See also
| Husband: | Boaz + (2146- ) | |
| Wife: | Ruth + of MOAB (2140- ) | |
| Children: | Fenius + (2131- ) | |
| Obed of JUDAH (1050- ) | ||
| Name: | Boaz + | |
| Sex: | Male | |
| Father: | Salmon + (2163- ) | |
| Mother: | Rachab + (2158- ) | |
| Birth | 2146 B.C. | |
| Name: | Ruth + of MOAB | |
| Sex: | Female | |
| Father: | - | |
| Mother: | - | |
| Birth | 2140 B.C. | |
| Title | Princess | |
| Occupation | Princess | |
| Name: | Fenius + | |
| Sex: | Male | |
| Birth | 2131 B.C. | |
| Occupation | King of Scythia | |
| Title | King of Scythia | |
| Name: | Obed of JUDAH | |
| Sex: | Male | |
| Birth | 1050 B.C. | Judea |
| Occupation | King of Judea | |
| Death | Judea | |
Boaz (Bo'az) (b. 2489 after creation, d. about 2789 after creation) married Ruth (b. Moab) daughter of King 'Eglon of Moab, descendant of Moab (son of Lot, nephew of Abraham). Ruth was the widow of Mahlon son of Abimelech (Avimelekh) and Naomi (Ne'omi) who was also known as Mara. Ruth died during the reign of King Solomon.1
"In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man's name was Elimelech, his wife's name Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion" (verses 1-2).
The weather conditions of the Moabite tableland can differ considerably from those around the Judean hills near Bethlehem, as does the agricultural produce of the two areas. Bethlehem could easily experience famine at a time when Moab had plenty.
Eventually, Elimelech died and Naomi was left with her two sons, who took Moabite wives, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After about 10 years, Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was bereft of her husband and sons. When Naomi heard that the famine in Judah had ended, she had no reason to stay in Moab and decided to return home (verses 5-6).
Naomi told her daughters-in-law: "Go back, each of you, to your mother's home. May the Lord show kindness to you, as you have shown to your dead and to me. May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband" (verses 8-9).
Naomi then kissed her daughters-in-law good-bye, but they were reluctant to leave. Naomi wanted Orpah and Ruth to start a new life — to marry again — but she told them she could not provide them husbands, and so again she urged them to return home (verses 11-13). Naomi's comment here refers to the biblical custom of Levirate marriage, by which a dead man's unmarried brother was obligated to care for his widow (Deuteronomy 25:5-10).
Orpah was convinced by Naomi's plea, and tearfully kissed her mother-in-law good-bye. But Ruth pleaded with Naomi, "Don't urge me to leave you or turn back from you" (Ruth 1:16). Unlike Orpah, she did not return to her own people and gods, but chose Naomi's people and, significantly, Naomi's God. In one of the most famous passages of the Bible, Ruth pledged to Naomi: "Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me" (verses 16-17).
As God's chosen nation, Israel was to be God's servant as a light to the nations in witness to him. Sadly, the nation often fell short, but God's purpose for his people did not. In the story of Ruth — which was set in the time of the judges, a period of much unfaithfulness to God — we see that Ruth became a member of the community of God largely because of the examples of the faithful in that community.
This is a great lesson for us today. The Israelites were not the only people God loved. God chose the Israelites to be the people through whom the rest of the world would ultimately come to know him. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ made this possible: "He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:14). Through Christ, the entire world can come to know God.
The book of Ruth, which is the festival scroll read at Pentecost, foreshadows what the Day of Pentecost began to make possible — gentiles becoming part of spiritual Israel, the church. On the Pentecost after Christ's resurrection, the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus' followers, thus beginning the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy: "I will pour out my Spirit on all people" (Joel 2:28; Acts 2:17).Later, during his meeting with the Roman centurion Cornelius, the apostle Peter acknowledged: "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right" (Acts 10:34-35).
None of us should feel disqualified to serve God because of our sex, race, color or national or ethnic origin. The gentile Ruth, for example, became a great-grandmother of King David, through whom Jesus was descended. God can use anyone to do his work and to prepare for his kingdom. The Day of Pentecost also pictures the church, foreshadowed in the book of Ruth by the community of Bethlehem, being a light to the world.
When Naomi eventually returned with Ruth to Bethlehem, she was warmly greeted but she felt despondent, saying: "Call me Mara [bitter], because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi [pleasant]?" (Ruth 1:20-21).
Naomi was a righteous woman who had suffered the great anguish of losing her husband and two sons. Orpah and Ruth had shared her grief, but Naomi still considered herself to be the most bitterly unfortunate of the three (verse 13). However, she would gradually come to understand that, despite the tragedies she had undergone, God had not abandoned her. Naomi would yet experience great joy in her life and in her God.
The chapter closes, as do the next two chapters, with a succinct summary of the preceding action, which simultaneously sets the stage for what is about to unfold: "So Naomi returned from Moab…arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning" (verse 22).
| 1 | "Biblical Genealogy from Judah to Bustanai". |