Ruth and Orpah

To me, the term “sold out Christian” is as silly as the label “very explosive dynamite”.  Dynamite isn’t dynamite if it isn’t very explosive ~Aaron Darlington

This story takes place during the time of the Judges

Exodus 3:17- God tells the people that the land He was giving them would flow with milk and honey

Exodus 6 – God sets some rules about this land.  The Israelites needed to be careful to obey Him so that it would go well with them there.  They should love God with all their heart, soul and strength, be careful to not forget the Lord, serve only God, not test God, keep His commands and do right in His sight.

Then we get to Judges.  Judges begins with the Israelites not destroying the altars of the people currently living in the land, making agreements with the people rather than driving them out as God had instructed them to do since He had given them the land.  As a result God tells the Israelites that He will not drive the people out of the land, instead they would be left as a test to see if the Israelites will keep God’s ways.

After that generation died, the next didn’t know God and began to do every thing that God had warned them to be careful about not doingl.  The He appoints Judges for the Israelites, and as ling as the judge is alive the Israelites do well.  When there isn’t a judge they “do evil in the eyes of the Lord”.  During these times the Israelites warred with the surrounding people, including the Moabites.  These multitudes of wars led to a famine in the land.  This is where Ruth begins.

Read Ruth chapter  1

Let’s look at Orpah and Ruth

Bot women were Moabites.   Moabite history lesson – when Israelites were leaving Egypt the Moabites refused to help.  As a result non of the Moabites for ten generations could enter the assembly of the Lord with the Israelites couldn’t even seek a treaty of friendship with them.  (Deuteronomy 23:3-6)  At one point, in Judges 3:14, the Moabites ruled the Israelites.  At least until their king was killed by Ehud in his private chamber which led to a war in which the Israelites killed 10,000 Moabites.  This led to a tenuous peace of 80 years and then discord broke out again.  These women probably would not have been readily accepted in Bethlehem due to the history.  They both knew that.  Yet they both pack up their belongings and start on the road with Naomi.  They didn’t know what was in store for them at the end of the road.  This is like the beginning of our Christian walk.  We were outsiders, our past actions weren’t approved of by the people we were wanting to join.  Still, we were willing to pack up our stuff and change our lives.

At some point on the road though, Naomi seems to reconsider the girls coming with her.  Whether this was out of concern for them or because she was concerned about what her family and friends would think about her and her sons for marrying them we will never know.  Whatever her reasons, she tries to convince the girls to return to their old loves.  We face this early on in our Christian walk as well.   Someone makes you feel like you can’t have the life you thought or that your old life was better.  Think about it and I bet it has happened to you!

Orpah turns back.  She loved Naomi, or at least cared enough about her that the thought of separating from her brought her to tears.  But in the end, she turned back.  Makes me wonder if maybe she was just following the crowd and her heart wasn’t really in it.  After all, when she married, Naomi and Ruth became her family.  It was her husband’s families job to provide and care for her.  These were the people she hung out with.  She felt safe and comfortable with them.  Problem is that she may have been part of the family based on legality, she wasn’t part of the family in her heart.  So when faced with the thought  that things were going to be rough, she abandoned what she had committed to and went back to her old life.  A lot of Christians do too.  Maybe not as dramatic as Orpah, they may not revert entirely back to their old life, but you can tell that they are just following the crowd.  That they like the company more than anything else.  These are the ones that when things get tough, rather than draw closer to God, they start missing church services, or skipping Bible study time.  Or they are the ones that never started studying to begin with, more concerned with creating the image of Christianity than actually being one.  They get so hung up on how others see them (I am hanging out with Ruth.  Yeah, you know Naomi?  She is my mother in law.  Yep, I go to that BIG church on the main road.  Etc) that they forget to get to know God.  For whatever reason, they don’t really commit, just like Orpah didn’t really commit.

Ruth however, clings to Naomi.  She doesn’t know what is waiting for her anymore than Orpah does, but she knows that she is part of Naomi’s family through and through.  Look again at what Ruth tells Naomi.  She gives up everything that is her, her ability to go where she wants to, her gods, even a choice about where she will die and be buried.  She sells out.  This is what God asks of us.  He wants all of us, He wants us to love Him as Ruth loved Naomi, with all of our heart, soul and strength.

I believe that Ruth’s love and devotion so impressed God that he allowed her to be part of Jesus lineage.  A Moabite that should not have been allowed to join the assembly of God.  Ruth wasn’t a dynamite dud!