Well, turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Ruth. We’re going to begin this evening, a study through this book. And Ruth is an interesting book. I taught through this book a few years ago with the teens, and after that I was assigned to study this book in my doctoral classes. So I’ve done a lot of work in the book of Ruth, so I figured it would be a great place to go next in our Sunday evening sermon series. I think it’ll be helpful to do an in-depth study of this book, and that is the aim over the next several months.

We’re really going to dig into what this book has to say, a lot of the details that are here, and that’s what we’ll do this evening, is really kind of set the stage for what happens in the book of Ruth. I’ll go through a lot of the introductory details, a lot of the things that we’ll find when we study this book, and then I’ll close by reading the whole book of Ruth, the whole story in its entirety. And again, this is the book of Ruth, even in non-Christian circles, is recognized as a beautiful piece of literature. It’s a treasured and masterful literary work, and it is that for several reasons. You have the storytelling aspect within the book. It’s captivating and it’s full of insights into not only the time and place that this story takes place, but even the theology behind why this book is written, why we have this account.

Because sometimes the question is asked of the book of Ruth, well, why is it even here? Why did God intend to include this in scripture? And we know from the end of the book, the genealogy, that it does give us some detail in that aspect, but why the whole story? Why do we have all of this here? But again, this book contains not just the classic romantic tale that we find in it, But it’s a record of the lineage of the royal line of Israel and therefore the line of Christ, the lineage of Christ. What we’re reading about in the book of Ruth is the relatives of the baby Jesus that will come in generations to come following this story.

Well, let’s talk about the literary form of this book. What is it? It’s a little different than a lot of what we find elsewhere in scripture. It is what is called a novella or a short story. It communicates important details of historical importance. but it does it in a storytelling type of way. And yes, it is a story, and just because we call it a story doesn’t mean it’s false or it’s fiction. It is a true story, but it’s told in a narrative way, and it tells a dramatic, it tells it in a dramatic way, I should say. Again, this book is short enough that you can read the entire story in one sitting, which we’ll do here near the end of our time together. And again, some have asserted that because it is such a dramatic, classical, literary piece, that perhaps the details in it may not be historical, that maybe it’s a work of fiction. that they told in order to romanticize the lineage of David and eventually of Christ. But there’s no legitimate reason to discount the historical accuracy of exactly what happens in this story, this book that we read.

Again, the book itself, in its opening words, communicates to us the date and setting of the story. It is in the days when the judges ruled. And it’s concluding genealogy tells us of the king that would be coming. Ruth is placed after the book of Judges. In most canonical orders, it is placed in exactly that spot, and there’s a reason for that. Because if you didn’t have the separations that are here, both with the start of a new book and then the chapters and things, you might think that this is just a continuation of the book of Judges.

If you look up your page a little bit in your Bible, to the end of Judges, Judges 21, starting verse 23, it says, and the sons of Benjamin did so and carried away wives according to their number from those who danced and whom they stole away. And they went and returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the cities and lived in them. And the sons of Israel went away from there at that time, every man to his tribe and family, and each one of them went out from there to his inheritance. In those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. And that’s where Judges leaves off. Israel’s in a bad place. Israel is fallen into sin once again. If you read through the book of Judges, we actually have been going through Judges with the teens this year, and you see the cycle. They fall into sin. They’re oppressed by their enemies. God sends them a judge or a deliverer to save them from their enemies, and then the cycle starts all over again.

Well, here, Judges leaves off them in their sin again. And it seems as though the spiral has gone downward and downward and downward. And when you get to the end of the book of Judges, it almost leaves you in a hopeless place for Israel, that what is going to happen to this nation? They just keep getting worse and worse. How is God going to do anything with a nation like this? And so again, it leaves off with verse 25 of Judges 21. In those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. And then you keep right on going to the next verse, Ruth 1. Now it happened in the days when the judges judged that there was a famine in the land. And there was a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah who went to sojourn in the fields of Moab with his wife and his two sons. So you have a continuation. of what happens throughout the book of Judges. They fall into sin, and then they fall into hard times. And here, because of their sin, as it tells us, it’s when the Judges judged, there was a famine in the land.

So that gives us information about the state of Israel at this point. If there’s a famine in the land, they’re being judged for their sin. They’re not following God. They’re living in idolatry once again. So that really sets the stage for what we find in the book of Judges. And again, the ending of the book is a genealogy. It lists the generations. In fact, the last word of the book is the name David, which sets the stage for what? What comes next? 1 and 2 Samuel, where we’re introduced to eventually David. So it’s really a transition book from the time of the judges, and it’s setting up what was to come in the kings. If you’re reading through the Bible for the first time from the first page on, at this point, you don’t know anything about the kings to come, but you start seeing this name David in the last of the pages of Ruth. And then it starts to wet your appetite for what’s coming in 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings.

Again, Ruth can be seen as a bit of a drama. It’s even written in the form of a drama, where it has different acts. Really, it separates into the four chapters. Every start of a new chapter is a new scene, and it’s taking place in a new place, and new things are going on. A commenter separates it this way. You see the first five verses are the introduction, but then act one starts in verse six and goes right through the end of the chapter. And in that first act, they’re in the land of Moab and you see the emptying of Naomi. That Naomi is emptied of all that she has, her husband and her two sons. And so you see the crisis for the line of David here in the first chapter. Then in act two, starting in chapter two, they are now in the fields in Bethlehem. And Ruth’s first encounter with Boaz takes place in chapter two. And you see a ray of hope for the line of David. Then the third chapter, you see act three, they’re now at the threshing floor. and Ruth’s second encounter with Boaz in the book. And here you have a complication for this line of David. The fourth act, starting in chapter four, they’re in the town of Bethlehem, and here you see Boaz working things out to bring about this unlikely leveret marriage. And it concludes with the refilling of Naomi. First, Naomi is emptied in chapter one, and then she is refilled in chapter four. And then you have the conclusion in verses 18 through 22 of chapter four.

And again, this book is written in the form of prose or of narrative. And it may have some poetic forms within it, but it is a story from beginning to end. And the genealogy is at the end to kind of cap off and really give the purpose for why we have this book. But again, throughout the whole story, you see the unlikely characters come together and eventually it generates the line of David. And again, thinking backward from the mindset of Israelites. How more unlikely can you get than Ruth as a member of the kingly line of Israel? Again, these unlikely characters and escalations within the plot, it’s a very dramatic story. There’s things that happen where you’re like, oh no, how are they going to solve this if you’ve never read it before? It’s really a captivating story. And so you have the characters within the book of Ruth.

You see a lot of the characters right in the first chapter, right in the first few verses. It begins with a man named Elimelech. See verse two of chapter one. Well, really verse one. There was a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah who went to sojourn in the fields of Moab with his wife and his two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech. So his name is Elimelech. That name means my God is king. and he is a Ephrathite from Bethlehem. And yet, the man whose name is, my God is King, leaves the king’s land. He leaves the nation of Israel and flees to the nation they weren’t supposed to be in. They weren’t to have anything to do with in Moab. So, Elimelech doesn’t even live up to his own name. And really, as the first character mentioned, Elimelech doesn’t last very long. A few verses later, we see the demise of Elimelech.

Then we see Naomi. The name of his wife was Naomi. Naomi means the kindness of Yahweh. And yet, she is emptied in the land of Moab, and she renames herself Marah, which means bitterness. And yet we see at the end of the story that her fortunes are restored and really she receives what her name originally means, the kindness of Yahweh. That God shows her kindness despite her own, really, rebellion and rejection of God. Because of what God took away from her, she therefore rejects God and lives in her own self-pity. But God restores her fortunes anyways.

Then you see the two sons of Elimelech and Naomi. You see Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites in Bethlehem and in Judah. Now the two names of their sons, Mahlon means sickly and Chilion means frail. So I don’t think they should have been all that surprised that their two sons, sickly and frail, died young deaths. But before they died, they did take wives.

Mahlon and Chilion did take wives, and that was Ruth and Orpah. They were Moabite women. They took wives from the land of Moab. And we’ll learn more about them as we go. Really, Orpah’s not in the story very long as she turns back and goes back to her family as Naomi had instructed her to. But Ruth stays faithful to Naomi. And Ruth, again, the unlikely character, shows the faithful, loving kindness that Israelites should have been showing. Really, Ruth shines through in this story, living like the way God wanted the Israelites to live.

Then you have Boaz. Boaz comes onto the scene in chapter two and ends up being the husband of Ruth and the father of Obed and the line of David. And Boaz, again, is a model character in the story. He is kind of the hero that comes along and saves the day. Really, the hero of the whole story is God. But as far as the characters in the story, Boaz is the one that everyone looks to as the one who will preserve Naomi’s fortunes and without them knowing it, down the line, the line of the first, not the first, but the King David and his offspring. So those are the characters within the story of the book of Ruth.

Another interesting tidbit about this book is the title, the title of the book of Ruth. The book is named after one of the main characters. However, if you read through the book and you didn’t know what the name of the book was, would you actually call it Ruth? You think about the story and how the story goes and the characters. Really, Ruth is far from the central character of the story. And she actually speaks less than several of the other characters in the story. Ruth speaks relatively little in the book. You don’t hear a lot from Ruth herself. The story doesn’t start with Ruth and it doesn’t end with Ruth. So it’s interesting that the book is named after Ruth.

In fact, Ruth is mentioned or referred to 12 times in the book. And usually not by her own name, she’s just called the Moabitess. So it is interesting that they named the book Ruth. However, when you consider the story, well, first of all, Naomi or Boaz might be a more suitable name in our minds for this book, because they are more central. Really, Naomi would be a good choice, because it starts with her emptying and her feeling bitterness and pain. really disappointment with God, but then the story ends with Naomi being filled and having a name to carry on her husband’s bloodline. Or Boaz would be another good choice as a central figure in this story. He is the one who redeems in the story.

But when you consider the purpose of the book, again, the book of Ruth is not about Ruth. The book of Ruth is about God’s providence and God bringing about his plan throughout unlikely circumstances. So, speaking of unlikely circumstances, Ruth makes a good title for this book. She is, above all, the most unlikely circumstance that God uses to continue his plan from before The foundation of the world. The plan to bring about the Messiah through the kingly line was always going to come through Ruth. Ruth the Moabitess is as unlikely a candidate as you could imagine. Ruth was not an Israelite. Ruth was a woman. So the fact that there’s a book of the Bible named after Ruth just shows God’s providence in unlikely circumstances. So again, even though the title of this book is Ruth, this is a book about God. This book tells us about God.

Again, in this historical context of this book, the author is not named. We don’t know who wrote the book of Ruth. There is no subscription or superscription that tells us who it was. The date of writing is unknown, however, as we look at the historical facts within it, it had to be after the time of David, since David is named in the book, right? You can’t have written it beforehand if David wasn’t born yet. So it had to be after the time of David, or even around or during the time of David, that this story was recorded. But the very first line of the book, as we saw, tells us when it took place. It was during the time of the judges.

Now, it makes sense that it followed after, chronologically, the last chapter of Judges, where in those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. And then next comes the book of Ruth. That makes sense. However, it could have happened at any time. within the book of Judges. Anytime within that cycle of sin and oppression and then deliverance and repentance and then not really repentance and back into sin. So anytime during the time of the Judges is when this story takes place. And again, this is placed between the book of Judges and the books of Samuel, which is fitting because of what this book does in transitioning us from the time of the judges to the time of the kings. Again, the events of this book portray Israel as a nation continually falling into sin. And they need a deliverer once again.

In Judges, God raises up judges to be their deliverers. And at some point in chapter one, Israel must have either been delivered or repented of their sin because their fortunes are restored. And the reason why Naomi and Ruth come back to Israel is because the famine has been lifted. And Israel is reaping the abundance of God’s blessings once again. Again, this end of the book of Judges is a fitting backdrop, and as you see, the family of Elimelech come onto the scene. They sojourn in the land of Moab.

So famine had struck the land, and Elimelech, the man whose name is God is my king, he is from Bethlehem, which is the house of bread. That’s what that name means. And yet, they have no bread. There is no bread in their land. There is a famine. And the correct response for an Israelite would be to repent and to cry out to God for deliverance. And yet Elimelech decides to flee to the land of Moab. He runs away from the problems. He runs away from the consequences. One commenter puts it this way, the proper response to this punishment was not to flee, but to repent, which would motivate Yahweh to withdraw his anger and lift the famine. However, it seems Elimelech designed his own solution. Instead of calling upon Yahweh for mercy and repenting of the sins that plagued the nation during the dark days of Judges, he moved to Moab.

You think about, seems like an easy answer. There’s no food here. There’s food in Moab. It wasn’t that far of a journey. They could make it. Why wouldn’t he move his family to the place where they could actually live? And yet, look at the consequences of Elimelech’s decision. Elimelech and his two sons perish in the land of Moab. Fleeing the consequences was not the least of the problems in the situation either. But the fact that they fled to Moab, a known enemy in a forbidden land, that made the move even worse. We read in the book of Deuteronomy, God’s forbidding anything to do with the nation of Moab.

In Deuteronomy 23, verses 3 through 5, it says this, no Ammonite or Moabite shall enter into the assembly of God, even to the tenth generation. None of their seed shall ever enter into the assembly of Yahweh, because they did not meet you with food and water on the way when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam, the son of Beor, from Pithor of Mesopotamia, to curse you. Nevertheless, Yahweh, your God, was not willing to listen to Balaam, but Yahweh, your God, turned the curse into a blessing for you, because Yahweh, your God, loves you.” That was God’s word to Israel. Don’t have anything to do with Moab. Moab is off limits. Don’t let them into the assembly. Never let them into the house of Yahweh. As Dan Block, one of my professor’s comments on this episode, that this family should have headed for Moab is ironic, if not ominous. Not only did they leave the house of bread, Bethlehem, for the land that had refused their ancestors bread and water, They also sought hospitality in the land of those who had hired Balaam the prophet to curse the Israelites.

You see, Elimelech’s actions were spitting in the face of God and throwing away the honor of God and Israel. The very nation that would not help the nation of Israel in the wilderness, that would not give them bread, that’s where Elimelech goes for bread. So the Israelites of this time, they knew. And they were expected to follow the law of Moses, which is revealed later in the details of the story, like when they were leaving the corners of the field for the needy from which to glean from. And we’ll talk about that more when we get to that part of the book. But they knew the law of Moses. They were to understand what God required of them. And one of those things was have nothing to do with Moab. Moab was under God’s punishment. You see many themes throughout the book of Ruth.

The book of Ruth is a story of God’s providence and unlikely circumstances. And even within this short narrative, several other themes are present. But they all contribute to the overarching theme of God providentially preserving the Davidic line. One theme is divine judgment. You see the famine that has come and it is divine judgment upon the nation of Israel. It is a testament to God’s faithfulness. God told the nation of Israel, as I bring you into this land, keep the covenant and you’ll reap blessings. Don’t keep the covenant and you’ll receive curses. They’re receiving the curses because they’re not keeping the covenant. They’re seeing just how faithful God is. God keeps his word. And so one of the things that we’ll be reminded of as we study through the book of Ruth is that God keeps his word. God keeps his promises.

Again, the story opens with them fleeing to Moab and it was in fact divine deliverance. Again, the faithfulness of God that brings them back to Israel. God had once again bestowed blessings upon the nation and brought Naomi and Ruth back to Bethlehem. And that’s where the plot of the story takes place. Another theme we’ll see throughout the book is that of marriage. Marriage is a big part of the book of Ruth. You begin with Elimelech and Naomi’s marriage. And then their sons marry Moabite women, one of which is Ruth herself. And later, God provides a deliverer for Ruth and for Naomi in the form of Boaz, who arranges an unlikely leveret marriage, which we’ll talk about all those details when we get to chapter four.

But it’s through this marriage that the line of David is preserved. The theme of covenant righteousness is very clear throughout the book of Ruth. What it looks like to be a righteous Israelite. what it looks like for them to live out what God expected of his people. You see it in Boaz, the Israelite, but you also see it in Ruth, the one who shouldn’t know what covenant righteousness looks like. But she almost puts to shame the other Israelites who speak of her in almost a derogatory way.

You see Ruth mentioned often as the Moabitess. Almost an insult, a derogatory name for her. I mean, rightly so, because of God’s judgment upon Moab, but she is not accepted right away, and yet she still faithfully lives out the righteousness that God desires from His people. While all these themes are present in the book, again, they all contribute to the greater theme of the providence of God. God preserving that royal line. Chapter four shows us the child, Obed, who is the fruit of this unlikely marriage, and it ties all the way back to Perez, one of the sons of Judah, and he looks forward to the future king, King David.

So again, the close of this book leaves the reader with no doubt as to the intention of the author’s intent to reveal God’s providence. in this royal family tale. There’s several key interpretive issues, things that you need to wrestle with as you study this book. For example, God’s use of a Gentile in his plan and how that all works out. The fact that they married a Moabite in the first place was forbidden, but then she marries another Israelite, and that’s how God works his plan out. Then you see the breaking of the Levitical law through those marriages, and then the Leveret marriage that comes in the end, and what all that entails. And as you read what Leveret marriage is in the law, it doesn’t seem to all line up, but in a way, Boaz makes it work by aligning things and working all the details out.

And then you see the foreshadowing of redemption. You see the redemptive qualities of Boaz as he redeems Ruth to be his bride. And that picture is a redemption that would be coming. That Christ would redeem his bride. Throughout the book we’ll see applications that we can make, theological applications, things like redemption and faithfulness. We see how Boaz redeems a messy situation for God’s glory. We’ll be reminded to trust God and his ultimate purpose despite the circumstances that we may be in. We can also see the foolishness of responding poorly to the circumstances that God has put us in. With bitterness, like the bitter reaction of Naomi at the beginning of the book, not knowing of God’s abundant blessings to come in chapter four. And again, we should all find great hope in knowing that God can use any circumstance to accomplish His purposes. So that is a bit of a introduction to all the things that we’ll see in the book of Ruth.

So this evening, I’d like to close our evening with reading through the whole of Ruth, all four chapters. So I’ll read through Ruth chapters one through four.

This is the word of the Lord. Now it happened in the days when the judges judged, that there was a famine in the land, and a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the fields of Moab with his wife and his two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife, Naomi. And the names of his two sons were Malon and Kilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah. Now they came to the fields of Moab and remained there.

Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They took for themselves Moabite women as wives. The name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other was Ruth. And they lived there about 10 years. Then both Malon and Kilion also died, and the woman was left without her two children and her husband. Then she arose with her daughters-in-law and returned from the fields of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that Yahweh had visited his people to give them food. So she went forth from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law went with her.

They went on the way to return to the land of Judah. And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May Yahweh show loving kindness with you as you have shown with the dead and with me. May Yahweh grant you that you find rest, each in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. Then they said to her, no, but we will return with you to your people. But Naomi said, return, my daughters, why should you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they would be your husbands? Return, my daughters, go, for I am too old to have a husband. If I said, I have hope, if I should even have a husband tonight and also bear sons, would you therefore wait until they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is more bitter for me than it is for you. For the hand of Yahweh has gone forth against me. And they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.

Then she said, behold, your sister-in-law has returned to her people and her gods. Return after your sister-in-law. But Ruth said, do not press me to forsake you in turning back from following you. For where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may Yahweh do to me and more, if anything but death separates you and me. So she saw that she was determined to go with her, and she said no more to her. Then they both went until they came to Bethlehem.

Now it happened, when they had come to Bethlehem, all the city was stirred because of them. And the women said, is this Naomi? She said to them, do not call me Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, but Yahweh has caused me to return empty. Why do you call me Naomi? Yahweh has answered against me and the Almighty has brought calamity against me. So Naomi returned and with her Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, who returned from the fields of Moab. Now they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Now Naomi had a kinsman of her husband, a mighty man of excellence of the family of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, please let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after the one whom I may find favor in his sight. And she said to her, go my daughter. So she went, and she came and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And so it happened that she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of the Limelech.

Now behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, may Yahweh be with you. And they said to him, may Yahweh bless you. Then Boaz said to his young men, who was in charge of the reapers, whose young woman is this? The young man in charge of the reapers said, she is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the fields of Moab. And she said, please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves. Thus she came and has remained from the morning until now. She has been sitting in the house for a while. Then Boaz said to Ruth, have you not heard my daughter? Do you not go to glean in another field? Furthermore, Do not go from this one, but stay here with my young women. Let your eyes be on the field which they reap and go after them. Indeed, I have commanded the young men not to touch you. And if you are thirsty, go to the water jars and drink from what the young men draw.”

Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground and said to him, “‘Why have I found favor in your sight that you should take notice of me, though I am a foreigner?’ Boaz replied to her, all that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband has been fully told to me. How you forsook your father and your mother and the land of your birth and came to a people that you did not previously know. May Yahweh fully repay your work and may your wages be full from Yahweh, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge. Then she said, may I find favor in your eyes, my Lord, for you have comforted me and indeed have spoken to the heart of your servant women, a woman, though I am not like one of your servant women. At mealtime, Boaz said to her, come here, that you may eat of the bread and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar. So she sat beside the reapers and he served her a roasted grain. And she ate and was satisfied and had some left.

Then she rose to glean, and Boaz commanded his young men, saying, let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not dishonor her. And you shall purposely pull out for her some grain from the bundles, and leave it that she may glean, and do not rebuke her. So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. She took it and went up into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also took it and gave Naomi what she had left after. She was satisfied. Her mother-in-law said to her, where did you glean today and where did you work? May he who took notice of you be blessed. So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, the name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz. Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, may he be blessed of Yahweh who has not forsaken his loving kindness to the living and to the dead. Then Naomi said to her, the man is our relative. He is one of our kinsmen redeemers.

Then Ruth, the Moabitess said, furthermore, he said to me, you should stay close to my young men until they have finished all my harvest. Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, it is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women so that others do not oppress you in another field. So she stayed close by the young women of Boaz in order to glean until the end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest. And she lived with her mother-in-law. Then Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to her, my daughter, shall I not seek a state of rest for you that it may be well with you? And now, is not Boaz our kinsman with whose young women you were? Behold, he is winnowing barley at the threshing floor tonight. So you shall wash yourself and anoint yourself and put on your best clothes and you shall go down to the threshing floor. But do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. Let it be that when he lies down, you shall know the place where he lies and you shall go and uncover his feet and lie down then.

Then he will tell you what you shall do.’ She said to her, all that you say I will do. So she went down to the threshing floor and did according to all that her mother-in-law had commanded her. And Boaz ate and drank, and his heart was merry. And he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. And she came and secretly uncovered his feet and lay down. Then it happened in the middle of the night that the man was startled and bent forward. And behold, a woman was lying at his feet. And he said, who are you? And she answered, I am Ruth, your maidservant. So spread your wing over your maidservant, for you are a kinsman redeemer.

Then he said, may you be blessed of Yahweh, my daughter. You have shown your last loving kindness to be better than the first by not going after young men, whether poor or rich. So now, my daughter, do not fear. All that you say, I will do for you. For all my people within the gates of the city know that you are a woman of excellence. But now it is true that I am a kinsman redeemer. However, there is a kinsman redeemer closer than I. Stay this night, and it will be in the morning that if he will redeem you, good, let him redeem you. But if he does not desire to redeem you, then I will redeem you as Yahweh lives. lie down until morning. So she lay at his feet until morning and arose before one could recognize another. And he said, let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor. And he said, give me the cloak that is on you and hold it. So she held it. And he measured six measures of barley and placed it on her.

Then she went into the city. And she came to her mother-in-law. And she said, how did it go, my daughter? And she told. her all that the man had done for her. She said, these six measures of barley he gave to me, for he said, do not go to your mother-in-law empty. Then she said, sit then, my daughter, until you know how the matter falls into place, for the man will not remain quiet until he has finished the matter today.

Now Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the kinsman-redeemer of whom Boaz spoke was passing by. So he said, turn aside my fellow, sit down here. And he turned aside and sat down. Then he took 10 men of the elders of the city and said, sit down here. So they sat down. Then he said to the kinsman-redeemer, Naomi, who has come back from the fields of Moab, has to sell the portion of the field which belonged to our brother Elimelech. So I thought to uncover this matter in your hearing saying, acquire it before those who are sitting here and before the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if no one redeems it, tell me that I may know for there is no one but you to redeem it and I am after you. And he said, I will redeem it.

Then Boaz said, on the day that you acquire the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also acquire Ruth, the Moabitess, the widow of the one who had died, in order to raise up the name of the one who had died on behalf of his inheritance. So the kinsman redeemer said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I ruin my own inheritance. You redeem my right of redemption for yourself, for I cannot redeem it. Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning the right of redemption and the exchange of land to establish any matter. A man removed his sandal and gave it to another, and this was the manner of attestation in Israel.

So the kinsman redeemer said to Boaz, acquire this for yourself, and he removed his sandal. Then Boaz said to the elders and to all the people, you are witnesses today that I have acquired all that belong to Elimelech. and all that belonged to Chilion and Mahlon in the hand of Naomi. And also, I have required Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, to be my wife in order to raise up the name of the one who had died on behalf of his inheritance, so that the name of the one who had died will not be cut off from his brothers or from the gate of his birthplace. You are witnesses today. And all the people who were in the gate and the elders said, we are witnesses. May Yahweh grant the woman who is coming into your home to be like Rachel and Leah, both of whom built the house of Israel. And so you shall achieve excellence in Ephrathah and shall proclaim your name in Bethlehem.

Moreover, may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, through the seed which Yahweh will grant you by this woman. So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went into her, and Yahweh granted her conception, and she gave birth to a son. Then the women said to Naomi, blessed is Yahweh who has not left you without a kinsman redeemer today and may his name be proclaimed in Israel. May he also be to you a restorer of your soul and a sustainer of your old age for your daughter-in-law who loves you and is better to you than seven sons has given birth to him. Then Naomi took the child and put him on her bosom and became his nurse. The neighbor women gave him a name saying, a son has been born to Naomi. So they named him Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

Now these are the generations of Perez. Perez became the father of Hezron, and Hezron became the father of Ram, and Ram became the father of Amenadab. And Amenadab became the father of Nashon, and Nashon became the father of Salmon, and Salmon became the father of Boaz, and Boaz became the father of Obed, and Obed became the father of Jesse, and Jesse became the father of David.

That is the book of Ruth. I’m looking forward to our study over the coming weeks as we dig into all the richness that is here in these pages.

Let’s pray and close our time together this evening. God, we thank you. We thank you for a story like this. It is a captivating story. It’s an interesting story, but most of all, it is a story that tells us what you are like. It tells us how you deal with your people and how you come through on your promises, how your providence reigns over all. Even though we might be in circumstances that feel hopeless or circumstances that feel like they’re not the way that you may want them to go. but we know that you are a God who can control circumstances, a God who can bring about your plan through the ways that we wouldn’t have guessed, the ways that are unlikely to us, but they’re not unlikely to you. We thank you for how you’ve worked throughout history and how it can give us confidence and hope in the future. We thank you for who you are and we pray all of these things in Christ’s precious name, amen.