The Book of Ruth discussed

Elimelech’s family were Israelites, Jewish. There was a famine in Judah so Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and their two sons, Mahlon and Kilion, moved to Moab to get away from the famine. Elimelech died. Mahlon and Kilion married local women, Moabites, gentiles, whose names were Oprah and Ruth. Recall, from Genesis 19:36 and 19:37, we learned the Moabites descended from the daughters of Lot, Abraham’s nephew. The daughters bore children fathered by their father, Lot. The first-born daughter had a son named Moab and he is the father of the Moabites.

Ten years later, both sons died, leaving Oprah and Ruth as widows. Naomi prepared her daughters-in-law to return to Judah after she heard the Lord provided food for his people. Naomi said to Oprah and Ruth, go back to your mother’s home, may the Lord grant you that you will find another husband. She kissed her daughters-in-law and told them she was too old to have another husband. Even if she did find a a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons, the girls could not wait for the sons to grow up to marry them. 

While Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, Ruth clung to Naomi. So, Naomi said to Ruth that Oprah was going back to her people and her gods, and that she should go with her.

Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you.”

Then she uttered that famous biblical quote “Whither thou goest, I will go".

Ruth went on to say, “where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.” This symbolized Ruth’s unbreakable devotion in her conversion. Recall, Ruth was gentile, Naomi was Jewish.

Naomi recognized that Ruth was resolute in her stance to join Naomi in her travels. So, Naomi acquiesced and the two of them traveled from Moab to Bethlehem. In Bethlehem, Naomi changed her name to Mara, which means ‘bitter’ in Hebrew.

Now when they arrived, it was the start of the barley harvest. Ruth asked Naomi if she could go to the field to pick up the leftover grain. Naomi responded that she should go ahead and do so. So, Ruth went into the field, a field that belonged to Boaz, who was Naomi’s relative.

When Boaz arrived, he greeted the harvesters, “The Lord be with you!” and the harvesters answered back “The Lord bless you!” Boaz then noticed Ruth and asked the harvesters as to who she was. They responded that she and Naomi just arrived from Moab. They went on to say when she arrived in the field, she asked to gather the sheaves left by the harvesters. 

Boaz approached Ruth and told her she did not need to glean the fields. He said she should work for him with the other women. Boaz went on to say he told the men to not lay a hand on her, that she is free to work and drink readily from their water.

Ruth bowed her face and asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me - a foreigner?” Boaz replied that he knew what Ruth did for her mother-in-law since Ruth’s husband died, how she left her parents to move here, to a land she did not know. “May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

Boaz then offered Naomi bread to dip in wine vinegar and roasted grain. She ate to her heart’s content. When she went off to the field, Boaz instructed the harvesters to leave stalks for her to gather and not to rebuke her. 

Ruth worked in the field all day and came home to Naomi with the barley she gathered and the leftovers from her meal. Naomi asked where she worked and Ruth replied she worked with Boaz. Naomi exalted Boaz and told Ruth he was a close relative, one of her family’s guardian-redeemers. The redeemer back then was a male relative responsible for rescuing a family member, in this case by marrying a widow.

Ruth replied that Boaz told her to stay with his workers in the field until they finished harvesting. Naomi’s reply was that Ruth should stay with the Boaz’s woman instead because she would be harmed in some else’s fields, which Ruth did.

Later, Naomi told Ruth that Boaz was a relative of hers. She said that Ruth should put perfume on, dress in her best clothes, go to Boaz and wait for him to finish his meal and drinks. When he lies down, Naomi told Ruth to lie down next to him, and that Boaz would tell her what to do. Ruth said she would.

That night, Ruth, all dressed up, laid down next to Boaz and Boaz woke up and saw Ruth.  He asked her who she was, and Ruth replied she was his servant. She went on to say he was the guardian redeemer for her family.

Boaz replies I will do as you ask; he knew she was known though out town to be noble. Boaz went on to say that although he is the guardian-redeemer of the family, there is another man who is more closely related to Ruth than he. Boaz tells Ruth if the man wants to do his duty as her guardian-redeemer, he would understand. But Boaz went on to say if the man is not willing to do so, that he will be the guardian redeemer.

In the morning, Boaz tells Ruth that no one should know she came to the threshing floor. He then gave her barley to take back to her home. Ruth returned and Naomi asked how it went.  Ruth told her mother-in-law everything that occurred. Naomi reassured Ruth to wait it out.

That morning, Boaz approached the redeemer and asked him to come over and sit with him. Surrounded by ten of the town elders, Boaz told the guardian redeemer that Ruth is selling the land belonging to Elimelech. He told the redeemer if he was interested, he should redeem it, it is in his right to do so. Boaz said he need to know because after the redeemer, Boaz was next in line. It should be noted, the redeemer’s name was never mentioned in the Tanakh.

The redeemer replied, “I will redeem it.” Boaz reminded him that if he redeemed the land from Naomi, he would have acquired Ruth. The redeemer replied he could not do this and told Boaz to redeem it himself. The redeemer then removed his sandal. He did this because at time in Israel, for the transfer of property to be finalized, one would take off their sandal and gave it to the other to make the transaction legal.  

Boaz’s willingness to allow the redeemer to approach Ruth and the redeemer’s response to Boaz that he should take Ruth shows us the importance of giving kindness to others.

Boaz then announced to the elders, “today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Kilion and Mahlon” and obtain Ruth to be my wife.

The elders replied “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the family of Israel.”

Boaz married Ruth. They had a son. They named the son Obed. Obed’s grandson would be David, who would become King David.

The Book of Ruth tells us of a woman from Moab who gives an oath to her mother-in-law Naomi when she pronounces the words ‘whither thou goest I will go’. With these words, she commits herself to the Israelites through loyalty and faith that spanned generations. Ruth became the great-grandmother of King David.