Ruth's Romance Series

Nowhere does history repeat itself more often than in the

realm of romance. James Madison was the forth president

of the United States, and he was the chief framer of the

Constitution. He was the greatest scholar among the

Founding Fathers. But when it came to romance he was no

big gun. In fact, he was the smallest of all the presidents.

He was so thin and frail that he weighed only a 100 lbs. at

his heaviest. He was very slow and he was not magnetic.

He was jilted twice. He was 43 and still single when he

met Dolly who was 24. At that young age she was already a

widow because her husband died in an epidemic. She was

taller and heavier than James, and there was just so much

about them that was different. They were a highly unlikely

pair to ever become a couple. But they did, and it was one

of the happiest, most celebrated, marriages in the history of

the White House. They were ideal for each other, and Dolly

Madison added a flare and dignity to the White House that

it never had before. James lived longer than any other

president who served two terms until Truman came along

and topped him by 6 years. His romance made his a story

with a happy ending.

Thomas Jefferson, the third president also married a

widow who was considerably younger than himself. History

is filled with this theme, for if love does not make the world

go round, most agree it does make the trip more enjoyable.

So it is in the book of Ruth. Romance plays a major role

in God's plan. I don't what God would have done had

Adam not fallen for Eve, for the whole plan of God revolves

around romance. Ruth is a story of romance, and there are

so many parallels with her and Boaz, and numerous couples

in history. Boaz was older, and he had status and security.

Ruth was a lonely young widow. The potential for cupid is

great if these two could only meet, but it seems so unlikely.

Boaz is a big shot, and Ruth is not even on the social

register. She is not only a poor nobody, she is not even a

Jew.

People have a way of meeting, however, and sometimes

it is by accident. In Oslo, Norway a motorist struck a young

woman at a busy intersection. He wasted no time in getting

her to the hospital, and he visited her everyday during her

recovery. Eventually he asked her to marry him, and she

said yes. They went on their honeymoon in the car that

brought them together by accident. Verse 3 hints that it

was by accident that Ruth and Boaz met. The KJV says,

"And her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging to

Boaz." The RSV says she happened to come there, and the

Living Bible says, as it happened. The NIV says, as it

turned out. The point is, there was no plot or plan. Later

on the plot thickens, and Naomi does deliberately plan for

Ruth to entice Boaz into a relationship. But here at the

start there is no plan. It is just what happened as Ruth

went out to work to keep from starving.

The Hebrew word here is MIQREH, which means a

chance event, or an accident. It would be a fascinating

diversion to study the subject of chance here, but for now

we will pursue romance, and just point out that most people

in our culture who meet and fall in love do so by chance, as

did Ruth and Boaz. No one but God could have known of

the series of events that brought them together.

I am always impressed by the events that brought

Lavonne and I together. Three of my friends and I were at

a drive in on the edge of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. We

were waiting for a girl to come and take our order for root

beers. It was a hot summer night and the service was very

slow. We were restless and decided to take off down the

highway to the nearest little town to see what we could find.

Who would ever dream that that decision would lead to

three of us marrying three girls in the small town of Dell

Rapids. It was all because of slow service at a root beer

stand. We just happened to be at the right place at the right

time. So it was with Ruth and Boaz. One of God's most

useful tools in history is chance.

Chance does not mean that God is not in it. Margaret

Hese, a writer for Scripture Press tells of how her happily

married sister of 30 years met her mate. She was on a train