Click this link to hear an audio version of the below text narrated by SOTH member Jerry Rhinehart: Ruth 1:1-5
“In the days when the judges ruled, 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.”
We begin our study of Ruth with a host of difficult names. Here’s the summary: Naomi and her husband (Elimelech) and their two sons left their home in the midst of famine and hardship and relocated to Moab. After the father dies, the two sons marry local girls. Then, after a few years, the sons die too. This leaves Naomi alone with her two daughters-in-law; no grandchildren, no jobs, no hope. In addition to the repeated family tragedy, Naomi and her daughters-in-law are left with nearly nothing. Naomi had no way to support what remained of her family. She had no standing in her culture, especially in a foreign land. What do you do when the depth of your loss seems insurmountable? …when it seems like every option has been taken away? Who do you cling to in the midst of loss and sorrow? How does God reach us when we feel unreachable? http://sothrichfield.podbean.com/
Ruth 1:1-5
“In the days when the judges ruled, 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.”
We begin our study of Ruth with a host of difficult names. Here’s the summary: Naomi and her husband (Elimelech) and their two sons left their home in the midst of famine and hardship and relocated to Moab. After the father dies, the two sons marry local girls. Then, after a few years, the sons die too. This leaves Naomi alone with her two daughters-in-law; no grandchildren, no jobs, no hope. In addition to the repeated family tragedy, Naomi and her daughters-in-law are left with nearly nothing. Naomi had no way to support what remained of her family. She had no standing in her culture, especially in a foreign land. What do you do when the depth of your loss seems insurmountable? …when it seems like every option has been taken away? Who do you cling to in the midst of loss and sorrow? How does God reach us when we feel unreachable?