The names of the family in the book of Ruth echo the sound of the gospel to us:
- Elimilech: Me and My God is King.
- Naomi: My Pleasant One.
- Chilion: Pining.
- Mahlon: Sick.
- Orpah: Hind or Fawn.
- Ruth: Beauty.
- Boaz: Name of a Brazen Pillar.
Elimilech, because of a famine in the land, decided to move to another limited country of abundance … and away from his God and King. What he experienced here is due to the real famine in his heart. Elimilechs two sons did not return. So we could say: when one moves away from the limitless spaces of My God is my King and choose to leave His presence then your inheritance becomes, “pining of what one did have and a sickness of the soul”. The summary is: ‘the wages of sin is death’. So father and sons did not return – Naomi did.
Some thoughts for our day:
- The church had a reputation and a denomination. (A denomination – simply means that she had a name – (Naomi- The pleasant one followed Elimilech and went astray). Rev 3:1 “You have a name that you are alive but you are dead.
- There is a difference between a man’s reputation and his private personal relationship with God. Your name – confession may be good; but your walk(to Moab) does not correspond.
- Elimilech heard the voice in the famine. The famine was the herald of God to awaken them from a comatose Christianity. The school of Peace and Pleasure , or the University of Grief & Pain. Moab’s bread or God’s bread Mt 4:4
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