Good Wednesday to you my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
In recent years a new business has arisen which enables people to trace their heritage in discovering their ancestral lines and even their ethnic heritage. Perhaps some of you have engaged in that search and been surprised to discover who some of your ancient ancestors are and what part of the world are your ancient family roots?
Please join me one last time in the village of Bethlehem, about 1100bc.The epilogue to the story of Naomi, Ruth and Boaz includes an amazing family lineage surprise!
Yesterday we witnessed a remarkable significant transaction as Boaz became the ‘kinsman redeemer’ for widows Naomi and Ruth as Boaz assumed financial responsibility for the estate of both their husbands. (Ruth 4:9-12) In addition, Boaz took both women into his home to care for them for the remainder of their lives. Ruth became wife to Boaz and Naomi, Ruth’s widow mother-in-law, came into the household of Boaz under his compassionate and generous care.
The record says: “Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. He went to her, and the LORD enabled her to conceive, and Ruth gave birth to a son. The women said to Naomi: ‘Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.” (Ruth 4:13-17) As far as we know this was Ruth’s firstborn son, since there is no record of her having had any children by her first husband, Naomi’s son, Mahlon who had died in Moab, leaving Ruth a widow.
Once again do you see how the old friends of Naomi sought to encourage her and help her recognize the amazing work of God in providing for Naomi both in the present time but also in her future old age? I really appreciate that, and may I ask, do you have some friends like that who keep calling you to see your life circumstances from God’s perspective and recognize God’s work IN those circumstances of your life?
The people who do that are true friends. They are God sent friends and we need to embrace them, thank them, appreciate them and even celebrate them, because too easily and too often the painful circumstances of life can draw our focus away from God, and leave us bitter, as Naomi was when she first returned to Bethlehem from Moab. (Ruth 1:19-21)
Did you notice Naomi’s friends call her to recognize that God has blessed her with TWO “kinsman redeemers”? One of course is Boaz who has taken her into his household and will protect and care for her. But the other is this baby born to Ruth, Naomi’s daughter-in-law, who they presume will grow up to then care for both Ruth and Naomi in their old age, after Boaz has grown old and died. The friends of Naomi were demanding that she recognize the TRIPLE blessing of God poured out upon her.
First was Ruth, her daughter-in-law willing to leave her family and homeland in Moab, to accompany Naomi to Bethlehem and learn to live as a foreigner in Israel, caring for Naomi.
Second was Boaz, her ‘kinsman redeemer’ who assumed responsibility for her estate debt and took her into his household to care for her.
And third was this newborn baby boy who would grow up to be her future ‘kinsman redeemer’! Oh, my friends, can you look at your life journey, your family heritage, to recognize how God has poured out His blessings upon you?
Finally, it’s only one simple line in this story but it’s powerful and should bring a smile to all our faces as we imagine it: “Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him.” (Ruth 4:16) We’ve all seen this, haven’t we? Maybe you’ve been the grandparent who held your grandchild as you were simply overwhelmed with God’s goodness to you! Maybe you are among the millions of grandparents who, for a wide range of reasons, are actually caring for and raising their grandchildren.
May I ask, are you a PRAYING grandparent? Do you understand the very strategic role God has provided to you in the nurturing and raising up of your grandchildren?
Eight days after that little baby boy was born, a very special ceremony took place with Boaz, Naomi, Ruth, and probably many others present as witnesses. This little boy was given the circumcision mark of the Covenant between God and His chosen people, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jacob’s sons, the people of Israel. (Gen. 17)
In that very same ceremony, after their prayers of thanksgiving to God for blessing them with this baby boy, his name was pronounced for the first time… OBED! Probably it was Boaz who said something like this: “For the glory of the God of Israel who has entrusted him to us, this boy shall be called OBED.” This name means “Worshiper of God”!
For Jews, names are very important and normally point the family forward to what they hope and expect that child will grow up to be! But names find their special significance in how the child fits into the family line, which is why the next statement in the record is so profound: “And they named him OBED. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David!” What? Oh yes, this little OBED became the grandfather of the shepherd boy who killed the giant Goliath, and then was later the second king of Israel, King David. And yes, this King David is the one after whom the star in the Israeli flag of today is named!
As Naomi, Boaz, Ruth and their friends hugged and kissed that child on that special day, the camera seems to zoom out from that home in Bethlehem, to give us a wide-angle, long-range view of the significance of this special, God given boy, both his past lineage and his future family line. Do you see it?
By the way, it’s also repeated in 1 Chronicles 2:10-12 and Matthew 1! And if we add the names from those lineages it will read like this: “Abraham was the father of Isaac, the father of Jacob, the father of Judah, the father of Perez, the father of Hezron, the father of Ram, the father of Amminadab, the father of Nahshon, the father of Salmon, the father of Boaz, the father of Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of David.”
And my friends, if you follow this family lineage further, as recorded in Matthew 1, it eventually reads like this: “…Eleazar the father of Matthan, the father of Jacob, the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called the CHRIST.” (Matt. 1:16)
Now we need to pause and catch our breath, don’t we?
Do you see now why I called us to recognize that God was working His larger plan and purpose when he allowed Naomi and Ruth to experience the tragedy of both their husbands dying in Moab, for it was their need as two widows for a ‘kinsman redeemer’ that brought Boaz into their life? Do we see that even in Naomi’s hard-hearted anger, God was merciful and patient, preparing the way for Naomi to coach Ruth in how to live a God honoring life and approach Boaz?
And finally, my friends, do we see how similar Ruth’s story is to that of Joseph and Mary, 1100 years later, as they came to this very same village Bethlehem to register for a Roman census and Mary gave birth to her son in a stable surrounded by animals? (Luke 2)
OH my, I think we need to pause and worship our Almighty, Sovereign God with this wonderful song…
Today’s Scripture is Ruth 4:13-17.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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