Judges & Ruth - The Unlikely Choice

by Pastor Peter Lim

What good could come out of a family of widows?
Ruth

Big idea:
God blessed those who exhibit believing loyalty

Believing loyalty Is trusting in christ alone for salvation and corresponding obedience to Him

Ruth 1:1-5
In the days when the judges ruled,[a] there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. 2 The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there. 3 Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.


This famine could have been part of God's judgement as well that spilled over from previous judges

Israelites did what was evil and what was right in their own eyes

Ruth is a Moabite
Elimelech was a farmer
Moabite was an enemy of God's people
Moabite women seduced Israelites...

It seems that Elimelech plan to move to Moab seems right

Ruth stood out in stark contrast to the Israelites as a counterbalance
1. Went from judgement or shame to favour
2. Went from Emptiness to Fullness

Ruth 1:8
Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me.


"Hesed" (Ruth 1:8, Ruth 2:20) carries the collective idea of covenant faithfulness, kindness, goodness, mercy, love and compassion


Ruth 1:15-17
“Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.” 16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”


Ruth choose to commit:
- Her loyalty to Naomi
- Choose to follow Yahweh, to be a part of His people, put herself in God's hands, forsaking her Moabite gods


Ruth 1:22
So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.


It was God's sovereign timing to meet the harvest time

Not coincident
Not stroke of luck
BUT Right place, Right people, Right time
Providential coincidences orchestrated by God

What seems to be chance happenings can be providential coincidences orchestrated by God


Boaz was a worthy man, of substance...

Ruth 2:8-10
So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. 9 Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.” 10 At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?”


Ruth 2:13
“May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servants.”


"Favour"
It was rare for people to obey God's law to show compassion as through Boaz kindly act

God's hesed was upon Naomi and Ruth

To those who demonstrate believing loyalty, God shows hesed - covenant faithfulness, loving kindness, generosity and favour


Application #1:
Put yourself in God hands to experience His grace and favour

John 1:14-16
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) 16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.


When in
- Desperation
- Brokenness
- Pain
Challenge yourself to put yourself in His hands
Abandon yourself into His hands by choosing biblical convictions and not convenience


Ruth's empiness:
Gentile
Woman
Barren
Widow
Poor

These above made Ruth the unlikely choice

Ruth 2:17
So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah.[a]


An ephah is about 15 to 17kg

Ruth 2:23
So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.


The barley and wheat harvests is about 2 months, thus Ruth only worked about 2 months but gleaned approximately 1 year worth of supplies enough to last her and Naomi


Ruth is the only book in the Old Testament named after a non Israelite, a Gentile widow

Ruth experience God's hesed and showed hesed to others through her words and actions

Application #2:
Demonstrate hesed even in the mundane activities of life to experience God's fullness


Value people more than task

Faithfulness in the mundane is noticed by God

Focus on doing the little things right