Women of Courage: The
Study of Ruth – Jan. 5
We began by reading the book of Ruth in entirety. We then spoke about the land of Israel, how
the land was divided in that time. It
probably took 3-5 days to make the journey from Bethlehem to Moab or back. They may have traveled with a trade caravan. This all took place as the period of the
Judges governed in the land.
Joshua 24: 31 Israel served the Lord
all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who
had known all the works of the Lord which He had done for Israel.
32 The bones of Joseph, which the
children of Israel had brought up out of Egypt, they buried at Shechem, in the
plot of ground which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of
Shechem for one hundred pieces of silver, and which had become an inheritance
of the children of Joseph.
33 And Eleazar the son of Aaron
died. They buried him in a hill belonging to Phinehas his son, which was given
to him in the mountains of Ephraim.
So the generation that had traversed the land during the
Exodus and those that traveled into the Promised Land have passed on.
Judges 2: 7-15
7 So the people served the Lord all
the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had
seen all the great works of the Lord which He had done for Israel. 8 Now Joshua
the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died when he was one hundred and ten
years old. 9 And they buried him within the border of his inheritance at
Timnath Heres, in the mountains of Ephraim, on the north side of Mount Gaash.
10 When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another
generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had
done for Israel.
11 Then the children of Israel did
evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals; 12 and they forsook the
Lord God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and
they followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around
them, and they bowed down to them; and they provoked the Lord to anger. 13 They
forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.[c] 14 And the anger of the
Lord was hot against Israel. So He delivered them into the hands of plunderers
who despoiled them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies all
around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. 15 Wherever they
went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for calamity, as the Lord had
said, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed.
16 Nevertheless, the Lord raised up
judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them. 17 Yet
they would not listen to their judges, but they played the harlot with other
gods, and bowed down to them. They turned quickly from the way in which their
fathers walked, in obeying the commandments of the Lord; they did not do so. 18
And when the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and
delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for
the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed
them and harassed them. 19 And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that
they reverted and behaved more corruptly than their fathers, by following other
gods, to serve them and bow down to them. They did not cease from their own
doings nor from their stubborn way.
20 Then the anger of the Lord was
hot against Israel; and He said, “Because this nation has transgressed My
covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not heeded My voice, 21 I
also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left
when he died, 22 so that through them I may test Israel, whether they will keep
the ways of the Lord, to walk in them as their fathers kept them, or not.” 23
Therefore the Lord left those nations, without driving them out immediately;
nor did He deliver them into the hand of Joshua.
The time of the judges spans about 300 years. It is difficult to date the time of Ruth, but
it was possibly around 220 years into the judges. MacArthur made an estimate to place it in the
time of Jair.
Judges 10:3-5
3 After him arose Jair, a Gileadite; and he judged Israel
twenty-two years. 4 Now he had thirty sons who
rode on thirty donkeys; they also had thirty towns, which are called “Havoth
Jair”
to this day, which are in the land of Gilead. 5 And Jair died and was buried in Camon.
Ruth was born around 1150bc.
The first mention of Bethlehem is in Genesis 35
Genesis 35: 16Then
they journeyed from Bethel. And when there was but a little distance to go to
Ephrath, Rachel labored in childbirth, and she had hard labor. 17 Now it came to pass, when she was in hard labor, that
the midwife said to her, “Do not fear; you will have this son also.” 18 And so it was, as her soul was departing (for she
died), that she called his name Ben-Oni;[c] but his
father called him Benjamin.[d] 19 So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath
(that is, Bethlehem). 20 And
Jacob set a pillar on her grave, which is the pillar of Rachel’s grave
to this day.
Micah 5:2
2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though
you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to
Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, from
everlasting.”
The Moabites were from the lineage of Lot.
Deut. 2:9;16
9 Then the Lord said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab, nor contend with them in
battle, for I will not give you any of their land as a
possession, because I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as a
possession.’”
16 “So it was, when all the men of war had finally perished from
among the people, 17 that the Lord spoke to me, saying: 18 ‘This day you are to cross over at Ar, the boundary of
Moab. 19 And when you come near
the people of Ammon, do not harass them or meddle with them, for I will not
give you any of the land of the people of Ammon as a possession,
because I have given it to the descendants of Lot as a possession.’”
The first question of our study – How is
Ruth a fitting picture of every sinner?
She came from a family that worshiped other
gods; she is in poverty, an outcast, destitute.
She came from a family of idol worshippers. Her
story is a picture of us needing to be redeemed and that she couldn’t do
it. She could not have moved beyond
gleaning in the fields of others without the redemption from another. Sin has mortgaged our lives and without a
redeemer we are in debt to our sin.
Naomi looked at Ruth’s life and was concerned about her future. Ruth may not have planned for the future, but
her mother-in-law was looking out for her. Ruth’s redemption by God persuaded her to
return with Naomi, since she could not return to the life that she had known.
2. As a Moabite woman, how would Ruth be
perceived by the Israelite family of Elimelech and Naomi?
They probably saw her as an unclean woman,
a dog, a gentile, an idol worshipper.
It would have been difficult to accept her into their home. She married after the father had died and had
been introduced into a family that followed God. Naomi must have been a wonderful witness to
her new daughter-in-law. Naomi was
strong to be able to release her daughter-in-laws to go back to their own homes
in her time of distress. The strength of Ruth was demonstrated as she saw the
rough road that Naomi was walking and determining to follow Naomi back to her
land.
