Walk Through the Bible: Ruth
Text for Sermon: Ruth 1:1-6; 1:22-2:3
The book of Ruth is a very old book, over three thousand years old. The oldest book on my shelves is from 1814. Can a book as old as Ruth still be relevant, can it still speak to us? That it can is a remarkable testimony to the power of the Word of God. These are God’s Words, they never become old or outdated. It is unchangeable and unwaveringly true, eternally true. Remember that, take that to heart, return to it when everything else in our world is changing.
The book is named after the principal character, Ruth, a pagan Moabite widow who married the Bethlehemite Boaz and became an ancestor (great grandmother) of King David (Ruth 4:17, 22) and thus an ancestor of the Messiah (Matt. 1:1, 5–6).
We are told the story took place during the time of the judges. We are not told who the author is, but Jewish tradition says it was Samuel. It may have been written around the time of David’s ascension to the throne, around 1000BC.
In terms of great literature, the book of Ruth is a masterpiece in storytelling. There is not a wasted word in this densely packed compelling drama and classic love story. It may be the most beautiful short story ever written.
It follows that classic path of great stories, stating the challenges and trials, descending into obstacles and potential danger and tragedy, before rising to a gloriously happy ending.
It is one of the view stories in the Bible written from a woman’s point of view and revealing some of the particular challenges women faced in that day. It is the custom of the Jews to read this story at the time of Pentecost, which is the time of harvest.
It extols the virtues of the simple, pleasant aspects of rural and domestic life. It makes us long for a simpler, less complicated life. Yet it is real, not a fairy tale. Times were hard, there was famine, migration, relocation, early death and widowhood.
Boaz is one of the few characters in the Bible who displays no character flaws or moral failures. He is the embodiment of God’s faithfulness and kindness to Naomi and Ruth.
As I ask each week, who is this book about? It is not really a book about Ruth or Naomi, but about God and His dealings with His world and His people. The hand of the living God is everywhere evident in life as illustrated by the presence of His hand everywhere in this story.
This story really starts with God. Actually don’t all our stories start with God. Your story and my story and every story are all His Story, they all start with God, with the sovereign purposes of God moving mysteriously in time and space His will to perform, His grace to glorify.
As all of history reflects the redemptive purposes of God, so in this story we see a great redeemer bringing a disobedient daughter home with empty hands so that in her weakness and emptiness God can magnify His glory and grace by astonishing her with an abundance of provision and goodness.
From the mountains of Moab and the barley fields of Boaz in Bethlehem God speaks to us lessons from the life of Ruth. Note them well and they will serve you well.