This is the eighth book in the OT. The events in Ruth take place during the days of the Judges, but what a difference between these two books! Instead of violence and lawlessness that we see in the Book of Judges, we see tenderness, love, and sacrifice. It is good to know that there are still good people in bad days, and that God is at work in the “corners of the land” though violence may fill the news. Ruth and Esther are the only OT books named after women. Ruth was a Gentile who married a Jew; Esther was a Jew who married a Gentile; but God used both of them to save the nation.
Ruth is placed between Judges and Samuel for a definite reason. Judges shows the decline of the Jewish nation; Samuel shows the setting up of the Jewish kingdom; and Ruth pictures Christ and His bride. During this present age, when Israel is set aside, Christ is calling out His bride from among the Gentiles and the Jews. As we shall see, this brief book has a wonderful typical meaning. It is a love story and a harvest story, and that is what God is doing in our world today. (Warren W. Wiersbe) The love story begins with a very great famine. God often sends famine when His people leave the worship of God to worship false gods of other nations. God’s blessing (bountiful crops) were reserved for Israel when they chose to worship God. The Bible tells us in James 1:17 “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”
In the famine, a man took his family to another country that had rain. He purchased some land there and began to take care of his family. His family grew older and his sons married women of Moab, the country they had moved to.
Tragedy struck. The father died. We are not told how or why, but many students of the Bible think that it was punishment against the father for taking Moadites women for his sons to marry. They quote Deuteronomy 23:3 “An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever:” Tragedy struck again and again while they lived in Moab. Both sons die there leaving Naomi with two Moabites daugther-in-laws. The daughter-inlaws both cling to Naomi until she tells them that they should remain in their own country and marry where people will receive them readily.
Orpah stayed in Moab. Ruth clung to her motherin- law. The first step in any love story is the declaration of love. Ruth 1:16-17 “And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.”
Ruth loved Naomi. We can think of hundreds of different thoughts about why she clung to her mother- in-law, but maybe it is about how she was treated. Naomi means pleasantness. Ruth would rather face the hardship of being without a husband, a bread winner, than to return to her own home. I think all mother-in-laws wish for such a daughter-in-law, yet to get one, they need to treat them as Naomi treated hers.
They move back to Israel and the famine was over. It actually had been over for years, but Naomi and sons had stayed in Moab. They were comfortable there. Farming is never easy, but they had a life there that fit their style. Why move?
Naomi told her old friends to call her Myra (bitter). She had gone out full and came back empty except for one daughter-in-law. In Israel to have sons was to be blessed for they would care for their parents after the parents could no longer care for themselves.
Ruth immediately stepped into the role of provider. It was ahrvest time and she went to glean (pick up grains of wheat that fell from the pods as they were cut. If the wheat was too ripe many fell out. The land owner had his own women gleaning behind the reapers, but Boaz allowed Ruth to glean with his women because of her treatment of Naomi.
As God would have it, Boaz was near kin of Naomi’s husband Elimelech. A don’t have the space to tell you about the kinsman redeemer statute in the laws of Israel, but in short, Boaz could purchase Elimelech’s land but would need to take Ruth as his wife in the process.
She approached him humbly as Naoni had instructed her to after the customs of her people. Ruth 3:6-9 “And she went down unto the floor, and did according to all that her mother in law bade her. And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of corn: and she came softly, and uncovered his feet, and laid her down. And it came to pass at midnight, that the man was afraid, and turned himself: and, behold, a woman lay at his feet. And he said, Who art thou? And she answered, I am Ruth thine handmaid: spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid; for thou art a near kinsman.”
To shorten this a little, Boaz took Ruth as his wife and their son named Obed was born for Naomi to hold and love. The story isn’t finished. You see, Obed fathered Jesse and Jesse fathered David. Ruth is in the lineage of Jesus, our Savior!
The love story is pictured in the whole of the story. God moves in mysterious ways, but God moved Naomi back to Israel. Saints should not be out in the world. She moved back and of all the prosperous men in Israel, God guided Ruth to work in the kinsman Boaz’s fields. Boaz in turn knew of her blessing to Naomi and blessed her in return, treating her very well while she worked beside his gleaners. Ruth asked for him to think about her. Boaz redeemed Ruth and loved her. Obed was born for Naomi to love and fuss over. Yet God ultimately was using this as a lesson to Israel. The Gentiles were going to be included in God’s plan of salvation. God’s love is to everyone, Jew and Gentile for John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
