FAITH OF THE HELPLESS IN AN AGE OF FAITHLESSNESS

Shepherd’s Guidance 14/2020

9 May 2020 
 
Faith of the Helpless in An Age of Faithlessness 

(Scripture Reference: Ruth 1:1-18) 
 
The account of Ruth took place in the time of Judges. That was the time from the death of Joshua to the time of the monarchy under the first king of Israel. The time period of Judges was around 350 years  (1398-1043 B.C.) and the prophet Samuel was the last judge. It was a sad period in the history of Israel because God’s covenant people followed the worship of the idols of surrounding nations. Due to their constant rebellions against the Lord, the Lord chastised them. Then they call upon the Lord to help and the Lord sent them 14 judges to deliver them. After they were delivered, they did not take heed to God’s Word and rebelled again. They did not seem to learn from their painful past. How the attitude of obedience to God’s Word brings them peace and the attitude of disobedience brings them oppression and death. The warnings of Deuteronomy 28 did not ring true to them. 
 
The time was filled with examples of unbelief in the Lord and His Word. The covenant people of God suffered political, social and economic crisis as a result. A man from the tribe of Judah brought his wife, Naomi, and two sons, Mahlon and Chilion to migrate to Moab because there was famine in and around Bethlehem. The two names of the sons were taken from Canaanite names. This may suggest that he had deviated from the godly practice of the covenant people. Names were very important in those days especially. A name reveals the aspirations of the children and the parents' faith. Leah, the first wife of Jacob called her son “Judah” because she would praise the Lord. Moab seemed to be a good choice nearby because it was located in a fertile area. It was just 50 miles away from Bethlehem. There was plenty of food over there but this was a place devoted to idolatry. Not only that, their sons took the idol worshippers, Ruth and Oprah as wives. At first, they thought of a short stay but it turned to a decade. 
 
The Lord began to send warnings by removing the lives of the father and the sons one by one. The breadwinners in the family were gone. There were three widows left in the family. What a sorrowful state! There were no laws to protect them in those days. There were no such things as property rights for such helpless people. They were left to fend for themselves. The law of Moses made provisions to show mercy to helpless people. But they were not in the Promised Land of God. The Lord worked in the heart of His sheep through the good news from the Promised Land. The news said that the Lord had shown favor to His people again by giving them bread. Therefore Naomi made up her mind to return to Bethlehem Judah.  
 
Knowing that remarriage was the best answer for her two daughters in law, Naomi urged Ruth and Oprah to stay in Moab. She did not think of bringing them back was a good idea. She pleaded with them to return to their idolatrous families, get new husbands, and enjoy a good life. Was she worried about the rejection of the two Moabites by the Israelites? Was she worried about the livelihood of the two daughters-in-law in Israel? The two daughters-in-law refused to obey her advice at first. Their relationship with her was very strong. It also suggested that she was a gracious mother-in-law. She had their best interest in mind so they would not mind suffering with her in poverty. 
 
Seeing their disobedience to her initial advice, she resorted to sarcastic exhortation. Naomi said even if she was able to find a husband right now in her old age and conceived instantly and gave birth to two sons, would Ruth and Oprah want to wait until they are grown up to marry them? The whole idea was unthinkable. She asked them to go back to Moab and not to waste their prime time to remarry. Oprah was persuaded, she kissed Naomi and turned back. But Ruth still wanted to follow Naomi, her extended family in the Promised Land and the chosen nation. When the Old Testament talks about family, it describes a much larger family than our modern society. The extended families in the Old Testament covers several generations and other relatives. It is not simply parents and grandparents. It may cover half a town! Ruth was moved to forsake her race, religion and culture to follow the Lord and His people. 
 
“And she said, Behold thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law. 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: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more so if ought but death part thee and me” (Ruth 1:15-17). Such were the convictions of Ruth! She had embraced the God of her mother-in-law, to become one with God's people, to be with her mother-in-law until death and to share the same burial ground. By such confessions, she had turned away from her previous faith, country and culture. She would be rejected by her own people. 
 
Ruth was going to a strange country and live with a strange people. There was no assurance from Israel to welcome her. She was unlikely to get remarried over there and get provided. Humanly speaking, she was seemingly making a wrong move in life. But she had counted the cost and went ahead with her commitments. She promised to be with her poor mother-in-law in life and in death. She even made her promise with an oath, calling down divine judgment if she turned away from her word. The journey back to the Promised Land was a spiritual journey for Ruth also. She had turned away from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. What a sharp contrast with the prevailing mood and practice of idolatry in her time. 
 
Ruth was a model of filial piety, though she may not be well versed with the law of Moses. Her parents-inlaw might have mentioned bit and pieces of the law to her. Her mother-in-law had nothing literally to offer her for survival, save hardships in Bethlehem Judah. Yet she was so loyal to her. "Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies” (Proverbs 31:10). "Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee” (Exodus 20:12). No wonder the field owner who was related to Naomi said to her later in Bethlehem, "It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the death of thine husband; and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knowest not heretofore. The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust” (Ruth 2:11-12). 
 
Ruth began her life with much hardship in Bethlehem but she was blessed with much food by the Lord through Boaz. She had received much more than she expected. Her mother-in-law was surprised also. Finally the Lord blessed her with the union with Boaz, and she became an ancestor of the man after God’s own heart, King David. She came into the Promised Land empty-handed, with no expectation except hardship. But the Lord had turned her future around and blest her mightily for His glory. Those who trust in the Lord will be accompanied by the Lord and guided by Him step by step. The Lord will unveil His plan gradually. Thank  God for His providence. 
 
Rev. Lee Kim Shong