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Welcome back! I hope your dig into this first chapter of Ruth is showing you amazing treasure. Here’s what I noticed about repetition, special statements, and lists in this study.
Last Week’s Work
REPETITION
I found two concepts repeated a number of times in this chapter: death (vv3, 5, 8, and 17) and return (vv6-8, 10, 15, 16, and 22); as well as related terms turn back in vv11 and 12, gone back in v15, and brought back in v21.
Really, this chapter is the story of a family who struck out on their own to preserve their lives, moving to a different country in search of famine relief. And all the men died anyway. How frustrating! No wonder Naomi described herself as bitter. What could she do but go back to whatever family she’d left in Bethlehem?
SPECIAL STATEMENTS
The Spirit showed me many special statements in this study:
- Prayers spoken by Naomi over her daughters-in-law:
May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have…with me (v8)
The Lord grant… you… rest… in the house of her husband (v9)
And by Ruth as an oath (see her promises, below):
May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you (v17). - Promises by Orpah and Ruth:
we will return with you to your people (v10)
And by Ruth alone:
where you go I will go
where you lodge I will lodge
Your people shall be my people
Your God [shall be] my God (v16)
Where you die I will die
there will I be buried (v17). - Commands of Naomi:
Go, return to your mothers’ houses (v8)
Turn back my daughters (twice in v12)
Go your way (v12)
Return after your sister-in-law (v15)
And one command by Ruth: Do not urge me to leave you or return from following you (v16)
Also, based on a previous study of this chapter, I think the occurrence of the famine might be the manifestation of a curse. I’m planning to explore that more in a couple of weeks. I also think Naomi might have been referring to that curse in v13 (… the hand of the Lord has gone out against me), and v21 (… the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me).
LISTS
Finally, I identified two lists. First, Naomi’s five complaints about God (vv13, 20-21)
- The hand of the Lord has gone out against her
- The Almighty has dealt very bitterly with her
- She went away full, the Lord brought her back empty
- The Lord testified against her
- The Almighty brought calamity upon her.
How would we deal with the tragedies Naomi faced? No wonder she was a “negative Naomi!” It’s easy for me—who hasn’t endured losses like hers—to judge her bad attitude, but I think the Spirit is calling this out to me now to help me learn something else. There’s a message here beneath the complaints, maybe, God can discipline (and I think also bless) us no matter how far we run from Him?
As mentioned above, Ruth’s six promises (vv16-19):
- Go with Naomi
- Lodge with Naomi
- Naomi’s people will be Ruth’s people
- Naomi’s God will be Ruth’s God
- Die where Naomi dies, and
- Be buried there.
What a beautiful statement of commitment. No wonder these verses or their paraphrases became popular wedding vows.
Dig-In Challenges
Next week, we’ll be wrapping up Step 3 by looking for three more elements of the lesson we’re learning from Ruth 1:
- PRAY: As always, start with the prayer we wrote for Step 1.
- MINE: Read through the passage again to see if the author uses any comparisons. The quickest way to locate these is to look for phrases containing the words like or as, as well as more than/ less than and better than/ worse than. Do you find any comparisons that connect directly with your personal focus area?
- MINE: Next, look for causes or motives in the text. The best way I’ve found to do this is to look for these key words or phrases:
because, for*, in order to, lest, since, so*, so that, that*, to*, therefore.
Finding them almost always means you’ll find an action phrase (noun + verb) with the reason for that action, too.
The *exceptions are for, so, that, and to—when these are used as other parts of speech (like prepositions or articles), you won’t find an action or a reason.
Next, look for the action (what’s being caused). With most of these words/phrases, you’ll find the action before the key word/phrase, and the reason will be after it.
For example, I went to the store because I was out of milk.
The action = I went to the store
because
The reason = I was out of milk.
Occasionally you may see the order of the statements reversed, but the reason will still follow the key word or phrase: Because I was out of milk, I went to the store.
However, with therefore and its synonyms so, so that, and hence, the action appears after these key words:
Here’s an example using the same reason and action as above, just changing the key word: I was out of milk; therefore, I went to the store.
Same reason = I was out of milk [but different location!]
therefore
Same action = I went to the store.
Try it, I think you’ll see it’s easier than all these words make it seem (and, of course, feel free to reach out to me at jen@jencason.com if you have questions)! - MINE: Finally, see if you can find any conditions/methods by asking: does the author condition the action you’re studying on something else happening—for example, if or when this condition is met, [then] that will happen? Or does he describe a particular method by which something happens—for example, specific steps taken to achieve something, or more generally by or through attributes or action (i.e., grace, faith)? Does he use any adverbs (-ly words) that describe how the action was accomplished?
These exercises are a little harder, but I know you can do this—give it a try and check back with me next week. I’m looking forward to it. I hope you are, too.