The Hope of Redemption (pt. 2)

any dating of Ruth should take into consideration three critical factors. First, the reference to “the days when judges governed” in the opening verse suggests that the author was familiar with the premonarchic period as a distinct era and that this idyllic account may have been deliberately composed against the darkness of the period as it is portrayed in the Book of Judges.

Second, the book’s interest in the Davidic house is best interpreted against the backdrop of the renaissance of the dynasty. If the book was written after Manasseh, only the reign of Josiah (540–609 B.C.) qualifies as a chronological candidate for the origin of Ruth. Indeed the link between the book and Josiah may be observed at several levels.

Daniel Isaac Block, Judges, Ruth, vol. 6, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 596.

The Septuagint and other ancient manuscripts included the book of Ruth in the book of Judges.

Judges, Ruth 3. Date and Authorship

Third, a Northern provenance fits both the political and linguistic realities of Josiah’s reign.

Names:

Naomi - pleasant

Mara - bitter

Ruth - friendship (traditionally) but the etymology of the word actually remains a mystery

Summary and Goal

We saw God humiliate the proud in Samson, and in the Philistines. Once again God used the weaknesses of His people to reveal His true strength.

Let’s turn our attention to the story of Ruth, a Moabite woman who lived during the period of the judges.

God loves and cares for the humble, the needy, and the lonely.

God wanted to make His matchless love known to Ruth, and God continues to want to make His redeeming love known to every tribe, language, and nation.

No matter how hopeless and desperate the situation may be, the Lord’s redeeming love is ever-present and stronger still.

Session Outline

1. God’s perfect love is steadfast (Ruth 1:6-9,16-17).

++2. God’s perfect love is gracious (Ruth 2:2-3,8-12).

++3. God’s perfect love is redeeming (Ruth 4:13-17).

Session in a Sentence

God provided a family redeemer for Ruth, demonstrating His love for all people.

Christ Connection

Boaz was a family redeemer who showed undeserved kindness to Ruth, a foreigner. In a similar manner, Jesus is our Redeemer who has showed unmerited kindness to us and adopted us into His family.

Missional Application

Because we have been redeemed by an act of God’s love, we extend the same kind of steadfast, gracious love to others so that they too might find redemption through Jesus Christ.

P. 121 of the DDG

One of The Beatles’s most well-known songs says: “All you need is love.” Even without a biblical worldview, they were right: To do good in the world, all you need is love. But their perspective was off, their vision short-sighted. It is not just love in general, but an outward directive for our love. A love for God and a love for those around us (“neighbors,” Mt. 22:36-40).

If we know the love of God in Jesus, then our eternity is settled. We may lose our jobs, retirement accounts, and even loved ones, but the love of God helps us endure the sufferings in this world, giving us a bright hope for tomorrow and the world that is to come. It’s because God is love that we can love others.

Voices from Church History

“When we fully believe in our Savior’s love, then our own hearts respond with perfect love to God and our neighbor.” 1 –Martin Luther (1483-1546)

Ask the following question.

What are some characteristics of God’s love?

(eternal; sacrificial; giving; patient; kind; personal; faithful; redeeming)

Let’s turn our attention to the story of Ruth, a Moabite woman who lived during the period of the judges.

God loves and cares for the humble, the needy, and the lonely.

God wanted to make His matchless love known to Ruth, and God continues to want to make His redeeming love known to every tribe, language, and nation.

No matter how hopeless and desperate the situation may be, the Lord’s redeeming love is ever-present and stronger still.

Point 1: God’s perfect love is steadfast (Ruth 1:6-9,16-17).

During the time of the judges, a severe famine broke out in the land of Israel, forcing a family of four—a father, mother, and two sons—to migrate to Moab, where the father died. The two sons married Moabite women, but the sons also died in the land of Moab. The three remaining women—Naomi and her two daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth—were left helpless and hopeless, so they set out toward Israel.

Read: Ruth 1:6-9,16-17 (DDG p. 122).

6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had visited his people and given them food. 7 So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. 8 But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. 9 The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept.

.................................................

16 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lorddo so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”

Explain: Comment on some typical temptations depending on one’s season of life (ignore God in blessing or blame Him in adversity).

DDG (p. 122)

· We are most tempted to ignore God when life is going great. In these seasons, we may not feel a need for God and sometimes, if we are honest, not even a desire. We are quick to believe that we are the cause of the goodness we are experiencing, and deep down, we worry that God could come along and mess all of that up by calling us to do something we would rather not do.

· On the other hand, we are most tempted to blame God when life is difficult. We hold Him responsible for causing our seasons of adversity, or at least for failing to pay attention and keep us out of them. In these moments, we may question God’s power and doubt His love.

The Book of Ruth records the account of a family seeking to understand God amidst a time of suffering. Famine and death had wrecked this family. Naomi wanted to spare her daughters-in-law from any more hardship, so she spoke up. One tearfully returned to her home, but Ruth chose to stay with Naomi. In God’s plan, this choice of love would bring blessing not only to Naomi and the Israelites but also to the whole world.

Ask the following question.

How have you seen God provide for someone during a time of suffering?

(be prepared to give an answer of your own to jump-start the conversation)

DDG (p. 122)

Suffering brings doubts and fears to the surface, but we can know that God is always present, always loving, and always providing for us. This is what Ruth would come to learn, but it was also what Ruth would demonstrate. Her love for her mother-in-law was steadfast, and nothing—neither famine, alienation, nor homelessness—would lead her to sever their relationship.

Ruth’s love was a fore-shadow of the love God has for His people.

· Naomi knew the journey to Bethlehem and a new life there would be challenging. She was homeless, broke, and alone. Any woman would have had a hard time making it in that culture, but for Ruth, being a Moabite widow living in Israel would only compound the difficulty. Sure the situation was dire for them in Moab, but it would have been better than in Israel, Naomi thought. So Orpah went, but Ruth stayed.

· The steadfast fellowship of Ruth and Naomi was a gift from God. Ruth didn’t bail; God doesn’t bail. Ruth went forward into difficulty with Naomi; God goes forward into difficulty with us. Even as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, God is with us, comforting us, leading us, and guiding us.

Fill in the blanks: DDG (p. 122)

God Is Love: Perfect love both resides and resonates within God Himself—one God in three Persons. The imperfect love that human beings share between one another is a dim reflection, a sign that points to the perfect love that resides within God.

An essential Doctrine is that “God Is Love”: To say that God is love is to say that God is the essence of love, or that perfect love both resides and resonates within God Himself—one God in three Persons. The imperfect love that human beings share between one another is a dim reflection, a sign that points to the perfect love that resides within God. The greatest act of love by God toward humans isn’t the giving of earthly goods but the giving of Himself in Christ so that we might become reconciled to Him.

Point 2: God’s perfect love is gracious (Ruth 2:2-3,8-12).

Read Ruth 2:2-3,8-12 (DDG p. 123).

2 And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.” 3 So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech.

.................................................

8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Now, listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. 9 Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping, and go after them. Have I not charged the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn.” 10 Then she fell on her face, bowing 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?” 11 But Boaz answered her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. 12 The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!”

DDG (p. 123)

Naomi and Ruth arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest (1:22). Showing her love for Naomi and her character, Ruth went to gather grain for their food, and she “happened” to end up in a field owned by a relative named Boaz. With God there are no coincidences. Boaz gave Ruth, a Moabite stranger, the credentials to work as if she were a part of his own group. Why? Because Boaz heard about her faith and reflected the grace of God to her.

· Ruth desired to avail herself of the gleaning system of the Israelites. God had commanded that landowners harvest the grain of their fields but leave untouched the edges and the corners and the leftovers dropped from the baskets of the harvesters; this was so the poor and the foreigners in their midst could gather grain for themselves (Lev. 19:9-10).

· Boaz, however, put a stop to this when he saw Ruth. He had something better for her. She didn’t need to glean like a beggar on the edges; she could glean in the field like one of the family. Amazingly, Boaz addressed her as “my daughter.” What Boaz did for Ruth, God did for us, only to a much greater degree.

Application: The Father has brought us undeserving sinners into His family through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus. Therefore, we don’t enter His field timidly; we don’t get the edges or scraps of His provision (ex. “...ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of truth,” 2 Tim. 3:7). We are co-heirs with Christ; we suffer with Him so we may be glorified with Him (Rom. 8:16-17). What’s Christ’s is ours. We don’t hope for scraps, we confidently expect God’s best. How can this good news be true? Because God’s way has always been and always will be redeeming love: moving outsiders to become insiders, orphans to become coheirs, strangers to become family, sinners to become saints.

Ask the following question.

What are some ways we should identify with Ruth?

(as sinners apart from Christ, we are outsiders, foreigners, and enemies of God; we are shown grace and welcomed into God’s family by faith in Jesus; God’s grace shown to us as undeserving sinners should humble us and lead to grateful worship)

DDG (p. 123)

In her time of suffering, Ruth found refuge and provision in the actions of Boaz, who provided her with grain and protected her from the men in the field. Yet the words of Boaz pointed to the Lord as the source of her greater refuge and greater provision (Ruth 2:12 ““May the Lord reward your work, and your wages be full from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge.”). What she needed most only the Lord could provide.

The Lord longs to be a refuge for us as well. He desires to be a shelter, a shield, a covering in our times of affliction. He often offers that through others that He brings to our rescue or unites us with relationally, but He is the true source. Ruth was in the process of discovering a peace that surpasses understanding in the care of God, and so can we if we trust Him and His grace, specifically in Jesus Christ.

Ask the following question.

What are some metaphors to describe the Lord as our refuge?

(a home; a roof; a shelter; a storm shelter; a shield; a mother’s wings; the Father’s arms)

Our lives is like that of one who is lost, taken into service to someone to whom they do not belong, but is then purchased back by the one to whom they truly belong. God, in love, purchases us back to Himself, us having been lost and in service to another for a time.

Point 3: God’s perfect love is redeeming (Ruth 4:13-17).

Boaz had been a refuge to Ruth, but he would also become her family redeemer and marry her. The Lord had given Ruth the blessings of food, a new people, and even a new husband, but He still had more in store for her.

Read Ruth 4:13-17 (DDG p. 124).

13 So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son. 14 Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel! 15 He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.” 16 Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse. 17 And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

DDG (p. 124)

· By way of illustration, one of the most soul-draining places on the planet has to be the Department of Motor Vehicles. When it’s time to renew your registration or your license and you have missed the window to renew it online, prepare yourself for the longest, slowest line you’ll ever stand in. This line will sap the joy out of the best of us. It will turn the staunchest optimist into a pessimist. It will make the biggest of extroverts question whether other people really are such a good idea.

· God’s love in the gospel, on the other hand, brings renewal to the soul. God’s love is exhilarating. It’s an adventure. The love of God enlivens embittered hearts. The cross of Christ gives joy to the downtrodden soul. The empty tomb refreshes struggling faith. The Spirit of God testifies that you really are forgiven, made new, and declared righteous before God, free from the enemies of sin and death. You have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Rejoice!

· What, then, can spoil our new reality in Christ? This is the very question the apostle Paul asked in Romans 8:35: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Famine? Loss? Joblessness? Cancer? The DMV? The love of God revealed in the gospel provides a clear and emphatic answer: No! Nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:37-39).

Romans 8:37–39 NASB

But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This is the renewing, redeeming power of the love that Ruth experienced from God through Boaz.

God used Boaz to renew Ruth’s life. She went through a complete transformation when he acted as her family redeemer. The second before, she was poor, widowed, and an alien in a foreign land. But in an instant, Ruth became a wife, wealthy, and part of a new people in a land of her own. This was the change brought about by the love of Boaz, but more than that, by the renewing, redeeming power of the love of God for Ruth.

Ask the following question.

Why might people consider renewal and redemption in their lives to be impossible?

(renewal would mean overcoming overwhelming odds and circumstances; some believe they are too broken or sinful to be redeemed and blessed by God; they don’t believe in the God who has the power to renew a life; stories of renewal and redemption seem to be the stuff of fairy tales)

Pack Item 8: Jesus’ Lineage: Recall this handout and use the second paragraph in the DDG (p. 124) to highlight the larger story surrounding Ruth and Boaz—their descendants would lead to the coming of God’s promised Redeemer: Jesus Christ.

God’s renewal and redemption in Ruth’s life meant something larger than just a new husband and a new child. With the Book of Ruth, we actually see that all the hardships and all the great things that happened to Ruth, as impressive as they were, paled in comparison to what would come. The book’s closing six verses, beginning with verse 17, reveal that Ruth and Boaz were part of a larger story, one that preceded them and would continue after them. Through their son Obed, they would become the great grandparents of King David, through whom would come God’s promised Redeemer to bring renewal to God’s people and the world: Jesus Christ.

From the Davidic line of kings would come the King of kings. We are quick to connect Jesus with the great King David, but we need to be just as quick to connect Him with David’s great grandmother, a poor Moabite widow named Ruth. Jesus’ family tree reveals His redemptive purpose: to reconcile all people—Jew and Gentile, man and woman, wealthy and poor—to the Father.

Fill in the blanks: DDG (p. 124)

Jesus’ family tree reveals His redemptive purpose: to reconcile all people—Jew and Gentile, man and woman, wealthy and poor—to the Father.

My Mission

God’s love is steadfast; it never wavers.

God’s love is gracious; it’s a gift to the undeserving.

God’s love is redeeming; it rescues us from our plight.

God’s love is all of these things and more because God Himself is our steadfast, gracious Redeemer (Ex. 34:6-7).

Exodus 34:6–7 NASB

Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth;who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

This is the God Ruth came to know, and this is the vision of God we must make known to the world. Since we’ve experienced the perfect love of God, we can love our neighbors, coworkers, and others in the way God has loved us, all while pointing them to the God who is love. He is compassionate to the brokenhearted and overflowing with faithful love toward sinners. We know this because the supreme testimony of God’s love is the cross of Christ (Rom. 5:8). Christ is our family redeemer. He became one of us to save us, and by faith in His death and resurrection, we are brought into the family of God.

DDG (p. 125)

Because we have been redeemed by an act of God’s love, we extend the same kind of steadfast, gracious love to others so that they too might find redemption through Jesus Christ.

· How will you respond to God’s redeeming love on display in the cross of Jesus Christ?

· In what ways can your group love one another as God has loved us?

· How will you show love to others this week with the goal of pointing them to the love of God in Christ, who is our Refuge and Redeemer?

Close in prayer:

References

1. Martin Luther, “Second Sunday After Trinity,” in Luther’s Epistle Sermons: Trinity Sunday to Advent, trans. John Nicholas Lenker (Minneapolis, MN: The Luther Press, 1909), 51.

2. Iain M. Duguid, “Ruth,” in CSB Study Bible (Nashville, TN: B&H, 2017), 402, n. 1:6-9.

3. Mary Beth McGreevy, “Ruth,” in Gospel Transformation Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2013), 336, n. 1:14-18.

4. Mary Beth McGreevy, “Ruth,” in Gospel Transformation Bible, 337, n. 2:2-13.

5. Santha Kumari Mondithoka, “Ruth,” in South Asia Bible Commentary, gen. ed. Brian Wintle (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2015), 334.

6. Barry C. Davis, “Ruth,” in The Apologetics Study Bible (Nashville, TN: B&H, 2007), 401, n. 2:10.

7. Barry C. Davis, “Ruth,” in The Apologetics Study Bible, 403, n. 4:13.

8. Iain M. Duguid, “Ruth,” in CSB Study Bible, 406, n. 4:13-17.

9. Mary Beth McGreevy, “Ruth,” in Gospel Transformation Bible, 340, n. 4:18-22.

Related Media

Related Sermons