Ruth Day 12: 2: 18-20

18: And she took it up and went into the city. Her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also brought out and gave her what food she had left over after being satisfied.

Ruth kept the extra food so that she could give it to her mother-in-law to eat. I imagine Naomi’s eyes being the size of saucers when she saw how much food that Ruth brought back. The city is Bethlehem. We can know this because verse 19 from chapter one says that they traveled until they came to Bethlehem. We can also know this because Naomi’s family was from Bethlehem before they went to Moab. Who else happens to be from Bethlehem? Boaz (2:4).

19: And her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean today? And where have you worked? Blessed be the man who took notice of you.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, “The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.”

Naomi seems surprised by Ruth’s gleanings and seeks out more information. She recognizes that someone must have taken notice of her and watched out for her in order for her to have gleaned so much food.

20: And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!” Naomi also said to her, “The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.”

Naomi’s first response is that the Lord bless Boaz and then she thanks God for not forsaking them. At the end of chapter one, Naomi believed that the Lord had testified against her, but now she can see that He is looking out for her and Ruth. Naomi also tells Ruth that Boaz is a relative of hers. This did not come up in the conversation between her and Boaz so we could guess that she had not known his relation to them before this point.

A redeemer in that time was a relative who could continue the family line so that it wouldn’t be broken. Often times when a woman was widowed without a child, in order to carry on the family line, the brother of the deceased would marry the widow and the first child born would be considered the child of the deceased and therefore inherit everything and carry on that family line. This can be seen in the book of Genesis when Judah’s son, Er, died. Judah’s second son, Onan, was to raise up offspring for his brother, but disobeyed and died because of that*. I’ll end the story there because it is long and complicated, but that is an example of the law that was in place.

We can learn from these verses that God is watching out for us. Everything seemed hopeless to Naomi, but in one day she realized that God was looking out for them by leading Ruth to Boaz’s field and having Boaz look out for Ruth. I also wonder that if this is the point where Naomi begins planning the events that happen in chapter three.

* Genesis 38:1-30 (This story also has an importance when going through the genealogy at the end of chapter four)

Ruth Day Two: 1:1-5

Verse One: “In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.”

History:

The time of the judges is accounted for in the book prior to Ruth, appropriately named Judges. During the book of Judges, the people of Israel would follow God for a period of time, usually when a judge was alive, and then as soon as that judge died, they would go back to doing what was evil in God’s eyes. This cycle repeats throughout the book of Judges and is the background for the events in the book of Ruth.

Now Moab was a group of people whom God had warned the Israelites not to mingle with. They worshiped idols and false gods and God knew that they would turn the Israelites against Him. Not only were they not supposed to mingle with the Moabites, but they weren’t supposed to marry them either.

Interesting fact: Bethlehem would be the hometown of king David later in the Old Testament and would also be the birthplace of Jesus in the New Testament.

Verse Two: “The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah.”

The geographical location is important because the future king is supposed to come from the tribe of Judah. Remember this when we go over chapter four. Judah is one of the twelve tribes of Israel and the land of Israel was broken up between the twelve tribes. Bethlehem is a city in Judah.

According the the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Ephrathites were people who were from Ephrath, which was often associated with Bethlehem. It is possible that it is a family name of importance in Bethlehem (502).

Verse Three: “But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons.”

Elimelech’s name means, “my God is king.” His death means Naomi needs to rely on her sons to care for her. Her sons need to marry in order to bear children, hence the next verse.

Verse Four: These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years.”

As stated earlier, the Israelites were not supposed to marry the Moabites. Some didn’t care quite as much since everyone did what was right in their own eyes during this time period, but there was still a stigma about it which will appear later on.

What is also interesting is that neither Orpah nor Ruth had any children during this time. We are not told when exactly they were married during the ten year time span, but it is an interesting note. It shows how God was preparing for what comes in the later chapters.

Verse Five: “and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.”

Naomi was left without the means to be cared for. This does not mean that she couldn’t take care of herself, but in this society, the men worked and provided for the women. When the parents would get too old, the children would care for them. From Naomi’s point of view, her future is very bleak.

Interestingly, Mahlon and Chilion both mean “sickly.”

From what we know of the book of Ruth, we can see that God works to achieve His glory. In the moment, however, it can seem hopeless. That is how Naomi probably felt at the end of this section and it is shown at the end of the chapter when she changes her name.

Ruth has just entered the story. Naomi has lost almost everything. This is only the beginning of God’s wonderful plan. When life seems hopeless or like trials will never end, we can remember that God isn’t finished yet. The trials grow us and strengthen us. They bring us closer to Him. “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning” – Psalm 30:5.

Ruth

So I’ve decided to be a stereotypical woman and study the book of Ruth. Over this next week I will read the book and figure out how I’d like to divide it up. I encourage you to read through the book as well. If you have any questions regarding the book of Ruth, let me know!

Here are some basic facts about Ruth:

She is an ancestor of King David and therefore an ancestor of Jesus
She is one of two women with books in the Bible named after them (the other is Esther)
She was from Moab

We’ll learn more about her through this study and we’ll also discover more about God and His salvation plan.