I’m Going With You | Season 2 Episode 3

During the time of the Judges an Israelite family from Bethlehem went across the Jordan into Moab because of famine. Should they have gone? Who knows? Moab was not a place Israelites should be. The Moabites were a constant problem to the Israelites. I’m sure Elimelech did what he thought was best for his wife and children. His two sons were not the healthiest. They were sickly kids. As it turns out Elimelech dies in Moab. His sons take Moabitesses as wives. And then they die. Now the family consists of a widow (Naomi) and her two widowed daughters-in-law (Ruth and Orpah). Three women left to fend for themselves. This was a nightmare scenario for them. Naomi gives the opportunity to Ruth and Orpah to return to their families. She knows she has no means to support them. What would become of them? She knows the young women can remarry and secure better futures without her. They insist that they will stay with her. There is clearly such a bond there. Even in their short time together they have been through so much.

Eventually, Naomi determines to go back home. She figures she must have some family that will take pity on her. Again, she insists that Ruth and Orpah return to their families. Orpah does decide to go home, but Ruth says the words that we are all familiar with, ”Where you go, I will go. Your people will be my people. Your God, my God.”

Naomi has to go home tail between her legs. Empty is how she describes it. She had lost everything. Except Ruth. What a blessing to gain. Ruth takes care of her. Gleans in the fields as the poor do, collecting what they need for a day to eat. And that is how she meets Boaz. He owns the field she is working. She must have stuck out from the others because they noticed her. And I’m sure all of Bethlehem had heard of Naomi’s return and her foreign daughter-in-law.

To make a long story short, Boaz becomes the Kinsmen Redeemer to Naomi and Ruth. What does that mean? Well, he steps in and pays their debts. He is a close relative of Naomi’s deceased husband, Elimelech. He gets his land, but he has to take Ruth as part of the deal. He was a man of principal and loyalty. He was committed to following the ways of his culture and faith. Ruth was a good woman though. She was kind and compassionate and hard working.
And do you know the best part of this whole story? The genealogy it is a part of. This family tree is stacked. You see, Boaz’s mother was a former madam of a brothel in a town called Jericho until she heard about the God of the Israelites. She, Rahab was an outsider too. Boaz and Ruth had a son named Obed. (By the way, Rahab and Ruth are listed in the genealogy in Matthew 1:5. The only women/mothers listed.) Obed had a son named Jesse. Jesse had a son named David. Yes, that David. Who became a King of Israel. The first of his line to sit on the throne. And who came later of this line? Jesus.

Beauty from a mess. Our Kinsman Redeemer.