The book of Ruth seems to come from nowhere, standing between stories about the Israelites. But that position actually confers to it the properties of a bridge, making the link between Israel as a chiefdom and Israel as a kingdom.
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Previously in the Bible…
The Israelites now live in Canaan. But rather than enjoying life flowing with milk and honey like they were promised, they are constantly at war with the Canaanites due to their unfaithfulness with the covenant they had with God.
They’d only have lulls, after a miliary general — a judge, was appointed to lead them through in God’s ways. And the story of Ruth happens during one of these lulls, when Israel was led by Ehud, their second judge.
Back to Ruth
Ruth was from Moab, a people with bad historical record with Israel. She was a stepdaughter to Naomi, after marrying her Israelite son. Naomi, her husband and two sons had previously moved from Bethlehem in Israel to Moab, escaping a famine, and the boys found love therein.
Unfortunately, Naomi lost all the men of her life and was left in sorrow, her and her two daughters-in-law. As all three became widows, and on hearing that the famine in Israel was over, Naomi decided to go back home, and bid her daughters-in-law to take a new start and set a family for themselves away from her and the potential ills they may face as foreigners and widows in Israel.
But Ruth refused, and clung to her mother-in-law, like she would to her own mother. She remained loyal to Naomi, and took good care of her by fetching food here and there for themselves.
A coincidence, really?
One day, it so happened that she fetched food in a farm belonging to a relative of her late husband, Boaz, whom on hearing about her loyalty to Naomi, was bent on redeeming her family by marrying her. This was in accordance to the Jewish custom which, in an effort to maintain the integrity of a family, allows a brother or closest relative of a deceased male to acquire his properties and remarry his widow.
It turned around her story, as Boaz was a wealthy man, and one of integrity.
This is how Ruth and Naomi’s lives get somersaulted from grass to grace. Joy came around again and a baby was born from this union of Ruth and Boaz in the tribe of Judah, who is said to be the grandfather of a certain David.
Two times already has this man’s genealogy been mentioned. So who is this David? Notice that he is a man from Judah, like the king promised in Exodus by Jacob. Perhaps he is that saviour spoken of in Genesis. We will find out about that in the next book 1 Samuel.
Take away
1) This book displays the extent of God’s plan of Salvation. From Exodus, we are tempted to think that God has good plans only for Israel and no other nation, but we see how along the Israelite story, God has open doors for foreigners to partake in their blessings too. This was true for many: the Egyptians who left Egypt along with the Israelites; the Gibeonites in Canaan; Rahab the prostitute from Jericho and now Ruth the poor widow from Moab.
2) In Leviticus, we read that God gave laws to Israel to follow, which were mind-blowing for the people of the time. Two of them were: to treat the foreigner with dignity and respect (Leviticus 19: 33-34), and the other was not to harvest everything on a farm, but to leave some out on the field, as a left over for the poor, so they too could have something to eat (Leviticus 23:22). This is how Naomi and Ruth benefited from God’s providence, even in the midst of hardship.
3) Like any woman living in this man’s world, Ruth cared about her social status, first as a widow, a daughter-in-law, and a foreigner until she became a wife, and a mother. God was clearly at work through it all: through her decisions and obedience, through the plans she made with Naomi, and through Boaz’s heart. Yet, He isn’t directly said to have acted like in all the previous Bible books.
As we live our lives, we may think God isn’t interested in some aspects of it, or that when we make a certain call, we tend to believe it was our decision and nothing else. But God is at work in it all.
The story of Ruth is taking place while Israel is under the military rule of Ehud. A lot of things are taking place at the same time for God to handle, but He is equally handling a Moabitess’s problem. I mean, she isn’t even Israelite, but He blessed her so much and made her take part in the lineage of Jesus, same with Rahab the prostitute from Jericho in the previous story, who is as a matter of fact the mother of Boaz.
God sees it all. Call it luck, logic, serendipity, coincidence, curses or answered prayer, just know God is at work behind the scenes of your life for His greater purpose.
