Title: Naomi Restored Joy
Ruth 4:14-17
The women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, for today has no one to take an inheritance with you. May the name of this child be made famous in Israel, the restorer of your life, the caretaker of your old age, who loves you and is more precious than seven sons. is born by
What is the first thing you do when you have a son in our country? If it was a son, put a gold string under the eaves and put red pepper on it, and if it was a daughter, put charcoal on it. Israel is different from ours. What is the first thing you do when you have a son?
Genesis 25:24-26, "When the time of childbirth was full, there were twins in the womb, and the first one to come out was red and the whole body was like a robe, and he called his name Esau. "
In Israel, when a child is born, the first thing they give is a name. However, in today's text, naming does not appear first. Naming is delayed until verse 17, where the scene changes. The lights illuminated the male characters who appeared on the stage in the meantime. In verse 14, the lights illuminated Boaz and his relatives who were at the gate, the elders sitting at the gate, and the witnesses. In verse 14, the lights were illuminating the women and Naomi.
"The women said to Naomi, Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you today with an inheritance. May this child's name be made famous in Israel."
"The women said to Naomi." Who are these women? When Naomi came to Bethlehem, they were the women who were happy to say, "Isn't this Naomi? Come out and see, folks." What did Naomi say then? "Don't call me Naomi, call me Mara. My heart aches." These were the women who had met Naomi, who had returned from unhappiness. The women come and rejoice. So friends are a good thing.
When these women heard the good news, they followed Naomi. What was the first thing you said when you came? "Blessed be the LORD, for today the LORD has not left you with an inheritance." Who do you praise? Praise the Lord. Why? “The Lord has not left you today with an inheritance.” These women admit exactly what the biblical writer said in verse 13. What did you say?
4:13, "Then Boaz took Ruth, and she married him, and she lay with her, and the LORD gave her a child, and she bore a son."
Who was it that conceived and gave birth to a son? It is Jehovah.
In fact, not only giving birth to a baby, but everything is God's grace. In chapter 1, it is God's grace that Naomi returned to Bethlehem, and in chapter 2, Ruth went to glean early in the morning, but it was by God's grace that she happened to come to Boaz's field and met Boaz. It is God's grace that the plan we had made for this was fulfilled, and it is God's grace that Boaz received all his rights from his relatives in front of the elders in Chapter 4. Everything is by God's grace. Behind it was the hand of God's providence and grace.
Everything we have been through is the grace of God. It's not that I'm good. It is God's grace to come out here this morning, breathe and praise, and it is God's grace that we live until the time we go to heaven. God's grace is so good.
"Jehovah today." It is said that the word today is used to declare something solemn. In the words of the women to Naomi, "He hath not given thee no one to take an inheritance," who is the "taker" referring to? Are you Boaz? Or would it be another relative? Or will it be the now-born son? That's right. son.
4:10, "And I bought Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Marlon, and I took her as my wife, and I gave her the inheritance of the dead in her name."
In the light of this verse, verse 14 is the same as saying, "He hath not made no one to make an inheritance in the name of the dead Elimelech." If no children are born, Elimelech's inheritance will be cut off. It is God who prevented the sad tragedy in advance. God had prevented Naomi's tragedy.
I hope that God will bless you today and will prevent all of your difficulties and sorrows in advance. I hope everything will come true according to your faith. God will prevent all difficulties that may come to you in advance. We must live with that belief.
"May this child's name be made famous in Israel."
The word famous already appears once in chapter 4. Who is blessing whom? In verse 11, the people who became witnesses and the elders came out when they blessed Boaz.
Ruth 4:11, "All the people and the elders who were at the gate said, "We are witnesses, that the Lord will make women entering your house like Rachelah and the two men who built the house of Israel, and make you powerful in Ephrath and famous in Bethlehem." want ."
Now in verse 14, the women blessed Ruth's child because they wanted the name of the child to be famous in Israel. But take a good look. There is a difference between verse 11 that the witnesses want to be famous for Boaz and verse 14 that the women want Ruth's child to be famous. What's the difference?
4:11, "May you be mighty in Ephrath and famous in Bethlehem."
4:14, "May this child's name be made famous in Israel."
Which scale is bigger? Is Bethlehem large? Is Israel Big? Bethlehem is a small region and Israel is a whole nation. Is the scale of a man large? Are the girls bigger? The women were much larger. He blessed that he wanted to be famous in Israel, not in Bethlehem.
What actually happened? The child born to Ruth rather than Boaz, and the child who inherited Elimelech's inheritance, became David's ancestor and became more famous. It was literally a blessing. We Christians need to be big. You must not have Bethlehem like the men. We must live with great aspirations like these women. You have to live with a big vision.
Verse 15 records the benefits Naomi receives through the child.
"This is the restorer of your life, and the caretaker of your old age."
So far, Naomi has had two very difficult problems to solve. One was the problem of hunger and the other was the problem of continuing the broken company. Both of them were resolved at the same time. "The restorer of your life" means that the broken life of a family was restored through a foreign woman. He was also called "the caretaker of your old age." All hunger problems are solved through this little child. After that comes an important statement.
“I will love you soon.”
Who loves whom? Ruth loves her mother-in-law Naomi. The fundamental motive of everything is love. Ruth gave birth to a child. But where does the marriage come from? It does not come from a simple sense of responsibility, "I have to take responsibility for my social responsibility and family." What is the motive? that is love.
1:16-17, "Do not force me to leave my mother and not follow you and return. Wherever you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people will become my people, and your God will be my God. And in the place where my mother dies, I will also die and be buried there."
What was the original motivation for Ruth to leave her country, Moab, her people, and follow Naomi to the unfamiliar Bethlehem despite all kinds of difficulties? Love. Ruth got up early in the morning and said, "I'm going to the field and gleaning wheat." This was not only to avoid hunger, to live a life, but because he loved his mother. Ruth went to the place where Boaz was lying, and lay down with a blanket at her feet. Its fundamental motive came from the love of his mother. Ruth left all the young and married the old Boaz. What is the underlying motive? that is love. love for mother. what a beautiful heart I hope that you will imitate the deep affection, love for your mother. Whatever you do, do it with love. You must not force it.
The women keep talking.
“He was born to a man who was more precious than seven sons.”
In the Bible, the number seven is a perfect number. When the number seven refers to a son, it can be seen as referring to the ideal son in terms of family composition. How many sons did Job have? They had seven sons. There were three daughters.
Job 1:2, "His offspring were seven males and three females."
1 Samuel 2:5, "The bereaved sell their bosom for food, and those who hunger never hunger again. The barren one has given birth to seven."
Seven is a full number. “He was born to a man who was more precious than seven sons.” All problems were solved through Ruth and through the child she gave birth to. In fact, Naomi had two sons. However, the two sons could not continue the business or solve the problem of hunger. But Ruth took care of everything.
We hope that all the proud people of Seungdong Church will become more precious than the seven sons. Had it not been for Ruth, Naomi would have lived a lonely and lonely life by herself and would have disappeared from this world without a name. Because of Ruth, Naomi's name became famous, and could it not be recorded in the Bible?
"Pastor, my mother-in-law has already gone to heaven. I don't have a mother-in-law to love and respect." It's not like that. When God gives us the fifth commandment, "Honor your father and mother" does not mean honoring your parents only while they are alive. Even if our parents are dead, we must honor them until the end of our lives. When God gave the 5 commandments, he did not give them to young children. It was given to adults. Even if your parents are dead, you should have good memories of them and be grateful. You must keep telling your children the good things about your ancestors that your grandmothers and grandfathers were wonderful people. Always thinking about the will of your parents and the legacy you left behind, you tell your children, "Your grandfathers always taught me this and that. So, you too, follow your grandfather's will." To teach this is to honor your parents even when they are dead.
Honoring my parents doesn't end just because I'm old. As long as I live on this earth, I must continue to honor my parents. So, even if our mother-in-law has passed away, I will always think of her in my heart, live with good impressions and good thoughts about my mother-in-law, and become a daughter-in-law who can honor good maintenance in the Lord and obey her will. .