Bible.com.au: Reading Plan - Mothers of the Bible

Reflection:

The story of Ruth (and Boaz) is very much also the story of Naomi, a mother who faced significant grief, yet was blessed by the God who remembered her throughout her life. Naomi left her home in Bethlehem with her husband and sons and moved to Moab. We do not know how Naomi felt about leaving the promised land; she followed her husband Elimelek. When her husband died, she stayed with her sons, who married Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. Yet, tragically, Naomi lost her sons as well as her husband, and was left with no grandchildren, no descendants of her husband, living amongst foreigners. We are told that Naomi, upon hearing that God had relieved the famine in Judah, chose to return home (Ruth 1:6). Naomi was very aware of how destitute she was – she had no husband, and no sons. She tried to convince her daughters in law to leave her, and said, ‘It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me’ (1:13). When Naomi (and Ruth, who insisted on staying with her) return to Bethlehem, Naomi further insists on the bitterness of her life – naming herself Mara, which means bitter – and stating, “I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty…The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.” (1:21). Yet as we read, Naomi’s story begins to take a turn for the better – through the faithfulness of her daughter-in-law Ruth, and the goodness of her kinsman redeemer Boaz. As Naomi appeals to the tradition of kinsman redeemer God set up for his people, sending Ruth to Boaz, he in turn acts to redeem Ruth and Naomi, marrying Ruth and providing Naomi with a descendant to take the place of her dead sons. God proves faithful to Naomi. He redeems her, ‘renews her life’ and sustains her in her old age, through the care of her family and the birth of her grandson Obed.

Naomi’s life turned very bitter in grief and loss – are their times in your life when you have felt the same, that God has turned against you? How are you encouraged by the way that God brought blessing and redemption into Naomi’s life again?

Prayer:

Dear God, thank you that you redeem us from the darkest of circumstances. Thank you for your faithfulness to Naomi, that from her bitterness and despair you sustained her life and brought her blessing through your redemption. Please remind us always of the love and redemption that are ours in Jesus. Amen.

Ruth 4:1-22

Boaz marries Ruth

1Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat down there just as the guardian-redeemer he had mentioned came along. Boaz said, ‘Come over here, my friend, and sit down.’ So he went over and sat down.

2Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, ‘Sit here,’ and they did so. 3Then he said to the guardian-redeemer, ‘Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our relative Elimelek. 4I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you will not, tell me, so I will know. For no-one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line.’

‘I will redeem it,’ he said.

5Then Boaz said, ‘On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the dead man’s widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property.’

6At this, the guardian-redeemer said, ‘Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it.’

7(Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalising transactions in Israel.)

8So the guardian-redeemer said to Boaz, ‘Buy it yourself.’ And he removed his sandal.

9Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, ‘Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon. 10I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his home town. Today you are witnesses!’

11Then the elders and all the people at the gate said, ‘We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the family of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. 12Through the offspring the Lord gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.’

Naomi gains a son

13So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. 14The women said to Naomi: ‘Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! 15He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.’

16Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. 17The women living there said, ‘Naomi has a son!’ And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

The genealogy of David

18This, then, is the family line of Perez:

Perez was the father of Hezron,

19Hezron the father of Ram,

Ram the father of Amminadab,

20Amminadab the father of Nahshon,

Nahshon the father of Salmon,

21Salmon the father of Boaz,

Boaz the father of Obed,

22Obed the father of Jesse,

and Jesse the father of David.

Mothers of the Bible

Day 6 of 14

NIVUK

Ruth 4:14-15

Days

Ruth 4:1-22