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

Reflection: Naomi was a mother in Scripture who faced significant grief, yet was blessed by the God who remembered her throughout her life. Tragically, Naomi lost her sons as well as her husband, and was left with no grandchildren, no descendants of her husband, living amongst foreigners in Moab. Naomi chose to return home (Ruth 1:6), and was very aware of how destitute she was. 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) returned to Bethlehem, Naomi further insisted 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 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.

Question: 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.

We are reading the Bible with Karen Mudge until 19th May.

Ruth 4:1-22

Boaz Marries Ruth

1Boaz went to the meeting place at the town gate and sat down there. Then Elimelech's nearest relative, the man whom Boaz had mentioned, came by, and Boaz called to him, “Come over here, my friend, and sit down.” So he went over and sat down. 2Then Boaz got ten of the leaders of the town and asked them to sit down there too. When they were seated, 3he said to his relative, “Now that Naomi has come back from Moab, she wants to sell the field that belonged to our relative Elimelech, 4and I think you ought to know about it. Now then, if you want it, buy it in the presence of these men sitting here. But if you don't want it, say so, because the right to buy it belongs first to you and then to me.”

The man said, “I will buy it.”

5Boaz said, “Very well, if you buy the field from Naomi, then you are also buying Ruth, the Moabite widow, so that the field will stay in the dead man's family.”

6The man answered, “In that case I will give up my right to buy the field, because it would mean that my own children would not inherit it. You buy it; I would rather not.”

7 Now in those days, to settle a sale or an exchange of property, it was the custom for the seller to take off his sandal and give it to the buyer. In this way the Israelites showed that the matter was settled.

8So when the man said to Boaz, “You buy it,” he took off his sandal and gave it to Boaz. 9Then Boaz said to the leaders and all the others there, “You are all witnesses today that I have bought from Naomi everything that belonged to Elimelech and to his sons Chilion and Mahlon. 10 In addition, Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon's widow, becomes my wife. This will keep the property in the dead man's family, and his family line will continue among his people and in his hometown. You are witnesses to this today.”

11 The leaders and the others said, “Yes, we are witnesses. May the Lord make your wife become like Rachel and Leah, who bore many children to Jacob. May you become rich in the clan of Ephrath and famous in Bethlehem. 12 May the children that the Lord will give you by this young woman make your family like the family of Perez, the son of Judah and Tamar.”

Boaz and His Descendants

13So Boaz took Ruth home as his wife. The Lord blessed her, and she became pregnant and had a son. 14The women said to Naomi, “Praise the Lord! He has given you a grandson today to take care of you. May the boy become famous in Israel! 15Your daughter-in-law loves you, and has done more for you than seven sons. And now she has given you a grandson, who will bring new life to you and give you security in your old age.” 16Naomi took the child, held him close, and took care of him.

17The women of the neighborhood named the boy Obed. They told everyone, “A son has been born to Naomi!”

Obed became the father of Jesse, who was the father of David.

18-22This is the family line from Perez to David: Perez, Hezron, Ram, Amminadab, Nahshon, Salmon, Boaz, Obed, Jesse, David.

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Mothers of the Bible

Day 6 of 14

GNT

Ruth 4:14-15

Days

Ruth 4:1-22