The book of Ruth took place “in the days when the judges ruled…” Ruth 1:1 The time of the judges was a time when “everyone did as he saw fit.” Judges 17:6, 21:25 That expression implies that instead of following the moral law that God had decreed, each person did what THEY thought was right. There were few standards of right and wrong. The book of Judges gives examples of the moral decay of that time. It is important to know the book of Ruth took place in the time when the judges ruled because the story of Ruth is such a beautiful story we have a tendency to think it was so much better at that time. It wasn’t. It was a time of great hardship. However, God can give His children a rich and abundant life in the midst of turmoil. The three main characters (Ruth, Naomi and Boaz) knew God and their lives had great meaning.
“In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife’s name Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.
Now Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.
When she heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people, by providing food for them, Naomi and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where they had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to Judah.” Ruth 1:1-7
Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show kindness to you, as you have shown to your dead and to me. May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.”
Then she kissed them and they wept aloud and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”
But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me–even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons–would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has gone out against me!” Ruth 1:8-13
Naomi is referring to a law given to the Israelites by God called the levirate law where if a man died, his brother was to marry the widow and their first son was to carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name would not be blotted out from Israel:
“If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.” Deuteronomy 25:5-6
Family and the preservation of the family name was very important to the Israelites. This law is one reason why the Jewish race did not lose its identity.
Naomi told her daughters-in-law that even if she had a husband, she was too old to have children. And if she could have sons, she could not expect her daughters-in-law to wait till they grew up to marry them. There was no advantage to them of coming with her:
At this they wept again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-by, but Ruth clung to her.
“Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.” Ruth 1:14-15
This is interesting. Naomi knew God. She asks God to bless her daughters-in-law and show kindness to them because of the kindness they have shown. They could see the love of God in her. But Naomi didn’t know God very well. She was telling them to go back to their home and their gods because there was no advantage in coming with her. If this were taking place today, it would be like a Christian saying to someone that has asked about Christianity, “You wouldn’t want to be a Christian. Look at all you would have to give up.” Naomi loved her daughters-in-law and was telling them what she thought best, but it was very unwise. Her mind was focused on worldly concerns, not God’s concerns.
But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.” When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. Ruth 1:16-18
This is one of the most beautiful passages in the Bible. Ruth is no only pledging her devotion to Naomi; she is also pledging her devotion to God. She is completely surrendering her life to God. In those days, it was very important where you were buried and Ruth even pledges that she will be buried where Naomi is buried. When Ruth dedicates her life to Naomi, she is dedicating it to God.
Ruth is demonstrating “hesed” which is Hebrew word meaning self-sacrificial love. Many times we would be like Orpah and do what seems best for us. It might seem Orpah did nothing wrong, but she made a serious mistake when she chose to return to Moab. None of them–Ruth, Naomi or Orpah, understood the consequences of the decisions they were making.
So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the woman exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”
“Don’t call me Naomi,’ she told them. ‘Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”
So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as barley harvest was beginning. Ruth 1:19-22
The name “Naomi” means “pleasant”. The name “Mara” means “bitter”. Naomi has said that the Almighty has made her life very bitter. She said that she went away full, but the Lord has brought her back empty and that the Lord has afflicted her and brought misfortune upon her. Earlier she said that the Lord’s hand had gone out against her.
Following is a quote by Dutch Sheets, a pastor in Colorado and a Bible teacher who has traveled in the United States, Canada and England:
“Naomi has returned to the land of Israel. Don’t call me Naomi (pleasantness or favor); call me Mara (bitter) for the Almighty had dealt bitterly with me. She blames God for the death of her husband and sons. Periodically God judged Israel because of her sins. When this family left Israel and went to Moab, they ran away from the judgment of God and ran to the world for provision (vs. 1). The real reason her sons died was because she turned to the world and not God.” Dutch Sheets–tape 90023
Before Jesus was born, God had a covenant relationship with Israel. He was the God of Israel. A person who came to know God came to Israel—for example—Rahab (Boaz’s mother whose story is told in the book of Joshua) and Ruth. Other countries worshiped idols. According to 1 Corinthians 10 behind every idol is a demon “…the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons” I Corinthians 10:20. When Elimelech and his family left Israel, they left a country where God reigned to a country where a demon reigned.
When Elimelech and his family left Israel they were leaving the care of God. If they had obeyed God, these tragedies would not have happened. It must be terrible to experience famine–to know that there is no food. Still God could have taken care of them in Israel if they had put there trust in Him. Things looked bad, so they turned to the world. How often do we turn to the world instead of to God?
“A man’s own folly ruins his life, yet his heart rages against the Lord.” Proverbs 19:3 Naomi blamed God for her misfortune instead of taking any blame on herself, although in all probability she changed her mind as she came to understand God better.
God was really blessing Naomi in the midst of her troubles.Naomi would probably never have returned to Israel if even one of her sons had been left alive. She would have had grandchildren born in the land of Moab and all of her family would have been in Moab. They would have been in a country that worshipped a demon as a god. It is doubtful that any of her family would have come to know God. Only by allowing great suffering to come upon her, would she be abundantly blessed. God was really blessing Naomi when she accused Him of afflicting her, of bringing misfortune on her.
Naomi has come back to Israel a bitter woman thinking her life is over. But the story does not end there. Naomi has come back to God when she came back to Israel. And she has brought Ruth. Naomi does not realize what a blessing she has received by having a daughter-in-law like Ruth. Now God can begin to show His abundant blessings.
The two widows arrive in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning. In ancient Israel, the men usually would cut down the standing grain with hand sickles, then woman usually would bind it together. God had given a law to Moses instructing the landowners to leave what the harvesters missed to the poor, the alien, the widow and the fatherless to glean for their needs:
“The law of Moses instructed landowners to leave what the harvesters missed so that the poor, the alien, the widow and the fatherless could glean for their needs. (Lev 19:9, 23:22; Dt 24:19). NIV Study Bible p. 336-337
“When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the Lord your God.” Leviticuw 23:22
Ruth, an alien and, as a young woman alone, obviously quite vulnerable in the harvest fields, undertakes to provide for her mother-in-law:
Ruth said to Naomi, “…“Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor”
Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” Ruth 2:2
Ruth went out and began to glean in the field of Boaz. “Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, from the clan of Elimelech, a man of standing, whose name was Boaz.” Ruth 2:1 Boaz was respected in the community, probably middle aged and fairly wealthy.
While Ruth was working in the field, Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters: “…’The Lord be with you!”
“The Lord bless you!” they called back.
Boaz asked the foreman of his harvesters, “Whose young woman is that?” (In other words, to whose family does she belong?)
The foreman replied, “She is the Moabitess who came back from Moab with Naomi. She asked if she could glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.”
So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with my servant girls. Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the girls. I have told the men not to touch you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”
At this Ruth bowed down with her face to the ground. She exclaimed, “Why I have found such favor in your eyes that you notice me–a foreigner?”
Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband–how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”
At mealtime Boaz even invited Ruth to join them and she was given more than she could eat. Boaz also asked his men to leave extra grain for her to pick up.
Ruth gleaned the barley till evening and then she threshed it to get the kernels of the wheat. She gleaned an ephah which was probably about 3/5 of a bushel. That was a large amount for one days work. She carried it home to Naomi and also gave her what was left over after she had eaten enough at mealtime.
Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed is the man who took notice of you!”
Then Ruth said, “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz.”
“The Lord bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing kindness to the living and the dead.”
This is a very different statement than the one Naomi had made earlier concerning God—“…the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty.” Ruth 1:20-21 She seems to have grown in her faith and knowledge of God now that she was back in the land where He is God. This demonstrates that when a person who once knew God returns to God, begins to pray (talk to God), read His Word (the Bible), fellowship with His people and to hear His voice clearly, that person begins to change for the good, often dramatically.
She added, “That man is our kinsman redeemer.”
Evidently, the levirate law that said a dead man’s brother was to marry his widow and their first son was to carry on the name of the man who had died, extended to other relatives as well. Evidently, the levirate law that said a dead man’s brother was to marry his widow and their first son was to carry on the name of the man who had died, extended to other relatives as well.
Ruth said, “He even said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.'”
Naomi said, “It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with his girls, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.”
So Ruth stayed close to the servant girls of Boaz until the barley and wheat harvests were finished, about six weeks.
One day Naomi said to Ruth, “My daughter, should I not try to find a home for where you will be well provided for? Is not Boaz, with whose servant girls you have been working, a kinsman of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. Wash and perfume yourself, and put on your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.’” Ruth 3:1-4
What Naomi was asking Ruth to do may appear forward, but the moral integrity of Naomi and Ruth is never in question. Naomi was asking Ruth to dress as a bride and ask Boaz to perform his obligation as kinsman. Ruth would be asking Boaz to marry her.
Naomi knew that Boaz would be at the threshing floor because it was customary for the landowner to spend the night near the threshing floor to protect his grain from theft.
“I will do whatever you say,” Ruth answered. So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything Naomi told her to do.
So, after eating and drinking, Boaz went to lie down at the far end of the threshing floor. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down. In the middle of the night, something startled him and he turned and discovered a woman lying at his feet.
“Who are you?” he asked.
She answered, “I am your servant Ruth. Spread the corner of your garment over me since you are a kinsman redeemer.”
“The Lord bless you, my daughter. This kindness is greater than what you showed earlier. You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All my fellow townsmen know that you are a woman of noble character. Although it is true I am near of kin, there is a kinsman-redeemer nearer than I. Stay here for the night, if he wants to redeem, good; let him redeem. But if he is not willing, as surely as the Lord lives, I will do it. Lie here until morning.”
So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be recognized; and he said, “Don’t let anyone know that a woman has come to the threshing floor.”
He also said, “Bring me the shawl you are wearing and hold it out.” When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and put it on her. Then he went back to town.
When Ruth came back to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, “How did it go my daughter?”
Then Ruth told Naomi all Boaz had said and done for her and added, “He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, ‘Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty handed.” (Boaz was again going beyond the law in providing for Naomi and Ruth.)
The Naomi said, “Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today.” Ruth 3:5-18
Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat there. When the kinsman-redeemed he had mentioned came along, Boaz said, “Come over here, my friend, and sit down.” Ruth 4:1 So he went over and sat down.
In ancient Israel they did their business of the gate of the cities. In Proverbs 31, where it talks about the wife of noble character it says, “Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.” Proverbs 31:23
Boaz then asked ten elders of the town to join them as witnesses. Then he said to the kinsman-redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that has belonged to our brother Elimelech. I though I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line.”
“I will redeem it,” he said.
Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi and from Ruth the Moabitess, you acquire the dead man’s widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property.”
At this the kinsman-redeemer said, “Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it.” Possibly he fears that, if he had a son by her and if that son is the only surviving heir, his own property would transfer to the family of Elimelech.
The method of legalizing transactions in Israel at that time was for one party to give his sandal to the other. It’s possible that just as the sandal would bind the foot, it symbolized binding a legal agreement. So the kinsman-redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it yourself,” and he removed his sandal.
Then Boaz answered to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Kilion and Mahlon. I have also acquired Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from the town records. Today you are witnesses.”
Then the elders and all those at the gate said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. Rachel and Leah were the wives of Jacob who was the father of twelve sons who became the twelve tribes of Israel.
Through the offspring the Lord gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.” Ruth 4:3-12
Perez was born because of the levirate law. Therefore, he would be an appropriate model for the blessing of the elders. Genesis 38 tells the story of Perez’s birth.
Boaz married Ruth and they had a son. “…The women said to Naomi: Praise the Lord, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeeemer. May he becoime famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in old age. For your aughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.” Ruth 4:13-15 The woman are saying to Naomi that Ruth is better to her than seven sons, Israel’s ideal number of sons. Ruth’s selfless devotion to Naomi receives its just acknowledgment.
Naomi thought her life was over. Now she has received more than she ever imagined possible. The son born to Boaz and Ruth was named Obed. Obed was the father of Jesse. Jesse was the father of King David. And King David was an ancestor of Jesus. Only when she gets to heaven will Naomi realize how much she has been blessed. Notice how meaningful were the lives of Ruth, Naomi and Boaz because they were children of God and obeyed His command to love others.
The portrait of a kinsman-redeemer is a picture of Jesus Christ. He redeemed mankind when nothing else was possible. The Bible says we are dead in our sins “…you were dead in your transgressions and sins…” Ephesians 2:1 “…you were dead in your sins…” Colossians 2:13 You are dead in our sins until you receive life because you believe in Jesus Christ who died on a cross to pay the penalty for your sins. To believe means to trust in Him so you are willing to obey Him and let Him control your life. This decision you can make anytime. Just pray to God and tell Him you want to be part of His family because you accept His free gift of grace—the death of Jesus Christ His Son to pay the penalty for your sins.
It was a blessing to read the commentary on Ruth. I am dealing with this priceless book for a couple of weeks in the class that I teach.
The story of Ruth shows how trully Ruth was even though his husband is dead Ruth do not leave Naomi not just like Orpah she leaves Ruth with Naomi.
thank u so much! i really have been blessed. 🙂
its really nice