If we live long enough, we will, at some point in our lives, have experienced everything from love and happiness to sadness and loss. God has a plan for each of us, and in our study today, we will see how God used two ordinary women, Naomi and Ruth, through their pain and loss, and how He replaced it with joy and love to complete His plan to be our Kinsman-Redeemer.
Last week I shared Five Powerful Characteristics of Godly Women, check it out here!!!
Our study begins in Bethlehem with a small family: Elimelech and Naomi, the father and mother, and two young sons, Mahlon and Chilion. This family was well known in the small village and may have been wealthy.
When a great famine overtook the land, the family left for Moab. Genesis 19:30-38 tells us who the Moabites are. Because of their history, the Jewish people and the Moabites were sworn enemies and did not get along.
The Bible tells us they lived in Moab for ten years, but it does not give a time frame for the deaths of the three men. The sons were old enough to be married before they died. The women they married, though, were from Moab, and the Jewish men were not allowed to marry a Moabite woman because she would lead them away from God.
How often do we look around us, and all we see is famine? We see no hope, and to improve our lives, we look for greener pastures away from God and His plan. For a while, life seems good, and we think we are happy, but something happens and reminds us we are not.
After the men die, Naomi hears that the famine in Bethlehem is over and prepares to return. She encourages her daughters-in-law to return to their mothers so they can have a chance to build their own families.
One daughter returns, but Ruth commits to Naomi, leaving her family and heritage to follow Naomi and her God. Ruth knew she would be a foreigner in Bethlehem, but was willing to accept the ways of the Jewish people and accept their God as her God.
After a long journey, the women arrive in Bethlehem, and everyone greets them. They all remember Naomi and are happy to see her, but because Naomi felt God had left her, she told them to call her Mara because the Lord dealt bitterly with her.
We are often like Naomi when we face hardships and blame God for what we are going through. Sometimes, God’s plan allows us to walk through afflictions because He is growing and pruning us to bear good fruit.
Naomi begins teaching Ruth the Jewish way of life. Because they are both widows and have no way to provide for themselves, Naomi encourages Ruth to go to the barley fields and begin working in one of them.
Ruth obeys and goes to work in the barley field. The field she chose belonged to a relative of her late father-in-law, who is wealthy and well-known in Bethlehem.
Boaz sees Ruth working in his field and asks about who she is. His workers tell him she is the Moabite woman and Naomi’s daughter-in-law. So Boaz instructs his workers to let Ruth follow them, not bother her, and leave grain for her to pick up.
Then Boaz goes to greet Ruth and lets her know she is welcome in his fields, to stay close to the women workers, and that when she is hungry or thirsty, she can eat and drink with his workers. Then, he encourages her not to go to any other field but to stay in his.
Ruth went home to Naomi with enough grain for both women for a week. Usually, a worker gleaning the edges of the field gets barely enough for one day. So when Ruth came home, and Naomi saw how much Ruth had, she was amazed and asked where Ruth had worked.
Ruth tells Naomi that the field belonged to Boaz. He welcomes her, encourages Ruth to stay with his workers, and provides food and water.
In the Old Testament Law, a landowner was to leave the edges of his field unharvested so that the foreigner and poor could be provided for. This was God’s way of providing for all people. The poor still had to work for the grain, but it was just for them.
When you harvest the crops grown on your land, don’t harvest right up to the edges of your field or collect what has been missed. Don’t take every last grape from your vineyard or pick up the ones that have fallen. Leave them for the poor people and foreigners. I am the Lord your God. Leviticus 19:9-10
When you harvest the crops grown on your land, don’t harvest right up to the edges of your field or collect what has been missed. Leave them for the poor people and foreigners. I am the Lord your God. Leviticus 23:22
As Ruth continues working in the barley fields, providing for Naomi and herself, she is becoming a woman of faith. Each day, she would go only to Boaz’s fields to work, and as she worked, her reputation as an honest, integrity-filled woman became evident to everyone around her.
As the barley harvest ended, Naomi began thinking about the future and making plans for Ruth to find a husband. Naomi understood Jewish Law and traditions and knew that Boaz was a relative of her late husband.
Naomi shares her plan with Ruth. Ruth is to prepare herself and then wait near the threshing floor for Boaz. After he falls asleep, she uncovers his feet and waits.
Boaz wakes up in the night and finds Ruth lying at his feet. He asks her what she is doing, and Ruth explains that he is a close relative and can redeem her family if he wants to.
There is another man who is closer to Naomi and Ruth than Boaz, but should he refuse to accept the duty of redeemer, Boaz would be willing to take it. Then Boaz told Ruth to sleep, and he would wake her before dawn. Before Ruth left, Boaz placed an armload of barley to take home to Naomi.
Early in the morning, Boaz goes to the city gate, gathers ten witnesses and the relative closest to Naomi and Ruth, explains the matter of Naomi and Ruth, and asks whether the relative would be willing to accept the role of a family redeemer.
The relative told Boaz that he could not do as requested, so, as was the custom, he took off his shoe and gave it to Boaz. Then Boaz agreed to be the family redeemer and marry Ruth to carry on the family name.
Soon after Boaz and Ruth marry, she becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son. The women of the town praise God, and Naomi’s arms are filled with life again.
The story of Ruth and Naomi shows us that when we follow God’s will, we are always honored and blessed by Him. God uses the faithfulness of these two women to complete His extraordinary plan.
Through gleaning in the fields, God provided bread for the women; when Ruth married Boaz, God provided security for the young widow; for Naomi, God provided prosperity through Obed, the son of Ruth and Boaz. Through this Gentile woman, Ruth, God provided Israel with a great king and then, for all people, Jesus the Messiah.
Ruth shows us that we need to be learning from “older women” – both those in the Bible and the ones in our daily lives – who have gone before, made the paths, and blazed the trail to show us and teach us God’s way of loving our families, helping those in need, and reflecting Jesus.
Both Ruth and Naomi were women of many virtues, but their most outstanding distinction was the servant’s heart each possessed. We must be willing to take on a servant’s heart and minister to those around us. When we have a heart to serve others, we become a blessing to them and fulfill God’s plan.
For more study, read
Ruth
Genesis 19:30-38
Resources
https://www.bible.com/bible/1932/LEV.23.22
https://www.bible.com/bible/1932/LEV.19.9-10
