11. “How God Works Redemption in a Dark Age” (The Book of Ruth)

Are we living in a new Dark Age?   Well, at least some think so – a quick google search of that question will lead you to various articles (from sources like the Washington Post, Forbes, and others) suggesting that, yes, indeed, we are in a kind of new dark age. 

One of those articles, quotes the historian William Manchester who describes the Dark Ages of Europe, that period beginning with the collapse of the Roman empire up to the Renaissance, as a period of “[continual] warfare, corruption, lawlessness, obsession with strange myths and an almost impenetrable mindlessness.” The author goes on to comment, “It’s not a stretch of the imagination to see the remarkable parallels between our own ‘scientific age’ and that of Europe’s Dark Ages.”  We can think of examples like the constant wars playing out in the middle east; conflicts and tension with Europe, NATO, Russia, and the war in Ukraine; violent and lawless protests; the loss of objective truth. There seems to be an impenetrable mindlessness with so much of our discourse; your truth verses my truth; your interpretation of events, my interpretation; add to this political corruption, the distrust of institutions, corruption and abuse of powers in institutions of all kinds, including the church.

Whether or not we’re in a new dark age, there is certainly much to lament and grieve about the way things are at the present moment. This morning as we conclude our study of Judges, we ought to remember that the period of the Judges was a dark age in the history of Israel. This was a time of confusion about God, of faithlessness and idolatry, of wars and suffering, of corruption and lawlessness. A time where people turned away from God and where things got darker and darker in society as a result.  They turned away from God, from listening to God, from receiving and following God’s loving instruction, and this led to death, destruction, and social decay.  And as you come to the end of Judges you see the effects on society. You may remember some of the results, the complete confusion about what it even means to know God and love him, people think they are loving God and doing good and yet they are completely wrong.   You see awful violence, the powerful taking advantage over the weak.  You see the objectification of people and the complete disregard of treating people with dignity and honor as those made in the image of God. The very last few chapters of Judges we didn’t even look at because the content is a bit too much for a mixed audience.  If Judges was a TV show, it would be TV-MA and the final episode would begin with one of those warnings, “The preceding program contains scenes of extreme violence and should not be viewed by young children.”  Reader discretion is advised.

And one of the temptations of living in an age of Darkness is Despair.  We saw this in Judges.  When again, Israel does what is evil in the sight of the LORD.  When… AGAIN… they become idolatrous and the pattern of giving into sin keeps happening, there can be despair.  A loss of any real hope for change. Do you know what that’s like?  It’s just inevitable that I’m going to fail again.  I’m going to engage in the addictive behavior… I’m going to lose my cool… I’ve said a thousand times, I’m not doing that again, and yet, here I am, I’ve don’t it again… Maybe this is just who I am, maybe I’m just a failure… Maybe change is for other people… Despair, personal despair. OR we could think about this toward the church.  Maybe you’re a Christian; you believe in Jesus, but with all the repeated failures of the church what’s the point of giving myself and my time and resources to the church? It’s so messed up, hopelessly messed up, it seems like you can’t go a month or two without hearing of some new scandal, some new uncovering of abuse, or turning away from what God has said. I’m not sure the effort is worth it with all the mess and with people de-churching and de-constructing… I just don’t know if I have the energy anymore for all this…

And so maybe you think, I’m just going to try and take care of myself and inner circle my friends and family… Despair toward the church…OR we could think about despair as it relates to society. Let’s say you’re a Christian but you really wonder, “What will my efforts accomplish in seeking to follow Jesus in mission to our world – to neighbors, co-workers, friends, and family who don’t believe?”  The people I know, their lives are far from Jesus and trusting him.  They don’t want to believe, and the current of culture and way of life is so strong, what will my efforts accomplish? And so maybe you think, I’m not going to talk about this stuff anymore; I’m not going to put myself out there to pursue others and speak of the hope I have in Jesus. If you ever feel like this, if you ever feel despair toward yourself, or despair toward the church and the people of God, or despair toward the wider society, Ruth is your book. 

In this short, beautiful little part of God’s word, we have such a fitting conclusion to the book of Judges. Because the book of Ruth shows us “How God works Redemption in a Dark Age.”  And what Ruth shows us is how God works through ordinary people, whose lives have been touched by God’s faithful and committed love and so they show that same faithful love to others around them. What the book of Ruth shows us is how seemingly small and insignificant acts of faithful and committed love are used by God to ripple out bringing fullness and redemption to a whole nation and even to the whole world. Like much of our lives, the story of Ruth is lived in the small and ordinary and particular details of one family, one family living in a difficult time.  And yet, as we will see, look what God does in and through his people who know his love and embody his love in the world. 

If you have your bulletin out, let’s look at Ruth together.  Let’s look at Ruth and think about how the story begins, then the faithful love of Ruth, then the Faithful love of Boaz, and finally the unimaginable effects God works through them. Notice how Ruth begins in v. 1, “In the days when the judges ruled…”  And having studied Judges, a flood of content sets the stage as we think about this story. 

Very much in step with Judges, this story begins with turning away from God.  We read that there is a famine in the land, which is not a neutral description because during this time when God’s people were in the land, a famine was a covenant curse, it was a result of unfaithfulness.  A famine for Israel during this time is the check engine light coming on telling you that things are not good, and God is trying to wake you up to turn back to him. 

Well, ironically, Elimelek, whose name means “My God is King,” does not live out the meaning of his name, but rather participates in what we could call “voluntary exile”.  At a time when Israel’s relationship and communion with God was very much tied up with living in
God’s land, “My God is King” turns away to go to Moab, a place that is also not spiritually neutral territory.  No, this is a people who led Israel to turn away from God and participate in idolatry, in the book of Numbers. Unsurprisingly, the spiritual move away from God and the land God had given leads to the sons of “My God is King” marrying foreign wives.  And this turning away from God, very much like we’ve seen in Judges, leads to death and devastation.  All the men die.  And the three women are left without children, and therefore without heirs to carry on the family name.  They are left without help and people to care for them in their old age.  They are left with nothing.

And here we begin to see the Faithful Love of Ruth. We read that Naomi in v. 6, hears that God has visited his people and so she’s going back to Israel, to Bethlehem, where she is from.  And she urges her daughters-in-law not to go with her.  Because as she puts it in v. 11 and following, there is no hope for you if you go with me.  There are no marriage prospects, no prospects of children, which in that world and time meant no future, no security, no life.  Orpah, one of the daughters in law, upon hearing this in v. 14 weeps, kisses her mother-in-law, and leaves.  She does the rational thing.  But Ruth won’t leave. Ruth clings to Naomi.  The word, “cling” is a significant term, it could be translated to “hold fast.”  It’s covenantal language of the kind of bond and commitment God’s people were to have to him.  As Moses commanded, Deut. 13:4 “It is the LORD your God you must follow… Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him.” It is the language of the first marriage in Genesis 2 when Adam was to “hold fast” to his wife, Eve.  This is a deep bond of committed love that won’t leave. 

Somehow, Ruth has come to know the LORD.  I can’t imagine Naomi was a great witness.  But somehow the truth of who the real God is, and the reality of his faithful, committed love has touched Ruth’s life.  And it’s clear this has happened because she is embodying what God is like to Naomi. Ruth echoes the covenant language that God says to his people when he says, “I am your God, and you shall be my people.”  She says to Naomi in v. 16 “Your people shall be my people and your God my God.”  I will not leave or forsake you, “Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried.  May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”   

Though throughout the book she will be called “Ruth the Moabite.” Though she will be seen by others as an outsider, this woman’s identity has changed. She has come to identify with the LORD, taking refuge in him and belonging to him.  She has known his faithful love and so even when there doesn’t seem like any rational reason or possible hope that she would ever have a future or a life, she sticks with Naomi.  She clings to her with covenant faithfulness.  And it is this committed and faithful love that animates Ruth as she comes into Bethlehem with Naomi.  As she in chapter 2 must figure out how to provide for their need for food, she goes out to try and find some place to get food.  She moves out into the world, even in places unfamiliar and dangerous, animated by God’s faithful love.  And we also see this faithful love so clearly in Boaz.  Boaz, who we meet in chapter 2.  Here is a person very different from Ruth.  He’s an Israelite.  A land-owning man in a patriarchal society.  And yet, here is a person whose life has clearly experienced transformation by God’s faithful and generous love.  In v. 4, he speaks to his workers acknowledging the LORD, “The LORD be with you!”  Boaz is the kind of boss who really cares about your well-being, who wants to know how things are going in his fields, how people are doing, who is incredibly generous with all he has. And we see this, especially in his interactions with Ruth.  Boaz clearly personally knows God’s welcoming and generous love, because this is what he shows Ruth. 

Throughout the book, as I just mentioned, Ruth is constantly referred to as “Ruth the Moabite.”  In chapter 2 v. 6, Boaz’s young man who is in charge of the reapers refers to her as “the Moabite… from the country of Moab,” which I always have found sort of funny, as if Moabites come from other places. But again and again it is stressed in the book that this woman is an outsider.  She would be seen by almost everyone as an ethnic and religious outsider.  And if, as we saw throughout Judges, Israel has a hard time even treating their own people with dignity and honor, as people made in God’s image, how likely is it that Ruth, the MOABITE, would be treated like human being made in God’s image?  And yet look what Boaz does. In v. 8, he honors her, calling her, “My daughter.”  He lets her know that she is welcome in his field.  In v. 9 He protects her.   He cares for her by making clear when she has need of water, where she should get it and that she is welcome there. In v. 14, he shows her hospitality, inviting her to sit and eat with him and his workers.  And Ruth who would have been trying to get just enough food for her and Naomi to survive, experiences abundance where she eats until she is satisfied and even has leftovers to take home. The generosity continues in v. 15.  When Ruth gets up from the meal to go back into the field to glean.  As one writer puts it, Boaz tells his young men to be “deliberately careless in their harvesting.”

“Whoops we left a whole sheave…. Whoops we dropped another on the ground….. well, 5 sec. rule, I guess we have to leave it…..”  

Ruth has been welcomed, protected, and included.  She has feasted and found generosity and abundance beyond what would be realistic or imaginable. And let’s not forget.  This story started with a famine.  How rational is it for Boaz to be so generous?  How reckless!  Does it make sense to be so generous in such a dark time?  What if there’s another famine?  Ok sure, God says some things about allowing the poor to glean, but do I really need to provide for a Moabite?   When you think about the period of the Judges, this is remarkable… And so different… and so weird!

As we turn to the end of Ruth Chapter 4, we see the unimaginable effects God works through these two people, Ruth and Boaz who embody God’s faithful love in the world.  What ends up happening is, Boaz, who is part of larger family of Naomi’s husband, Elimelek, takes Ruth to be his wife and they have a child. And what this means is that this family, that had turned from God and experienced death and devastation, this family that seemed to have lost everything, is redeemed; they are restored; they are brought to fullness because now there will be an heir, someone to continue the family name and line. 

Chapter 4 verse 14 says “the woman said to Naomi, ‘Blessed be the LORD (Look what God has done), who has not left you this day without a redeemer…’” What the woman goes on to say is remarkable, where they recognize and say of Ruth, “your daughter-in-law who loves you, …. is more to you than seven sons.”  In the ancient world, in that culture, if you were having a child, you’d want it to be a son.  And seven is the number of perfection, seven sons!!! You can’t get any better than that!   But you can… What’s better than seven sons?  A foreign woman who has been transformed by God’s love, who embodies God’s faithful love in the world. This alone would have been unimaginable; the family restored, Ruth honored and recognized. 

But that’s not all. God in his faithful and generous love is up to bigger things through this relatively small story of redemption and restoration. In the last few verses of Ruth, we get a genealogy.  Your favorite part of the Bible for sure, genealogies.  But this genealogy literally transforms the whole story of Ruth. Because it shows us that God is up to something bigger than merely restoring this Israelite family.  The book of Ruth is set during the period of the Judges.  And the last few chapters of Judges keep repeating this refrain, “There was no king in Israel, no righteous leader to guide the people, everyone did what was right in their own eyes.”

Look at verses 17 and 22 – Where does the genealogy end? David. King David. The king who God would use to move his redemptive plan of restoration forward. The genealogy is telling us that God was not just showing faithful love to Naomi and her family… God was showing faithful, generous, committed love to Israel.  Israel, who like the family of Elimelek had turned away from God again and again, but God didn’t turn his back on them.  In the midst of the darkness, in the midst of the time of the judges, God was at work, in a small, almost microscopic way, through a few people, in one particular family to bring the king Israel needed.  And if you were to keep reading through the story of the OT you would see that though David was the king that God would use to continue to advance and move forward his redemptive plan of restoration for the world.  David, flawed and sinful as he was, pointed to a much greater king. 

And as you turn to the very first page of the New Testament, the gospel of Matthew, chapter one, what do we have but another genealogy.   A genealogy that includes Ruth and Boaz and David the king, all who are part of this story leading to the one king, the one person, through whom God would bring redemption and restoration, Jesus the Messiah.  And so we see what truly would have been unimaginable to Ruth and Boaz, what would have been utterly unthinkable, that in their small story and their small lives. God was not just showing his faithful and committed love to Naomi; God was not even just showing his love to Israel.  GOD WAS SHOWING HIS LOVE TO THE WHOLE WORLD!!!

God was loving you and he was loving me. 

Do not despair in the midst of the darkness. Look at how God worked in the time of the Judges.  Look at how God was at work carrying forward his plan of redemption and restoration in the midst of the darkness.  Look at how he used and worked in and through the faithful committed love of his people.  Do not despair and give up in the struggle against sin in your life.  Do not discount the seemingly small you can love and serve others in the church or in the world. 

What was like little pebbles of faithful love in Ruth, compared to the ocean of darkness and sorrow, God used.  And the ripple effects touch the lives of every person sitting here today. 

In the midst of a dark age – God was at work. 

And isn’t this the glory and wonder of Christmas?  Isn’t this what we celebrate today?  That God through someone so small and so seeming unimportant, a baby born to a poor Jewish couple in a unimportant town, that through Jesus, the eternal Son who took on flesh, God in person in our world… through him, God would bring redemption and restoration to the world. To the world in darkness that had turned away from God, as the hymn puts it, a world “in sin and error pining,” the world languishing, unable to save ourselves, heal ourselves, stuck in sin……. God was bringing “a new and glorious morning.”  A new day was dawning as God was working salvation and rescue through Jesus.

Jesus, who “comes to taste our sadness,” who comes to take our sins upon himself, who is born that he might die for us, who is raised from the dead that through him we could have life and know that the darkness will not last and will not have the last word on our lives. This is the glory of Christmas; this is what we celebrate, the wonder and glory of Jesus. 

And this, who we celebrate is also meant to transform our lives. To be people of Hope- as we look forward with confidence to what God will do. To be people of faith – trusting God who has shown himself to be utterly trustworthy. To be people animated by love as those whose lives have been touched, healed, and transformed by God’s love such that we carry that same love to others in our world.