Day 73: Ruth - The Kingmaker

One of the greatest of all bible stories. A beautiful love story about a courageous woman and proof that the lineage of Jesus was less genetically refined than it was spiritually and character refined. It is a story of hope and redemption for us all.

Introduction

The book of Ruth, possibly written by Samuel, was inserted because of its elegant beauty but also because it records the lineage of Israel’s greatest king, David.

It is a truly beautiful story, that may have happened during Samuel’s lifetime.

It dates back 3 generations, to David’s great grandmother, mother of Obed, grandmother of Jesse and great-grandmother of David.

He was born around 1100BC, but her birth-date is harder to trace and lies between 970 and 1040BC.

Background

The book reflects of Talmudic law and the culture of ancient Israel, but contrasts that against the culture and norms of one of Israel’s least favored neighbors, the Moabities.

The Moabites are one of the two descendant nations of Lot, who, after fleeing from Sodom, lost his wife and holed up in a cave with his daughters.

Together the two managed to get him drunk enough to impregnate them, leading to the two sons Ammon and Moab.

Thus, Moab was a child of incest and of his father’s drunkenness. They were a reprobate culture, uncircumcised, uncouth and most undesirable to the Jews.

Yet, Elimelech of Bethlehem, the house of bread, took his wife Naomi there when their crops failed. I suspect he had more personal reasons for going there.

Well, Naomi had two sons, Mahlon (man of weakness) and Chilion (wasting away). That already hints at something not quite right with Elimelech.

Then, contrary to Jewish practice, he let his sons marry Moabite wives, Ruth and Orpah.

Tragedy in the house

Sadly, all three men subsequently died, revealing more of their dubious background. That they should get into trouble with a culture having such a low moral threshold, is astonishing.

Well, that was that then. Naomi packed up and headed home. She never wanted to be there in the first place, but honored her husband.

Orpah followed a few paces before turning back to her sensual culture. Jewish culture regards her as the mother of Goliath, 

However, her sister, Ruth had glimpsed something of the timeless history and virtue of her adoptive culture. She refused to turn back.

She also knew enough to know that she had some conjugal rights within that culture that were worth fighting for and, she hoped, would be honored in Israel.

She was not a feisty woman, but she was truly gutsy. She knew the risks of being an alien among the Jewish people and the risk of being isolated by that.

She also knew that Jewish history included many uncompromising standoffs with their neighbors. Yet she went and would not turn back.

Ruth took a courageous stand

Once in Bethlehem, she accepted her lot as a poor woman in a poor home. That is revealed by the evidence that she gleaned in her nearest kinsman’s field.

Gleaning was the act of picking up what fell to the ground, a concession to the poor that was enshrined in Jewish law.

He 'nearest kinsman' simply meant that he was her nearest male relative, based on genealogy and family seniority.

However, her husband's brother was also dead, which transferred her conjugal rights to the first son of her father-in-law's younger brother.

The highest ranking and nearest possible kin to her, was Boaz, or so Naomi thought, but he did did not know about Ruth nor had such a claim been applied to him.

So, guided by Naomi, she made her move by uncovering his feet in the dead of night. She took a serious risk as an alien, but she knew her rights and the custom recognized her actions as comely, but in any case she lay cross-ways to his feet, like a servant. 

Boaz honored her

Boaz woke and saw her at his feet, which is also revealing. He did not touch or offend her in any way, but he intuitively knew what her actions meant. She was not playing the harlot. 

Like the wife of Judah’s eldest son, Tamar, who exercised similar rights to preserve her place in the lineage of Abraham and of Christ, Ruth lodged her claim with Boaz.

But Boaz was an honorable man. He went to the city gates and brought before the elders, a kinsman with nearer rights to Ruth: a closer relative, possibly an older brother.

It wasn’t about treating her as spoil. It was about honoring her, which is why Tamar survived her own deception. Judah honored her courage, rightfully.

Well, the nearer kinsman waived and she, by rights, could then have taken off his shoe and disclaimed him before Israel, but she was too gracious to do that – so was Boaz.

Then Boaz, like our Redeemer, returned to her with every right secured to redeem her from her terrible circumstances.

The rest is history

He took her as his wife and honored her in marriage and in love. It is a beautiful, poignant, yet complex love story, that resulted in a noble line of sons.

They raised their family in love and virtue, which distinguished them among their countrymen. Theirs was a rare, precious union.

God saw it too and, through Samuel, ensured her place of honor alongside Tamar, Rahab and Bathsheba, in the lineage of Jesus. What a beautiful thing.

Boaz is a picture of Jesus, our Kinsman-Redeemer, whose life in us enables us to bear fruit for his glory and, in so doing, to stake a valid claim on his estate.

He more than redeems us, a term also reserved for the settlement of claims held over slaves. He restored us such that our lives were fully redeemed to more than we ever were.

He took us from a people, the gentiles, who had no place in Jewish lineage and were as reprobate as they come, then raised us above all to share in the lineage of Abraham's greatest son.

There is so much more to this story, but I have written a book about it and will not reveal more here. 

(c) Peter Missing @ bethelstone.com