Week 13 Ruth
Ruth is one of the great stories in the bible.
Plus, it’s a really nice story – a kind of consolation story after reading the mostly dark, violent, and (for me) kind of depressing book of Judges.
Couple of things I noticed.
First, Ruth is not an Israelite woman. But she migrates and in the end marries into the tribe of Judah – a bit like Rahab. Israel is exclusive. But some outsiders are let in.
A second thing is the family connections that show up at the end.
Boaz – a wealthy Israelite and a good-guy – marries Ruth – a poor Moabite widow and a quality-gal – and they have a son named Obed. Obed will have a son Jesse, and a grandson David (so a famous name appears).
But chapter four also gives us the genealogy going backwards from Boaz: Salmon, Nahshon, Amminadab, Ram, Hezron, and Perez.
This is interesting because in the second-week of January, back in Genesis 38, I was wondering about Perez. Or more accurately about his mom Tamar, who tricked her father-in-law – the lackluster Judah – into having paid-for sexual intercourse. As a result of that a son was born: Perez. And now generations later the Perez family has gone forward through Hezron, Ram, Amminadab, Nahshon, Salmon right down to Boaz – and through Boaz-Ruth the line is heading toward Obed, Jesse, and David.
Note: family list from Ruth 4:18-22 (NASB version)