Previously, in Ruth…

Ruth’s mother-in-law, Naomi, had moved from the land of Israel to Moab, with her husband; but her husband soon died, and she was left with her two sons. While they were living in Moab, Naomi’s sons married Moabite women – Ruth and Orpah. But ten years later, her sons died, too. So Naomi and Ruth, her daughter-in-law, moved back to Naomi’s home town of Bethlehem, empty: no food, and no children.

But yesterday, in chapter 2, we saw how God graciously provided for them. Ruth went to glean grain in the field of Boaz, of one of Naomi’s relatives. There, she found incredible kindness – more than was required by the law. Boaz encouraged Ruth to remain under his protection by only gleaning in his fields; he even instructed his workers deliberately to leave behind some of the good parts of the grain for her to gather. And when it came to mealtimes, Boaz invited her to share in the meal with him and the other workers. Naomi spoted the potential, and encouraged Ruth to keep gleaning in Boaz’s field.

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At the end of Ruth chapter 1 (see yesterday), Naomi has returned to her homeland, poor and childless. She is bitter, because she sees God’s hand as being against her. She is “empty” – without a man in her family to provide food for her, and without an heir. Yet the chapter ended with a note of hope. Two notes, in fact. One of her daughters-in-law, Ruth, has stayed with her – more than that, has aligned herself with Israel and Israel’s God, despite being a Moabite. And it’s the start of the harvest in Israel. What will happen next?

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Yesterday we began a series on Ruth, and made a list of all the things that weren’t “right” in the first five verses. (You really need to read yesterday’s notes for today to make sense.) What did you come up with?

Right from the beginning, we see that it was in the days of the judges – which, as we learned from the very final verse of Judges, meant that there was no king and everyone did as they saw fit. Already off to a bad start.

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Today, we begin a new series through the Old Testament book of Ruth. But we’re going to start a little bit before Ruth in our reading, in order to set the scene for what’s going on. (There’s a lot more bible-reading today, and less explanation than usual. You’ll see why later. Promise.)

First, let’s head back to a rather unsavoury incident in Abraham’s family tree:

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