Category: Ruth

In the relationship of Boaz and Ruth, we see a beautiful picture of how Christ redeems us.

Here we have a woman named Ruth, widowed, poor, and nothing to offer, yet coming to Boaz and basically asking him to marry her. She said to him,

Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a kinsman-redeemer. (3:9)

That might seem a strange way to propose, but even in modern orthodox Jewish weddings, a bridegroom covers his bride with his prayer shawl, its tassels at each corner, to symbolize his taking her into his care.

And that’s what she was basically saying, “Please take me into your care.  Be my husband.”

There was a problem, however.  The right to marry her belonged to another relative.

This is another custom that seems strange to us, but in those days, if a man had no sons to carry on the family name, one of his female relatives (usually his wife, but in this case his daughter-in-law) would marry a close relative and have children through that marriage.

This man she married was called a kinsman-redeemer.

The children that resulted from this marriage would not belong to the husband but to the deceased man.  And these children would be the ultimate inheritors of the land and the family name of this deceased man.

But in Ruth’s case, another man had first rights to marry her and take on the property and land that came with her.

Fortunately for Ruth and Boaz, the man refused to do so, possibly because he was already married.  And so Boaz bought the rights to marry her and take on the land with his own money.

Now Ruth was no longer a penniless woman with no hope for her future.  She now had a wealthy husband who loved her and cared for her, who gave her a future and a hope.

Ruth and Boaz had a son named Obed.  Obed had a son named Jesse.  And Jesse had a son named David who became king of Israel.  And it was through this same David’s line that Jesus, our ultimate redeemer, came.

Now, in the same way that Ruth came to Boaz, we come to Jesus with nothing to offer but ourselves.  And we can do nothing but ask him to take us under his protection and love.

And not only does Jesus do this, but he he paid a price to do so.  He died on a cross to take the punishment for our sins and shed his blood.

Now through his blood, all of our sins are washed clean.  And because of our relationship with him and his love for us, we too have a future and a hope.

As Ephesians 2:12-13 says,

Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ…without hope and without God in the world.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

After such a depressing book in Judges, it’s nice to have a book like Ruth right after it.

But it starts out as depressingly as Judges ends.  A woman named Naomi, moves with her husband and sons to Moab because of a famine in Israel.

While there, her two sons marry Moabite women, but one by one, the men in Naomi’s life pass away.  First her husband, and then her sons.

Now she’s widowed, with both of her beloved children gone.  And so she decides to go back to Israel.

When she arrives, the women in her hometown greet her joyously, saying, “Can this be Naomi?”

But Naomi replies, “Don’t call me that.  My life isn’t pleasant anymore (the name Naomi means pleasant).  Call me ‘bitter’  (the name Mara means bitter).  For the Lord has afflicted me, and has brought misfortune upon me.  I went away full.  But now I am empty.” (Ruth 1:20-21)

Naomi felt abandoned by God.  Not only did she feel abandoned by God, she felt like God was out to get her.

But God had never abandoned her, not even in her darkest time.

He gave her a daughter-in-law in Ruth that truly loved her, and was willing to give up everything she had for Naomi.

When Naomi tried to convince her to stay in Moab, Ruth told her,

Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you.

Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay.Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried.

May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.  (1:16-17)

But at that point, Naomi couldn’t see the blessing.  Instead she blamed God for her misery.  But God didn’t abandon her even then.

When Ruth went to glean wheat as other poor people did in those days, God led Ruth to a relative of Naomi’s husband, a man named Boaz, and she unknowingly started to glean in his field.

Boaz noticed her, and showed favor to her.  And when Ruth came back with far more barley than would’ve been expected, and also brought back some food Boaz had given her, Naomi was shocked and asked Ruth where she had gone.

When Ruth told her, all of sudden, Naomi realized,

[God] has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.  (Ruth 2:20)

In other words, “God hasn’t abandoned me after all.  He really does still care.”

How about you?  Do you feel abandoned by God because of your circumstances?  Do you feel like God is out to get you?  Are you so blinded by your pain, that you can’t see the good that God is trying to do in your life?

God never has, and never will abandon you.  He loves you.  And no matter what you’re going through, his hand will always be upon you.

I love a song by Dallas Holm that says,

The eyes of God are upon me,
He sees everything I do.
The arms of God are around me,
They keep me safe and secure.

He knows where I am
Every hour of every day
He knows each thought I think
He knows each word that I might say.

And although there have been times
I’ve been out of His will
I’ve never been out of His care.