Ruth 1:15-2:13
What stuck out to you in reading these verses today?
Did the verses raise any questions as you read?
What is God leading you to know or do from these verses?
Ruth is another unlikely hero in the line of Jesus. Just as we read yesterday of her mother in law Rahab’s example, Ruth’s story is characterized by an unlikely redemption.
Ruth left her country, her people and family to return to Israel with Naomi. She left everything she knew to go with her mother in law, whom she hardly knew. The story continued as Ruth provided for herself and Naomi by gleaning in the field of Boaz, who happened to be her kinsman and redeemer.
Through this redeemer, who she married, her desperate condition radically changed. Ruth and Naomi were in a condition of physical and spiritual emptiness, but God made them full (Ruth 1:21; 3:17). Naomi and Ruth experienced a very bitter providence, but God made what was bitter pleasant (Ruth 1:20). God made Ruth’s last kindness to Naomi better than the first (Ruth 3:10). God reversed everything that was desperate about their previous condition.
Jesus redeems us from our desperate conditions in a much greater way. He provides redemption that no mere man could provide, making us part of his family. Ruth, like Rahab, anticipates for us Jesus, who incorporates Gentile “sinners” into his family and kingdom through his grace and mercy.
I Commend Joy! 