Class Notes: Hope for the Hopeless

Boaz & Ruth: Firm Foundations

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Hope for the Hopeless

Sabbath School Lesson

August 18, 2007

Teacher: Larry R Evans

Quiz for Reflection

[Based on the book of Ruth]

1. A silver lining behind the darkest clouds should be confined to weather forecasts and not used for discouraging circumstances. True or False
2. Selflessness is vital for lasting relationships. True or False
3. A beggar must first be shown how destitute they are before giving them the help they need. True or False
4. Ruth’s hope for a new future resided in her nearest kinsman, Boaz. True or False
5. Minorities (of all kinds) are disadvantaged. True or False
   

INTRODUCTION

The word “hopeless” has been defined as “without hope because there seems to be no possibility of comfort or success.” Ever been there? Most have at one time or another. The book of Ruth, in many ways, is about hope when no silver lining in the clouds could be seen. The setting of the story is that of a family who left Bethlehem looking for food. It is ironic because the word Bethlehem means, House of Food or House of Bread. The family moves to the land of the Moabites who were descendants of Lot and thus relatives of these Israelites. The Moabites had abandoned the “truth” and set up their own gods whom they worshipped. It was not an ideal setting but sometimes the search for food can lead to strange places and circumstances. While there the family, composed of a mother and father, grew as their two sons married Moabite women. We learn early on in the story that the men die leaving the mother, Naomi, and her two daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah, feeling destitute in a foreign land. Orpah tells Ruth and Orpah that they should return to their own families and find husbands. Orpah does but Ruth replies with what has become one of the most familiar statements in the Bible:

Ruth 1:16-18

16 But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me."(from New International Version)

With little hope, feeling destitute and that God had dealt her a severe blow, Naomi takes Ruth with her as they begin their journey back to Bethlehem.

REFLECTIONS ON THE BOOK OF RUTH

1. A silver lining behind the darkest clouds should be confined to weather forecasts and not used for discouraging circumstances. False
   

We often hear the old adage that says “every cloud has a silver lining,” meaning that the sun shining at the edges of every cloud reminds us that every difficult situation has a bright side. Unfortunately in the book of Ruth, the silver lining did not mean that the husbands would be brought back to life but eventually there was a bright side. From tragedy and darkness came triumph for both Naomi and Ruth . . . and for us because through the blood line of Boaz and Ruth came King David which the family tree for Christ!

Philip Yancey writes, “The apostles’ faith, as they freely confessed, rested entirely n what happened on Easter Sunday, when God transformed the greatest tragedy in all history, the execution of his Son, into a day we now celebrate as Good Friday. Those disciples, who gazed at the cross from the shadows, soon learned what they had failed to learn in three years with their leader: When God seems absent, he may be closest of all. When God seems dead, he may be coming back to life.

The three-day pattern—tragedy, darkness, triumph—became for the New Testament writers a template that can be applied to all our times of testing.” (Philip Yancey in Disappointment with God, p.236.)

2. Selflessness is vital for lasting relationships. True
   

Often stories end with a death but the book of Ruth begins with death which in turn allowed for a new life, a new hope and a new future. Death was the beginning and not the end. And so it is with self. As selfishness dies a new life is made possible through selflessness. Naomi exhibits the true spirit of selflessness when she reviews the circumstances of all three women. Although seemingly overwhelmed with her own grief and sense of loss she realizes that her daughter-in-laws still have a long life ahead of them

Ruth 1:8-13

8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go back, each of you, to your mother's home. May the LORD show kindness to you, as you have shown to your dead and to me. 9 May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband."Then she kissed them and they wept aloud 10 and said to her, "We will go back with you to your people."11 But Naomi said, "Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? 12 Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me-even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons- 13 would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD's hand has gone out against me!" (from New International Version)

It is likely that these words of sympathetic concern for her daughter-in-laws is what made it so hard for Orpah to leave and for Ruth to stay. Note the following:

The people of God are His representatives upon the earth, and He intends that they shall be lights in the moral darkness of this world. Scattered all over the country, in the towns, cities, and villages, they are God's witnesses, the channels through which He will communicate to an unbelieving world the knowledge of His will and the wonders of His grace. It is His plan that all who are partakers of the great salvation shall be missionaries for Him. The piety of the Christian constitutes the standard by which worldlings judge the gospel. Trials patiently borne, blessings gratefully received, meekness, kindness, mercy, and love, habitually exhibited, are the lights that shine forth in the character before the world, revealing the contrast with the darkness that comes of the selfishness of the natural heart. {E. White, Conflict and Courage 59.4}

Naomi’s witness is so strong that Ruth not only desires to remain with her but also for “Your people will be my people and your God my God.” (1:16) Selflessness is vital for relationships and perhaps shines brightest when revealed in the darkest of times. The selfless spirit of Naomi spoke to the heart of Ruth and she responded in kind.

3. A beggar must first be shown how destitute they are before giving them the help they need. False
   

The story unfolds even more as Naomi and Ruth return to Naomi’s home town. Boaz, a relative of Naomi, had heard of the kindness that Ruth, a foreigner, had shown to Naomi.

Ruth 2:11
11 Boaz replied, "I've been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband-how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. (from New International Version)

With that he readily granted her permission to glean grain from what the harvesters left behind. Then unbeknownst to Ruth Boaz revealed his own commendable trait of character:

Ruth 2:15-16

15 As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, "Even if she gathers among the sheaves, don't embarrass her. 16 Rather, pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don't rebuke her." (from New International Version)

It is not always easy to show respect to those who are destitute. It is much easier to imply that if they worked harder, tried harder they wouldn’t be in the predicament they are in at the moment. Note the following:

"Souls who have cost the life of God's only-begotten Son must be estimated in value by the immense ransom paid for them; and, rich or poor, black or white, must be treated in respect to the value Christ has placed upon the human soul." {E. White, Medical Ministry 210}

"Many will allow a brother to struggle along unaided under adverse circumstances, and in thus doing they give to one precious soul the impression that they are thus representing Christ. It is no such thing; Jesus, who was rich, for our sake became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich. That He might save the sinner, He withheld not His own life. The heart of Christ is ever touched with human woe."--Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, p. 1270.

4. Ruth’s hope for a new future resided in her nearest kinsman, Boaz. False
   

Trick question. Boaz was not Ruth’s nearest kin.

Ruth 3:11-12

12 Although it is true that I am near of kin, there is a kinsman-redeemer nearer than I.(from New International Version)

What was a kinsman-redeemer?

“In the KJV OT this term is largely restricted to a rendering of a form of the Heb. Ga’al, ‘to buy back,’ to recover,’ ‘to redeem,’ and most of the references are to Boaz as a near kinsmanof Ruth’s deceased husband (Ruth 2:20; 3:9, 12; etc.), whose duty it was, in the event of a default of closer relatives, to redeem the childlessness of Ruth by marrying her.” (SDA Bible Dictionary, p.627)

Although Ruth did have a closer kinsmen that relative said, “I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate.” (4:6) Sometimes, even close relatives and friends, will show indifference to those who are struggling. While Boaz was available do you think this relative’s response, which seemed largely financial, was appropriate?

5. Minorities (of all kinds) are disadvantaged. True and False
   

There is no question that being in a cultural minority is often a disadvantage. We have no desire to argue that point. The question is this: Can we learn anything from Ruth’s experience that might be helpful for those (rich or poor, male or female, educated or uneducated – each side of the equation can face minority discrimination) who find themselves in some situations to be a minority?

Do you think any of the following made a difference as to how Ruth was received by the community and family? If so why?

Ruth 1:16-18

16 But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me." 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. (from New International Version)

AND

Ruth 3:10-12

10 "The LORD bless you, my daughter," he replied. "This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. 11 And now, my daughter, don't be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All my fellow townsmen know that you are a woman of noble character. (from New International Version)

There is an old Native American Indian (Cherokee) proverb that addresses one’s philosophy of life this way:

When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.

CONCLUSION

“The Bible never belittles human disappointment (remember the proportion in Job—one chapter of restoration follows forty-one chapters of anguish), but it does add one key word: temporary. What we feel now, we will not always feel. Our disappointment is itself a sign, an aching, a hunger for something better. And faith is, in the end, a kind of homesickness—for a home we have never visited but have never once stopped longing for.” (Philip Yancey, Disappointment with God, p. 276)

Heartache, disappointment and pain are with us day and night. My heart goes out to the earthquake victims in Peru and the miners who ride the roller coaster of hope and disappointment. If this pains me I can only imagine what it does to the heart of God but we must ever remember that this is temporary.

Rev 21:1-4

21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."(from New International Version)