Structure of Presentation:

- Observation (Enoch)
- Background:
- time of the judges where there was no king and everyone did what
was right in their own
- Moabites worship other gods and entice the israel - intermarriage?
- Chapter 1:
- V1: God caused a famine due to the disobedience of his people,
hence Elimelech’s family went to Moab (their enemy territory)
- Bethlehem means “house of bread” but now there is no bread
- V3 - 5: After 10 years, Naomi’s husband Elimelech, and her two sons
(Mahlon and Kilion) died.
- V6: Naomi was faithful to God in a foreign land - remember god
- V8: Naomi was selfless by asking her daughters-in-law to go back
instead of following her
- V16: Devotion and commitment of ruth to go and die in a foreign land
with Naomi
- Meaning of the name
- Ruth means friendship
- Naomi means delight
- Mara means sad
- V20: Even in bitterness god is working behind the scene - at that time
she might not know what god is doing but god can see much further -
still knows that Yaweh is in power
- V22: Emphasis of Ruth as a Moabitess
- Chapter 2:
- V2: Ruth works hard to glean
- The poor and widowed are allowed to pick up grain that have
been dropped by the harvester (check specific terms)
- V3: “As it turns out” - shows that Naomi and Ruth did not plan to meet
Boaz - it was god working behind the scenes
- V9 - 12: Appreciative of what Ruth has done for Naomi and praised
her
- Maybe also led him to be attracted to Ruth
- V4-16:
- Honour
- V9: Told the men not to touch her - Boaz did take
advantage of her even though she is a young woman
- Grace:
- V9: gave Ruth water
- V12: “wings” is the same word as “corner” of your
garment in Chapter 3:9 and the same as Ezekiel 16:8
- V14: gave Ruth food
- V16: asked the harvesters to leave food for people to
pick up
- V17 - an ephah is equivalent for an individual 1.5
months of food
 - V19-22: Naomi remembers God and responds to his goodness -
worship as a response
- Name of Boaz: cheerful and readiness - ready to help
- V3 & 20: Boaz is from the clan of Elimelech and is a kinsmen-
redeemer
- V21: Naomi advices Ruth
- V22: Ruth listens to Naomi and took care of her
- Boaz is rich? Has fields
- Chapter 3:
- V1-4: Naomi hatches a plan for Ruth
- V1: takes responsibility for ruth’s future
- V2-4: Creativity
- V5: Ruth obeying and being courageous
- V9: “corner” is the same word as 2:12
- Kanaf is the same word in chapter 2 and chapter 3, and
ezekiel 16
- Answering your own prayer
- Boaz
- V10-11: Excited - promise that he will do all he can
- V12-13: Honour - follows the law instead of taking advantage
- V15: Generosity - give 6 measures of barley
- V11: Ruth is of a noble character
- V18: very fast get married - within 2 days
- Chapter 4
- V1-4: Boaz meets with the family relative and the elders of the city to
settle the agreement of who would get the land
- Takes initiative and not passive - God requires us to work
- Honourable - went to approach the elders in the daytime
instead of acting at night
- Keeps his word
- V 4: The family member agreed to redeem the land
- V 5: Boaz also stated that a condition of redeeming the land was to
also redeem land from Ruth who was in the family
- Boaz swapped Naomi with Ruth - Ruth was supposed to be
the person to be married
- V 6-10: The family member refused to do both and allowed Boaz to be
the kinsman-redeemer
- Highlight the sacrifice of Boaz - being a kinsman-redeemer is
not easy and requires personal sacrifice
- V 11-12: After the agreement the elders started prophesying over
Boaz and Ruth
- Elder encouragement and guidance
- Celebration when we reflect on God’s grace
- Reward: God provided the needs of ruth
- V 13: Boaz marries Ruth and she gets pregnant.
- V 14 -16: Naomi’s complete joy is returned
- V14: Obed is the kinsmen-redeemer
- V 17: Boaz and Ruth have a son named Obed (serving)
 - V 18 - 22: Boaz was the ancestor of David
- Reward beyond imagination due to their devotion to helping
each other
- Messiahnic line
- Ends with a genealogy
- Contrast with judges 18
- This story is about david
- Contrasting the acts of the people in judges
against ruth
- It is possible for you to

Themes of Ruth (Jovan):

Good Morning everyone. Thank you, brother Enoch, for bringing out good observations from
each chapters of the book of Ruth. Though the book of Ruth is short, but it is important book
in the Bible. A careful reader of the book of Ruth can derive many important truths and
themes from this book.
I would like to highlight few important messages and themes that we can derive and learn
from the Book of the Ruth.

1. Kinsmen Redeemer: Boaz is a prototype of Kinsmen Redeemer. Who is a kinsmen

redeemer? Kinsmen Redeemer is a person who helps someone in poverty who was
unable to redeem their inheritance. Boaz’s help and providence makes him a kinsmen
redeemer. In other words, Boaz portrays the character of Jesus Christ who is our
ultimate redeemer. What Boaz did for Ruth foreshadows the work of Christ for the
Church and for you and for me. According to the Old Testament concept of Kinsmen
Redeemer, a kinsmen redeemer must pay a price to redeem the people in need. Christ
through his blood payed the price and purchased us and that shows how Christ is the
supreme kinsmen redeemer.
2. Christ’s Principle of Selflessness: Ruth portrays an important character which in fact
foreshadows the character of Christ. Even when Ruth was going through the darkest
valley of her life, even when her mother in law (Naomi) asked her to go back to her
land, she continued to stay with her mother in law. Her selfless nature is revealed in
her words (Where you go, I will go, your people my people….). Ruth considered
others better than herself and that is the exact mind of Jesus. In Philippians 2, Apostle
mentions that the mind of Jesus is considering others better than himself and there he
writes the beautiful kenotic Christology. Ruth follows the mind of Christ.
3. Faithfulness: Ruth and Boaz are faithful to God and to his commandments. Even in
midst of all problem they continued to be faithful. According to the law of Moses
every farmer must leave a portion of his/ her field to the poor and needy and Boaz
obeyed and was faithful to the command of God. Ruth on the other hand portrays an
exemplary Christian life. A life of faithfulness towards God which is very much
reflected in their dealings with other people. Our behavior towards other reflects our
relationship with God.
4. Blessings: Our God is a God who blesses his faithful people and the entire bible
portrays that the people who were faithful to God were rewarded and blessed. God in
the despair situation of Naomi and Ruth provided and fulfilled all their requirements.
Our God is a God who considers the poor and is Jehovah Jireh. Not only fulfills our
requirements but also honors our faithfulness. God honored the faithfulness of Ruth
by making her a part of Messianic Genealogy. Ruth was a Moabite woman who is not
supposed to be part of the genealogy of Christ but because of her faithfulness she was
rewarded.
5. Mentorship: Mentorship is an important lesson which we can learn from the book of
Ruth. Naomi mentored Ruth (4:11). Obedience to be mentored is also important and
at the same time to mentor and guide others is also important. It is very much
important to have a heart to listen others and to be obedient. Naomi guided and
mentored Ruth and that indeed was a blessing for Ruth.
6. Hardwork: Working hard in every situation is an important nature which everyone
should possess. Ruth even in midst of despair and confusion worked hard and earned
her living. Ruth should be our role model. Everyone whether male or female should
work hard and should earn their living. Bible very extensively emphasizes this truth.

- Messiahnic line - to show that Jesus is the kinsmen-redeemer

- What Boaz did for Ruth was foreshadowing Christ did and do for the Church
- Christ is our kinsman-redeemer because He is our “relative” as we all
come from Adam
- The purchase price for our redemption is the blood of Christ
- Reward & Faithfulness of God
- In line with deuteronomistic history, the people who are selflessly devoted will
get rewarded
- Level 1: Needs met - Naomi and Ruth had their needs met and
provided for
- Level 2: More than ever dreamed
- Grace to family - Ruth got married to Boaz and gave Naomi a
grandchild
- Grace to nation - Ruth became grandmother of David, who
became king of the nation
- Grace to the world - David was the ancestor of Jesus, who
redeemed the world
- Our faithfulness
- Being faithful to God is as important in a foreign place as it is in our own
familiar community (1:1-5)
- God works in our lives “behind the scenes” for blessing to happen
- When we are faithful, God has a plan for us even in times of despair
- Our response to God’s goodness
 - Often when we least expect it, God blesses us, and we should respond
with worship (2:20).
- Selfless devotion and commitment
- Commitment
- Ruth: Where you go...
- Selfless
- Noami: asking Ruth to go back
- Ruth: leaving her country
- Boaz: selfless redemption
- Difficulty of kinsmen redeemer
- Married ruth instead of marrying a younger more fertile woman
- Like Ruth, the church should be willing to sit at the “feet” of Christ
(submission) and allow Christ to take us under His “wings”
-
- Mentorship
- Noami providing instruction and guidance
- Elders 4:11
- Hard Work
- Ruth went out to the field
- Courage
- Ruth
- Honourable
- Boaz
- Did not take advantage of Ruth even though she came to him at
night
- Ruth
- All the townsmen know she is a woman of noble character (v 3:11)

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Text:
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- Who is the kinsmen redeemer at the end?
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Application (Joyce):

Problems with see in Music Ministry - give real life examples:

- Practical/Skills Aspects (2)
- Individualistic playing
 - Solo classical musicians cannot work together in a team
- Musician’s temperament - to be a good musician you need to be
stubborn
- Learn from Naomi and Ruth - working together selflessly
- Performance-style playing
- Musicians want to be the star and play in a manner that is difficult for
congregation to follow
- Learn from Naomi, Ruth and Boaz, each making personal
sacrifice for each other and have a godly character
- Noami was willing to let daughter-in-law go back to their
parents instead of keeping them for her own
- Ruth was willing to follow Naomi
- Boaz was willing to marry ruth even though ruth is a barren old
woman and he is a rich man who could marry someone
younger, and even though his role as a kinsmen redeemer is a
huge price and might fragment his estate (which is why the
other person didn't want to marry ruth)

- Spiritual Aspects (3)

- Lack of mentorship/ pastoring/ spiritual guidance
- Learn from Naomi
- Learn from the elders who gave encouragement and praise to ruth
- Lack of commitment and devotion to god and hard work
- Learn from Ruth - if you die, i will be buried
- Focus on skills vs focus on commitment and devotion to god
- Lack of devotion/ commitment
- Musicians should be “Spirit-filled”; like Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz inspired
by the Spirit, empowered by the Spirit, directed by the Spirit, purified
by the Spirit, and bears the fruit of the Spirit. (Worship Reformed
according to Scripture, 5)
- People dont practice / dont practice at home
- Practice is not only for yourself, but for other members of the team
- Lack of grace - Musicians are not very nice to each other and not tolerant of
mistakes
- Learn from Boaz - instructed the servants to leave more food to Ruth
- To show grace to people - we are all struggling with life on a personal
level
- Learn from Ruth - willing to be a friend in the time of Naomi need
- Learn from Naomi - offered her daughter-in-law to leave her for their
benefit.
- Leadership Aspects
- Lack of strategy and planning
- Many people think that worship leading is simple and dont have a plan
- Rehearsal planning is also important
- Naomi had a plan of what Ruth should do
- Lack of faith in providence: lack of listening to god/ lack of recognising God’s
hand
- What god wants he provides: exp if god wants the church to have
drums, he will have drums
- In planning, we often are very logical, but we dont seek god’s
instruction
- We often focus on immediate feedback and do not know how god is
using us to bless others
- If there is bad feedback we will feel depressed
- But Noami and ruth didnt know that their obedience
would bring such great rewards
- God might use us to touch even a single person
- Focus on skills VS focus on commitment and devotion
- If you have commitment and devotion, god will reward
you by using you to bless others
- Even if after you have commitment and devotion and
hard work, you make mistakes, but have faith that God
may still use you to bless others
- Edifying the church, building up one another, and
worshiping God at the same time.