Sunday, March 13, 2011

Ruth

Ruth is a wonderful story of God's redeeming love for all those created in his image.  It takes place during the time of the Judges, not so very long after Israel has taken possession of the Promised land.  A famine has come upon the land around Bethlehem.  Elimelech take his young family across the Jordan to Moab in search of a better life for his wife Naomi and there two sons Mahlon and Kilion.  While the family is in Moab, Mahlon and Kilion grow into adulthood and marry to young ladies from Moab, Ruth and Orpah.  Israelites were forbidden to marry women from the tribes that surrounded them, but obviously Naomi and Elimelech are ignoring God's direction in this part of their life.

During the sojourn in Moab (sojourning indicates that they did not intend to stay their for all of their lives) all of the men die.   This is a terrible tragedy in that era in that women have no means of making a living outside of their family other than begging or worse.  Naomi considers her options and decides the best course for her is to return to the land of her fathers.  She tells her young daughters in law to return to their families.  They are still young and may marry again and yet have families.  It seems like the wisest course of action.  They will have a better chance with their own families.

Naomi kisses Orpah goodbye but Ruth refuses to leave.  What she says is one of the greatest lines in all of the Old Testament, a testimony to a kind of love that we all want for our lives, "Don't urge me to leave you or turn back from you.  Where you go I will go, where you stay I will stay.  Your people will be my people and your God will be my God.  Where you die I will die and there will I be buried."

Ruth returns to Bethlehem with Naomi and makes her home their.  Their Ruth follows Naomi's instructions and gleans in the field of their family.  Remember that gleaning in the fields was established in Exodus in the law of Moses as a way to provide food for the poor.  Ruth works tirelessly and catches the eye of one of Naomi's kinsmen, a man named Boaz.  Boaz becomes a protector for Ruth and Naomi and over the course of the harvest, Boaz and Ruth develop a respect for one another.  At the end of the harvest Naomi directs Ruth to the threshing floor with specific instructions to lie at the feet of Boaz.  This is a sign of submission in the Israelite culture.  It is asking that the Kinsman would become the protector.  Boaz accepts the offer, but first must make sure that one who is a closer relative to Elimelech does not wish to enforce his rights as kinsman-redeemer.

Remember that the office of Kinsman Redeemer was also established in the Mosaic code.  There were a number of things that the Kinsman Redeemer was to do.  He was to buy back relative who may have sold themselves into slavery because of hard times.  He was to be the blood avenger in the case that a member of the family might be murdered.  He was to buy back family land that may have sold.  (Elimelech may have sold the family land in order to finance the trip to Moab)  He was to insure that the family name lived on by marrying any widow of a family marriage that had not had sons.

When the closer relative did not chose to honor the role of Kinsman Redeemer, Boaz was delighted to do so.  Many biblical scholars believe that Boaz was much older than Ruth.  He had probably never married.  The other relative who refused to redeem Naomi and Ruth had sons and did not wish to create problems for those who would inherit from him.  Boaz became a kinsman redeemer for these two widows.  He restored them as persons in the community, he restored their property and, finally, he restores the family posterity when a son is born to the Ruth and Boaz who was named Obed.

Many New Testament scholars say this story is a precursor to the person of Jesus who became our Kinsman Redeemer.  He restores our person by his sacrificial love for us.  He restores our place in the Kingdom of God and he ensures our inheritance and posterity as he guarantees all who say yes to his offer of safety "under his wing" a place in eternity.

One more note, the story tells us that Ruth and Boaz begat Obed who begat Jesse who begat David who became King of Israel.  We know that Jesus lineage is traced back to David.  We should also note that the mother of Boaz was a lady named Rahab.  You may remember her from the story of the fall of Jericho.  She was the prostitute who protected Israel's spies and in return was saved from the devastation of Jericho.  She married Salmon and together that had a family, one of her sons was Boaz.  I find this to be a wonderful illustration of God's grace and goodness.  Both Rahab and Ruth were not Israelites.  Rahab was a Canaanite and Ruth a Moabite.  God had called for their destruction, but both turned their faces to God and repented of the lifestyles that God detested.  their repentence marks them for salvation.  They  become part of the great legacy of Faith and are sewn by God's love into this wonderful story that leads us to Jesus Christ.  They are the proof that many of us need to know, that none are beyond God's reach; that none are beyond God's love.

Ruth is a wonderful love story.....both in human terms and in terms of God's eternal love and pursuit of all those who bear is image.

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