Summary
Redemption: More to the Story
The book of Ruth opens in death and ends in life. Set "in the days when the judges ruled" Ruth 1:1—a cyclical era of Israel's apostasy, foreign oppression, repentance, and rescue through military judges—the story follows Elimelech of Bethlehem, who flees famine to Moab with his wife Naomi and their two sons. Within a dozen years, all three men die. Three widows are left. Naomi urges her daughters-in-law to return home, and one does. But Ruth clings to Naomi with a remarkable confession of faith: "Your people shall be my people, and your God my God" Ruth 1:16. Sealed with an oath calling the LORD as witness, Ruth's words mark her conversion to the God of Israel.
Returning to Bethlehem, the two widows survive by gleaning, the provision Israel's law made for the poor and the sojourner at the edges of harvested fields. Ruth "happened" to come to a field belonging to Boaz, "of the family of Elimelech" Ruth 2:3. That phrase is crucial. There is no luck. As R.C. Sproul put it, if even one maverick molecule were running loose, God would not be sovereign. Behind Ruth's "chance" arrival in that particular field stands the providence of the Lord. Boaz blesses his workers, protects Ruth, has heard of her kindness to Naomi, and provides food for them both.
This sets up the heart of the story: redemption. In ancient Israel, the nearest male relative was expected both to marry a childless widow and to redeem—buy back—the deceased's land. Boaz is willing, but he is not first in line. He honors the law: "It is true that I am a near kinsman; yet there is a kinsman nearer than I" Ruth 3:12. When the closer relative declines the responsibility, Boaz redeems the land and takes Ruth as his wife. Two people who could not redeem themselves are bought back by another. The book that began with three coffins ends with a cradle: "the LORD made her conceive, and she bore a son" Ruth 4:13.
But there is more to the story. That son, Obed, became the father of Jesse, the father of David. And Matthew opens his Gospel by tracing the line further still: "Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth… and Jesse the father of David the king" Matthew 1:5-6, all under the heading, "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham" Matthew 1:1. A Moabite widow, gleaning at the edge of a stranger's field, stands in the family tree of the Messiah. The genealogy of Ruth is your genealogy in Christ.
The themes carry straight through to the Gospel. We are born spiritually dead, our hearts stone, with no inclination toward God. Christ, the second Person of the Trinity, bears our sin on the cross. In the waters of Baptism, God claims us as His own, washes us in that forgiveness, and works the faith that grasps His victory. From death to life. The sovereignty of God. People who cannot redeem themselves, bought back—not by silver or gold, but by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And none of it is luck. As Paul writes, God chose us in Him "before the foundation of the world" Ephesians 1:4.
Until the road bends and we arrive at our true homeland in heaven Philippians 3:20, the story of Ruth remains one of ours to tell: a widow gathered in, a kinsman who was willing, and a child whose line leads to the Redeemer of the world.
Video citations
- "Redemption" “More to the Story” 9-1-24 — Would you open your Bibles please with me to the fourth chapter of the book of Ruth. If you're using a few edition of Holy Scripture, you're going to find that in the Old Testament page 226, the…