As we begin a new year, it’s time to begin a new blog post series! After spending nearly two years writing through 1 and 2 Corinthians, I wanted to jump back into a book in the Old Testament. After some prayer and perusing the various books, the book of Ruth stood out to me. While I’ve studied this book multiple times before, and read through it in Hebrew a few times, I’ve never written blog posts about it.
The book of Ruth is only 4 chapters long. Being primarily narrative, it’s fairly easy to read in Hebrew, but it’s packed with meaning. Even the names of some of the characters have significant meanings to them. The themes of loyalty, redemption, and God’s providence are evident throughout the book.
Before we dig into the text itself starting next week, it’s important to set the stage with the background and historical context.
The story of Ruth unfolds "in the days when the judges ruled" (Ruth 1:1), a period marked by political instability, moral decline, and spiritual waywardness in Israel’s history. The era of the judges, roughly spanning the 14th to 11th centuries BC, is characterized in the Biblical narrative by a recurring cycle: the Israelites rebel against God, fall into oppression under foreign powers, cry out for deliverance, and are rescued by a judge whom God raises up. (Check out this book for more on the time of the Judges.) Yet, the cycle of disobedience and deliverance repeats, painting a picture of a nation struggling to remain faithful to its covenant with Yahweh.
Against this turbulent backdrop, the book of Ruth presents a contrast—a story of personal faithfulness, familial devotion, and divine providence. While much of the book of Judges highlights the chaos of a nation adrift, Ruth offers a glimpse of ordinary people living out extraordinary faith in their everyday lives.
The central characters in the book of Ruth (Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz) are not kings, prophets, or warriors. Instead, they are everyday individuals navigating loss, uncertainty, and hope.
Naomi is a widow who has lost her husband and two sons. She returns to Bethlehem bitter and empty-handed, yet she becomes a vessel of God’s restoration. Ruth is a Moabite widow and Naomi’s daughter-in-law. She demonstrates steadfast loyalty by choosing to leave her homeland and align herself with Naomi and her God. Boaz is a wealthy and kind landowner who serves as the kinsman-redeemer, a pivotal role that not only brings resolution to Ruth and Naomi’s plight but also foreshadows the ultimate redemption found in Christ.
Geography plays a significant role in the narrative. The story begins in Bethlehem during a time of famine. Naomi’s family migrates to Moab, a neighboring nation historically at odds with Israel. After the deaths of her husband and sons, Naomi hears that the Lord has provided food in Bethlehem and decides to return, accompanied by Ruth. This journey from Moab to Bethlehem is more than a physical relocation; it symbolizes a return to God’s provision and covenant promises.
We don’t know the author of the book of Ruth. Jewish tradition believes it was written by Samuel, but there is no clear evidence for that. There is some similar language and style between Ruth and the book of Judges, but we do not know the author of Judges for certain either.
In our traditional English Bibles, the book of Ruth occurs after Judges and before 1 Samuel. However, in the Hebrew Bible, Ruth occurs between Proverbs and Song of Songs, which is significant. The book of Proverbs ends with the description of the wife of noble character in Proverbs 31. So if you were reading in the Hebrew Bible, immediately after reading all about this noble woman, you’d begin the story of this woman named Ruth, who isn’t even a member of the people of Israel. Ruth demonstrates commitment and faithfulness to Naomi, like the Proverbs 31 woman. In Ruth 3, we see the love story part of the narrative beginning, which feels connected to the Song of Songs, occurring immediately after Ruth in the Hebrew Bible. The love described in Song of Songs seems to spring forth from the love between Ruth and Boaz.
In the Jewish tradition, the book of Ruth is often read during the Jewish festival of Shavuot, which celebrates the giving of the Torah and the harvest season. For Christians, Ruth is a key part of the lineage of Christ, bridging the Old and New Testaments and showcasing God’s redemptive plan. Our redemption in Jesus came through Ruth's faithfulness and Boaz's faithfulness, but God's faithfulness is even greater than that, working in this narrative and in all the world to accomplish His purposes.
The four chapters of Ruth beautifully lay out the narrative. In Chapter 1, we see both loss and loyalty. Naomi and her family leave Bethlehem due to famine, and tragedy strikes them in Moab. Ruth’s decision to stay with Naomi sets the stage for the story that unfolds. In Chapter 2, we see God’s providence. Ruth gleans in the fields of Boaz, who shows kindness and protection to her. This meeting was not a coincidence but clearly orchestrated by God. In Chapter 3, we see Naomi’s plan unfold for Boaz to be their kinsman-redeemer. At the conclusion in Chapter 4, Boaz fulfills that role to redeem Naomi and Ruth, and we see the genealogy that puts Ruth as a direct ancestor of King David, and thus of Jesus.
In a world that often feels as chaotic as the time of the judges, the book of Ruth offers a message of hope, faithfulness, and redemption. It reminds us that God is at work in the ordinary and the extraordinary, weaving our stories into His narrative. As we study Ruth, we are invited to trust in God’s providence, emulate the loyalty and love displayed by its characters, and rejoice in the redemption offered through Christ.
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When someone is getting himself started in the public eye, the first thing he is always taught he must do is win the crowd with a good first impression. Every speaker knows this. Every author knows this. If you want any audience to buy into what you are offering, that first impression is a must. But Jesus does not follow the advice of men and is not concerned about His platform nor the public view of Him. He is concerned with the job assigned by His Father, empowered by the Holy Spirit. What we see Jesus do from the outside is set Himself up for rejection; He does so by going home.
In Luke’s account, when Jesus returns from the wilderness, empowered by the Holy Spirit, one of the first stops He makes is Nazareth. And in Nazareth, Jesus does what no one who wants a platform would ever do: cut Himself off from His homeland. We don’t exactly know if Jesus started doing some healings and teachings before this stop in Nazareth as Mark 1 would indicate, but one thing is clear: Jesus was known and respected enough to be given the privilege to teach that Sabbath when the regular rabbi would normally do the job. And what did Jesus do? Jesus quoted a passage from Isaiah 61 and basically said, “I am the one this is talking about.”
The response was initially met with awe because Jesus spoke with an authority that no one alive had ever heard before. I am certain that what is given in the text is not the whole dialogue that took place, but the tone soon changed very quickly. Jesus grew up with these people. They knew Him in His childhood and those very awkward teenage years. Jesus was without sin but never one of those over-pious “goody two shoes.” He had respect among the community, despite being known as an illegitimate child, and now He started proclaiming to be the fulfilment of a passage that for at least decades the people thought was going to be about the deliverance from Rome. I’m sure Jesus’ own friends and family began to wonder, “Who does this guy think He is?” And then Jesus lowered the boom, declared their reaction to Him, and basically insulted them by saying their rejection of His gift of salvation would lead to that gift being given out to those they deemed lesser than them. This led to Jesus’ own friends seeking to throw Him off a nearby cliff for blasphemy. There is no record of Jesus ever returning to Nazareth after this.
In one of Jesus’ first opportunities to get a following, He sets the standard of what He was about: seeking true and genuine followers and pushing away any who had no real intention of following Him and doing things His way. This is a charge frequently made by those who stand on the single message of Scripture. As a young earth creationist, I often get charged with chasing people away from the faith because we draw a hard line that there is no justification for being a Christian and holding hands with worldly thinking of “millions of years.” We get accused often of being un-Christ-like yet here we have Jesus chasing people away by driving home a point about the exclusive truth. Jesus does not care about numbers. He cares about true and genuine faith. He does care when those reject Him, and it grieves Him that they will be lost, not knowing what they are rejecting, but He is not going to change His message so that He could have a superfluous following. Jesus was going after the true follower, and He would give many different teachings and descriptions on what that would mean and entail.
This was not the only time Jesus would intentionally chase away people who had little interest in following Him anyway. In John’s gospel, there are two major instances when Jesus confronted the very crowds He had just been ministering to. In John 6, Jesus had just fed the 5000, sent the disciples across the sea, walked on water, and the crowd followed Him around the sea and met Him there. Jesus refused to give them another bite and instead offered the true Bread of Life – Himself. He told the people that to get eternal life, we are to eat His flesh and drink His blood. About 20,000 people, assuming it was the same crowd from the day before, left. Then in John 8, Jesus confronted another group of people who professed to believe Him. Jesus flat out called them children of the devil, haters of God, murderers, and sealed the deal by declaring Himself to be the “I AM.”
Again, Jesus refused to play the crowd. Every time He sensed there were half-hearted followers, He raised the stakes to make sure there were no hesitations. Jesus did not want any fair-weather fans. He wanted genuine disciples who would pursue and chase after Him no matter what their circumstances were. Jesus set the bar so high that He would take precedence over family, over jobs, over the comfort of a home, over an income, over absolutely anything that would enable someone to rely on their flesh. Jesus never lowered the bar for anyone. He gave messages so hard that it would be literally impossible for any person to be able to carry them out. And that was the point.
Christianity is not like any other religion that has man seeking and pursuing God. It is a religion and a faith (among much more) that requires that man cease trusting in themselves and only depend upon the mercy of God. While Jesus did give teachings about how we should live, He also made clear that following Him will not happen by one’s own ability. The Christian lifestyle is only livable, and even attemptable, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus shut down any low-level thinking about the Christian faith, and He was not going to tolerate any attempt to use Him for any personal gain or in any following of Him just for what He could offer. He knew the hearts of these people; the moment anything would turn rough, which would happen quickly and frequently to those who did follow Him, they would turn on Him and walk away. So Jesus, just like with the fig tree He cursed, simply showcased the inevitable quicker and did not let anyone get disillusioned with false hopes. He set the expectations excessively clearly so anyone who did choose to follow Him knew what they were leaving behind and what they were going into.
The life that Jesus calls us into is one where we do not have control; He does, and we walk in implicit trust that He will lead us to and through the very things we were designed for. Next week, we’ll look at what kind of people Jesus chose to be His apostles.
This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration. All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved. Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.
