Ruth Chapter 2. 8-23
I would encourage you to read the whole chapter of Ruth again before we start to look at the text. God is with Naomi and Ruth. God has not forgotten the faithfulness of this Ruth who was a foreigner.
I think to understand everything that is happening to Ruth one should look at verse 12 and use that as a key to understand the whole chapter.
In verse 12 Boaz is speaking God’s mind. Boaz reminds Ruth that she has stayed faithful to the God of Israel even through the death of loved ones. She also did not turn her back on the old and frail (Naomi). It is now time for the God of Israel to take Ruth under his wings for refuge. The truth is God never let Ruth and Naomi go. When they were walking back to Bethlehem Naomi and Ruth could not see what the future held. With the natural eye they would see disaster. I think we have all been there some time in our life. This is not what happened. Naomi earlier said God caused this to happen, but she never gave up her faith in God. Although she could not see beyond, something greater was happening in their world that would eventually to even influence us in the 21st Century through Christ.
It may be that you have faith, but your world has turned upside down. St Paul said somewhere that three things remain: Faith, Hope and Love. Then he says that the greatest one of these is love. When the end of times has completed its course there will be no need for hope as it is hope that has been realized. Our believing our reliance on God will also be realized. What will hold everything together then? The answer is simple, Love! Indeed, St Paul is right. So, will faith be found in the land? Yes, Naomi and Ruth were faithful, and God made the impossible possible. Therefore, let us keep on loving God and our neighbour leaving racism far away.
I have left the verses of note for you to reflect on. Thanks for taking the time to read my blog.
11 Boaz replied to her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband has been fully reported to me, and how you left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and came to a people that you did not previously know. Ruth 2:11
12 May the LORD reward your work, and your wages be full from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge.” Ruth 2:12
20 Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed of the LORD who has not withdrawn his kindness to the living and to the dead.” Again Naomi said to her, “The man is our relative, he is one of our closest relatives.” Ruth 2:20
23 So she stayed close by the maids of Boaz in order to glean until the end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest. And she lived with her mother-in-law. Ruth 2:23
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