Ruth Study Notes

Key Theme: Book of Ruth
God providentially guides and blesses all who trust Him. The Book is read during Shavous
Ruth and Naomi had no idea that they will be part of an eternal plan that will fulfill God's promise to Abraham.
NAU Gen. 12:1 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you; 2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing;

Hope is doubted.

v. 1
Idol worship to fertility deities was an outgrowth of famine. It is often used by YHWH to discipline his people.
NAU Deut. 28:23 "The heaven which is over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you, iron. 24 "The LORD will make the rain of your land powder and dust; from heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed.
v. 2 - בֵּ֥ית לֶ֖חֶם "house of Bread" lacked bread. Will one day come the Bread of Life whom Ruth will be a descendant.
NAU Matt. 1:5 Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse.
The Time off the judges was a time of massive rebellion.
v. 4 It was the Moabite women who seduced Israel to immorality and idolatry in the Baal of Peor (Num. 25).
They fled Judah to escape death but death found them nonetheless. Better to stay in the promised land and rely on the blessings of God.
v. 8 - Why would Naomi want them to return to Idolatry. She told them three times to return.
v. 14
Ruth had come to trust in the God of Israel. She chose the hard way, Orpah, the easy.
Clung דָּ֥בְקָה - Hold close, as a husband and wife.
By staying with Naomi they were almost guaranteed a life of poverty or selling themselves into slavery or becoming prostitutes. This is why the redeemer-kinsman legislation existed (Lev. 25:39-55).
v. 16 - She must abandon Chemosh.
v. 17 - Her loyalty surpassed that of Abraham, who was called by divine direction. Ruth was not. Abraham left Ur, Ruth leaves Moab.
v. 20 - The Lord gives and the Lords takes away. The attempt to escape the famine lead to a worse fate than famine.
שַׁדַּ֛י - The almighty.
v. 21 - The שַׁדַּ֛י has afflicted me -
NAU Ps. 119:67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, But now I keep Your word.
NAU Ps. 119:71 It is good for me that I was afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes.
v. 22 - Barley harvest - Was harvested in mid-to-late April. It was spring, a time to express joy and praise God for his abundance.

Chapter 2: Hope is born

v. 2
The Mosaic law decreed that landowners were not to harvest the full extent of their fields. The remains were for the poor and foreigners.
NAU Lev. 19:10 'Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am the LORD your God.
v. 3 - What happens in the life of the believer is by appointment not by accident. Nothing is by coincidence.
Boaz - name means "In him is strength." Talmud sees Boaz as the Judge Ibzan (Jud. 12:8).

Boaz can be seen as a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ in his relationship with his Bride, the church. Like Ruth, the lost sinner is outside the covenant of God, bankrupt, with no claim to God's mercy. (Wiersbe, Jos-Est pg. 186).
v. 7 - She even gleaned in the heat of the day.
v. 8 - "my daughter" It was a term of endearment.
v. 9 - "not to touch you" Ruth was a stranger and may have invited abuse. She was a poor, widowed, alien.
NAU Deut. 10:18 "He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing.
The very ones God takes care of.
v. 12 - "under whose wings you have come to seek refuge." Alludes to the protective covering of the Lord's care.
NAU Ps. 36:7 How precious is Your loving kindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.

Jesus desires to gather Jerusalem under his "wings"
NAU Matt. 23:37 "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.

v. 14 - The foreigner was allowed to eat at the table of the master. What a picture of Christ who shares with us "riches of his mercy and love"
NAU Eph. 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
His Grace (NAU Eph. 2:7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.)
His wisdom and knowledge (NAU Rom. 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!)
His glory (NAU Phil. 4:19 And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.)
and riches we cannot even begin to imagine (NAU Eph. 3:8 To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ,)
v. 17 - "she beat" Threshed - the wheat would be beaten, the grain would separate from the chaff. This image is used by John the Baptist.
NAU Matt. 3:12 "His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
"ephah" 22 liters or 5.8 gallons.
v. 20 - "to the living and the dead" Alludes to God's preservation of the memory of the dead (Elimelech, Mahlon, Kilion).
v. 22 - God used Ruth to turn Naomi's bitterness (1:20) into Gratitude.

Chapter 3: Hope is kindled.

It was the parent’s job to arrange marriages.
v. 2 - "winnows" A labor intensive process to separate the grains from the plant stalks.
v. 3 - Naomi was telling Ruth to act like a Bird preparing for her wedding.
v. 4 - "uncover his feet" Sometimes feet is a euphemism for the genital region. Most likely simply refers to feet.
v. 5 - "I will do" She was not merely a hearer but a doer.
NAU Jas. 1:23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror;
v. 7 - "he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain" Probably to protect it from thieves.
v. 9 - "spread your covering (כָּנָף) same word that is used in 3:12 for wings. An idiom for marriage. Same phrase used of God's marriage to Israel.
NAU Ezek. 16:8 "Then I passed by you and saw you, and behold, you were at the time for love; so I spread My skirt over you and covered your nakedness. I also swore to you and entered into a covenant with you so that you became Mine," declares the Lord GOD.
v. 12 - "there is a relative closer than I" Why Boaz did not propose marriage. It was not his right. Boaz's concern was for Ruth's redemption even if it meant by another.
v. 16 - The KJV translates "Who art thou, my daughter? Namely to say are you still Ruth the Moabitess or Mrs. Boaz.
v. 18 - "wait, my daughter" God requires patience!
Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. (Psa 46:10 KJV)

Chapter 4: Hope is realized.

Focuses on 3 persons: A bridegroom, a bride, and a baby.

v. 1 - "the gate" The gate was the scene of social significance.
v. 3 - "to sell the piece of land" Naomi can't afford the land so it must be redeemed.
v. 5 - A picture of Christ who redeems the poor sinner.
NAU Mk. 10:45 "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
The redeemer had to be: 1. a near kinsman 2. He had to be able to pay the redemption price. 3. He had to be willing to redeem.
v. 6 - "jeopardize my own inheritance" If he only had one son, the estate would remain in Elimelech's family.
v. 7 - "removed his sandal" The image derives from property rights of the owner of the one who walks on the land. This motif is found in the Nuzi Materials.
v. 10 - Levirate marriage "from the Latin for Brother-in-law"
v. 11 - "like Rachel and Leah" She would be in the line of the ultimate fulfillment of the promise.
v. 11 - "Ephrathah" Rachel was buried and Christ was Born.
v. 12 - "Be like the house of Perez" Perez is in the line of Jesus and come from a levirate marriage of Judah and Tamar.
NAU Matt. 1:3 Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram.
v. 13 - Boaz risked much for Ruth. Just as Jesus risked much for his bride (the church).
Boaz is a type of Christ. He had to be related to us before He could redeem us. So he became flesh and blood so he could die on the cross to redeem.
NAU Heb. 2:14 Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.
Nobody but Jesus is rich enough to satisfy the massive debt for sin.
"Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe; Sine had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow" ~H.M. Hall.

Epilogue:
The Moabites were not to enter the congregation of the Lord "even to the tenth generation" (Deut 23:3). But the little book of Ruth closes with a ten-generation genealogy that climaxes with the name: David.
NAU Matthew 21:9 The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David; BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Hosanna in the highest!"