Ruth

The setting for the book of Ruth is during the time period of the Book of Judges. It is near the end of that phase of Israel's national history. It is somewhat unique to other Old Testament books in several ways. One of those ways is the focus on the personal story of Ruth, who is not even a Jewish woman at the beginning of the story. Ruth seems to recognize the uniqueness of Naomi, her mother-in-law. She relocates with Naomi back to Israel AND boldly aligns herself with Naomi's God. In verses 16 and 17 of chapter one, Ruth joins herself to Naomi's people, to her God, and vows to be with her til death. This is in spite of the fact that Naomi's husband has died and her two sons have also died while living in Ruth's homeland of Moab. Upon arriving back in Israel, Ruth goes out and begins to work to collect food for provisions for the both of them.

An interesting statement in verse 3 of chapter 2 seems to hint at providential guidance, "...she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz." Boaz recognizes Ruth's character, and he invokes God when referencing her praiseworthy behavior, "All that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband has been fully reported to me, and how you left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and came to a people that you did not previously know. May the Lord reward your work, and your wages be full from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge."(Ruth 2:11&12). Boaz then orders his servants to treat her well and allow her to gather from his fields. Interestingly, he does not simply give Naomi and Ruth food, but he gives them greater access to his fields so they can come and gather enough for their needs.

The story takes and interesting twist when we discover that Boaz is a relative of Naomi's dead husband. In Israel's culture at this time, this meant that he was in a unique position to "redeem" his relatives land and lineage. This meant that he could choose to cultivate the land AND marry a bride of the dead relative to keep their family line from dying off. Naomi's advises Ruth to submit this idea to Boaz in a rather creative way, and Boaz seems quite taken with Ruth and pursues this avenue. However, there is a twist. There is one other "kinsmen redeemer" who has first choice before Boaz can have an opportunity to do so. Boaz informs his of the situation, and he declines. There is much more to digest from the way that this story unfolds than I have given time to here, but upon the other relative declining, Boaz marries Ruth, and they conceive a son named Obed. This is probably the closest to "...and they lived happily ever after..." you will find in the Bible.

There is one more interesting twist to finish off the book. The book of Ruth is also a transitional book from the time period of Judges to the time of Kings. The great hero of Israel will always be King David. You discover in the closing passages of Ruth that Boaz is David's great grandfather.

Side note--as a Christian, I cannot help but notice the unbelieveable amounts of parallels in the story and the redemption story of Christ. Feel free to explore these angles of Ruth as well as you read the story.