Interesting Bible People:Ruth

And so we come to a lovely young girl called Ruth. This is a love story. Ruth lives in the country of Moab and so she is known as, Ruth the Moabitess. One day she heard her father talking about a famine in Israel and how people were coming over the border because the harvest was better in Moab.


Ruth was fascinated. She wanted to see these people. Partly it was natural curiosity, but there was something more with Ruth. She had always been attracted to stories about the God of Israel. She wanted to know more.


One day she came across Naomi from Israel and they got talking. Quickly Naomi picked up Ruth's interest in her God. Ruth was drawn to this God of the Israelites, unlike the gods of her country this God did not require child sacrifice by burning. Ruth was drawn to this God of loving kindness.


The Bible tells us that Naomi had a husband called Elimelech and two sons Mahlon and Kilion. But it's time I gave you some background. Ruth lived long before the time of the kings of Israel such as king David. Ruth lived when the rulers were called judges. Nothing like our present day judges. They were men raised up by God to lead the Israelites and lead them into battle if necessary.


I hope it won't spoil things for you if I tell you that Ruth was to become the great grandmother of king David.

Well let's find out how this happened. To cut a long story short Ruth married..Oops I must just look it up in my Bible. Ah yes, she married Mahlon and another girl called Orpah married Kilion. So Elimelech, Naomi, Mahlon, Kilion and the two girls settled down to family life. But there were stormy times ahead. Elimelech died. Then things settled for ten years . Then poor Naomi lost both her sons. These men were a sickly lot

Naomi's name means "sweetness" and when the two women arrived at Bethlehem the women in the streets met them and greeted them,"Well how pleased we are to see you after all these years, Naomi." Naomi said, " Don't call me Naomi, but Mara ("bitterness") I went out full and I've come home empty and lost my men folk."She introduced Ruth to them and you can imagine the gossip flying around the town,"Naomi's back and she's got a Moabitess with her. Good looking too. I wonder what she will get up to?"


Naomi's old house was still waiting for them. They settled in.

Of course they were very poor. However there was hope, it was the time of barley harvest. There was a law in Israel that said the poor people could walk behind the harvesters, who were cutting the barley with simple tools, and pick up any of the stalks that the cutters had missed and it was theirs with no price to pay. Ruth knew about this and said to Naomi that she would go and find a field being harvested and glean the barley. Ruth was not afraid of hard work but she was courageous in another way as she would have to face a field full of harvester's eyeing her up and down and maybe some harassment too. Surprise, surprise God is looking after her. It just so happens that the field she chose belonged to Boaz who was from the same clan as Elimelech her dead father- in-law. This has no particular significance to us, but we shall see that it was very important

Boaz arrives on the scene and says, "The Lord be with you." The workers all reply,"The Lord bless you." Seems like he was a good boss. Boaz has at once caught site of Ruth and asks the foreman who she is. The foreman, replies, "She's the moabitess girl who came back with Naomi and she's a damned good worker. She's kept gleaning all morning except for one short break in the shelter." Then Boaz went over and spoke to Ruth. He said,"Now you keep gleaning in my fields. Don't go anywhere else. Watch the field where the men are harvesting and follow along after the girls." He had told the men not to molest her. He told Ruth to have a drink from the water jars by the shelter any time she needed to.

Ruth was amazed at his kindness and the Bible tells us she bowed right down on the ground to thank him.She said " Why are you being so kind to me, a foreigner?" Boaz replied,"I've heard all about the kindness you have shown Naomi since you have come home with her, leaving your own mother and father and country to stay with her. I pray the God you are trusting in will reward you for all the good things you have done." Ruth thanked him for his kindness and said she didn't deserve it.

At the mealtime Boaz gave Ruth some roasted grain and she had so much she had enough to take home to Naomi. When she was out of earshot Boaz told his men to purposely let stalks of grain from their bundles fall on the ground to make it easy for Ruth to find it. When Ruth went home to Naomi she had 22 litres of grain. She had threshed it so there were no stalks just the grain.Naomi's first reaction was to say, "Where did you glean today?" Ruth told her that it was on Boaz's fields. Naomi gasped and exclaimed," God bless you. God has not stopped showing kindness to our family. He is a near relation of ours, one of the kinsman redeemers."


Now this needs a little explaining. A kinsman redeemer was someone who was a close relative of a man who had died and he was expected to marry the widow, or in this case, the son's widow to carry on the family. Naomi said,"Stay in Boaz's fields, in another field you might get molested." So things carried on like this till the end of the harvest. There would probably not have been a lot of contact between Ruth and Boaz but I think both of them were beginning to think what the possibilities were. But as we shall see there was a problem, the course of true love would not run smoothly

Time was going on and nothing seemed to be happening. This time of waiting happens to us so often and is so important. Now Naomi intervenes and tells Ruth about an old ritual she must go through to ask Boaz for his protection. She tells Ruth to put on her best clothes and use perfume. Then she is to go to the threshing floor where everyone sleeps and wait till Boaz has settled for the night. Then she must go and uncover his feet and lie down right by his feet. This seems a bit weird to us, but that is just the way things were done in those days. Ruth went and did exactly as Naomi had told her. Part way through the night Boaz's sleep became lighter and he felt something at his feet and woke up. It was dark. There was a women at his feet,"Who are you?" he said. Ruth said her name and then said what Naomi had told her to say,"Spread your clothes over me for you are my kinsman redeemer." Boaz must have been thinking over this possibility. He is thrilled that Ruth has not been running after the younger men but is keeping to the traditions of the Israelite religion. He is an older man and calls her daughter.. He says she has gained a reputation of being a women of noble character.But there is a snag. Although Boaz is a kinsman redeemer there is a man more closely related to Naomi's husband. He will have to be given the opportunity to marry Ruth.

I wonder how Ruth felt about that. One minute there was joy that Boaz was prepared to marry her. She had grown to love and respect this man who had been so kind to her. She didn't want to marry anyone else. Again came a time of waiting. Boaz sent Ruth home with six lots of barley, no doubt as a token to Naomi that he approved of her sending Ruth to him. Naomi realized that Boaz was keen to marry Ruth but had to go through the right processes before this could be done. She said to Ruth, "All you can do now is wait, however if I know anything about Boaz he will get this settled today."


And so they waited. Trying to keep busy to take their minds off the feelings of " will he, won't he?" and "what if I have to marry this other man?"

Boaz went off to the gate of Bethlehem where the men would meet to talk and put the world to rights. The other Kinsman Redeemer came along and Boaz said to him,"Friend, come over here with me and sit down. I want a chat with you." Boaz asked ten of the elders to come along and be witnesses to what he was going to say. He then spoke to the Kinsman Redeemer telling him that Naomi was going to sell a piece of land that had belonged to her husband. Elimelech. He told the man he was suggesting that he should buy the land as he was the nearest Kinsman Redeemer and that he, Boaz was the next in line.


The Kinsman Redeemer liked the idea of having some more land and said that he would buy it. Then Boaz pointed out a snag. If the Kinsman Redeemer bought the land he would also be required to marry Ruth. The rule in Israel was that if a man died leaving a widow and no children the Kinsman Redeemer should marry the widow and any children they had would be treated as if they were the dead man's children.


This put a different picture on things. The Kinsman Redeemer did not want to marry Ruth. You can almost hear Boaz sigh with relief.

Now we have one of those funny, old rituals again. the Kinsman Redeemer took off his shoe and gave it to Boaz. the Kinsman Redeemer said, "You buy the land yourself Boaz." The taking off of his shoe was a legal sign that the right to buy the land had passed to Boaz.


Boaz declared to the elders that he had bought the land and would marry Ruth. The elders approved and wished a blessing on Boaz and Ruth.


So we have a happy ending. The Bible tells us Boaz and Ruth were married and they provided a home for Naomi. In due course they had a son, Obed. the women of Bethlehem told Naomi that Ruth was better to her than seven sons in her constancy and devotion to her.


Naomi loved looking after little Obed.


In due course Obed grew up and had a son called Jesse. He was the father of king David. And so Ruth was the great grandmother of king David. And many years later there was a much greater king in that line, Jesus.


In this story we see someone who did not belong to Israel nevertheless coming under God's love and protection. He is the God of all peoples You can't corner the market when it comes to God. The most unlikely people come to Him. If you will come he will not turn you away.


The book of Ruth in the Bible tells this story. It is between the books of Judges and 1 Samuel. Check it out and see if I have told the story correctly Do you think Ruth is among the interesting Bible people?

Can you imagine what strength of character Ruth must have had to take her through all the changes in her life. She started life in Moab where they worshipped Baal, but would have heard stories about the Israelites and their God. She must have been attracted to him from an early age. She then grew up to meet and marry an immigrant from Israel. As part of his family she would have spent a lot of her time with Naomi her mother-in-law and no doubt learnt a great deal more about the Israelite's God. She was to see her father-in-law ,brother-in-law and husband die in succession. There were just the three of them left, the widows of the three men. That would have created a bond between them as they shared their sorrow. When Naomi decided to return to Israel the two younger women decided to go with her. This meant leaving their own country, the only one they had known, and startng life in a foreign land without the protection of a man. This proved too much of an obstacle for Orpah the sister-in-law. She turned back to Moab. But Ruth must have been drawn more by her desire for Jehovah than by the great love she had for Naomi.

As two unprotected women, simply trusting in the protection of God, they returned to Bethlehem. Here Ruth had to face working in the barley fields where she could so easily have been badly treated as an outsider. Instead she found love and a settled life among the people she had come to respect because they worshipped God.