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In the Book of Ruth, God has no apparent contact with the players like He does in other books of the Old Testament. One can presume, though, on the basis of Romans 8:28 that the Lord may at least have been working behind the scenes in some way.
The significance of Ruth in the Bible is that, as told in Ruth 4:18-22, she helped continue the lineage that started from Perez and went through to David. In Matthew 1:1-16, we are told that the lineage actually began with Abraham and goes through David to Jesus. Why is there a Book devoted to Ruth and not to, say, Perez? Perhaps those who decided on a Book of Ruth felt that hers was the more excellent life. But we can let Ruth’s story explain itself...
Ruth 1:1-5 tells us that Naomi and her husband and their two sons moved to Moab, probably because of the famine. Ruth, a Moabite, married a son of Naomi, and the family of Naomi lived in Bethlehem in Judah. (Does the name Bethlehem sound familiar?) Shortly thereafter, Naomi’s husband and two sons died, leaving Naomi, Ruth, and the other wife widows.
Now Moab was a place where the people worshipped other Gods. So Naomi, upon hearing that the Lord was feeding His people in Bethlehem as explained in Verse 6, decides to return there with Ruth and the other daughter-in-law. At the beginning of the journey, though, Naomi changes her mind about the two in-laws, and she tells them to go back to Moab and live in their deceased husbands’ homes. One of the in-laws returns, but Ruth insists on going with Naomi. Naomi tries to talk her out of it, saying in Verse 15, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” But Ruth insists on going with Naomi, and Naomi relents.
They return to Bethlehem at “the beginning of the barley harvest,” as told in Verse 22. Ruth decides to make herself useful and work in the fields collecting the harvest. To make a long story short, she meets up with a man named Boaz who, according to Ruth 2:1-2 is a relative of Naomi’s deceased husband. I have to say, never in a Book in the Bible has so much been written which seems to draw so much attention to so many in-laws! Anyway, Ruth and Boaz take an interest in eachother and through some arcane tradition described in Ruth 4:1-10, they marry, and Ruth bears a son called Obed, who in turn fathers Jesse who in turn fathers David, and the rest is history.
Perhaps the interest in Ruth lays in her role in the genealogy leading up to Jesus, but the fact that she, who was a native of the land of Moab, chose to go with her mother in-law to Bethlehem, a place that worshipped the one true God, and a place she didn’t know at all, instead of staying in Moab where she was most familiar with and had her own family, could have stood as a selling point for Jesus’ disciples to convert the Pagans. Here we have Ruth, who effectively throws her past aside to accompany her mother in-law, to journey to the land of the one God, a journey that in its own day probably had its share of risks in the region, to live where at first she doesn’t know anybody.
So one might see why Matthew, in Matthew 1:1-16, picks up on the genealogy leading to Jesus.
The significance of Ruth in the Bible is that, as told in Ruth 4:18-22, she helped continue the lineage that started from Perez and went through to David. In Matthew 1:1-16, we are told that the lineage actually began with Abraham and goes through David to Jesus. Why is there a Book devoted to Ruth and not to, say, Perez? Perhaps those who decided on a Book of Ruth felt that hers was the more excellent life. But we can let Ruth’s story explain itself...
Ruth 1:1-5 tells us that Naomi and her husband and their two sons moved to Moab, probably because of the famine. Ruth, a Moabite, married a son of Naomi, and the family of Naomi lived in Bethlehem in Judah. (Does the name Bethlehem sound familiar?) Shortly thereafter, Naomi’s husband and two sons died, leaving Naomi, Ruth, and the other wife widows.
Now Moab was a place where the people worshipped other Gods. So Naomi, upon hearing that the Lord was feeding His people in Bethlehem as explained in Verse 6, decides to return there with Ruth and the other daughter-in-law. At the beginning of the journey, though, Naomi changes her mind about the two in-laws, and she tells them to go back to Moab and live in their deceased husbands’ homes. One of the in-laws returns, but Ruth insists on going with Naomi. Naomi tries to talk her out of it, saying in Verse 15, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” But Ruth insists on going with Naomi, and Naomi relents.
They return to Bethlehem at “the beginning of the barley harvest,” as told in Verse 22. Ruth decides to make herself useful and work in the fields collecting the harvest. To make a long story short, she meets up with a man named Boaz who, according to Ruth 2:1-2 is a relative of Naomi’s deceased husband. I have to say, never in a Book in the Bible has so much been written which seems to draw so much attention to so many in-laws! Anyway, Ruth and Boaz take an interest in eachother and through some arcane tradition described in Ruth 4:1-10, they marry, and Ruth bears a son called Obed, who in turn fathers Jesse who in turn fathers David, and the rest is history.
Perhaps the interest in Ruth lays in her role in the genealogy leading up to Jesus, but the fact that she, who was a native of the land of Moab, chose to go with her mother in-law to Bethlehem, a place that worshipped the one true God, and a place she didn’t know at all, instead of staying in Moab where she was most familiar with and had her own family, could have stood as a selling point for Jesus’ disciples to convert the Pagans. Here we have Ruth, who effectively throws her past aside to accompany her mother in-law, to journey to the land of the one God, a journey that in its own day probably had its share of risks in the region, to live where at first she doesn’t know anybody.
So one might see why Matthew, in Matthew 1:1-16, picks up on the genealogy leading to Jesus.
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