What does the story of Ruth teach us about God’s Redemption?

Tucked away in the pages of the “Old Testament” is a short story about a woman named Ruth. This seemingly small story gives us a huge message about God’s faithfulness to gentiles who put their faith in the God of Israel. 

As the story goes, Naomi, a Jewish woman originally from Bethlehem along with her husband Elimilech had moved to the foreign city of Moab. It was here, our story takes a bitter turn—her husband dies and Naomi is left with her two sons.

Ruth arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest at the time of Shavuot (AI Image: The Ancient Way)

Both sons decide to marry foreign, Moabite women. One married Orpah, and the other married Ruth. On the surface, this may not seem like a big deal—except God had given a strict command for the children of Israel to not marry any foreigner, especially from the country of Moab.  Why is this? 

Deuteronomy 23:4-5 gives us a clue:

No Ammonite or Moabite is to enter the community of Adonai—even to the tenth generation none belonging to them is to enter the community of Adonai forever—because they did not meet you with bread and water on the way when you came out from Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam son of Beor from Petor of Aram-naharaim to curse you.

There’s a long history of Israel and Moab.

Not only did they not help the Israelites as they escaped slavery in Egypt, it was this same nation who tried to hire the pagan sorcerer Balaam to curse them.

After 10 years of living in Moab, our story takes another tragic turn as not one, but both of Naomi’s sons die.  Now left alone in a foreign country, far from her hometown, living out of sync with the instruction of the Torah, Naomi’s grief turns to sorrow.

Your people will be my people

Left without family, Naomi decides to return to her hometown of Bethlehem. She encourages her daughter in-laws to go back to their own families and to remarry. After some convincing, Orpah decide to leave. “Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye. But Ruth clung to her.” She returns to her family, her city, and her gods.

Ruth makes the life changing decision to stay with Naomi and return to Israel.

It’s here this widowed, Gentile woman utters these famous, resounding words:

For where you go, I will go, and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God my God.
—Ruth 1:16

So Naomi, along with her daughter in-law Ruth return to Bethlehem during the season of the barley harvest, which coincides with the feast of Shavuot.

When Naomi returns, her kin are excited to see her, but she quickly tells them to not call her Naomi (which means “pleasantness”, but Mara (bitterness), because the Almighty had dealt her a bitter hand.

Think about this for a moment—Naomi’s lineage was practically over.

Her husband is dead.

Her sons are dead.

She had no children to carry on her name.

On top of that, her only daughter in-law, Ruth, was a Gentile—a moabite Gentile, who according to the Torah were not allowed in the community of God’s people.

The only way for this situation to change was for someone in Naomi’s extended family to redeem Ruth and bring her into the family.

A kinsman redeemer

As the story continues, Ruth goes into a field as a poor, foreign woman to pick up the left overs from the barley harvest. 

Did you know that even this simple part of the story was possible because God had always instructed the Israelite nation to not harvest everything—but to leave a portion of the harvest for both the poor and foreign people living among them—so that they could survive?

Without realizing it, the field Ruth was harvesting from belonged to a man named Boaz, who belonged to the family of Elimilech, Naomi’s late husband.

According to the Torah, the next in kin to a man who had died, was able to redeem their family, take them in as their own, marry the woman and allow their lineage to continue. 

There was hope for Ruth and Naomi!

Ruth catches the eye of Boaz who not only tells her to stay in his field, but instructs the workers to leave behind extra harvest so that Ruth would be taken care of.  Word had travelled of how Ruth left behind her family to care for Naomi, and Boaz praises her:

May Adonai repay you for what you have done, and may you be fully rewarded by Adonai, God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”
—Ruth 2:12

Seeing the opportunity, Naomi encourages Ruth to get dressed up nicely, to put on perfume, and present herself to Boaz after he’s had an amazing meal. After Boaz falls asleep, Ruth quietly uncovers his feet. What a strange act! She tells him: “Spread the corner of your garment over your handmaid, for you are a kinsman redeemer” This was Ruth letting Boaz know that she wanted to come under his wing and to be married to him. 

The next morning, without delay, Boaz goes to the city Gate and gathers the 10 elders so they could serve as witnesses to his proposal to redeem Ruth. 

But there was one problem. 

One other man was legally in line before him to take Ruth as his wife. After initially being interested in redeeming Elimilech’s name, Boaz lets him know that he would have to also marry Ruth. Having a family and inheritance of his own to worry about, he declines.

And so, in front of the city elders, Boaz declares his intent to redeem Elimilech’s inheritance and to marry Ruth.

All the people at the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May Adonai make the woman who has come into your house like Rachel and like Leah, who both built up the house of Israel. May you prosper in Ephrath and be renowned in Bethlehem.
—Ruth 4:11  

This lonely, widowed, foreign Gentile had been redeemed. She was now part of the family and inheritance of the people of Israel. What good news!

After marrying, Ruth conceives and has a son. Naomi is overjoyed that her family name will continue. The family gathers at this unexpected surprise.

The women who were her neighbors gave it a name; they said, "A son has been born to Naomi," and called it Obed. He was the father of Jesse the father of David.
—Ruth 4:17

How incredible is this?! 

It was through this redeemed Gentile that King David came, and it’s through this line, the Messiah would also be born. 

A God who always redeems

Through the story of Ruth, we see God’s heart for people. Not content to just leave the foreigner, He provides a way for redemption. 

We see how God, beginning in the Torah of Moses provided a way for the gentiles living among Israel to be taken care of. Despite their idolatry, he provided a way to draw them into his chosen people, Israel . 

We see how Ruth, a foreign moabite, made a choice to not only acknowledge the Jewishness of her mother-in-law, Naomi, but to take on her culture, her beliefs, and to follow the God of Israel.

In Boaz, we see the Father’s heart, where He not only takes care of those outside of the fold, but a God who proactively seeks out a way to make them part of the family. A Father who is willing to pay a great price to redeem one dear to him.

We see a God who all throughout history has included the excluded, those that didn’t get it quite right, those who for a moment forgot His instruction, those who were outsiders to the promise. 

Messiah Yeshua came through this very story! The one who also showed us God’s heart to all nations. Who provided a way for ultimate redemption. 

And especially for us as gentile followers of Yeshua, Ruth’s story is the perfect picture of gentiles being welcomed into God’s family. Her life is the telling of our story.

Just like Ruth—we are grafted in to the family of Messiah!

Conclusion

As the story of Ruth is read across the world during Shavuot, we celebrate God’s faithfulness to make His name known among the nations. As followers of Yeshua we celebrate that God poured out His Spirit on all people. That through His redeeming acts, He’s opened up access to the Family of God through our Messiah.

We celebrate with joy that our God didn’t leave us as we deserved, but He brought us near! We’re no longer strangers and foreigners, but that like Ruth we declare: “Your people will be my people, your God, my God.”

We stand in awe that this was part of the second harvest! That as the early Jewish believers in Jesus proclaimed faith in Yeshua as Messiah, it paved the way for God’s Spirit to move in an unprecedented way, showing us God’s heart.

So as you read the book of Ruth this Shavuot, we pray that your heart would be stirred with gratitude toward our great Redeemer and King. The one who has brought a redeemer and continues to redeem our lives from the pit. 

May we always bless His name for His goodness and mercy at work in our lives, and may we continue to return to the God of Israel as we call others to join us. 🙏

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