“In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab” (Ruth 1:1).
I once passed through the land of Moab, but I didn’t try to live there.
In January 2005, I spent three weeks in Jordan visiting some of our WCC families working there. We spent most of the time working in the city of Amman, but we did get an opportunity to take a few sightseeing trips.
On a trip to visit Aqaba on the Red Sea, we passed through the land just East of the Dead Sea that was once called Moab. As we journeyed South we passed by snow covered hills that seemed out of place in the desert setting. Other than the modern highway we travelled on, this land looked as if nothing had changed in centuries. It was a good thing our bus driver had a full tank of gas because I didn’t see anywhere to stop for miles. The land of Moab was as it had always been, a land for sheep and goats, and little else.
Having passed through Moab I can’t imagine why anyone would want to live there. Yet, Elimelech took his wife Naomi and two sons from Bethlehem (Hebrew: House of Bread) to Moab to live. Probably seemed like a good idea at the time. Like a lot of men, rather than praying and staying, Elimelech decided to go try living outside God’s promised land for a while. Perhaps he could see the snow capped hills in the distance and thought they meant better rain. He probably only meant to stay for a while. But man’s worldly schemes never work out in the end.
Ten years passed and Elimelech and both his boys were dead in Moab. Poor Naomi and her two daughter-in-laws, Ruth and Orpah, were left alone.
That’s when Naomi heard about there being bread again in Bethlehem. She decided to get out of Moab and return home. Ruth went with her. She had never been out of Moab, but with eyes of faith she followed Naomi into the “House of Bread.”
Some of us end up in Moab because we take a short cut to pass through there, never meaning to stay. Others are born there and never know any better unless someone tells them of a better place.
No matter your reason for being in Moab, come out. The Bethlemite calls you. Come taste the Bread of Life. You’ll never want to go to Moab again.
Unless you’re just passing through on a tourist bus to visit the Red Sea.