Ruth 1:

3. And Elimelech Naomi’s husband died; and she was left, and her two sons

4. And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years

5. And Mahlon and Chlion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband.

 

This is a case of being between a rock and a hard ground. Here is a woman who with her entire family, for economic advantage and reason, has escaped  poverty and famine only to end up losing all her entire brood and husband into the ready hand of death. It’s a tragedy planed from the pith of hell; it’s a seed of everlasting sorrow, a gash that cannot be healed.

But why should Elimelech be ignorant of the mind of God concerning Moab? He’s certainly not unaware of the history of the relationship of Israel and Moab. In the ages following the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Moab and Ammon, sons of Lot and his daughters, had both become kingdoms when Israel was still living in Egypt. Oppression and systematic elimination decided Israel to leave Egypt. Led by Moses, after many wars and adventure of faith, the people were to pass through the land of Moab, Moab was already a nation and migrating Israel was to go through that nation on the road to forming her own nation. The king of Moab, Balak, sent for Balaam to curse the migrating nation for him. Balak had entertained the fear that the migrant nation would “lick” his kingdom up. The solution he came up was to invite a soothsayer to curse them. Balaam, the soothsayer, was an enigma to whom the God of Israel wasn’t a stranger. He knew God’s righteous and holy principles; by this was He different from every other being who laid claim to divinity. Balaam was renowned far and wide. An adept of great order, Balaam knew what to do to bound God’s hands from fighting. God knew him and went ahead to preempt him. First, He arranged the Israelites in order in their camp. Then He warned Balaam not to honour the invitation of Balak and, when the prophet was wont to go, God warned him not to speak anything unless what was given to him by God to speak. He did everything possible to bind God’s hand from being in offensive by ordering the building of altars. At each point, at each vista, at each spot and at each place of watch, looking from the mountainous hills, he would attempt to curse, but God was up to the task as He continued to turn the curse to prophetic blessings. Practically, there was no cracking point to curse. Strangely enough, he’d build an altar at many points and killed seven oxen and seven rams and made burnt sacrifice… How did he know that number seven was the number of God meaning perfection and that there’s something called burnt offering? This could only be from a man who knew some secrets of God.

However, God was always two steps ahead of him. He was to curse but he heard himself saying, “….Balak, the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come curse me Jacob and come, defy Israel. How shall I defy, whom the Lord hath not defied? For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I beheld him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations….” (Number 23:7-8). Balaam soon discovered that God was not going to change His mind concerning Israel. He therefore flowed with the spirit and blessed Israel. Of course, he knew how to precipitate a spiritual law that would weaken the divine protection. He taught Balak what to do to destroy Israel. The Lord Jesus revealed this of Balaam who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrifice to idols and to commit fornication (Revelation 3:14, cf Number 25:1-9). 24,000 souls were destroyed by the fierce anger of God; it took the holy anger of the Levites in their ruthless killing of their brethren to mollify God’s wrath.

Even then, Moses raised up a ban against the Moabites in settled Israel. The Law said, An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord, even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the Lord for ever because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor of Pethar of Mesopotamia, to curse thee…. Thou shall not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever (Deuteronomy 23:3-4,6).

This is the land Elimelech and his family move to sojourn in the course of famine and economic quagmire the people of Israel have come into. If I had the written word as Elimelech did, I’d not easily migrate to Moab. One of those instruments handy for Satan is his ability to make us miss God’s spirit on issues of life – where to live, what profession to chose and who to marry. The bible gives scanty direction and no more. For example, in marriage, the Book speaks who not to marry but doesn’t tell who to choose among those it permits. We have to depend on the Spirit of the Lord in hitting the bull eye of the mind of God. Those God gave versatility in intellectual mastery are especially prone to frustration in making up their minds in choosing a field of study.

If I’m reluctant to excoriate Elimelech, it’s only because I’m pausing to catch my breath. I know more today than Elimelech knew but in my total gravitation towards God, I’m far from being better than him in hitting it right with God at every turn of life. Has ever a man failed God, failed to get the heart of God? Well, I’m the one!

My green pasture should be where I’m in the vicinity of God’s righteousness.

Elimelech has now died in the strange land of japa. His two married sons also died and Naomi knew it’s all over in life. But the One that prepared eternal salvation has decided that it can never be over with Him. Isaiah asks, If God has purposed,who can annul; if God’s hand is stretched forth, who can turn back? When it’s said that it’s all over, God is the One that replies and says, No, it’s not over. When I say it’s finished, it’s the Lord that speaks comfort to me saying, No, it’s just the beginning! He’s giving me another lease of life. I’m in another lease of life; I’m in an endless second chance!

 

Thank You, Lord