What is the significance of the story of ruth

Naomi is redeemed as she incorporates a foreign nation in the form of Ruth into her family, just as Israel was. Boaz, the redeemer, insists that the poor and the sojourner should be able to glean freely from the grain fields and invites Ruth to eat and drink at his table, just as the Lord did.

Ruth ends up with far more food than she could possibly have gained for herself, thanks to the generosity of her redeemer, just as Israel did. Boaz redeems Ruth in order that he might marry her, just as God did with Israel. The God whose wingspan provides protection until the raging storm has passed by is present to bless Ruth and deliver her, as he was with Israel as they left Egypt.

Israel could have said exactly the same thing as they fled Pharaoh. The God of the exodus is back. Like Ruth when she first meets Boaz, we are outsiders when we first meet Jesus: homeless, estranged, hungry, and empty. He invites us to his table: Here, take bread, and dip it in the wine. We accept and lie down at his feet, asking for his wings of safety to cover us. So does Ruth, her outsider, widowed, Gentile daughter-in-law. So does Boaz, the worthy man who becomes the great-grandfather of David.

There is, however, more going on here. Follow Crosswalk. Croatian Hrvatski. Dutch Nederlands. Finnish Suomi. German Deutsch. Hungarian Magyar. Indonesian Bahasa Indonesia. Italian Italiano. Norwegian Norsk.

Polish Polski. Swahili Kiswahili. Swedish Svenska. Back to Blog. Table of Contents. Act 1: Naomi returns Ruth — Ruth the Moabite is loyal to Yahweh and Naomi. What's with the Genealogy The author is clearly drawing a connection between David and his great-grandparents, but why the second, bigger genealogy? Keep Exploring. Video Category. Judgment or Cruelty? Conquering the Promised Land. You can ask me questions like: How can I donate?

Ruth — On the difficulties of being a Moabite in an Israelite world, see Daniel I. Naomi and Ruth face agonizing hardship, but in God, hardship is not hopelessness. Although we encounter no obvious miraculous interventions in the Book of Ruth, the hand of God is by no means absent.

On the contrary, God is at work at every moment, especially through the actions of faithful people in the book. Long ago God had promised Abraham, "I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you" Genesis When Naomi heard of it, she determined to return home to Bethlehem to try to find food. Ruth, true to her word, went with her, intending to find work to support both herself and Naomi. Overall, the Hebrew Scriptures portray God as the divine Worker, who provides a paradigm for human work.

The Bible opens with a picture of God at work—speaking, creating, forming, building. That is, God works directly, and God works through people. The main characters in the book of Ruth acknowledged God as the foundation for their work by the way they bless each other and through their repeated declarations of faith.

Others are pleas for divine blessing Ruth , 19; , or presence Ruth , or kindness Ruth A third group involves more specific requests for divine action. May God grant rest Ruth For the action of the story, one of the most important blessings from God is that he had blessed Boaz with a productive farm Ruth The same can be said for the appearance of the next-of-kin just as Boaz sat down at the gate in Ruth —2. What a dreary world it would be if we had to go to work every day expecting nothing except what we ourselves have the power to accomplish.

We must depend on the work of others, the unexpected opportunity, the burst of creativity, the unforeseen blessing. Surely one of the most comforting blessings of following Christ is his promise that when we go to work, he goes to work alongside us and shoulders the load with us. God creates Genesis ; builds 2 Samuel ; 1 Sam. Ruth —9; a; b; ; [without naming the Lord]; ; ; —12; a; b— Ruth was eager to work hard to support herself and Naomi.

Her work was exceptionally productive. When she came home after her first day at work and beat out the barley from the stalks, her harvest yielded a full ephah of grain Ruth This amounted to approximately five gallons of barley. In greater or lesser degree, we are all vulnerable to circumstances that make it difficult or impossible to earn a living. Natural disaster, layoff, redundancy, prejudice, injury, illness, bankruptcy, unfair treatment, legal restrictions, language barriers, lack of relevant training or experience, age, sex, economic mismanagement by government or industry, geographic barriers, getting fired, the need to take care of family members, and a host of other factors can prevent us from working to support ourselves and the people who depend on us.

Nonetheless, God expects us to work as fully as we are able Exodus Even if we cannot find a job that meets our needs, we need to work to the highest degree we can. Ruth did not have a steady job with regular hours and a paycheck. She went to work anyway. Many of the conditions we face today in unemployment and underemployment are deeply discouraging. Our work might not even earn any income at first, be it volunteering to help others, caring for family members, getting education or training, or caring for our homes.

The saving grace is that God is the power behind our work. We do not depend on our own ability or the circumstances around us to provide for our needs.

Jack B. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer, Jr. Waltke, electronic ed. Chicago: Moody Press, , His leadership style began with respect. He owned and managed an enterprise that depended on a hired workforce. He controlled the work environment of others.

In contrast to many work environments where supervisors and owners treat their workers with disdain and workers have no respect for their bosses, Boaz had fostered a relationship of trust and mutual respect. Boaz put his respect for his workers into practice by providing them with water as they worked Ruth , by eating with them, and most of all by sharing his food with the person regarded as the lowest among them Ruth Later we learn that at harvest time, Boaz the landowner winnowed with his harvesters and slept with them out in the field Ruth —4, Boaz demonstrated a high view of every human being as an image of God Genesis , Proverbs , by the sensitive way he treated the alien woman in his workplace.

Respectable landowning men were not accustomed to conversing with foreign women, [1] as Ruth herself points out Ruth A man with more concern for social appearances and business opportunities, and less compassion for someone in need, might have sent a female Moabite intruder off his land at once. But Boaz was more than willing to stand up for the vulnerable worker in their midst, whatever the reaction of others might be. Perhaps he was aware that many farm owners and workers were abusive men [2] and perhaps this is why he informed Ruth that he has told his men not to touch her Ruth When their boss greeted them with a blessing, they blessed him in return Ruth When Boaz asked about the identity of the woman who had appeared at his field, the supervisor of the workforce acknowledged that Ruth is a Moabite, but exhibited a gracious tone Ruth —7.

Not only had they obviously cut a lot of grain for her, but they had also accepted this Moabite woman as a co-worker for the duration of the harvest Ruth — How does Southwest Airlines manage to attract 90, applicants for open positions?

In "Happy 40th Birthday, Southwest Airlines! All leaders—indeed all workers—shape the culture in which they work. Although we may think that we are constrained by our culture to conform to unfair, meaningless, or unproductive ways of working, in reality the way we work profoundly influences others.

The harvest supervisor shapes egalitarian practices in a society shot through with misogyny and racism Judges Ruth and Naomi create a loving family in the face of great loss and hardship. Fredric W. Bush, vol. Daniel I. David W. Gill, "Happy 40th Birthday, Southwest Airlines! The most important way God overcomes the barriers to our fruitfulness is through the actions of other people. The action of the Book of Ruth centers around gleaning, which was one of the most important elements of the Law for the protection of poor and vulnerable people.

The requirements are laid out in Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and Exodus click on the links below to see more on each of the relevant passages. When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest.

You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the Lord your God. Leviticus —10, repeated in part in Leviticus See "Leviticus " in Leviticus and Work at www. When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be left for the alien, the orphan, and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all your undertakings.

When you beat your olive trees, do not strip what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow.