Amen. That one line in that song, quietly sovereign, Lord of our now. It’s a great line and it’s very fitting for this study that we are in the beginning of.

And so turn with me if you would to the book of Ruth. The book of Ruth is in between the book of Judges and 1 Samuel. And a few weeks ago, last week was our night of worship music, so a few weeks ago now, we began with kind of an overview of the whole book of Ruth, an introduction to what we will be doing in our study of this book. And that’s really what it will be. It’s going to be a little bit more of a Bible study as we work through the different sections of this narrative book in the Old Testament. Tonight we’ll begin our study in chapter one.

So last time we talked about really the historical setting, when it takes place, and that the events took place really during the time of the judges. We see that from the very first line of the book of Ruth, and it’s before the time of the kings. But we know it was written sometime around the time of David because the genealogy that closes the book ends with David. So it’s probably during David’s lifetime that this book was written. We talked about all those things. We talked about the characters in the book, Elimelech and Naomi, and their sons, Mahlon and Chillion, and then their wives, Ruth and Orpah, and then finally we talked a little bit about Boaz.

So those are kind of the main characters of this. Really, it’s like a drama that you read. It’s got like four different acts as we work through the four chapters, and you see different scenes and different things taking place, different main characters within each chapter. And really, even within the different chapters, there are different themes that you can follow through those chapters. But the overall theme of the book is really God’s providence. God’s providence through unlikely circumstances. And we’ll talk about some of that tonight as we begin this very beginning of chapter one. Ruth is, again, the bridge, both historically and theologically, between the book of Judges and the books of Samuel, 1 and 2 Samuel, then 1 and 2 Kings. And it serves to explain some things for us that would otherwise be difficult to really piece together.

First of all, with this focus in the end of the book on the kingly line and King David, as you read through the book of Judges, and you see just the spiral of depravity getting worse and worse and worse, and really the end of the book of Judges is just dreadful reading. There’s just terrible things that happen. And so if you jump right next to this line of the kings, first with Saul and then with David, you might wonder, how could someone like David, a man after God’s own heart, come from what we see in the book of Judges? I mean, what happened? What’s in between these that could bring about someone like David? And secondly, if you saw the lineage of David and you see that in Matthew, you might wonder why there’s Moabite blood in King David. Really, for the greatest king of Israel, David doesn’t have a lot of Israelite blood in him. Jewish history suggests that his mother wasn’t Israelite.

Then you have Ruth, who is a Moabite, and you see even in this genealogy at the end of Ruth, he goes back to Rahab as well. So there’s a lot of non-Israelite influence in the line of David, and really Ruth serves to give us historical information on David, but also the type of people that David’s family comes from. And really that ends up being Boaz and Ruth. So Ruth chapter one verses one through five serves as the author’s introduction to this story. And we covered some of that last time, but we’ll review some of that and really kind of focus in on more of the details. Because really as you study narrative in the Old Testament, it is the details that bring up the significance of what’s happening. These aren’t just cool stories that we read about. The details that are included really inform us as to the theological significance of what’s going on, and that’s what we’ll see tonight.

As I mentioned already, there are four different acts with different scenes in them, and each chapter really focuses on a different main character, and Naomi is the first main character of this story, and that’s why I’ve titled this sermon Naomi’s Emptying. And really, this is probably gonna be a two-part sermon, because Naomi’s Emptying is really the theme for the whole first chapter. And the idea of this emptying is something you see throughout the book, because that word is mentioned a few times, as Naomi mentions her being emptied. And then, near the end, Naomi is filled again, and she is blessed by God. So, again, we’ll see four aspects in chapter one of Naomi’s emptying, the fact that she has been emptied, and we see, really, her interpretation of it, and why she thinks this happens. First, you see the setting of Naomi’s emptying.

You see that in verses 1 and 2. And then you’ll see the nature of Naomi’s emptying. What kind of an emptying is it? In verses 3 through 5. Then 6 to 19, we see her response. to this emptying, and then fourth, you’ll see Naomi’s interpretation of it, Naomi’s interpretation of why this has happened to her. So just to begin with, I’ll read chapter one of Ruth and really set the stage for the things we’ll study this evening.

So this is Ruth chapter one. This is the word of the Lord. Now it happened in the days when the judges judged that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the fields of Moab with his wife and his two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife, Naomi. And the names of his two sons were Malon and Kilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah. Now they came to the fields of Moab and remained there. Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They took for themselves Moabite women as wives. The name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other was Ruth, and they lived there about 10 years. Then both Malon and Kilion also died, and the woman was left without her two children and her husband. Then she arose with her daughters-in-law and returned from the fields of Moab, for she had heard in the field a Moab that Yahweh had visited his people to give them food.

So she went forth from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her. Then they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, Go, return, each of you to your own mother’s house. May Yahweh show loving kindness with you as you have shown with me, or with the dead and with me. May Yahweh grant that you might find rest, each in the house of her husband.’ Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. And they said to her, no, but we will return with you to your people. But Naomi said, return my daughters. Why should you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may be your husbands? Return my daughters. Go, for I am too old to have a husband. If I said I have hope, if I should even have a husband tonight and also bear sons, would you therefore wait until they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is more bitter for me than for you. For the hand of Yahweh has gone forth against me.’

And they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. Then she said, behold, your sister-in-law has returned to her people and her gods. Return after your sister-in-law. But Ruth said, do not press me to forsake you in turning 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. Where you die, I will die. And there I will be buried. may Yahweh do to me and more if anything but death separates you and me. So she saw that she was determined to go with her and she said no more to her. Then they both went until they came to Bethlehem. Now it happened, when they had come to Bethlehem, all the city was stirred because of them. And the women said, is this Naomi? She said to them, do not call me Naomi, call me Mara. for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, but Yahweh has caused me to return empty. Why do you call me Naomi? Yahweh has answered against me, and the Almighty has brought calamity against me. So Naomi returned, and with her, Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, who returned from the fields of Moab. Now they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

You see the opening of this story in the book of Ruth. For a book about the providence and sovereignty of God, the author, ironically, continues to put in the story the phrase, now it happened. Now it just so happened that this is what takes place. You see from the outside looking in and as an overview of this book, nothing in this book just happens. You even see when Ruth comes to the fields of Boaz, it says, now it happened that she happened upon the fields of Boaz. And that just doesn’t make sense as you see the sovereignty of God orchestrating all of these things. The narrator here sets the stage for this drama by announcing the time when it happened. And it says, in the days when the judge is judged. Then he introduces kind of where they are in Bethlehem and Judah. and in Moab eventually. Then he identifies the people most affected by this opening of this story, and that is the family of this certain man from Bethlehem, as it says there in verse one.

The author says there, there was a famine in the land, and that’s important. It’s an important detail that he includes, and that informs our understanding of the setting that these people find themselves in. Again, it’s interesting studying this passage as you read different people’s interpretation of it. There are some that think this has nothing to do with ethical circumstances in Israel, that it just happened to be the time of a famine. Again, some argue that there’s no connection there, that this famine is not punishment to Israel for not keeping the covenant. But others, I think, rightly point out that that really misses the whole point of this detail being included in the introduction. Why else would we need to know there’s a famine happening here? There is a connection to the state of Israel in this time. And anybody with knowledge of the covenant of God would make that connection. So as Israelites are reading this history of their king, they will make the connection.

There’s a famine in the land of Israel. And the depravity of the time of judges would lead any Israelite to connect that there’s a reason there’s a famine here. This isn’t just happenstance. This isn’t just coincidence that Israel is in a famine. This is what God promised would happen if they acted like they do throughout the book of Judges. Deuteronomy 28 lists the curses attached to the covenant God makes with Israel. And the whole book of Deuteronomy 28 is hard reading. It’s all the things that will come upon you if you don’t keep the covenant, if you don’t act like God’s people. But at the end of Deuteronomy 28, Moses makes this really sharp application point. In verses 45 through 48, Deuteronomy 28, 45 to 48, he says, so all these curses, everything he’s just listed, all of these terrible things, all of these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed. That’s an interesting phrase there. These curses will pursue you. Keep that in mind as we read about Elimelech and his actions in this story. because you would not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded you. And they shall become a sign and a wonder on you and your seed forever because you did not serve Yahweh your God with gladness and a merry heart because of the abundance of all things. Therefore, you shall serve your enemies whom Yahweh will send against you.”

As you read through the book of Judges, they continually have to serve their enemies because they don’t listen to God. Their enemies come in, take them captive, and they are again slaves. And then God raises up judges to deliver them from their slavery to the different peoples that enslave them. So He will stand against you in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in lack of things. And He will put an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you. You will serve these people in hunger. That’s a famine. there will be a famine as a punishment for not keeping the covenant. And Moses in Deuteronomy, he doesn’t just say, if you don’t, this might happen. He actually predicts this will come upon you because you will not keep the covenant. You will not listen to your God and this will come upon you. So how could this mention of a famine Along with the depravity of the time of the judges not be an implication that this is for disobedience, that the nation was in disobedience. And another interesting point is that they go to the land of Moab. If you look at the maps in the back of your Bible, Moab is not all that far, but there’s no famine in Moab.

This famine is very specific. and it’s over a very small piece of land called Israel. The Israelites are in famine. So they flee, this family flees to Moab, just across the Dead Sea, not very far, and there’s no famine there. You can see even in that, God is intentionally punishing Israel for their actions. So again, there’s no famine in Moab. There is a famine in Israel. And ironically, it says there’s a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah who went to sojourn in the fields of Moab. I say ironically because Bethlehem is named the house of bread. That’s what Bethlehem means. So in the house of bread, there’s no bread. So they have to leave. There’s no food there. They need to leave and go to Moab. At least that’s their perspective that they have to leave. Elimelech, together with his wife and his two sons, and it says they go to live as sojourners, as resident foreigners. They don’t go and become Moabites. become travelers, those who go for a specific purpose. It wasn’t their intention to live there forever. They were just going to have food, because there was no food in Israel. And they were going to sojourn in the country of Moab.

Again, we talked about that a little bit last week, but that’s a big deal. Moab is a traditional enemy of Israel, right from their very beginning. And the proper response to God’s punishment It was not to flee like Elimelech is doing, but to repent and to help the people of the nation see they need to repent. That is what would motivate God to withdraw his anger and to lift the famine that was there. However, Elimelech has his own ideas of how to get around this famine, how to avoid the consequences that Israel was in. Instead of calling upon God and crying out to him for mercy and repenting of the sins that plagued the nation, he runs away to Moab. But remember, these curses will pursue you. And that’s what we see. As I, again, briefly mentioned last time, Moab poses a problem for Israelites. It poses a problem for any Israelite of that day, and there are several reasons why. It’s not just a one-time occurrence that prohibits Moab. Moab was always a problem for Israel, right from their very beginning. Do you know where Moab comes from? Moab was one of the sons of Lot and his daughters. That’s the beginning of Moab.

And so even in their incestuous beginning, that was a no-go for Israel. Then the Moabites refused to let Israel pass through their land as they are wandering in the wilderness. They were hostile to Israel from the very beginning. You find that in Numbers 22 through 24. And then in Numbers 25, shortly after this strife with Moab, in Numbers 25, it is Moabite women that seduce the Israelite men and leads to the ensuing plague that comes upon Israel. And then you read the story in Numbers 25 of Eleazar, who comes and pierces the two through with his spear and pins them to the ground. And that’s what ends the plague. That’s the Moabites. So again, more trouble with Moab. Then fourthly, in Deuteronomy 23, Moses says, no Moabite shall ever enter the assembly of God. None, done, we’re not dealing with Moab, period. Israel is not to deal with Moab. And then fifthly, recently in their history, in Judges chapter three, remember Eglon the king? He was a Moabite. Even recently, Moab had enslaved the people of Israel.

So Moab was the enemy of enemies with Israel. They were just forbidden. Any Israelite would have a bad taste in their mouth for Moab. They were a no-go. And this not only informs us to the forbidden nature of Elimelech leaving and going to Moab in the first place. It also shows us why Ruth was looked down upon throughout the book. When we read references to Ruth as she’s called the Moabitess, it is a derogatory term. In Israel, if you’re a Moabite, that’s bad news. You are looked down on by everyone. We read that through our modern eyes and we think, how dare they look down upon her because of her ethnicity? But we don’t understand the context they lived in. She was a Moabite. They were not to have anything to do with the Moabites. There was a reason for that. That was supposed to mean something, that she was a Moabite.

Now, they did overlook her righteousness and her faithfulness, and they should have seen that. So yeah, there was too much emphasis placed on it, but the fact that they, saw that she was a Moabite and that was a problem, that was the right reaction for an Israelite. They weren’t to have anything to do with the Moabites. And Elimelech should have known that. So again, we shouldn’t read this story and think, oh, I can’t believe the Israelites would look down upon her for being a Moabite. They had good reason to look down on a Moabite. What we ought to think is, oh, the grace of God in using even a Moabite to bring about his plan. So that’s really verse one you see, kind of the setting of what’s happening. There was a famine in the land and a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the fields of Moab with his wife and two sons. In verse two, we get a kind of a pause in the action as the author gives us the names of those involved. It wasn’t just a certain man of Bethlehem and his family. He gives us the names. And there’s a purpose behind that too. Because the only one who survives after verse four or five is Naomi.

So we really don’t even need the names of the other ones, except the fact that they mean something. Their names mean something. We have Elimelech, and I mentioned these last time, but Elimelech means my God is king. El from Elohim and Melech is king. So my God is king. He was an Ephratite from Bethlehem. Then we have his wife, Naomi. Naomi means the kindness of God, the kindness of Yahweh. She again renames herself at the end of chapter one to Marah, which means bitterness. Then you have the two sons, Malon and Kilion. I talked about this last time, but odd names to name your children. Malon means sickly and Kilion means frail. Man, to name your son sickly and frail. These names mean something and they are meant to catch your attention. If you’re an Israelite reading this in Hebrew and you read those names, it ought to sound a bit ironic. There’s a purpose behind giving us these names. The name Elimelech suggests that, at least in the mind of his parents, that God was king. And he was named that so that he would live like God is his king. And yet he goes to Moab to live under the rule of the king of Moab.

The actions of Elimelech deny the truth that his name is supposed to declare. And it’s also interesting that the author continually uses the fields, the fields of Moab, the fields of Israel throughout the book. They go to the fields of Moab, not to the nation of Moab. But to the fields of Moab, then Ruth finds favor in the fields of Boaz, and Boaz redeems the fields of Naomi. It’s just an interesting thing that continually comes up throughout this book. And all these little details make this really a literary masterpiece. It’s quite a piece of literature, the book of Ruth. So that is the setting of Naomi’s emptying. It was the time when the judges judged. There was a famine in the land. Elimelech takes his family to Moab. And then we continue reading the second division of this first chapter is the nature of Naomi’s emptying, why this happened.

Verses three through five. Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died and she was left with her two sons. They took for themselves Moabite women as wives. The name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other was Ruth. And they lived there about 10 years. Then both Mahlon and Chillion also died. And the woman was left without her two children and her husband.” So right away, in verse 3, Elimelech dies. And we don’t know how long they were in Moab before he died, but probably it wasn’t long. And the hope that Moab represented for Elimelech and his family was now gone. He was going there to try to make a living, and now the head of the household is gone. And Naomi’s two sons are left. And again, while the remainder of the book happens over a very short period of time, these first few verses apparently happen over 10 years.

They were 10 years in the land of Moab. and really how different it is from the dream that Elimelech had to take his family to where there was food and to make a life for them, how different reality was. He goes there and dies, then eventually his two sons die. It reminds you of what Proverbs says in Proverbs 16, 9, the heart of a man plans his way, but Yahweh directs his steps. Man makes all sorts of plans in his heart, but it’s God’s plan that is established. So Elimelech dies and leaves Naomi a widow and her sons fatherless. And in this time, to be without a head of household, to be without a husband was a big deal. The culture in which they lived, that was how they made a living. And so for Naomi to be without a husband, now she must rely on her two sons, but even Significantly, the language starts to change here, which is not typical of the Old Testament culture, but from now on, this is Naomi’s story. In the beginning, you have Elimelech and his wife and his children, but you see the switch in verse three. Now, you have Elimelech, Naomi’s husband. There’s a switch in the language here. It’s not that Naomi’s his wife. Now he is her husband. And then the sons are no longer Elimelech’s children. In verse three, they’re her sons. The focus here is zooming in on Naomi. All that was left for Naomi was her two sons. So at this point, all is not lost. She lost her husband, but she’s got these two sons that can provide for her. And their family line could be saved And then they go and they marry Moabite women. It says they themselves took Moabite women as wives.

So they have hope to carry on their father’s name, their father’s legacy. And again, just like he did in chapter two, the narrator pauses to give us their names. We have Orpah and Ruth. Now these names are harder to see the meaning of, probably because they come from Moabite descent. The name Orpah is associated with the word for neck, which is interesting. But there’s those that think that this could be a name that was given to her in the story because it reflects her actions and that she turned her neck away from Naomi. I don’t know that that’s the truth. I think it is her name, but again, It is an interesting name given the actions of the story. I think God just does funny things sometimes. He’s had this whole plan in place for a long time. As you see all the details coming together, God’s writing this story. He’s giving us a story that is an entertaining story. The name Ruth means refreshment. You can see that reflected in Ruth’s actions.

Then you see, kind of highlighted there in verse four, they took for themselves Moabite women. Not that they took wives, but they took Moabite women for wives. Not only did they go to Moab, they took Moabite women as their wives. And I mentioned the reasons earlier why the Moabites themselves were off limits for God’s people, but even marrying outside of Israel in general was forbidden. It was seen as a judgment against Israel. In Deuteronomy chapter seven, verses three and four, Moses says, furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them. You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your sons away from following me, and they will serve other gods. Then the anger of Yahweh will be kindled against you, and he will quickly destroy you. Again, Moses’ words ringing true. if you take wives for your sons from these other nations, he will quickly destroy you. And that’s what happens.

So not only because they’re Moabites, but because they’re not Israelites, are these marriages ethically suspect at most. The Moabites, they were They were considered the people of Chemosh, which is a demonic false god. It was a god that they worshiped. You see this several times in Numbers chapter 21. Moab is called the people of Chemosh, and again in Jeremiah 48. But just like Elimelech’s moving to Moab in the first place, marriage of foreigners and marriage of Moabites was considered part of the judgment of God.

So the fact that all of this is happening in these first few verses is supposed to really raise the hair on the back of an Israelite’s neck. To see all of these things setting up this story, it’s supposed to tint your view of what’s going on here. And it’s supposed to set up a picture of what this family was. So these are not marriages that were approved by God. They were not marriages within the covenant obedience of God, but they happened. And so the author here describes for us the details of this story. And it says here they were married for 10 years, but they don’t have any children. So even Naomi’s hope in her sons carrying on her family line, there are no children. They’re married for 10 years with no children. And again, you need to remember all of this in light of the covenant. Malon and Kilion were Israelites. And following the covenant language that we’ve already seen in this passage, it seems that this is a curse on these men. The inability to have children was a curse of covenant unfaithfulness.

When we know from later on in the story, it wasn’t Ruth that was barren, it was the sons of Elimelech. They were bearing the curse of the covenant. And so the death of these two represent the final blow to Naomi, leaving no male descendants to carry on or take care of Naomi for her life. Elimelech, we don’t know any details about why he died. He could have died of natural causes or whatever the circumstance is. But Malon and Kilion were obviously premature deaths. They were young. They were young men. And so their deaths highlight for us the covenant implications of this family. And again, their marriage to Moabites compound the problem. And that seems to be the reason why they die in Moab. So again, this nature of Naomi’s emptying, it has to do with this family’s failure to live in covenant obedience. They were a microcosm of Israel. Israel did not follow the covenant, and when things got bad, this family ran, and they ran to the place where they weren’t supposed to go.

And again, the author clearly has all of that in mind by highlighting all of this just in the introduction. And again, it’s important to remember that the author is not just telling us a cool story here. He’s not just telling us something that’s interesting to read. He’s trying to instruct us. He’s trying to give us something to learn here in this story. We read in 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, that all scripture is God-breathed and is profitable. And as Paul is telling that to Timothy, his scriptures are the Old Testament. So every word that we read in the Old Testament is meant to instruct us. It is meant to bring about spiritual transformation in us. So even in this introduction, we see things that we need to glean from and to learn. However, unlike other areas of the Old Testament, like poetry or books like Deuteronomy that are instructive, or other genres of literature, narrative parts of scripture, sometimes you really have to look for what the meaning is. It’s not always right on the surface. Sometimes you’ve got to look into the details and see what is God trying to teach us in this story? Well, you can ask some questions of narrative, and that’s what we’ll do as we go through this book.

But some questions you can ask of any book of the Bible, really, but especially here in Ruth, what does this passage tell us about God? What is this passage of the Bible telling us about God? What does it tell us about mankind? What does it tell us about our human condition and the nature of sin and our depravity as children of wrath? What does it tell us about the way God relates to humans? What does it tell us about our appropriate response to these things, to the work of God in our lives? And these are all questions that we will ask as we study the book of Ruth. And we learn some particularly significant lessons about the providence of God.

Even in the very first episodes of this chapter, we see God’s providence coming through. And you see the negative side of God’s providence. God is doing all of this. And there are negative aspects that come from God’s sovereign hand in people’s lives. First, you see the Israelites. They were subjected to famine, so severe that this family fled. This famine didn’t come about because they got a bad stretch of weather, or they didn’t treat their crops right, or they didn’t fertilize their fields. The famine came because God did it. God’s curses for covenant disobedience was coming upon Israel. God’s hand is in this. So the reason why the famine was there was because they didn’t keep the covenant and God was enforcing this upon them. This was a result of national rebellion. And you see, that’s a national aspect of God’s sovereignty, but then you see it gets personal. And as this family, as Elimelech personally decides to disobey God, you see God’s providence in their life.

You see the death of Elimelech and the premature deaths of his sons. Not only had this family left their heritage, their nation, their land, But the family line faced being wiped out because of the results of their sin. The worst fate imaginable for an Israelite in that time is to have your name forgotten. To have your seed cut off and your name forgotten. from your father’s household. So what do we learn from this? We read about this Israelite setting and the context and all the different things that they lived under. Well, what principle do we learn from this? Well, I think we can see pretty clearly that disobeying God has some severe consequences. And while we’re not under the covenant blessings and curses like these Israelites were, we live in different circumstances. The consequence of sin remains. We still have consequences for our sins. Sometimes we think that because our sins have been forgiven in Christ that we can avoid any consequences. And it’s true that Christ took the eternal punishment for our sin on the cross. but there are lingering effects of our own sin. When we choose to disobey God, when we choose to live in opposition to what God’s word says, there are consequences. There are real physical consequences that come, and there are consequences that linger.

So yes, we don’t face the eternal punishment for our sin if we are in Christ, but we do face consequences. And those who are in Christ, will seek to live a life of obedience. And probably the most significant element to notice in this book, despite all of these details, is that God is sovereign. And that’s the encouragement we should take from this, despite all of this mess in the first five verses. Despite that, who would want to be associated with that family? All that mess that we just read about. Despite all of that, we see God’s sovereign hand bringing about the royal line of David. As we see, or as we will see in the rest of this chapter, Naomi is left in despair here. In spite of all the grief that she bears and the emotions that are stirred up in Naomi as we see from her response and the way that she interprets what’s happening to her, Despite all of that, despite her family’s sin and all the mess that she’s in, God is blessing Naomi. And we’ll see that come through in this story, that God is sovereignly working to bring her back to Bethlehem. And through all the circumstances she can’t see yet, God is gonna fill her back up. God is going to bring about blessings in her life.

Now quite obviously, Naomi doesn’t see this. She doesn’t see this move back to Bethlehem with all of this in mind, but she obviously knows the blessings come from God because she asked God to bless her two daughters-in-law. So while it seems at first, in this first five verses of this book, that all hope is lost for Naomi. That she is just left completely empty. All hope is not lost. Because she knows God. And although she’s living the way she should not be living, she knows who God is. She knows what he can do. And even though she’s not interpreting what he’s doing correctly, God is still faithful in bringing her back, bringing her back to Bethlehem and will eventually bring back blessings into her life. And it’s one of the most fascinating parts of the book of Ruth is the transformation in Naomi. The way that she continually tries to work things out by her own hand. and continues to fail, but God still brings about his plan through her life.

So God’s sovereign timing is evident as we read from the outside looking in, in all of these details that come together. And even in the last comment, the last phrase in the chapter one of Ruth. It’s God’s sovereign timing showing through. It says at the end of verse 22 of chapter one, now they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest. What a coincidence that they would come at the beginning of the barley harvest when Boaz was getting out in the fields, right? You see all God’s hands working all of these things together. There are no coincidences with God. And we’ll see that highlighted over and over. He is masterfully working behind the scenes to bring all of this together, and eventually, the family line that would lead to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ’s birth. Ruth is mentioned one other time in the Bible, and that’s in Matthew, in the genealogy of Christ. So notice the sovereignty of God in his word, and trust that God is still sovereignly working today. He’s bringing about His will despite unlikely circumstances that we face. And oftentimes, it’s even in the hardest and most difficult times that God is working and bringing about the greatest blessings. And we see that in this beginning of the book of Ruth, and we see that in our own lives as well.

So that is the nature of Naomi’s emptying. We saw the setting and we saw the nature of Naomi’s emptying. In the last two sections of this chapter, we will see the response to her emptying and the interpretation of her emptying. So we’ll cover that, well, in a couple of weeks now because the Simmons will be here next Sunday night, but in two weeks we will finish out chapter one of this wonderful story that God’s given us in the book of Ruth.

So let me close in a word of prayer. Our God, we thank you for just your kindness in giving us a story like Ruth. We thank you for your hand of providence, not only that we read about in the Bible, that we read about in the life of Naomi, in the life of Ruth, in the life of David, and as you brought all these things together, but we see That’s the way that you act. That’s the way that you do things. And we know that you are a God that does not change. And we know that we can trust that you are continuing to act and that you are still sovereign and you still bring about your will, even though our circumstances don’t seem to be what we want them to be. Lord, we know that we can trust you and we know that you do all things well and you do bring about your good and righteous will in our lives. We thank you for that. We thank you for the reminder that your word is to us. We pray that as we continue in this study that you will just highlight these things for us and allow us to see more of who you are. We thank you for your word. We thank you for your son and giving him as the sacrifice for our sins to make us your people. We thank you for all of these blessings and all of this in Christ’s precious name. Amen.