Who Was Ruth In The Bible?

Who was Ruth in the Bible? What is it about her life that still resonates among believers today?

A Time of Famine

The Book of Ruth is among the shortest and yet most powerful books in the Bible. With only four chapters it gives us all hope for those who consider themselves beyond hope and help. God is the God of the widows and orphans and in this powerful story we see that God never forgets those who seem to be forgotten by the world. Ruth is the daughter-in-law of Naomi who had lost her husband and later, her sons and had no means of income. She was left destitute and to make matters worse, there was a famine in the land. The Book or Ruth was included with Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah in the section known as “the writings” (Kethuvim in Hebrew) so this book has a unique place in Scripture.

A Time of Famine

Upon hearing that the famine was over in Judah, Naomi decided to return there so that she could be provided for. Naomi, who had lost her husband and eventually her two sons, sought to send her daughter-in-laws back to Moab and Orpah did so but Ruth said, in one of the most famous lines in the Bible, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God” (Ruth 1:16) so Naomi and Ruth went to Bethlehem in the hopes of finding their kinsman redeemer who was named Boaz. Boaz saw Naomi gleaning in the fields and saw to it that she was more than adequately provided for. After Boaz learned of Ruth’s faithfulness to her mother-in-law Naomi, he asked a blessing upon them from God. God heard and answered that prayer in a most powerful way.

A Time of Redemption

Ruth proves that even those outside of the Jewish lineage have hopes of redemption and Boaz redeems her and becomes her husband. Even more importantly, Ruth entered into the lineage of all lineages; she became the great-grandmother of the greatest king in Israel, King David. Ruth’s acceptance into the nation of Israel reveals that God has and always will welcome those who are deemed cutoff by their nation of origin. God has always been predisposed to acceptance of those outside of the nation of Israel as the law stated “You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God” (Lev 19:34) as they were commanded “Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt” (Ex 22:21). The law even states “Do not despise an Edomite, for the Edomites are related to you. Do not despise an Egyptian, because you resided as foreigners in their country” (Duet 23:7) because “The LORD watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked” (Psalm 146:9).

Our Redeemer

The story of Ruth and Boaz is highly symbolic of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. For one thing, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree” (Gal 3:13). Jesus’ intent was “to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship” (Gal 4:5) and so it is through Jesus Christ that we have been redeemed and it was “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2nd Cor 5:21). Our Redeemer sought us “For the Son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10) and at one time, we were all lost and if not for Christ seeking us out, we’d still be in our sins for none of us every sought God or were seeking Him (Rom 3:10-12) but on the contrary, He sought us, He caught us, He bought us, and He taught us a better way. That way was about repentance and belief (Mark 1:15).

Conclusion

If you’ve never repented and trusted in Christ, then you have no Kinsman Redeemer. You are still in your sins and you still have the wrath of God abiding on you due to your disbelief in the Son of God (John 3:36b). That is no enviable position to be in for one day we shall all stand before Him to give an account and appear before Him (Rom 14:12; 2nd Cor 5:10) and either you will have to pay for your own sins which will take all eternity (Rev 20:12-15) or you will submit to Him and allow Him to become the curse for you.

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Blind Chance or Intelligent Design available on Amazon.