Why God Chose Ruth

Why did God pick such a girl to be the wife of Boaz and the ancestor of David and in the genealogical line of our Lord? First of all, because Ruth was a very humble girl who did not think too highly of herself. She was also hard-working and gracious, a woman of steadfast faith, who had forsaken her home and her relatives in order to follow the Lord, and one who treated her mother-in-law with respect, kindness and love. Theses are the qualities that God looks for even today in young girls.

When Ruth came home, her mother-in-law asked her where she had gleaned and she told her. When Naomi heard that, she told Ruth that she would try and find some security for her and told her that Boaz was a close relative. She must have explained to Ruth about God's law that commanded a close relative to redeem the property of a widow and to marry her.

So when Boaz met her, she requested him to redeem her and marry her, since he was a close relative (3:9). Boaz was glad to see that Ruth did not choose the more handsome, younger men who were there. Boaz was a much older man, and young girls are not usually attracted to older men. But he told her that there was another relative even closer than him. Being a righteous man, Boaz said that he would have to ask that man first whether he would redeem and marry her (3:12,13)

The Kinsman Redeemer

The next day, Boaz promptly went to the gate and asked this other relative whether he would redeem Naomi's property, as her closest relative (4:3,4). He promptly said, "Yes, I will redeem it." But Boaz reminded him that he would also have to marry Ruth and raise up sons in the name of her dead husband. When he heard this, he withdrew his offer and said he could not do that, since her sons would later claim an inheritance along with his sons, and he didn't want that complication! So he refused to redeem the property. Thus Boaz became first in line to redeem the property and to marry Ruth. He readily agreed to do that.

That was a bold step for a prominent man like Boaz to take-to marry a Moabite girl. But he had seen some outstanding qualities in Ruth and respected her for having come out of her heathen family. Christian boys often hesitate to marry girls who have been saved from non-Christian families. But in most cases, such girls are stronger Christians and more godly than those born in believing families.

Boaz married Ruth and they had a son called Obed who became the father of Jesse who became the father of David (4:17).

Thus God honored a woman from an incestuous, heathen background, because she honored God. What we learn in Ruth is the truth of I Samuel 2:30, "Those who honor me I will honor." There is no partiality with God.

This story shows how God cares for His children who may be despised by others, to find good marriage partners for them. So we can trust the Lord even for such earthly matters. God cares for us and He wants to meet all our earthly needs-whatever they may be.

This story is also a beautiful picture of our spiritual union with Christ. Ruth is a perfect type of what we are in our sinful state.. And Jesus Christ had to become our "near relative", before He could redeem us and marry us. This is why He took flesh and blood like us and was made "in all things to be made like unto his brethren" (Hebrews 2:17). Thus He became our Kinsman Redeemer. It was God Who planned the union between Christ and us, before the foundation of the world!