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Ruth Welcome to Ruth We are so excited that you have picked up this study guide to the book of Ruth. We encourage you to spend time each day diving into the story and themes present in the story of Ruth. Getting the most out of the study: • Grab a few friends and form a group, or join an existing group. • Find a good Study Bible. It will help give insight into cultural and theological backgrounds. • Read through the book once a week. It’s a short book and will take about 20 minutes. • After you have read through the story at least once, watch the video of Ruth from the Bible Project. This will give you a good overview of the characters and themes in the story. • https://bibleproject.com/videos/ruth/ • Each day, Monday - Friday, choose a rhythm to complete. Weekly Rhythms : Explore: Get a wider picture of God working behind the scenes of the story. Study: Dive into scripture. Take a refreshing swim with a few passages and let God’s word soak in. Apply: Take what you have learned and put it into practice. Take action steps toward understanding God, yourself, and others. Reflect: Take time to reflect on your week. Look to discover where God is active in your life this week. Share: Sitting across the table with a friend, talk about what God is teaching you through your studies. INTRODUCTION TO RUTH The book of Ruth is an incredible masterpiece of storytelling. It’s a story (1), within a story (2), within a story(3). Story 1 is the story of Naomi, a widowed woman living in a foreign country. She begins the story being emptied of everything of value, yet ends the story being filled with joy, reflecting her value. I am amazed the book is not titled, Naomi. Story 2 is the story of Ruth, a Moabite widow who demonstrates incredible loyalty to her Israelite mother-in-law. This is a story of a restricted foreigner being weaved into the people of God. Ruth’s kindness and loyalty is the picture of God’s loyalty to his people. Stop and ponder the craziness of a foreign woman having her name used as the title. What does this say about God? Story 3 is the overarching story of God working behind the scenes to bring about the redemption of the world. It’s the story of God working through ordinary events to highlight his loyalty, kindness, and grace. The very first line in the story provides both the setting and the tension within the story. “In the days when the Judges ruled, there was a famine in the land.” This verse places the book of Ruth early in the Story of God (3). It’s the time of Judges. It also signals that something is off—there is a famine. In the book of Judges there is a leadership crisis in the land. There is an often-repeated line throughout the book of Judges, “Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord.” This line initiates the start of a repeated cycle: The last few stories in the book of Judges are messed up. It shows how far the people living in the Promise Land have strayed, and the social chaos that ensues. The book of Judges ends with the line, “Israel had no king, and everyone did as they saw fit. (Judges 17:6 and 21:25) The leadership crisis was not the only issue. The land was experiencing a famine and it prompted a man named Elimelech to move his family away from God’s promised land and settle in the land of Moab. There are three quick things to see here. First, Famine in the land of Israel was an indication something was wrong. God had promised, if you obey the covenant, he will bless the crops. If you neglect the covenant, the crops will fail. Deut. 28. Second, Elimelech’s name means, “God is king” and he was living in a time when “Israel had no king”. (Yes, the writer is crafty --pulling together words and phrases that have deeper meaning. Be on the lookout for dual meanings and repeated words.) Third, the land of Moab has multiple meanings. Moab has a stormy past with Israel, politically and socially, but Israel spent important time encamped on the plains of Moab. Deut. 29:1 Things We Know About Moab Genesis • Moabites are the descendants of Lot and his eldest 19:30-36 daughter. Judges 11:17 • Israel sent a message to Moab asking permission to travel through the land on the way to the Promise Land. Moab refused entrance. Numbers 23-25 • Balak, king of Moab, hires Balaam to curse the Israelites. Numbers 25 • Moabite women seduce Israelite men into worshiping foreign gods. A plague kills 24,000 as a result. Deuteronomy • Moses dies and is buried in Moab. 34:4-5 Deuteronomy • All of Deuteronomy takes place in Moab. It is in Moab 29:1 that Israel renews the covenant. Judges 3:14 • Israel does evil in the eyes of the Lord and become subjects of Eglon, King of Moab, for 18 years. Familiar Setting The last few months in America, we have experienced political and social upheavals. We see rioting and social unrest. We divide ourselves up into red and blue factions. We get our sources of truth from different news stations. It appears as if everyone is doing what is right in their own eyes. In the midst of the political and social crisis of Judges, God inserts the book of Ruth. The story highlights the fact that God has not given up on those who were in a covenant relationship with him. Much like Jesus using the story of the Good Samaritan to shock the listeners (the Jews in the New Testament looked down on the Samaritans). God uses Ruth the Moabite as a symbol of loyalty. The Israelites, God’s covenant people, were not living up to the covenant. However, Ruth, the foreigner, displays amazing loyalty. One last thing to set the stage for the book of Ruth. It is important to know a little background information about the covenant made in the book of Deuteronomy. Ruth makes an important allusion to Deuteronomy 28 - 30. During the time of the Judges, Israel was dropping the ball on their end of the covenant. They were failing so bad that famine entered the land and Israelites like Elimelech were leaving the promised land. In Deuteronomy 28-30, God told the Israelites that this would happen. He also promised that after they left, he would still restore them and return them to the land (30:3). On top of all that, He would also make them flourish once back in the land (30:9). It is interesting that the location where the people made this covenant was in Moab—the place where Ruth is from and where the story begins. Weekly Focus: Return: God is in the process of bringing us back to him. Favor: We have been presented an amazing gift of grace. Kindness: God continues to show kindness in dark times. Refuge: God gathers us under his wings and protects us. Redeem: God is redeeming the whole, one person at a time. Week 1 Return EXPLORE Read Ruth 1. Verses 1-5 give us the setting for the story. What is happening to the family? In the midst of the terrible circumstances, how does Ruth shine? What does Ruth sacrifice to show her love for Naomi? How is God showing kindness and love to Naomi through Ruth in this chapter, even when Naomi thinks the opposite of God? Names in the story have important meaning: Elimelech means God is king. Naomi means pleasant. Mahlon means weakling. Ruth means refreshing. Kilion means frail. Mara means bitter. Why is Naomi changing her name? Where do you see glimpses of hope in the story? STUDY Good news; Bad, Bad, Bad news. When someone says “I have good news and bad news, which do you want first,” how do you respond? What if they say, “I have good news and bad, bad, bad news?” That seems to be what is written in Deut. 28. There are 14 verses of blessing for those who obey the covenant, and then 54 verses of curses for those who do not obey. In my Bible there is a column of blessings and 3 1/2 columns of curses. Read Deuteronomy 28. Why do you think there is 3 1/2 more curses than blessings? What hits you after reading this chapter? Once you read the curses, you can see how Naomi might have thought she was cursed by God. Everything she did fell apart. It might be the reason she wanted to change her name from “pleasant” to “bitter”. Have you ever felt like this? How did God bring about hope in your situation? Blessing Curses Curses APPLY As you read through Ruth 1, there is an often repeated word or idea: return. The .shub), to return- go back, appears 12 times in verse 6-22) שוב Hebrew word This same concentration is found in Deut. 30:1-10. 7 times in 10 verses. Read Deuteronomy 30:1-10. It’s interesting that chapter 30 even exists. God lays out the covenant and tells the Israelites what will happen if they obey or disobey (ch 28), then comes (ch 30) which tells us, he already knows they will disobey. How does this chapter show God’s love and kindness towards us? What promises does God offer in this chapter? Read Acts 3:1-19 Take time to turn your attention שוב and your direction back to God.