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Ruth #2: The Strangers Return

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The Text

“And she said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” 16 But Ruth said: “Entreat me not to leave you, Or toturn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall bemy people, And your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, And there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, If anything butdeath parts you and me.” 18 When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her.

19 Now the two of them went until they came to Bethlehem. And it happened, when they had come to Bethlehem, that all the city was excited because of them; and the women said, “Isthis Naomi?” 20 But she said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 21 I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?”

22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. Now they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest” (Ruth 1:6-22).

A Riddle of Returning 

Famine in the House of Bread (vs. 1-5)

Crossroads of Hesed (vs. 6-10)

A Levirate Marriage? (vs. 11-13)

A Faith-Full Oath (vs. 14-18)

Naomi’s Bitterness and God’s Barley Harvest (vs. 19-22)

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Ruth #1: Harvest of Sorrows

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The Text

“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 dwell in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. 2 The name of the man was Elimelech, the name of his wife was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion—Ephrathites of Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to the country of Moab and remained there. 3 Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left, and her two sons. 4 Now they took wives of the women of Moab: the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth. And they dwelt there about ten years. 5 Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died; so the woman survived her two sons and her husband. 6 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 that the Lord had visited His people by giving them bread” (Ruth 1:1-6).

The Judgment of the Judges (v. 1)

Famine in the House of Bread (vs. 1-2)

Exile in Moab (vs. 3-5)

A Harvest of Hope (vs. 6)

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