Chapter 4–Ruth: Loyalty and Love
Laurie’s thoughts here:
http://maybeillblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/twelve-extraordinary-women-ruth.html
Ruth’s story was enhanced for me by the fact that I’ve been reading Judges at the same time. In the book of Judges. In Judges 3, we find the Israelites subject to the Moabites who were Ruth’s people.
The Moabites were a very pagan and harsh people. They were the decendants of Lot through his daughter whom he impregnated. As the Israelites reached the Promised Land, the Moabites attacked Israel but were defeated by God. They then called Balaam to curse Israel, which, of course, he couldn’t because of God.
Unfortunately, the Moabites were able to lure the Israelite men into worshipping Baal and engaging in sexual immorality with the women of Moab to the point of God allowing a plague to kill 24,000 of the Israelites. After the plague, God sent them to destroy certain Moabites. The Israelites were never able to destroy all the Moabites because God had forbidden it. He had given specific land to the Moabites because they were descended from Lot. They were not, however to enter into the Temple of God for ten generations because they hired Balaam and did not greet the Israelites with a welcome feast.
So, we are left to wonder how many generations it had been when Ruth, the Moabitess came to live with her mother-in-law Naomi. We know that there was a drought in the land and that for a time Moab ruled Israel and then a man named Ehud killed Eglon, ruler of Moab and then Israel ruled over Moab.
We don’t know if Ruth lived during either of these times or a different time period. What we do know is that she married a man from Israel and then he died, leaving her and his mother and his brother’s wife without a male relative to protect them. As harsh as the Moabite gods were, we know that it was no place for women to live so Naomi took it upon herself to go home to find a place for herself among he own people. When she started out, she had both son’s wives with her but Orpah was easily convinced to return to her life in Moab.
Ruth, however, showed something else in her determination to stay with Naomi. I have often wondered if Ruth had no relatives in Moab either even though she was encouraged to return to her mother’s house. Did she feel as though no one cared for her the way Naomi did? Was she the victim of domestic violence and perhaps physical abuse in her mother’s home and knew that there was no way she would be safe back home?
We will never know in this time and place but what we do know was that Ruth clung to her mother-in-law and swore to not only remain with her but also to remain with Naomi’s God. She had made a commitment to the core of her heart and it wasn’t to only a human being but to a new and living God as well.
That was enough for Naomi. She let the girl stay with her and looked out for her as best she could. She gave her good motherly advice including telling her that the field she was gleaning in belonged to a kinsman-redeemer. At that point, both of them had hope of a better life. A life in which they had a man to speak up for them and protect them.
The only drawback was that there was another man who was a closer relative who could also redeem them and the land owned by Naomi’s husband. He only wanted the land, however, not a Moabite wife. We aren’t sure why other than he didn’t want to harm his own inheiritance. It’s never said whether or not he was already married or if he was protecting a bloodline or had some other reason.
What we do know is that he gave up the right to redeem the land when he heard Ruth was part of the deal. We also know that Boaz was quite happy that the other man gave up the right to redeem so that he could redeem both the land and Ruth.
Ruth’s character is one of humility and hard work. She was quickly known as quiet, industrious and not one to make a spectacle of herself. She came to the field, worked hard and said little if anything. The men noticed her and had positive things to report to Boaz about her. The women seem to have accepted her as one of them. Definitely when Boaz married her, everyone was happy for her and for Naomi.
Ruth may not have been an Israelite but she shows several things by the life she lived:
There was a deeper reason than just that the Moabites were descended from Lot that keep God from destroying them. God had Ruth picked out as the mother of Obed, grandmother of Jesse, great-grandmother of David. While we may not understand why God doesn’t destroy a city or a country for its unbelief, we need to remember that He knows more than we do and He will not destroy what He still finds useful. We just can’t see the usefullness.
Ruth, along with her predecessors, Tamar and Rahab, was not an Israelite showing that the Messiah was not going to be 100% Jewish. The Gentiles were always to be redeemed through the Messiah of Israel. The Jewish nation was always to have pointed the way to salvation for all peoples and not to just keep it for themselves. By the same token, we are not to keep Salvation for ourselves but to share it as well, with the whole world.
Ruth shows a new character in accepting Naomi’s God as her God. At no time does she show the paganism that she was raised in. We are to show a new character as well when we accept Jesus as our savior and not to show the paganism in which we were raised.
John MacArthur notes that like all believers, Ruth is redeemed, brought into favor, endowed with riches and privilege, exalted to be the Redeemer’s bride, and loved by the Redeemer. Ruth had two redeemers–Boaz, her husband, and also Jesus, the Redeemer of the world who is our redeemer as well.
