July 13, 2025

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

Sermon Text: Ruth 1:1-19a

Other Readings: Galatians 5:1,13-25 and Luke 10:25-37

 

Note: The country and people of Moab can be traced back to Lot, the nephew of Abraham, as read in Genesis chapter 19.

Here is one map which can help orient Moab and Judah.

 

1. What does the opening verse tell us about the setting? What might it mean for authorship?

 

2.  Hebrew names carried more meaning than we typically assign. Look at the meaning for the names below and then comment on what that insight adds to this text.
   1. Elimelek – “My God is king”

 

2. Naomi – “Pleasant”

 

3. Based on Naomi’s words in verses 8, 9, and 13, evaluate where Naomi’s faith seems to be at.

 

 

4. The readings from Sunday emphasized being a neighbor to those around you. Galatians 5 was chosen because the fruits of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control) are ways that we can be a neighbor. What fruits of the Spirit did Ruth exemplify here (or in the rest of the Book of Ruth)?

 

 

5. How would you fill in the blank? “Ruth decided to be Naomi’s neighbor because ______________.” Make applications to your own life.
   
    

1. “The days when the judges ruled” refers to the events of the Book of Judges. That Book covers three centuries of tumultuous cycles in the Holy Land, after they had settled the Promised Land and before Saul was made king. A theme of the judges is that “everyone did as he saw fit.” So, unbelief and disobedience often ran rampant, and God allowed neighboring people’s to afflict Israel. When they would cry out to God for help, he would raise up “judges” – leaders who made decisions across military, political, and judicial situations.
   
   Based on the way the verse refers to the days of judges, it seems to indicate that this is a period long since past at the time of writing. So, it seems likely that the Book of Ruth was written sometime after King David as a way to show God’s hand in unlikely rise of King of David.

 

2.  The names lend irony to the text, don’t they? If Elimelek’s God is king, then why does Elimelek have to go to a foreign land because of a famine… and die there, no less?! If Naomi is such a pleasant person, then why does she end up experiencing so much bitterness at the hand of God (v. 13).

 

3. Naomi is struggling with suffering. Before we cast too much judgment on her, we note that many heroes of faith did the same thing, especially in the Old Testament. Consider Job or David or Jeremiah. Even Jesus asked on the cross, “Why have you forsaken me?” Even if Naomi went a step too far in her tone (and that’s debatable), we should give her credit for keeping God at the center of it all. She understands that both good (“May the Lord show you kindness…”) and bad (“The Lord’s hand has gone out against me.”) are from God. She understands that no matter the situation, God remains God. And that’s a key element of faith.

 

4. Perhaps the only one that is not on display in these verses is “joy,” and that’s mostly because there perhaps isn’t an appropriate opportunity to show it since Naomi is so down-in-the-dumps.

 

5. Pastor Voss might suggest finishing the blank this way: because Ruth has faith in God and in his merciful kindness. Note how Ruth uses the “covenant name” for God—the Lord. She understands God makes gracious promises and keeps them, especially through the people of Israel in the Old Testament, and she wants to be a part of that.
   
   In the same way, we should have the same faith. God continues to make and keep promises to us, especially through Word and sacrament. Since he shows us kindness, we can go “out on a limb” and be a neighbor to others.