35: GREAT GRANDMOTHER TO THE GREATS
Based on RUTH (Rt)...Read more there.

Ruth is a very short book; barely 4 1/2 pages. But Ruth, who comes across as one of the nicest & best people in the Hebrew Scriptures, is a far more important person than that brevity might suggest. Even that she's not a Hebrew, but a Moabite (a descendant of a tribe springing from Abraham's nephew Lot) does not affect the place of honour she holds in both Hebrew & Christian traditions. Ruth marries a Hebrew man, Mahlon, a son of Elimelech & Naomi, Hebrews who had migrated from Bethlehem to Moab during a famine. Elimelech & Mahlon both die, leaving Naomi & Ruth widowed. Naomi elects to return to live among her own people, the Hebrews, & Ruth chooses to accompany her rather than remain among her Moabite tribes-people. Naomi's other daughter-in-law, also a widow now, chooses to stay. When Naomi tries to persuade Ruth to remain in Moab too, Ruth's response is: "Where you go I will go; wherever you choose to stay, I will stay; your people will be my people; your God will be my God......" [Ch.1:16-17)].

Naomi & Ruth arrive back in Bethlehem at the time of the barley harvest. Ruth, needing to provide food for them both, goes gleaning, as the poor are allowed to do by law [DT 24:19] but not always by property-owners! Ruth goes to glean in the fields of a well-to-do man named Boaz, who orders she be given preferential treatment so she can glean more abundantly. More, he generously provides her with food & drink. Something other than food & drink is clearly brewing here! Boaz tells Ruth to remain gleaning in his fields. When she takes home to Naomi what she's gleaned, & tells her the name of the man who has taken her under his wing, Naomi says, "Oh, he's a close relative of our late husbands. Blessed be God!" So Ruth gleans on into the wheat harvest. Naomi appears to put Ruth up to acting seductively [Ch.3] - & very effectively! - all in a good cause as things transpire! However, under Hebrew law another closer male relative has first right of refusal of buying Naomi's property & the widowed Ruth who is part of it! In a complicated process of tradition, law, & manoeuvring, Boaz persuades the other man to surrender his rights to him [Ch.4] & promptly marries Ruth [4:13]. And they all live happily ever after...

The book of Ruth is not simply a nice story of love & faithfulness at a human level. As often in the case in Scripture it is also a demonstration of God's love & faithfulness to Israel & its outworking down through the generations.The author wants to show God's will unfolding, working itself out through making connection after connection down the years. We can trace that through a land promised to Abraham (who pre-dates both Judaism & mono-theism), Captivity in Egypt, Exodus, Journeying in the wilderness, Taking possession of the long-Promised Land & all the other stages that unfold as the story is told on further & further. There's a lot still to come! We are left to ponder that there are no such things as co-incidences in this process; only God-incidents, encompassing those who remain faithful as God is faithful. Ruth's story is an important link in this out-working of the overall biblical picture. For instance, Boaz turns out to be the son of Rahab, the Canaanite woman who, discerning the way the Wind of God is blowing, betrays the town of Jericho into the hands of the invading Hebrews [JSH Chs.2 & 6]. With her family, Rahab is spared, & they are allowed as a reward to live among Hebrew society as 'honorary members'.
Ruth & Boaz produce a son they name Obed; Obed & his wife, a son called Jesse; & Jesse & his wife, a son named David! Great king of the Hebrew people! Even more importantly, David becomes great, great, umpteen greats grand-father of Jesus the Christ! All of which of course makes Ruth not only David's great grand-mother, but Jesus' great, great, umpteen greats... grand-mother too! [MT 1:5]  Before leaving Ruth, & looking further ahead, we might consider whether despite the importance of racial purity to the Jewish people from whom He springs, Jesus has Rahab, a Canaanite (& a prostitute & traitor to boot!) as an ancestor, & Ruth, a Moabite, too, among other 'iffy' people. Maybe YHWH's horizons are wider & broader than people who see religion through strait-jacketed hearts?! The story continues...36: Samuel... Prophet, Judge, & King-Maker...

Question: Have we been blessed as a result of God's will taking its course through choices people have made down the years?