Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Ruth 1

Naomi Loses Her Husband and Sons

In the days when the judges ruled,[a] there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.
Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.

The aforementioned talks and explains the context of the rest of the chapter. So there is a woman(Naomi) who had a husband and 2 sons.  The 2 sons(Mahlon and Kilion) married 2 wives(Orpah and Ruth). Then all the guys died, leaving with only the women. 

Naomi and Ruth Return to Bethlehem

...19 So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”
20 “Don’t call me Naomi,[b]” she told them. “Call me Mara,[c] because the Almighty[d] has made my life very bitter. 21 I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted[e] me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”
22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.

Then the older woman(Naomi) disowns God as her Lord, when people are asking her when she returned to her homeplace. Have we grown bitter towards God? bitter towards what He had willed to happen? His will is perfect. Regardless of whatever that one is going through, there is a reason and purpose for it. She did not have the faith, even though her sons and husband died. They were with God and God has a purpose for this happening. We ought to examine ourselves, what bitterness do we have against God. It is the one reason why people will fall away and "curse God". If we identify that and lift it up onto Him, we are made anew in Him.

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