Ruth — The Woman Who Won a Husband

And now, my daughter, fear not. I will do to thee all that thou requirest, for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman (Ruth 3:11).

   This pastoral idyl begins with the statement, "When the judges ruled Israel." The period of the Judges recalls the storm and stress of Israel's history. It is hardly possible to imagine that this beautiful pastoral scene should have taken place in the period described in the Book of Judges. Here we see a quiet scene of family life, of bereavement, of migration, of poverty and of blessing, which has been designated as one of the most excellent in literature, and in no way suggests the wild, stormy period of the Judges. Here, in this story of Ruth, is beauty, love, and truth exquisitely presented.

   In this story, we have all the lights and the shadows of human life presented. When Naomi returned from Moab, she said to her companions in Bethlehem, "Call me not Naomi. Call me Mara, for the Lord hath dealt very bitterly with me" (Ruth 1:20). Naomi means "blessedness." Mara means "bitterness." These are the two aspects of human life, and they are found in the Book of Ruth, for it begins with sorrow and it ends with happiness. Thus it is that satisfaction and discontent, hope and disappointment, achievement and failure, joy and sorrow, follow every man and every woman through life.

   It is said that this story of the heartaches and the joys of a humble family can hardly be placed in the time of the

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Judges, yet how little one would think if he read the headlines of the papers of our day that quiet church, family, and business life continue anywhere. The Book of Judges concerns itself with the headlines of four hundred and fifty years of history of Israel, whereas the Book of Ruth concerns itself with one generation. It is the contrast of flying over a great series of mountain ranges by airplane and of living in a quiet, green valley. In the valley, life moves slowly with the lowing of the herd and the bleating of the sheep, the growing of the oaks and the flowing of the river. Flying through the sky, life moves over great sections as the valleys pass under one's view. So it is in the Bible. It deals with the history of nations and cosmic movements, but it also occupies its attention with the life of human beings as such. It is an error for us to occupy our attention with either exclusively.

   The events of the period of Judges are equal in length to the history of America from its earliest times to the present. Think of trying to encompass the history of the great leaders of America for this long period of time in a few pages so as to designate the general tenor of American life. Like in the Book of Judges, hideous sins of murder, war, civil struggle, oppression, and depression would follow each other successively. In Judges we read of Gideon, Jephthah, Barak, Samson, Shamgar, Ehud, and other mighty men who performed great deeds. We read of hideous scenes of immorality, of pillage, of murder, of oppressions, and of wickedness. We read of periods of rising in spiritual life and again of falling on the part of the people, periods of prosperity and periods of depression, but the one clause that describes it all is that "every man did what was right in his own eyes"  (Judg. 21:25). That standard is quite comparable to that of our own day, an individualistic one in which men have rejected any external standard of righteousness and do what is right in their own eyes. In this stormy, wild period was the simple, beautiful story before us now.

   The narrative opens with an economic depression in which a seemingly good family was caught, much to its sorrow. There are certain cosmic movements in the world in which the

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righteous suffer with the wicked, in which it is not always a man's fault when he is down and out. Because a man suffers, one should not judge him as a greater sinner than someone else, for in these national or cosmic movements the rain falls upon the righteous and upon the wicked indiscriminately. Because of this depression, which had resulted from a famine in the land, the family of Elimelech, which included his wife Naomi and his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, departed from the land of Judah to go to Moab. Either Elimelech was discouraged with the conditions that existed under the judges or else out of unbelief he left his inheritance, to miss the chastisement of the Lord by going into another land, especially a land that was under the condemnation of the Lord.

   Hence our story opens in the land of Moab. We want you to know how Ruth won a husband. And we want you to know the typical meaning of Ruth.

I. THE STORY OF RUTH

   No sooner had the little family arrived in Moab than Elimelech, the father, took sick and died. It was a hard blow that struck Naomi, but its strength was lessened by the fact that she had two stalwart, faithful sons by her side. Happiness which seemed so fleeting and elusive to this little family, now appeared to return again for a brief time, for the two sons found for themselves wives of the women of Moab. Chilion married a woman named Orpah, and Mahlon married Ruth. The unified household dwelt together for ten years, and then misfortune visited again, for the angel of death was hovering around the once desolate home, and this time summoned both Mahlon and Chilion. Poor Naomi now lost the last prop upon which she had leaned. The light of prosperity was gone, and gloom enveloped the sorrowing old woman.

   Then, as happens so often in the lives of those of advanced years, she began to think of her old home, of her people and of her nation. She heard that the Lord had visited His people and had given them bread, and following her thoughts she turned her face toward Judea. Stating her determination to

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her daughters, she urged them both to tarry in Moab, where the mighty find rest with their own people and in their fathers' houses. Orpah, accepted the advice and departed, but Ruth remained with Naomi and determined to return with her to Judea. One can well imagine what a change must have occurred in the little town during the time that Naomi was gone. The houses perhaps were the same and streets were the same, but many of her old companions were now gone. The famine had taken its toll, and the community cemetery had many new markers. Yet there were enough old friends there to greet her and to recognize the great difference in her. Instead of being in the bloom of womanhood, she now was old, bent, gray, wrinkled, and sorrowful, so that they even said, "Can this be Naomi?" Acknowledging that she was the same, she asked them to call her Mara, which means bitterness, because of her sorrow.

   But Naomi was not alone, for Ruth had determined to go with her, and she became the only comfort Naomi had in her return. Together these two lovely women, who were very fond of one another, determined to face their trials bravely and in mutual forbearance. Hence, there is no implication of any complaint made one to another, nor is there ever any chiding or any spirit of strife. If love exists between women, it is a beautiful thing, because it is one of the highest of all forms of love. Here was one, not of mother and daughter, but of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, which transcends even the best of blood relationship. Ruth urged her mother-in-law to allow her to go to work as a gleaner in the harvest, and finally Naomi acceded to the request and allowed her to go. Through her work, Ruth became acquainted with the owner of the field in which she happened to be gleaning. After many kindnesses, which manifested the concern and the heart interest of the owner of the field, Boaz, for Ruth, Ruth appealed to him as a kinsman redeemer to marry her. To this Boaz responded. The marriage was performed in the gate of the city of Bethlehem. Ruth and Naomi were taken to his home, and before long a little life made its advent into the world, their son Obed; so

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that the women of Bethlehem sang and praised Naomi, saying that her daughter-in-law, Ruth, had been better to her than seven sons and that the Lord through her had restored Naomi's life and nourished her old age.

   As one reads and rereads this story, the outstanding characteristic of it is the recognition of the Lord. The Lord is given the central place by all characters in the narrative. First Naomi, being most prominent, draws our attention. She is the one who suffered most, and yet everything that came to her in the lights and shadows of her life was of the Lord. When loss after loss struck the little home in Moab until Naomi was left desolate of her husband and her two sons, she confessed to her daughter-in-law that all of this had been of the Lord. In her solemn plea to both of them to turn back to their fathers' houses because of the darkness and gloom of the outlook, she said, "For it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord is gone out against me" (Ruth 1:13). Later when Naomi returned to Bethlehem, she said to her friends and companions, "The Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full and the Lord hath brought me home again empty," and "Why then call ye me Naomi seeing the Lord hath testified against me and the Almighty hath afflicted me?" Evidently Naomi here confessed that she had been the moving spirit in the migration of the family from Bethlehem to Moab, and she recognized that everything was of the Lord. It is even written that she acknowledged that the end of the famine in Bethlehem was due to the Lord, for she said that the Lord had visited His people in giving them bread (Ruth 1:6). This reinforces the belief that it was because of an act of unbelief on the part of Naomi that the little family went to Moab. And, finally, in Naomi's life, we have the recognition that their good fortune and their restoration and their blessing were of the Lord.

   Similarly, Ruth placed the Lord central in the whole of her life. She had been born and brought up in a country where the god Chemosh was worshipped, to whom human sacrifices were given and under whose worship the nation had degenerated

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into a group of licentious people indulging every physical whim, but when she learned of the Lord, she rejected Chemosh, the idol, and chose the Lord as her God. This decision we shall examine a little later, and it was of great religious value, a true conversion of Ruth. Later we find that the narrative says, "As it turned out, she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz" (Ruth 2:3). Here is definite implication of the place of Providence in Ruth's life. Many are the fortuitous occurrences in the lives of us all, which begin a chain of events leading to some great crisis in our lives. God plays a part in the smallest things of our lives. Ruth also obeyed Naomi in the Lord. She recognized that she was now serving Naomi's God, and in the smallest things she followed the desires of her mother-in-law Naomi.

   Likewise Boaz put the Lord first in his life. When he came from Bethlehem to his reapers, he said to them in greeting, "The Lord be with you." They answered him, "The Lord bless thee" (Ruth 2:4). Whether it was the famine or religion that had taught them, these men recognized that their prosperity was of the Lord. Likewise, when Boaz discovered Ruth working in his field and had addressed her, he said, "The Lord recompense thy work and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel under Whose wings thou art come to trust" (Ruth 2:12). Boaz recognized Ruth's choice of coming to Judah as a religious choice of the Lord as her God, and he believed that the Lord would recompense her. Moreover, when Ruth ultimately settle upon him as the kinsman redeemer rather than some younger man, he said to her, "Blessed be thou of the Lord, my daughter, for thou hast showed more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning" (Ruth 3:10). Everything for Boaz was either of the Lord or for the Lord.

   Similarly, even the people placed the Lord central in their thought and in their speech. When Boaz brought this girl to the gates of the city in order that he might take her as his wife before the people, they cried, "The Lord make the woman that is come into thy house like Rachel and Leah, which two did build the house of Israel" (Ruth 4:11). Only under the Lord could Boaz in the eyes of the people have the blessing

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upon his own house through this woman. Finally, when Obed was born, the people said unto Naomi, "Blessed be the Lord which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman that His name may be famous in Israel" (Ruth 4:14). It was God who had heard Naomi's prayer, and it was God who had sent the kinsman redeemer to her. Thus even the story itself is centered upon the Lord, for the descendant of Obed was none other than David, who was to be the progenitor of Christ, for David said, "The Lord said to my lord, sit thou upon my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool" (Ps. 110:1). Everything in the story of Ruth centers about the Lord.

   Ruth had a beautiful conversion to the Lord. I suppose that in a nominal way she had embraced the Lord as the object of her worship during the time when Naomi's two sons were still living. Here is a case of the faith of the husband sanctifying the wife and leading her into the true religion, but the day came when that sympathy toward the religion of her husband had to become a reality, for she was faced with a choice between two kinds of life. Moab offered her security, rest, and perhaps a new husband through her own people and her father's house. In Israel she had nothing to look forward to but strangeness, possible poverty, the burden of supporting the aged Naomi, work by her hands, and loneliness from all of her friends and her people. It was no small decision on the part of Ruth to follow the still, small voice that led her on in the pathway of duty, of love, and of faith instead of following the way Orpah took of personal satisfaction and ease.

   We are not to think that the influence of Naomi was slight in this matter. It is a great truth that the personal influence of believers does more to lead men to Christ than their words. Naomi had passed through a harrowing time of sorrow and trial, but even in the midst of all she demonstrated the validity of her faith in God, and this faith and this God commended themselves to Ruth. Ruth not only had conceived a mighty love for her mother-in-law, which was able to make her willing to support her in her old age, but she made a choice of Naomi's God. As the three of them stood out on the west of Moab's

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hills before they descended into the Jordan Valley that should ultimately lead over into Judah, Naomi said, "Go, return each to her mother's house: the Lord deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me. The Lord grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband" (Ruth 1:8, 9). Then Naomi kissed them, and they all wept. It was a sad hour. Both of the girls rose to the occasion and said, "Surely we will return with thee unto thy people." But again Naomi told them to turn again and to go to their fathers' houses. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law and left. For the third time, Naomi addressed Ruth and said, "Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back unto her people and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister-in-law." The emphasis here upon gods of Moab and the God of the Israelites reveals that this was a distinctly religious decision. Ruth then uttered the words for which she has become immortal: "Entreat me not to leave thee or to return from following after thee: for wither 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 aught but death part thee and me" (Ruth 1:16-17).

   Hereafter the Lord was to be Ruth's God. She had passed her crisis. She had turned unto the Lord. She was truly converted. She had made the decision and was lifted into a place where a divine kinsman redeemer would be available for her.

II. HOW RUTH WON A HUSBAND

   Ruth was not distinguished for her beauty, but for her character. Others such as Eve, Sarah, Rebekah, and Rachel were famed because the Bible says they were fair to look upon, but never once is this said concerning Ruth. It may well be that Ruth was a comely person, but there is no hint of beauty concerning her in the Bible. We cannot even think that Ruth was young. She had been married for ten years to Mahlon and now was a widow. Yet when Boaz saw her gleaning after his reapers in the field, his eye, which was accustomed to the flotsam

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and jetsam of Bethlehem and Judea, was able to pick her out among the gleaners in his field. Something about her bearing, her modesty, her demeanor, was different from that of the other women. He was led to ask the chief of his reapers, "Whose damsel is this?" And then it was that he heard the story of all that Ruth had done for Naomi, because of her belief in Naomi's God.

   The ancient Israelites, under the law of God, had a very beautiful custom of allowing a provision to be made for the poor. It was contrary to divine law for men to reap the corners of their field or to beat their fruit-trees twice or to gather up the materials that had fallen from the reapers. This must be left for the poor. Hence, the poor followed the reaper in the fields, gleaning and gathering up what they could. They also plucked the fruit that was not ripe at the time of the first beating of the trees, and they took their little produce from the corners of the field left unreaped. It was in this activity that Ruth was now engaged when she fell under the interest of Boaz. It should be remembered that by law, when a man died leaving a widow and no children to carry on his name in the tribe, his nearest kinsman was required to marry his widow, and the first-born child of the new marriage was to take the name of the dead man in order that no family should perish out of the tribes of Israel. This was called the law of kinsman redeemer. Boaz was a near kinsman to Naomi and hence was also a near kinsman to Ruth, and according to the law it was her right to demand this privilege from Boaz.

   But Boaz demonstrated his heart interest in Ruth long before she ever made any claim to his part as a kinsman redeemer. He told her that she could freely reap after the young men, they they would not bother her though it was a rather violent period when a woman's virtue was not of much value, and that she could drink of the water the young men had drawn. He also invited her to come and eat at his table during the season of rest. Then he commanded the young men to allow some handfuls to fall on purpose for her. When Ruth asked him, "Why have I found grace in thine eyes that thou

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shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?" Boaz replied, "It has been fully shown me all that thou hast done unto thy mother-in-law since the death of thine husband." Boaz' interest Ruth had been due to her character. She had a fine reputation. Later he said to her, "All the city of my people know that thou art a virtuous woman." They knew that she was a woman who had chosen the Lord. She had become a convert to Israel's God. They knew that with great care she had taken an interest in the aged Naomi, willing to work to keep her in food. They knew that she had sacrificed every comfort of life in order to return to this land with her mother-in-law. She had left her father and her mother and the land of her nativity and had come to a strange people.

   Boaz also learned that she was a willing worker. His chief of the reapers said, "She has continued among the gleaners even from morning until now except that she tarried a little in the house" (Ruth 2:7). From early morning until nearly noon, Ruth worked with only a little rest, and that trip to the house was probably due to the fact that she was unaccustomed to the difficult work of gleaning in the field. Here was a woman who was not too proud to work, and when she did not have much, she was willing to take less in order that she might keep alive.

   Boaz learned that she was an obedient daughter, for her actions in some cases could only have been instigated by Naomi, and thus she was only performing Naomi's will. No wonder that the women said of Ruth, "She is better to thee than seven sons" (Ruth 4:15). She was fulfilling one of the original commandments.

   The outcome of the matter was very happy. At the instigation of Naomi, Ruth ultimately made her claim on Boaz for a kinsman redeemer. She said, "Spread thy skirt over thy daughter, for thou art a near kinsman to me (Ruth 3:9). This was a plea for marriage. The circumstances of the event reveal that Boaz' affection had already been claimed by the woman, and he was more than willing to perform the duty. He, in turn, demonstrated his wisdom and his care in order that his own name should be irreproachable and that Ruth might soon

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find rest. In accordance with the custom of the day, he went immediately following the harvest to the gate of the city where the elders of the people must pass by. There this righteous and just man sought out his own relative who was a nearer kinsman to Ruth than himself and asked him if he would do the kinsman to Ruth, for he had the privilege first of all of purchasing Mahlon's land and of raising up a posterity of Mahlon's name. This kinsman refused the duty because it would mar his own inheritance and asked Boaz to take the responsibility upon himself (Ruth 4:6). Then it was that Boaz declared his intention to buy all of Elimelech's and Chilion's and Mahlon's land out of the hand of Naomi, which would make her a wealthy woman, and to take Ruth the Moabitess to be his wife and to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance. This generous act was applauded by the people, who in turn became witness to the marriage there in the gate and invoked the divine blessing upon them, that they might become as Rachel and Leah were to Jacob, building the house of Israel. The results of this union were that a son was born to whom Naomi became the nurse and Ruth the mother, a son which in turn was the progenitor of Christ, who was the Saviour of Ruth's own soul through her decision.

III. THE TYPICAL MEANING OF RUTH

I suppose we could stop the story here, but we cannot without mentioning the remarkable typology contained in this book. There is a typical meaning to all of the characters that ought to be recognized, because it bears a vital truth for the individual Christian.

   Naomi undoubtedly is typical of Israel, who in unbelief was dispersed among the heathen, passing through trial and sorrow and suffering, but ultimately recognizing that the chastisement was of the Lord and thereby repenting and returning to the land of Israel, accompanied by a believing and redeemed church, called out from among the heathen that both might be blessed through a kinsman Redeemer. The place of Israel today is the place of Naomi in Moab under chastisement,

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under fire and suffering and trial. When will the Israelites see that they went out full but the Lord has brought them back empty? When will they turn in repentance unto the Lord? It is their only hope. There were the Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. Moab was a degenerate people, the individuals of whom were not allowed to stand in the congregation of the Lord to the tenth generation. God's judgment was upon them. They represent the heathen world — the Gentiles — and Orpah is typical of the unbelieving heathen who have had an opportunity to accept the knowledge of the true God and who continue in unbelief. Ruth, however, represents the Gentile church called out of heathenism, responding to the message of the true God and opening her heart unto the gospel of grace. In Ruth we see a picture of the church as the New Testament describes it, redeemed and prepared to be the bride of the Redeemer.

   Boaz represents the Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, the mighty man of spiritual wealth, the one who can raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance. He is the one for whom God has prepared the church, and He will be married to the church in mystical union, thus becoming a kinsman Redeemer to it and the restorer of Israel's life, for when Christ is married to the church,  Israel will be restored to spiritual life. Israel is now in blindness and in unbelief, but when Christ and the church are married, Israel will receive benefit. All that Boaz did for Ruth is typical of what Christ has done for the church.

   The events of the wedding in the gate in the midst of all of the people is typical of the great wedding feast of the Lamb. The great Book of Ephesians says that "Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish... this is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church."

   It was for this purpose that Christ died for the church that

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He might make her perfect in holiness and ultimately take her unto Himself. The Bible also says that this marriage feast of the Lamb is to be held in the heavenlies, for the day is coming when the heavens will open and the Lamb of God will return to receive His bride and take her away to the great wedding feast. The Bible describes this as saying, "And I heard as it were a great voice of a multitude and as the voice of many waters and of the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us make glad and rejoice and give honor to Him for the marriage of the Lamb is come and His wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. And he saith unto me, Write, blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb." Happy is the man who will have part in that great wedding supper of the Lamb. The entire Book of Ephesians was written to define the destiny of the church. The church is to be the peculiar and particular inheritance of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is to share His glory in the ages to come.

   What a privilege, then, to participate in membership in the church of the living God! This depends upon being saved and purified now through the blood of the Lamb. In the company of the redeemed are various groups, such as an innumerable company of angels, the general assembly and church of the firstborn, and the spirits of just men made perfect. The only way to become a member of the church is to be born again. "Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." Every born-again person is a member of the church of Jesus Christ and part of His bride to participate in the glories that are to come. He also may live today under the protection of the kinsman Redeemer. Every person stands either in the relationship of Orpah or of Ruth or of Naomi to Christ. If you are a Jew in unbelief, you are as Naomi was in the Land of Moab. If you are an unbeliever, a Gentile, you are as Orpah, who was rejecting

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the light. If you are a believer, you are as Ruth, or one who has been converted to the kinsman Redeemer.

   Perhaps you have never made your decision, and now is the hour for you to choose your Redeemer. Remember the words of Ruth, "Thy God shall be my God. Thy people shall be my people. Where thou dwellest I will dwell." Can you say that? Is the God of the Christians your God? Are the Christians your people? Are you dwelling in the heavenly places now? Have you chosen the Lord? Are you willing to leave all for a kinsman Redeemer Who will break your bonds of sin and servitude and lift you to freedom and rest in the kingdom of God? Do you know what it means to have mystical union with Christ now and the promise of full union hereafter as His bride to share with Him in ruling the universe? This is all your privilege and your opportunity, but it rests with you. Choose you. Will you have the world's greatest Lover? Will you be pure and spotless and worthy of being espoused? He will redeem you by His own precious blood now. You may then be presented to Him without spot or without wrinkle in holiness and love.

Chapter Eight  ||  Table of Contents