“A Synopsis of the Book of Ruth”

“A Synopsis of the Book of Ruth”

 

BIBLE READING: Ruth 1-4

Now, let me give you a quick synopsis of the Book of Ruth. To start out, a woman by the name of Naomi packed up and moved from Judah to Moab due to a terrible famine that was affecting her family. She and her husband moved there with their two sons, who eventually took wives while living in Moab.

Tragically, Naomi lost her husband and two sons. Broken and empty, Naomi decided to move back to Bethlehem in Judah. Her daughter-in-law Ruth came with her, since she had also lost her husband. Keep in mind that Ruth was a Moabite woman, and she was now moving to Judah as a foreigner. This was a big deal in their culture, but she was committed to Naomi as her daughter-in-law, and she wanted to follow after the God of Israel. While in Judah, God worked out an amazing plan for a man named Boaz to take Ruth as his wife, give her a child, and provide for her and Naomi. What’s remarkable about this plan was that Boaz was qualified as a “kinsman redeemer” to take her as his wife. What in the world is a “kinsman redeemer” you may ask? Well, they had a custom in those days, based upon > Deuteronomy 25:5 –6, that directed that a relative of a man who dies should marry that man’s widow in order to perpetuate his lineage through this woman. According to God’s remarkable sovereignty, it turned out that Boaz was a relative to Ruth’s husband who had passed away; so, he was qualified to marry her and perpetuate his lineage. So, even in the midst of Ruth and Naomi’s awful affliction, God still had a plan to take care of them. Pretty cool, right?                                                                                                                                             -Selected