The primary purpose of studying Ruth 1 is to understand the importance of staying in the Father's house — the place of our Heavenly Father's provision and protection.

1 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.

Elimelech and his family went away from Bethlehem, and they went to Moab [temporarily].

Picture: Moving away from Bethlehem is symbolic of moving away from the Father's house, the Lord God's place of provision and protection.

2 The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife, Naomi; and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah.

The Ephrathites were a specific family within the tribe of Judah.

They became comfortable away from Bethlehem…

Now they entered the land of Moab and remained there.

Not only did Elimelech and his family go away from Bethlehem; they made their situation worse because they remained there. The family became assimilated and they set up residence (living in a particular place for a considerable length of time) in Moab.

Picture: Elimelech and his family missed the point —

Application: The redeemed, oftentimes, miss the same point. The world is always going to look better to a biblical believer's flesh, giving one a false sense of security. However, it is always safer in the Father's house.

3 Then Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died; and she was left with her two sons.

Elimelech died.

Picture: The teaching most often given concerning Elimelech's death is that God was punishing him for being in the land of Moab. Actually, it was much simpler than that. Elimelech was living in Moab. That was where he had set up residence with his wife and sons, and that was where he sunk in his roots. Inevitably, Elimelech was going to die in Moab.

Application: Most believers live their lives away from the Father; they sink in their foots apart from the Father. When they die — it is not that God kills them — it is just where they happen to be.

When Elimelech died in Moab, he still died a son.

Picture: If the prodigal son (see Luke 15:11-32) had died in the distant country, it remained that he would have died a son [and not a fish].

Application: If a biblical believer lives away from the Father and they stay in that position, it remains he is a child of God and not an unbeliever.

4 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 ten years.

After Elimelech died, time passed and then the two sons married girls from Moab.

The names of Elimelech and his family members are really interesting.

Elimelech means God of the king. From God's perspective, that was how He saw Elimelech.

Picture: Unfortunately, Elimelech never lived up to his name, because he was living away from the Father, away from Bethlehem [which is the place of sustenance and provision].

Application: In principle, God has given the redeemed a new name, which they will know when they get to heaven. Additionally, God has reserved a name for them that is part of their character — the way God sees them.

In this life, the redeemed only live up to their spiritual name if they are living in the Father's house. They do not earn that given name by their behavior. Instead, if the desire of their heart is staying with Him, then what God has for them is actually lived out in this life.

Naomi means pleasant. When she returned from Moab, Naomi said to those in Bethlehem:

Mara means bitter.

Picture: Like Elimelech, when Naomi was in Moab, she could not live up to her name because she was living away from the Father's house, away from His house of blessing.

Application: Our spiritual name has a reality only when we are in our Father's house.

Mahlon means sick and Chilion means pining (puny).

The names of these boys indicate they were sickly.

The Moabites were the worst possible enemies of Israel. In fact, they were the lowest of the low. Consider the following descriptions of the Moabites:

• The Moabites originated from Lot committing incest with his oldest daughter. (See Genesis 19:32-37.)
• After the Israelites' exodus from Egypt, the Moabites tried to block the Israelites' path to the Promised Land. (See Exodus 15:15.)
• One of the Moabite kings, Balak, tried to hire Balaam to curse Israel. (See Numbers 22:1-41.)
• During the time of the judges, the Moabites were the most hated of all of the Israelites' enemies. (See Judges 3:12-30.)

Moab is where Elimelech — an Israelite — took his family to live!

5 Then both Mahlon and Chilion died, and the woman was bereft of her two children and her husband.

Then Naomi's sons die.

6 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 in giving them food.

Naomi decides to go back to Bethlehem.

Picture: I believe many scholars give Naomi too much credit for wanting to leave Moab by saying Naomi could not have been comfortable in Moab because she was a child of God; therefore, she must have seen the light, repented and gone back to Bethlehem.

No! Do you know why Naomi wanted to go back to Bethlehem? By now, the family had probably lost all of their wealth (money) in Moab, and Naomi thought that things would be better, financially, in Bethlehem. Additionally, she had heard that there was an availability of food in Israel. Her decisions were always worldly.

Application: How important is our motive when we go back to the Father?

When a redeemed individual says I want to go back to my Father's house, his motive does not matter. Just Go Home! Once they go back to the Lord God, He can deal with their motives.

Picture: People often say that the prodigal son was received because he had changed. However, the father saw his son from a long way off and then he ran to see his son (see Luke 15:20).

Did the father have any idea whether his son had changed or not? No! In addition, he did not care what his son's motives were. What really mattered to the father was for his son to—

Application: In our relationship with our heavenly Father, it is even more so, because God has the ability to take care of our motives if we just go back. Though human fathers cannot change a child's heart, God can [as follows]:

Let Us Think About—

Oftentimes, the redeemed try to project their relationship with their children onto their relationship with the Lord God. It is not the same.

The Bible indicates that parents are to train their children in appropriate behavior. To do so, they must establish a system of rules and boundaries under which their children must behave. Importantly enough, just as there should be rewards for obeying, there must also be consequences for rebellious behavior against, or willful defiance of, those rules and boundaries.

Parents should not assuage their punishment of their own children, because Holy Spirit is clear:

Doctrinal Aspect: The elect are children when they were under the Law; the Law is like their tutor when they are under-age. And yet, when they are adopted into God's family (regenerated), they are adopted as full-grown adults.

Many times, that past relationship with their tutor hinders the present relationship with their Father. The redeemed will project the relationship that they had [as children] with the Law onto the relationship that they have [as adults] with their heavenly Father.

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