Ruth

Overview – September 2014 – Grace & Truth Magazine

Ruth

“But Ruth said: ‘Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you; for wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.’” —Ruth 1:16 NKJV

The name Ruth may mean “satisfied” or “beauty” – either of which seems appropriate. This is a refreshing book written about events during the time of the judges, like a bright sparkling jewel set in a dark background. Naomi, who with her husband and two sons left Israel (God’s place for them), is eventually in Moab bereaved of her husband and both sons. She is a picture of the nation of Israel out of their land, desolate and without hope.

Her daughter-in-law Ruth was a Gentile, a Moabitess, disqualified as such from entering the congregation of Israel for ten generations (Dt. 23:3). Yet Ruth is a type of the Jews, also in the same degraded place as the Gentiles and declared as not God’s people (Hos. 1:8-9). But in her we see a new, precious, lowly faith awakened to the God of Israel. If in Naomi Israel’s desolate, hopeless state is seen, in Ruth is found the fresh faith of the godly remnant of Israel.

Boaz (meaning “in him is strength”), a mighty man of wealth, is a type of the Lord Jesus. He, by grace, encourages Ruth in such a way that eventually, because he is a “kinsman-redeemer,” she is brought happily into the commonwealth of Israel by marriage to him. And Naomi, too, shares the joy and blessing of the results of this relationship.

By Leslie M. Grant

This column is taken from the book: The Bible, Its 66 Books In Brief.
It is available from the publisher:Believer’s Bookshelf USA.