To me, Ruth is one of the sweetest books in the Bible. It's the eighth book of the Old Testament, and eight is the number of new beginnings. In this book, I want you to see how a family can be blessed with tremendous favor, despite how their story may have started.
At the beginning of the book of Ruth, it says there was a famine in Israel, and a man named Elimelech and his wife Naomi moved with their sons to the country of Moab. Over the course of ten years, Elimelech died, the two sons married Moabite women, and then the sons died. After the deaths of her husband and two sons, Naomi decided to return to Israel, and she encouraged her daughters-in-law—Orpah and Ruth—to return home to their birth families.
"Your God Will Be My God"
"But Naomi said, 'Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Are there still sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? Turn back, my daughters, go—for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, if I should have a husband tonight and should also bear sons, would you wait for them till they were grown? Would you restrain yourselves from having husbands? No, my daughters; for it grieves me very much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me!'
"Then they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
"And she said, 'Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.'" (Ruth 1:11–15 NKJV)
This is where the story of Ruth really begins. No matter how much Naomi implored her, Ruth refused to leave. She 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. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me" (Ruth 1:16–17 NKJV).
Now, the Moabites were a cursed people; first, because they were born out of incest (Genesis 19:30–38), and second, because they worshiped an idol called Chemosh. But when Ruth said to Naomi, "I want your God to be my God," the power of blessing came onto a family lineage that could have been very cursed. Ruth dropped her idolatry, the curse was broken, and the blessings of God were really upon her.
Ruth Finds Favor and Blessing
Ruth and Naomi ended up back in Bethlehem. They returned right at the time of the barley harvest, and Ruth went to glean in the fields after the harvesters. She ended up in the field of Boaz, who was related to Naomi's dead husband.
When Boaz's servants told him about Ruth, he said to her, "'You will listen, my daughter, will you not? Do not go to glean in another field, nor go from here, but stay close by my young women. Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them. Have I not commanded the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.' (Photo via Wikimedia Commons)
"So she fell on her face, bowed down to the ground, and said to him, 'Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?'
"And Boaz answered and said to her, 'It has been fully reported to me, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know before. The Lord repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.'
"Then she said, 'Let me find favor in your sight, my lord; for you have comforted me, and have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your maidservants.'
"Now Boaz said to her at mealtime, 'Come here, and eat of the bread, and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar.' So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed parched grain to her; and she ate and was satisfied, and kept some back. And when she rose up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, 'Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. Also, let grain from the bundles fall purposely for her; leave it that she may glean, and do not rebuke her.'" (Ruth 2:8–16 NKJV)
The Curse Is Reversed and Turned Into a Generational Blessing
This is the first place where we really see the favor of God on Ruth. Boaz gave her food, water, and a safe place to glean. Then, in chapter three, Naomi told Ruth to meet Boaz at the threshing floor, lay at his feet, and ask him to be her kinsman-redeemer. Here, her favor increased even more with Boaz, and he said:
"Blessed are you of the Lord, my daughter! For you have shown more kindness at the end than at the beginning, in that you did not go after young men, whether poor or rich. And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you request, for all people of my town know that you are a virtuous woman. Now it is true that I am a close relative; however, there is a relative closer than I. Stay this night, and in the morning it shall be that if he will perform the duty of a close relative for you—good; let him do it. But if he does not want to perform the duty for you, then I will perform the duty for you, as the Lord lives! Lie down until morning." (Ruth 3:10–13 NKJV)
Becoming a kinsman redeemer was quite a thing for a man to do. First, he had to take the widow, in this case Ruth, to be his wife. Then, he had to have enough money to buy the land that would belong to her family and pay off any debts that were owed. Finally, their children would have to bear the name of her deceased husband. A lot of men wouldn't have wanted to do this. But Ruth had favor with Boaz, and he took her as his wife.
In Ruth 4:11–12 (NKJV), "all of the people who were at the gate, and the elders, said, 'We are witnesses. The Lord make the woman who is coming to your house like Rachel and Leah, the two who built the house of Israel; and may you prosper in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. May your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring which the Lord will give you from this young woman.'" (Photo via GetArchive)
This transaction was a very spiritual thing. These witnesses understood that this was not just a man buying some land that belonged to a dead relative. They also understood that this was not just a man taking a wife and making a promise that he would raise up seed in the dead relative's name. They understood that they were to bless that home and the family lineage that would come out of it with favor. I want you to look again at verses 11 and 12.
"The Lord make the woman who is coming to your house like Rachel and Leah, the two who built the house of Israel... May your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah..." (vv. 11–12). Now wait a minute.
Rachel and Leah bore the twelve sons that became the twelve tribes of Israel. It would be out of their household, the tribe of Judah in fact, that the Messiah would come. Now how could Ruth be blessed like that? She was a Moabite. She was not in that lineage. But they said, "Bless her so that her lineage will be like Rachel, Leah, and Tamar."
Ruth and Boaz had a son who was the grandfather of King David. But that's not the end of it. Ruth shows up in the genealogy of Jesus Christ in Matthew 1:5. Where did it start? With Ruth refusing to leave Naomi, and committing herself to Yahweh, the Hebrew God. Ruth took care of her mother-in-law and submitted herself not just to the authority of God but also to Naomi's authority when she impressed upon Ruth the need for Boaz to become their kinsman-redeemer. Finally, when the witnesses blessed the entire household, there was favor upon the family line.
Our Kinsman Redeemer
Did you know that you also have a kinsman redeemer, Jesus Christ? He came in the flesh to redeem us, He paid for our debts on the cross, and He became our Bridegroom. When we become the Bride of Jesus Christ, we become co-heirs with Him, and His blessings come to us. And we pass that on to our spouses, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Talk about favor!
Remember how I mentioned that the book of Ruth is the eighth book in the Bible, and eight is the number of new beginnings? Well, I believe that reading this book and putting into practice what you will learn is a new beginning of favor for you and your family that will last for generations!
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Marilyn Hickey
Marilyn Hickey Ministries
Email:Â mhmcustsrv@mhmin.org
Website:Â www.marilynandsarah.org
Marilyn Hickey is founder and president of Marilyn Hickey Ministries, and has been active in "Covering the Earth with the Word" for over thirty-five years. Since the day God called her, she has become one of the most respected and anointed Bible teachers around the world. Her television program, "Today With Marilyn and Sarah," with Marilyn Hickey and Sarah Bowling, airs the Gospel across America and around the world to more than two billion homes on every major continent. Marilyn appears on Christian programming such as TBN, Daystar, CBN-700 Club and via satellite, and her teachings are found in Christian publications worldwide.
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