Latest / Reformed Thinking / Ruth: God’s Quiet Work in Ordinary Faithfulness | Thomas R. Schreiner

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Ruth: God’s Quiet Work in Ordinary Faithfulness | Thomas R. Schreiner · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome back to Reformed Thinking.
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  This is the place where we take specific texts and, well, we
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  really try to distill them down to what they're communicating
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  about God's plan for all of history.
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  And for this deep dive, we are opening up a book that, you
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  know, it's often read as just this simple, really heartfelt
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  story. It is a beautiful story.
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  The beautiful story, but it sits at such a critical hinge point
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  in the history of redemption. We're talking about the Book of
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  Ruth. That's it.
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  And that's precisely where we need to place our focus, our
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  source material today. It's really looking at the Book
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  of Ruth through the lens of biblical theology.
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  Specifically, we're using the decaled insights provided by
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  Thomas R Shriner. And this approach really makes
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  you look beyond the domestic drama.
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  The romance, the family ties. Right, all of that.
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  And it makes you see the grand guiding movements of divine
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  sovereignty as it works itself out in the well, the seemingly
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  ordinary lives of two women. OK, so let's unpack this then.
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  Our mission here seems pretty clear.
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  We're investigating Ruth, but not just as a standalone
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  narrative. No, not at all.
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  We're seeing it as this critical bridge book.
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  It addresses the the immediate national crisis in Israel, the
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  lack of a righteous ruler. It gives us deep insight into
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  how suffering relates to God's control.
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  And maybe most surprisingly, it shows the inclusion of a
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  foreigner, A Moabitus, into the ancestral line of David himself.
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  I mean, it's the story that really answers the question.
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  How does God move history forward when everything looks
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  like it's broken? And if we want to understand
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  Ruth's role in that massive redemptive framework, you're
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  right, we have to start outside the story itself.
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  Where do we start? We have to look first at the
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  structure of the Bible, where Ruth sits in the Canon.
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  That dictates a huge amount about how we're even supposed to
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  receive its message. OK, so before we even get to
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  Illa Malek and Naomi leaving for Moab, we need to talk about
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  where the book is placed exactly.
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  Because that placement, it actually shifts depending on
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  which tradition you follow, right?
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  And those different placements, they change your initial
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  understanding of the book. That's right, we see two major
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  canonical orders for Ruth, and Shriner points out that looking
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  at both of these arrangements helps us get a fuller sort of a
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  three-dimensional theological picture.
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  So it's not about one being right and one being wrong.
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  No, we shouldn't be dogmatic about one single ordering being
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  the only legitimate way to view it.
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  Each one provides a really valuable lens.
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  OK, so let's take the first one. If you follow the traditional
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  Hebrew Bible arrangement, the Masoretic Text or Mt, where does
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  Ruth end up? In that arrangement, Ruth is in
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  the Cateuvin, the Writings, and it's placed right after the book
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  of Proverbs. After proverbs.
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  Now why would that placement matter?
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  Well, it's incredibly instructive because the
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  narrative events of Ruth, the whole story, it serves as a
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  living illustration of the virtuous woman.
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  The eschat Chael. Exactly the woman described at
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  length in Proverbs 31. This isn't just some nice
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  coincidence, it suggests a specific purpose for how you're
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  supposed to read it. So Ruth becomes this concrete
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  model of that godly character. You see her industry, her hard
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  work in the field. You see her loyalty to Naomi,
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  which goes way beyond any cultural boundaries, and her
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  careful wisdom and all the legal negotiations that happen later.
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  She is the embodiment of that woman whose price is far above
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  rubies. And it's because her domestic
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  virtues, they're all expressed in this deep covenantal
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  faithfulness. So the Mt placement is asking us
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  to focus on the individual righteousness, the wisdom that's
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  still possible even when the whole nation is in a spiritual
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  decline. Precisely.
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  It demonstrates that piety is still being practiced, Godliness
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  is still there. Even when the nation as a whole
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  is, well, it's falling apart. That's one perspective.
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  Okay, but then you've got the order that most of us are
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  probably more familiar with, right?
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  The one in the Septuagint, the LXX, and in most of our modern
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  English Bibles. And there Ruth is, tucked right
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  between the Book of Judges and one into Samuel.
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  And that specific ordering it immediately signals the books
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  broader purpose it's serving as a necessary narrative, and more
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  than that, a theological bridge. A bridge from what to what?
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  Well, when Ruth follows Judges, it speaks directly to that whole
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  era of chaos and national catastrophe that's described in
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  Judges. I mean, the book of Judges is
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  just this repeating downward spiral.
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  Apostasy, then divine oppression, then temporary
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  relief through a judge, and then right back to apostasy.
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  Over and over. And the explanation for why this
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  keeps happening is stated repeatedly.
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  You said it before. It's like a desperate, broken
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  record. In in those days, there was no
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  king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in
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  his own eyes. That refrain, it sets up this
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  desperate political and theological problem.
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  The whole nation is morally and culturally adrift.
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  Because it lacks A righteous, centralized ruler, someone who
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  can govern the people according to God's laws.
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  The solution to the chaos of the Judges era is kingship.
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  The people need a shepherd who will guide them back to covenant
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  fidelity. That is a severe national
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  crisis, both spiritually and politically.
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  So how does Ruth resolve this? We.
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  Look at how it ends. It closes with a genealogy, a
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  quick you might think it's just an administrative list, but it
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  culminates with one name, David, the individual destined to be
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  Israel's greatest king. So the Book of Ruth literally
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  links the systemic failure of the Judges era directly to the
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  solution which is found in the Davidic dynasty.
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  And then the very next books one and two Samuel, they immediately
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  pick up that the story of David's ascent and his rule.
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  Ruth becomes this crucial quiet prequel.
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  It details the ancestry of the chosen king.
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  You know, it's so compelling that the answer to this huge
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  failure of national leadership, it's not found in some dramatic
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  miracle or a conquering general. No, it's found in a small family
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  drama set in Bethlehem. And that's the core theological
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  idea right there, the sovereign rule of Yahweh.
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  It will finally be manifested through the rule of King David.
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  He's the man who provides the stability that Israel is so
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  desperately crying out for. So the structure of the story,
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  it grounds this massive national political move in the quiet
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  faithfulness of two widows and a farmer.
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  That's it. It tells us that what looks like
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  a private family crisis, a tragedy that happens over in
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  Moab, is actually the hidden engine that's driving the entire
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  historical movement toward a righteous Kingdom.
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  So the book of Ruth is really a master class.
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  It's showing us the intricate Providence of God.
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  Absolutely working through simple human events to prepare
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  the way for his king. So if the canonical placement
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  sets up this need for a king, let's see how that historical
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  crisis actually lands on one single family.
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  The family of a Limbach. Right, let's transition into the
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  actual narrative. The narrative begins very
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  dramatically. It starts with that historical
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  marker in the days when the judges ruled.
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  There it is again. Right at the start and
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  immediately, we're hit with a theme of suffering through a
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  severe famine in the land of Judah.
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  And the source material is quick to remind us that for an
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  Israelite, A famine was never just a meteorological event.
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  It wasn't just bad luck with the weather.
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  No, it was a theological statement.
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  How so? According to the covenant that
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  was outlined in Deuteronomy, the Deuteronomic Covenant, things
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  like famine, disease, military failure, these were all signs,
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  Signs of what? That the people were
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  experiencing, the curses of the covenant, the famine signals
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  that the nation as a whole was unrighteous, that they were
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  failing to hold fast to Yahweh. So Elimelech and Naomi, they
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  were living in the consequences of national disobedience.
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  So when Elimelech decides to take Naomi and their two sons
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  and leave Israel for the foreign land of Moab, the text doesn't
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  explicitly criticize them, does it?
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  No, it doesn't, and that's a critical point.
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  There's no moral condemnation of Limelec's decision to go find
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  food somewhere else. They were just trying to
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  survive. They were trying to survive a
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  period of national distress, and we actually see this precedent
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  elsewhere in Scripture. Like the woman, Elisha advised
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  to leave the land during a famine in 2 Kings 8.
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  Their motive was survival, not apostasy.
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  But the move to Moab, it just brings one tragedy after another
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  upon Naomi. The narrator spends time really
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  emphasizing the sheer depth of her loss.
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  It's just devastating. She's removed from her homeland,
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  her community, and then within 10 years, she loses her husband,
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  Elimelech, and then both of her sons, Mulan and Chilian.
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  They die in Moab. So she's left utterly destitute.
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  She is alone with just her two foreign daughters in law.
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  And this extreme suffering. This is what leads to Naomi's
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  magnificent theological confession when she returns to
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  Bethlehem. It's a statement that really
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  anticipates the deep contemplation of suffering we
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  see later in the Book of Job. Yeah, where that question of
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  divine justice is explored in just raw agony.
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  And like Job, she doesn't become bitter toward God in the sense
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  of, you know, charging him with cosmic evil.
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  She doesn't suggest that what happened was random or somehow
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  outside of the Lord's control. It's quite the opposite,
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  actually. It is.
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  Her theology, though it's expressed in this deep, deep
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  lament, is remarkably sound from a covenant perspective.
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  She affirms God's total superintendents His sovereignty
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  over every single stroke of calamity that hit her.
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  She says it herself that the Lord's hand was stretched out
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  against her. Yes, for Naomi, this is not an
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  accident. This was divine judicial action.
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  And this realization, this is what anchors that famous scene
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  where she renames herself. When she gets back to Bethlehem,
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  the whole city is stirred up and she engages in this very
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  sophisticated play on words that defines her suffering.
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  Her original name, Naomi, means pleasant or sweet, right?
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  But she rejects it. She insists Don't call me Naomi,
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  call me Mara. Which means bitter.
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  Bitter. And this is so much more than
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  just emotional self pity. It is a theological statement
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  about her relationship with the Sovereign Lord.
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  Her confession is just, It's stunning.
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  Do not call me Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt
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  very bitterly with me. I went away full and the Lord
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  has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi when the Lord
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  has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity
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  upon me? We have to pause right there,
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  because that quote, it encapsulates A Reformed
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  understanding of sovereignty perfectly.
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  How so? She believes Yahweh brought the
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  calamity. His hand was against her.
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  He is the one who made her bitter, and yet she never calls
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  him unjust. That's the key, isn't it?
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  That's the key. Her grief is not a denial of
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  God's goodness. It's a visceral, raw
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  acknowledgement of his absolute control over human life.
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  She sees her suffering as a testimony delivered by God
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  against her. So what does this tell you about
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  her faith, and maybe about our own faith?
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  It shows that she maintains the kingship of the Lord even in the
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  best of extreme personal tragedy.
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  Yes. She's not suggesting God is
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  somehow tainted by evil. She's saying he is just and he
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  is good, even when the evil she experiences, the loss, the
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  famine, the death, are directed by his own hand for his own
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  purposes. She's lamenting the pain.
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  But affirming the control that is the crucial insight, the
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  central theme emerging from Naomi's suffering is the
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  unwavering kingship of the Lord. So her story, along with
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  Israel's suffering under the judges, it confirms that despite
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  how things look on the surface. Yahweh will be faithful to His
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  covenant purposes. This story really is a working
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  demonstration of Providence in action, isn't it?
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  It works through these seemingly random or even painful events of
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  life. It does.
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  It traces the delicate way in which God orchestrates human
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  actions and decisions, and he incorporates them into his
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  larger plan even in the most mundane events, like a widow
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  deciding it's time to return home.
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  You hear commentators talk about the firm guiding hands of divine
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  Providence at work behind the scenes.
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  Yes, and that's a good way to put it.
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  Yahweh's purposes and his plans are often hidden from our sight.
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  They operate subtly, but the book of Ruth it pulls back the
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  curtain for a moment. And what do we see?
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  We see that those purposes, they become undeniable, they become
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  evident as time goes on, the plan unfolds, moving toward the
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  coming of King David. God remains King and He is
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  working everything out according to His will.
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  Which sets the stage perfectly for the dramatic change that has
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  to happen now, because Naomi returns empty.
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  But the story promises she will be made full.
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  So let's talk about that change, the change of fortune.
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  Well, it's signaled by a very simple but absolutely
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  foundational fact. The text says the Lord has
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  finally visited his people and granted them food.
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  The famine is over. The famine is over.
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  This small piece of information is the harbinger of divine
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  intervention. The same sovereign God who used
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  famine to discipline his people now uses fertility to bless
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  them. And this shift is what allows
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  Naomi to prepare to return home, but it also forces a decision on
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  her two daughters in law. Right.
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  She instructs them both to return to Moab.
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  She believes there are no future marriage prospects, no way for
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  them to make a living in Bethlehem.
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  In this moment, it feels like it's designed specifically to
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  set up a great contrast of faith.
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  It is, you see, that contrast immediately, Orpa.
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  She weeps, she kisses Naomi goodbye, and she returns to Moab
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  and to her ancestral gods. She goes back to the life and
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  the worship she knew. And from a worldly perspective,
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  it's a completely reasonable decision.
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  But Ruth? Ruth insists on staying.
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  And Ruth's decision? It goes so far beyond simple
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  family family loyalty, doesn't it?
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  Oh, absolutely. It's a confession of faith, and
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  it's illustrated by her immediate physical action.
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  The text says she clung to Naomi.
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  The Hebrew is debac. Yes, and we need to pause and
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  look at that word debac. This is not a neutral verb.
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  It is powerful covenantal language.
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  In the Old Testament it denotes A profound obligation, a
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  spiritual attachment. Where else do we see it?
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  It describes the responsibility to cleave or cling to 1's wife
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  like in Genesis 2.24. But even more clearly, it
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  describes the obligation Israel had to cling exclusively to
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  Yahweh himself. We see that in Deuteronomy.
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  So Ruth's devotion to Naomi is really a vehicle.
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  It's displaying her covenantal attachment to Yahweh, the God of
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  Israel. She's making a statement that
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  her spiritual allegiance is now tied to Naomi's God and Naomi's
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  people. And then that allegiance is
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  explicitly spelled out in her famous declaration.
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  Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you.
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  For where you go I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge.
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  Your people shall be my people and your God, my God.
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  And it goes on, where you die, I will die, and there will I be
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  buried, May the Lord do so to me, and more.
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  Also, if anything but death separates me from you, it's an
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  oath. It is, and she uses a second
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  powerful covenantal term there. When she declares she will not
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  leave Naomi, the word is a sob. Which means.
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  It means to forsake. This too is covenant language.
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  It's often used to describe Israel's breaking of the
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  covenant by forsaking God. So by reversing this, Ruth is
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  making this incredibly radical declaration.
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  She is. She's forsaking her people, her
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  ethnic background in Moab, and her gods.
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  She's declaring her single, undivided devotion to Yahweh,
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  the God of Israel. It's a profound act of
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  conversion. And this conversion performed by
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  a Moabitus. This leads us to a major
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  theological theme that is just central to the entire book.
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  Which is the universal scope of the Abrahamic Covenant.
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  The promise made to Abraham was that through his seed, all the
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  families of the earth would be blessed.
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  And this narrative, the story of Ruth, it proves that the
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  blessing is not reserved for Israel alone.
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  It belongs to the whole world, including the foreign people
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  groups. Ruth, though, she's a Moabitus
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  and is even called a foreigner. She becomes a citizen of Israel
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  and an ancestor of their king. It's incredible she performs an
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  Abrahamic act, doesn't she? She does.
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  Abraham left his family and country to go to the land
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  promised by God. And Ruth likewise leaves behind
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  her family and her country, her native land, to join the people
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  of God in their worship. She is walking by faith into the
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  unknown, trusting the promise of Naomi's God.
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  Which is just remarkable, especially when you consider the
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  strict laws regarding Moab. Deuteronomy 23.3 is very clear.
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  It says no Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the
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  Lord even to the 10th generation.
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  None of them may enter the assembly of the Lord forever.
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  So how is this possible? How can Ruth be included?
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  Well, the story of Ruth suggests that this exclusion it admits of
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  exceptions, an exception for one who attaches herself by genuine
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  faith to Yahweh. So the law excluded the nation
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  of Moab. The nation which consistently
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  oppressed Israel. But it did not prohibit the
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  individual Moabitess who converts and clings to Yahweh,
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  from entering the fold. It illustrates the principle
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  that true faith transcends national boundaries.
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  And that God's electing grace reaches across ethnic lines.
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  Her obedience warrants repayment and reward, and it demonstrates
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  that God is gracious to those who seek refuge in Him.
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  And this leads us directly to the field of though, as where
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  that repayment and that reward begins to take a very specific
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  providential shape. Ruth's obedience warrants
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  repayment, yes, but this is important for our theology of
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  grace. This is not earned merit.
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  OK, unpack that. Ruth did not gain a claim on
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  God. Her reward flows from the trust
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  she placed in Him. Boaz actually clarifies this
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  when he first speaks to her. He praises her, right?
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  He says the Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full
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  reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose
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  wings you have come to take refuge.
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  That image under whose wings it's critical, It signifies
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  security and protection under Yahweh's sovereignty.
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  So Ruth is receiving God's blessing because she fled the
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  insecurity of Moab. And she took shelter in the
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  covenant king. All who trust in Yahweh are
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  rewarded for looking to Him as their king and their protector.
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  The reward is a consequence of her faith, not the cause of
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  God's subsequent favor. And the mechanism through which
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  this reward is given is just fascinating because it's hidden
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  in the smallest details in the narrative.
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  Yes, it reveals the sovereign plan at work.
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  The narrator uses This is a phrase that would be so easy to
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  just skim right over. It says that Ruth happened to
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  glean in the part of the field belonging to their ass.
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  That's the literary genius of the Book of Ruth right there.
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  That seemingly chance occurrence, what we would call a
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  sheer coincidence. Was in fact the firm guiding
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  hand of the Lord. It was God operating to reward
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  Ruth for her faith and to move history toward David.
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  It shows that the sovereign plan, though it's hidden from
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  our perception, is operating even in the moments we would
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  label as coincidence or luck. And the immediate benefits of
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  this this chance encounter reveal Boaz's godly character.
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  They do. He models godliness in the fear
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  of Yahweh and everything. His speech, his prayer for his
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  workers, his treatment of Ruth. In what specific ways?
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  Well, first he protects her from potential sexual assault.
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  He instructs his workers not to bother her.
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  He provides specific instruction for fruitful cleaning, allowing
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  her to drink from their water vessels.
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  And he feeds her. He ensures her nourishment,
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  sharing the parched grain with her at meal time.
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  Boaz acts as this righteous authority figure.
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  He recognizes the hand of the Lord at work in Ruth's life, and
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  he becomes the human agent of God's reward.
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  And eventually, Naomi puts the pieces together.
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  She realizes that Boaz is a kinsman Redeemer, a goel.
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  Yes, and this idea of redemption is the driving force of the
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  entire plot. That concept appears over 20
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  times in this one short book. So we should probably spend some
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  time defining what a goel actually is.
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  We have to because the term brings together 2 distinct legal
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  and cultural concepts that were crucial to Israelite life.
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  OK, so what's the first one? First, there is the law of
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  Leverett marriage. This comes from Deuteronomy 25.
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  If a married man died without a son, his brother was obligated
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  to marry the widow. Why?
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  To raise up an air for the deceased man and by doing so,
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  preserving the dead man's name and his lineage.
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  So that's the family aspect, preserving the name.
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  Right and 2nd, the goel had the responsibility for purchasing
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  property. According to Leviticus 25, if a
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  brother fell into poverty and had to sell his family land, the
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  nearest kinsman, the Redeemer, was obligated to purchase that
• 20:03
  property back. To keep the inheritance within
• 20:05
  the family tribe. Exactly so.
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  Boaz, as a kinsman, has this potential twofold responsibility
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  he has to restore both the land and the family name.
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  The land of Elimelech, who sold it before he died, and the
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  family name of Malan, who died childless.
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  Precisely. The redemption required here is
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  total. It's the restoration of land to
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  Naomi and the restoration of a lineage through Ruth.
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  It is the only way to undo the calamity that led to Naomi
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  feeling so empty. So Naomi recognizing all this,
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  she instructs Ruth to approach Boaz at the threshing floor.
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  This leads to that famous night encounter.
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  And, you know, this scene is often sensationalized, but the
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  text is careful to commend both of them as virtuous people.
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  We have to read the text carefully.
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  Here is definitely an unusual approach, but the narrator has
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  been emphasizing the godliness of both Boaz and Ruth throughout
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  the whole story. Boaz himself calls Ruth a worthy
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  woman, and she approaches him as a petitioner, not as a
• 20:59
  seductress. And Ruth's specific request to
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  Boaz is so theologically charged, she asks him to spread
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  your wings over your servant, for you are a Redeemer.
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  And that request, it directly mirrors the prayer and the
• 21:13
  blessing that Boaz had given to her earlier.
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  When he hoped she would find refuge under Yahweh's wings.
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  Exactly. So she is asking for that
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  reward, the refuge, the protection, the restoration to
• 21:23
  be executed by the human Redeemer.
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  She is seeking the physical fulfillment of a divine promise
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  through Him. And this act of seeking
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  redemption, it points both backward and forward in
• 21:33
  salvation history, doesn't it? It does the whole Redeemer
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  theme. It points back to Yahweh freeing
• 21:38
  Israel from bondage at the Exodus.
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  He acted as their first great goel.
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  And it points forward to the future redemption for Israel
• 21:46
  that will be secured through David and of course, his greater
• 21:49
  offspring. The immediate crisis of a lost
• 21:52
  family line becomes a microcosm of God's larger plan to redeem a
• 21:57
  lost people. You know what's truly moving
• 21:59
  here is the has said that covenant goodness or loyal
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  kindness that you see from all three key characters in the
• 22:06
  story. It's beautiful.
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  It shows what life looks like when it's lived under Yahweh's
• 22:10
  benevolent rule. The whole book is a catalog of
• 22:12
  faithfulness. Yeah, you have Naomi, who
• 22:15
  graciously releases her daughters in law.
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  She even prays a blessing over them as they leave.
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  Then you have Ruth, who sacrifices her own comfort and
• 22:22
  future security for Naomi, refusing to leave.
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  Her and then Boaz, who acts with such extraordinary integrity.
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  He doesn't just protect Ruth, he ensures she's well supplied,
• 22:31
  even at his own expense. He shows his head to a
• 22:33
  foreigner. And this goodness doesn't go
• 22:35
  unnoticed. Naomi sees it.
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  She detects the kindness of the Lord working through Boaz, and
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  she blesses him for his covenantal goodness.
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  And the result of all this faithfulness is the complete
• 22:45
  reversal of Naomi's profound suffering.
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  She lamented that the Lord had brought her back empty and
• 22:50
  bitter. But Ruth was the means by which
• 22:53
  the empty one was made full, and the bitter 1 experienced great
• 22:56
  joy. Yahweh had preserved her.
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  And that final scene confirms it all.
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  A son is born to Boaz and Ruth Obed and Naomi becomes his
• 23:05
  nurse. Holding the continuation of her
• 23:07
  family line in her arms, she is full once more.
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  It's a powerful reversal from the famine and death of Moab to
• 23:15
  the flourishing and new birth in Bethlehem.
• 23:17
  And this personal family drama immediately pivots to National
• 23:21
  History through that concluding genealogy.
• 23:24
  That legal transaction at the city gate where Boaz secures the
• 23:27
  right of redemption? It's sealed with this powerful
• 23:29
  communal prayer from the elders. And this is where the personal
• 23:33
  blessing just explodes into national significance.
• 23:35
  It does. Yeah, the people pray that Ruth
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  B Like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the House of
• 23:40
  Israel, and that Boaz's house be like the House of Perez, whom
• 23:44
  Tamar boarded Judah. Those comparisons are so
• 23:47
  significant and intentional. They're placing Ruth the
• 23:50
  Moabitus right into the highest tier of Israelite history.
• 23:54
  They're putting her among the mothers of the tribes.
• 23:57
  This is not some accidental inclusion.
• 23:59
  It's a theological statement that her faithfulness is on par
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  with the founders of the nation. And linking her to Perez and
• 24:06
  Tamar is also important, isn't it?
• 24:07
  Very Tamar ensured the continuation of the line of
• 24:11
  Judah through, let's say, unconventional and ethically
• 24:13
  fraught means. It emphasizes that God often
• 24:17
  works through surprising, sometimes even scandalous
• 24:20
  circumstances and women to fulfill His promises.
• 24:23
  So it reinforces that central theme of hidden Providence.
• 24:26
  Yes, God's plan moves forward, and He often uses individuals
• 24:30
  and situations that we human beings would never anticipate or
• 24:33
  choose. And the genealogy at the end is
• 24:35
  the ultimate demonstration of God's guidance.
• 24:37
  The great reward granted to Ruth for her loyalty is clear.
• 24:40
  She is the honored ancestress of Israel's king.
• 24:42
  And the genealogy closes out the entire book.
• 24:45
  Obed, the son born to Ruth and Boaz, becomes the father of
• 24:48
  Jesse, and Jesse becomes the father of David the king.
• 24:51
  And that tells you something crucial about the nature of
• 24:54
  history itself. History.
• 24:56
  Despite all the moral failures of the judges, despite the
• 24:59
  famine and the migration and the personal losses, it was always
• 25:03
  moving toward a distinct sovereign goal.
• 25:05
  The establishment of the covenant rule through the
• 25:07
  Davidic King, right? The Lord would reign over the
• 25:09
  earth, and the king who would accomplish this traces his
• 25:12
  ancestry directly back to Ruth and Boaz.
• 25:15
  So, connecting the dots backward, Yahweh's care for
• 25:18
  Naomi's small, suffering family was a crucial piece of his grand
• 25:23
  care for all of Israel. Yes, it's solved the political
• 25:26
  and spiritual crisis of the judges by providing the
• 25:28
  foundation for righteous kingship.
• 25:30
  And looking forward, in light of the entire scriptural Canon,
• 25:34
  that localized care for Naomi's family is really a piece of his
• 25:38
  care for the whole world. It is the line of Ruth, and Boaz
• 25:41
  was the line from which the promised offspring, the Messiah,
• 25:43
  would ultimately come. You can trace it all the way
• 25:46
  back to the promise in Genesis 3.15.
• 25:49
  Which moves the story far beyond the fields of Bethlehem.
• 25:52
  The blessing given to Rachel and Leah and to Tamar and Judah was
• 25:55
  becoming a reality through this foreign woman.
• 25:58
  It shows how the promise to Abraham that all nations would
• 26:01
  be blessed begins is quiet fulfillment.
• 26:04
  So the future fulfillment points directly to the greater Son of
• 26:07
  David, Jesus Christ. Who would crush the serpent and
• 26:10
  bring many more Gentiles just like Ruth into the fold of God's
• 26:14
  people? The story proves that God's plan
• 26:16
  of redemption is inclusive, it's intentional, and it's
• 26:20
  sovereignly operating even in the darkest, most seemingly
• 26:23
  ordinary periods of human suffering and coincidence.
• 26:27
  This extensive look at Ruth, it really demonstrates that the
• 26:30
  story is far larger than the kindness between a mother-in-law
• 26:33
  and a daughter-in-law. Although that kindness is
• 26:35
  central to the human element of. Course, but the story is a
• 26:38
  demonstration of Yahweh's grace and sovereignty working out His
• 26:42
  purposes, even when those purposes are hidden entirely
• 26:45
  from our view. Indeed, and it provides a
• 26:48
  beautiful picture of what life looks like when it's lived under
• 26:51
  the covenant rule of Yahweh that has said that loyal covenant
• 26:55
  goodness is the distinguishing characteristic of His people.
• 26:58
  Whether they are a wealthy farmer like Boaz or a destitute
• 27:01
  foreigner like Ruth. And the final word is 1 of
• 27:04
  surprising inclusion. The book of Ruth links the great
• 27:07
  covenant blessing promised to Abraham and secured by David to
• 27:11
  the least anticipated figure, a Moabitus widow.
• 27:14
  It shows us that God's plan of redemption is always more
• 27:17
  surprising, yet perfectly on course than we can anticipate.
• 27:20
  It's continually preparing the way for the King who would bless
• 27:23
  the nations. And if we consider the ultimate
• 27:26
  destination of that genealogy, you know, leading through Obed
• 27:29
  and Jesse to David and then of course, to Christ, it raises an
• 27:33
  important question for you, for the listener.
• 27:35
  What's that? What's small, seemingly
• 27:37
  ordinary, or even painful chance events in your own life are
• 27:40
  actually the sovereign hand of God guiding history and guiding
• 27:44
  your life toward His ultimate good goal.
• 27:47
  An excellent thought to ponder as we close.
• 27:49
  Thank you for joining this deep dive into the book of Ruth.
• 27:51
  We hope this study encourages you and the faithful hidden
• 27:54
  Providence of our King.