Monday, 04 February 2008 00:00  |  Written by Hazel Batty & Steve Hall and posted in Ruth

After a short while on the road, Naomi told her two daughters-in-law, “Go back. Go home and live with your mothers. And may God treat you as graciously as you treated your deceased husbands and me. May God give each of you a new home and a new husband!” Ruth 1:8-9

Ruth’s husband is dead; so are her father-in-law and brother-in-law. Her world is in ruins; without a husband or father or a son to provide for her Ruth faces a stark reality where her survival is seriously put into doubt…

Naomi, Ruth’s mother-in-law, is in the same boat. She’s decided to leave Moab for her home land of Judah in order to seek out the pity of her extended family.

Tuesday, 05 February 2008 00:00  |  Written by Hazel Batty & Steve Hall and posted in Ruth

Ruth clung to Naomi… ”Don't urge me to leave you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.” Ruth 1:14 & 1:16

 

Why on earth do you think Ruth clung to Naomi like this?

Why is she willing to leave all she has ever known, (her home country, town, people, family, friends and religion) to stay with Naomi? Why take this huge risk to become a foreigner when she’s already widowed…

'Your God will be my God’ she says… What is it she’s glimpsed?

Wednesday, 06 February 2008 00:00  |  Written by Hazel Batty & Steve Hall and posted in Ruth

Ruth said to Naomi, “Let me go out into the harvest fields to pick up the stalks of grain left behind by anyone who is kind enough to let me do it…” Ruth 2:2-3

 

Ruth was a Moabite immigrant who had just converted to Judaism to stay with Naomi, but somehow (don’t ask me how) she is aware of Jewish Law! The Law stated that Jews shouldn’t harvest their fields to the edge or gather up the bits they drop so the poor and the foreigner had something to eat.*

Ruth is both poor and a foreigner… and is trusting in God’s provision for her and Naomi.

*See Leviticus 23:22

Thursday, 07 February 2008 00:00  |  Written by Hazel Batty & Steve Hall and posted in Ruth

Ruth went into the field and worked steadily from morning, except for a short rest in the shelter. Ruth 2:7

 

 

We are told that Ruth slaved away all day; morning to night… If that had been me I would have taken more than one short rest in that shelter! No-one would have known… not even Naomi who was the only person who knew who Ruth even was.

How do you live when there’s no one there to see?

Friday, 08 February 2008 00:00  |  Written by Hazel Batty & Steve Hall and posted in Ruth

Boaz said to Ruth, “Stay right here with us when you gather grain… I know about everything you have done for your mother-in-law. I have heard how you left your own land to live here among complete strangers.” Ruth 2:8 & 2:11

 

People who see you regularly notice the way you live and what your attitude to work is like. For Ruth, it was Boaz that noticed her… not in a freaky way… but in a way that recognises Ruth’s hardwork and godly attitude. This has inspired Boaz to ask around to find out who she is and why she lives this way.

Does your character attract such an exploration?

Saturday, 09 February 2008 00:00  |  Written by Hazel Batty & Steve Hall and posted in Ruth

Boaz said, “Everybody in town knows what a courageous woman you are Ruth – a real prize! You’re right, I am a close relative to you, but there’s on even closer than I am… but if he isn’t interested, as God lives, I’ll do it." Ruth 3:11-13

 

Within Jewish society the law enabled widows to retain their husband’s possessions and land only if their nearest male relative would purchase the estate and agree to marry the widow. If the nearest relative chose not to do this, another close relative, like Boaz, could exercise this right.

Boaz is falling for Ruth and is hoping that her closest relative won’t be interested!

Sunday, 10 February 2008 00:00  |  Written by Hazel Batty & Steve Hall and posted in Ruth

So Boaz took Ruth into his home, and she became his wife. When he slept with her, the Lord enabled her to become pregnant, and she gave birth to a son... and they named him Obed. Ruth 4:13 & 4:17

 

This is the last of Ruth’s story we hear… She’s married to Boaz, who has been able to buy back (or redeem) Ruth’s dead husband’s estate and she has just given birth to King David’s grandfather, Obed.

This word, redeem, pops up 23 times during the story of Ruth… Paul later uses this word to try and explain why Father God sent his son, Jesus.*

* Check out Galatians 4:4-5 if you’re interested…