burial. Also not mentioned is how the men died. Moabites were known to be contentious with Israel. Did Moabite men attack Elimelech and later his two sons? Did they die of some disease? That latter option seems unlikely because it would have infected the women as well.

The fact is, the first chapter of Ruth makes no judgmental (editorial) remarks on how God felt. It merely states the facts of the event. We really don’t know the type of person Elimelech was. We do however see the shining conviction and determination of both Naomi and her Moabite daughter-in-law, Ruth.

Coming back to Deuteronomy 23:3, this was a non-negotiable verdict against anyone from Moab coming Into the “congregation of Jehovah" and was without exception. Yet Ruth was a Moabite. And not only was she accepted but she came to be in the ancestral line leading to Jesus. This is yet more evidence of how exceptional faith is noticed and rewarded by the true God.

Lessons: I’ve gleaned two lessons. First (and probably foremost) is that no matter how bad things are, we shouldn’t allow circumstances to separate us from God. Elimelech moved to Moab probably because food was available. But look what he gave up. Look how he made circumstances ripe for his sons to marry foreign wives, thus disobeying Jehovah. Okay, so he needed to move, but his choice of where to move may have demonstrated a lack of trust in his God. Second lesson is a valuable one for those who feel worthless. Likely Ruth knew how God felt about Moabites, yet her admiration and love for her mother-in-law was so strong, she didn’t care about her own needs. She cared about her noble mother-in-law to the point of being full heartedly willing to serve Jehovah, abandoning her foreign ways. Likewise, those whose experiences have lead them to believe their own life is without hope can take courage in Ruth. She never expected such a rich reward by trusting in Jehovah. It is noteworthy that for all the books of the Bible that are named after a specific person, her’s is the only one named in memory of a non-Israelite.

References:

More about the land of Moab and the Moabite people

Scriptures:

Genesis 19:36, 37

Deuteronomy 23:3

Ruth 1:3-5

Ruth 1:15

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Our Hope Made Sure

Ever since Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of the Heavens, ever since John received the vision of the heavenly Jerusalem coming down out of heaven, Christians have been waiting for, as Jesus told us to pray, ‘your kingdom come, your will take place, on earth as it already* is in heaven. ‘ (Matthew 6:10, other translations) In the year 2033, it will be 2,000 years since Jesus returned to heaven. With all that time passing, some may be getting discouraged and wondering “when!” will the promise come.

This week’s Bible reading (week ending December 25, 2016) was Isaiah chapters 11 through 16. (For decades now, all congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses have been assigned a weekly Bible reading that finishes the whole Bible in about 2 years.) A phrase in Isaiah 15:1 stuck out in my mind. It speaks of the “silencing of Moab.” Although there are other prophecies of national condemnation, this one stuck out because it truly is “silenced” out of existence. For example, ask yourself: “Who was Moab? Where was the land of Moab?” Do you know?

The people of Moab were descendants of Lot, nephew of Abraham. But where did they live? Where was the land of Moab? After opening this link, open the “Alternate presentation” to see the map. On the map, look at the lower right corner of the Salt Sea. The section in blue is Moab. (More here.) Now look at a present-day map of the same area. Do you see even a vague mention of Moab? Indeed, it has been silenced. In fact, an open search on Google for “Moab” yields only the area in Utah. Yet Israel still exists. Egypt still exists. True to God’s Word, Moab is forgotten.

But what does that have to do with us? Coming back to the introduction, the promise is still pending, it has not lost its vibrancy. Just as Moab was forgotten, after spending centuries in God’s Kingdom, we will have completely forgotten about all the divisive national boundaries that exist today. We may be hard pressed to recall what the initials USA meant. Russia will no longer be in our vocabulary. Why? Because “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah” causing all men to live in unity as children of God and not as some national or ethnic designator. Yes, through fulfilled prophecies, we have our hope made “more sure.”

Footnote: Yes, I readily admit to adding the word “already.” It was done to emphasize that God already completely rules heaven without any need for divisive governments.

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