Monday: Ruth and Boaz
Daily Lesson for Monday 9th of June 2025
Naomi asked that her name be changed to Mara because of the bitterness that had fallen over her life (see Ruth 1:20). Our relationship with our Creator has been irreparably damaged by sin, forcing us into spiritual poverty. Our prospects are dim, and we spend our lives gleaning what we can from the edges of the field, living on the scraps of joy that can still be found in a broken world. But it all changes the moment we make a remarkable discovery: God has not forgotten us.
Read Ruth 2:5-20. Why is this such a pivotal moment in the story? Why do you think Naomi’s discovery of the benefactor’s identity was such good news?
Image © Providence Collection at Goodsalt.com
Naomi could not take possession of her husband Elimelech’s land without obtaining assistance from her husband’s family. She hopes that Ruth can marry a close relative of her deceased husband and bear a child in Elimelech’s name. God had made provision in Israel for individuals to reclaim their inheritance in the Promised Land: a close relative was needed to redeem Elimelech’s inheritance. Boaz was not just a kind farmer; he was a kinsman of Elimelech who could redeem the land.
The discovery that Boaz was not only kindhearted and generous but a relative was the best possible news: the poverty in which these two women existed did not have to last forever.
Christians have long understood Boaz to be a type of Christ, who is not only our Creator but chose to become our kinsman—a real, flesh-and-blood human being, one of the reasons why, again and again, He called Himself “the Son of man” (Matthew 12:8, Mark 8:31, Luke 22:22, John 3:14).
Far too many people think of God in harsh terms—e.g., “Perhaps He will let us into heaven if we check all the correct boxes on a moral inventory, but He will do so grudgingly because we have scraped by on a technicality.” The picture of Christ revealed in Boaz completely displaces such notions. God not only notices us, but, in spite of our deep spiritual poverty, He wants us as His bride.
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Try to wrap your mind around not only the Creator’s becoming part of His own creation but then dying for it. How should this astonishing truth impact how we view our own existence? |
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Life is full of rude awakenings!”, as seen in the bible stories starting from Genesis. Adam sleeps wakes up and discovers he’d been through surgery and was now a married man! Jacob woke up to discover he was married to the wrong woman! Boaz woke up at midnight to find a woman lying at his feet!
Whenever we find ourselves in a miserable situation in life, surrounded by circumstances beyond what we could have chosen, nor of our own liking, the prayer of our hearts is likely to be something like this: “O God, please take this cup from me! Relief the pain, take away the suffering, heal me where I am hurting!. We, quite understandably, want to avoid the hard things of life. Even as bible characters like Naomi, we find ourselves in that long, dark night of the soul, we cry out for God to change our circumstances too Jesus said take this cup from me....but of course thy will be done . Interestingly our God is not as shallow as that. His thinking is different and His ways are very different from our ways.
God in his wisdom than merely changing our circumstances, in line with our petitions, He desires that our hearts be transformed in line with what Jesus said "but thy will be done"! Such a transforming work is what we need in our darkest moments that will draw us closer to God, and thus leave us forever changed.
Warren Wiersbe puts it this way: “If our circumstances change for the better, but we remain the same, then we will become worse.” (Wiersbe, W. W. (1993).
When we are overwhelmed, experiencing darkness, sadness, anxiety, loneliness, loss among others, we long to see the circumstances of our lives changed, but even more than that we ought to long for the transformation of our hearts, minds and spirit that will open our eyes to see that which God is doing.
Whenever we are woken, it means reduced rest and we become weary. The greatest rest we can have is in our redeemer. The rest that Ruth experienced in Ruth 3:6-18 from her redeemer Boaz, is a picture of the rest we can have in our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
For Ruth, God’s grace was manifested in the person of the incomparable Boaz. Remember that it is God who brought her to his field, and it’s God who brought Boaz to that same field at the right time to meet Ruth. In this story we see God at work behind the scenes bringing healing out of heartache, and hope out of despair, to provide for the needs of His people and to shower them with a grace beyond anything they had dreamed of!
Yes, Motanya — when seen through the eyes of the Spirit, every moment of our lives becomes a quiet echo of God's Grace. In a way, each of us experienced Moab — close, but not close enough, wandering, but too distant to know the true God of Isreal.
Yet by Mercy, we are drawn to the One who waits with open arms, able and willing to redeem. And there, at His feet, in stillness and surrender, we find our rest — “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength” - Isaiah 30:15.
Amen, and amen, Brother Motanya.
The story of Ruth and Boaz as reported in the Book of Ruth 2:5–20 is deeply moving which overflows with grace, compassion and divine providence. The amount of kindness demonstrated between Ruth and Boaz, and Ruth’s resolute love for her mother-in-law is something to behold particularly in a world where selfishness reigns. This story holds profound spiritual lessons for those whose end time has come. This story is a challenge to us who claim to be waiting for the second coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Ruth a Moabite, a foreigner and a widow cultural was to be marginalised but Boaz welcomes her with dignity, provides her with safety and provision. As we wait for the appearing of our Lord, we are called to exercise radical kindness to the poor, vulnerable, marginalized, and the "foreigners". We cannot look the other side from the likes of Ruth who are amidst us. In a world where love is waxing away, Ruth’s kindness reminds us that kindness is not a feeling but a sacrificial commitment. Even as a terrible tragedy befell Ruth and Naomi, we see God actively working behind the curtains providing for those who trust Him. At times of tragedies, let us remember that God is not absent, just, let us remain faithful. Ruth and Boaz provide a living example of a people whose end-time has already come (Matthew 25:35–40).
"Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony." (Colossians 3:12–14, ESV)
Boaz, being a type of Christ, and the kindness He extended to Ruth,
reminds us of God's love for us capture so wonderfully in song by Rusty Goodman:
"Who am I that a king would bleed and die for,
who am I that he would pray not my will thine Lord,
the answer I may never know why he ever loved me so,
and to an old rugged cross he'd go for who am I."
I have been absent for a few days, camping on the coast and photographing birds and whales, hence my absence.
We all love the story of Ruth and Boaz because it typifies redemption, and we like to jump quickly from the type to the antitype. That is fair enough, but unless we do the reverse jump back to us, we may miss a really important point about living redemption now.
The Hebrews had been instructed about the importance of looking after strangers and the needy, especially the widows and orphans. If you read the Torah, particularly Leviticus and Deuteronomy, you will see them mentioned many times. In fact, a fair bit of the tithing system could be regarded as a systematic welfare system for those in need. Unfortunately, many were too mean-spirited and greedy and many of the later writings of the prophets condemned this in the same breath as they condemned idol worship and following false gods.
Boaz's actions illustrate how the system should work.
Naomi and Ruth were in need and benefited from his generosity. Not only did he fulfil the letter of the law, he went beyond it by his own free will.
You know the rest of the story and its final outcome, but I want to make the point that if we want our spiritual lesson about redemption to be relevant today, we need to think that the story begins with the generosity of spirit towards others. We find that there are many organisations that give out the necessities of life in today's society but more than anything else, we need to be generous towards others without strings.
Paul said:
The seeds of redemption start small.
We owe our whole being to the Creator. Nothing is luck, but a plan of a Heavenly Master Mind. We are the ones who make God's plans for us very difficult. Because we decide to be in control: failure starts here!