We just finished a 6-week study of the book of Ruth, here are a couple take aways…
- We teach women that they are supposed to be pursued, if a man won’t pursue you he isn’t worth the time and he doesn’t really like you and that this concept comes from the Bible. YET Ruth is very aggressive with Boaz to the point that she practically proposes to him and it works really well for her. hmmm…
- Names mean so much in the Old Testament yet Naomi (Ruth’s mother-in-law) names her sons Mahlon “sickly” and Chilion “destruction”. They (surprisingly) die off in the first chapter. Who would have guessed? It didn’t seem like they were really setting their sons up for long and happy lives.
- Ruth’s faithfulness was a blessing to all around her: She ended up with a loving husband, Boaz ended up with an awesome wife, and Naomi, who could have died an old, bitter widow, was a doting grandma by the end of the book. She was able to look past the hopelessness of her situation. I want to learn how to do that.
We’re going through the Nav Press book Th1nk: Lifechange Ruth and Esther. I really like these books because they give great social context and just enough history that you understand what’s going on without feeling like you pulled out an ancient history textbook. I’ll post the Esther thoughts in a couple weeks when we’re done.
Have you read the book of Ruth? What would you add to this list?
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July 1, 2007 at 1:04 am
Jen Proehl
I got a cool “book of Ruth” story from the ole YWAM days. I was talking to one of our leaders about being her Nanny on an outreach to Eastern Europe and she said, “Jenni (that’s what I was back then) before I can believe God is blessing me with you as Nanny for my children on this trip, I need you to go to Him and ask Him for a verse of confirmation.”
What? A verse of confirmation? I was from the Conservative Baptist Church for goodness sake! I thought it was bold enough just letting her know I thought ‘God was telling me’ to go on this trip! So I prayed, “Sorry God, I never really asked this of You, and I know what you told me, but she asked me to do this…so out of obedience to her request, could You give me a verse?” Then I shut my eyes, put my finger down on a verse and when in to meet with her the next day with my results…
The verse was Ruth 1:16-18; so I read it to her and she started crying. And she said, “Yes this is a confirmation. What you don’t know, what we haven’t told anyone yet, is that part of this trip includes going to visit my people, my family in Kiev.” She went on to explain about the trip, but the most exciting thing to me was: God spoke to me through His Word!