Ruth – A Story of Grace 9

So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian-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.

This, then, is the family line of Perez: Perez was the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon,  Salmon the father of Boaz, Boaz the father of Obed, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David.

Ruth 4.13-22

The midnight meeting in the seclusion of the threshing floor has been conducted in a God honouring way. Ruth has returned home with additional supplies of barley and Boaz has come to the town gate where business is conducted to put forward his case for being the kinsman-redeemer for Elimelech’s family. He has a very personal interest in this beyond the provisions God has set out for levirate marriage, for he has clearly fallen in love with Ruth.

There is however one obstacle between the two of them in that there is a kinsman-redeemer closer than him. So the tension rises. Will this friendship and marriage plans be stopped at the last moment?

The tension is resolved when the other claimant waives his right for fear of endangering his own estate v.6 and the whole thing is sealed with the exchange of sandals as prescribed in Deuteronomy 25.

There is much rejoicing as Elimelech’s name is secured and the prayer of the Ephrathahites  ‘May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem’ is answered in a way that they could not have imagined, for as the closing paragraph of the book reveals Boaz and Ruth (a foreigner) become the great grandparents of King David.

And of course it was from the line of David that Jesus was born.

In that regard Boaz and Ruth became famous as they were part of the ancestral line of Jesus and that name is the name above all other names ‘for at his name every knee shall bow’ Philippians 2.10 and there is ‘no other name under heaven, given to men by which we must be saved’ 

Acts 4.12

Naomi returned to Bethlehem bitter and empty but in his grace and mercy God filled the close of her days in ways that were beyond her wildest dreams.

He is the same God today and his grace is sufficient for you and and for me.

The grace of the Lord like a fathomless sea

Sufficient for you, sufficient for, sufficient for me

Is tender and patient and boundless and free

Sufficient for every need.

CSSM/Scripture Union Chorus

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