The Old Testament book of Ruth is a short story about love, but even more importantly, a story of incredible faith. The evidence of her faith was found in stepping out into the unknown while trusting God when she left both her culture and her family behind. It is an incredible story. This took place about a hundred years before the time of David. You can find “Ruth” tucked between the book of Judges and the book of 1st Samuel. The entire account of this woman’s life is given in only 85 verses. You can read it in less than an hour and I encourage you to do so.
Ruth was an extraordinary woman of God, even though she didn’t start out that way. She was a sinner just like you and me, yet God used her in a profound way – just as He uses us today. She was a widow and a foreigner who left her country for a strange land. Tragedy reduced her to poverty almost overnight. She was not only an outcast (as widowed women were in those days) but she had no money and few possessions. She was destitute and needed help, she could not continue on her own. And that’s when God used a man who was a distant relative of her Mother-in-law to provide the help she needed – he became her redeemer.
The story begins in Israel when Israel was suffering a severe drought. Water was scarce, jobs were gone, and day after day the heat and the wind drove people elsewhere. In the beginning chapter of “Ruth” we meet Elimelech (Ee-lim-ah-lek) and his wife Naomi, both devout Jews. They had two sons named Mahlon (May-luhn) and Chilion (Kil-ee-uhn). Elimelech was a land owner, and a prominent man of God and their hometown was Bethlehem. The same Bethlehem where Rachael, Jacob’s wife was buried. The same Bethlehem where David grew up and yes the same Bethlehem where Jesus Christ was born. The story of Elimelech’s family became a key link in the chain tying the Messianic line to Bethlehem.
Droughts and famines in Israel were not uncommon; after all Israel is a desert. Just as Abraham was driven from Israel to Egypt to escape a famine and just like Joseph’s family escaped to Egypt for the same reason, Elimelech, Naomi and their two sons left Israel to find a better way of life. They were Israelites and they worshipped God and followed Jewish law. They were brought up in the Jewish culture in those days. Why they escaped to Moab is an enigma at first, but as the story continues, God’s hand is clearly on them. These must have been desperate times because Moab itself was mostly a desolate region bordering the Dead Sea to the west and to the east, nothing but wasteland. The country of Moab is in modern day Jordan. It wasn’t far from Israel geographically, but it was light years away spiritually. In the beginning Moab was a son born to descendents of Lot going way back and he was a distant relative of Jacob as his second cousin. Later, even though they were related and had close ties, the Moabites and the Israelites generally despised one another. Throughout the Old Testament, relations between Israel and Moab ranged from uneasy tension to outright hostility.
The Moabites worshipped a false god named Chemosh (Kee-mosh) among many others. They practiced human sacrifice, and pagan rituals to say the least. It was a pagan culture and idols were merely their way of life. Everything the Moabites practiced was the polar opposite of what the Israelites believed. They were warned by God Himself to distance themselves from Moab, yet that is where Elimelech, Naomi and their two sons chose to start a new home. They would live in Moab for over ten years.
Early on, tragedy overtook this family. For reasons unknown Elimelech died in Moab, leaving Naomi a widow with the responsibility of raising her two sons. The sons Mahlon and Chilion were approaching adulthood and they both soon married. And the wives they took were full blooded Moabites. Israelite men were forbidden to marry Moabite women according to Jewish law, so they would not be tempted to worship false gods. Yet Naomi’s two sons ignored Jewish law and married them anyway.
However Naomi and her sons must have felt trapped by their desperate circumstances, so Naomi accepted her two daughters-in-law with open arms. One was named Orpah (Or-pah) meaning “stubborn” and she was married to Chilion (Kil-ee-uhn.) The other was named Ruth meaning “friendship” and she was married to Mahlon ((May-luhn) the older of the two sons. Again tragedy occurred when Naomi’s two sons died most probably due to disease as a result of the famine, leaving Naomi, Orpah and Ruth to fend for themselves. In that culture, it was a most impossible situation, three widowed women with no children on their own. They could not survive long, even if they pooled their meager resources.
They were on the “brink of ruin” as Pastor and author John Macarthur writes. When word came that the famine was broken in Israel, Naomi quickly made up her mind to return. Although she was aging and tired with little or no possessions, she longed for her homeland and her own people of Bethlehem. Both daughters-in-law began the difficult journey with Naomi, but she was concerned that this move may not be the best for them, so she released them back to their own families. This must have been difficult for Naomi, saying good-bye to her son’s wives, knowing that she was leaving her husband and both sons buried in a place she despised. I’m sure she felt that God was angry at her from the start, moving to a forbidden place, yet God’s hand would be on her throughout. Orpah chose to return to her family yet Ruth was determined to stay with Naomi, even through the current and upcoming hardships. As a young Moabite girl she was going to a new country with a new culture. She trusted Naomi because she loved her. Naomi once again tried to convince her to return to her family and once again Ruth refused. Naomi desperately wanted Ruth to know the one true God, YHWH, and to make a commitment to trust God as they returned to Israel. Ruth’s reply is a beautiful piece of poetry in Hebrew style. It is found in Ruth chapter 1, verses 16-17. I have read this scripture many times during weddings with application for a husband and wife. This is what Ruth says to Naomi;
“Entreat me not to leave you,
Or to turn back from following after you;
For wherever you go, I will go;
And wherever you stay, I will stay;
Your people shall be my people,
And your God, my God,
Where you die, I will die,
And there I will be buried.
The Lord do so to me, and more also,
If anything but death parts you and me.”
Wow, talk about love, trusting and faith in God. What an example of stepping into the unknown. Scripture tells us that when Naomi returned to Bethlehem, people knew her by name and the city was excited to see them.
As it turns out, Naomi’s deceased husband Elimelech had a wealthy relative named Boaz (perhaps a cousin or a nephew) who had prospered even during the years of famine. He was a landowner as well, with considerable influence. Boaz was a direct descendent of Rahab, remember her and how God used this woman in a powerful way? Rahab married Salmon (who I believe to be Caleb’s son) and they had a son named Boaz.
Upon returning to Bethlehem, Ruth promised to support Naomi. Ruth was still young and physically strong so she went to work in the fields, gleaning what the harvesters left behind. She would pick up small amounts of grain, hardly enough to live on. Jewish law established the practice of gleaning as a means by which even the most destitute in Israel could always earn some kind of living. In addition to the grain fields, when fruit was picked from trees or vines, some of it was left unplucked. The remains of the harvest were then free to be gleaned by anyone willing to do the work.
Ruth’s options were limited to that because she had no relatives other than her Mother-in-law in Israel. Naomi’s next of kin weren’t even close enough to be legally obliged to them. So Ruth worked the barley fields. And as it so happened, one of the fields she gleaned belonged to Boaz. Scripture tells us that it was purely by accident, but coincidence doesn’t apply when we trust in God. God orchestrated this and Ruth trusted God.
Boaz visited the fields everyday and when he saw Ruth, he was immediately interested, smitten I think. Boaz sought out the foreman of his crew and asked about Ruth. He was told about her Moabite heritage and where she lived. Boaz realized of course, that this woman was his relative by marriage, and he began to show her special favor. He encouraged her to glean only his fields and to stay close by his harvesters. He gave her permission to drink the crew’s water, eat with them and he instructed his men to leave her alone. (He even instructed his workers to let grain fall purposely from the bundles for her sake.) Ruth was moved by his gentle kindness and she knew very well that this was highly unusual since she was a foreigner. Boaz explained that he had heard of her extraordinary faithfulness to Naomi and the struggles she must have endured moving to Israel. Then Boaz gave her a blessing that reveals what a Godly man he was. “The Lord repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.” And her reply was graceful and beautiful for its humility; “Let me find favor in your sight for you have comforted me.”
Ruth worked hard and she was blessed for it. She earned four times the amount of other gleaners and she was able to provide for Naomi and herself. Naomi was curious about Ruth’s prosperity. Knowing that she couldn’t do this on her own, she asked who was giving her special favor for her hard work. When Ruth said Boaz’s name, Naomi instantly saw the hand of God in the blessing. And Naomi told Ruth that he was a close relative. The Hebrew word translated “one of our close relatives” is a word pronounced “goel.” A goel was a relative who came to the rescue. The word goel also includes the idea of redemption or deliverance, a “kinsmanredeemer.” A goel was the official guardian of the family’s honor. He could buy back family lands sold in times of hardship. He could pay the redemption price for family members sold into slavery. And, if he was a single man or a widower, eligible to marry, he could revive the family lineage when someone died without an heir. The Old Testament places a great deal of emphasis on the term “goel.” Every “kinsmanredeemer” was a living illustration of the position and the work of Jesus Christ with respect to His people. He is our true “kinsmanredeemer” who buys us back from our sins, redeems our lives from death and ultimately returns to us everything we lost because of our sin.
Boaz would become Ruth’s kinsmanredeemer. Naomi knew there was something very special between Boaz and Ruth and she wanted them to marry but protocol forbade Naomi from approaching Boaz to discuss this, so she helped the matter by devising a plan. (This sounds like a typical woman to me!) Naomi’s plan was for Ruth to propose marriage to Boaz! You can read the account in chapter 3. Boaz’s response to this is beautiful referring to Ruth as a Godly virtuous woman, however he had some rather startling news. As it turned out, there was a relative even closer to Naomi and who rightfully should become their “goel.” And Boaz knew that he must defer this to him.
Boaz went immediately to the city gate where official business took place, and found Naomi’s true next of kin. The two of them sat down together in the presence of ten city elders and negotiated the right to be Rut’s goel. There were some extenuating circumstances and he eventually told Boaz that he could not take on this responsibility. So the city elders prepared a contract and declared that he would be the kinsmanredeemer to Naomi and Ruth and Boaz took Ruth as his wife. Soon thereafter God blessed them with a son and they called him Obed. Obed would become the father of Jessie, and Jessie the father of David from Bethlehem. So Ruth was David’s great grandmother. And you can read the listings of the future generations in the 1st chapter of Matthew.
According to John Macarthur again; “This is how Ruth, an ill fated Moabite woman whose loyalty and faith in God led her away from her own people and carried her as a stranger into the land of Israel, becoming a mother in the royal line that would eventually produce the nation’s first great king.” And the lineage continued pointing directly to Christ; “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord.” (2nd chapter of Luke)
Ruth is a story of faith, complete faith in trusting God through the unknown. What is not known to us, always is known to God. The Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End.
Ruth is a story of venturing out with absolutely nothing. A young lady who lost her husband, lost her possessions but she never gave up. Paul wrote these words in 2nd Corinthians; “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on Me.” (12:9)
Ruth is a story of love. Love for her husband, love for her Mother-in-law and love for a man God would timely place in her life. Boaz was a Godly man who would provide for her, provide for their son and provide for their nation pointing directly to Jesus Christ.
Ruth is a story of a woman living the example that Paul writes in his letter to the Philippians; “I can do all things through Christ who strengthen me.” (4:13)
Ruth is a story that reminds us that God can powerfully use each of us in spite of our past, our background or our conduct. God is searching for men and women who will turn away from sin, come into a relationship with Him through Christ, so that He may work through us to accomplish His ultimate will.
Do you know who my goal is? My Goel is Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. How about yours? Amen
