Bible Women: Ruth’s Undying Loyalty

And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me. Rth 1:16-17  

For Better, For Worse

The story of Ruth is our own story. It speaks of every thought which came to the mind but halted. It speaks of every journey we started but returned.

She had every reason to return. Her husband had died. She had no children with him. She was young, and she was in her own country and her own people. But Ruth declined. She chose instead to follow this misery laden old woman from another country and another God.

This was the argument of Naomi to her daughters in law. Orpah saw it and returned. But Ruth refused.

Trusting in the Providence of God

Ruth swears by Naomi’s God. She had married from his people. She had tasted him and found him to be good. The Lord gave and the Lord had taken away. And would she now desert him and his people?

They returned at the beginning of the barley harvest. And she said ‘Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace.’

And the grace of God brought her to the field of Boaz. He was ‘a mighty man of wealth.’ Love had been busy preparing a place for the beloved.

And from that stage both Boaz and Ruth become smitten with that love. It shines her rays through their uneven days. The tempo is raised, and the speech is hurried. And love says it is now and if it is not now it is never.

It is a fire which infects Naomi. Love will change the color of a room even at night. ‘And Naomi said unto her daughter in law, Blessed be he of the LORD, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen’ (Rth 2:20).  

The Science of the Heart

Men can be as hard as steel. But men can also be very weak. Our grandmothers knew that. God had blessed them with the science of the heart. And Naomi was an old hand. When a woman lies at the feet of a man his heart dies completely.

Naomi’s advice to Ruth worked magic. ‘And it came to pass at midnight, that the man was afraid, and turned himself: and, behold, a woman lay at his feet. And he said, Who art thou? And she answered, I am Ruth thine handmaid: spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid; for thou art a near kinsman’ (Rth 3:8-9).  

That is how scary a woman’s determination can get! But if we are taught of God in all things we shall also know what we shall do in all things.  

The old hand continued. ‘Then said she, Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall: for the man will not be in rest, until he have finished the thing this day’ (Rth 3:18).  

Boaz was an old man, God fearing and upright. He allowed her to sleep at his feet until early morning when she left. After that he did not rest.

Ladies, some days men will only act after being jolted! Guys, if you have been jolted please act fast!

And God was busy at work to bring everything to pass ‘after the counsel of his own will.’ Can you feel him working something like that in your own life right now?

Joy Comes in the Morning

Boaz, fired up, moves like lightning. ‘Then went Boaz up to the gate, and sat him down there: and, behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spake came by; unto whom he said, Ho, such a one! turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside, and sat down. And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit ye down here. And they sat down’ (Rth 4:1-2). 

So Boaz becomes the next of kinsman who redeems both the land and Ruth the wife of Mahlon (‘to raise up the name of the dead’) after the next of kinsman declines. ‘So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife: and when he went in unto her, the LORD gave her conception, and she bare a son. And the women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the LORD, which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel’ (Rth 4:13-14).  

At the beginning Naomi saw nothing but darkness. But it did not endure forever. Morning came at last – and with it a lot of joy!

And Ruth’s reward was the beginning of a glorious event which is the great news of the whole world up to this day. ‘And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David’ (Rth 4:17). 

And Jesus Christ is ‘the son of David.’

So at last we learn that mothers and daughters in law can actually come from heaven. And Ruth’s story is also a homage to our mothers and sisters, for many times (by God's grace) they have proved better ‘than seven sons.’

But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Deu 7:8  

For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. Isa 54:5  

Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Tit 2:14