Ruth 1:1-22
Naomi Loses Her Husband and Sons
1 In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. 2 The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.
3 Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.
6 When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. 7 With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.
8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. 9 May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.”
Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud 10 and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”
11 But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? 12 Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— 13 would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!”
14 At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.
15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”
16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely,if even death separates you and me.” 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
19 So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”
20 “Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. 21 I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”
22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.
Deuteronomy 10:12-22
12 And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,13 and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?
14 To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it.15 Yet the Lord God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it.15 Yet the Lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations—as it is today. 16 Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. 17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. 18 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing.19 And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. 20 Fear the Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. 21 He is the one you praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes. 22 Your ancestors who went down into Egypt were seventy in all, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.
The Book of Ruth is a Great Christian story....The weakest members of the Israel or any society are to be helped...Jesus did that and taught that...
The story begins with Naomi, Ruth’s mother-in-law, whose husband and two sons die...Ruth was married to one of Naomi's sons...In Mosaic Law, the law for Israel and God's people, the husband or the sons would help provide for the widows and orphans...God provided for the weakest and those who could not help themselves...And women without husbands, the widows were particularly in need of help in the biblical days...In this case Naomi, she had lost not only her husband, but also her two sons...Now Naomi, a Hebrew, would need her nearest relative beyond her husband and sons to assist her...
God's Law wanted the weakest and poorest of His society and community to be assisted by others...Moses wrote in Deuteronomy that God belongs in heaven, even the highest of heavens and everything in it...The LORD set His affection on your ancestors and LOVED them, and He chose their descendants, above all the nations—as it is today...So God's people should circumcise their hearts, and do not be stiff-necked any longer...They should be especially kind and gentle and caring of others who are in need...For the LORD our God is the God of gods and Lord of lords, the great our God, who is mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes...God defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among His people, giving them food and clothing...God LOVES the foreigner...And you are to love those who are foreigners, for God's people were once foreigners in Egypt...Fear the LORD your God and serve Him...Hold fast to Him and take your oaths in His name...He is the One you should praise; He is our God, who performed for us those great and awesome wonders and miracles His people saw with Moses, with their own eyes...Your ancestors who went down into Egypt were seventy in all, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky...
Naomi was under this law as a Hebrew and Jew, but Ruth was a foreigner, a Moabite, a foreigner, who God wanted His people to help...She would be helped by a guardian kinsman...God was with Boaz...Ruth, who would later become the wife of Boaz would be the great-great Grandmother of King David...Ruth and Boaz would be a great-great-great-great (ancestor) Grandmother and great-great-great-great (ancestor) Grandfather of Jesus, even though she was a foreigner, a Moabite...
Boaz helped those weak in his family, and was rewarded centuries later by a descendant named Jesus...