Day 96 —  We have been reading the Bible daily for a quarter of the year, and today, we are reading the ninth book. Praise God! What have you learned about God? About yourself?

   Day 96 – Ruth 1 – 4 (A love story, a redemption story)

This book is a wonderful change from the sin and degradation we read in Judges.  But note, in verse 1, that it takes place during that dark time.  God always has a “light” shining for Him.

In Chapter 1, we see a family in the tribe of Judah, traveling to Moab because of a famine in Israel.  Sadly, their trouble doesn’t end there, because after the two sons marry Moabite women (a no-no in God’s law), the husband and both boys die. Widow Naomi and her two daughters-in-law are alone in a country where women are not respected. Naomi, in bitterness, decides to go home, where in Israel, God’s law (if obeyed) helps widows.  She sends the girls home where, hopefully, they can find new husbands.  But, one of them, Ruth, wants to stay with Naomi. She wants Naomi’s people and the LORD to be hers too. That was a very brave move.

Chapter 2 tells how Ruth begins to earn a living in the way God provided. Israelites were to leave the corners of their fields unharvested so the poor could glean grain to eat. Boaz, the owner of the field, recognizes Ruth as Naomi’s Moabite daughter-in-law and admires her work ethic and character. He tells her to glean only in his fields, then tells his men to leave more stalks and not to bother her as she works among them. He then invites her to have lunch with him and his men.

Naomi is thrilled. She recognizes Boaz as one of her kinsmen, a man who could “redeem” her husband’s and sons’ property, taking Ruth as his wife.

In Chapter 3, Naomi gives Ruth some special instructions when the winnowing of the harvested grain is to take place. It may seem odd to us, but what Ruth does is not devious in that culture, but merely a way to “propose marriage” to a man. (Or show that she is available.)  I think Boaz was very willing after watching this sweet, hard-working woman, and he says he will redeem Naomi’s land and take her for his wife.  However, there is a minor problem. There is another “redeemer” closer than he is.

Chapter 4 tells of Boaz’s steps to ensure everything is above board.  He advises the closer redeemer of the opportunity to redeem the land for Naomi’s family. The man agrees until he learns he would also need to marry Ruth.  He has a wife and sons and doesn’t want to jeopardize their inheritance, so he declines. Boaz is now free to marry Ruth, allowing her first child – considered a descendent of Naomi’s husband – the double-portion birthright of his goods.

The couple is married, and Ruth bears Boaz a son, Obed. Naomi is ecstatic. She is a grandma at last and quickly becomes the baby’s “nanny.”

The denouement in this story is fantastic.  This baby boy is none other than the grandfather of the man who would become King David, the ancestor of Jesus, the King of Kings.