| �May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.� |
| Ruth |
| Author: Unknown Meaning of �Ruth�: �Friendship� Date of Authorship: 990 B.C Date of the Story: 1160-1140 B.C. Subject: A poor Moabite woman puts her trust in God and becomes rich through His grace. Theme: God�s Providence and Provision. In A Nutshell Because of famine, Elimelech and Naomi move from their home in Ephrath to the land of Moab, where their sons, Mahlon and Kilion, find Ruth and Orpah to be their wives. Within a short period of time, Elimelech, Mahlon and Kilion all die, leaving the three women as widows. Naomi decides to move back to Israel where the famine has ended and Ruth, refusing to leave her side, goes with her. Finding herself without family, work, or food, Ruth begins to follow behind the reapers in the fields in order to pick up the gleanings that are left behind. Boaz, a rich landowner, takes notice of Ruth and commands his workers not to harm her but to let her glean. He also asks her not to glean from other fields, that she might be safe. After years of living off the grain that fell to the ground, Ruth, under Naomi�s persuasion, finds Boaz asleep at the threshing floor and lays at his feet. When he wakes up, she asks that he spread the corner of his garment over her (symbolic of a marriage covenant), for he is her kinsman redeemer (A close relative of Elimelech that had the right to redeem her by law.) Boaz agrees to redeem her, but only if the first relative in line refused, which he did. Boaz and Ruth were then married, and Ruth became a wealthy, fruitful woman, the great-grandmother of King David. The Message �I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness. I entered into a covenant with you . . . and you became mine.� Ezek 16:8 The book of Ruth is one of the meghilloth, or five sacred rolls of the Jews. The others are Esther, Song of Solomon, Lamentations, and Ecclesiastes. Each of these books was to be read aloud in the synagogues once a year on the corresponding feast day. Ruth was to be read at every Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), the celebration of the harvest. The story was a fitting part of the festival, for as a part of the celebration landowners would round the corners of their fields and give the excess to the poor and the alien, as instructed in Lev. 23:22. Much like the story of Rahab, the book is rich in symbolism, and is a type of the salvation of the Gentile. Like Ruth, Christians have left their lives behind and walked out in faith to a new land. We too were shown the grace that we might glean from the wheat intended for Israel, and like Ruth, we were made a part of Israel and given a future, a name, and a hope! The Relevance For many of us, it can be difficult to empathize with the poverty of this young girl. We have so much, and often fail to thank God for all that He�s given. Many of us are rich, aren�t we? We live in large homes, have extensive libraries and compact disc collections, and closets full of clothes. How could we ever identify with the destitution of the young Moabitess? I am not sure that we can fully enjoy the blessings of God unless we first learn that we are in desperate need. Maybe this is why Jesus opened the greatest sermon in history with the words, �blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom!� A man must be hungry before he is going to eat! As Christians, we�ve recognized our adversity in the world and have left our lives in it behind that we might �eat some of the grain intended for the Jews.� In Christ, we�ve finally tasted what real food is, and we�ve learned what genuine wealth is! We came to Him with a small cup and asked for a little grain, but He made us His bride and told us that the estate was ours! We were thirsty for a little, but �He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ� (Eph 1:3). When we, as �heirs of the kingdom,� begin to recognize how wealthy we�ve become in Him, we will have so much to offer a spiritually impoverished nation. |
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