The author of the Book of Ruth is unknown but has been suggested to be the prophet Samuel in the time of King David. It is a picture of the power of faith of two women and the blessings that follow. It is also a book connected to the lineage of Christ. Let’s dig in:
In the days when the judges ruled in Israel, a severe famine came upon the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah left his home and went to live in the country of Moab, taking his wife and two sons with him. The man’s name was Elimelech, and his wife was Naomi. Their two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in the land of Judah. And when they reached Moab, they settled there.
Then Elimelech died, and Naomi was left with her two sons. Ru. 1:1 – 3. NLT
So, there was a famine in Israel (Canaan). Instead of waiting on Jehovah for deliverance, Elimelech spirited his family off to a pagan land (Moab) – in direct violation of God’s law against consorting with pagans. He perished for his transgression.
The two sons married Moabite women. One married a woman named Orpah, and the other a woman named Ruth. But about ten years later, both Mahlon and Kilion died. This left Naomi alone, without her two sons or her husband. Ru. 1:4, 5. NLT
Thus, Naomi’s sons also transgressed Jehovah’s statutes by marrying pagan women (Moabites). They too died for their rebellion.
Later, Naomi hears that God has delivered Israel from the drought and she intends to take her two daughters-in-law back home. But first she gives them the option to remain in Moab with their respective parents. She tells them they would be better off because she recognizes that her plight was due to her joining her husband in leaving Israel. She tells them:
“…because the Lord’s hand has gone against me.” Ru. 1:13 AMP
Orpah choose to return to her parents.
However, Ruth pledged to go with Naomi, to remain with her the rest of her days, and to follow Jehovah – her first expression of her faith in that this was the right thing to do:
“Don’t plead with me to abandon you or to return and not follow you. For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you live, I will live; your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.” Ru. 1:16 CSB
Naomi acquiesced, and the two of them journeyed to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest. It is at this juncture, that the Bible introduces us to another major player in the book of Ruth:
Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side. He was a prominent man of noble character from Elimelech’s family. His name was Boaz. Ru. 2:1 CSB
We will learn that his lineage is very important. His mother was Rahab, the prostitute who hid the spies from Joshua from being killed by hiding them from an enemy pagan king of Jericho. (See Jos. 2:1 – 15 & 6:25; Mt. 1:5)
Later, Ruth would ask Naomi if she could go to the barley fields to glean stalks of grain left behind by the harvesters. (This leaving behind of the grain was mandated by Mosaic law to help the poor people eat.)
While doing so, Ruth begins to glean in Boaz’s field. Boaz comes and asks about the beautiful Moabite woman in his field and is told that she came back from Moab with Naomi. Impressed, Boaz told her to stay in his field and continue to glean.
She thanks him effusively and he answers that he did it because of all she was doing for Naomi, and then he covers her with a blessing:
“May the Lord repay you for your kindness, and may your reward be full from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” Ru. 2:12 AMP
Boaz served her dinner and then she gleaned a little more grain and brought it home to Naomi, to whom she raved about Boaz’s kindness to her. Naomi likewise fawned praise upon Boaz, saying:
“May he be blessed of the Lord who has not ceased His kindness to the living and to the dead.” Again Naomi said to her, “The man is one of our closest relatives, one who has the right to redeem us.” Ru. 2:20 AMP
Naomi is referring to Boaz as a ‘redeemer’ (kinsman-redeemer) – associated with a Mosaic Law (Lv. 25:25) that states if an Israeli was so down on his luck that he had to sell his property, his closest relative would need to purchase it to keep the land in the family.
Ruth gleaned Boaz’s field until the end of the harvest…
Boaz, being a redeemer, must also fulfill another Mosaic Law (See Dt. 25:5), which dictates that he must marry the widow of a brother and impregnate her, so that his brother’s lineage continues. Thus, Naomi begins to construct a plot that kills two birds with one stone:
One day Naomi said to Ruth, “My daughter, it’s time that I found a permanent home for you, so that you will be provided for. Boaz is a close relative of ours, and he’s been very kind by letting you gather grain with his young women. Tonight he will be winnowing barley at the threshing floor. Now do as I tell you—take a bath and put on perfume and dress in your nicest clothes. Then go to the threshing floor, but don’t let Boaz see you until he has finished eating and drinking. Be sure to notice where he lies down; then go and uncover his feet and lie down there. He will tell you what to do.” Ru. 3:1 – 4. NLT
Uncovering Boaz’s feet was a way to make them cold and wake him up. Seeing Ruth dressed in her finery, would impress upon him the righteousness of her cause.
Ruth did so, and when he woke up, he was surprised, and asked her about her intentions. She replied:
“I am your servant Ruth,” she replied. “Spread the corner of your covering over me, for you are my family redeemer.” Ru. 3:9 NLT
Boaz is thrilled but he still places his concern about Ruth’s righteousness at the center of his focus:
“Now don’t worry about a thing, my daughter. I will do what is necessary, for everyone in town knows you are a virtuous woman.” Ru. 3:11 NLT
Yes, it is Ruth who is the ‘woman of virtue’!
However, Boaz tells Ruth that she has a relative more closely related to her and legally has the first right of redemption. But Boaz then says if the other man will not redeem her, he most definitely will.
He then tells her to spend the night at his feet but cautions her to rise early before anyone else so as not to be a victim of false slander. She does, and relates everything to Naomi…
That very same day, Boaz meets with the closer relative and gathered ten elders to officiate.
Boaz begins by telling him that due to Ruth’s poverty, she must sell the land she received due to the death of her husband Elimelech. He informs the relative that he has the first rights to redeem the land, but if he doesn’t want to, he, Boaz, the next in line, will do so.
The closer relative says he will redeem the land.
Then, clever Boaz informs him of his duty to take Ruth as his wife as well if he redeems the land. The man realizes that marrying a Gentile would at the very least violate Mosaic Law, as well as surely alienate his present wife. So, he backpedals and tells Boaz to redeem Ruth and the land.
So Boaz took Ruth into his home, and she became his wife. When he slept with her, the Lord enabled her to become pregnant, and she gave birth to a son. Then the women of the town said to Naomi, “Praise the Lord, who has now provided a redeemer for your family! May this child be famous in Israel. Ru. 4:13, 14. NLT
They named him Obed (worshiper). He is the father of Jesse, the father of David [the ancestor of Jesus Christ]. Ru. 4:17 AMP
Thus, Boaz, the kinsman-redeemer and Ruth, the virtuous Gentile woman, are eternally cemented within the lineage of our Savior…
Goodnight and God bless.