Ruth, the widow and alien in ancient Israel, left a powerful legacy, one she could
never imagine. (Basil Wolverton drawing)
By Neil Earle
“The book of Ruth is not a work of deep theological meaning like Paul’s epistle to the Romans…It is not a magnificent symphony on the work of Christ like the Gospel of John...It is not full of apocalyptic imagery like the book of Revelation…It is mot basic instruction about the kingdom of God like the Sermon on the Mount yet it contains important lessons about life in that kingdom…
“The book of Ruth shows us in miniature detail the wisdom of God’s sovereign purposes in our everyday lives. We are not able to detect with perfect clarity the hand of God in the circumstances of our lives [but] here in the book of Ruth God allows us to see the kind of things he does so that we may trust him…” (Faithful God: An Exposition of the Book of Ruth, pages 11-15).
Those are nice words from the Presbyterian writer Sinclair B. Ferguson. He is echoing Saint Paul in Romans 15:4, “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”
Ruth shows us how God works with us amid the cares and fears of everyday earthly life. God never speaks directly in this book but it is great that it is in the Canon. It is an especially good one for us today because this is Pentecost weekend. Pentecost meaning “the fiftieth” was the seventh Sunday after the first Sunday following the Jewish Passover when the priests in the Jerusalem temple would cut the first sheaf of barley that shot up through the ground. Of it they made two loaves which they would then wave before the Lord as an offering (Leviticus 23:9-17). This was called the “wave sheaf offering” and Christians believe it depicted Jesus being cut off from the earth and then later ascending to God as a pleasing sacrifice. The two loaves depicted – say some – the Old Testament and New Testament churches.
Pentecost used to be a big day – a commanded assembly – when we were known as Worldwide Church of God. Anglicans call it Whitsunday and other churches note it as well. It still is a good day to think about because on that day the Holy Spirit entered the first disciples in Jerusalem and effectively started the New Testament church (Acts 2:1-10). But also, Ruth was read in the Jewish synagogues at this time of year because it was set at Pentecost season – early summer, “the beginning of the barley harvest” (Ruth 1:22). Read on. I promise you it will be a rewarding study.
Ruth’s first five verses plug us into the ongoing reality of the human experience – economic downturn, moving away to find prosperity and especially death. A Jewish man named Elimelech (“God is my king”) from the town of Bethlehem leaves Israel during a famine and moves to the neigh boring country of the Moabites. This was not the wisest move for an Israelite to make. These people were sworn enemies of Israel and were allowed to become Israelites until the tenth generation. This is stated in Deuteronomy 23:3-6 and is part of the “Israel-centric” thrust of so much of the Old Testament. Actually one reason the story of Ruth is passed on is to make us leery of narrow nationalism and blanket condemnations based on race, as we shall see.
From Bethlehem to Moab. Now when Christians read the word “Bethlehem” their ears perk up – at least they should. Things quickly go from bad to worse in Moab. Elimelech and his wife Naomi have two sons who marry Moabite girls and in short order it seems all three males in the family die. It could have been disease linked to the famine but in a few verses we see three new widows created in Moab. Not surprisingly the book of Ruth has as another major theme God's tender care for widows and their struggles.
Naomi decides to move back. Her new widowed daughters-in-law – Orpah and Ruth – want to go with her. But the girls are adamant. Finally Orpah relents but Ruth's devotion to Naomi will not be shaken and she utters one of the best-quoted words of the Old Testament:
“Don’t urge me leave you or turn back from you. Where you go will go and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God” (1:16).
The driving poetry of this passage should not distract us from the fact that Ruth is earnestly seeking the God of Israel. This is brought out in Ruth 2:12. Ruth forges ahead as a Gentile, a Moabite and a stranger in a strange land, an immigrant. One of the lessons of Ruth? Be nice to immigrants! Is this relevant today or what?
Naomi‘s back in town and she is quick to blame her bad luck on God (1:20-21). How typical, we could say. In the midst of all her religious talk she is still a widow, however, and widows are objects of God's special care (Psalm 68:5-6). The laws of Israel made special provisions for widows, ensuring they would not starve. Even forced with the possibility of selling her land to make ends meet (Ruth 4:3) wasn't her only means of support. There was the "the law of the corner” whereby famers had to leave the corners of the field during harvest as a sort of "poor relief" for the down and out or the disadvantaged (Leviticus 19:9-10).
Ruth hears about this and volunteers to work in the fields. Let’s pick up on this because words mean a lot in this book:
“And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, ‘Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor” (Ruth 2:2).
The word for “favor” here is a big big Old Testament word. It’s translated “grace” in the King James Version and rightly so. The Hebrew word is”hesed” and it means in essence “loving kindness” – one of the primary attributes of God as mentioned in Exodus 34:6-7. Notice:
“The association with divine mercy is surely patent in the words…He is great in ‘hesed’...He keeps 'hesed' for thousands which is immediately related to the forgiveness of sin…Therefore the phrase means ‘faithful love’ or ‘true kindness’ or the like…It occurs some twenty-two times with about seven more in close connection… [and] paired about fifteen times with nouns of mercy – [Psalm 103:4, Zechariah 7:9, etc.”] (Theological Word Book of the Old Testament, Volume 1, pages 306-307).
Ruth for the second time reveals that she is actively seeking grace. She is also a hard worker (Ruth 2:6-7) showing that grace and works blend together and should always be linked.
She is also beautiful and this may be one reason she wins the favor (hesed) of the landowner, Boaz, whose name means fittingly "In it is Strength” (Ruth 2:4-9). Ruth is flabbergasted at this attention from the top man: “Why have I found such favor (hesed) in your eyes that you notice me – a foreigner?” (Ruth 2:10).
Be nice to strangers! Both Boaz and Ruth are unaware that a far greater purpose is at work in their lives. It is no accident that she has ended up in the fields of Boaz, one of the richest men in Bethlehem and a grandson of a famous leader of the tribes of Judah in the Exodus. God is at work quietly and purposefully and in the mundane details of reaping and sowing to bring these two together.
Have you ever heard the old saying, ”Coincidences are God's way of staying anonymous.” God is working out his purpose and not even three deaths can stop it.
As the ever-resourceful Naomi is quick to tell Ruth, Boaz is their relative – a Goel – a Kinsman Redeemer. Both in Leviticus 25 and Deuteronomy 25:5-10 it is shown how Israel’s laws provided for the next of kin, the brother-in-law specifically, of a dead husband to take the widow to himself as his wife. This was to keep family names alive and to ensure the stability of the family and thus the local society. Much better for families to relieve their own poor than for the community be charged! But the Kinsman-Redeemer – which is how the NIV correctly translates the word “Goel” in the book of Ruth – also had the responsibility for bailing destitute family members and near kin out of slavery and indebtedness.
It was a major responsibility. The Goel had to be wealthy enough to assume the burden, and above all things he had to be next of kin.
In Chapter 3 Naomi sends Ruth on perhaps a reckless mission to remind Boaz of his duties but... there is a hitch. There is always a hitch. Tennyson said, True love never runs smoothly. Boaz tells Ruth, I’m your relative all right but there is one even closer.
Uh-oh. What now?
Well, as Naomi suspects, Boaz has a way to take care of this. It’s time to bring “city hall” into this. Ruth 4:1-5 shows Boaz skillfully assembling the witnesses at the city gate to converse with Naomi’s nearest of kin. The relative is interested in Naomi’s land of course but he doesn’t want to take Ruth upon himself. Maybe he fears marriage, he has other reasons but Boaz is insistent: “If you will redeem it, redeem it; but if you will not redeem it then tell me that I may know, for there is no one but you to redeem it and I am next after you” (Ruth 4:4).
The word “redeem” or “redeemer" is mentioned some 20 times in this short book. The writer is trying to hit us in the face with the fact that all these events point to something bigger. What that is comes out in Ruth 4:17. Boaz marries Ruth, Ruth has a child named Obed. Obed has a son named Jesse and Jesse becomes the father of David the King.
By acting the part of the wealthy and willing Kinsman-Redeemer Boaz has saved the family of Elimelech, brought joy to Naomi’s old age, healed the breach in the family and eventually – and perhaps all unwittingly – perpetuates a family line in Judah that leads to David the King and way beyond that to Jesus Christ. The motto of being nice to strangers could not have been more pronounced as a lesson to an Israel that was becoming all too exclusivist, proud and puffed up – especially towards Gentiles.
Bible readers are familiar with the notion of foreshadowing – coming events being anticipated in earlier examples. Ruth becomes a type of the conversion of the Gentiles. The day of Pentecost in the early church was the day of which the prophets spoke, when “the Spirit was poured out upon all flesh,” the conversion of all who call upon God in spirit and truth (Acts 2:21). Ruth typifies that glorious event just as Boaz foreshadows someone else who comes from his family line – Jesus of Nazareth, born in Bethlehem, son of David, King David’s greater Son, and the Kinsman-Redeemer of the whole human race, starting with Israel (Isaiah 54:1-5).
Think about that.
The Goel had to be near relative and Jesus likewise took on human flesh to claim his kinship with us as he worked for our redemption even inside our human nature. Paul covers this in Hebrews 2:14. Indeed, Jesus was like us in all respects except he did not sin (Hebrews 4:15). The Goel must be able and willing to take on the task of redemption and so Jesus came willingly out of his ivory palaces into a world of woe, as the song says, to bring us back to God.
The book of Ruth is a great testimony to the hidden workings of God in our ordinary lives. We seem to be struggling away down here without much importance attached to our daily events – getting up, having breakfast, going to work, paying the bills. But when Ruth went to work in the field of Boaz that day she never imagined where it would all lead. It led to this Moabite alien becoming part of the family tree of Jesus Christ. We need to think about that when we are feeling down and out of the running. The book of Ruth is a beautiful testimony in a warm-hearted little narrative of the great truth of Romans 8:28, “In all things God is working for the good of those who love him.”
Amen? Yes, indeed. Amen.