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Part 12 ---The series on Ruth began in Part 10--- We know there was another famine in the lives of Elimelech’s family because Naomi was now a poor widow woman with two daughters-in-law in her care. We know she had very difficult decisions to make as she was standing at a major crossroad in her life. And we see in Ruth 1:20, 21b, a little later in our story, Naomi say about herself, “’Don’t call me Naomi,’ she told them, ‘Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter…Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.’” She appears to have lost her way, losing sight of any blessings God was giving her in the midst of these heart-wrenching situations. Who wouldn’t doubt God in these circumstances? How could she see that God had brought her and her family to Moab so that He could fulfill His divine purposes? How could she know that He was now gently guiding her back to complete His purposes? “When she heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of His people by providing food for them, Naomi and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there.” Ruth 1:6 Naomi: a widow and now a mother without her sons…forever from this present life. It must have been a veil of darkness so heavy that the weight would be crushing for anyone to bear. In Exodus 10:21 the plague of darkness in Egypt is described as darkness “which may be felt”. Was God there? The God of light: could He possibly penetrate the darkness surrounding her? Dark: Dismal, gloomy; Relating to grim or depressing circumstances; Not clear to the understanding. (Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary) As we relate our story back to God’s Tabernacle, we are reminded of the curtain, the veil separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place, the Holy of Holies. “Hang the curtain from the clasps and place the ark of the Testimony behind the curtain. The curtain will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place.” Exodus 26:33 The curtain separated the people from the manifested presence of God, just as darkness will separate us from Him. Where is God in the darkness? Where is He when a veil is hindering our view? “…place the ark of the Testimony (Covenant) behind the curtain. Put the Atonement Cover on the ark of the Testimony in the Most Holy Place.” Exodus 26:33-34 “Hebrew, kapporeth, means a ‘covering’: the covering or lid of the ark of the covenant. In older English translations the term is known as “The Mercy Seat”. It was of acacia wood, overlaid with gold, and perhaps rather a plate of solid gold, 2 ½ cubits long and 1 ½ broad. It is compared to the Throne of Grace (Heb. 9:5, Eph. 2:6). The Holy of Holies is called The Place of the Atonement Cover (I Chr. 28:11, Lev 16:2).” (Parsons Bible Dictionary). The Lord dwelt in the cloud upon The Mercy Seat, the Atonement Cover (I Kings 8:12), the cloud of glory. “Clouds and thick darkness are round about him.” (Psalm 97:2) And On Mount Sinai, Moses “drew near (seek, approached) unto the thick darkness where God was.” (Exodus 20:21) There was a “thick cloud upon the mount” in which Jehovah was when He spoke to Moses there. He dwells in thick darkness. He always has. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” (Genesis 1:1,2) NIV “First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don’t see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.” (Genesis 1:1,2) The Message Dark: Not known or explored because of remoteness; Secret. (Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary) “…I will give you treasures of darkness and riches stored in the Secret Place…” Therefore… “Your Word is a lamp unto my feet (for the immediate needs) and a light for my path (for what is ahead). Psalm 119:105 A lamp for my feet and a light for my path…. “the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” (Mark15:38), so “…we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place, (the Holy of Holies, the Secret Place), by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, His body, and since we have a great Priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” (Hebrews 10:19-22)
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