In Reference to the Book of Ruth

Holy cow! Its been a while since I've sat down and written one of these. Admittedly I've been a bit lazy with it, while at the same time being insanely busy with a lot of things. I figured that I'm not doing anything else at 0115 in the morning though so I should write some thoughts down.

A friend of mine recently asked about my thoughts on the Book of Ruth in the Old Testament, so I thought I'd give it a shot:

The book of Ruth is a very short book - comprising of only five pages in the scriptures. The problem is of course that there is very little genealogical tie to anything other than knowing that the seed of Ruth would produce David - which subsequently would lead to Jesus Christ further on down the line.

I believe to some extent that this is somewhat allegorical in nature. The story begins with the story of Naomi, her husband and her two sons - all of which ended up dying, leaving Naomi to care for her two daughters-in-law. Naomi decides that she will return to her home of Bethlehem and commands her two daughters-in-law to return to their homes. The one decides to return immediately and the other, Ruth, decides to pledge her devotion to Naomi and stay by her for the rest of her life.

Naomi already carries with her a virtuous reputation which is also mirrored by Ruth also. She (Ruth) decides to go out into the fields of Boaz, the kinsmen of Naomi's late husband, to glean some of the grain left from the harvest. Boaz is impressed with her integrity, beauty, and other characteristics that he allows her to enter in with his maidens and commands his servants to protect her, all while being oblivious to his familial and concurrent social ties to her. Over time she grows closer to Boaz and eventually seeks to marry him. Boaz consents because he knows that she is a woman of integrity and he is also. As a gesture of goodwill, Ruth gives her firstborn to Naomi to raise.

Now for the allegorical part to this. This is similar to the process of repentance and conversion. Each of us go about our lives at some point mired in the repetition of our daily lives and weighed down by the worries and cares of the world. When we choose to embrace the spirituality that the gospel has to offer, we find ourselves allowing the previous ties we had to die off. Only the truly honorable and praiseworthy will stick by our sides as Ruth did. Though we will find it difficult to maintain who we are, we know that by our devotion to the path that we have chosen, we will one day be blessed beyond measure for our devotion to it. Once we have committed to that path we begin to recognize our own kinsmen (Jesus Christ) we will eventually bow at his feet and seek to become a member of His family. He will - as he did with Ruth and Naomi - buy us into his family with a price where we will have protection and we will have an inheritance and dwelling place far greater than we could previously imagine.

Obviously, the key to all of this is contingent upon our devotion to the paths that we have chosen, more importantly our exercise of faith in those things which we cannot see or discern immediately in front of us. There are going to be those times in life when we feel that we cannot go forward another day, or that we have not the means to provide for ourselves or our families - but we know that through our devotion that we will receive "blessings beyond measure."

That's my take on things. Take it or leave it.