I. Life’s
II. God’s
a. His
b. His
c. His
d. His
Weekly Application Questions
According to the Jewish calendar, the book of Ruth is the story that is read every year in Jewish homes at harvest time during the Feast of Weeks—what we know as Pentecost.
The book of Ruth is fascinating in that while it does give us a vivid peek into what life was like in the time of the Judges, it also highlights some very interesting laws that reveal the heart of God and His plan of salvation in exciting ways. The first of these laws shows how God had provided mechanisms to help those in Israel who were in need. This was called the Law of gleaning (Lev 19:9-10).
According to this law, as a landowner, you were allowed to reap your fields on one pass only. What was accidently left behind was available to the widows or the poor to glean for themselves. Farmers could not go back and make a second pass to gather what was missed the first time. So, the poor would follow behind the reapers picking up any scraps they could find.
Landowners were also required to leave the corners of their fields untouched—so the poor would have more to glean. This was a welfare system of sorts for Israel. God was ensuring the poor and needy would be provided for in this way.
Unbeknownst to Ruth, in chapter two, the landowner Boaz arranged for his reapers to additionally drop “handfuls on purpose” (as the King James so beautifully describes it) in front of Ruth to make sure she had plenty of grain to take home. That phrase “handfuls on purpose” vividly pictures how God consistently pours out His blessings on us—in abundance, with handfuls on purpose.
Another law we see in the book of Ruth is the Law of Redemption (Lev 25:23-28). Today, when property is sold in our culture, the title is usually passed from owner to owner, with the buyer having full rights of ownership. However, it was different in the land of Israel. This is because God literally owned all the land. Israel’s land was granted back in the days of Joshua to each of the tribes—and the land was to be kept forever within the families of those tribes. This is why genealogies were so important in Israel. It was a way for them to keep track of land rights.
When someone sold a property to pay debts, or for any other reason, the transaction was what we would now view as a lease. There were provisions in the Mosaic Law, at the time of Jubilee, for the land to revert back to the original owner. A title deed would thus include the terms that a kinsman of the family could perform to redeem the property back to the family.
The next law is the Law of Levirate Marriage (Deut 25:5-10). This was an unusual procedure to assure the continuation of a family name, in the event of the death of a husband who did not have any children. If a widow had no son, she could request the next of kin to take her as a wife and raise the first child to continue the firstborn’s bloodline. We see this mentioned by the Sadducees to Jesus in Matthew 22. The firstborn son would retain the family name of the older dead brother, as well as retain his property rights. This would ensure the continuation of the bloodline of the deceased man, as well as keep the property within the family.
This strange law is the key to unlocking what is happening in Ruth chapter 3. Naomi realized that Boaz was a relative, a near kinsman. Therefore, she knew there was an opportunity to get back the family properties lost by her dead husband ten years earlier, and also a chance for Ruth to have a new life. Because of this law, the widow Ruth would now be taken care of by her kinsman Boaz, who is called the “kinsman-redeemer,” and the property Naomi’s husband owned would remain in the family.
All of these laws weave together in the story of Ruth and Naomi to give us a picture of the redemption that God provides for us. It is a beautiful love story of Ruth and Boaz, but also a love story of Christ and the church. The stories in Ruth serve as a “type” or picture God gives us in advance of His redemption. We recognize Boaz as the “goel”, or kinsman-redeemer. We can easily see how he, in some ways, pre-figures our own kinsman-redeemer, Jesus Christ.
The book of Ruth is beautiful and descriptive, yet also prophetic. Through his act of redemption, Boaz returns Naomi (who is a “type” of Israel) to her land, and also takes Ruth (a Gentile, a “type” of the church) as his bride. This gives us a beautiful picture of how Christ does the same thing. In His act of redemption, He takes a Gentile bride (the church) for Himself, and also will eventually return Israel to the land—as we saw so miraculously happen in 1948.
Describe a time when you felt like an outsider (because of race, creed, color, economic background, politics, etc.).
A lot of background story is told in the first five verses of Ruth. Describe what you think would be going through Naomi’s heart at this point in the story. What doubts do you think she might have been experiencing? In light of the plight of widows in that day and the hatred of Moab by those in Israel, why do you think Naomi urged her daughters-in-law to stay behind as she returned to Israel?
Do you believe Elimelech and Naomi made the right decision to leave Israel and journey to Moab? Do you think Naomi made the right decision to move back home? What factors do you think affected those decisions? What do we learn about trusting God from this story?
What do you think most people think of when the story of Ruth comes up? What new insights do you have about the story and about God from this journey through Ruth?
How does the example of Ruth encourage you in the struggles you face? What do you think God is teaching you through this book? Whom do you know who might need to be reminded of God’s love?
Going Deeper:
Using the details in the story of Ruth, how would you define and describe God’s providence?
How does God work through the brokenness of life in the story of Ruth and Naomi? How has God worked through the brokenness of your life?