Scripture

“Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God”

Observation

The story of Ruth begins with multiple tragedies, but ends with great favour from the Lord.

A man named Elimelech goes to Moab to escape a great famine in the land of Israel. He takes his wife and two sons with him. While they are there, Elimelech dies. His two sons marry Moabite women, but they die also, leaving Naomi with her two daughters-in-law.

When Naomi hears that the famine in her home town is over, she goes back to Judah. Along the way she implores the two women to go back to their homes. One does this, but the other, Ruth, declares that she is going to stay with Naomi and go wherever she goes.

Application

Ruth’s faithfulness to Naomi is seen in this declaration: “Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God”

She had no natural reason to stick with Naomi and travel to a strange land with her. Obviously there was a deep bond of affection between these two women. Perhaps she had seen signs of a better religion, a better culture, a better people than the ones she had grown up with.

It is faithfulness that opens the door for God’s blessing. This is still true today. If we want to see God’s blessings in our life we need to be faithful to the people He puts us with, faithful to the call He places on our life, and faithful above all else to the name of Jesus.

Prayer

Thank you Father for the example of Ruth who shows us how to live in humble obedience to you, even though she was not one of your chosen people. Please help me to be faithful to you. Amen.

Scripture
The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel!”

Observation
The story of the Lord’s provision for Naomi and Ruth now reaches its climax.

Naomi tells Ruth that Boaz, the landowner who has allowed them to glean in his fields, has obligations to them by virtue of his being a kinsman-redeemer. She tells Ruth to go that night and lie with him at his feet.

In the night, Boaz stirs and discovers her. He tells her that, while it is true that he is a kinsman-redeemer, there is another who is a nearer relative.

Boaz sorts out the protocol with the other relative, and then, having established that the other man is unwilling to meet his obligations, Boaz marries Ruth. In time, Ruth bears a child, Obed, the grandfather of King David.

Application
From being a foreign woman with no husband, therefore vulnerable and having zero status, Ruth is propelled into a family line that eventually leads to David and thence to Jesus.

The outsider is brought in and adopted into the royal family line.

This tells us a lot about God’s provision for those who are humble and of good heart.

It is also a stunning picture of what God has done for us in Christ. We were once on the outside of God’s kingdom, but He has brought us in ad made of us a royal priesthood.

Prayer
Father, you are so kind and gracious. I was once a sinner and far from you. But in Jesus you have brought me into your royal family. Thank you! Amen.

Scripture

“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.”

Observation

A famine breaks out in Israel, and a man and wife travel with their two sons to Moab. The sons marry there and after some time the three men all die, leaving their wives widows.

Some time later, Naomi hears that the famine has ended and decides to return to her home town of Bethlehem. She urges her two daughters-in-la to stay in Moab and remarry. However Ruth is determined to stay with Naomi.

Ruth and Naomi arrive in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Application

Naomi’s life has not turned out as she had hoped. All the men in her life have been taken away, and she has no real prospect for financial security. But Ruth is determined to stand with her and to journey back to Bethlehem with her.

Ruth’s faithfulness to Naomi and her pledge to follow Naomi’s God stand out as the positives in this bleak picture. Ruth willingly sacrifices her own self-interest for the sake of Naomi.

We see in this a picture of Christ who laid down His life to redeem us and His total faithfulness to His people.

Prayer

Thank you Lord for the example of Ruth who risked her own security and future for the sake of another. Please help me to have this kind of faithfulness to the people around me. Amen.