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The book of Ruth is a story of how God sovereignly orchestrated events in seemingly insignificant people’s lives to achieve His ultimate purposes. Ruth is mentioned in Matthew 1:5 as a link in the lineage to the Messiah, Jesus.

1-5: Moab was an enemy nation to Israel that came from Lot’s incestuous union with his daughter (Genesis 19:37). The famine in Judah brought Naomi and her family to Moab, setting in motion the events for Ruth to eventually meet Boaz. Naomi became a widow and her sons married Moabite women, one of which was Ruth. The sons died, and the 3 widows were left alone. From Naomi’s limited perspective, her situation seemed hopeless. Little did she know, she would have a significant role in the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant and the coming of the Messiah.

6-18: God blessed His people in the land of Judah by ending the famine. This caused Naomi to return. Ruth was loyal to Naomi and refused to leave her. Ruth even accepted the God of Israel and converted to Judaism.

19-22: Naomi couldn’t see the big picture of what God was doing so the tragic loss of her husbands and sons falsely made it seem like God was against her. This is the danger in dogmatically interpreting day to day events without having God’s view of the big picture. The famine and death of her family were extremely tragic, but they were necessary steps in bringing about the Messiah, who would bring redemption to all mankind.

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1-23: Naomi took it upon herself to start working in the field of Boaz, who was a relative of Naomi. Boaz took notice of her and praised her for the way she took care of Naomi. Her foreign, Moabite background would have made many Jews detest her, but Boaz saw her humble, godly character. From then on, Boaz protected and provided for her.

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1-18: Through Naomi’s guidance, Ruth proactively sought out Boaz to be her kinsman redeemer. This is when someone helped their relative in a time of trouble or in need. In this case, Boaz would marry Ruth to provide for her and protecting her from the difficult life of being a widow in a foreign land. He agreed to redeem her and the property but had to give another relative the option first (Leviticus 25:25, Deuteronomy 25:5-6). Doing so would also help Naomi, who would receive money for the land she inherited but could not upkeep.

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1-12: The redeemer Boaz mentioned couldn’t redeem the land or Ruth because it was too much to manage, so Boaz Married Ruth and bought the land from Naomi. The transaction was confirmed through a custom of the man giving his sandal to Boaz. The union of Boaz and Ruth carried on the lineage of Ruth’s deceased husband (Deuteronomy 25:5-6).

13-22: When Boaz and Ruth were married, they had a son named Obed. Obed was the grandfather of King David, whose lineage connected to Christ both legally and biologically through the lineages of Joseph and Mary (Matthew 1:1-5, Luke 3:23-28). God used events in the lives of Ruth, Naomi, Boaz, and many others to bring about Jesus, who would eventually pay for the sins of mankind through his death and resurrection.