Ruth
The romance of redemption: a Moabite widow finds rest under the wings of the LORD through a kinsman-redeemer.
The book of Ruth is a quiet story set in a violent age. “In the days when the judges ruled” a famine drove Elimelech and Naomi from Bethlehem to Moab, where their sons married Moabite women. After ten years Naomi returned home a widow, bereaved of both sons, with only her daughter-in-law Ruth, who refused to leave her: “thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God” (1:16).
In Bethlehem Ruth gleaned in the field of Boaz, a mighty man of wealth and a near kinsman of Elimelech. Following the Law of the kinsman-redeemer and the custom of levirate marriage, Boaz redeemed the family land and took Ruth as his wife. Their son Obed became the grandfather of David.
The book begins with a famine and ends with a family, begins with funerals and ends with a wedding. It shows God’s providence at work in ordinary life, His welcome to a Gentile who trusted Him, and the preparation of the royal line from which the Messiah would come.
Writer: Samuel
Written: Probably by Samuel, after David’s anointing and before his reign, about 1050–1040 BC.
Name: Friend; companion
Title and authorship
The book is named for its heroine. Ruth probably means “friendship” or “companion,” fitting a woman remembered for loyal devotion.
The author is not named. Jewish tradition ascribes the book to Samuel. The closing genealogy ends with David, so it was written after David rose to prominence and probably before he became king, since Solomon is not mentioned.
Historical background
Moab and Bethlehem-judah during the period of the judges, probably in the days of Gideon or shortly before, about 1312 BC in the traditional chronology.
Israel under the early monarchy, learning the background of David’s family and the providence that prepared the royal line.
Moab
The Moabites descended from Lot’s incestuous union with his elder daughter (Genesis 19:37). They hired Balaam against Israel and seduced Israel at Baal-peor; Deuteronomy 23:3 excluded a Moabite from the congregation to the tenth generation. Ruth’s inclusion is therefore a triumph of grace.
Gleaning and the threshing floor
The Law required landowners to leave the corners of their fields and the fallen ears for the poor, the stranger, and the widow. Barley harvest came in April, wheat harvest in May and June. Winnowing took place in the evening breeze on a threshing floor, where the owner often slept to guard the grain.
The shoe custom
When the nearer kinsman declined to redeem, he drew off his shoe and gave it to Boaz as a legal testimony before the elders at the gate (4:7–8). The gate was Israel’s courtroom, and the shoe symbolized the right to walk on and possess the land.
Key passages
Ruth 1:16
Ruth’s confession of loyalty to Naomi, her people, and her God.
Ruth 2:12
Ruth had come to trust under the wings of the LORD God of Israel.
Ruth 4:14–15
Naomi receives a redeemer; the child continues the line that leads to David and to Christ.
Ruth 1:16–17
Ruth’s loyalty includes identification with Naomi’s people and God.
Ruth 3:11
Ruth’s reputation as a virtuous woman is recognized publicly.
Outline
1 · Loss and return
Famine and death empty Naomi’s household; Ruth chooses to return with her.
2 · Grace in the field
Boaz notices Ruth, protects her, and provides abundantly as she gleans.
3 · The appeal for redemption
Ruth approaches Boaz according to the family’s need and seeks his redeeming protection.
4 · Redemption and rejoicing
Boaz settles the matter publicly, takes Ruth as his wife, and the line of David continues.
Original language
גֹּאֵל (go’el, H1350) — “kinsman, redeemer”
The participle of ga’al. The go’el must be a near kinsman, able to pay, willing to redeem, and free himself. The nearer kinsman in chapter 4 could not redeem without marring his own inheritance; Boaz could and would.
חֶסֶד (chesed, H2617) — “kindness”
Loyal, covenant love that goes beyond duty. Naomi prays for the LORD’s chesed (1:8), Boaz praises Ruth’s (3:10), and the LORD shows it to the living and the dead (2:20).
כָּנָף (kanaph, H3671) — “wings, skirt”
The same word is used for the LORD’s “wings” under which Ruth came to trust (2:12) and for Boaz’s “skirt” she asked him to spread over her (3:9). Boaz became God’s answer to his own prayer.
חַיִל (chayil, H2428) — “wealth, virtuous”
Strength, ability, worth. Boaz is an ish gibbor chayil, a “mighty man of wealth” (2:1), and Ruth is an eshet chayil, a “virtuous woman” (3:11). The two are matched in character.
Doctrinal study
The kinsman-redeemer and Christ
To redeem us, Christ had to become our near kinsman by taking flesh and blood (Hebrews 2:14), be able to pay the price, be willing to do it, and be free Himself from the debt of sin. Boaz fulfills each requirement in picture; Christ fulfills them in fact.
Grace to the Gentile
The Law excluded Ruth; grace received her. She came under the wings of the God of Israel by faith and was brought into the line of the Messiah. Matthew names her in Christ’s genealogy (1:5), alongside Tamar and Rahab.
Providence in ordinary events
No miracle occurs in Ruth, yet God’s hand is everywhere: Ruth’s “hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz” (2:3). God directs the choices of ordinary people to accomplish His purposes for His kingdom.
Commentary notes
Naomi’s losses and return
While Naomi was out of the place of blessing she lost her husband, her sons, her testimony, her joy, and her sense of God’s favor. “Call me not Naomi (pleasant), call me Mara (bitter)” (1:20). But she returned, and God restored far more than she had lost.
Ruth’s threefold experience
Decision—“thy God my God” (1:16); service—gleaning in the field (2:3); and rest—Boaz took her as his wife (4:13). Salvation leads to service, and service to the enjoyment of the Redeemer.
Boaz’s progression
Boaz looks (chapter 2), loves (chapter 3), and redeems and rejoices (chapter 4). Christ saw us in our need, loved us while we were yet sinners, and paid the price with joy.
Christ in the book
- Boaz — a mighty man of wealth from Bethlehem (2:1, 4)
- Boaz — the lord of the harvest (2:3–5)
- Boaz — the kinsman-redeemer who buys back the inheritance and takes a Gentile bride (4:9–10)
Applications
Historical
- Ruth, a Moabitess from a people excluded from the congregation (Deuteronomy 23:3), is brought into the blessing of marriage through a near kinsman-redeemer named Boaz and becomes an ancestress of David.
- The narrative belongs within the judges period, showing that faithful lives continue amid national disorder.
- The legal setting involves family inheritance and the responsibility of a near kinsman; the public transaction at the gate matters to the security of the household.
Doctrinal
- Ruth pictures God’s dealings with Israel and the Church in the time of apostasy before the Tribulation. Naomi, the bitter widow returning to the land, represents Israel; Ruth, the Gentile bride, represents the Church. Naomi’s blessing comes after Ruth’s redemption, just as Israel’s restoration follows “the fulness of the Gentiles” (Romans 11:25).
- Boaz pictures Christ as the willing and able kinsman redeemer. Ruth’s inclusion pictures grace bringing an outsider into the family.
- Naomi and Ruth provide a typological study of Israel and the Gentile bride, while the closing genealogy directly links the narrative with the coming Messiah.
Devotional
- The love of Christ in a time of apostasy, chaos, and famine. The believer, once an outsider, has been noticed, loved, and redeemed by a Kinsman who paid the price and gladly took him as His own.
- Faithfulness often develops through ordinary labor, care for a family member, and obedience without a complete view of the future.
- Naomi’s return to Bethlehem is followed by provision and the restoration of her household through Ruth’s marriage and the birth of Obed.
Answering the critics
Ruth has escaped serious attack; critics often praise it as a literary masterpiece and sometimes treat it as a charming tale rather than history.
The book presents itself as history, ties its events to the time of the judges, and ends with a genealogy that leads to David. Matthew uses that genealogy in Christ’s own line. A story whose details depend on specific Mosaic laws and real family history is no romance novel, though it is the most beautiful love story ever told.