When Tragedy Makes God Seem Far Away - Ruth 1:1-14 (Session 1)

The Book of Ruth begins during the dark period of the Judges, when Israel was marked by disobedience, idolatry, and judgment. Yet Ruth offers a striking contrast: even in a corrupt culture, individuals can still live faithfully, and God can work quietly through ordinary people and painful circumstances.

In this opening session, Glenn and Steve introduce the major themes of Ruth, including redemption, kindness, rest, providence, love, grief, and restoration. Ruth and Boaz will eventually become the great-grandparents of King David, and Ruth will also appear in the genealogy of Jesus Christ.

The story begins with a famine in Bethlehem, whose name means “house of bread.” Elimelech leaves the promised land with his wife, Naomi, and their two sons and travels to Moab. There, Naomi loses her husband and both sons, leaving her in a foreign land with her two daughters-in-law.

The session pauses to consider the deep grief that follows the loss of a spouse and other loved ones. Steve shares personally about the death of his wife and how his relationship with God, his daughters, and other believers helped him continue through sorrow.

When Naomi hears that the Lord has again provided food in Judah, she begins the journey home. She urges Ruth and Orpah to return to their families. Orpah leaves, but Ruth clings to Naomi and makes one of Scripture’s most memorable declarations:

“Where you go, I will go… your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.”

At this point, Naomi believes that the Lord has turned against her. She cannot yet see that God is using these very circumstances to bring blessing, redemption, and a future greater than anything she could imagine.

Scripture: Ruth 1:1–18
Series: The Book of Ruth — An RTTB Study

  Questions discussed in this session include:

•  If tragedy happens, is God sill working?  
• What does it indicate when the Jews leave a land? 
• Can grief be overwhelming? 
• Can good come out of tragedy? 

Transcript

Exploring the Book of Ruth

Speaker 1 0:10

Music . Welcome to Reasoning Through the Bible , where we do verse by verse studies . Today we're going to start the book of Ruth , and it's a very rewarding book . But before we just get into the main part of the book , just a reminder about our ministry . What we do here is exegetical Bible teaching In support of that . One of our values is that we have a real heart for the local church and the local Bible teachers . On our website we have a resources page and for each of our sessions where we do our studies , we have corresponding lesson plans that are available for free and other materials that are available for free of charge .

Speaker 1 1:01

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Speaker 2 1:48

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Speaker 1 2:12

So here we are in Ruth and it's going to be a very valuable , very interesting book . Verse 1 of the book tells us that this happened during the time of the judges . Judges overall if you hear our sessions on judges presents Israel in disobedience . For the large part in the book of judges , israel is in disobedience . They've worshipped idols . They've moved from the true God of Israel . There's a lot of God's judgment in the book of judges , but Ruth is this little vignette , if you will , where these people are actually doing God's will .

Speaker 2 2:50

So it shows us that even in a culture where there's a culture of disobedience , some individual people can live godly lives and God can work in individual people's lives In the Hebrew Bible Ruth is actually an appendix to judges and it takes place during the time of judges , so while we're seeing it as a separate book , it is a continuation of judges .

Speaker 1 3:14

So the dating of the book is during the time of the judges . The very end of the book of Ruth gives a genealogy that goes down to King David . It was most probable that the book was written and recorded very near the time of David . The genealogy at the end of the roof is very important . Ruth and Boaz were the great grandparents of King David , who was given the promise of the Davidic covenant , which we'll mention as we go through . Ruth is also mentioned over in the New Testament in Matthew's genealogy of Jesus , so Ruth becomes a very important figure and is rewarded for her faith in the Bible . One of the things I like about Ruth is it's a very romantic story . There's a man and a woman and they fall in love and the things they do to each other . It's just a very fun , romantic , heartwarming story .

Speaker 2 4:04

It's very much different than the last part of judges , where we had some horrendous things that happened and the show of love between a husband and wife was not there at all . So , yes , it's very much of a difference than what we had before .

Speaker 1 4:21

Yeah , compared to the end of judges , this is a breath of fresh air .

Speaker 1 4:24

The book of Ruth is also a very important illustration of what Jesus does for us . In this story of Ruth and where she's falling in love with this man is an illustration of what Christ does for us . The book of Ruth tells this romance and this marriage of this poor , destitute woman and this rich man that falls in love . But the romance of the man and the woman mirror the romance of Jesus , who fell in love with his church and is the only one that can redeem his church . So the book of Ruth shows this love of this couple . But it's an illustration of the love of Christ for his church , which is described as it bride .

Speaker 2 5:07

And we're introduced to the term kinsman redeemer . This is first mentioned in Deuteronomy 25 , 5 through 10 , if you want to go and look at that , and it describes what is supposed to happen in regards to continuing the lineage if somebody's wife loses their husband and a kinsman is supposed to step forward and redeem them and the different aspects of it . We'll see how that compares to what you just mentioned , glenn , on Christ redeeming us as well .

Speaker 1 5:39

This idea of a kinsman , redeemer . We'll flesh this out as we go through , but the general idea is redemption . In one of the key doctrines in the Christian faith is this idea of being redeemed or redemption , and again we'll get into that in some detail . But just for now just remember that to be a redeemer , the person that does the redeeming has to be a mediator , has to be like us . God had to become human . He had to be a kinsman , he had to be a human in order to redeem us .

Speaker 1 6:14

And over in 1 Timothy 2 it says there is one God and one mediator , also between God and man , the man , christ Jesus , who gave himself a ransom for all . And in Hebrews 9 it says that because Jesus offered himself on our behalf , he is the mediator of a new covenant . Three times in Hebrews it refers to Jesus as a mediator . So here in Ruth we have this romantic love story between this man and this woman . But it's also an illustration of what Jesus does for his church . He comes down and umbles himself to become our kinsman redeemer and also in regards to redemption .

Speaker 2 6:55

in order to redeem something , you have had to have had possession of it , or it's been something you owned or , in this case , created , and that something had been lost , that something had been separated from you . By redeeming it , you're bringing it back to yourself , you're bringing it back into your fold , so to speak .

Speaker 1 7:15

So one of the major , major themes of Ruth is love and redemption . But there's other things in here as well and we'll get to these as we go . But just to give you a list of these very valuable , interesting things that are in the book of Ruth it talks about God's way of taking care of the poor . It talks about racial discrimination . It talks about how God's sovereign use of circumstances to achieve his purpose . It talks about the pain and the loss when we lose a loved one . There's romance between men and women , how marriages should go . It talks about how pain and emptiness can be turned into fullness and blessing . So it's a lot of very interesting things in this little short book . It's only four chapters . One of the things , just as a tip for our listeners whenever you study the Bible , look for repeated words , look for key phrases that will lead you to what is God telling you in here and some of the key words . Let me give you two or three or four key words here if you're studying along with us .

Speaker 1 8:19

Of course , we mentioned the word redeem or redemption . Another key word in Ruth is the word kindness . God showed kindness to Ruth and Naomi . The man , boaz recognized Ruth's kindness to Naomi . So Naomi was the recipient of the kindness of Ruth and then Ruth was the recipient of kindness to Boaz . Boaz shows kindness to her . Naomi wishes that God would give rest to her daughters-in-law . So another key word is rest . Ruth rested while she was reaping and Boaz would not rest until he had redeemed Ruth and in the end they all found rest . Words like redeem , kindness , rest . These are key phrases that you can really enrich your study as you go through .

Speaker 2 9:07

And always remember to ask the five W's in the eight who , when , where , why and how as you go through and study scripture .

Speaker 1 9:17

So Ruth , chapter one , verse one , says this Now , it came about in the days when the judges governed that there was a famine in the land and a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons . So this verse sets up the story . There's a man that was with his family , they were Jewish , and they end up in this foreign country of Moab . It gives the reason why . What was going on in verse one , that why they left .

Speaker 2 9:48

It says there was a famine in the land . Famine in the land when we look at the book of Judges , this probably was most likely during the time , if you remember , with Gideon and the Midianites . It would come in and they would raid during the harvest season and take the crops away from the Israelites and were a plague . They said that they were on them just like locusts coming in . So probably it was around one of those time periods of Gideon and the Midianites , maybe when this happened .

Speaker 1 10:15

And if we remember what's going on overall in the book of Judges , israel had moved into the land and the land was originally described as the land flowing with milk and honey . It was a very rich land , but here we have a famine . This tells us something . The land flowing with milk and honey is now in famine , which , again , if we were with us in the book of Judges , the reason there's a famine is because Israel was in disobedience . God had removed his blessing , and then there's a famine . So that was one of the lessons we learned from Judges is that we can be in where God wants us to be , but then if we start disobeying , god can remove his power and remove his blessing and we suffer .

Speaker 1 11:00

The word Bethlehem it says here in verse one the certain man of Bethlehem . There's irony here . The word Bethlehem means house of bread . So there was a famine in the house of bread . There was a famine in the land flowing with milk and honey . There was a famine . That shows the judgment of God . Something is amiss . Bethlehem is where Jesus was born . He's the bread of life . So there's a lot of symbolism going on here . The story of Ruth begins and ends in Bethlehem . It starts in famine , and at the end of the book it ends in plenty .

Speaker 2 11:35

And also they're going over to Moab and why it's important to mention the east and west of the Jordan River . Moab was outside of the promised land . What was for God's best . There's also some history there in regards to the Moabites . Moab was a offspring of Lot and one of his daughters , who had deceived him , and they had a relationship and Moab was born .

Speaker 2 12:00

And then also , as the Israelites were coming in out of the Exodus to conquer , they asked for food , they asked for water . The Moabites did not help them at all . And God said the Moabites , because they didn't help , they're not to participate , you're not to intermarry with them , you're not to have anything to do with them . They're not to enter the Tabernacle area at all , you're not to have anything to do with the Moabites Whatsoever . So here again we see in the very first verse there's a famine and Emilech takes his family over into Moab . Which number one ? He's going away from God , not trusting that God's gonna work , cause there's other people that are staying in Bethlehem . Not everybody's going . And the second thing is he's going over to this land of Moab where they're not supposed to be going at all .

Speaker 1 12:49

Right . So just with all of that , something is out of balance , something's wrong here . This shouldn't be . You mentioned , steve , that the promised land , the land of Israel , is the promised land and the people of Israel , the nation Israel , the Jewish people , are forever connected with that land , going all the way back to the Abrahamic Covenant , and whenever you see them leaving the land , there's something wrong , there's some judgment , the fact that there's a famine and these people are leaving the land . There's something amiss , something is wrong here . Simply because of that , and as an aside , even today , if we see the Jewish people leaving somewhere , watch out . If the Jewish people were to leave your country , watch out , judgments happen . Something's wrong . Still to this day . They are under God's covenant and God's future centers around the nation Israel . Whenever Jewish people leave the land , then watch out because something bad is about to happen . So we have here the next few verses , steve . If you could read verses three through five .

Speaker 2 14:01

Then Alem Alec 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 Ruth and they lived there about 10 years . Then both Mahlon and Chileon also died , and the woman was bereft of her two children and her husband .

Speaker 1 14:25

We have here again this man , alem Alec and his wife Naomi . They go to this foreign land , they have their sons . The sons marry Moabite women which they Were Jews supposed to marry .

Speaker 2 14:39

No , that was one of the instructions too , that they were not supposed to marry .

Speaker 1 14:42

So another sign of being out of fellowship with God is the fact that they're marrying people they're not supposed

Overcoming Tragedy and Finding Hope

Speaker 1 14:48

to . Then the tragedy happens Naomi loses her husband and her two sons . Now this is a great tragedy . So Naomi is now a widow and she's lost not only her husband , but her whole future , her two sons , which in the Jewish environment , the Jewish nation . Losing all of that . Her heritage is gone , her descendants are gone . How do you think she feels ?

Speaker 2 15:13

Lonely and forlorn Anytime you lose your family members , and not only did she lose her sons , which is tragic , but she also lost her husband as well .

Speaker 1 15:22

Now Naomi is in Moab . She's a foreigner in Moab , which adds to the problem . Most countries , most places , foreigners are not welcomed as people of the country are , and there's no indication in the text that she got any comfort from the Moabite people , so that doubles down on the tragedy here . She must have been completely devastated .

Speaker 2 15:47

And the sons had married Moabite women , so she's an Israelite completely out on her own now .

Speaker 1 15:55

What I'd like to do for just a minute for our listeners is talk about what happens when we lose a loved one . And , steve , you can speak to this very personally , because you have lost a spouse , correct ? Tell us about your just a brief history of your experience , because you had a great tragedy too .

Speaker 2 16:14

Yeah , so my wife Tina passed away now at the time of this recording , a little over five years ago .

Speaker 2 16:21

She had had cancer earlier in our marriage and she had survived that for about 15 years , but then she developed cancer again pancreatic cancer and it came on us very sudden and it happened very suddenly .

Speaker 2 16:35

Overall the total time was about six months , but we didn't recognize the symptoms exactly of what was going on and as we started to dig into and have her visit various doctors to try and diagnose what was exactly happening with her , when she was finally diagnosed with the pancreatic cancer that had spread to her liver and some of her other organs , from that time to her passing was about a week . It was a very short time for me and my daughters and our family and Tina's extended family . As far as the passing , and what I can say is that there's many people who might be out there who have lost loved ones fathers , mothers , daughters and spouses . There's others that haven't and what I can say is from my experience is that there's probably various or different degrees of those losses . I also have recently , in the last few years since Tina's death , lost my mother and father , but there's nothing that can compare to losing your spouse .

Speaker 1 17:41

But what the Bible calls the wife of your youth .

Speaker 2 17:43

Yes , the things that Tina and I had gone through the us getting together , our life experience before we had children , our life experience as we had children , as they grew up , as they went through their various stages of their life , and the conversations and the things that Tina and I had together as spouse , that's something unique and the love that the spouses have is prescribed and it happens in that whenever the man and the woman leave their own families , they create their own families and they become one , and the bond that happens between that husband and wife is something that is very , very strong . You know it's there , but you don't realize how strong it is there until you lose that spouse . It is indescribable . So it's trying to put myself in the place of Naomi here of not just losing her sons , which is tragic enough , but losing her spouse . That other part of her and other connection with her is something I can tell you that she was grieving very , very deeply and losing basically her whole family throughout this episode .

Speaker 1 18:57

And talking about the grief , I know I lost my parents at the time of this recording less than a year ago . First my father died and then , not long after my mother died . And after my father was gone , my mother just really lost her drive and kind of will to live and she went downhill relatively quickly . She never really recovered from the loss of losing him and where I can't really speak in the same emotional level as you have of losing your spouse . But I could imagine it's possible for grief to just overwhelm somebody to the point where they can't cope . I mean , would you agree that happens sometimes ?

Speaker 2 19:36

Yeah , and what has helped me through it is that I've grown closer to God and , of course , my daughters grown closer to them . They've grown closer to me and we've kind of huddled together , but my relationship with God has really really grown even stronger because he's there and he's a constant .

Speaker 1 19:57

And I know you can only really speak for yourself . But I see some people that the grief is so strong they turn inward and they never really do anything after that . Here you are . It's been a little while , but here you are doing ministry . You're up , you have a job , you're out doing things . I mean , doing this podcast is working for the Lord . So you didn't turn inward and die . You managed to get past it enough to where I'm sure there will always be a hole there that can't be filled . But at the same time you're able to still continue and you're out doing work for the Lord and , as you say , you've grown closer to God .

Speaker 2 20:36

And that is something that has come out of this and that good things can come out of tragic situations . And I also know other have other friends who have lost spouses as well . Some of them have also been pulled into the ministry in order to further the glorification of God , and that kind of sounds strange . Why would you want to glorify God in the midst of a tragic situation like that ? But the loneliness that you feel from the loss of your spouse is replaced by the closeness that you get in your relationship with God , your relationship with Jesus . So something good can come out of those tragic situations , but it is in that replacement , in the relationship with God and Jesus . Sometimes it might be the replacement of drugs or alcohol or some other type of lifestyles . I don't think those are good things . Those things will lead to destruction . But by getting close and getting a relationship with God and Jesus , the constant helps in order to help somebody cope .

Speaker 1 21:42

So I think you've already answered my next question , which is it's possible , in the face of great tragedy , to then good to come out of that ? At least in some sense People can mature spiritually even when they've experienced tragedy .

Speaker 2 21:57

You'd agree with that ?

Speaker 1 21:58

Yes , so somebody out there listening to this has had some tragedy happen close to them . What advice would you give to people ? What should they do to where they don't get drowned in the grief ?

Speaker 2 22:11

I would say that , from a spiritual perspective , if they do not know Jesus Christ , that they would seek Him out , that they would seek maybe their friends that have talked to them in the past and what we would call witness to them , giving them an opportunity to talk to Christ .

Speaker 2 22:29

I would say seek them out and seek God out to build that relationship , because it is through that relationship that you can't have hope of being reunited with your spouse again and with other loved ones as well . The second part of that is , as you build that relationship with Jesus , with God , he'll give you some direction , usually in relation to where to take your life as far as how to honor Him , and it's also put you in contact with other fellow Christians . I had great support with my Christian family as well , and so being able to meet with them and the fellowship with them has been a great thing . So I would say don't give up hope . Find Jesus , find God and accept Him into your heart . Believe in Him , have faith in Him , and then build your relationship with Him and with His other fellowship of His family as well .

Speaker 1 23:26

So here we have Ruth and Naomi that are in Moab . Naomi is the mother-in-law , and her husband and her two sons have passed . We have Naomi and these two daughters-in-law , both of which are from Moab and they are in a destitute position . Let's go ahead and read this next section . I'm starting at Ruth , chapter one , verse six .

Speaker 1 23:49

Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the land of Moab , for she had heard in the land of Moab that the Lord had visited his people giving them food . So she departed from the place where she was and her two daughters-in-law with her , and 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 her mother's house . May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me . May the Lord grant that you may 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 surely return with you to your people .

Naomi's Loss and Consultation With Daughters-in-Law

Speaker 1 24:31

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 harder for me than for you , for the hand of the Lord has gone against me .

Speaker 1 25:00

And they lifted up their voices and wept again and kissed her mother-in-law , but Ruth clung to her . Then she said behold , your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods . Return after your sister-in-law . But Ruth said do not urge me to leave you or turn 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 . This may the Lord do to me . And worse , if anything but death , hearts you and me .

Speaker 1 25:38

And when she saw that she was determined to go with her , she said no more to her . So that's the story that happened here , and there's a lot going on there . So let's look at this for a minute . In verse six they hear that there's food back in Israel , that , basically , the famine is over , the famine's over . So in verse seven , all three of the women start on the way towards Judah , back where Naomi was from . But then , in verse eight , naomi tells her daughter-in-law to go back home to their mothers . Why would she say that ?

Speaker 2 26:08

Well , they're Moabites , they're not Israelites . Naomi , while she's going back home , there's a little bit unknown . She doesn't have her husband , who had the inheritance right there . She doesn't know exactly what she's going back to as far as a piece of her own land . Where is she ? How is she going to cope ? What's going to happen ? She's going back to her relatives , but then she doesn't know what's going to happen with her . So she naturally is telling them go back to your family and stay with them in their own land with their own people .

Speaker 1 26:43

What I didn't do was read this with all the emotion that it really deserved , because in verse nine , naomi kisses these young women and they're all crying . It's really a sad scene . It's a very sad time , a tragedy . All three of these women have lost their husbands . It's a very tender , very emotional scene . There's no real way to be comforted at a time like this . The emotion is overwhelming . There's no indication here that anybody comes alongside them to try to relieve the grief and how could you really ? They had lost their entire families . Naomi had lost her future . They're all devastated .

Speaker 1 27:25

If we come across somebody like that , there's no real way to take the pain away . All we can really hope to do is be there for them . But in verse nine , what is Naomi talking about when she says that they should each find rest in the house of her husband ? Naomi's telling them to go back home , where they came from , and find another husband . In verse 10 , both the daughters-in-law tell Naomi that they want to go to Israel with Naomi . But in verse 11 and following , naomi says no , no , no , no , no , go back home . And then she starts talking about why should you go with me ? Have I yet sons in my womb ?

Speaker 2 28:05

Yes , she's older now . She's not going to bear any more children for them to marry . So while they go with her , she doesn't have any more sons . She's not gonna have any more sons . So even if they come with her and they remarry somebody else , it's gonna be somebody else outside of her family most likely .

Speaker 1 28:23

But this introduces . It's the first hint here of this part of the Mosaic Law that is a key part of the book , and back in Deuteronomy , chapter 25 , in the Mosaic Law , there's a part of the law that says that if a husband dies , his brother is supposed to marry the widow and raise children to inherit the family property and the family name . So in this case , if somebody were to lose their husband , the living brother was supposed to marry the widow and then raise children in the dead brother's name . Now what was the purpose of a law like that ? What good did that serve ?

Speaker 2 29:03

It was to give provision to the widows . Right , it kept widows from being poor , destitute , and it also , which is one thing , Right and it also would carry on the lineage , the line of the family name and the family tribe .

Speaker 1 29:19

Keep the family name going and it would also back to the land .

Speaker 1 29:23

keep the land in the family there's a lot of the Mosaic Law and a lot of Jewishness in the Old Testament is centered around keeping this land in the family . That's one of the key things here . Also , by doing that , it discourages large corporate farms and promoted family businesses . It promoted , kept families together , so it was really a good thing . But then , at the end of verse 13 , who does Naomi say is against her ? The Lord . Naomi doesn't know the end of the story . All she knows is they're in the depth of this tragedy and she says the Lord's against me . That's her perspective at the time .

Speaker 2 30:00

Is the Lord really against her . No again , they being , her husband decided to go over into Moab at the time of the famine and not stay in the land like others had , so they made the decision to go . It wasn't the Lord under the Lord's direction that they went , so no , the Lord hasn't abandoned her .

Speaker 1 30:21

We kind of know the end of the story and we know there's some good that comes in the end , but she doesn't know that at this point in the story All she knows is there's this great tragedy .

Speaker 1 30:29

And she says the Lord's against me .

Trusting God in Tragedy

Speaker 1 30:31

Here's a question , Steve Is it possible that we could be in a position of great tragedy ? There's a lot of pain , but yet God could still use that circumstance for something good , because the guy on the weird religious TV channel says that God's gonna heal me all the time and if I ever skin my knee it's gonna go away . I mean true story . One of them even said I'm never gonna get gray hair if I have enough faith , always gonna be healed . Nothing bad's ever gonna happen if I have enough faith . Well , here we have this one woman . That this great tragedy happens , be it . We know by the end of the book good things happen and great blessings from it .

Speaker 2 31:14

And it's books like these that you can take to heart , to know that , whenever tragic things happen to your life , that you can rest , like on Romans 8 , 28 , 29 , all things work to good . A lot of people wanna stop there , but the final part of it is to those who love the Lord . So , when tragedy hits , if you're a believer in God and have that faith , you can have the assurance and know that good , some sort of good , can come out of it , that you can carry on . God will make a way If you ask him . Lord , what do you want me to do now ? That would be part of my other advice too . What is it that you want me to do now , lord , in regards to how can I glorify your name ? What can I do now that this has happened to me ?

Speaker 1 32:03

We should trust the Lord in all circumstances . We don't see the end of what God's doing , and at this point in the story , naomi and Ruth they didn't see the end . All they knew is that there was this great tragedy and a lot of pain , and Naomi thinks the Lord's against me . But really the Lord is using circumstances for a blessing that is greater than what she could imagine . Hebrews 12 says for the moment , all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant , but it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it . So we have here . We're gonna stop here . We have Naomi and Ruth and this other woman , orpa , at the point of tragedy . They're in the depths of their depression . They're hugging each other and crying . They can see no way forward , but yet we know that there's some good things that are gonna come . We'll pause here at that and pick up next time on reasoning through the Bible . Otti pHv .