Ruth, Naomi and Boaz

Ruth 1:1-4:22

This relationship that is not broken by death, how does it come to be written for us to ponder? This is called the book of Ruth, and yet it is also the story of Naomi-whose name means pleasant, but who changes her name to Mara which means bitter. We see that after all her kin have died and she is left without resources, her daughter-in-law does not abandon her-though by all rights she should return to her own kin. We get this lovely quote, and perhaps it gives us a glimpse of why this is called the book of Ruth.

But Ruth 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. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you."

Death is about all they had to look forward to. There was a famine in the land, and they had no legal means of support...and yet there is this promise, there is a place where they can go and they can be redeemed. What is this redeeming that they look for? The Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Joseph, he gives directions to say that no one in Israel is left without an inheritance, and no family is left without a future. This redemption is what Naomi/Mara is hoping for, even in the midst of her bitterness.

And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, "May he be blessed by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!" Naomi also said to her, "The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers."

Boaz has acted honorably, and in doing so he has set the stage for the redemption of Ruth and of Naomi. Look what comes of it! We see that Elimelech's name continues, his widow in her widowhood is given a child to nurse-no longer is she bitter, and Ruth, who was also a widow gives this gift to her mother-in-law; she too gets a new love in her life and we see that there are more generations to come, for we leave today hearing that Obed fathers Jesse and Jesse fathers David. What shall we see happen because of this relationship, this love and this obedience? I pray that we all can do everything as Ruth did by going to a place we do not know in order to take refuge under the shelter of His wings.

See you tomorrow.
-maggie