RUTH. Chapter 1. What was happening, then, in Judah and in Israel at the time?

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1 RUTH Chapter 1 The Book of Ruth is a moving story of love, hope, faithfulness, and genuine kindness, in the midst of continuous tragedies. It is about a family of four: Elimelech and his wife Naomi, and their two sons Mahlon and Kilion. They leave their hometown of Bethlehem to go to Moab, a foreign country, because a famine was sweeping the land of Judah. Once there, another calamity occurs; the husband dies. Then as time goes on, the sons marry Moabitess women, Ruth and Orpah. However, after a while, another tragedy strikes; both these men die. Naomi, Ruth and Orpah are now widows. It is then that Naomi decides to head back to the land of Bethlehem of Judah, with her two daughters-inlaw. While on the way, Naomi, who was in an advanced age, discourages her two daughters-in-law from following her and begs them to return to their families. They were young women, who could remarry. As they were from Moab, they knew that they would have a difficult time adapting in Judah; the two countries were often at war with each other. It was, then, better for them to remain in Moab. After two attempts to discourage them, Orpah accepts to leave. But Ruth refuses to abandon Naomi, even after much insistence. It is here where we begin to reach the heart of this story, a tale of compassion, gentleness and faith. Ruth vows to stay with Naomi and pronounces powerful words. These words are even repeated today in weddings and in ceremonies of dedication. We read them in Ruth 1:16-17 But Ruth said: "Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, And there will I be buried. The LORD do so to me, and more also, If anything but death parts you and me." These are beautiful words of dedication and kindness, but where did Ruth get so much assurance, such serenity and love, in the midst of so many misfortunes and in the face of an uncertain future? Her words are wholly unselfish; it would have been so much easier for her to remain in Moab. But the source of her strength can be recognized within the words she pronounces in the verses we just read. There she mentions God three times, and the third time she calls Him LORD [Yud, He, Vav, He], Jehovah, which is the proper name of the God of Israel, our God. There lies the very foundation and source of her strength. Ruth had come to know and believe in Him and found in Him her spring of courage and love. She knew very well what she was doing because she had met the God of Israel and she was walking by faith. It is really at this point that the story of Ruth begins, because God was not going to wait too long to bless her richly. He was about to do something of great magnitude for Israel through this humble Moabite woman. What was happening, then, in Judah and in Israel at the time? 1

2 The story of Ruth happened during one of the lowest points in the history of Israel. The country was slowly crumbling to pieces; there was no leadership and there was not much hope, even for her future existence. This is where God, in His faithfulness, comes to the rescue. Let us consider the context by reading the first verse, which says so much about the times. Let us begin to read just the first part Ruth 1:1a Now it came to pass, in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. The verse situates us in time; it says When the judges ruled When was this? After the time of Moses and after the Israelites entered and conquered the land with Joshua, things did not go well at all. The passage of time from the Book of Joshua to that of Judges is one from light to darkness, from faith to unbelief, from the victories to constant defeat. Israel's neighbors, the Arameans, the Moabites, the Philistines, and all the other Canaanites, each in turn attacked and often ransacked Israeli towns and villages. The reason is because they had turned away from God. Judges is a book about apostasy. However, in His Faithfulness, God sent faithful individuals, 12 of them, people like Gideon, Samson, Othniel, and even a woman, Deborah, to save Israel. But this lasted for a short period of time only and the people always reverted back to unfaithfulness. These heroes helped, but could not change the hearts of men. But Israel needed a more stable, stronger leadership and this is what God had hoped for them from the beginning. Let us read the first verses. Judges 1:1-2 Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass that the children of Israel asked the LORD, saying, "Who shall be first to go up for us against the Canaanites to fight against them?" And the LORD said, "Judah shall go up. Indeed I have delivered the land into his hand." The Lord had chosen Judah to lead Israel. Judah refers to the tribe from where the Kings of Judah were to solidify Israel. Moreover, it was from these kings that God was going to raise the One leader who could save them to the uttermost and even change their hearts; that is the Messiah. But, even this hope was fading away. So, where were the men of Judah; where was the leadership of Judah? Let me bring you to the last verse of the Book of Judges. After a sad history of 350 years, and of constant rebellion, we read in Judges 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. There is a proverb in the Bible that sums up this section so well. Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained This was the case with Israel. There words there was no king in Israel are repeated four times in the book of Judges (Judges 17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25), as if God was always seeking with whom He could work or partner. But there were no workers, no leadership in Israel, no king and worse, the hope of the coming Deliverer, Shiloh the Messiah, was slowly disappearing. Here, the history of the chosen people had reached one of its lowest points. 2

3 But our God is a faithful and persistent God. He found a willing heart in the young woman, Ruth, and it was through her that He would save the hope of the nation. While the leadership of Israel failed, it would be through the young Moabitess that David, the ancestor of the Messiah, was to come. Ruth turns out to be King David s great-grand mother. God works in wonderful ways; this book is about Him and about his workings in the lives of people and His persistent love and sure promises. The last words of the book of Ruth are about David. Ruth 4:22 Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David. This was to show that the kingship will be reestablished and that the line of the Seed of the woman, the line of Hope, will not disappear from Israel for the Messiah was to come from David. The next book, 1 Samuel, speaks of the anointing of David. From Joshua to Ruth to Samuel to David, all these books are leading to Yeshua. Samuel himself was considered the first of all prophets by Peter (Acts 3:24), surely because he was part of the line which established the Messiah. Some rabbis called him the chief of the prophets in the Talmud (Jeremiah. Talmud, Hagigah 2:1). It was with Samuel that schools of prophets were instituted; these were like Bible schools where the Scriptures were taught and where the students were being trained to listen to God, in order to speak His Word. With him, began a reversal of famine of the Word, in Judges. Ruth is then the light at the end of the Book of Judges, leading directly to the Messiah, as the last words of the Book tell us. These names, Obed Jesse, David, are also found in the genealogy of the Messiah, in the book of Matthew, which confirms God's faithfulness. Matthew 1:5, 6 Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David the king. The names are the same. Boaz is mentioned right here; he is the Kinsman Redeemer, whom we will get to know a little later. In Matthew s genealogy, Rahab is mentioned as the mother of Boaz. Rahab was a Canaanite prostitute from Jericho. But it is chronologically impossible for her to be his mother; we have a lapse of 200 years between the two. Is it possible that Rahab was somewhere in the lineage of Boaz, and here specifically mentioned to show that, in salvation, there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles and to show that Jesus came to save sinners from all nations? Ruth and Matthew are two books which lead us to see the shadow of the church. In the book of Ruth, she represents the nations coming into the commonwealth of Israel, as Paul says in Ephesians 2:12. Speaking to Gentiles He says: that at that time you [the Gentiles] were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. Ruth and Rahab are two great examples of this hope. These two very unlikely candidates, by their faith, joined the very genealogical line of Yeshua. 3

4 In Matthew, Yeshua alluded to the coming of the Bride of the Messiah in His parables of the Kingdom in Matthew 13, especially the one about the costly Pearl in Matthew 13:46 when He says:..who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. This is His bride, and He loves her so much that the twelve gates of heaven are going to be made of pearls, for it is for her that He is now preparing a place, as He promises in John 14. Let us now go back to the rest of the verse of Ruth 1:1. It tells us more about the tragedy that was going on at this time, in Judah. Now it came about in the days when the judges governed, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons. See the first words: Now it came to pass As a Hebrew lexicon puts it, this one word in the Hebrews, ו י ה י may be compared to and then that young children usually use to tell their stories in English (A Biblical Hebrew Reference Grammar, Merwe et al.) And then after this entire sad story in Judges, the heartbreak kept its course, and then there was a famine in the land. The irony keeps its course. We are told that this man was living in Bethlehem. In Hebrew, this name means the house of bread, but it was empty, bare, and drained out. Twice, in the 2 first verses, we are reminded of Bethlehem. In verse 1, it is called Bethlehem of Judah and in the next verse it is called Ephrathites of Bethlehem of Judah. Why the repetition? This is like a preparation for the coming prophecy, about the place where the Messiah was to be born. Micah, who prophesied many years after Ruth, reminds us that despite the many failures of man, the Messiah was on His way and will reveal Himself at the House of Bread. Micah 5:2 "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting." Bethlehm, ephrathah, and Judah are all in this prophecy. As for Bethlehem of Judah, God already inspired Jacob to say that The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh [until the Messiah] comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people. (Genesis 49:10) So we knew that it was from Judah that the Messiah was to come. Micah tells us that it will be in Bethlehem, but not any Bethlehem, for the addition of the name of Ephrathites, in Ruth 1.1 and Micah 5.2 tell us which Bethlehem. There was another Bethlehem in Zebulon, and there was another town called Ephrathah in Ephraim, and the distinction is made so that there is no mistake about the place of the birth of the Messiah. Fulfilling the promises from Jacob to Ruth, to Micah, Jesus was born in Bethlehem to save the world. In history Ephrat, from where Ephratat comes, was the wife of Caleb. She was one of the two who entered the land of Israel, with Joshua, from the previous generation. Caleb left us a great legacy; his wife Ephrat gave birth to Hur whose first-born was Ephrathat, the father of Bethlehem. 4

5 This is how the story of Ruth is another link leading to our Savior. But notice that, before the story of Ruth begins, salvation is seen so that, whatever happens, we know that God is in charge and that the end of the story will be a great victory for Him and for us. This famine in Ruth 1.1, then, goes further than a famine of bread, but surely, as Amos later wrote: a famine... of hearing the words of the LORD (Amos 8:11). Israel had then lost her lifeline with God but Ruth came to the rescue. See how the second verse begins: The name of the man was Elimelech. Is this an irony? The name Elimelech means God is my king; this man was among those from whom the kings of Judah were to be issued, so that Judah shall go up and deliver Israel. Elimelech was among those from whom the messianic line was to come, yet he was leaving! How sad is this? Most rabbis do not have good words for this man. Some have said that he was very rich and, and knowing that a famine was coming, left so that he would not share his wealth with the people. (Ruth Rabba 1.6 / JPS Comm.. on Ruth) They are right when they say that he did not want to share. This man should not have left; if he was right to leave, why did not all others of Judah leave? The others stayed and managed well, like Boaz, whom we will soon meet. What about his two sons, Mahlon and Kilion? We do not know who they are, but we have their names and names in the Bible are often very significant. However, there is no unanimity as to the meaning of their names. Some say one thing, others say something else, but when you look closely, the different meanings of their names concord with their story. The name Mahlon is thought to be derived from חיל,מ machol, which means circle-dance Perhaps the parents wanted to mark the joyful event of his birth. The name of his brother, Kilion, is thought to derive from,כ ל ה kallah, a bride, or,כ ל ל to crown; a hopeful thought from the parents. However, some rabbis in the Talmud have seen other roots. They say that Machlon means common because they made themselves very common when they were of the Messianic line and Kilion is from the root word destruction because they made themselves liable to destruction, and so they both died in foreign land. (Bab. Talmud Bab Bathra 5:11) Here, in these two interpretations, one can see the story of these men, because, like Elimelech, they also should have stayed in Bethlehem. So where did they go? They went to Moab. The last words of verse 2 are like an exasperation, like a frustration. We read: Now they entered the land of Moab and remained there. The Hebrew for and remained ו י הי ו ש ם, there, can be translated and there they are These same words are found in Deuteronomy 10:5, when Moses found the tablets of the Law and he said and there they are. In Ruth, after leaving Bethlehem and arriving in Moab; there they are. As if it was said in exasperation; after all of this, all this history, they end up in Moab. It was not a good place at all; no good thing could come out of Moab, but, like it was with Nazareth, a great woman named Ruth came out of Moab. 5

6 But let us see how God considered the Moabites. Let me tell you one verse which should have told Elimelech not to go there. In Deuteronomy 23:3, God decreed that: No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of the Lord; none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall ever enter the assembly of the Lord. That is quite a statement. How then can we understand that Ruth came all the way from Moab to be in the Messianic line? The interpretation of this verse, in relation to Ruth, is a problem for rabbinical Judaism. This we will consider in our next study. But who are these Moabites; where do these people come from? The name Moab means from the father, because Moab s mother was Lot s daughter. After the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, she thought that they were the only ones left on earth and she wanted to save the lineage of man. So she had a child, Moab, from her father Lot. Lot was Abraham s nephew whom he adopted and supported in many ways. But they did not return the kindness. When the Jewish people came out of Egypt, the Moabites did not want to help them, and thought to destroy all Israel. This is why God proclaimed that no Moabite shall enter the assembly of the Lord. They had forgotten that Abraham had given the best of the land to their father Lot and he even put his life in danger to save the life of Lot when he went and fought these formidable armies with only 318 men. He even pleaded for Lot to be saved from Sodom. They had forgotten this throughout history, and even during the times of the Judges, they were at war with Israel. We read in Judges that the children of Israel served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years.[until] the children of Israel cried out to the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer for them: Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite (Judges 3:14-15) But Ruth the Moabitess came to return the kindness and even rescue the image of her nation, Moab. From Moab comes Ruth, who saves Israel. How unlikely this is that a Moabite woman is used to save Israel s kingship. But one thing we see is that God can erase the past and make things all new. The love of one person saves two nations - Israel and Moab. In the future, Moab, the nation, will be saved; at least a remnant of Moab will always exist for eternity. We read in Jeremiah 48:47: Yet will I bring back the captivity of Moab in the latter days, says Jehovah. This will happen at the very end. Moab will be saved and it begins with Ruth. See how good individuals can come out of a dark place, and especially how God can turn a bad situation into a good one. If there was hope for Israel and for Moab, there is hope for everyone. This story of Ruth, so far, will bless us into seeing that God can give us the ability to deal with crises in a positive manner. Who would have expected that salvation would come from Moab, at that time in Israel? I believe that from this time, and because of Ruth, Moab had reached a new level. Even the prophets of Israel cried for the remnant of Moab. It was Isaiah the prophet who wept for the Moabites, when he saw a vision of an invasion. Isaiah 15:5 "My heart will cry out for Moab They will go up with weeping; They will raise up a cry of destruction. 6

7 How could a prophet of Israel cry out for the enemy of his people and be affected by their suffering? But God saw the best of them. We further read in Isaiah 16:9 another testimony of his pain for the Moabites. Therefore I will bewail the vine of Sibmah, With the weeping of Jazer; I will drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh; For battle cries have fallen Over your summer fruits and your harvest. As the vision brings him from city to city, Isaiah cries for them. But was not Jazer a city belonging to the tribe of Dan and taken over by the Moabites? Nevertheless, Isaiah is a true prophet of God and he does not rejoice over the fall of anyone, even over the enemies of Israel. On the contrary, he mourns over their sufferings. While sin knows no distinction of race or nationality, so does love. Proverbs 10:12, a passage quoted by Peter in 1Peter 4:8, says: love covers all sins. This is the power of love; it disarms sin. This is the love that this passage is bringing out. It is calling on every reader to develop it and to ask for it from the One who is fully Love. To deeply love is a prerequisite for the ability to be used to do the work of the Lord. This is where the preparation, or the schooling, lies for those who want to exercise their gift. The best Bible school is called Love. In history, Ruth being from Moab may have helped her great-grand-son, David, to find refuge in Moab. When Saul was seeking to kill David, we read in 1Samuel 22 that David escaped with 400 men and found refuge in Moab. This is another unlikely meeting, seeing the history of Israel and Moab, but David had some solid affinity with Moab. His ancestry is partly from them, and they must have known about it and they welcomed him. David seemed quite comfortable with them and perhaps overstayed there, until God sent the prophet Gad who told him to go back to Judah. (2Sam.22:5) But there is one more name we have not looked at yet in Ruth 1:2 The name of the man was Elimelech, the name of his wife was Naomi There she is; the one with whom the story really begins. Her name means My Delight and accordingly she is to God and to the reader, for she is a great woman of faith and with whom Ruth was able to do her work. So far in the story the men died and the women took over; God has a good sense of humor. This is a story where women take the lead and save. At the time, they were still considered second to all; even after the Mosaic Law was instituted - a law which uplifts all human beings and especially the women. But this did not help the men's view of women much. We can see how noble this woman was, as the text shows us that she sought the interest of her two daughters-in-law before hers. We read in the text that Ruth went to search for food for Naomi; she must have been quite old. Yet she sought the welfare of her daughters-in-law first, without regard as to how she was going to survive alone in Bethlehem. 7

8 Let us read this moving moment when she asked her daughters-in-law to go back to their people; and there she says things that will throw light to subsequent events. Ruth 1:11-14 But Naomi said, "Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Are there still sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? "Turn back, my daughters, go for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, if I should have a husband tonight and should also bear sons, "would you wait for them till they were grown? Would you restrain yourselves from having husbands? No, my daughters; for it grieves me very much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD has gone out against me!" Then they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. Naomi knew that a Moabitess will not fare well in Judah; there was a long history of hatred between them. So she begs them to return. But one can see that between them there was also a long history of love; she calls them my daughters. We are told twice that all three lifted up their voices and wept in Ruth 1:9, 14. It is a moving scene of love. Here Orpah, leaves. The rabbis see in her name the root word Rhoref, which means hard neck, or obstinate. So they thought this was an appropriate name for her, for she turned her face away from Naomi. There are many legends which followed Orpah. One of them says that she is the mother of Goliath. They knew very well that she could not be the mother of Goliath, but they put on her all they can imagine. Others have seen the meaning of her in the word raphra, which means a young gazelle, and this is what one of the brothers must have seen in her. Ruth s name is thought to be from the root, rhou, meaning refreshment, or rehout which means friendship and she was all this in the history of Israel. The rabbis loved her; they say she has royal blood, being the daughter of the King of Moab, Eglon; here again, their imagination exceeds the text. So Ruth stays with Naomi and we see here, in both Naomi and Ruth, true loving-kindness and devotion. It is in this verse of dedication and true devotion that Ruth pronounces the proper name of the God of Israel. This is where she says in verse 17: The LORD do so to me, and more also, If anything but death parts you and me. This devotion, selflessness and generosity come when one has this close relationship with God, amid the surrounding circumstances. It is an undying love. The name of God, Yud-He-Vav-He - His proper name - is mentioned eighteen times in the Book of Ruth. He is very active in saving people in this book. Eighteen is the number of life. In Hebrew life is spelled with the Hebrew letter Het and Yud, and their numerical value is eighteen. Life is what God is bringing to Israel after the dark period of the Judges, and also to Moab. This life is leading right to the Life Giver, Yeshua. This number had its influence in the history of the Jews. Today they call their daily prayer the Shemoneh Esreh, or the 18 benedictions. They chose this number even before the first century because some say that it is because the name of God is referred to eighteen times in the whole Shema. Ruth 1:4 ends with the words: And they lived there about ten years. That is quite a long time when you consider that Moab was not far from Judah, it was just about 80 km away. But ten is also the number of completeness of order, marking the entire round of anything (Bullinger, Number in Scripture), like the Ten Commandments. Here in Ruth, Elimelech s Diaspora had ended and it was time to go back to the land, as it will be with their children, even today, very soon. 8

9 But in this moving scene, there are a few things that Naomi says which will help us understand the events in following chapter and see that it was all done by grace. In her plea to have her daughters-in-law stay in Moab, she says in verse 11: Are there still sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? Why would she say that? Then, in the verse 12, she tells them that even if she did, it would be too long to wait until they reach the age of adulthood. By saying these things, Naomi was referring to the law of Levirate. From this law, many have tried to understand the actions of Boaz, the future husband of Ruth. Let us see this law. This is a truly beautiful regulation that we find in the Mosaic Law, one which has to do with the protection of the woman. This law is found in Deuteronomy 25:5-16. I will summarize it for you. The circumstances here are so odd, even funny, but they are very serious. This law says that if a woman s husband dies, the husband s brother is then commanded to marry the widow so that, according to Verse 5, the widow of the dead man shall not be married to a stranger outside the family. This law protected the widow, otherwise she found herself on the street, with nothing. But what if the brother refuses? This is where a long procedure follows. It is so tough, that it is clear that the man had better accept to marry his brother's widow than to go through it; God was not going to leave the woman defenseless. Let me briefly tell you about this procedure. First, what it says is that if the man refuses to marry his brother s widow, the whole affair becomes a public one. She goes to see the elders or the judges of the city, and if these are involved, the whole community is, as well. So it is a big affair. These elders would try to convince the brother. However, if he persists in refusing, then as it says in Deuteronomy 25.9, 10: his brother s wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, spit in his face "And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him who had his sandal removed. Why humiliate the man in such a manner? The law was designed to protect every human being. This is another attempt to protect the woman here. Again, this widow, if not married, will be out of the house and, in these times, she would surely find it hard to find another husband, after having been already married. But more than that, a wife did not inherit her husband s wealth. She would have had to go out of the house empty handed, and this law is given for her protection. This is the law of Levirate, which comes from the word levir, which is the Latin meaning of brother-in-law. Many have tried to understand the rest of the story of Ruth, through this law, where Boaz would eventually marry Ruth. While there are elements of this law, God goes beyond this law and adds so much of His grace and Redemption. Many rabbis have seen that this action of Boaz went way beyond the law of Levirate. Rashi argued against it and Ibn Ezra, the Sephardic Rabbi from the 11th century, said that this story is simply based on redemption. (JPS Comm. Ruth) He is right on, because the whole story from this point on is one of Redemption. We will see that the Kinsman redeemer, Boaz, is a type of the Messiah to come. If he married Ruth, it was not because the law required it, but because of love, in the same way that Yeshua comes and saves His 9

10 own - out of love, not out of obligation. The Law cannot save, but the love of God can. This we also learn from Ruth. This is where we meet Boaz. He is right in Ruth 2: 1 There was a relative of Naomi s husband, a man of great wealth, of the family of Elimelech. His name was Boaz. Boaz is a family member of Elimelech. Naomi does not know this fact yet, as of verse 2. In fact, the meeting of Ruth and Boaz was divinely orchestrated. What does the name Boaz mean? Like that of Israel, it is not that clear but the description given in verse 1 can throw some light on this name. It says that He is a man of great wealth. The word wealth does not really translate the Hebrew word Chayil. This word is translated elsewhere by our words valor, might, virtuous, like the virtuous woman in Proverbs 31; it is the same word. The words gibor chayil in a man of great power is one that is most frequently applied to great military men, like Gideon or David. These words are also attributed to men of great influence like Zadok the priest. (1Chronicles12:29) Boaz, as we will see in his power and humbleness, was a true soldier of God. This man was rich and wealthy, as we can see later on, but here it speaks of his godly character. The Targum translates this phrase and says that Boaz was a powerful man, strong in the Law; they understood the moral value of this man. Solomon even named one of the pillars in the Temple by his name. (1Kings 7:21) More than all of these things, this man is the Kinsman Redeemer pointing to the Messiah; he also takes a bride, the congregation of God, and marries her out of his eternal love for her. What we have seen and learned today is about two simple human beings, two widows, a Jew and a Gentile, whom God chose and through them shows us how they changed the course of history. Naomi may remind us of Israel who goes to the nations and, after a set time, is brought back to her land. She has lost much, her husband and her two sons, but she does not stand alone, a beautiful Moabite is with her. Ruth may remind us of the new Body of the Messiah, the Ecclesia, the true Church of God, composed of Jews and Gentiles. Ruth, who is a Gentile, believes in the God of the Bible and comes into the assembly of Israel. Ruth is in the Scriptures; in the subsequent chapter, we will see the shadow of our Lord, omnipresent and always ready to pour out His love to whoever will open his or her heart to Him. In John 5:39 Yeshua spoke of the Scriptures and said these are they which testify of Me. Those who show kindness and love will bring light to the world around them. 10