Couples in the Bible: Boaz and Ruth
Ruth is a widowed woman living in her home country of Moab, when we first meet her. She decides not to return home to her parents but to accompany her mother-in-law, Naomi, back to her homeland.
She makes the impassioned promise of “Where you go I will go and your people will be my people” to her mother-in-law.
When they return to Bethlehem, Naomi says she should be called Mara for biter. She was heartbroken and hurting. {Ruth 1}
Life is not easy for these two widows and Ruth goes to glean in the fields. Here she meets Boaz, who owns the fields and is a distant relative to her husband. Boaz makes sure she’s provided for and protected. {Ruth 2}
Boaz is the son of Rahab—who helped the Israelite spies { Matthew 1:5}— and Salmon. {1 Chronicles 2:11-12}
Naomi instructs Ruth to go into Boaz on the threshing floor and inquire if he’d be her kinsman redeemer. Ruth follows her instructions and Boaz vows to do as she asked. However, there is one of closer relations, so he has to go and inquire of him of his interest.
Naomi tells Ruth, who returns with more grain, to “Wait to see how it turns out. Boaz will not rest until the matter is settled.” {Ruth 3}
Boaz redeems Ruth and they are married and have a son named Obed. Naomi is referred to as blessed beyond women. {Ruth 4}
Ruth and Boaz becomes the great-grandparents of King David. {Ruth 4:22}
Lessons from Ruth and Boaz:
- God always provides
- God can restore our hearts
- God has a way of working things out
- God provides a kinsman redeemer for all of us