As we prepare for Christmas in this advent season it is amazing to look back through the Old Testament and see that God was already foreshadowing the coming of Jesus. He was setting the scene and timeline for when our True Redeemer would come for us. The stories we read teach us about faith and encourage us to know that God provided for His people even before Jesus entered the world. This past week I have been studying the book of Ruth. I had no idea that this book would foreshadow the coming of Jesus! In this book we see the redeeming work of God in the lives of Ruth and her mother Naomi.
Ruth was a Moabite. She married the son of Naomi and Elimelek, who was originally from the tribe of Judah in the City of Bethlehem. Because of famine in the land, Elimelek and Naomi went to live in Moab where they had two sons who married two Moabite women, Ruth and Orpah. Then, Elimelek died, leaving Naomi a widow. And, both of his sons died, now both of the daugher-in-laws were both left widowed.
The plight of a widow in that culture was bleak. Now there were three women from the same family with no husband. Naomi decided to go back to the land from which she came, Bethlehem. She gave her daughters-in-law the option to remain in Moab, the land in which they were born. Orpah decided to stay, but Ruth said,
“Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!” (Ruth 1:16 &17)
I imagine how hard it was for Ruth to leave her life in Moab. The Bible does not tell this part of her story, but she left the town she was born, her family, friends, and all that she knew. She was willing to give it all up to go back to Bethlehem with Naomi. This decision took great conviction and courage.
In God’s perfect timing, Naomi and Ruth arrived in Bethlehem at the time of harvest. Back in those days God’s people were commanded not to pick or harvest the outer edges of their fields, but to leave food for the poor to eat. (Leviticus 19:9 & 10) So, Ruth went out to pick leftover grain for her and Naomi.
So Ruth went out to gather grain behind the harvesters. And as it happened, she found herself working in a field that belonged to Boaz, the relative of her father-in-law, Elimelech. Ruth 2:3
Boaz was a relative of Elimelech. We see that God already had a plan, it was no coincidence that Ruth ended up finding food in this particular field. When Boaz sees Ruth in the field he asks who she is. The foreman tells him that she was Naomi’s daughter-in-law, a Moabitess. Boaz told Ruth that she should stay in his fields to find all the grain that she could. He told his workers not to harm her and whenever she was thirsty to drink from the water jars in the field.
Boaz did not have to treat her so kindly. Ruth was an outsider and a Moabite, she was not one of God’s chosen people. Boaz chooses to show her great kindness because of her devotion to Naomi. (Ruth 2:10-13)
At the end of a day in the field, Ruth went home and gave her roasted grain to Naomi. She told her of all that the day held in the field of Boaz. Naomi responds,
“May the Lord bless him!” Naomi told her daughter-in-law. “He is showing his kindness to us as well as to your dead husband. That man is one of your closest relatives, one of our family redeemers.”Ruth 2:20
A family redeemer is a kinsman redeemer. Kinsman means family or relative, a man who is one of a person’s blood relations. A kinsman redeemer was a relative that would buy the property of his deceased family member and marry his widow if she had no children. This was a law that God had given His people to provide for widows so they would not be destitute. A widow without children would have no one to help provide for their needs.
We read throughout Ruth chapter 3 and 4 of how Ruth became the wife to Boaz. He became her kinsman redeemer.
At the end of chapter 4 we see that God blesses Ruth and Boaz with a son. They named their son Obed. When Obed grew up he had a son named Jesse and Jesse later had a son named David. Through David many years later the true kinsman redeemer was born. JESUS!!
We are all like Ruth. We are outsiders. We all have sin and reasons that we do not belong to Christ. Because of this sin we are separated from Christ. Our sin leaves us lost and destitute, just as Naomi and Ruth were when the returned to Bethlehem as widows. With out a redeemer we will face death and punishment for our sins. BUT GOD! Jesus came to earth! Christmas! Through Jesus we have our ultimate kinsman redeemer! He came to earth to die in our place to pay for our debt of sin. He bought us back to be part of God’s family and save us from all sin for all eternity.
We have 11 more days to prepare for Jesus to be born as our True Kinsman Redeemer. Thank You God for your plan of salvation through your Son.