Doctrine of Suffering; Moab
Naomi is
felt with two daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth, and now she has a problem. She
is faced with her own crisis, her own suffering, her own adversity, and she is
going to respond without doctrine. She is going to end up being self-focused,
self-absorbed in her own suffering. And she is going to start whining and
crying about her suffering and by the end of the chapter we will discover that
she is an empty, lonely, bitter old woman. So we are going to get into the
whole doctrine of bitterness, and how to avoid bitterness, and what bi8tterness
does to the soul before we wrap up this chapter.
We have to
understand God’s plan and purposes for suffering. So often when people
encounter suffering like this, because it strikes at the very core of our own
lives, that we tend to blame God. There are many people who reach out and blame
God for suffering that occurs in their life. The overall question is, Why is
there evil in the world? Only in Christianity is evil and suffering contained
and controlled by a good God. Only in Christianity does God limit the effect
and impact of evil.
The origin
of evil is creaturely volition. God is absolute righteousness and in His
integrity He cannot create evil. A righteous God can create nothing less than
perfection. So when a righteous God created the angels they were all created
perfect. When God create man He created man in the image and likeness of God,
and He created man with positive perfection. Adam was created with a positive
righteousness. It was an untested righteousness but it was a positive
righteousness. Man wasn’t neutral. There’s a difference between a tested and an
untested righteousness but it is not the difference between neutrality and
positive righteousness. Man also has volition, self-determination. He can make
decisions and he has one crucial decision to make in relationship to the test
of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil: whether or not to
eat. When Adam ate he introduced evil into the human race. But that was the
second introduction of evil into creation, the first was when Lucifer fell. He
chose wrongly and that introduced evil into the universe. So evil is the result
not of God creating evil but it is the result of creatures who make bad
decisions, who disobey God. Evil originated in time; evil will be judged and
restricted and confined to the lake of fire eventually. So only in Christianity
is there a temporary restriction on evil. God has a plan and a purpose in which
he allows or permits evil to exist but it does not run rampant, God still is in
control. This is the picture of Job chapters 1 & 2.
Then we
come to the reasons for suffering. First of all, we suffer because we live in a
fallen world. After Adam sinned we all live in a fallen world, the devil’s
world, in the cosmic system that is under the curse and judgment of God. So
because we live in a system that has been corrupted by sin there is always
going to be suffering. Second, we live with fallen creatures. Because we live
with them we are going to sometimes suffer because they make bad decisions from
their sin natures. And sometimes others are going to suffer because you make
bad decisions from your sin nature! That is why we have to be grace oriented
and come to understand the whole doctrine of impersonal love as believers
because we are always tied up in close relationship with other sinners.
Thirdly, we live with our own fallen nature and that means we are going to make
bad decisions from a position of weakness, and a position of weakness is
defined as the area of weakness of our sin nature, which is the source of
personal sins. Our sin nature produces bad decisions, and bad decisions refer
to any decision that is generated from the sin nature, and there are eventual
consequences to pay.
God has
provided a system of thinking and a system of application of doctrine so that
no matter what the circumstances are, no matter how horrible they may be, we
can still have peace and contentment and stability in the midst of it.
The
purposes for suffering, deserved and undeserved. For deserved suffering the
purposes are two. First of all, natural consequences of our own sin.
“Whatsoever a man sows, that will he also reap.” We suffer the natural consequences
of our own bad decisions. The interesting thing in the law of behavior is that
what we reap often occurs months, years, decades after we sow. The other reason
for deserved suffering is divine discipline. This is where God takes the
natural consequences and intensifies them in the life of the believer because
he is trying to teach the believer, to get the believer’s attention, to get him
back in fellowship and to begin applying doctrine.
The
purpose of undeserved suffering in relation to the unbeliever is that it is a
wake-up call to evangelism. It forces the unbeliever to face his own mortality,
to ask the question about the purpose and meaning of life, and it perhaps gets
the unbeliever to focus upon his own creatureliness and gets him to focus on
his God-consciousness. So undeserved suffering for the unbeliever is designed
to get his attention in evangelism, so that perhaps he will respond positively
to the gospel and put his faith alone in Christ alone.
For the
believer undeserved suffering is related to spiritual growth, because it is
when we go through undeserved suffering that we have the opportunity to respond
by using the problem-solving devices. These are spiritual skills that enable us
to grow and advance as believers. If we do not master those skills we will not
grow, we will not advance, and we will not be able to handle the problems.
Instead of having joy and contentment and tranquility in life as the final goal
of the believer’s life, what happens is that we fall apart and fragment and we
become miserable, self-absorbed, and fall into self-pity. The second reason is
that it is a witness to others. As we see in Job it is a witness to both angels
and demons. It is a testimony of God’s grace and God’s provision to angels,
demons, and to Satan. It is also a witness to unbelievers because they are
going to look at our lives and see us go through undeserved suffering, and
instead of falling apart and pushing the panic button, we are relaxed and calm.
In fact, we have a boldness and courage in facing life. It is also a testimony
and encouragement to other believers.
In the
first five verses of Ruth we are introduced to Elimolech’s problem-solving
device: Moab. He decides that he is going to go outside the promised land, the
place of blessing, into a place that is really the place of human viewpoint and
the place of paganism. At this particular time in history Moab was one of the
greatest examples of paganism and perversionism in the ancient world.
We need to
get a little background on Moab in order to understand some of the problems
here because what is going to happen is, starting in verse 6, Naomi is going to
demonstrate and obvious reluctance to take her Moabite daughters-in-law back
into Israel. Why was Moab a place to be avoided and why were the Moabites
looked down upon by the Jews?
Genesis
19:30 for Moab’s perverse beginnings. A nation that starts off being perverse
can’t help but continue to be perverse. “And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his
two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave,
he and his two daughters. And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father
is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner
of all the earth: Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with
him, that we may preserve seed of our father.” So the daughters were going to
solve their problems with alcohol and are going to get their father drunk. Then
their next option is: “Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie
with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father
drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and
he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. And it came to pass on
the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay last night
with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and
lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their
father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and
he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. Thus were both the
daughters of Lot with child by their father. And the firstborn bore a son, and
called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day. And
the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Benammi: the same is the
father of the children of Ammon unto this day.”
This gives
us the origin of the Moabites, and the name “Moab” is from the preposition men,
meaning from, plus the word which means father. It is also etymologically
related to another Hebrew word meaning desire, and so there is a hint of real
perversion in the name of Moab. The second son is name Benammi and he is the
father of the Ammonites, and Benammi means the son of my people. So Moab is a child
of perversion and his descendants are no less perverse. One of the first places
we really meet the Moabits is in Numbers chapter 21 and following, and there
the Moabites under their king Balak are trying to pervert the Israelites. So
Moab is always a picture in the Old Testament of those who are trying to destroy
Israel. They are trying to seduce Israel and trying to wipe them out
militarily.
The chief
god of the Moab pantheon is Kemosh, a particularly perverted god because in order
to satisfy him you had to put your child on the altar. Between Kemosh’s arms
was a fire plate. They would stoke the furnace up and then they would put their
infant in his arms and there would be a child sacrifice to Kemosh. They not
only worshipped Kemosh but among the pantheon of gods that they worshipped was
also Baal. The first mention of the word “Baal” is found in Number 25:1-4. The
Israelites at this time had come out from Egypt and were coming up from the
south at the southern end of the Dead Sea and are coming up on the eastern side
through Moab. Moab doesn’t want them to come through their land and so Balak is
trying to stop them, and that is what the whole episode with Balaam and his
prophecy is all about. Balak wants Balaam to curse the Jews. He has this mystical
view of cursing and thinks that somehow if Balaam curses the Jews then they won’t
be able to have any success. God prevents that from happening in order to teach
Balak a lesson, but Ballam in his perversion tells Balak how he can destroy the
effectiveness of Israel even though he is prevented by God from cursing them. The
plan of operation was for Balak to take his young marriageable women and they
were to go out and seduce the Jews. This is what happens in Numbers 25:1. So
Israel get involved in spiritual adultery and reversionism with the Moabites,
and they get involved in physical adultery and fornication with the daughters
of Moab. The result of that was that it would destroy the purity of Abraham’s
descendants. So God has to judge the nation and he judges not only Israel but
also the Moabites at that point.
Numbers
25:1-5, “And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom
with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of
their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. And Israel
joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel. And
the LORD said
unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the LORD against the sun, that the fierce
anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel. And Moses said unto the judges of
Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baalpeor.” Once again we see the importance and impact
that God demands the destruction and the taking of life for those who commit
certain sins.
The next
place that we meet the Moabites is in Deuteronomy chapter 23. There we find a number
of fascinating prohibitions in relationship to those who can come into the
presence of the Lord. First of all, no one who was emasculated. That would
refer to the eunuchs. Then no one of illegitimate birth or his descendants,
even to the tenth generation. In verse 3, no Ammonite and no Moabite could enter
the assembly of the Lord, or their descendants even to the tenth generation. Verses
4-6, “Because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when you
came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against you Balaam the son of
Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you. Nevertheless the LORD your God would not hearken unto
Balaam; but the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the LORD your God loved you. You shall not
seek their peace nor their prosperity all your days for ever.”
So there
is a specific prohibition to Israel that they are not to seek the prosperity or
fertility in Moab all their days. Yet what is Elimelech doing? He is going over
to Moab in order to solve the problem of the famine in the land.
The next
major event where we find Israel pitted against Moab and the Moabites is in
Judges chapter three where Eglon king of Moab was assassinated by the judge
Ehud. Israel was put under oppression of Moab for eighteen years. So Moab is
not a positive place for the people of Israel, and yet this is where Elimelech looks
in order to find a solution to the problem of famine. He goes to the Moabites,
and that is exactly what most Christians end up doing whenever they face
problems in life; they end up looking somewhere else for the solutions to life’s
problems which are human viewpoint problems. But that is not the goal of the
spiritual life. The goal of the spiritual life is to solve our problems
exclusively by depending upon the Holy Spirit and by applying the promises and procedures
that God has outlined in the Scriptures.
We find
Namoi at the end of verse 5 destitute, a widow with no hope, no one to provide
for her or take care of her, and yet see also thinks she has some level of
responsibility for her two daughters-in-law.
Ruth 1:6, “Then
she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of
Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited
his people in giving them food.” The Hebrew text is precise here. The emphasis
is always on Naomi at this point, not on the daughters-in-law who are viewed by
the writer as secondary. The focus is on Naomi and Naomi’s response to the
crisis. The Hebrew word for “visited” is really an anthropomorphic term that is
rooted in an understanding of the covenant. The term is a picture of a great
king coming to his vassal in order to see how things are going and to find out
of they are really being obedient. God is omniscient and doesn’t need to come
down and temporarily visit mankind, but that is the anthropomorphic picture
that is presented here. Then we have a clause in the Hebrew that seems to suggest
how He visited them. He visited them by giving them food. Food is really the
result of the action, the effect. The cause was rain. The result of no rain was
no food, so when it says God visited His people by giving them food we know
that God has sent rain now and is blessing Israel.
Naomi
seems to have enough understanding of God and of the Old Testament Scriptures,
and enough understanding of what is going on here that she realizes that God was
no longer cursing the nation but was now blessing the nation; and if she gets
back across the Jordan river then she might get a few crumbs. She is a picture,
though, of a believer who has a very tired faith, a faith that has no
confidence, a faith that has little hope. She is just going to drag herself
home full of self-pity, bitter against God, and just hope that somehow or some way
a few little crumbs will come off the table for her. Little does she know that
less than three feet from her in the person of her daughter-in-law, Ruth, is
the most fantastic blessing she can ever experience, who is in turn going to be
the grandmother of one of the greatest blessings that Israel in the Old
testament ever had, and who will be in the line of the Messiah. She is focusing
on her terrible circumstances and rather than trusting God, because she is
limited in her knowledge. In the midst of her misery God is already filling
her. He has already moved to answer her prayer and she doesn’t even know it.