It’s Mine!!!

A series on meeting God – Ruth
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Ruth 1 

[We all have a story about how we met God. Some are more miraculous than others, but none more amazing than the mere fact that the Living God, our Creator, reached out to bring us into relationship with him. In this series, we will be looking at how people in the Bible met God, and what that means to you today.]

  

“It’s mine!!!” Children have no qualms about laying claim to a toy that’s theirs, or that they want. Often, it’s not even a matter of whether they want to play with the toy, they just don’t want another child to play with it.

 

Imagine though how you’d feel if the original owner of your home returned after many years and told you that they wanted their property back. You’d think they were crazy! After all, it’s your home, not theirs. They sold it! The name on the deed’s your name. They have no right to what you own. You might respond, “It’s mine!!!”

 

In a way, Ruth the Moabite was like that. She said, “It’s mine!!!”, but about something significantly more important. Her story started when Elimelek took his wife Naomi and two sons to live in Moab to flee a famine in Canaan.

 

While there, Elimelek died. As a result, Naomi was left with her two sons both of whom married Moabite women. One of them was Ruth. After living there for about ten years, tragically, both of Naomi’s sons died.

 

Sometime later, Naomi learned that the Lord had provided good crops again in Bethlehem, so she decided to return. She told both of her daughters-in-law that they should also return to their families. But Ruth refused by telling Naomi, “It’s mine”.

 

^16b “For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.             NIV   

 

Instead of returning to the stability of her own family, Ruth went with Naomi to Bethlehem where they had nothing. They were two women alone without husbands. Making it worse was the fact that Ruth was a Moabite who as a nation, had a contentious history with Israel. Their circumstance was dire.

 

However, the Lord had made provisions for the poor. According to Mosaic law, the Israelites were stewards of the land, not owners. Therefore, besides redeeming the land, Mosaic law provided the means to redeem a relative that was in need or danger. The role of kinsman-redeemer was established to fulfill these outcomes.

 

^23a “The land must never be sold on a permanent basis, for the land belongs to me (the Lord). ²⁴ “With every purchase of land you must grant the seller the right to buy it back (or redeem it). ²⁵ If one of your fellow Israelites falls into poverty and is forced to sell some family land, then a close relative should buy it back for him.              NLT            Leviticus 25

 

Ruth began to glean the fields of barley for food. The field belonged to Boaz who was a close relative of Naomi. Realizing Naomi’s situation, Boaz acted as her kinsman-redeemer by purchasing her dead husband’s property. He also acted as Ruth’s kinsman-redeemer by marrying her.

 

The story about Ruth the Moabite is a story about her amazing willpower, loyalty and faith in God. It’s also a story about the redemption, sovereignty and faithfulness of God.

 

Ruth was the great grandmother of David. Which means that she was also a direct ancestor of Jesus… the ultimate kinsman-redeemer.

 

⁷ He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.              NLT   Ephesians 1

 

Copyright 2025 Joseph B Williams

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www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

Home Is Where the Heart Is

The five women in Matthew’s genealogy: Ruth
A Series on Advent
 (Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Ruth 1; Matthew 1:1-17 

[In Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus, the Messiah, there are five women mentioned. All of them were in some sense outsiders. In this Advent series we will be looking at these five women to gain a better understanding of “the word who became flesh and made his dwelling among us”.]

  

In 1962, Elvis Presley released a song from the movie soundtrack of Kid Galahad titled, “Home is Where the Heart Is”. Here are the opening lyrics.

 

Home is where the heart is

And my heart is anywhere you are

Anywhere you are is home

 

These words have never been truer than for Ruth.

 

¹ In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab.     NIV

 

The “man from Bethlehem” soon died leaving his wife Naomi with her two sons, who later married Moabite women. Ruth was one of them. After living in Moab for ten years, both of Naomi’s sons also died, this time leaving Naomi alone with her two daughters-in-law.

 

When Naomi learned that the Lord had brought good crops to her people in Bethlehem, she decided to go back and told her daughters-in-law to return to their homes. In a very emotional scene, one of them did so. But Ruth refused. Her home was with Naomi, and she made this pledge to her.

 

¹⁶ But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. ¹⁷ Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!”          NLT

 

This wasn’t an easy promise for Ruth to make. She wouldn’t be going to some utopian life in Bethlehem. Naomi, as a widow without any sons, had no means of support. As for Ruth, she was from an enemy foreign land with foreign gods and, like Naomi, she was a widow without a son. But, return they did.

 

Once they arrived, the only food source that they had was for Ruth to glean from a barley field. It belonged to Boaz. As it turned out, he was not only a land owner, but also a relative of Naomi’s. In those days, that meant that he was a guardian redeemer.

 

The Hebrew word for guardian redeemer is a legal term applied to someone who has the responsibility to redeem a relative who is in serious difficulty. This could mean paying for their property so that it stayed in the family. Or it could mean marrying and providing a son who would inherit the property.

 

Although this concept seems very strange to us today, the origin can be found in the book of Leviticus. For Naomi and Ruth, it was literally a godsend. Boaz eventually married Ruth and they had a son named Obed who later had a grandson named David who was a distant ancestor of Jesus the Messiah.

For Ruth, the saying “home is where the heart is” meant being with Naomi and trusting in the God of Israel. Just like Ruth promised Naomi that she would always be with her, so the Lord promises you and me the same thing.

 

Copyright 2023 Joseph B Williams

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

 

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