How different were these two? Jew and gentile, old and young, believer and unbeliever till Ruth made her passionate and endearing pledge.
“Please don’t tell me to leave you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay, I will stay. Your people, will be my people. And your God, my God. Where you die, I’ll die too and may God to me and more also if anything but death parts you and me!”
If Naomi and her husband ever had a daughter, I wonder if she’d ever be so loyal as Ruth was. A Moabite, sworn enemy of Israel but what a picture of the family of Christ and I like to think of her also as a bridal picture too. Unflinching in her loyal love. Ruth’s a princess in rags, she’s poor but diligent in her work to make life comfortable for her aging mother in law, she honors Naomi as the proverbs and the letters from Paul agree to honor the aged and the parents.
Boaz, a prince in Israel notices her gentle grace and he admires her loyalty and integrity. Both from opposite sides of the tracks as it were, it would’ve been forbidden but true love and God’s plan wins in the end.
How does Ruth fit into what the church now should be like? she doesn’t care about scrutiny and probable gossip, she focuses on one thing only; Naomi and her welfare, she carries herself with grace and beauty but not in such a way as trying to draw attention.
Paul says there’s neither Jew or gentle, slave or free that we’re all one in Christ Jesus, loving one another onto love and good works so people can know we are His if we love each other with unflinching loyalty.
Till Jesus wills it,
Godspeed!