Rute 1

Rute 1:16

Irving Jensen's Survey of Bible (see his summary of Ruth online - page 392) See Swindoll's summary chart of Ruth See Ruth Devotionals RUTH: GOD PROVIDES A KINSMAN-REDEEMER Ruth 1 Ruth 2 Ruth 3 Ruth 4 Ruth's Choice Ruth's Service Ruth's Claim Ruth's Marriage Naomi and Ruth Mutual Grief Ruth and Naomi and Boaz Mutual Pursuit Boaz and Ruth Mutual Love Ruth's Decision: Return with Naomi Ruth's Devotion: Provide for Naomi Ruth's Request: Redemption by Boaz Ruth's Reward: Relative of Messiah Ruth and Naomi Ruth and Boaz Death of Naomi's Family Ruth Cares for Naomi Boaz Cares for Ruth God Blesses with New Birth Grief Loneliness Companionship Rejoicing Location: Plains of Moab Location: Fields of Bethlehem Location: Threshing floor of Bethlehem Location: Little town of Bethlehem Time Lapsed: About 30 Years See Timeline Setting: Ru 1:1 Now it came about in the days when the judges governed Jdg 21:25+ In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Ruth 1:16 But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where * you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. (NASB: Lockman) BBE: But Ruth said, Give up requesting me to go away from you, or to go back without you: for where you go I will go; and where you take your rest I will take my rest; your people will be my people, and your God my God. GWT: But Ruth answered, "Don't force me to leave you. Don't make me turn back from following you. Wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. (GWT) KJV: And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: NLT: But Ruth replied, "Don't ask me to leave you and turn back. I will go wherever you go and live wherever you live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. (NLT - Tyndale House) Young's Literal: And Ruth saith, 'Urge me not to leave thee -- to turn back from after thee; for whither thou goest I go, and where thou lodgest I lodge; thy people is my people, and thy God my God. Septuagint (LXX): eipen (3SAAI) de Routh me apantesai (2SAMM) emoi tou katalipein (AAN) se e apostrepsai opisthen sou hoti su opou ean poreuthes poreusomai kai ou ean aulisthes aulisthesomai o laos sou laos mou kai o theos sou theos mou English of Septuagint: And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following thee; for whithersoever thou goest, I will go, and wheresoever thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God BUT RUTH SAID DO NOT URGE TO LEAVE OR TURN BACK: 2Ki 2:2, 3, 4, 5, 6; Lk 24:28;29 Acts 21:13 RUTH A MODEL OF DEATH TO SELF Play Ruth's song as you contemplate profundity of Ruth's pronouncement. But Ruth said "Do not urge me to leave ('azab) you or to turn back (shub/shuv) from following you - "Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you!" (NAB) "Stop urging me to abandon you and to leave you!" (NET) "Do not urge me to desert you by turning away from you" (Berkley) "Do not press me to leave you and to stop going with you" (NJB) "Don't force me to leave you. Don't make me turn back from following you" (GWT). But Ruth - A dramatic contrast marking a change in direction of her life from godless, hopeless, pagan Gentile to one grafted into Israel and eventually in the lineage of the Messiah. Whenever you observe a "but" (or other words associated with contrast, such as yet, nevertheless, on the other hand, etc) pause and ask what is the author contrasting? (See more discussion of contrasts) There are over 4000 uses of this little conjunction "but" in the Bible and all of them are important. Howard Hendricks adds that… contrasts are always important in Scripture. They indicate a change of direction… What does the word but force me to do? To go back to the preceding context… The flip side of comparison is contrast—things that are unlike. We could say that in Bible study, as in love, opposites attract. At least, they attract the eye of the observant reader. There are several ways the biblical writers signify contrast. The word but is a clue that a change of direction is coming. (Living by the Book. Chicago: Moody Press) Vance Havner quipped that "a good woman is the best thing on earth. Women were last at the cross and first at the open tomb. The church owes a debt to her faithful women which she can never estimate, to say nothing of the debt we owe in our homes to godly wives and mothers. Jim Elliot said "He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." A perfect description of Ruth the Moabitess! Leave (forsake) (05800)('azab) basically means to depart from something -- to leave, to forsake (48x), to leave (26x; "left" 22x), to loose, to depart, to abandon. Things that can left behind or forsaken include persons (Ge 44:22; Nu 10:30; Ru 1:16; 2Ki4:30), people who should left behind (Ge 2:24); places (2Ki 8:6; Jer 18:14; 25:38) and objects (Ge 39:12,13; 50:8; Ex 9:21). The Lxx translates azab in this verse with kataleipo which literally means to leave behind or leave remaining (of a person or place - Mt 4:13, 16:4, 21:17, He 11:27). Kataleipo is often used to indicate abandoning a heritage, giving up riches, and leaving one's native land, exactly what Ruth did (of course she had no riches to give up)! Examples of OT Conversions Individuals who were converted from an idolatrous Gentile background include such major figures as Abram (Genesis 12:1-20), Naaman the leper (2Ki 5:9-19), Rahab (Jos 2:1-17, See especially Scarlet Thread in Jos 2:18-24), Ruth (Ru 1:16-18), and the sailors on board the ship from Joppa to Tarshish (Jonah 1:16). Examples of national or corporate conversion include Judah in the time of Asa (2Chr 14:2-4; 15:12-15) Nineveh (Jonah 3:1-10). ENTREAT ME NOT TO LEAVE THEE by Fanny Crosby Entreat me not to leave thee, My heart goes with thee now; Why turn my footsteps homeward? No friend so dear as thou! Thy heart has borne my sorrow, And I have wept for thine; And now how can I leave thee? Oh, let thy lot be mine. Refrain Entreat me not to leave thee, Entreat me not to leave thee, Or to return from following after thee; For where thou goest I will go, And where thou lodgest I will lodge; Thy people shall be my people, And thy God my God, Thy people shall be my people, And thy God my God. I’ll follow where thou leadest; My love will cling to thee; And where thy head is pillowed, My nightly rest shall be; Thy birthplace and thy kindred I’ll cherish like my own; Thy God shall be my refuge, I’ll worship at His throne. Refrain Where death’s cold hand shall find thee, There let my eyelids close, And, in the grave beside thee, This mortal frame repose: Oh, do not now entreat me; No friend so dear as thou; My heart would break in anguish If I should leave thee now. Refrain Some have questioned whether Ruth was a believer or non-believer. For example Daniel Block writes "Although some would interpret Ruth’s declaration as a sign of conversion, it is better viewed as an affirmation of a transfer of membership from the people of Moab to Israel and of allegiance from Chemosh to Yahweh. How much she knew about the implications of claiming Yahweh as one’s God we do not know. She had indeed been observing Naomi for more than a decade, but from what we have seen of her in this chapter she hardly qualified to be a missionary of orthodox Yahwistic faith and theology. But this is a start, a noble beginning." (New American Commentary) I think the weight of Scriptural evidence would weigh strongly against Block's interpretation that this is just a "noble beginning" as he phrases it. Let's look at the evidence that Ruth's famous declaration was more than just words, but reflective of a genuine change of heart. (1) Ruth radically turned from the Moabite gods to the one true God. - This is a clear picture of repentance and is paralleled in the NT by Paul's description of another group of Gentiles who formed the church at Thessalonica. Paul writes "For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you (Gentile believers at Thessalonica), and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. (1Th 1:9-10) Indeed for Ruth to turn to God from idols certainly took faith for the pagan gods is all she had previously known. Hebrews 11:1 describes Ruth's faith for "faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Ruth had never seen Bethlehem. She had only know polytheism. But drawn by Naomi's witness, Ruth by faith, not sight turned to Naomi's God, Jehovah. John MacArthur agrees writing that Ruth's testimony evidenced her "conversion from worshiping Chemosh to Jehovah of Israel (cf. 1Th 1:9, 10)." (MacArthur Study Bible) KJV Bible Commentary - thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. Thereby, Ruth clearly proclaimed her desire to become a follower of the Lord and of the people of Israel. (2) Ruth served the true and living God by serving her mother-in-law and it is recognized by Boaz - "And Boaz answered and said to her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband has been fully reported to me, and how you left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and came to a people that you did not previously know. May the LORD reward your work, and your wages be full from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge.” (Ru 2:11-12) Taking refuge is a picture in the OT of one in essence running to God in belief. Ps 2:12 for promises "How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!" David links salvation and taking refuge declaring "My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge; My savior, Thou dost save me from violence." (2Sa 22:3) Again David declares in Ps 17:7 - "Wondrously show Thy lovingkindness, O Savior of those who take refuge at Thy right hand From those who rise up against them." And in Ps 37:40 we read "And the LORD helps them, and delivers them; He delivers them from the wicked, and saves them, Because they take refuge in Him." Why does He save them? Obviously because they take refuge in Him. And in the midst of a chapter describing God's wrath the prophet Nahum writes that "The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows (experientially, intimately - Lxx = ginosko in the present tense) those who take refuge in Him." (Nahum 1:7) The point is that taking refuge in Jehovah (as Boaz says Ruth has done) is a reflection of one's faith in Jehovah (otherwise why take refuge in Him!). In his book a Sweet and Bitter Providence John