God’s Story in Ruth: Strength and Courage

Ruth 1-4

The Ten Signposts of the Bible
CAMDE—400—CALY

Creation. Abraham. Moses. DAVID. Elijah. 400. Christ. Apostles. Letters. Yet-to-Come.

A few months ago, my friend Dave Shields introduced me to a great book by Edmund Clowney, The Unfolding Mystery. In it, Clowney reminds us that although the Bible is God’s story and salvation is his work, men and women are not merely spectators. God calls us to act, and we, in turn, trust him to act on our behalf. But God seldom acts all at once. Here’s how Clowney puts it:

But since God does not do all that He has promised at once, the faith of His people is tried and tested. Their longing becomes intense. At times the promise seems not only distant but illusory. They fall victim to unbelief and cry, “Is the Lord among us or not?”[1]

The book of Ruth tells of a family who wondered, “Is the Lord among us or not?” Can you even imagine Naomi’s grief after losing her husband and two sons! She felt alone and abandoned, yet she still cried out to her sovereign personal God. At the right time, he began to heal her heart and answer her prayers. 

When Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem, she urged her two daughters-in-law to remain with their families in Moab. One daughter-in-law, Ruth, refused. She said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried” (Ruth 1:16-17a). 

The Moabites worshiped a god named Chemosh. In Numbers 21:29, Moses calls them the “people of Chemosh.” Chemosh was a national god with limited power. Ruth had heard about Yahweh, Israel’s god, who was sovereign over all the nations. Chemosh demanded child sacrifice, as depicted in 2 Kings 3:27, where the king of Moab sacrificed his son on the city wall during a battle to appease Chemosh for victory. By contrast, Yahweh was markedly different. He alone provided a substitutionary sacrifice. 

Yahweh was a divine being that you could know personally and talk to without hesitation; he was so personal and loving that you could even be bold enough to tell him you didn’t agree with what he was doing! Ruth had heard Naomi say that God had made her life bitter, yet he didn’t strike her down for saying so. He was Shaddai, the sovereign God, and he was Yahweh, the personal God, who demonstrated unconditional love and grace.

Ruth wanted Yahweh to be her God, and we’re going to see how God worked through this woman of faith. 

Ruth knew that providing for herself and Naomi was her responsibility, so she went out to work in the fields during harvest time (Ruth 2:2). In God’s sovereignty, he led her to Boaz’s field. Boaz was a relative of Elimelech, Naomi’s husband.  

In biblical culture, harvesting required three groups of workers. The reapers would move through the fields, cutting the grain stalks. They were followed by the bundlers, who tied the stalks into bundles. Finally, the poor, the gleaners, would make their way through the fields to gather the leftovers. 

I believe it is safe to describe Ruth as a go-getter, a capable woman with a distinctive personality. She wasn’t content to be a gleaner. Despite being a foreigner, she asked those in charge for the chance to work among the bundlers, hoping to help with the harvest. Her initiative, along with the untimely loss of her husband, earned her favor with Boaz. He granted her special privileges among the harvesters, and she didn’t disappoint. She worked from morning to evening, taking only short breaks, and gathered thirty pounds of barley (Ruth 2:17). This was a substantial amount of grain for one woman to gather in a single day. It testifies to both Ruth’s industry and Boaz’s generosity.[2]

I mentioned earlier that Boaz was related to Naomi’s husband, Elimelech. As one of their closest relatives, he was designated their “kinsman-redeemer.” Through God’s sovereign plan, Boaz purchased Elimelech’s land and took Ruth as his wife to “perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers” (Ruth 4:9-10). He rescued Naomi and Ruth from poverty and ensured the family name would continue. 

Boaz and Ruth married and were blessed with a son. We read about them in the first book of the New Testament, where they appear in the genealogy of Jesus. 

Matthew 1:1, 5-6
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham…and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king. 

What a beautiful reminder of God’s great grace in including both Jew and Gentile in the family tree of Jesus! Boaz’s mother was Rahab, the former prostitute who helped the Israelites defeat Jericho. Boaz’s wife was a Moabite who worshiped a foreign god before turning to the living God. Boaz, the son of a prostitute, and Ruth the Moabite had a great-grandson—“David the king,” whose human lineage would produce the Messiah. 

The apostle Paul writes that Jesus “was descended from David according to the flesh” (Rom. 1:3). He told those in Antioch, “Of [David’s] offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised” (Acts. 13:23). And as the promised Savior concludes the last book of the Bible, he declares, “I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star” (Rev. 22:16).  

Sometimes, like Naomi, we cry out, “Is the Lord with us or not?” But through God’s story in Ruth, we see that he is sovereignly working every step of the way…until one day we see Jesus–the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star–face to face!  

PERSONAL TIME WITH GOD
Read and reflect on Ruth 1-4. How can you actively step out in faith instead of waiting passively for God to act?

Talking to God: Ask God to give you the courage and strength of Ruth. 

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