HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 609
Ruth
W H AT D O Y O U D O when life caves in? What do you do when every-
thing and everyone seems to be against you? Your spouse dies and you
are left alone. You lose your job and your source of income. You lose a
child, a friend, a dream.
What you will be
Then, as you’re still reeling, life suddenly deals
reading about
you another harsh blow, another tragedy. Now
what do you do? Do you run away, crawl inside
1:1-22
Tragedy strikes Naomi and
yourself, lock out the world? Is there anything
her family
left to live for? The book of Ruth is the story of
2:1-23
what one young widow did when life dealt her
Ruth and Naomi find
one tragedy after another. It is a story of chalkindness back in Israel
lenge and inspiration for each of us who faces
3:1-18
circumstances beyond our control.
Ruth follows Naomi’s plan
Ruth was a young woman from Moab, a coun4:1-22
try and culture foreign to the Israelites. She
Ruth and Boaz are married
became the wife of an Israelite whose family had
fled to Moab seeking to escape famine in Israel. Through this marriage, Ruth
became the daughter-in-law of Naomi. Another Moabite woman, Orpah, married Naomi’s other son.
It must have hurt Naomi to see her sons marry girls from a hated ethnic
group. Not only were her sons breaking with ethnic “purity,” they were also
marrying outside the faith—marrying girls who did not know or worship the
one true God. Ethnic difference and religious difference teamed up. It was the
perfect opportunity for family tension.
Apparently that tension never came. Instead, Naomi seems to have accepted
these two girls as her own daughters.
Then tragedy hit. Life caved in. Both of Naomi’s sons died, apparently about
the same time. Her husband had died some years earlier, so all three women
were left as widows. In Bible times, being a widow was a tough life. No insurance. No social security. No pension plans. No savings accounts. No jobs for
women. Nothing but poverty and loneliness.
What do you do when life caves in? Do you run? Do you seek self-interests
first? Do you put loved ones last in line? Remember Ruth. There was an easy
way out for Ruth. Her mother-in-law offered to release both her and Orpah from
any obligation, freeing them to return to their homes and presumably to marry
again. Orpah accepted the offer, with no hard feelings from Naomi. But Ruth
chose the hard way, the way of faithfulness and commitment. She chose to
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