RUTH 1–2
At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She exclaimed, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?”
(Ruth 2:10).
The story of Ruth opens with the historical narrative of Elimelech leading his wife and two sons to the land of Moab, a journey of some fifty miles to the west and south of the Dead Sea. Elimelech, whose name means “God is my King,” fails to honor his name and King by leaving the generally fruitful region of Bethlehem (the house of bread) in favor of living in an enemy land. Moab, under God’s curse, was about the last place a faithful Israelite should have gone with his family, even though they were escaping from famine. This outright rejection of his homeland where God had promised His blessing becomes the faithlessness against which the major themes of the book will be developed. The irony of this migration in search of food becomes an early key to understanding the series of providential actions of God. In bringing redemption to this one family, God paints the biblical portrait of the salvation He is yet to bring to all of His people. The work of Christ is carefully prefigured in this wonderful love story.
The book of Ruth tells of ordinary people leading quiet lives during the time of the judges, a period otherwise dominated by war, strife, and chaos. It deals with unimportant people and unimportant events, but in a manner as to show that God is supremely active in the sovereign administration of all the details of the affairs of men and women. It is in that theme of ordinariness that even the simplest right decisions (or wrong, as with the case of Elimelech) become so determinative.
The resulting story of right decisions and ordinary faithfulness in every day life is used by God to produce extraordinary results. The entire story is a striking illustration of how God raises the humble and uses the weak things of this world for His glory. By obedience to the counsel of Naomi, Ruth finds favor and redemption from her redeemer-kinsman, Boaz. Ruth, the childless Moabite widow, a Gentile normally considered outside the pale of God’s love and mercy, an alien to the covenant of grace, became in God’s providence the progenitor of the Davidic and messianic line.
CORAM DEO
Psalms 28–30
Acts 21:1–16
WEEKEND
Psalms 31–35
Acts 21:17–40
The story of Ruth is one of commitments—Ruth to Naomi in chapter 1; Ruth to Naomi’s people in chapter 2; Ruth to the providence and sovereignty of God in chapter 3; and Boaz to Ruth and the levirate law in chapter 4. Consider today where through your ordinary commitments God has been pleased to produce extraordinary results.
For further study: Matthew 1:1–6 • 1 Peter 2:4–12
WEEKEND