“A Synopsis of the Book of Ruth”
BIBLE READING: Ruth
1-4
Now, let me give you a quick synopsis of the Book of Ruth. To
start out, a woman by the name of Naomi packed up and moved from Judah to Moab
due to a terrible famine that was affecting her family. She and her husband
moved there with their two sons, who eventually took wives while living in
Moab.
Tragically, Naomi lost her husband and two sons. Broken and
empty, Naomi decided to move back to Bethlehem in Judah. Her daughter-in-law
Ruth came with her, since she had also lost her husband. Keep in mind that Ruth
was a Moabite woman, and she was now moving to Judah as a foreigner. This was a
big deal in their culture, but she was committed to Naomi as her
daughter-in-law, and she wanted to follow after the God of Israel. While in
Judah, God worked out an amazing plan for a man named Boaz to take Ruth as his
wife, give her a child, and provide for her and Naomi. What’s remarkable about
this plan was that Boaz was qualified as a “kinsman redeemer” to take her as
his wife. What in the world is a “kinsman redeemer” you may ask? Well, they had
a custom in those days, based upon >Deuteronomy 25:5–6, that directed that a relative of a man who dies should
marry that man’s widow in order to perpetuate his lineage through this woman.
According to God’s remarkable sovereignty, it turned out that Boaz was a
relative to Ruth’s husband who had passed away; so, he was qualified to marry
her and perpetuate his lineage. So, even in the midst of Ruth and Naomi’s awful
affliction, God still had a plan to take care of them. Pretty cool, right?
-Selected
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