Sermon Tone Analysis

Ruth – The Genealogy

Ruth 4:18-22

1. Introduction – At first glance – there isn’t much to this passage.

It’s a list names.

a.

The Bible is full of these genealogies – Genesis has quite a few.

i.

If you have ever read through 1 Chronicles you know that the first 9 chapters of that book are genealogies.

1.

There are 2 genealogies of Jesus recorded for us in the NT.

One in Matthew and one in Luke – they work in opposite order of each other.

2. Matthew’s genealogy starts with Abraham and works its way down the line to Jesus.

a. Luke’s on the other hand, starts with Jesus and works it way back through history all the way to Adam.

ii.

And obviously, there’s a short genealogy at the end of Ruth – recapping the 10 generations from Perez to David.

b.

Yes, I’ll admit, genealogies are just a bunch of hard to pronounce names…but once we figure out why genealogies are included in the biblical text, once we figure out what purpose they serve, I believe we’ll see genealogies in a whole new light.

2. Ruth’s Genealogy – So we’ll being this morning by asking this question, “Why is this genealogy here?”

a.

The story is complete – we’ve moved from emptiness to fullness…from famine to feast.

i. We’ve seen the complete restoration of our main characters – so why is this here?

1. Well – once again, I’ll you of one of the major themes of this book.

a. God demonstrated that Naomi’s initial assessment of him was wrong.

i. God was not out to get her or out to make her life miserable.

1.

Even though she did in fact return to Bethlehem without food or sons…YHWH’s ultimate purpose was to show his grace through is miraculous provision.

2. Naomi was provided for through God’s grace and the faithful actions of his people.

a.

This is what the book of Ruth teaches – with or without the genealogy tacked on to the end.

The story is complete…we all have warm fuzzies from what we saw last week…so why are these verses here?

b.

Well, the genealogy at the end of this book should cause us to recognize that this story has more to say.

i.

The inclusion of these verses tells us that the story is much bigger than Naomi’s plight or Ruth’s loyalty or Boaz’s generosity.

1.

The story moves beyond the individual characters and shows us something bigger…

a.

How God uses the faithfulness of godly people in everyday settings to build his kingdom.

c.

In ancient Israel writings, genealogies were used as an efficient and economical way to retell history.

i.

It was a way of connecting what was happening in the not-so-distant past with what happened long ago.

1.

The genealogy in Ruth spanned 10 generations.

10 generations linking David with Perez, the most prominent clan in the tribe of Judah.

a.

The genealogy – linking David – the archetypal king of Israel…its best king…this genealogy links David with the godly events and actions of his ancestors.

i.

And this idea of linking David with his godly ancestors serves multiple purposes.

ii.

The first and obvious thing it does is connections David with his past.

1.

He was who he was because of his upbringing.

He was who he was because of the actions of his parents, his grandparents, and his great grandparents.

a.

And what this reminds us of today is our interconnectedness with past generations.

iii.

From a purely human level or on a genetic level – we are all products of our history.

1.

We looked the way we look because of the gene pool we were born in to.

a.

We act the way we act because of mannerism we’ve picked up along the way.

i.

We talk the way we talk because of the words and phrase we’ve heard our whole lives.

1.

We are connected to our past purely based on our genes and upbringing.

d.

But from a religious point of view – genealogies help us put our faith into a historical context.

i. Reading a genealogy helps us remember that the covenant family of God spans centuries – millennia even.

1. Genealogies are an economical way of writing history…it can link events that happened hundreds of years or even thousands of years apart.

a. Genealogies link the events of Abraham with that of Isaac and Jacob, with Moses and Joshua, and Samson, Ruth and Boaz, David and Solomon…and on down the line of history.

i.

A Genealogy can link the events of the OT with the death and resurrection of Jesus.

ii.

If we still used genealogies, it can bring us further down through history to the apostle Paul, to the early church fathers, to the Reformers, to the Puritans, and all the way down through history to the great things God is doing through his people today.

1.

From a religious point of view, genealogies can help us connect our faith to its historical roots.

This isn’t a made up or new thing that we’ve invested our lives it.

It runs throughout history…it is deep and it is well ground.

e. Genealogies reminds us of the interconnectedness of the family of God.

You see, a lot of time we have an overly individualistic faith…my personal walk with Jesus…

i.

But seeing a genealogy reminds us our or links with believers in the past.

It reminds us of our links with each other…because the family tree of God extends beyond the names written in the Bible…

1.

The family tree of God consists of all believers for all time who have placed their faith in the saving death of Jesus.

a. Understanding and recognizing the historicity of our faith will help us better understand what we do in church and why we do it.

i.

Why do we sing?

Because God’s people have always been a singing people.

1.

Why do we pray or have preaching from the Bible?

Because God’s people have always prayed and we really on the revelation of God given through his written word.

ii.

Think about the Lord’s Supper…doesn’t it blow your mind to think that we are participating in a meal that Jesus himself instituted?

a.

The same meal that Jesus passed out…is the same thing we do each month together??? It’s crazy to think about.

i.

Or think of baptism…when we are baptized, we are doing something that Jesus himself did.

1.

Looking at past events…looking and studying genealogies connects us with the historic roots of our faith.

f.

Through every generation – God has always had a faithful remnant of his people…and that is still being carried on today.

The same God who called Abraham, who called Ruth…is the same God that calls us today.

i.

But what this genealogy in Ruth does specifically….is it links God’s redemptive work in this story, with the rest of his redemptive work recorded in other books.

1.

This genealogy places the story of Boaz and Ruth within the larger context of God’s big story.

a.

It links Ruth with Abraham, with the exodus, with the conquest of the Promised land.

i. Ruth’s story – Boaz’s generosity, Naomi’s change of character…is not some isolated story or biblical fairy tale…but it is a story about redemption.

1.

How God uses the events of his peoples’ lives to further his redemptive plan.