It never ceases to amaze me. How scripture, so ancient and settled, can leap off the pages of my Bible, bringing timeless encouragement to my heart.
Do you need encouragement today? Are you a broken one? Do you feel that you are beyond the reaches of repair?
Then this story of Ruth was written down just for you.
The Biblical account of Ruth is one of those windows in time, that will touch the heart of most anyone. Come with me, as I take you along to explore this wondrous story—where heartbreak, disappointment and sad uncertainties lead to a desperate struggle to somehow begin again.
And how God’s loving, unmistakable presence is right there with you, all along your journey.
WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE?
HERE. It may be that place of unspeakable sadness. Or the grief of some great loss. Or a crushing feeling of complete and utter failure. Whatever it might be, I know that you are bearing it the best that you know how. But silently, you may ask, “What now? Where do I go from here?”
Now it came about in the days when the judges governed, that there was a famine in the land.
And a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to reside in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife, Naomi; and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah.
So they entered the land of Moab and remained there. Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left with her two sons.
Ruth 1:1-3 (NASB)
Our Bible story opens with reflection: A harsh famine had come upon the land of Judah, prompting some to flee their dire circumstances, if they had the means. So sets the stage, for one family from Bethlehem, in Judah.
Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and their two sons Mahlon and Chilion, traveled to the land of Moab, to find a place of refuge and relief during this terrible time.
The Naomi we find here is no flat character in this story. She seems as strong and capable as any woman of her time. But things have suddenly changed in her life. She has had to leave her community and good friends behind. And that is never easy.
It’s astounding how our life’s story can suddenly change. When what we fully expected to be, is not. How our road of life seemed to be secure, only to make some bewildering turn.
When her husband Elimelech died in Moab, Naomi must have been heartbroken, as any loving wife would be. But Naomi would have taken courage. For God had given her two loving sons. And she would need to stay strong for them.
Naomi’s future hope was in her sons. Surely, she would reason, they would each marry one day, and carry on the line of the family. Surely, her ears would soon hear the sweet sounds of wedding songs and laughter. And surely, she would one day hear the pleasant cries of her own precious grandchildren.
And they took for themselves Moabite women as wives; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other, Ruth. And they lived there about ten years.
Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.
Ruth 1:4-5 (NASB)
I’m not sure we can imagine the depths of Naomi’s despair. This one, who had held such hopes in faith and family. Our Bible spares us the depressing details of her two sons’ passing. Only that they both had died. No doubt, their mother Naomi must have been crushed beyond hope.
Then of course, that flood of emotions came crashing into her heart. The accusations. The questions. “Was I not a good wife? Was I not a good mother? Was I not pleasing to my Lord and God?”
“Why has He taken my world away?”
Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the land of Moab,
because she had heard in the land of Moab that the LORD had visited His people by giving them food.
Ruth 1:6 (NASB)
Soon, the news of an abundant barley harvest in Judah had reached Naomi. And it gave her just enough reason to return home, to her native land. But a new difficult issue would come up. For as Naomi arose to return, her two loving (and also grieving) daughters-in-law arose to go with her.
It’s true that bad things sometimes do happen, even to really great people. And so often, it is hard to see things clearly, in the face of disaster. We might reason that Naomi was simply going back to what she knew. And if we were able to speak into this situation, we might say to the daughters-in-law, “Girls, just let her go—and you go back to your families and your ways.”
But things are seldom that simple. Why were these two young women still clinging to a mother-in-law, whose ties that had bound them together, were now severed by death?
Can it be, that love is stronger than death?
As they shared so much while living together, even in those short years of marriage and family, Naomi would have gotten to know these two young women very well. They shared both their memories and grief in their losses. They had come to know one another intimately, as they shared their heartaches and hopes. And their dreams of a fuller and happier future, with children and grandchildren.
But now, life had come crashing down upon them, as they each bore the burden of great tragedy and loss. Naomi would have shared in the heights of their dreams, and the depths of their despair. She alone could understand the unspeakable pain of their losses.
For truly, only God Himself would have known them more.
Our story builds, even as each one of them must ask herself that inevitable question, that comes from a soul so lost in uncertainty. “Where do I go from here?
And they raised their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
Then she said, “Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods; return after your sister-in-law.”
Ruth 1:14-15 (NASB)
You may know the story well. How dear Naomi, heartbroken as she was, tried to give her daughters-in-law some rational hope of a future without her. She didn’t want to be a burden. And she knew the sorrows of leaving home and loved ones behind.
And at first, it seems that their love for Naomi would be enough. It appears that both daughters-in-law had decided. They were both ready and willing to leave their own familiar homeland.
But at Naomi’s persistence, the grieving Orpah must have reconsidered in her heart. For she sadly kissed Naomi goodbye, and went her own way. The Bible simply says that she returned to her people, and to her own gods. And really, can we blame her?
THE TEST OF A TROUBLED HEART
But something far different was taking place, within the heart of young Ruth. For she clung hard to Naomi, and made a bold statement—a declaration that uncommon in the whole of Bible history. Ruth vowed, right then and there, that Naomi’s people would be her people. And their God would be her God.
But Ruth said, “Do not plead with me to leave you or to turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you sleep, I will sleep.
Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.
Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried.
May the LORD do so to me, and worse, if anything but death separates me from you.”
Ruth 1:16-17 (NASB)
That day, the course of human events would somehow rearrange, as God’s perfect purposes would begin to be revealed. For the young Ruth had responded much differently to her own question of the heart, “Where do I go from here?
And the astonished Naomi, filled with her own pain and pity, said nothing more. But only pondered over her daughter Ruth. For either Ruth had acted very foolishly—or she was being spurred on by purposes far beyond her own understanding.
They reached Bethlehem right at barley harvest. Naomi, in her unspeakable grief, returning home seemingly alone and empty-handed, immersed in hopelessness and pain.
And there was Ruth, right along with her, looking like some misdirected traveler, without a place or a purpose.
Sometimes, in the midst of our heartache, we lose sight of any sure direction. But God still knows the way. Yes, He is surely the Way.
As He shows us, little upon little, how to walk onto that new ground of His purposes. And in those first, unsteady steps, filled with questions and misgivings, we may not be able to see anything else that is certain—except for HIM.
WHO WAS THIS ONE CALLED BOAZ?
Now Naomi had a relative of her husband, a man of great wealth, of the family of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz.
Ruth 2:1 (NASB)
It was finally barley harvest. Thank God for the barley harvest! The land would live again. And lives, once so poor and parched, would thrive again.
Suddenly, we see the man Boaz. The wealthy landowner. A relative of Naomi’s late husband Elimelech. Suddenly, he is in our story. And suddenly, he is the story. He seems to be the man in charge.
But who is this Boaz our Bible brings to us? He is certainly an important person. But beyond his great wealth and importance, what else does he possess?
The community of Bethlehem wasn’t the same place it had been ten years before. The famine had been long. With years of failed crops and days of endless, blazing sun, people struggled to make ends meet. All the things we would expect from such a duration of hard times.
Bethlehem certainly must have pulled together, to survive such years. And this man, Boaz, would have gathered what they had, to carefully disperse it among his neighbors. Those years of famine would have yielded lean and sparse harvests. And no doubt, the people would have carefully gleaned every bit of them, in their struggle to survive.
Boaz would have learned to be a wise steward, in times of plenty, or in lack. He’d be the compassionate landowner, who knew the value of friends and community. He would have learned that he couldn’t do it without his neighbors. And they could not do it without him.
We might even view Boaz as a type of “lord of the harvest.”
But there must have been more to Boaz. For it appears this man of wealth and power, had no immediate family of his own. No mention of a previous wife or children. And we can only wonder at this.
It’s not so hard to imagine Boaz being lonely and unfulfilled, or uncertain about his own future. He was getting to be an older man, yet had no children to pass upon his great wealth. How he must have longed for so much more.
Finally, the depths of famine had passed. It was an abundant barley harvest. An entire community would now know the importance of gleaning the whole harvest. Nothing would be wasted, nor taken for granted.
And no good thing God had given to them would be left behind. Not even one sad and struggling stranger, named Ruth.
WHEN NOTHING ELSE MAKES SENSE, GLEAN
And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain following one in whose eyes I may find favor.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.”
So she left and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers; and she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.
Now behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, “May the LORD be with you.” And they said to him, “May the LORD bless you.”
Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?”
Ruth 2:2-5 (NASB)
Clearly, Ruth—who insisted on leaving everything she knew behind, to journey with Naomi to a new land—is driven by a power beyond her own understanding. But why? Who is Ruth really? And why should she react this way, within her uncertain circumstances?
Our answers may well be found back home in Moab. Possibly when Elimelech was still alive. When Naomi’s life was not yet shattered. Back when her boys were just young men, not yet approaching adulthood.
Possibly, Ruth had known this family for some time, finally marrying one of their sons. She would have heard about the God of the Jewish nation. So different from her own superstitious symbols, made of wood and stone.
Ruth may have listened with real interest, to the stories of old. How the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had saved them, time and again, and finally brought them into their promised land of inheritance.
And she may have begun to trust in this God she didn’t fully understand. Because the family she loved and respected, certainly loved and respected Him. She might even one day rely upon this God of the Jews, if she needed to…
For now, Ruth did the one thing she knew she could do, in a foreign land of strangers. God had given her one sure direction. She would glean those fields of harvest. It would be hard, hot, and labor-intensive work. With no promise of much gain.
But still, it was what she knew she could do. So she willingly went. For something had begun within her. A new opportunity. A new direction.
We might imagine this humble “gleaning” to be like picking up the pieces of new hope. Not turning back to scrape up the shatters of that old, broken life. Those pieces wouldn’t fit anymore. Those pieces only remind us of pain, loss, and uncertainty. No—this effort of gleaning is focused on gathering those small fragments of promise.
To glean is to gather whatever goodness you see in life that God has given you, and treat it as precious—no matter how small.
Perhaps it may one day become prosperous or plenteous. Humble beginnings do start out small. But in God’s purposeful grace and timing, they lead us to discover a new and necessary direction.
So it was for our young traveler, Ruth. As she began reaching for something (or someone) she could not yet understand.
It is no wonder that Boaz took notice of her there, out among the fields, with his friends and neighbors. I love the question he asked his servant, “Whose young woman is this?”
To Boaz, Ruth may have appeared to be many things. But undoubtedly, she was now becoming God’s woman. A willing servant there, in the midst of His divine purposes.
Slowly, the clouds of confusion began to clear. And it becomes ever clearer to us, that God was leading this procession. Though neither Ruth nor Boaz could yet know it then.
Ruth finally returned home to Naomi, with her day’s worth of gleaning. No doubt, Naomi’s eyes lit up at the size of her haul. This wasn’t the typical gleaning from a field belonging to someone who didn’t care. It was obvious that the land owner was keeping Ruth safe, and mercifully making sure that she had plenty to take home.
So the inspired Naomi asks: “Where have you gleaned today? Have you found favor with someone?”
Then our Ruth drops the B-bomb: BOAZ.
Her mother-in-law then said to her, “Where did you glean today and where did you work? May he who took notice of you be blessed.”
So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, “The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.”
Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed of the LORD who has not withdrawn his kindness to the living and to the dead.” Again Naomi said to her, “The man is our relative, he is one of our closest relatives.”
Then Ruth the Moabitess said, “Furthermore, he said to me, ‘You should stay close to my servants until they have finished all my harvest.’” Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his maids, so that others do not fall upon you in another field.
Ruth 2:19—22 (NASB)
Try to imagine the joyful astonishment brought on by such an announcement. Boaz! He wasn’t just any land owner. He was their very own close relative. Praise the Lord! This was more than Naomi could hope for. This was Boaz! This was blessing. This was some kind of Godly intervention.
Suddenly, this same Naomi, who had returned to her own land in shame and despair, saw the light of a new day. Her eyes must have raised toward heaven, with her heart of praise. And she began to realize that the strange circumstances they had both found themselves in, were somehow making sense.
Excitedly, Naomi instructs her daughter-in-law to stay within the safety she has been provided. For this must be God’s own provision. His own ordained moment.
In a sense, Naomi was telling Ruth,
“Girl, keep right on gleaning—until you understand the meaning for your gleaning! Until our God reveals the rest of this journey for you.”
That would be sound advice for any one of us, when we are found between The Rock and a hard place. To stay and stand, and glean whatever we can—as the hand of the Lord moves on our behalf. And to wait for His perfect and purposed timing.
THE THRESHING FLOOR – WHERE INTENTIONS ARE TESTED
Then her mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, shall I not seek security for you, that it may go well for you?
Now then, is Boaz not our relative, with whose young women you were?
Behold, he is winnowing barley at the threshing floor tonight.
Ruth 3:1-2 (NASB)
Amazing, isn’t it? How lives once so lost, might be found again. Because of that One and Only, who has the right and the might to save us.
Naomi had watched, all through the barley and the wheat harvests. As Ruth was allowed to glean from the safety of Boaz’s own fields. This was powerful. This was the assurance that God’s hand was upon their lives.
Suddenly, Naomi stands up in her spirit. For she is determined to move upon what she has witnessed. The fields had been harvested. The work was completed. But Naomi knew this was about much more than just fields of wheat or barley.
This was about a future hope, yet to be realized.
Naomi stepped into her rightful role, to counsel Ruth in what she must do. For she sensed God’s perfect timing. The time of waiting had passed. The time had come to put their faith into footwork.
And it would all happen upon the threshing floor.
It happened in the middle of the night that the man was startled and bent forward; and behold, a woman was lying at his feet. He said, “Who are you?”
And she answered, “I am Ruth your maid. So spread your covering over your maid, for you are a close relative.”
Then he said, “May you be blessed of the LORD, my daughter. You have shown your last kindness to be better than the first by not going after young men, whether poor or rich.
“Now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you whatever you ask, for all my people in the city know that you are a woman of excellence.”
Ruth 3:8-11 (NASB)
How startled Boaz must have been, as he awoke and found this dear one at his feet. It was the midnight hour. A time of darkness and groggy uncertainties. Was he only dreaming?
Boaz quickly realized this was no accident. This was Ruth’s own intentional choice, to place her trust into his care. And her own quiet announcement that she could be his.
How easily Boaz could have taken advantage of such a situation. But he seems to never give it a thought. No doubt, Boaz had been considering many things, long before this midnight moment.
Boaz quickly assured Ruth that all was well. And that she was safe there with him. Even more, he comforts her by revealing his admiration for her. And assures her that the whole community regarded her as a virtuous woman.
The threshing floor. Where every good harvest must pass through. God’s good abundance, steadily grown upon those fields of His purposes, must be sifted and separated out. Otherwise, the wealth they contain will never be realized.
It is upon the threshing floor, where the worth is separated from the worthless. Where the kernel is parted from the chaff. Where the Spirit of God divides the soul and spirit, and makes known the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword,
and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow,
and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12 (NASB)
The threshing floor. Where lives are anointed and appointed, and separated out for service. Where hearts are changed, and begin to trust a process they cannot yet fully understand.
BUT WHAT WILL THE NEIGHBORS THINK?
Her daughter Ruth obeyed Naomi’s wise counsel. As hearts were revealed that night, and lives became entwined. And it seems as if nothing more could stand in their way.
But Boaz knew better. There was certainly something in their way, as they made their way through the trial of God’s timely testing.
It was the law of the land. For lawfully, a closer relative (“kinsman”) than Boaz had every right to claim (“redeem”) the late Elimelech’s property—and the young woman, Ruth, for his own.
No doubt, Boaz wouldn’t sleep a wink all night, with Ruth’s own soul laid bare at his feet. He knew that even with his great wealth and power, he would be powerless before God’s own purposes.
Then went Boaz up to the gate, and sat him down there: and, behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spake came by; unto whom he said, Ho, such a one! turn aside, sit down here.
And he turned aside, and sat down. And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit ye down here. And they sat down.
Ruth 4:1-2 (KJV)
Imagine the anguish of our man Boaz. As all that he had hoped for, or dared to dream, now rested upon that one decision of his relative—his neighbor.
Naomi seemed to say it all, when she proclaimed to Ruth (in chapter 3) “Sit still, my daughter, until you know how the matter will turn out; for the man will not rest until he has concluded the matter this day.”
And so it went. That day would come, with all of its uncertainty. As the closer relative was passing by, and Boaz politely invited him to sit with him. It was there and then that Boaz would place his own future into the hands of another.
But who was it really, that held his future? Was it to be man? Or was it God?
How low Boaz’s heart must have sank, when this relative of his then said “yes” to his proposal. But of course, this was no more than a monetary transaction for the relative. He had no heart in the matter. For him, this was just good business.
So Boaz proceeded on, informing the man of all his decision would involve.
Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also acquire Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of the deceased, in order to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance.”
The closest relative said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, because I would jeopardize my own inheritance.
Redeem it for yourself; you may have my right of redemption, for I cannot redeem it.”
Ruth 4:5-6 (NASB)
And of course, that was the deal-breaker.
Because it’s always a deal-breaker whenever the heart is not involved in God’s plans.
This might be compared to that great divide, between the business of just knowing about God (religion) and a life of loving and living unto God (the new birth).
No doubt, our man Boaz felt much more than relief that day, from his relative’s final answer. He instantly knew the God of heaven and earth had pronounced a blessing upon his household. He watched and witnessed his own future materialize, right before his eyes.
For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.’ Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:11-13 (NASB)
This particular passage in Jeremiah involves the whole land of Israel, coming forth from her captivity. But how fitting it is to think about this verse, as Ruth and Boaz are released from their own bondages of pain and loss, to seek the freedom of a God-ordained beginning.
GOD’S GOODNESS AT THE GATE
And Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, from the hand of Naomi.
Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, I have acquired as my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brethren and from his position at the gate. You are witnesses this day.”
And all 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.
Ruth 4:9-11 (NKJV)
The gates (called “courts” in some translations) of the city were where important matters of the day could be weighed and settled. And transactions were then recorded, before witnesses.
What a wondrous day! Witnessed by all those that were at the gate. For they joined in with joyful hearts, to bless Boaz and his soon-to be bride.
No doubt, the whole town would be abuzz with activity. For this would be a momentous occasion in Bethlehem. And a vital turning point in Biblical history.
So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife; and when he went in to her, the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son.
Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a close relative; and may his name be famous in Israel!
And may he be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has borne him.
Ruth 4:13-15 (NKJV)
And soon enough Boaz, this son of Salmon, would be blessed with a child. As his dear wife Ruth would give birth to their son. They would name him “Obed,” which means a servant, or a free-willed slave. And truly, a man for God’s own purposes.
And Obed in turn, would be the father of Jesse. And Jesse would be the Father of King David.
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:
Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab,
Boaz begot Obed by Ruth,
Obed begot Jesse,
and Jesse begot David the king….
…And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.
Matthew 1:1,5-6a,16
And so went the unbroken genealogy of the Jewish nation of Israel, from the patriarch Abraham, all the way through to Jesus the Christ.
So then, what is this amazing story of Ruth really about? Past its rough beginnings—past its sad disappointments, and painful uncertainties?
We are able to see the young Moabite woman Ruth in a whole new light. No longer the lost one, searching for “home.” No longer the stranger, so held by disaster, disappointment and pain.
It touches something in our own hearts, to watch Ruth approach this God of Israel, and cling to that faint hope she had found in Him—forsaking those false gods of her own understanding.
Is it any wonder then, why Ruth’s story is so touching and true? For it is just as much about us right now, as those who lived it then.
We no longer see Ruth as she was. For she has become another Ruth. God, in His infinite wisdom, has taken the stranger and grafted her into that olive tree of His own choosing.
Ruth was not only grafted into the commonwealth of a nation. She had been placed into the direct bloodline of the promised Christ to come.
And we have also been grafted into that same bloodline of God’s own purposes, made possible by that cross of Christ Jesus.
For without our own promised “Kinsman Redeemer,” we were all just wandering widows—caught up in the pain and perplexities of life—vulnerable and afraid.
The story of Ruth is really about a harvest of hearts. A very real and life-sized Love story.
And if you are faced with that one, fateful question, “Where do I go from here?”
The answer is “straight into the arms of your Kinsman Redeemer, Christ Jesus.”
You can be part of His one, life-giving and truly-living Love story.
The greatest of Love stories—still waiting to be told.
The story that is just waiting for you—if you would only meet with Him there—on the threshing floor.
“Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org