Devotions

Your God Will Be My God

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Naomi is at the lowest point in her life and decides to send her daughters in law back to their fathers because she has no way to provide for them. Ruth refuses to leave Naomi and instead makes a decision to leave her family, her culture, her religion. She declares in Ruth 1:16 “… For where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people will be my people and your God will be my God”. And after their journey back to Bethlehem, Ruth works in the fields to glean food for them to eat. Naomi sends Ruth to Boaz, a relative who promises to take on the obligation of kinsman redeemer. Boaz will be a provider, protector, and husband to Ruth, father to her children, and son to Naomi.

There Was a Famine

Ruth 1:1-5

To Return to the Land of Judah

Ruth 1:6-14

Your God Will Be My God

Ruth 1:15-22
Naomi’s husband has died and both of her son’s have died, leaving her with two widowed daughter’s in law. There isn’t anywhere for Naomi to turn because “A woman who has lost her husband, an ʾalmānâ, occupied a precarious position … she would have no provision (2 Sam 14:5) unless she was able to return to the house of her father (this is also what Ruth’s mother-in-law urged both Ruth and her sister-in-law to do; Ruth 1; see also Gen 38:11; Lev 22:13)”.1 Naomi is older, her parents not mentioned, perhaps she could go back to Israel, back to Bethlehem where she has some relatives. So, Naomi says to them in

Ruth 1:12 “Turn back, my daughters! Go”

Then in

Ruth 1:14 “Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her”.

In this day, “Nationality in the ancient Near East was closely tied to religion. For Orpah and Ruth, going back to their people included returning to the deities of that land. Conversely, for Ruth, the choice to follow Naomi is also the choice to worship Yahweh (v. 16) The main Moabite deity was Chemosh (see Num 21:29 and note; 1 Kgs 11:7)”.2 So, Ruth makes her declaration not only to stay with Naomi but to follow the Lord in

Ruth 1:16–17 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you! For where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people will be my people and your God will be my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. So may Yahweh do to me, and even more, unless death separates you and me!”

I May Find Favor

Ruth 2:1-12

So She Gleaned in the Field

Ruth 2:13-23

Should I Not Seek for You Security

Ruth 3:1-9
Ruth has found favor through Naomi and is accepted as she gleans in the fields of in Ruth 3:2 “Boaz our kinsman” so, in

Ruth 3:1 Now Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, should I not seek for you security that things may be good for you?”

Naomi is sending Ruth on a mission to present herself to Boaz. But this is not appropriate for a woman to do. So, it requires that Ruth trust Naomi and also that Ruth discretely approach Boaz.

It is the end of the harvest and the men have been working hard in Ruth 3:2 “winnowing the barley at the threshing floor”. Naomi knows, they will work late, eat, drink, and sleep where they have been working. Ruth watches Boaz, and then, after he is asleep, in

Ruth 3:7b–8 “she came in quietly and uncovered his feet and lay down. 8 And it happened in the middle of the night the man was startled and he reached out and behold, a woman was lying at his feet”.

The two were alone and in the dark, so when he awoke, she made her request in

Ruth 3:9 And he said, “Who are you?” And she said, “I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your garment over your servant because you are a redeemer.”

Ruth’s request was a legal one because the “KINSMAN Usually refers to a blood relative … Certain obligations were laid on the kinsman … to raise up a male descendant … his redeemer (Gen. 38:8; Deut. 25:5–10; Ruth 3:9–12)”.3

Ruth made it clear what she wanted from Boaz as “She had already drawn part of the mantle over her; and she asked him now to do it, that the act might become his own. To spread a skirt over one is, in the East, a symbolical action denoting protection … synonymous with saying that he married her”.4

All That You Ask I Will Do

Ruth 3:10-18
Boaz is an honorable man and he recognizes that Ruth is also an honorable woman. Boaz mentions her first kindness in Ruth 3:10 which is likely her staying with Naomi through her transition back to Bethlehem and he daily work in the fields to provide for the two of them. Then Boaz say she is blessed by the Lord because she in Acts 3:10 “did better in this last kindness” because he understood that “Ruth could have pursued remarriage with other, younger men. Instead, she looked for a marriage that would benefit Naomi and the family of her late husband (see note on 4:5; note on 4:6)”5 Boaz then makes a promise to Ruth in

Ruth 3:13 Stay tonight, and in the morning, if he wants to redeem you, good; but if he is not willing to redeem, then as Yahweh lives, I will redeem you. Lie down until the morning.”

Then Boaz does one more thing. He seals their contract by giving her grain which is also to let Naomi know that he understands she is part of the deal as Ruth explains in

Ruth 3:17 And she said, “These six measures of barley he gave to me, for he said, ‘You shall not go empty-handed to your mother-in-law.’ ”

Study Verses

Today’s Reading

  • Ruth 1:1-22
  • Ruth 2:1-23
  • Ruth 3:1-18

References

  • 1. Blois, I. (2014). Protected Classes. D. Mangum, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, & R. Hurst (Eds.), Lexham Theological Wordbook. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
  • 2. Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Ru 1:15). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
  • 3. Bonner, G. (2003). Kinsman. In C. Brand, C. Draper, A. England, S. Bond, E. R. Clendenen, & T. C. Butler (Eds.), Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (p. 994). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
  • 4. Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 1, pp. 174–175). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
  • 5. Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Ru 3:10). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.