Naomi's Chastisement
By Jim Murriner
Ruth 1:1-9
"Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem, judah went to sojurn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons."
"And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife was Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem jusah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there."
"And Elimelech, Naomi's husband died; and she was left, and her two sons."
"And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years."
"And Malon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband."
"Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread."
"Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters in law with her; and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah."
"And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, Go, return each to her mother's house: the Lord deal kindly with you, as ye have delt with the dead, and with me."
"The Lord grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice, and wept."
Notice the time of this (vs. 1) tells us "Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled."
JUDGES 21: 25 gives us some insight into the days when the judges ruled.
"In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes."
Now most certainly you should not do that which does not seem right in your own eyes.
ROMANS 14:14 tells us that if we consider something to be sin, that it becomes sin unto us.
"I know and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that estemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean."
Yet at the same time it is dangerous to always do those things that are right in your own eyes. We might think that there is nothing wrong with a thing while God might say that it is wrong.
ISAIAH 55:8-9 shows us the folly of doing that, which is right in our own eyes.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord."
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."
JEREMIAH 6:16-17 tells us of a people that wanted to do that which was right in their eyes.
"Thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, we will not walk therein."
"Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, we will not hearken."
JEREMIAH 6:21 tells us what God will do with our ways when we do that which is right in our own eyes.
"Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will lay stumblingblocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them; the neighbour and his friend shall perish."
Lets notice now what kind of situation that this family had gotten into because they did that which was right in their own eyes.
LOOK BACK TO VERSE (1)
God's people here, a Jewish family because of the famine which the Lord had brought upon them, instead of noticing that God was chastening those whom He loved, they fled to Moab to escape the famine.
DUET 23:3 tells us that the Jewish nation, God's chosen people were not to fellowship with the Ammorites or the Moabites.
"An Ammorite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the Congregation of the Lord forever:"
God's people need to be a separated people today too. Our churches of today have nearly lost their effectiveness, because we seek numbers on our church rolls, and instead of going into the world with the gospel and trying to persuade people to trust Christ as their own personal savior, we all to often try to persuade people to join our churches and therefore have brought the world into our churches.
Lets notice now what happened to these children of God when they went into a land where the Lord had told them not to go.
(vs3)
"And Elimelech Naomi's husband died; and she was left, and her two sons."
The man died, after living there for a while. If you know that you are saved, if you know that Christ has paid for your sins and that you are going to heaven, not because of anything which you do, but because of what Christ has done, then if God begins to chastise you for some sin in your life, you must be careful not to rebel against His chastening.
HEBREWS 12:5-9 warns us to not despise the Lord's chastening.
"And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, my son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him."
"For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He recieveth."
"If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?"
"But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons."
"Furthermore we have had fathers of the flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of Spirits, and live?"
If God is dealing with you about your sin, don't try to escape, instead, repent of your sin and draw near to the Lord.
JAMES 4:8 tells us that this is exactly what we need.
"Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye doubleminded."
Next we see this family in the first chapter of Ruth, going from bad to worse.
(vs.4)
"And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years."
Naomi's two sons married Moabite women, in defiance of what God had commanded them as Jews.
If you are a child of God today and if you are not married, you are not to marry just anyone.
IICOR. 6:14 is mainly speaking of us not getting lost people to become church members, but the principle is laid down here that saved people should only marry saved people.
"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?"
In DUET.7:1-3 Israel had a direct command not to marry those who were not God's children.
"When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to posess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzitites, and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;"
"And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee, thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them."
"Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son."
When the children of God continue in sin after that God has begun to chasten them, things always get worse. Now notice here in verse 5,6,7, how that the chastening of God grew more severe after they went from one disobedience unto another,
"And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband."
"Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Maob: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread."
"Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters in law with her; and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah."
Now we see that Naomi's two sons have died, she is now a widow trying to care for two widowed daughters in law; this was a destitute citation indeed.
In verses (8 & 9) we have a very wrong thing.
"And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, Go return each to her mother's house: the Lord deal kindly with you, as ye have delt with the dead, and with me."
"The Lord grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice, and wept."
Naomi here a child of God was trying to persuade her daughters in law to return to the Moabite ways and therefore to the Moabite religion and to the false gods of Moab.
VERSE 15 makes this more clear.
"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."
Perhaps today as a child of God, as one who is trusting in the shed blood of Jesus Christ to get you to heaven, you are doing the same thing that Naomi did, by your lack of faithfulness to God's word, and by your lack of seriousness about spiritual things, and if you have not warned those about you to trust in Jesus Christ as their own personal savior, and not in anything or anyone else, then you are by your silence persuading them that the things that they depend in to get them to heaven is right. If they worship wrongfully of if they worship some false god you are encouraging them by not warning them that only the death of Christ is sufficient to pay for their sins.
Though Naomi was persuading them to return to their former gods and residence in verse eight, notice how the Holy Spirit caused the writer here in verse nine to place the words in a way that we have the gospel presented here.
"The Lord grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice, and wept."
"THAT YE MAY FIND REST EACH OF YOU IN THE HOUSE OF HER HUSBAND......"
JEREMIAH 31:32 tells us that God is a husband unto those who trust in Jesus Christ as savior. The primary meaning here is however that God is the husband to Israel.
"Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saiath the Lord."
ISAIAH 54:5 points out the same thing.
"For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is His name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall He be called."
ROMANS 7:1-4 tells us that Christ is the husband to the believer.
"Know ye not brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?"
"For the woman which hath a husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband."
"So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man."
"Wherefore my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to Him who is risen from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God."
Here in our text in Ruth 1:9 Naomi talks of the daughters in law finding rest in the house of their husband.
HEBREWS 4:1-3 speaks of us finding rest in Christ.
"Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it."
"For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it."
"For we which have believed do enter into rest, as He said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world."
There is a tremendous need that you would place your trust in the finished work of Jesus today.
You must rest in the work that Jesus has done and not depend on any of your own works.
Won't you trust in Jesus Christ today, believing that when He died upon the cruel cross of Calvary that He paid your complete sin debt, and because He has paid it all that you are no longer under condemnation.
