Ruth: Week 1

I know the spacing is a little whompy but I'll work on that for next week.  I've just started typing and posting from MS Word (which is very handy to publish from that program) but haven't quite gotten the hang of it yet - obviously.  Just grin along with me.

Outline for Week 1:

 Week 1


Read all of Ruth.

Main Points:

• Authorship of the book
  
• Background
  
• Theme of the book
  
• Notes and comments
  

Who wrote the book of Ruth?


According to the Baker Commentary on the Bible, no one knows. However, while the introduction notes to the book of Ruth in my Ryrie Study Bible (KJV) agree that the author is unknown, Charles Ryrie states that some suggest that Samuel wrote the book of Ruth. I guess that means only God knows for certain.


Background:

It was difficult for me to put into words a good "background" introduction for Ruth. The book falls between the book of Judges and 1 Samuel. Both are very interesting books. In Judges we find the story of Gideon and also Samson. In Samuel we see the story of King Saul and then the rise of King David . And smack dab in the middle is Ruth. It wasn't an easy time.


In a nutshell – during the time of Judges there was a famine. Naomi was married to Elimelech and they had two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. Elimelech took his family from Bethlehem and moved to Moab. Elimelech dies and the sons marry Moabite women. Chilion marries Orpah and you guessed it – Mahlon marries Ruth.

The sons die too, thus leaving all three women widows and childless. That was a tough gig for women at that time. Women depended on men for everything. If a woman was husbandless and without a son to support her, the future did not look bright.


Theme:

Why is Ruth Important to Us? Why would a widow from the past be important to us? I guess most would say because she is in the genealogy of Christ. Ruth was an ancestor of Jesus. That seems like reason enough, but for me, that's a little too broad. Too generic. Too…….. well, let's face it – there are a lot of names written on the family tree of Jesus. Why should Ruth be special to us?

Well, let me tell you why she is important to me. A few years ago, before my daddy passed away, I read a verse in the Bible that talked about the 'Gentiles'. I don't remember which verse that was or even what it said. What I do remember is it struck me that 'gentile' was not necessarily a good thing. Then I realized - I'm a Gentile. "Gentile" according to The Student Bible Dictionary, means "a person who is not a Jew". I called my dad and asked him about the verse. He listened patiently and then I asked the $100,000 question, "It wasn't good to be a Gentile in the Bible was it?  Kinda like a second class citizen huh?" Dads reply? "Yup Sugar, that's one way of looking at it." It hit me – I'm not a Jew. I'm not one of the "chosen" people. I'm one of the others. I'm a Gentile. Now, don't get me wrong, I knew I wasn't Jewish. I knew I was a Gentile and not that I thought I was special but up until that moment I didn't realize how far outside of "holy" I actually was. It was like finding a skeleton in the old family history closet. Ugh oh.

So, Ruth is important because she shows us that Gentiles could believe in the one true God.


AND………


Ruth also gives us a partial lineage of David to Jesus (which includes us – the Gentiles)

See where this is going?

The lineage of Jesus:

The book of Ruth ends with the genealogy of 10 names. The last name being David, King David that is.


Those same 10 names are found in the beginning chapter of New Testament - Matthew Chapter 1. (I know I said look it up and I still mean it but I'll make this one easy and post it below)


Matthew 1

Vs. 1 - The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.


Vs. 5 - And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse;


Vs. 6 - And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias;


Vs. 16 - And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.


Let's recap:

Verse 1: We've got Jesus, the son of David.

If you are wondering, like me, why it says "the SON of David" – well, I'll tell you what I found: Basically it means "descendant" of David. Why would that be important? Well, because God promised David that the Messiah will come from his seed.


    Look it up:     2 Samuel 7:12-16

                John 7:42

If you read the Old Testament, you find this covenant didn't mean uninterrupted rule by David's family (Thank you Mr. Ryrie for pointing that out) but Jesus will ultimately and finally fulfill this promise at His Second Coming. (Matt. 19:28)



Verse 5:

    Here is Ruth! Our beloved Gentile woman!

Verse 6:

    David the King…….

Verse 16:

    And then Jesus, the best part of the family tree!


Other important characters in our story:

Naomi:

Naomi is Ruth's mother-in-law. She is a wonderful example and testimony for Ruth.


Boaz:

Boaz was a "kinsman-redeemer". I don't want to get ahead of myself here but that is a really cool thing! A kinsman-redeemer is a relative that pays a debt that the person would otherwise be unable to pay. We'll see this in chapt. 3.




Next week we will be in Chapter 1! And we're sailing now! Yippee! I also promise not to "talk" as much next week since we will have a chapter to read and notes to take. Oh, and don't be scared to write notes or questions and comment on them each week.







Comments:


Your turn…………


In your comment this week, it might be nice to introduce yourself, say "hi", and then simply comment with any thoughts on what you know about Ruth.


Have you read the entire book yet? (I know for a fact that several of you have – yeah!)


Don't be shy!




Hugs!
Kim