00:00:00:30 – 00:00:03:36
Clint Loveall
Hi again. Again, everybody. Good to see you.

00:00:03:37 – 00:00:04:57
Michael Gewecke
How long have we been doing this?

00:00:04:58 – 00:00:28:19
Clint Loveall
Be with us on this, Tuesday as we continue through the book of Ruth. We are in the first chapter. We’re at verse six. a little backstory. If you didn’t catch yesterday’s study, you may want to go pick that up. But, there is a woman named Naomi. She’s had a rough stretch in her life. They relocate to a country called Moab because of a famine there.

00:00:28:19 – 00:00:53:30
Clint Loveall
In that land, her husband dies. And then both of her sons, after having married local girls. Moabites also passed away. And so, Naomi and her two daughter in laws are left to wonder what’s going to happen. And today, that’s where we pick up the story, verse six of chapter one. I’m going to read for a minute here, and then we’ll come back and try to unpack some of this.

00:00:53:34 – 00:01:13:55
Clint Loveall
Then she started to return with her daughter in laws from the country of Moab, for she had heard the country in the country of Moab that the Lord had considered his people and given them food. So she set out from the place where she’d been living, she and her two daughters in law, and they went on their way to go back to the land of Judah.

00:01:14:00 – 00:01:34:50
Clint Loveall
But Naomi said to her two daughters in law, go back, each of you, to your mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant you that you may find security, each of you in the house of your husband. Then she kissed them, and they wept aloud.

00:01:34:55 – 00:01:54:36
Clint Loveall
They said to her, no, we will return with you to your people. But Naomi said, turn back, my daughters. Why would you go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb that they may become your future husbands? Turn back, my daughters. Go your way, for I’m too old to have a husband. Even if I thought there was hope for me.

00:01:54:37 – 00:02:20:35
Clint Loveall
Even if I should have a husband tonight and bear sons, would you wait until they were grown? Would you refrain from marrying? No. My daughters, it has been far more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the Lord has turned against me. Then they wept aloud. Orpah kissed her mother in law, but Ruth clung to her.

00:02:20:40 – 00:02:51:24
Clint Loveall
So again we we hinted at this yesterday as we introduced the next part of the story. A very vulnerable time for these women. A dangerous time. They are not able to work. They are without a lot of status and without a lot of authority or autonomy. In this culture. They are in the midst of a famine. And Naomi hears that back in her homeland of Israel, of Judah, things have gotten better.

00:02:51:28 – 00:03:22:28
Clint Loveall
there’s a little bit of, there’s a little bit of poetry here where it literally says something like, she hears that they have bread in Bethlehem, and the word Bethlehem means house of bread. So she hears that there’s bread again in the house of bread. And she decides to go back. And I think, Michael, this next part of the story is really interesting because I think we do see a kind of genuine affection that Naomi has for her daughter in law.

00:03:22:28 – 00:03:45:55
Clint Loveall
She compliments them and says they’ve been faithful to her. They were faithful to her sons. and she wants what’s best for them. And selfishly, she she could want to take them as companionship or community, to make her feel less alone. Perhaps in the midst of her loss. But but she compels them. You girls go find a life.

00:03:45:55 – 00:03:58:50
Clint Loveall
You’re young. You can still have a future. And she urges them to go back. And I think as we read the text, I think it’s clear that that comes from a good place.

00:03:58:55 – 00:04:25:26
Michael Gewecke
There is a strong theme already being presented in this text of faithfulness, of being faithful to one another, and we see that all the way from the very start of this section that we’re in here. it becomes explicit in the actual language itself, but it actually starts in theme, I think, right here in verse six. Clint, this idea that the Lord has considered the people, Lord being Yahweh there, that’s all caps, Lord.

00:04:25:26 – 00:04:58:39
Michael Gewecke
And so it’s the God of Israel. It’s Naomi’s. God has considered the people. And so the very famine that caused Naomi and her sons and husband now passed away to move to this foreign land, this really, not very well thought of place, that now the winds have changed so that now the fortune has returned. And so her thought, you know, because God has done this thing, because bread has returned to the house of bread, now they’re free to go.

00:04:58:39 – 00:05:18:18
Michael Gewecke
She’s free to go and return to that and see if she might find a way there. That said this idea, then it goes on in the text and we’ll see this, in verse eight, this idea that the Lord will deal kindly, as you have dealt kindly, that there’s built into the language here this idea that the Lord will be faithful as you have been faithful.

00:05:18:18 – 00:05:58:59
Michael Gewecke
And I think that we discover very quickly that though God isn’t going to be explicitly named as speaking in this story, God is not giving directions like we have in Jonah. We’ve said that before, but here God is setting the ground. God is setting the base of this story, and now Naomi is going to respond to it. And what’s so fascinating about the way that Ruth tells the story is that Naomi and these two daughters in law are now going to become the center of the question, what how are they each going to respond that, Naomi, as you’ve already said, Clint responds with a kind of graciousness, a kind of thought and care for these,

00:05:59:04 – 00:06:22:30
Michael Gewecke
who are not even married to her sons anymore. She wants a good life for them, and we even have, at the very beginning of Ruth right here, this idea that as they all weep aloud in verse nine, that they both say that will return with you cheer people. And Naomi’s going to push back on that, then there’s going to be one is going to stay with her and the other is going to return.

00:06:22:30 – 00:06:46:09
Michael Gewecke
But there is this theme already in the story. When things have gone wrong, who will be faithful to whom in the story? What? Who will stay with Naomi? Who won’t? Is Naomi returning to the people and will God be faithful to her? There’s all of these questions bundled into this, because we know the problem. The problem is the lack of food and then the loss of the sons and the husband.

00:06:46:13 – 00:06:54:16
Michael Gewecke
Now, ultimately, we begin to see Naomi, and now these two girls making choices about what they will do in light of this challenge.

00:06:54:16 – 00:07:29:21
Clint Loveall
A couple of interesting things in regards to the language of this book. In this chapter, specifically the word turn or return, we get only a few words in in verse six. Then she started to return that word turn and return is going to be used 15 times in this book. 12 of them are in the first chapter. So this, this idea of, of changing, of moving, of, of going directions, going to new commitments, responsibilities.

00:07:29:25 – 00:08:04:51
Clint Loveall
Turning and returning is is vitally important as the way in the way this story, this part of the story is told. The other thing and we we hinted at this both on Friday and yesterday, Michael, this story is wonderfully done. From a kind of feminine perspective, I don’t mean that it’s necessarily a female author, though that has been suggested and argued, but there are these nuances that really help put you in the mindset of this woman, Naomi.

00:08:04:51 – 00:08:30:54
Clint Loveall
And one of them we see here in verse eight, Naomi said to her two daughters in law, which even the word daughters in law is an uncommon word in the Old Testament. But then we get this phrase, go back, each of you, to your mother’s house. That’s almost unheard of. We would expect that in almost every other instance it would say, go to your father’s house.

00:08:30:59 – 00:09:20:51
Clint Loveall
And so again, just something as simple as that change of phrase helps us put ourselves in this female moment, this conversation of these three women who are looking from this difficult path, this difficult place toward the future. And then we have that conversation. Naomi says, go back. And they say, no, we will go with you. And if this business about having sons and the womb seems confusing, just know that it was general practice in Israel that if a husband died, it became the husband’s brother who then cared for the widow, in some cases providing children if she was still young enough to bear children.

00:09:20:56 – 00:09:43:43
Clint Loveall
But if not to bring her into his home and watch over her. And so what Naomi’s saying is, I can offer you nothing. I can’t offer you security. I don’t have any other sons. And even if I could have other sons, you can’t afford to wait for them to grow enough that they could provide for you and provide that security.

00:09:43:48 – 00:10:12:48
Clint Loveall
in in other words, it’s a very culturally coded way of saying I don’t have anything to offer you. There’s there’s no reason to stay with me. Go find a life. Go make a life. Go chart a new path. Because the one I’m on isn’t going anywhere. And there’s this really interesting phrase, Michael, we get to in the end of verse 13, because the hand of the Lord has turned against me.

00:10:12:48 – 00:10:30:55
Clint Loveall
And you can certainly understand how Naomi feels that way, though it’s not explicitly said that in the text. Again, we get a viewpoint from her perspective, and I think no one could fault her, given what she’s gone through. To feel like that would be the case.

00:10:30:57 – 00:10:55:05
Michael Gewecke
Yeah, just prior to that, the idea that she has experienced bitterness, you know, she says you are experiencing bitterness, but far more for me. And yes, there is a question inherent in that is how is this fair? Where is God in the midst of this? There’s a real question of the theological where this theodicy or where’s God’s part in suffering that that’s certainly a part of this text.

00:10:55:10 – 00:11:38:54
Michael Gewecke
And that is, I think, prescient because it allows us to see that in the midst of the removal of security at the midst of a dead end that happened in a dead end place. The way the story is set up, the question is now what way forward lies ahead for these women? And the answer is far more than what you would think that, yes, the culturally coded way of saying that they are powerless is set at the same moment in which these women are making real choices with real agency and real power that in other words, when Naomi says that you can return to your mothers, that that’s a way of saying this is a

00:11:38:54 – 00:12:02:42
Michael Gewecke
thing that you can actually do, that this is I’m releasing you of the faithfulness that you have shown. Feel free to go and make a new life for yourself. And that is a kind of ownership taking and agency making in the midst of a circumstance which we might rightly describe within that context as being a powerless one. This is how these themes are purposely being worked together in this place.

00:12:02:42 – 00:12:33:20
Michael Gewecke
It’s revealing to us both the reality of their cultural situation or their their financial and familial situation, while simultaneously showing us their strength and their capability, the freedom, the generosity, the graciousness that they’re showing to one another. I mean, Clint, to make this personal, anyone who’s done ministry for any time has walked alongside families that have handled tragedy well and families that have handled tragedy less well, in some cases very poorly.

00:12:33:25 – 00:12:59:33
Michael Gewecke
And there’s often a temptation to turn on one another to to lack generosity, to become petty, to focus on the other’s faults. And that is the exact opposite of what happens in this story when push comes to shove and Naomi loses everything. But these two daughters in law, she becomes and is remaining for them, nothing but gracious and generous and freedom giving.

00:12:59:47 – 00:13:18:04
Michael Gewecke
And in that moment she enables them to make real choices for themselves. And that’s the beautiful kind of tension in this story. On one hand, they may lack that kind of freedom in society, and on the other hand, they’re showing us that they do have real agency and choice, and they’re making it boldly and courageously.

00:13:18:09 – 00:13:53:31
Clint Loveall
Yeah, I, I think that if we read this slowly, if we let it sink in, it, it really is a well done introduction. The author, without needing to add a lot of details, has brought us into the story of this woman and her daughter in laws of tragedy, of loss now, of separation, not born out of animosity or disagreement, but out of a genuine concern for their future and what is best for them.

00:13:53:36 – 00:14:28:17
Clint Loveall
You know it. It says here she she kissed them, and they wept aloud that this tragedy that took her husband and sons has now also, she thinks, taken what little family she has left, because it would be better for them to leave her, to face her bitterness alone. And, you know, there’s something there’s something that lacks hope in that, but there’s also something realistic in that.

00:14:28:17 – 00:14:53:06
Clint Loveall
There’s something understandable in that. And so a very profound introduction to a story here. And when we pick up the story, it will be from this place where, Naomi is convinced that the best course of action is for the daughters to return to their homes, to pursue future husbands, and to have a life that will no longer include her.

00:14:53:11 – 00:14:56:24
Clint Loveall
And that’s that’s a difficult moment.

00:14:56:29 – 00:15:28:48
Michael Gewecke
One way that I think the author has done this amazing work is all the way up here in verse nine, when Naomi kisses them, they all weep aloud. And what happens in that moment is an author. I think is showing us that they all have real affection for one another. And then that is all once again said again in verse 14, when they weep aloud again, except at that moment, or, is going to make a different choice than Ruth does.

00:15:28:48 – 00:15:53:07
Michael Gewecke
And I think one of the beautiful, very human, very compassionate ways that this story is told is it doesn’t provide value or judgment on either of these young women that at the end of the day, they’re both going to make choices. And there’s a way in which the author leaves open some space for us to have compassion and grace for these girls, like Naomi does.

00:15:53:07 – 00:16:19:19
Michael Gewecke
I think there’s a real kind of beautiful invitation, maybe an endpoint on this text that allows us to enter into the story and to share the kind of very deep compassion that the author has for these characters. And I think that that’s it’s a powerful way of allowing us to share not just the the story, but some of the motivations of that story.

00:16:19:24 – 00:16:45:06
Clint Loveall
I’m not aware of any place in the book of Ruth or in any of the rest of Scripture that would insinuate that Orpah makes a bad choice. A wrong choice is is in the wrong for doing this. She listens to her mother in law. Yeah, she she does what? Naomi asks. I mean, certainly in the context of the story, what Ruth does is near heroic.

00:16:45:10 – 00:17:06:23
Clint Loveall
and we see faithfulness and we see a true celebration in that, of that, I think even in other parts of the Scripture. But I’m not aware of any voice in, in the Bible that is critical of Orpah. I think it would be. I think you would be mistaken to read it that way. I don’t think that the text implies that at all.

00:17:06:23 – 00:17:30:21
Michael Gewecke
Yeah. In fact, some scholars have made the case that this is actually an honorable thing to do to return to one’s family as instructed. So that’s I think the beautiful work being done by Ruth is not maybe the explicit unveiling of the narrative as much as showing us one of the convictions of this story is that we’re not here to classify and judge characters.

00:17:30:21 – 00:18:03:07
Michael Gewecke
No, we’re here to live out their experience with them. And it’s full of complexity and it’s full of mystery, and it’s full of making, quite frankly, impossible choices. And anyone who’s lived long enough has had to make an impossible choice. It’s not a win win win situation. And so as these women navigate that, quite frankly, the situation that they have been given, they are doing so in the best of their ability, and the text is allowing them this space to do that without judgment or value.

00:18:03:12 – 00:18:15:06
Clint Loveall
Yeah. And what we will see from this point on is the, the focus narrowed to, Naomi and Ruth, and they will then continue the story that that we start today.

00:18:15:10 – 00:18:29:43
Michael Gewecke
Thanks for being with us here today, friends. Subscribe for more studies like this. Certainly would love to have you join us through this whole study of Ruth. Like this video? It helps others find it in their own study of this book, and we would love to hear from you in the comments. If you have thoughts or questions until tomorrow, be blessed.

00:18:29:47 – 00:18:30:25
Clint Loveall
Thanks everybody.