Ruth: loyal love in Bethlehem
Ruth tells of Naomi, who lost her husband and both sons in the days of the judges, and of Ruth the Moabite, who would not leave her. Through Boaz's kindness and a kinsman-redeemer's duty God cares for two widows, and from their family comes David.
About the book
The book is named for Ruth, its heroine. It opens "in the days when the judges ruled" (Ruth 1:1), the era the map under the Jesus tab calls Conquest and the judges (c. 1400/1200–1050 BC). In the dark times Judges describes, a family in Bethlehem shows a faithful love that honours God.
Ruth does not name its author. Jewish tradition, in the Babylonian Talmud, names Samuel Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra. The book closes with David's name (Ruth 4:22), so it was written once David was known, and it explains the giving of a sandal as a custom of "former times in Israel" (Ruth 4:7), so some years lay between the story and its telling. Many therefore place it in the monarchy, in the time of David or Solomon. Many scholars place it after the exile instead, as a word about God's welcome of a Moabite woman in the days when Ezra and Nehemiah were forbidding marriage to foreign wives; others note that its Hebrew is close to the prose of the monarchy and date it earlier.
Christian Bibles follow the Greek Old Testament in setting Ruth after Judges. In the Hebrew Bible it stands among the Writings, and Jews read it at the Feast of Weeks, the wheat harvest.
How it unfolds
| Chapter | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1 | Naomi loses her husband and sons in Moab; Ruth comes home with her |
| 2 | Ruth gleans in Boaz's field and meets his kindness |
| 3 | A night at the threshing floor: Ruth asks Boaz to redeem |
| 4 | At the town gate Boaz redeems and marries Ruth; Obed, David's grandfather, is born |
Naomi, who said, "I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty" (Ruth 1:21), ends with a grandson in her lap. There are no great miracles here. God works through famine and harvest, field and gate, even Ruth's happening to come to Boaz's field (Ruth 2:3): his providence.
Key passages
When Naomi urges her to go home, Ruth answers:
For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you live, I will live; your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.
Ruth 1:16
The word that runs through the book is , loyal love that holds fast beyond what duty requires. The BSB gives it as "loving devotion" in Naomi's prayer (Ruth 1:8) and as "kindness" when Naomi blesses Boaz (Ruth 2:20) and when Boaz praises Ruth (Ruth 3:10). Boaz prays for the foreign woman:
May the LORD repay your work, and may you receive a rich reward from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have taken refuge.
Ruth 2:12
Later Ruth asks him, "Spread the corner of your garment over me" (Ruth 3:9). In Hebrew ‘wings’ and ‘corner of a garment’ are one word: Boaz becomes the answer to his own prayer.
In the same verse she calls him "a kinsman-redeemer", in Hebrew a : the near relative who pays to buy back what a poor kinsman has had to sell (Leviticus 25:25). A nearer relative drew back, lest he "jeopardize my own inheritance" (Ruth 4:6); Boaz bought the land, married Ruth, and kept the dead man's name alive.
The book and Christ
The New Testament writes Ruth into Jesus' family line: "Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth" (Matthew 1:5). That a Moabite became David's great-grandmother and an ancestor of the Messiah shows beforehand that God would gather the nations too under his wings.
The New Testament does not call Boaz a picture of Christ, but the church has long seen in this redeemer who paid the price the one who redeemed us: "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses" (Ephesians 1:7). Matthew Henry writes, "let us, in the kindness of Boaz to Ruth, note the kindness of the Lord Jesus Christ to poor sinners" Matthew Henry. On the price Christ paid, see The cross and atonement, in the doctrine course.
Reading it
Four chapters: read it at one sitting, beginning with Ruth 1. If you have just finished Judges, set this story beside its dark last chapters. Watch for chesed and for the wings, and when the family line reaches David, turn to the line in Matthew 1. Then go on to 1 Samuel.
Practice
- Practice 1 of 6
When does the story of Ruth take place?
- Practice 2 of 6
Who said, "your people will be my people, and your God will be my God"?
- Practice 3 of 6
In Ruth, who is a kinsman-redeemer (go'el)?
- Practice 4 of 6
Which comes closest to the meaning of chesed, the Hebrew word behind Ruth's ‘kindness’?
- Practice 5 of 6
What is true of when Ruth was written?
- Practice 6 of 6
How does the New Testament remember Ruth?
Reading to the end marks it read; tap to switch it.
Related topics
Source
- The Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra 14b–15a — Completed c. 6th century. The Jewish tradition of who wrote (or compiled) each book of the Hebrew Bible: Moses his own book, the portion of Balaam and Job; Joshua his and the Torah's last eight verses (his death recorded by Eleazar and Phinehas); Samuel his, Judges and Ruth (finished by Gad and Nathan); David the Psalms with the elders; Jeremiah his, Kings and Lamentations; Hezekiah and his company Isaiah, Proverbs, the Song and Ecclesiastes; the Men of the Great Assembly Ezekiel, the Twelve, Daniel and Esther; Ezra his and the genealogies of Chronicles.
Lessons from the Bible, the church's creeds and classic commentary. Each book's author and date are given as the church has received them, and scholars who see them otherwise are presented fairly. Scripture quotations: BSB.