April 2020 GNP Article

I want to write about Ruth. Her name means “Mercy”, and the book of Ruth is all about mercy.

Ruth is a foreigner, whose husband is dead. She comes from her home country of Moab with her mother-in-law Naomi, to Bethlehem, which is where Naomi is from. Ruth has very few rights as a foreign widow in Israel, but she is allowed to glean after the reapers in the field, according to God’s merciful provision in Leviticus 19:10. She happens to glean in the field of Boaz, Naomi’s near relative. Boaz “redeems” Ruth by buying her and the land that had belonged to her mother-in-law and her husband’s family. Boaz then marries Ruth, and she gives birth to Obed, the grandfather of king David.

So what does this have to do with mercy?

Naomi and her husband and two sons had left Bethlehem to live in Moab because of a famine. They shouldn’t have left the covering of God over His nation of Israel. Even though Naomi is bereft, and blames God, He is merciful and guides her safely back to Bethlehem. Then He guides Ruth to the fields of Boaz, who treats her extremely well. He shows great mercy to her, having seen the mercy she has already extended to Naomi, in separating from her father’s house and cleaving to Naomi. Ruth abandons her upbringing and everything familiar, for the sake of showing mercy to her mother-in-law. This is then rewarded by God.

In Ruth 2:11-12, Boaz says to Ruth:

“‘…thou… art come into a people which thou knewest not heretofore. The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.'”

When Boaz marries Ruth, he redeems her from the shame of her widowhood, gives her a child, and thus establishes her as one of only five women mentioned in the bloodline of Jesus (Matthew 1:1-16). Truly, Ruth’s character of mercy is rewarded, reflecting the merciful character of the God to Whom she turns in trust.