Ruth 1 – 4

The story of Ruth is a sad one with Naomi losing her husband and two sons. Her daughter in law latches on to her and works tirelessly in the fields. Verse 1:14 starts with Ruth clinging to Naomi not wanting to leave:

At this Orpah and Ruth wailed and wept again. Then Orpah kissed Naomi, said goodbye, and returned the way she had come. Yet Ruth refused to let go of Naomi.

For whatever reason, she felt obligated to Naomi and would not go back to her family. They lived life together after Naomi accepted her resolve. During this time Ruth was sent to gather the gleanings from the fields during harvest. One of the field owners took notice of how she worked and insisted she work with his workers who were instructed to leave a little extra for Ruth.

After this went on for a while, Ruth and Boaz became closer. Verse 3:3 Naomi instructs Ruth to pursue Boaz, since he could rectify her son’s death by marrying Boaz:

Bathe and perfume yourself. Put on your best dress, then go down onto the threshing floor. Be careful, though. Don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking.

In the next verse Naomi instructs here to “uncover his feet and lie down.” This has sexual connotations but as you will see they do not consummate the relationship. Instead Boaz, knowing the law first offers her to another younger family member. When he rejects the offer, Boaz marries her and they have a son.

All in all this story is just interesting, but appears to have no significance. We saw that yesterday with Chapter 38 of Genesis where plopped right in between the story of Joseph is Judah sleeping with an assumed prostitute and conceiving twins. It didn’t make sense why this story was there, until verses 4:18-22, where all is clarified.

You read that Boaz was in the blood line of one of Tamar and Judah’s twins, Perez. Verse 4:22 shows the son of Ruth and Boaz, Obed, was significant:

Obed was Jesse’s father. And Jesse was the father of David.

Yes if this odd story hadn’t happened as it did, the great king David would have never been and with that the savior Jesus would not have lived. I have read these chapters 4 times now, once in the same order, and never noticed the connection between Genesis 37 and the story of Ruth. Both just seemed to be odd stories that were just dropped into the Bible, until you actually see the connection.  

HOW COOL IS THAT?