Ruth: Redemption for
God’s Ami
Summer/Autumn 2013
Woman after God’s own heart
Ruth: Redemption for
God’s Ami
Summer/Autumn 2013
Week #1: Getting us started
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Background
Set the scene
Introduce the important people
Ask more questions than receive answers
When: the time of Judges
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God’s anger burned: why?
Israel did not know His heart
Desire for a king: why?
God’s desire vs. what he allowed
Where
Moab: Israel’s “washing pot”
• Moab born out of incest
• Moabite king (Balak) tried to curse Israel, was
instead cursed by God
• Israelites not to enter, even to pass through
• Certainly not to inter-marry
Famine: why? Where is God?
• Theme cycle through Old Testament
• Israel restored, rebelled, rebuffed, repented
• Time of Ruth in the rebel/rebuffing period:
“they did as they chose”
• And the “Lord’s anger burned” (and probably
His heart broke)
• Huge consequences
Today’s Reading
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Ruth Ch. 1
Questions to think about
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How do Elimelech’s sins set the stage for our
story?
How do we do the same thing?
Why do you think Naomi wanted to go home?
Why do you think Ruth chose to go with her?
How was she different from Orpah?
The sin
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Elimelech’s gur (sojourn)
Escape to a “far country”
His plan, not God’s
The disobedience continued
The consequences: short and long-term
The conversion
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Who were main women in this scene?
Who was Ruth?
Where she came from and who had she “been”
Naomi’s influence
God’s calling
Ruth and Naomi
The homecoming
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Called back to God, not for food
Naomi knew she was not home
What did Naomi expect?
What did she see in/want from Ruth?
• We are God’s Ami, and he wants us home!
Ruth: Redemption for
God’s Ami
Summer/Autumn 2013
Last time
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Time of “judges”
Elimelech flees to Moab
Lasting consequences
Choices to make
Ruth gleans
Descriptives for Ruth
• Native of a pagan nation
• Possibly daughter of a pagan king (Eglon)
• Certainly great-grandmother of an Israel king
• Powerful convert
• “Foreigner” in the lineage of our Lord
Conviction #1
Descriptives for Boaz
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Wealthy land owner
Believed to be a widower
Son of Elimelech’s brother
A willing Go‘el (kinsman redeemer)
We’re here, so now what?
• Are we ready?
• And are we going to let God do it his way?
• Ruth asked and went
• And she “just happened” upon a field…
Conviction #2
Today’s Reading
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Ruth Ch. 2
Questions to think about:
– Throughout this chapter, what are your
impressions of Ruth?
– What about Boaz?
– What do you think God is trying to teach us in
“how” he provided for Naomi and Ruth?
Impressions
• Boaz was a true leader
Conviction #3
• Ruth was a humble servant, took off all royalty
• “The Lord repay your work and a full reward given
you by the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you
have come for refuge” (Ruth 2:12)
• What a beautiful meeting
Ruth and Boaz meet
The meal
• The audience and the setting
• The bread and wine
• Redemption from the “master”
Conviction #4
• Grace toward a recent convert
Hope, at last!
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Fear turned to relief
You gleaned where?!
Whose field???
Can this be happening, after all the loss, all the
hurt, all the consequences?
Conviction #5
Ruth: Redemption for
God’s Ami
Summer/Autumn 2013
So far…
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Week #1: sin and consequence
Week #2: Ruth and Boaz
Convictions from Ruth
Threshing Floor
Commentary “War”
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Dianna Hagee in Ruth, the Romance of Redemption
Sinclair Ferguson in Faithful God
Rabbi’s Scherman and Zlotowitz in The Book of
Ruth – ArtScroll Tanach Series
Harry Brewer in Ruth, How an Outsider Gained
God’s Favor.
Steve Zeisler in Conspicuous Love
Today’s Reading
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Ruth Ch. 3
Questions to think about:
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What do you think Naomi’s motives were? Does it matter?
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Were you surprised by Boaz’s blessing (v. 10)? What inside
Boaz do you think created that reaction?
Naomi’s “risky” move
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Grace as we read and interpret
Harvest about over
So what happened to the spark?
Mikveh – ritual bath
Chalitzah – removing the shoes
Who are you???
• Surprise! Surprise!
• Ruth’s response
• Boaz’s integrity and God’s spark
Once more, a blessing
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“My daughter”
Choosing a man of integrity
Symbolism of six measures
Done the right way!
Waiting on the sidelines
Ruth: Redemption for
God’s Ami
Summer/Autumn 2013
Loss, grief and redemption
• The bookends of the story
– From the garden…
– …to the Cross
• In the meantime
– Ruth & Boaz
– Naomi
Before we finish…
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Sin and consequence
Actions and character
Our involvement in God’s work
Getting off the sidelines
A Contrast Between Ruth and the
Sad Day in Which She Lived
RUTH
JUDGES
Spiritual light
Spiritual darkness
Purity
Immorality
Deciding for the One true God
Pursuing Idols who are no gods
Devotion
Disloyalty
Love
Lust
Peace
War
Kindness
Cruelty
Obedience brings blessing
Disobedience brings sorrow
Oasis of righteousness
Desert of rebellion
Faithfulness of a Gentile alien
Faithlessness of the "chosen
people"
The final act
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Ploni Almoni
Interesting strategy by Boaz
“Buy” v. “Redeem”
The trap
Removal of the shoe
Table discussion
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Read Ruth 4:9-22
Discuss
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What are your impressions of Boaz, not only in
what he did but how he did it? How can we take
that message to our daily lives?
So what do you think was going through Naomi
now? What were the neighbor women trying to
say to her in 14-17?
What is your one overall takeaway from the book
of Ruth you want to apply to your life?
The covenant
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Responsive blessing
All in the midst of “time of judges”
Boaz the redeemer
Scriptures:
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Gal 4:4-5
John 1:29
1 Tim 2:5-6
Rom 8:16-17
John 10:17-18, 27-30
Matt 20:28
The restoration
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God once again gave a child
Boaz’s mitzvah
Nurse Naomi
So who was restored?
General impressions
• At CCPC, is our heart after God?
• Ruth offered hers
• God’s provision for Naomi evident throughout
Summary
• Sleeping on Naomi’s lap
• Additions to the genealogy
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Tamar
Rahab
Bathsheba
Ruth
• Key messages from book: grace, redemption &
restoration
Ruth: final thoughts