DISCOVER
Ruth

There are some interesting things to notice in this book:  

Ruth was a Moabitess. The Moabites were descendants of Lot. They were pagans, worshiping many gods and goddesses. Of course we know that although Ruth was born a pagan, it was either through her first husband or through Naomi that she learned of the one true God. God, in establishing the family that was to produce the world’s Savior, chose a beautiful pagan girl and led her to Bethlehem where she met Boaz.  

Boaz was the son of Rahab, the prostitute who helped Joshua’s spies in Jericho (see Joshua 2), so he was half-Canaanite. He was Ruth and Naomi’s kinsman-redeemer, a relative of Naomi who first made Ruth a family member and then made her his bride.  

The story is one of God’s grace. God adopted the Gentiles into Christ’s family by making Christ’s great-[great-great…]grandmother a Moabitess and his great-[great-great…]grandfather a half-Canaanite.  

—Henrietta Mears

Source: This content is from What the Bible Is All About, written by Henrietta Mears. Copyright © 1953, 2011 by Gospel Light. Copyright assigned to Tyndale House Publishers, 2015. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a division of Tyndale House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Bethlehem has a somewhat cryptic and signaling function in Ruth. The title ‘Bethlehem’ means ‘house of bread,’ so when the reader finds in the first few verses that there is no bread in the house of bread, he is meant to step back quizzically and ask, “Why might that be? Is this the judgment of God?” These inferred questions are answered in 1:2-5. All questions are laid to rest when the reader sees the judgment of God crashing down on this little Ephrathite family. When we read Ruth 1:1-5 against the backdrop of the covenant blessings and curses in Deuteronomy 28, it becomes clear that famine, death, premature death, and childlessness are all marks of God’s curse against Israel for unfaithfulness.  

During the time of the judges (Ruth 1:1), Bethlehem does not yet have the same degree of significance it eventually gains as the story of Scripture unfolds. As God’s story of redemption progresses, Bethlehem becomes more significant as it slowly gains prominence for being the birthplace of King David and is later prophesied to be the birthplace of the Messiah (Micah 5:2; Luke 2:4-7). Ruth’s inconspicuous setting in Bethlehem is part of the book’s contribution to the Bible and points forward to the coming Messiah and his birthplace. After the Babylonian exile, when a Jew would read the book of Ruth, great hope and faith would rise in his or her heart because a glimpse of David or Bethlehem in the book of Ruth is a glimpse of the Messiah. It is beholding God’s immovable promises in motion. Ruth, then, represents the means by which God sustains his people, even in the midst of moral chaos. Indeed, he had not left them; rather, salvation in the person of King Jesus was on its way. 

—Samuel Bierig 

Source: Samuel Bierig, quoted from his Ruth Bible Study called “Love Broke Through,” published by Spurgeon College. 

The famine, the move to Moab, the deaths of Elimelech, Mahlon, and Chilion, Ruth’s loyalty, Naomi’s return at barley harvest, Boaz, and the kinsman who chose not to redeem Ruth all played parts in God’s plan to redeem millions and weave a Moabite into the royal, Messianic bloodline. The story and their parts in it were far bigger than they imagined. None of them could see it from their vantage point. 

This is what we must remember in our times of desolation, grief, and loss. How things appear to us and how they actually are, are rarely the same. Sometimes it looks and feels like the Almighty is dealing “very bitterly” with us when all the while he is doing us and many others more good than we could have imagined. 

God’s purposes in the lives of his children are always gracious. Always. If they don’t look like it, don’t trust your perceptions. Trust God’s promises. He’s always fulfilling his promises.

—Jon Bloom

Source: By Jon Bloom. © Desiring God Foundation. Source: desiringGod.org

And there they are, ordinary people of sorrows and acquainted with grief, just trying to hold it together in Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest, completely unaware that God has assigned them roles in his Great Romance that people around the world would still be marveling at 3,000 years later. 

So where are you in the real, living story God is telling? God is the great Romantic and all his children have roles that are far more significant than most of them know. But they are rarely romantic to experience at any given time. 

Take a lesson from Naomi and don’t assume too much too early. Even if death is near. God is always up to more than you think and foresee. Remember, Boaz and Ruth both died before ever knowing that their child would grandfather Israel’s greatest king. 

—Jon Bloom 

Source: By Jon Bloom. © Desiring God Foundation. Source: desiringGod.org.

The fact that one of the canonical books of the Old Covenant is named after a Moabite woman is itself a testimony that a miracle of God’s grace had taken place. 

God weaves his grace throughout the Bible—even through the genealogies! God loves to redeem sinners. He loves to produce something beautiful out of sordid family backgrounds. He loves to make foreigners his children and reconcile his enemies. He loves to make all things work together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28). 

—Jon Bloom 

Source: By Jon Bloom. © Desiring God Foundation. Source: desiringGod.org.

We began this chapter [Chapter 1] by noting that this part of the book of Ruth is a going away and coming back story and that going away and coming back is part of the rhythm of life. It’s also part of the rhythm of Scripture.  

There are many such stories in the Bible. Abraham goes away to Egypt and comes back (Genesis 12:10—13:1). Jacob flees to Aram (Syria) and returns (Genesis 27:41—33:20). The people of Jerusalem go into exile in Babylon and come back (Ezra 1:1–3). In the New Testament the prodigal son goes away from his father’s house and comes home again (Luke 15:11–32).  

In fact, the whole Bible is such a story. It’s about the entire human race going away from God, and his great plan of salvation to bring them back again. At the center of that plan is our Lord Jesus Christ, and the good news that calls us back is about something else that God has done in Bethlehem—not just for those who live there, but for all of us, whoever we are, and however far we are from God.   

It’s a new and infinitely greater gospel than the one that Naomi heard and that turned her thoughts to home, and it’s an open invitation to all of us: Come home. Come home to the God who made you and loves you and is the only One who can fill your emptiness and meet your deepest need. Come back empty, come back with only small expectations if that’s all you have, come back bitter if you must, but come back. 

You may have been away ten years, as Naomi was. It’s too long. So is one year, or one month, or even one day, for we were made for God, and our true home—our only place of true wholeness—is with him…   

Ruth 1 is a story about someone who went away but came home, and it’s an invitation to all of us to do the same. 

—Barry G. Webb 

Source: Content taken from Judges and Ruth: God in Chaos by Barry G. Webb ©2015. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

It’s a story, then, of God’s purposes. It’s a story of God’s providence. It’s a reminder to us…that we’re not held in the grip of blind forces. We’re not swept along on the sea of chance. We’re being trained in the school of God’s providence. The book of Ruth says this to you this morning: God cares, God rules, God provides. God cares, God rules, God provides. 

A Christian understanding of the world introduces us to some great, wonderful perspective. You see, the message of Ruth is not that the people who trust in God, none of their family ever dies. No. Because Naomi had no husband, and both her boys were gone. The story of Ruth is not the people who trust in God always live in the lap of luxury, because she was essentially looking for soda cans to try and eke out an existence. The message of the book of Ruth is far grander than that, and far more wonderful to be conveyed to our friends and neighbors. In other words, we’re able to say to our friends and neighbors that the glories and the tragedies of the events of nations, the joys and the sorrows, the pains and the disappointments of family life, do not ultimately find their meaning within human history, do not ultimately find their meaning, ultimately, within the framework of personal biography. But they find their significance within the purposes of God, who has made himself known as loving and holy, as personal and infinite, as Creator and Redeemer, as Sustainer and Ruler. And this is good news!

—Alistair Begg

Source: Alistair Begg, “The Mystery of History” (sermon, December 9, 2001), https://www.truthforlife.org/resources/sermon/the-mystery-of-history/. Copyright Truth For Life. Used with Permission. www.truthforlife.org.

There were lots of disincentives for Ruth to go with God. There always are! When it comes to the big choices in life—the choices that determine one’s spiritual destiny—there are always all kinds of reasons to do something else. If Ruth went to Bethlehem, she was choosing to go down a dangerous road, with a difficult person, to an unfamiliar destination. But rather than giving up on God, she made the right choice, the best choice, and what for her was the only choice. Ruth wanted to be “all in” with the living God. As far as she was concerned, this was not a gamble, but a certainty by faith. So with God himself as her witness, she made a solemn vow to follow him to the very death.

One of the things that inspires me the most about Ruth is that she made her choice when she was young, probably still in her twenties. But at any age, the decisions we make today chart a course for eternity. No matter who we are or what has happened—whether everything is going right for us or desperately wrong—we have the rest of life ahead of us.

If we are wise, we will go with God, wherever he calls us to go. Some believers serve in the business world, where there are opportunities to create value for people made in God’s image. Others serve in education and teach people about the world that God has made. Artists display truth and beauty with the sights and sounds of creation. Other Christians have callings in science, medicine, law, or public policy. Many others are still figuring out what to do and where to go, in which case the most important thing to do right away is to tell God—without any reservation—that we are willing to go wherever he wants us to go. If we go with God, he will give us the opportunity to do something useful for the kingdom.

If we are wise, we will also stay with God, wherever he calls us to stay. We should never underestimate how hard this can be. Sometimes staying with God is a lot harder than going with God. Everything inside us is crying out to do a different job, in a different place, with different people. But if that is not God’s path for us, then it is not the right path, no matter how much easier it would be. Stay with God and with his people. Wherever we go in the world, we should hold on to the church the way Ruth held on to Naomi. The only way to stay with God in the world is to stay close to his people.

Go with God, stay with God. Live with God, die with God, and then live with him forever. This was Ruth’s choice, and it became her destiny. It will be our destiny, too, if we choose for God the way Ruth did.

—Phil Ryken

Source: Content taken from When Trouble Comes by Phil Ryken, ©2016. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.