A Very Costly Move

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 Bethlehemjudah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons. ruled...: Heb. judged And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehemjudah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there. continued...: Heb. were And Elimelech Naomi's husband died; and she was left, and her two sons. And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years. And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband. - Ruth 1:1-5

    "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 Bethlehemjudah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons. And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehemjudah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there. And Elimelech Naomi's husband died; and she was left, and her two sons. And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years. And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband."

    “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil” (Prov. 3:5-7). If Elimelech of Bethlehem-Judah had been blessed with the wisdom that God gave Solomon the history of his family would not be the sad story recorded in the opening verses of the book of Ruth. I do not think I ever read a sadder family history than the one recorded in these five verses. It is a story of famine, death, bereavement, widowhood, and constant sorrow. The cause of all this sorrow can be traced to one thing - Elimelech was wise in his own eyes. Rather than trusting the Lord in the time of famine, he leaned unto his own understanding and moved to Moab. That proved to be a very costly move.

    The book of Ruth is a very short history of the domestic affairs of one family during the days of the Judges. It is the story of affliction and comfort, abasement and conversion, great loss and great redemption. The purpose of the book is twofold. First, the book of Ruth teaches us to adore the providence of God. The minute, as well as the great, the private, as well as the public affairs of our lives are arranged and determined by God’s wise and good providence. We ought always to acknowledge and submit to the dispositions of divine providence (1 Sam. 2:7-8; Psa. 113:7-9). Second, the design of God the Holy Spirit in the book of Ruth is to lead us to Christ of whom the book speaks. As we have already seen, Boaz was a type and picture of Christ our Kinsman Redeemer. But the book also points us to Christ in other ways.

    Our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ is a direct descendant of Ruth and Boaz. Part of the genealogy given by Matthew comes directly from this book.

    The conversion of Ruth is symbolic of the calling of the Gentiles. It was always God’s intention to save Gentiles as well as Jews. Our Lord Jesus sprang from Jews and Gentiles and is the Savior of both, the Savior of the world. As Matthew Henry wrote, “In the conversion of Ruth the Moabitess, and the bringing of her into the pedigree of the Messiah, we have a type of the calling of the Gentiles in due time into the fellowship of Christ Jesus our Lord.”

    The whole scene takes place in Bethlehem, the place where our Redeemer was to be born (Micah 5:2).

    In these opening verses of the book, Elimelech stands before us as a beacon to warn us of the danger and the costs of unbelief and disobedience. As I read here about Elimelech and his family, I cannot help thinking about Lot and his family. Both men brought great trouble upon their households by the choices they made.

    THE TIME OF THIS TRIAL (v. 1).

    “Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled.” This is all the information we are given about the date of this trial. But when we read that “it came to pass,” we understand that “it came to pass” because God brought it to pass. There are no accidents in this world; famine as well as feasting, trials as well as triumphs are brought to pass by the hand of God, according to the will of God (Rom. 11:36; Eph. 1:11). This trial took place during the times of the judges, during one of the brightest times of Israel’s history. This trial did not come in those disorderly times when there was no king in Israel and every man did that which was right in his own eyes. God was King. He ruled Israel by appointed judges. Our greatest trials usually come when they are least expected. The events recorded in the book of Ruth probably took place during the days of Gideon, when “the Midianites prevailed” and destroyed “the increase of the earth” (Judg. 6:1-6). I say that, because no other time of famine is mentioned during the time when the judges ruled. Also, it must have been near the beginning of this era, because Boaz, who married Ruth, was the son of Rahab the harlot (Matt. 1:5), who received the spies who came into spy out the land. We must not fail to observe the fact that even in the book of Ruth, our Lord Jesus Christ identifies himself with sinners who were the very offscouring of the earth. Two of his great-grandmothers are here identified as Ruth a Moabitess, the great-grandchild of Lot’s incest, Rahab the harlot. The arms of grace are stretched out to and embrace sinners. Christ is the Friend of sinners! He saves sinners. The Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners; and even in his family tree he shows his mercy toward the ungodly.

    THE TRIAL ELIMELECH FACED (v. 1).

    “There was a famine in the land.” There was a famine in the land of Canaan, the land “flowing with milk and honey”, the land which once yielded clusters of grapes so big that they had to be carried on a pole between two men (Num. 13:23). Even in Bethlehem which signifies “House of Bread”, there was a famine. This was one of the judgments which God threatened to bring upon Israel if she sinned against him (Lev. 26:19-20). The Lord God still exercises judgment among men and nations for their disobedience to him. The hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, famines, and diseases, which ravage the earth are not acts of nature, but acts of God. When those judgments of God fall upon a land, the righteous suffer with the wicked. Just as the wicked benefit by living near the righteous when God sends the sunshine and rain for his elect, the righteous suffer with the wicked when God pours out his wrath upon the wicked. In the midst of God’s providential judgments our only course of action is obedience and faith. Simple as it may sound, it is true - “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey!”

    ELIMELECH AND HIS FAMILY (vv. 1-2).

    This is the story of a man, his wife, and his children. There may have been many others like him; but the Lord here gives us a very personal look at this one man and his family. It is a story of grace; but it is a story of grace preceded by disobedience, sorrow, death, bereavement, and emptiness. Apparently Elimelech’s parents were believers. His name means “my God is King.” His very name should have given him comfort in his time of trouble. That which his name taught him should have sustained him. It implied a personal interest in the living God - “My God.” And his name declared the sovereign reign of his God over all things - “My God is King.” His wife’s name, Naomi, means “amiable, sweet, and pleasant. Indeed, Naomi was such a woman. Elimelech was greatly blessed of the Lord. God gave him an amiable, sweet, pleasant Naomi to be his wife. The names Elimelech gave to his two sons should have warned him of the danger of taking things into his own hands. Mahlon means “sickness,” “weakness.” Chilion means “consumption.” Perhaps Elimelech gave these boys their names, because they were sickly children. But their names attest to the fact that the products of our flesh and the most cherished, most pleasant things of this world are weak, corrupt, fading, and dying.

    ELEMELECH’S DECISION (vv. 1-2).

    There was a famine in Bethlehem. Elemelech, looking upon his situation, judging everything by carnal reason, decided to move his family from Bethlehem to Moab. No doubt, he hoped to protect his family’s wealth and keep his family from the hardships God’s people were facing in Bethlehem. Apparently, there was an abundance of food and opportunity in Moab. But Moah was a land of idolaters.

    Those who are strangers to God often enjoy much more of this world’s goods than those who know, love, and worship him. As Jeremiah puts it, “Moab hath been at ease from his youth.” Israel is “emptied from vessel to vessel” (Jer. 48:11), not because God loves Moab, but because this is “the portion of their cup.” None should envy Moab, or covet what Moab has (Psa. 92:7). Who would envy the stalled ox being fattened for the slaughter?

    We are told that Elimelech “went to sojourn in the country of Moab.” He did not go, intending to dwell there, but just to sojourn there. So he took Naomi, Mahlon, and Chilion, and came to Moab. But once they got to Moab, they settled down and “continued there!”

    Elimelech’s care to provide for his family is to be commended. Nothing is more detestable than a man who will not provide for his own family (1 Tim. 4:8). Over the years I have seen a good many men who tried to use spiritual things to excuse laziness. It doesn’t work. True spirituality makes people industrious. A man who will not work does not know God. So we must commend Elimelech for taking care to provide for his family in time of famine. Still, his decision to move to Moab can never be justified. Solomon wrote, “In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other” (Eccles. 7:14). The day of adversity will either draw us to our God or drive us to the world. If faith does not cling to Christ, the flesh will drag us from him. Did ever a child of God gain anything by going to Egypt for help? What did Lot gain in Sodom? What did David gain at Ziklag? What did Elimelech gain in Moab?

    There was no reason for Elimelech to leave Bethlehem. If by some dire necessity he had been forced to sell his property and was brought into poverty, God’s law required his kinsman to relieve him (Lev. 25:25, 35). But this was not his condition. He went out full (v. 21). Though there was a famine in the land, it was not so severe that people perished by it. Elimelech’s neighbors who stayed in Bethlehem, many with much larger families than he had, managed to keep body and soul together. But Elimelech was not content just to live in Bethlehem; he wanted to live in luxury, even if it meant moving to Moab! Rather than lose his riches, rather than be reduced to depending on God to supply his daily bread, Elimelech was willing to disobey and dishonor his God, lead his family away from God, and turn his back on the kingdom of God! Suppose everyone had done what he did. Canaan would soon have been empty. Rather than dealing with trouble, Elimelech tried to run from it. This man, who claimed to be a child of God, whose very name said, “My God is King”, moved to Moab. He took himself, his wife, and his family away from the worship of God. He took his family away from and forsook the people of God. He lead his wife and his sons into the land of Moab and thus to the gods of Moab! Elimelech’s decision was based entirely upon his own understanding, or perception of things, motivated by a completely carnal consideration. There was a famine in the land. Therefore, he gave no consideration to the promise of God, the honor of God, his own soul, or the souls of his family. What a very costly decision he made. What a costly move was this move to Moab. Yet, in his own mind he was fully justified.

    THE DISOBEDIENCE OF ELIMELECH’S SONS (v. 4).

    Mahlon and Chilion took wives from the women of Moab. The opening line of verse four might be accurately paraphased, “They transgressed the decree of the word of the Lord in taking strange wives.” What they did was in direct violation of God’s law. He expressly forbade mixed marriages between the children of Israel and the heathen, just as he forbids the mixed marriages of believers with unbelievers (Deut. 7:2-3; 2 Cor. 6:14). Yet, their father must be blamed. He taught them by example the way of disobedience. Parents who raise your children in the lap of the world should not be surprised to see them married to the world. Those who disregard the Word of God, particularly in this matter marrying an unbeliever, court disaster. Those believers who choose to marry a man or a woman who has no regard for God, marry a life of trouble (Deut. 7:3; 23:3; Ezek. 9:1-2; Neh. 13:23; 2 Cor. 6:14).

    NAOMI’S Desolation (v. 5).

    Naomi was reduced to a very pitiful condition. “The woman was left!” What a pathetic condition she was left in. She was now alone and poor, in a strange land, with no one to care for her, and no one with whom she could join in the worship of God. We ought to learn three things from Elimelech.

    We cannot out-run death. At our appointed time, we will die.

    We must never expect to prosper by disobedience. “He that will save his life shall lose it!”

    All earthly pleasure and comforts are temporary.

    When Naomi lost her husband, she took comfort in her sons. When she lost her sons, she was left alone. True, eternal pleasure and comfort is found only in Christ our God.

    THE GRACIOUS, OVERRULING PROVIDENCE OF GOD (Psa. 76:10).

    Eliemlech did wrong. His family suffered for it. But God’s will was done perfectly. Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ must be born out of the union of a Moabitess woman and the son of Rahab. And so “it came to pass!” The famine was sent by God, because he chose Ruth. Elimelech was allowed to do the evil he did, because God was determined to save Ruth. All this came to pass, because God purposed to save his elect by the incarnation of his Son, by the life and death of his Son, who was the Son of Boaz and Ruth (Rom. 8:28-32).