Audio of Ruth & 👑Jesus’ Redemption (1 hour, 1 minute)

Judges 17-21 darkness matches the time/place of Ruth.

Ruth 1 Return

  • Names and events are historic and symbolic (Ruth 1:20; Zechariah 6:12): Elimelech = My God is king; Bethlehem = House of bread; etc.
  • My-God-is-king is hanging by a thread; only possibility of restoration can come via grafted-in cursed, Moabite (Genesis 19:30-38; Deuteronomy 23:3-6)
  • 1:22: Beginning of barley harvest (late March), 2 Samuel 21:9

Ruth 2 Relief

  • Boaz & his field = type for Christ & Church: He is worthy; his church works toward harvest, follows Law (Leviticus 23:22), shares meal where Boaz presents bread and wine, and ministers to the foreigner
  • Also… Boaz can be kinsman-redeemer (Leviticus 25:25, 47-49) to Ruth/Naomi/Elimelech (like Jesus, Hebrews 2:14)
  • 2:23 end of wheat harvest (late May, Pentecost: Deuteronomy 16:9-10)

Ruth 3 Rest

  • Ruth: can’t redeem, must rest. Boaz: can redeem, must work (Leviticus 23:30-32)

Ruth 4 Redemption

  • 4:18-22: Boaz-Ruth-Obed: Similar, yet superior to Judah-Tamar-Perez (Genesis 38:6-11); Matthew 1:1-6
  • Deuteronomy 25:5-10: to resurrect the name of the dead
  • Ephesians 2: Jew and Gentile alike were dead in trespasses, but our Kinsman-Redeemer paid our debt to restore us to Him as One body where we all proclaim God as our King.

Ruth & 👑Jesus’ Redemption – Fuller Outline

Ruth Background

  • Generation after Joshua: Judges 18:30; 20:28; Matt. 1:5
  • Bethlehemite sojourns: Judges 17:7; 19:1-2; Ruth 1:1-2
  • 👑God: Judges 1:1; 21:25 ↘️contrasts Ruth 1:1-2; 4:22 ↗️

Ruth 1:1-5 decline ↘️

  • Names/people are historic but still can carry God’s eternal message (Ruth 1:20; Zech. 6:11-12)
  • Elimelech = My God is King; Bethlehem = House of Bread; Naomi = Pleasant; Mara = Bitter; Mahlon = Sickly; Chilion = Wasting Away; Ruth = Friend; Orpah = Neck (Back of); Boaz = Strong

Ruth 1:6-18 tested ⚖️

  • 1:6 “heard [good news] in Moab” God active here and 4:13
  • 1:18 Ruth “determined to go” (Luke 14:25-33)

Ruth 1:19-22 new beginning ☀️

  • 1:21-22 “‘Why call me Naomi…?’ So Naomi returned” God gets final say
  • 1:22 “The beginning of barley harvest” late March / April; 2 Sam. 21:9 – same reference following a famine, after Gentiles are restored to Israel

Ruth 2 Jesus, His Church ✝️

  • Boaz is eventual Redeemer, picture of Christ
  • 2:1, 19-20 Boaz = “worthy man”; connected to God-is-my-king; blessed, kinsman-redeemer (Lev 27?)
  • 2:3 Ruth “happened” upon Boaz’s field
  • 2:4-16 Boaz’ field is like Christ’s church: proclaim God; orderly care for others (1 Tim. 5; gleaning law); shared meal with bread and wine, served first by Boaz/Christ; in contrast to darkness of Judges 17-21
    • 2:10-13 “a foreigner” (Deut. 23:3-6; Eph 2)
    • 2:14,18 with Deut 14:29; 26:12
  • 2:17 ephah = 10 times more than daily manna
  • 2:23 end of barley (late March – late April), wheat harvest (late April – late May); Pentecost (Deut 16:9-10; Ex. 23:16)

Ruth 3 Rest in Him

  • 3:1, 18 – Ruth rests; Boaz works for redemption Lev 23:30-32
  • 3:1-13 late night scene of virtue (3:11)

4:1-12 redemption

  • Lev. 25; Deut 25:5-10
  • One closer than I – Adamic nature (first the natural, then the spiritual)

4:13-22 restoration (unto 👑Jesus)

  • 4:13 God active here and 1:6

Ruth & 👑Jesus’ Redemption – Fullest Outline

Judges ↘️(Slopes down)

  • Judges covers ~300 years of Israelite’s early history in Canaan (11:26)
  • Big Reveal at end – awful sin was there all along (grandchildren of Moses and Aaron); including in Gibeah (Saul) and Bethlehem (David). This makes it harder to point the finger to time and situations causing us to slide into rebellion when it was there at the beginning. It also is set in the hometown of the future kings, Saul and David, which may suggest ultimate deliverance will not come from these places.

Ruth↗️(Trends upward after initial setback)

  • Ruth is a contrast to Judges, where everyone did what they wanted because there was no king, whereas Ruth (a cursed Moabite, Deut. 23:3) did not do as she wanted, but chose to serve Naomi, bringing David, who would later bring in Christ: King God!
  • Ruth Setting: “When the judges ruled” (Ruth 1:1); generation after Joshua (Ruth 4:20-21; Matt. 1:5) – similar to Judges, big reveal at end shows this too happened only a generation after Joshua
  • Ruth Theme: “No king in Israel” (Judges 21:25); “Elimelech” = “God-is-my-king” (Ruth 1:2); “Jesse fathered David” (Ruth 4:22) – Ruth is the contrast to Judges, where God as King is initially restored through David, but ultimately onto Christ (Matt. 1:1)
  • Ruth Story: Gentile bride is grafted in as a contrast to Israel. This happened when Israel cast out God-as-King (Elimelech), but it ended up bringing deliverance and salvation to Israel. All looked lost for the God-as-King (Elimelech) line, and on the brink of no future King David (and no King Christ through David). Only by an act of redemption and a sort of resurrection (pointing to the gospel) is everything restored. This includes taking in her who is cursed by the Law (Deut. 23:3), just as Jesus does that for all of us (Gal. 3:13). This is the second time in Judah’s line that such a thing happened: Perez in Gen. 38 showed the first time, where Judah’s line was all but extinguished after the death of Judah’s 2 sons, and Tamar (Gentile bride) slept with her father-in-law (Judah) via deceit to conceive. Ruth 4:18 seems to highlight this parallel (while also being a contrast).
    • Further note that this also parallels the Moabite line (Ruth’s lineage), wherein Lot’s 2 sons-in-law die and his daughters trick Lot to conceive, with the firstborn daughter birthing Moab (Gen. 19:30-38). In contrast, in a remarkably similar situation, Ruth acts nobly in the middle-of-the-night with Boaz (Ruth 3).

Ruth 1: Return

  • Names have meaning (Ruth 1:20). These are real people (Matt. 1:1-5), but point to eternal truths beyond them (think Galatians 4:21-31; 1 Cor. 10:1-11).
  • Ruth 1:1-5: God-is-my-King (“Elimelech”) moves out of Bethlehem (“house of bread”) due to famine, along with his wife (Naomi, “pleasant”) and 2 sons (“sickly”, Mahlon, and “wasting away”, Chilion). All 3 men die, leaving Naomi with her Moabite (cursed, Gentile – Deut. 23:3) daughters-in-law.
  • 1:6-14: two gentiles make motions of turning to the true God, but are tested
    • 1:6: Similar to prodigal son story, they return home, to God, after a famine
    • 1:9: A goal is finding rest in their husband’s house, a picture of the gospel (Heb. 3-4)
  • 1:15-18: Ruth alone determined to stay until the end, trading her false god for the true God of Israel
  • 1:22: They came to Bethlehem at beginning of barley harvest (which is at the beginning of the crop year). Only repeated in 2 Sam. 21:9, where God ended a famine after Israel atoned their mistreatment of the Gentile Gibeonites.

Ruth 2: Relief

  • 2:1-3: God providentially brings a willing seeker to the place of redemption
  • 2:4-7: In the midst of awful spiritual decline, God preserved a faithful remnant within Boaz’s lot, tending to the souls of those in their midst, including the foreigner.
  • 2:8-13:
    • Boaz (a picture of Christ) first addresses Ruth with, “Listen, my daughter…” (2:8a).
    • The first thing for her to know was the offer of family, and direction. “Keep close to my young women” (2:8b). The next thing she needed was discipleship amongst others further along. “
    • 2:13: his words brought her closer, like God’s word does to those who hear
  • 2:14-23
    • 2:14: Next, she shared a meal with Him and his community
    • 2:17: “an ephah” – this is ten times what they gathered with manna (Exod. 16:36)
    • 2:20a: Boaz’s kindness is unto the dead (Elimelech plus sons) in addition to the living (Ruth and Naomi).
    • 2:20b: A redeemer, see Lev. 25:23-34. This had to be one of your kindred who had the means and willingness to buy you and yours out of slavery. You have no power, but are dead and/or in bondage. He alone can save and deliver. A perfect picture of Christ, who had to come in human likeness to become our “kinsman redeemer,” when we were dead in our trespasses and sold under slavery.
    • 2:23: “she kept close to the young women…until the end” – she had to make effort in order to receive the blessing of discipleship

Ruth 3: Rest

  • 3:1-5: “seek rest” (3:1; compare 1:9), wherein she places her trust in her husband to provide and no longer is trying to make it on her own, a picture of the gospel and our faith toward God
  • 3:6-18: the darkness and appearance of possible immodesty while she remained pure (3:11) is a contrast from the birth of Perez and Moab (see above), where deceit was behind the begetting.
    • 3:9: “you are a redeemer” – Ruth acknowledges who Boaz is and what he uniquely can do for Elimelech, Naomi, and her. Jesus, when taking on human flesh, became like Boaz (Heb. 2:14)
    • 3:12: “a redeemer nearer than I” – Boaz is a picture of Christ, our Redeemer. If we might extend this picture, the redeemer nearer (but not superior) than Christ could be the Law and/or our old man. Before Christ came, this was the means to salvation which ended up just showing us our need for a different Redeemer (Rom. 7:1-4; Gal. 4:1-7)
  • 3:1, 18 – Ruth was looking for total rest, while Boaz would not rest until the work is finished, like Christ (John 5:17; 6:28-29; 19:30)

Ruth 4: Redemption, Resurrection, & Royalty

  • 4:1-12
    • 4:5: The redemption was “to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance” – this is a picture of resurrection, where he lives on through his name after his death. The dead one cannot do this for himself, only the Redeemer can.
    • 4:6-8: The closer kinsman-redeemer rejects the opportunity. Only Boaz can bring the redemption, a picture of Christ. Compare Gen. 38:6-11; Deut. 25:5-10 – the story of Perez (Ruth 4:18) mirrors Ruth’s story in some ways. The closer redeemer selfishly rejects promoting the name and inheritance of his deceased brother.
    • 4:9: The redemption was very public, similar to Christ’s redemption of us on Calvary
    • 4:10: This redemption brought life to the dead (“that the name of the dead may not be cut off”)
    • 4:11: The Gentile, Ruth, is compared to the mothers of the 12 tribes of Israel (Rachel and Leah), could point to a new nation being birthed in Boaz that joins together Gentile and Jew (speaking to the work of Christ, Eph. 2:11-22)
    • 4:12: Ruth is also compared to Tamar, a Gentile bride, the mother of Perez. Yet a further parallel between the two stories.
  • 4:13-22
    • 4:14-15: notice that the redemption is targeted toward Naomi on behalf of Elimelech. Thus all of this is a resurrection (“restorer of life”, 4:15) and restoration for Naomi on behalf of Elimelech (“God-is-my-king”)
    • 4:17: “Obed” means worshiper/servant
    • 4:18: family line starts with Perez (for reasons given above)
    • 4:20: Nahshon was a chief in Judah during Moses’ time (see Num. 2:3; 1 Chron. 2:10)
    • 4:20-21: Salmon had a son through Rahab of Joshua 2 (see Matt. 1:5)
      • Note that in this short book of Ruth we have Tamar (Gentile) birthing Perez, Rahab (Gentile) birthing Boaz, a possible reference to Gibeonites (Gentiles) being accepted by God/Israel, and Ruth (Gentile) birthing Obed…unto David
    • 4:21-22: Salmon → Boaz → Obed → Jesse → David. These 4 generations span roughly the time of the book of Judges.