- Priceless gems have often been found in unlikely places
- An Ohio man was cleaning out a deceased family member’s attic and found 700 vintage baseball cards in mint condition from the turn of the century. worth 3 million
- A Scottish woman finally decided to clean out her attic and found an old painting that had been given to her by her father (who had received it from someone else), which may in fact be a lost work of art by Leonardo Da Vinci, possibly worth upwards of $150 million, even with spatterings of house paint on it.
- Ruth a gem in unlikely times
Ru 1:1 Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land……
Judg 12:10-36
- In the midst of war and lawlessness and idolatry, there was Ruth, Naomi, Boaz – God fearing
- Famine in the land – Bethlehem the House of Bread
- Trouble upon trouble – Famine, death, 10 years as foreigner
Judges 21:25 (AV)
25 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
- Moabites were descendants of Lot (Genesis 19:37)
- They were idolaters & used child sacrifices
Who’s Who
• Elimelech - “My God is king,”
• Naomi - “Pleasant” - Mara - ‘Bitter”
• Mahlon - “Weakness.”
• Chilion - “Consumed.”
• Orpah - “Stiff-necked, declining.”
• Ruth - “Companion.”
• Boaz – “Swift strength.”
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- A widow’s situation in the middle east was intolerable
- De. 24;19-22 Israel command to care for the widow & orphan
Deuteronomy 24:19–22 (AV)
- Le. 23:22 Poor should glen in the fields
Leviticus 23:22 (AV)
22 And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the LORD your God.
THEME - Our redemption by Christ
KEY WORD – Kinsman
KEY VERSE – 1:19, 4:14
OUTLINE
1 Ruth’s Sorrow
2 Ruth’s Service
3 Ruth’s Surrender
4 Ruth’s Satisfaction
- Our Ruin – 1:1-5, 19-21
• Naomi went out young, happy, beautiful, and full; but she came back old, bitter, worn, weary, poor, and empty.
• Our condition
- Christ Love – 2:1-3, 8-9, 14-16
• Ruth went to the field poor hoping to fill the need
• Boaz a Wealthy Kinsman
- God’s provision – 2:17, 22-23
• Supplying all more that we need
- Our Inheritance
• Ruth the pagan now the bride
• Heir to all that belonged to Roaz
• Placed in the lineage of Christ – Mt 1:5
- Contrasting the beginning – Death with the end Life
- Lord replaces the chaos with order
- Faithfulness – On Ruth’s part – On God’s part
- Ruth forsook her old way of life & attached herself to Him
- His fields His servants
- Jesus is our Kinsman Redeemer
