Ruth and Orpah
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
We have before us today the story of two characters which were alike in many particulars, and yet, so vitally different and distinct in others.
1. The two girls were brought up in the same kind of a home, in the same city, in the same country of Moab. This meant that the two girls journeyed side by side; they had the same general surroundings, and the same countrymen. The atmosphere of the one was the atmosphere of the other. They doubtless attended the same school, had the same kind of home instruction, and the same discipline. Both of them attended the same religious gatherings, and doubtless had the same religious convictions.
2. The two girls married into the same family. One married Mahlon, and the other Chilion. Both of them had the same father-in-law and mother-in-law, inasmuch as their husbands were brothers. This means that both of them were alike taken out of their former associations and religious idealisms and ushered into a new and distinct phase of life. The home into which the girls married was Jewish. The family were Ephrathites and they came from the land of Bethlehem-judah. These daughters from the land of Moab must have together recognized the vast difference between the True God of Elimelech and Naomi, and the false gods of their own country.
3. Later these two women had the same sorrows to enter their lives. Both of them lost their husbands. Both of them were left widows and therefore were thrown alike upon their husbands' parents.
4. These both dwelt under the same conditions for the same number of years. It was ten years that these strangers of Bethlehem-judah lived in Moab. It was during those ten years that the two girls were under the same spiritual illumination.
As we think of the above statements, we would imagine that the two girls would have been led to the same final decisions, and conceptions of life. This is exactly what did not happen. The two lives which ran together for so long a time, were destined to be severed because of fundamental differences, both physical and spiritual.
Today, it is the same. The one takes a different path from the other. The one becomes a follower of Christ, and the other of Belial. The one enters into life eternal, and the other into punishment eternal.
Why should this be? Is the vast chasm which separates these two lives due to God's power of predestination, or, is it due to man's power of choice? For our part we believe that God is willing to save all men. He gives the same opportunity, and the same call to the Orpahs, as He gives to the Ruths.
Different results must be brought about by different individual decisions.
I. YE DID RUN WELL FOR A SEASON (Ruth 1:7)
Naomi has arisen to depart to her own country, and both of her daughters-in-law arise to depart with her. We read: "She went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters in law with her." The three, therefore, started out together on their way to the land of Judah.
Orpah did not go all the way. Our heading, which we have suggested, is taken from the Book of Galatians where the Apostle Paul said of certain would-be saints, "Ye did run well; who did hinder you?" How many there are who, like Orpah, seemingly enter the journey toward Heaven and Home, yet, after they have gone but a little way, they turn back again.
1. We read of the seed that was sown by the wayside, and the birds of the air came and plucked it up. Thus it is that some would-be Christians never receive the Word of God into their inner lives, and Satan, with but little difficulty, plucks up the seed, because it was sown on a hard, wayside heart.
2. We read of the seed sown among the thorns. This is descriptive of one who hears the Word, but the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the Word and he becometh unfruitful. Here is one who started out, but he did not cut clean from the world and its allurements.
3. We read of the seed that was sown into the stony places. Here is one who with joy takes hold of a new life, but endureth but a little while, because he has no root in himself. Thus when tribulation and persecution arises because of the Word, he is offended.
Not all who are with us, are of us. Many go out from us, because they are not truly of us. Orpah started but she never finished.
II. WHICH WAY SHALL I TAKE? (Ruth 1:8)
After the three, Naomi, Ruth, and Orpah, had journeyed together to the borders of Judah, Naomi said unto her two daughters-in-law, "Return each to her mother's house." There they stood at the parting of the ways.
1. The two voices which called. One voice was saying, "Go back to Moab to your mother's house, to your home city, and to your former gods." The other voice was saying, "Ye have learned to know the Lord, leave, therefore, thy father and thy mother, thy houses, thy lands, thy everything, and go on to follow after the Lord."
How often do we come to the parting of the ways. As we stand there, vital decisions which must of necessity affect our lives for weal or for woe, for time and eternity, are before us.
Even now we can hear Joshua saying, "Choose you this day whom ye will serve; * * but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
Now, we can hear the Prophet Elijah, as he stands before the assembled hosts of Israel and says; "How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him."
Beloved, when Abraham came to the place of decision, he arose and went out to follow God, not knowing whither he went. When Moses came to the place of decision, he forsook the pleasures of Egypt, choosing rather to suffer with the children of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
2. Decisions must be full-fledged and final. If those who are studying with us today would go forth for God, they must come out of the world. We cannot serve two masters. There is no middle ground, no straddling of the fence. A half-breed Christian is no Christian at all.
III. KISSING OR CLINGING (Ruth 1:14)
The Christian's Lord needs more than a passing kiss. It is not enough to be a well wisher. It is not enough to kiss and then say good-by. We must cling and cleave and continue unto the end.
1. A bleak prospect, seemingly, was before Ruth. As Ruth looked ahead into the future, she faced an unknown path. It was not a path strewn with roses, environed with flowers, and filled with delightful perfume. It was not a path 'neath a sky that was blue. He who would go forth to follow his Saviour, should remember that bleak prospects often He ahead. We are not speaking of the end of the way. We are speaking of the road that leads home. Our Lord said: "In the world ye shall have tribulation."
It is given unto disciples not alone to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for His sake. If we would walk with Him, we must walk with One who is despised and rejected of men. We must go out unto Him without the camp bearing His reproach.
2. A clinging soul was in Ruth. Obstacles, shadows, deep valleys, rugged mountain heights, will discourage the halfhearted, but they never turn back the one whose heart is fixed on God. Orpah could kiss her mother-in-law and go back. Ruth could do no less than cleave unto her. The fleshpots of Egypt may have meant much to Orpah, but they meant nothing to Ruth. Ruth thought only of Naomi, Her heart was set on a person, not a plan. Little did she care what the future might hold, so long, as she had her mother-in-law, and her mother-in-law's God.
IV. ORPAH'S RETURN (Ruth 1:15)
Our key verse reads: "Behold thy sister in law is gone back unto her people and unto her gods."
1. Back to her people. He who would follow the Lord Jesus Christ must remember that in all things the Lord must have preeminence. He must have the first place, even above father, and mother, or brother, or sister. These we may love, but we must love them in Him.
Must I leave them all
Father, mother, sister, brother,
Houses, lands, and all the other
Things that do enthrall?
Must I lay them down
High ambitions, acquisitions,
All those coveted positions,
All my joy and crown?
The true Christian must keep the Lord first in everything. No other love dare intrude to break the power of His love. If we do not crown Him Lord of All, we will not crown Him Lord at all. Orpah, of course, was not willing for any such a course. Thus she turned back to her people,
2. Back to her gods. Her gods were idols. They knew not anything, and yet, she went back to worship them. She left the Living God to bend the knee to gods of wood, and of stone, which see not, neither hear nor know; and the God in whose hand her breath was, and in whose hand were all her ways, she did not glorify.
People of today may not worship images of wood and stone, but they worship many things which are material. They also worship immaterial things, such as pleasures, honor, and ambition.
3. Back to be engulfed in temporal things. From the moment that Orpah turned her back upon the True God, she was lost to everything high and holy. She simply passes out of sight. She is never mentioned again. How much do they give up who leave Christ for the world?
V. RUTH'S DETERMINED DECISION (Ruth 1:16-17)
1. Naomi pressed upon Ruth to also return. Naomi would not have her enter Bethlehem-Judah against her own personal, free choice. The Lord Jesus, Himself, threw up obstacles in the way of some who would follow Him. To one, He said: "Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head."
2. Ruth said: "Whither thou goest, I will go." Will we look up into the face of our Lord, today, and say as much?
Remember, that if we seek our own will and walk in our own way, we will know only sighs and sorrows. Let our consecration be complete. If we walk with Him, He will walk with us.
3. Ruth said: "Where thou lodgest, I will lodge." Could there be any better place for us, than to lodge with Him. His promise is still true, "We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him."
4. Ruth said: "Thy people shall be my people." When Ruth chose Naomi, she also chose Naomi's people. When we choose God we also choose the people of God. "By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body." We are members one of another. We have one Father; one Lord; one Word; one Faith; one Baptism.
5. Ruth said: "Thy God [shall be] my God." When Ruth cast her lot with Naomi she purposefully cast her lot with Naomi's God. If we enter into spiritual relationships with the people of God, we must of necessity enter into relationship with God Himself.
"Blest be the tie that binds,
Our hearts in Christian love."
VI. THE HOMEWARD TRAIL (Ruth 1:22)
Our Scripture gives this illuminating message, "So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter in law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of the barley harvest."
1. A trail to "the house of Bread." That is really the meaning of Bethlehem, and that was indeed the meaning of Naomi's return. Also what it meant to Naomi, it meant to Ruth. In the House of our God there is always bread and to spare, and a warm welcome there. "He maketh me to He down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters." Not only this, but He also, "Preparest a table before me," and "My cup runneth over."
There is no want of bread in the House of God. He feeds us with the finest of the wheat, with the best of oil, and with honey from the rock.
2. A trail to "the place of praise." Bethlehem-Judah. The word "Judah" means praise. Ruth accompanied Naomi out of the place of sorrow and suffering, out of the place of death and despair, into the place of praise. Surely the one who turns to God always finds himself in the land of song.
The early Church ate their meat with joy, and singleness of heart, praising God. The fruit of the Spirit is joy.
3. A trail to God. When we get to Bethlehem-Judah, we get to God; we get to the place where we can bask beneath the sunshine of His presence; to the place where we can live in the glory and the joy of His countenance.
VII. THE REWARD OF THE INHERITANCE (Ruth 2:1-2)
1. Boaz described. Ruth 2:1 tells us of how Naomi had a kinsman, a mighty man of wealth, and his name was Boaz.
When Ruth learned this fact she said unto Naomi, "Let me now go in the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace."
Redemption brings us into a new relationship, and a new fellowship with One who is Almighty. He who follows with God, also follows with the One who is the possessor of all things, the cattle on a thousand hills, the silver and the gold belong to Him. After such an One we do well to glean.
2. Giving homage. Read Ruth 2:10. Here is a verse that describes Ruth falling upon her face, and bowing herself to the ground before Boaz. Then she said: "Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?"
How wonderfully does the grace of God appear upon the scene. Ruth did not boast her own prowess. She did not claim any right to the bounties of Boaz. She accepted every favor from him, upon the basis of grace.
It is thus that we must come to God. We have nothing by way of merit and of worth, to bring. We come pleading ourselves a sinner, and a stranger.
If we receive anything of God, we acknowledge that it is unmerited upon our part By grace have we been saved.
3. The full reward. To Ruth, Boaz replied: "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 recognized nothing in herself. Boaz, however, looked back of her poverty and penury, and he saw and recognized the wonderful faith in God which she had exercised when she left her father and her mother, and the land of her nativity, and came unto a people of whom she knew nothing,
AN ILLUSTRATION
Ruth found rest and peace and joy at the feet of Boaz. Let us find our rest in Him.
One of the most exquisite statues of Christ is the one in white marble which stands in the hallway just inside the entrance of the great Johns Hopkins Hospital in the beautiful city of Baltimore. No one whose life the Man of Galilee has ever touched can look upon this statue without being profoundly stirred, and the marvel of it is that anyone else ever could.
Upon the base of the monument are chiseled the words which fell from His blessed lips, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." The nail-pierced hands are stretched invitingly. And the face! It is a face of tender patience such as Sarto gave the Master in the Church of the Annunziata, full of compassion and benign yearning. And it puts a richness into the words that causes hundreds of poor, pain-racked patients to shed tears and to take hope as they are carried through the door and past the wonderful statue.
One day, it is said, there came one who was a cynic and doubter to view the figure of which he had heard so much. It was very evident he was disappointed. He walked around from side to side and looked at it from nearly every angle and was about to go away. But near by there was standing a little girl, who had watched the man with childish curiosity and something of concern, When she saw him about to leave without having read the real message of it all, she ran up to him and said, "Oh, sir, you cannot see Him that way. You must get very close and fall upon your knees and look up!"
Oh, how much we need this close-up, upward look today! One can never really see Jesus in any other way. W. E. Biederwolf.