RUTH
Theme: Grace. The Grace of God
Author: Unknown
Time: End of the 12th century BC
Ruth was David’s grandmother so it could have been during David’s reign
End of the time of judges before the anointing of David by Samuel.
Samuel being the last of the judges
Ruthless - they show no ability to have empathy
Ruth - means friend of companion
Ruth is in the genealogy of David but there are only TWO books in the OT that show the experience of women. ESTHER AND RUTH
Key Scripture:
Ruth 1:16 ESV
16 But Ruth said, “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.
Says it to her mother-in-law. Renounces pagan lineage and says she wants to be a jew
Ruth was released to go back to her pagan land but she chooses to go into the land she doesn’t know
Ruth 3:13 ESV
13 Remain tonight, and in the morning, if he will redeem you, good; let him do it. But if he is not willing to redeem you, then, as the Lord lives, I will redeem you. Lie down until the morning.”
Boaz is talking
Structure:
Chapter 1: Tragedy and Return to Bethlehem
There’s a famine, husband dies, and ladies return back to Bethlehem
Chapter 2: Ruth could have left but stays and meets Boaz
Ruth is following Boaz and his men picking up whatever they left behind because she was poor. That was a rule God made for the poor.
If you are tiling the ground. The first you don’t pick up on the first round you have to leave for the poor
Chapter 3: Naomi’s Plan
She tries to set up Boaz and Ruth to bring redemption to the family
Ruth meets Boaz in a romantic way
She lies down at his feet. A traditional way of making her intentions known
Love at first site. There was another man that was lined up to marry her so Boaz defers to him and was given permission to marry her
*Chapter 4: Ruth marriage, Son, Genealogy
Purpose of the Book:
1. To show a positive picture of grace from the period of the judges
2. To show the genealogy of David
God uses a pagan woman to establish the Davidic Kingdom
Jesus has roots in this woman who was not a Jew but became a Jew
3. To show the typology of God calling the Gentiles
God uses Ruth as a foreshadowing of what he’s going to do through Christ
His purpose all along was to bring people into the family
Message of the Book:
1. God love is for everyone
God loved everyone through the Jews
He made and called the Jews to SHOW PEOPLE AN OPEN DOOR TO EXPERIENCE HIM
2. God uses human love to work his divine love
Through romance, marriage to show his love for us
Marriage is just a mirror of his love for us.