CONSEQUENCES

Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was without her two children and her husband.  Ruth 1:5

 The consequences of Elimelech’s compromise were devastating. He left for Moab with the hope of survival. Instead we learn that both he and his two sons died. He left with the hope that his family line would continue. Initially this seems to have begun to work (both of his sons marry) but no children result from this arrangement. Instead, because of the death of the three men, we are left with three helpless, vulnerable widows.

In light of these consequences, let me offer some thoughts. Doing things your own way is a fountain head of grief. “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” (Proverbs 14:12)

Famine in the will of God is better than feasting outside of the will of God. “For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would choose to stand at the threshold of the house of my God than dwell in the tents wickedness.” (Psalm 84:10)

God has a way of redeeming wasted years. Despite all the negativity of these first verses of Ruth, I find hope in this thought. All was not lost. It was because Elimelech moved to Moab that a young Moabitess is introduced to the reader – and she plays no insignificant role in this book and in the history of Israel. While in no way justifying Elimelech’s actions, I think it does show that God can still redeem any situation and use it to showcase His glory to the world.

 Philip Moeller