New Book: 10 Life Lessons from the Book of Ruth

Posted on by Garnet Nowell

Life Lessons are those lessons we learn from each day. There are many such life lessons in the Book of Ruth. Here is an excerpt from my upcoming book.

Chapter 1: What’s In A Name?

Naomi (Delight or Pleasant One), her husband, Elimelech (God is my King) and sons, Mahlon (Infirmity) and Chilion (Consumption), moved to Moab during the times of the Judges because there was famine in the land. The first of these life lessons concerns names. I was taught early in my walk with the Lord to be careful about what you name your children. I am reminded of a young man who was in school with my daughter. Unfortunately, he had the same name as a kid in a horror movie, The Omen. His name was Damien and the kids teased this kid mercilessly. So much so that his adoptive parents had his name legally changed. Names life lessonsdescribe the purpose and character of a person. In scripture, names carry both power and authority. We are commanded never to use His name in vain and to honor His name. The names of God describe His character, nature, and attributes. Here are some of God’s names:

Through His names, God reveals His power, strength, purpose, and love for this people. These are only a few of His names which divulge His divine character.

Elimelech gave his boys terrible names. Why do you suppose Naomi and Elimelech gave their sons such dreadful names? Could it be possible that hearing themselves called ‘Infirmity’ and ‘Consumption’ caused their early deaths? Mark 11:23-24 informs us that we will have what we say. Imagine the boys going around everyday hearing their parents (and everyone else) say to them, you are sick, you are failing, and you are wasting away. Where is the blessing in that? Life and death are truly in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21).
Proverbs 22:1 tells us “A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.” But what sort of man would willingly name his son Chilion? According to Abarim Publications’ Biblical Hebrew Dictionary, “Chilion is not very cheerful. It’s spelled the same way as and pronounced slightly different from the noun כליון (killayon), meaning failing or annihilation, derived from the verb כלה (kala), meaning to come to an end.” No, not very cheerful at all.  Naomi’s other son, Mahon (sickly), marries Ruth. The name Mahlon is a derivative of the verb חלה (hala), meaning to be weak, sick or wounded. The name literally means ‘man of weakness’.
As parents, it is our duty to protect our children, even before their birth. Consider those times God named children before their births:
1. Isaac (Genesis 17:19) – But God replied, “No—Sarah, your wife, will give birth to a son for you. You will name him Isaac, and I will confirm my covenant with him and his descendants as an everlasting covenant.
2. Ishmael (Genesis 16:11) – And the angel also said, “You are now pregnant and will give birth to a son. You are to name him Ishmael (which means ‘God hears’), for the Lord has heard your cry of distress.
3. Solomon (1 Chronicles 22:9) – But you will have a son who will be a man of peace. I will give him peace with his enemies in all the surrounding lands. His name will be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel during his reign.
4. Josiah (1 Kings 13:2) – Then at the Lord’s command, he shouted, “O altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: A child named Josiah will be born into the dynasty of David.
5. John the Baptist (Luke 1:13) – But the angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer. Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John.
6. Jesus (Luke 1:30-31) – Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus.
God had a plan for those whom He named before their birth. Their names were a part of their planned destiny.

So what’s in a name? A name signifies your destiny and tells the world the story of who you were born to be. God changed Abram’s name (Noble Father) to Abraham (Father of Many) in Genesis 17:4-6; thus, Abraham became the progenitor of a great nation. If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are a spiritual descendant of Abraham. Elimelech’s choice in naming his sons could have possibly doomed them from the start. Their names signifying that they would be weak and sickly and wasting away from a young age; leaving their family to combat a huge amount of grief. The life lesson to be learned is to be very careful when choosing names for your children and also when speaking over other areas of your life. Your tongue is a creative force. Stop speaking doubt and unbelief and start calling those things in your life which appear to be dead as though they were very much alive and striving (Romans 4:17).

Hope you enjoyed this excerpt from my upcoming book. This is one of the many life lessons discussed in the book. If you want to know more about the life lessons discovered in the Book of Ruth, be sure to pick up a copy of the new book when it is published later this year or check out my previous blog post on life lessons from Ruth. 

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