Studies in Ruth

During those times of faltering faith, those night seasons in the lives of the children of God, we are often presented with a choice: to rely on the provision of God, or to seek help elsewhere.  This choice, whenever presented, often leads to dire consequences.  Lot ended up in the land of Sodom and Gomorrah because he chose the provision of the land rather than that of God.  Elijah finds himself under the juniper tree by allowing Jezebel’s voice to sound more loudly than the voice of God.  More than one king in the Old Testament lost their kingdom because they set their eyes on the things around them rather than on the laws and statutes of the Almighty.  But perhaps the best illustration of the troubles of wrong choices and the redemptive process that often follows is in the Old Testament story of Ruth. 

The children of God were hit by a famine during the time of the judges, and Elimelech, the patriarch of this particular story, chose to sojourn in Moab with his wife and his two sons.  In effect, Elimelech left the promised land of God and returned to the country out of which God had brought them.  In the first lines of the story, we see the choice set before Elimelech, and the consequences are disastrous.  Elimelech and his two sons die in the land of Moab and leave their wives behind destitute.  Here we can see the picture of so many modern families where the father has made the wrong choices, following anything (everything) but God, and the family, just as happens here, is left to try and pick itself up and dust itself off.  It is important to note that the devastation here could have continued; when we continue in a place in our lives where God has no desire for us to be, we are open to the attacks of the enemy and often find that our situation continually worsens.  But Naomi, much like many single mothers, keeps her ear to the ground, searching for aid, when she receives a word in due season:  God’s provision has come to children of Israel.  For her, the choice is easy:  she will return to the land of her people and trust that God, even though his hand seems to be against her, will provide.

Now, with the choices of Elimelech and Naomi behind them, Ruth and Orpah are faced with a decision of their own:  to remain in Moab or to return with Naomi to the land promised of God to her people.  Orpah returns to Moab, and passes out of scripture completely, while Ruth, in a declaration of love and faith, says:

Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.

(Rth 1:16-17)

The choices of Elimelech had condemned the family, but ultimately, it will be the choices of Naomi and Ruth that save them, and the amazing thing here is in the fact that it only took one.  Naomi had decided to return to her people, and that was certainly wise, but the choice of faith is made by Ruth.  When we step out on faith and say to God, “where you go I’ll go, and where you stay I’ll stay” we provide him with the permission to work actively in our lives and on our behalf.  Ruth, by exercising her faith, had opened the floodgates of heaven and allowed God to make her paths straight – straight, but not without difficulty.

One of the easiest deceptions to fall prey to is that the life of the believer is made easy by their belief.  Ask

any true Christian who has been in the way for any length of time, and they will quickly tell you that there are still battles to be fought and struggles to be overcome.  Ruth, without anything to recommend her, found herself in a land of strangers.  Rather than sulk and beg, Ruth began to work.  In the corners of the fields, where tares in the wheat abound, she began to gather, to work, and to pray that someone might show her kindness.  It was this attitude of faith followed by work that allowed God to lead her to field of Boaz.  The direct translation of the Hebrew is that “her chance chanced” to work the field of Boaz.  The phrasing here indicates that it was not chance at all, but the provision of a loving Father who was pleased with his servant.  This chance of chances led her directly to Boaz, one of the handful of people who could redeem her from the situation in which she found herself.  Boaz immediately recognizes something different about this woman, this foreigner who works without a break insistent on helping to provide for what remains of her family.  Her work is such that the master of the field in which she is working singles her out for praise and lays her favor around her like a blanket, giving her the easiest tasks and allowing her to drink of water that she had not drawn.

 This, then, becomes the shining example of favor in the lives of the believer; when we step out on faith and begin to work, not only where God wants us to, but in the way that he desires us to, we step into a realm of favor that we may have never before known.  Too many people often miss their blessing because they believe that the task God has set for them is demeaning, beneath them, or is simply not the area in which they hoped to work.  It is not for us to question the directions of God, but to confirm that it is his direction, and then to advance the gospel in that direction with all of our heart.  Paul says,

“Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way (1Co 12:29-31). 

The goal is not to chase the flashiest gifts and callings, but to work on that parcel of ground that God has given each of us, individually, until we see that plot of ground, small though it may be, begin to bear fruit.  But we must also have within us that streak of boldness that allows us to advance when others would simply grow content. 

Until Ruth made it home that evening, she knew only that she had found favor in the eyes of the landowner for whom she had worked.  God, however, rarely works so simply.  She came home that evening with an ephah of barley and told her mother-in-law of the favor that she had found.  Naomi is ecstatic.  She understands immediately the true gift that God has given them.  Boaz is a near kinsman, one of the few who remain that can bring them out of their poverty-stricken situation.  He is one of a handful who has the legal authority to lay claim to the property that once belonged to the men of the family and restore it to these two widows and any sons they may produce.  Rather than simply wait, Naomi, true to form, begins to act.  She recognizes the opportunity before them and moves upon it immediately, providing Ruth with a set of instructions that would provide them with the greatest chance of true redemption.  In one of the most beautiful and touching scenes in all the Bible, Ruth, unfamiliar with the customs of the land but recognizing the need in her life for a redeemer, rises, washes, and anoints herself, and then proceeds to fall at the feet of Boaz, begging for redemption.

It is in this act of faith that we can see the place that every sinner must come to prior to salvation.  We must

recognize how much in need we are of a savior, of a kinsmen redeemer to pull us from our situation, and then, dignity and pride abandoned, we must fall at his feet, begging for mercy and grace to cover us completely.  Here, then, is the work of Christ laid out in simplistic detail.  For though we were enemies with God, God recognized the need of not only a sacrifice, but for a kinsman redeemer, one who was what we were always meant to be: a man who walked his entire life in the will of his Father; one who could lay claim by right of blood to the inheritance from which we had walked away; and one who would, willingly, walk up Calvary’s hill to present himself as a sacrifice that would redeem the debt between fallen man and loving God.