The Vows of a Young Woman

A Series on Women in the Bible
 (Use the link below to read the verses.)
Ruth 1:1-22

[God worked in and through the lives of countless women in the Bible. These women played significant, if not critical roles in the Lord’s plan of Redemption. In this series, I will try to show the faithfulness of some of these God fearing women.]

  

This picture of the yellowed poster board displays a sketch of a young couple who were married almost 47 years ago. It also has the vows that they made to each other at the time. 

As I read them today, his seem rather formal and stiff. But hers seem to come from the heart. They are taken from the book of Ruth.

 

The book of Ruth is a story about love. As a young woman she married a foreigner who, after a brief marriage, died. Soon afterwards, her mother-in-law, Naomi, decided to return to her homeland, so she told Ruth to return to her family. In a highly emotionally scene, here is Ruth’s loving response.

 

¹⁶ “Don’t make me leave you, for I want to go wherever you go and to live wherever you live; your people shall be my people, and your God shall be my God; ¹⁷ I want to die where you die and be buried there. May the Lord do terrible things to me if I allow anything but death to separate us.”                     Ruth 1 NLT

 

The book of Ruth is also a story about redemption. Ruth made the above vow to Naomi and kept her promise. They returned to Bethlehem together as a family. Ruth began to provide for both of them by gleaning in the fields of Boaz. He was related to Naomi, and held the special position known as a “family redeemer”.

 

²⁰ “May the Lord bless him!” Naomi told her daughter-in-law. “He is showing his kindness to us as well as to your dead husband. That man is one of our closest relatives, one of our family redeemers.”  Ruth 2 NLT

 

A “family redeemer” was a provision in the Law of Moses for a poor person who was forced to sell part of their property or themselves. The nearest of kin could "buy back" what the relative was forced to sell. With time, Boaz married Ruth, thus fulfilling his role as family redeemer of Naomi through Ruth.

 

Finally, the book of Ruth is a story about faithfulness. The faithfulness of Ruth to Naomi is highlighted in this passage.

 

¹⁴ Then the women of the town said to Naomi, “Praise the Lord, who has now provided a redeemer for your family! May this child be famous in Israel. ¹⁵ May he restore your youth and care for you in your old age. For he is the son of your daughter-in-law who loves you and has been better to you than seven sons!”     Ruth 4 NLT

       

 

The book of Ruth is a story about the love, redemption and faithfulness that we see lived out through Ruth. But it’s also a story about the character of God, who is loving, redemptive and faithful; just like the young girl who made her vows 47 years ago.

 

Copyright 2021 J.B. Williams