What Sort of Story It Has Been

You could say that yesterday's verses were the climax toward which the whole story has been moving. From one point of view it is the book not of Ruth, but of Naomi: exiled, bereaved, with no hope for the future, going out full and coming back empty--but now with a new home, a new family, and a new hope, an empty life now filled with blessing.

And it is all a story which points to the coming King. It tells how God sets everything up so as to bring first his son David and then his Son Jesus into the world; so of course the story is bound to be crammed with blessings for everyone who is drawn into it.

But notice particularly that the line is traced through Perez, the illegitimate child of incest (v. 18). It is the kind of line which in Matthew 1:3 is extended further, right down to Jesus, and on the way highlights Ruth the outsider along with four other women: Tamar the mother of Perez, Rahab the prostitute, Bathsheba the adulteress, and Mary the virgin. Every one a scandal! Every one a miracle!

That is why Ruth's story is part of the story of salvation--God's plan for people who need saving.

Prayer: Lord, you save people! Thank you for saving me. Amen.

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