Chapter 8 RUTH
From the time God promised a seed line between Adam and Messiah in Genesis, that sceptre line has been under threat. We have seen a few scary moments—like the time Cain killed Abel. Just when we thought that was the end of the line because Abel was dead and Cain had been rejected, a surprise baby named Seth arrived on the scene, and we are back on track.
Then there was the time of Noah, The world was so sinful God said he would wipe the whole world out and start again. If God did that, the seed line from Adam would be finished. But God found a faithful man and his wife in Noah to restore the situation.
Then there was Abraham. God said you will be the chosen line. But he spoke too soon because Abraham had no children and no prospect of having any. So Abraham and Sarah his wife had a good laugh in their old age as Abraham pointed the situation out to God. God replied:
"No! Your wife Sarah will bear your son, I will confirm my covenant with him it will be an eternal covenant for his descendants.112
So how did he do that? How can he confirm a covenant with a son that is not? Well the son became a reality, and we meet yet another scare. God said to Abraham sacrifice your only son Isaac. They began a three-day journey together to mount Moriah in order comply when Isaac asked his father:
“Father, we have the coals and the wood, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?” “My son,” Abraham answered, “God will provide the lamb.”113
Figure 29: Judah
So the two of them walked on, and just as Isaac was about to be killed God confirmed his covenant with Isaac by providing a substitute ram. I don’t think Isaac ever forgot that. If God had not provided a ram, then the seed line was finished.
Now we jump to generation thirty-one in the sceptre line, and the line is still going strong. In between you will know Joshua had taken the people into the promised land, and they had spread out, just as Moses had said. The Levites did not have land allocated to them but occupied forty small towns scattered among the people because they were charged with being the conscience of the people. That made their job a bit difficult because the ark and the scrolls were in a barn at Shiloh, (getting corn dust all over them). In less than forty years the people degenerated into anarchy because everyone was doing what was right in their own eyes.
Now our focus centres on the Northern borders between Judah and Dan and Judah and Benjamin114 . The tribe of Judah had the promised sceptre line but it is largely corrupt and was being punished by bad harvests as God said it would. A small Levite town exists on the border and the two bad priests were living in it as we saw in the last chapter. So, how will God find a rightious family in a corrupted land? We do have a promise that he will:
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days115
So how can that happen if there is no-one to carry the line? Right here in Bethlehem we meet one righteous man and his wife. The man’s name was Salmon, and his wife was Rahab of Jericho, remember Rahab the prostitute who hid the spies? She was commended for her faith, married Salmon and they had two boys named Boaz, and Elimelech. Both boys farmed the land around Bethlehem. The older was Boaz and he had the double portion and the larger farm. So when the famine came, he was able to ride the storm. The younger had a smaller farm and more mouths to feed so he had problems in the famine. Straight away the observant will recognize Boaz to be the seed line. But there is not a single righteous woman suitable to be found for him in the land.
Meanwhile, the younger brother was deciding what to do in the famine. This righteous couple would have done what you and I would have done, they asked God what should they do. God said, rent out your farm and go as missionaries to Moab. You say that’s stretching it, how do you get the missionary bit? How else did Ruth come to say “Your God is My God” if she did not see their life witness? Anyhow, they went to Moab and the two sons married Moabite girls. Then the two sons and her husband Elimelech all died. Naomi decided to return to her home and Ruth insists on going with her, she said:
“Where you go I will go
Where you sleep I will sleep
Your God is my God.116
That is enough Summary for now, so we can get to the point:
God called Elimelech to lay aside his inheritance.
To go to an alien land.
To die in a that foreign land.
To save Ruth.
To graft her into the Kingdom.
To become the bride of Boaz.
To reclaim Ruth’s inheritance.
So that God could keep his promise of a seed line from Adam to Messiah.
So that God could ask Messiah.
To lay aside his inheritance.
To come to an alien world.
To die in that land.
To save the likes of you and me.
To graft us into his Kingdom.
To be part of the bride of his son.
To reclaim the inheritance that Adam lost in the garden.
How good is that for a Plan? Don’t you just love it when God’s plan comes together?
Now it does not stop there. You and I can see what is going on because we have the benefit of hindsight but Naomi does not have an inkling what is going on. She no doubt went down to Moab with an excited trusting in God’s new adventure for her life. But then she had lost her husband and two sons. Bringing up the children in her earlier days had not been easy either. The sons names translate as “Sickly” & “Moaner”. That does not sound to me like an easy task to bring them up, especially in a foreign land. No wonder she changed her name to Mira.
But that is what it is all about. None of us can see what God is doing, we all have to learn to rely on what He says he is doing. Eve could not see how the plan would work out, but she heard the promise:
For God has promised me another seed instead of Abel 117
Eve called her baby Seth, which means: firm foundation. Noah built the Ark on the basis of what he heard from God. He was in the middle of a long drought and could not see the point of an Ark, but he took God at his word when he said:
“The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” 118
Abraham never saw his grandson let alone the promised land. All that came four-hundred-years after he died. But on the basis of what he heard God say, he left Ur and travelled. Faith comes by hearing. Isaac couldn’t see the ram caught in the thicket but believed on the basis of the promise,“God will provide for himself a sacrifice”.
The two disciples on the road to Emmaus could not see the purpose of the things that had happened in Jerusalem, but they heard Jesus when he began at Moses, going through the law, the prophets and the writings, he pointed out to them all the things concerning the Messiah—himself. And their heart burned within them at what they heard because they had not seen it before.
Mary at the garden tomb could not see through her tears. It was all one big muddled blur to her eyes—one tragedy after another. “If you have moved him tell me where he is”, she said. Then she heard “Mary” and it all made sense.
If you want the synopsis of the book of Ruth it is this: God is faithful to his word. It won’t make sense at the time but it will all come to pass.
Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. Those to whom it was first preached did not enter the promise because of disobedience. God determines the cut of point when those that believe enter his promised rest.119
Figure 30: Samuel -where are we?- Time
Figure 31: Outline Joel
112 Genesis 17: 19
113 Genesis 22: 7
114 see : page
115 Micah 5: 2
116 Ruth 1: 16.
117Genesis 4: 25
118Genesis 6: 13
119 Hebrews 4: 7-9