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Ruth Introduction and Outline

Ruth Introduction Where there is no food, there is no strength. Where there is no strength, there is weakness, and where weakness exists, help from some outside source is required in order to regain that nourishment which is necessary for recovery. The book of Ruth begins with an absence of spiritual truth in the region of Ephrathah of the city of Bethlehem. There is a famine in the land. Bethlehem is known as the city of bread, but since there is a famine, there is very little bread. Bread also represents Bible doctrine, or the bread of life, spiritual bread intended to feed the soul, and necessary for the spiritual and overall soundness of the soul. Lack of bread represents the lack of spiritual growth in the general population. The people need to either change their ways (attitude toward God and His Word), and in which case then God will bring them bread (prosperity), or move to where bread (the Word of God) is in greater supply. Sometimes people simply move away with perhaps the right intentions, but they make the wrong choices in making their decision to move. Such was the case of Elimelech and his family. The book of Ruth covers the life of the family of Elimelech, the problems they endured, the disasters they encountered, and the recovery and legacy they leave for future generations. The book of Ruth takes place during the time of the Judges. The period of the Judges, is a period following the conquest of the promised land under the leadership of Joshua, and extends to the time of the first king of Israel, Saul. Throughout this period, the nation of Israel experienced a roller coaster ride of highs in spiritual growth, and lows in their negative volition toward God. Each time they fell away from their worship of God, they encountered problems, invasions, economic pressures and so forth. God would then raise up a hero, a judge, a person with a positive attitude toward God, and the nation would recover to a period of peace and prosperity for a time. That is, until they went negative toward God again and fell back into more problems. Their collective attitude was their own worst enemy for the nation as a whole. While the book of Judges covers the various stories of the failures of the nation of Israel, and the heroes that aided in their recovery, the book of Ruth covers on a more personal level, the lives of eight individuals - Elimelech and his wife Naomi, their two sons and their two wives respectively (Ruth being one of those wives), Boaz, and an unnamed kinsman of Naomi. The theme of the book is redemption. That concept being, of a person finding himself in dire straits and unable to get himself out of those problems by means of his own efforts. Therefore, another must step forward to redeem, or pay the price necessary to get that person out of their situation. Ruth and Naomi find themselves widowed and in a strange land. With husbands gone (having died), they are faced with either remaining in that foreign land, or returning to Bethlehem, the former home of Naomi. They are poor, and virtually destitute. Boaz is the wealthy prince of Judah who comes along to redeem them out of their poverty, and give them a new life. Boaz will be representative of Jesus Christ and His work on the Cross in redeeming humanity out of the pit of sin and death in which it resides. The book focuses on the unswerving devotion of Ruth to Naomi, her mother-in-law. Ruth is a gentile who marries the son of Elimelech, an Israelite. The men folk die and this forces the widows to move back to Bethlehem. Destitute, they both are in need of a place to stay, and of employment. Both of which are provided in Bethlehem. Their redemption is the common theme of the book. It is appropriate in that it takes place in the city of the birthplace of Jesus Christ, the redeemer of mankind. Thus the picture of Christ paying the price for our freedom and, Naomi (Jew) and Ruth (Gentile) the ones being purchased out of their destitute state, representative of all of mankind for whom Christ went to the Cross to pay the price of redemption. The new life that both Ruth and Naomi eventually receive are the result of their faith in the work of Boaz in his redeeming them. Faith being represented as in our individual faith expressions in Christ for His work on the Cross and the new life that each person receives in Christ as a result of that faith. The book covers many other topics as well. Both women move from marriage and a form of happiness, to despair and emptiness, then back to happiness and fullness again. Marriage is covered as the completion of a persons existence, taking the two incomplete halves of a man and a woman and joining them in marriage, representative of Bible doctrine in Bible study being joined with the soul of the positive believer in Jesus Christ making that person whole in their spiritual life. This is also a story of individuals, in a land in the midst of political and spiritual problems (the era of the Judges). The story is not of nations or empires, but looks down into the forest and is a study of the individual trees in that forest, Naomi and Ruth. Throughout history we have a tendency to look at the big picture, things on a national or regional scale, but within any given nation or region there are individual people. Nations are in effect made up of a collection of many individuals. Some very positive toward God, and some who are not, and many in the middle who are more or less indifferent. The nation's direction may tilt in the direction of the attitude of the majority, but there is always blessing for those individuals who are positive toward God, regardless of the spiritual condition of the nation on the whole. A general outline of the book of Ruth Outline is as follows: I. Famine. 1:1 II. The family of Elimelech moves to Moab. 1:1-5. II. Naomi and Ruth return from Moab. 1:6-22. III. Ruth gleans in the fields of Boaz. 2. IV. Ruth finds a redeemer. 3. V. Boaz and Ruth marry. 4:1-17. VI. Ruth an ancestress of David. David an ancestor of Jesus Christ. 4:18-22 Previous Page Table of Contents Donation Next Page End Of Lesson Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth.

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