The Old Testament book “Ruth” is a story set “when the judges ruled” (1:1), the period covered in the book “Judges.” It was written later during the monarchy since King David is mentioned at the close. “Ruth” is a beautiful story. There are three main characters: Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz.
Naomi was the wife of Elimilech. They had two sons, Mahlon and Kilion. They lived in the area of Bethlehem, Judah, which is a short ways south of Jerusalem. Due to a famine in Judah, the family moved to Moab. Moab was southeast of Bethlehem, across the Dead Sea. It was not Jewish territory. Sometime after the move Elimilech died. We are not told the cause of his death. The two boys grew up and married Moabite women: Orpah and Ruth. Then, unexpectedly, Mahlon and Kilion both died. No cause is identified for their passing. Naomi herself believed that God was responsible. She said, “…the Almighty has made my life very bitter… The LORD has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me” (Ruth 1:20-21).
At this time, the family had lived in Moab about 10 years. At some point, Naomi heard that the famine in Judah was over, “that the LORD had come to the aid of his people” (Ruth 1:6) and she decided to return to Bethlehem. Orpah and Ruth started the journey with her, but Naomi suddenly turned to them and urged each to return to their families so they might eventually remarry. The didn’t want to do that but Naomi thought their lives would be rather hopeless if they stayed with her. Finally, Orpah agreed to return home, but Ruth did not. She said to Naomi, “Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried” (Ruth 1:16-17). So Naomi and Ruth moved to Bethlehem.
They needed to eat, and there wasn’t much that unmarried women in Judah could do to provide for themselves. So Ruth went out to the barley fields that were being harvested at the time and picked up kernels of grain that were dropped and left behind by the harvesters. This was called gleaning and was acceptable. In fact it had been commanded by the LORD: “When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest… Leave them for the poor and the alien” (Leviticus 19:9-10). While Ruth was gathering grain the landowner, Boaz, arrived and saw her. He asked his foreman who she was and was told that she was the Moabite woman who had come home with Naomi. Boaz went to Ruth and told her she should continue to glean from his fields, that she would be safe, and that she could get food and water from his crew. He knew what had happened in Moab; it was major news in Bethlehem. He told her, “May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge” (Ruth 2:12). Boaz told his harvesters to leave extra grain for Ruth to glean.
When Ruth went home that night, Naomi was surprised at how much grain she had been able to gather in one day – about an “ephah” (about 3/5 of a bushel or 22 liters, or in today’s measuring scale around 1/200th of a football field). She asked whose field she had gleaned from. Ruth told her the landowner’s name was Boaz. Naomi was pleasantly surprised and told her: “Why, he’s a close relative!” Turns out, Boaz was related to Naomi’s late husband. She went on: “He’s one of our kinsman-redeemers!”
Kinsman-redeemer? This was the term for the closest male relative of a woman who had been widowed. It’s based on Deuteronomy 25:5-10. It’s the basis for the thought experiment a group of Sadducees presented to Jesus in Matthew 22:23-33. When a man died and left a widow childless his brother or the closest relative was responsible for taking the woman as his wife. Boaz was in the line of kinsman-redeemers for Naomi and Ruth.
Naomi created a plan to convince Boaz that he was their kinsman-redeemer and to attract him to Ruth. It worked (Ruth 3). However there was another man who was ahead of Boaz in the line of relatives. Boaz gave him the chance to step up but he passed on it and allowed Boaz to take his place. The elders of Bethlehem legally witnessed the transaction and blessed it, saying, “May the LORD make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah (the wives of Jacob who had 12 sons, the originators of the 12 tribes of Israel) who together built up the house of Israel. May you have standing in Ephratha and be famous in Bethlehem (Ruth 4:11). Boaz and Ruth married. A son was born to them and Ruth 4:14-17 says,
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.” Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
And they lived happily ever after, as far as I know.
So what is the Biblical message of this great story?
Maybe it’s an example of living with and through the trials and tragedies of life and seeing how God provides and blesses his people with strength and wisdom for those difficult experiences.
Maybe it’s an example of family loyalty and love, how we should and can take responsibility for family members when there is a need, to sacrificially and actively love each other within our families.
Either of these can be gleaned from the story (see what I did there?). There is something else.
When Naomi was sending her two daughters-in-law back to their own families, she said, “May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband” (1:9). Later, after discovering that Boaz was their kinsman-redeemer she told Ruth, “My daughter, should I not try to find rest for you, where you will be well provided for?” (3:1)
Finding rest.
The book ends saying, “Boaz the father of Obed, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David” (4:21-22). The great-grandson of Boaz and Ruth was David, the King of Israel, and whose descendant was “Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Messiah” (Matthew 1:16).
This story is revealing how God has been working to fulfill his plan for humanity. Within the history of Israel, he was preparing for the arrival of the King who provides rest for his people. Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
Hebrews 4:9-10 tells us, “There remains then a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.” You remember that God commanded Israel to keep the seventh day of the week as a day of rest, the Sabbath. 
And Genesis 2:2 says, “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; son the seventh day he rested from all his work.” Now this rest is not merely leaning back and taking it easy for awhile. It’s not just a regular brief respite on your way through life. When the Jewish people built the temple in Jerusalem. King Solomon prayed, “Now arise, Lord God, and come to your resting place…” (2 Chronicles 6:41). The temple was to be the place where God “rested” just as he did at the conclusion of his creative work. The temple was the place where God lived with his people.
I think all of this together indicates that the “rest” that we can have means being home where we belong – with our Creator. Naomi wanted her daughters-in-law to have a home where they belonged and could flourish. Jesus invites all of us to come home to him and flourish. He is our kinsman-redeemer, our closest relative who takes us into his own family (see Hebrews 2:5-18). That’s where we belong. God created humans as his sons and daughters, his images. If we are not with him, we are out of place. I am not talking about going to heaven when we die. In and through Jesus, God has come to us. His Kingdom is here. His Spirit lives with us. The home where we belong is now in a trusting, surrendered, loving relationship with Christ (though there is far more that will come).
Jesus’ invitation interpreted by The Message translation:
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest.
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