Ruth 4:13-22 Nicole Mcleod
Please open your Bible to Ruth 4:13-22
Here we are at the end of the book of Ruth, one of the most beautiful love stories ever written. It’s a human love story that illustrates for us a divine love story. As it draws to a close, we get to see God’s blessings pour out upon the bride, the bridegroom, their baby, upon Naomi and upon the future generations to come. God’s faithfulness is on display in these final 10 verses, and this the “happily ever after” ending we have been looking forward to!
God works everything out, and as the story ends the writer points us to the future – and to the greater story of God’s redeeming love that will reach every generation and every nation in the ongoing love story of His grace! What a great God we worship!
Let’s pray: Thank you Lord for these wonderful women, and I pray you will bless them and bless their families today. And thank you for our Bible study in Ruth and for all you have shown us. You are so awesome! As we read these final 10 verses, please speak to our hearts and teach us we pray, in Jesus name, amen.
Last week we were at the Bethlehem city gate where Boaz joyfully accepted the role of "kinsman-redeemer. He cleverly outmaneuvered a closer relative to redeem Naomi’s land and marry Ruth proving rest and security to them both.
Ruth 4:13 “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.”
So, Boaz took Ruth…Notice the little phrase “the Moabitess” is gone! She is the now the bride and wife of one of the most prominent men in Bethlehem. She turned to Yahweh with her whole heart and life, she has been redeemed, and now she has a new identity.
In just one verse, we have the glorious marriage, the God given conception and the longed-for heir. Scholars agree that Ruth and Boaz almost certainly had a wedding celebration. The Bride and Groom would have been dressed like royalty and because Boaz was a wealthy and respected landowner, the entire town of Bethlehem would have celebrated with them.
In this moment of joy and celebration, can you see a prophetic picture of the church as the blessed bride of Christ and the blessed wedding ceremony that will be in heaven someday. (See Rev. 19:6-9) For He is good and His faithful love, endures forever! What a great God we worship!
Their marriage was celebrated and then then consummated and The Lord gave Ruth conception. She had been barren in her 10-year marriage to Mahlon, in Moab. Everyone rejoiced as God poured out His blessings on this family.
Every baby is a special gift from God. When we hold a new baby in our arms, we hold the future, a life full of promise. We wonder who they will become, and we pray God will use their precious life. It is good to remind our children (no matter how old they are) that they are a blessing from God, and how thankful we are to God for them.
Ruth is now settled with her beloved, Boaz, and the focus returns again to Naomi. Naomi is blessed with a new family.
Ruth 4:14: “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!”
The women in the community give glory to God and praise Him for providing a kinsman redeemer (Go-el/ redeemer). Blessed be the Lord - Jehovah, using the proper name of the God of Israel.
These townswomen had witnessed Naiomi’s emptiness when she returned, and now, they bless her and praise the God who turned her emptiness into fulness of joy. The bitter one was now the blessed one. What an incredible reversal. Both Naomi and Ruth are now provided for by the redemption Boaz has purchased.
In their blessing the women also pray that the redeemer’s name will be famous in Israel. Back in Ruth 4:12 they had blessed Boaz, praying that his name would be famous in Bethlehem, for he stepped up to redeem Naomi’s family line and land, and Ruth. And his name did become famous in Bethlehem. But let’s read vs 15…
Ruth 4:15 “And may he (the redeemer) 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.”
Notice this phrase, has borne him. So, in vs 14, they are now speaking of Obed, the baby Ruth bore to be Naomi’s family heir, and who will continue the family line. They hoped Obed will be three things, 1) a restorer of life to her, 2) a nourisher of her old age, and 3) may his name be famous in Israel.
Obed became all three. As the legal continuation of Elimelech and Mahlon's family, he would be the male heir who would secure Naomi’s land and provide for her in her old age. And he and his descendants are famous in Israel. Naomi had complained that the Lord had brought her back “empty”. But the Lord restores and sustains and nourishes her life. Like the picture we find in Psalm 92, she will “flourish” in her old age, because she is planted in the presence of the Lord, among his people, with His blessing.
May we be planted in Christ, nourished by His Word, abiding in Him, bearing fruit, and flourishing in all seasons and leave behind us a legacy of faith hope and love.
“Calling the heir a redeemer indicates that he is the one in whom redemption is realized” ESV global study Bible.
And the village women said to Naomi, “Ruth is better to you than seven sons”. The number seven expresses completion, or fullness so this is quite a compliment.
Ruth 4:16 “Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her bosom and became a nurse to him.
(This term used for nurse does not mean that she literally nursed the baby - the Hebrew word Aman means ‘to support, to foster’ as a parent or nanny. It is never used in the scriptures for breastfeeding.)
Ruth 4:17 Also the neighbor women gave him a name, saying, “There is a son born to Naomi.” And they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.”
They call him Naomi's son, rather than grandson, because the community viewed him as the legal heir of her deceased husband.. Ruth and Boaz provided the child and the land for Naomi, not for themselves, but for Naomi’s family line. As I lsee this, Ruth’s loyalty in this surpasses all of her other acts of selfless love and kindness.
The son’s name Obed means servant of God or worshiper, or a servant who worships. This is a very fitting name, and it is given to him by the women of Bethlehem. Interesting! This marriage produces a worshipper or a servant who worships God. The godly Boaz and the virtuous Ruth produced Obed, the servant worshipper who grew up and became the father of Jesse, the father of David. This is so significant because this is considered by Biblical historians to be where the royal lineage of Israel’s kings began. What a foundation!
God had promised that kings would come from the tribe of Judah who settled in Bethlehem. This family line was to be the root of the royal family as we can read in Genesis 49:10.
And then some 27 generations later, David’s “greater Son” who would sit on his throne forever, would also be born in this “little town of Bethlehem”, partly because God worked everything out in this story. And when we read the Christmas story and read about the shepherds in the fields tending their flocks by night, they may have been in the very fields of Boaz and Ruth. Only God knows, but He has great plans, doesn’t He!
Micah 5:2 ““But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
The One to be Ruler in Israel,
Whose goings forth are from of old,
From everlasting.”
So now we come to the final 4 verses of this amazing book.It’s easy to skim over the Old Testament genealogies in the Bible, but verses 18-22 are of great importance.
“God’s hand is all over history. God works out His purpose, generation after generation. Limited as we are to one lifetime, each of us sees so little of what happens. A genealogy is a striking way of bringing before us the continuity of God’s purpose through the ages. The process of history is not haphazard. There is a purpose in it all. And the purpose is the purpose of God.” (Morris)
These 4 verses trace the Messianic promise of God given to Abraham, through the generations – through their time of slavery in Egypt, through the years of Moses and the years of wilderness wandering, through the time of Joshua, the time of the Judges etc.… to King David. And all of a sudden, we see the big picture. And the seemingly ordinary events of this story are woven into God’s great story of redemption for the whole world!
This makes me think of a beautiful well known poem, called “The Weaver”.
“My life is but a weaving, Between my God and me.
I cannot choose the colors,He weaveth steadily.
Oft' times He weaveth sorrow; And I in foolish pride
Forget He sees the upper, And I the underside.
Not 'til the loom is silent And the shuttles cease to fly,
Will God unroll the canvas And reveal the reason why.
The dark threads are as needful In the weaver's skillful hand,
As the threads of gold and silver In the pattern He has planned.
He knows, He loves, He cares; Nothing this truth can dim.
He gives the very best to those Who leave the choice to Him”
The tapestry of God’s plans of redemption have been woven through time and generations.
Ruth 4:18-22 “Now this is the genealogy of Perez: The writer begins with Judah’s son Perez. Perez begot Hezron; Hezron begot Ram, and Ram begot Amminadab; Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon; Salmon begot Boaz, and Boaz begot Obed; Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David.
And the final word of the Book of Ruth is David. This genealogy connects David’s ancestry through Boaz to Perez to the house of Judah. In these ten names, we see the faithfulness of God over large spans of time and the promises of God fulfilled through the generations.
Ps. 119:90a “Your faithfulness continues through all generations…”
As we close, let’s turn to Matthew 1. As Pastor George has been teaching us on Sundays, God is Sovereign over all history, and we see this especially as we look at the names of the individuals that make up the genealogy of Jesus. In vs 5 (and in Luke 3:32) we see that Jesus is a descendent of Ruth and Boaz in the royal family line of Judah! So, their love story fits perfectly into the bigger love story of redemption, recorded for us in the New Testament.
We won’t read the entire genealogy but let’s look at verse 1.
Matthew 1:1 “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham”
Matthew presents Jesus as Israel’s promised Messiah - the Son of David, and the Son of Abraham – the fulfillment of two great covenants of the Old Testament. In vs 2-6 Matthew traces the lineage of Jesus through the royal kings of Judah to establish beyond any doubt the claims of Jesus Christ to be King.
In these verses, we also recognize the Ruth 4:18-22 genealogy. But do you see what is different here?
In Jesus family tree we find the names of five women mentioned along with the men.
Women were not usually mentioned in Jewish genealogies as it was a patriarchal society. The mention of their names here makes the point that God redeems people not on the basis of ancestry, culture, status, reputation or birth, but on the basis of His Sovereignty, His love, mercy and grace.
Tamar is named in vs 3. We are familiar with her hard story in Genesis 38. She was the Canaanite daughter-in-law of Judah who of desperation tricked Judah, into fulfilling the levirate marriage law which he had not been willing to do. She gave birth to twins, Perez and Zerah, thus preserving the royal family line of Judah. Judah, Tamar and Perez are listed here in the genealogy of Jesus. God’s grace on display.
Rehab is mentioned in vs 5. She was a Canaanite prostitute from Jerico. But her faith in God and her faith led actions helped Israel and saved her family. She married a leader of the tribe of Judah, Salmon, and became the mother of Boaz – and is an ancestress of King David and Jesus Christ. Another amazing God story.
Next is Ruth, (whom we have had the joy of studying this summer). She was a Moabite widow whose life was transformed by her faith in God and her loving commitment to God, and to Naomi. Her virtue was well known to all, and she shows us what steadfast, loyal love, and covenant faithfulness looks like. Her presence in Jesus's lineage pictures God's grace extending to all nations and peoples. She is the only direct ancestor of Jesus with a book named after her.
In vs 6 is Bathsheba. She had been the wife of Uriah the Hittite, one of David's loyal elite warriors, but in a heartbreaking move, king David saw her and summoned her to his palace and slept with her, resulting in a pregnancy by adultery. He repented, and though their baby died, God blessed her, and in time she bore Solomon (who became king, after David). More of God’s amazing grace on display.
In vs 16 is Mary, a humble young Jewish woman who saw herself as God’s servant and God as her Savior. The angel Gabriel promised her that her Son, Jesus, would sit on “King David’s throne” and would rule over an everlasting kingdom. And her response was “be it unto me according to your word”, a powerful declaration of surrender, trust, and openness to whatever purpose God has for your life.
May our response to God be the same today as He calls us to be a part of His great story.
And this is the point I want to close with today. Our salvation is not a “theological subject” we study. It is a surrender to God’s powerful love, to His Spirit and it’s a turning away from our sin, our empty worldly pursuits to follow Jesus, and this is repentance, and this leads us into the most beautiful love story ever written because it is written by God for us! Salvation is the greatest love story in the world!
1 Peter 1:18-21 NLT “For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. 19 It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. 20 God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake.21 Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory.”
In Him we find our rest and security, and we belong to Him eternally. He has freely given us His grace, His redemption, His salvation, His provision, His protection, and His love.
May all of us give Him thanks, glory honor and praise forever. Amen
Let's pray: Lord, we thank you for the story of Ruth and for all You have done to redeem us – we are eternally grateful to You and thank you for the cross and for making us whole through faith in Jesus Christ. We praise your name and we love you Lord. In Jesus name we pray. Amen
