A Blessing for Boaz, Ruth, Naomi, and Us

“‘Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place.  You are witnesses this day.’  Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, ‘We are witnesses.  May the Lord make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel.  May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem, and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young woman.’”  -Ruth 4:10-12

Boaz would redeem Ruth the Moabite woman in order to carry on the name of her former husband.  Boaz was sent with a blessing by the elders of Israel, as a noble and upright man whose desire was to please the Lord in all that he did.  Ruth would not live the rest of her life alone, and her desire to cling to Naomi, to care for her, to forsake her own gods to follow the God of Naomi, was blessed mightily.  Naomi would not die without seeing her legacy, her generations, continue.  The cup of bitterness that she had been given was turned to joy by God’s grace. 

And us?  When I read of the the elders saying, “May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem…” my mind goes to Micah 5:2:

“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 origin is from old, from ancient days.”

Who is that one?  Jesus Christ, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, our Savior!  And how does He fit into the story of Ruth?  Jesus is a direct descendant of Ruth and Boaz (Matthew 1:5).  Praise God for how He works in all things, for the joy of His people, in ways that we cannot fathom!  Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz were certainly blessed, and so are we through them!