Book Of Ruth: A Statement Of Blessing Series

BOOK OF RUTH: A STATEMENT OF BLESSING

RUTH 2:1-23

#bookofruth #Goddidit

INTRODUCTION… BOOK FACTS AND REMINDER OF HOMEWORK FROM LAST WEEK

Welcome to week 2 of 4 as we work our way through the Book of Ruth in the Old Testament. Ruth is the 8th book overall in the Bible and is a historical narrative in short form as it only has four chapters containing a whopping 85 verses. It is one of the shorter books in the Bible. The events of the book happen mostly in the little town of Bethlehem during the time of “the Judges” which was the very chaotic and violent time before the prophet Samuel ordained the first kings in Israel.

There are three main folks in the Book of Ruth. We met two last week and we meet the third today in chapter 2, which will be our focus (turn there in your Bibles if you like):

* Naomi: an Israelite woman from Bethlehem who loses her husband and sons in Moab to death who becomes so bitter with God that she changes her name to Mara which means bitter.

* Ruth: a Moabite widow; loyal daughter-in-law of Naomi; becomes part of God’s covenant people by her confession of faith before the two travel to Bethlehem to live and most likely die.

* Boaz: a wealthy and kind relative of Naomi’s husband who will take notice of Ruth and fulfill the cultural role of kinsman-redeemer. Don’t worry about the “kinsman-redeemer” term, we will cover that next week in chapter 3. But do keep that term in mind… “kinsman-redeemer” for chapter 3.

Last week in chapter 1, we saw hunger, death, and a planned trip back to Israel. We saw Ruth’s fantastic statement of faith where she confesses her belief in the God of Naomi and her desire to be part of the covenant people. We ended last week with some homework. I hope you have been working on it. I don’t think you are in any rush, but you are going to get some more homework today, so… there’s that.

HOMEWORK REVIEW

So here is your homework review: Write down a statement of faith for yourself. This involves prayer, thinking, time, discussion, Bible reading, and maybe even a bunch of wadded up paper until you get it right. Write a spiritual purpose statement that is between one sentence all the way to one page. You then must share it in two ways. First, you share it with me. Please send your statement of faith to me so I can read it via email, text, write it out, hand it to me, mail it to me… whatever. I get to do with the statement whatever I want. The second way you will share your statement of faith is to give it to another individual. Ruth confessed to Naomi. It was just them. Share your statement of faith with one other person. So that was the homework from last week. Please continue to pray on that and work on that. I think it is important and is part of an overall goal for us as we look through the Book of Ruth.

TRANSITION

Today, we are picking up Naomi and Ruth’s story right after chapter 1 when they go to Israel from Moab arriving in “Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest” (1:22). Let’s read some from Ruth chapter 2:

READ RUTH 2:1-16 (ESV)

Now Naomi had a relative of her husband's, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. 2 And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.” 3 So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech. 4 And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. And he said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you!” And they answered, “The Lord bless you.” 5 Then Boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?” 6 And the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, “She is the young Moabite woman, who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. 7 She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers.’ So she came, and she has continued from early morning until now, except for a short rest.” 8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Now, listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. 9 Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping and go after them. Have I not charged the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn.” 10 Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?” 11 But Boaz answered her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. 12 The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!” 13 Then she said, “I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not one of your servants.” 14 And at mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine.” So, she sat beside the reapers, and he passed to her roasted grain. And she ate until she was satisfied, and she had some left over. 15 When she rose to glean, Boaz instructed his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. 16 And also pull out some from the bundles for her and leave it for her to glean, and do not rebuke her.”