1) Why did Naomi go to Moab? What happened to her family while she was there?

There was a famine in Israel because the people had disobeyed the Lord (Deut 27-29) and went after other gods. While Naomi was in Moab, her sons married two foreign women. While they were there for 10 years, Naomi’s husband died, and her two sons died. She was left widowed in a foreign land and her daughters in law were left widowed as well.

2) What kind of a woman is Ruth? What is her character like? What sacrifice does she make?

She was a woman of noble character (prov 31). She shows loyalty to Naomi and decided to go with her to Israel to a foreign land, with a foreign god. Even though Naomi’s god had allowed a famine, death, and loss in their family, Ruth still will go with Naomi to serve this God. She gives up her family, her land, her people, and everything she was familiar with to go with Naomi.

3) What does Naomi want people to call her something different? What does she accuse God of?

Naomi believes that God was against her. She believed that God was actively working evil against her, that he was against her. She was accusing God of not doing good to her.

4) Whose field does Ruth go look for food in? Who is Boaz? How do we see his righteous character?

Ruth goes into Boaz’s field to gather grain. He is a close relative that could marry Ruth and redeem Ruth and Naomi from all the evil they experienced. He can continue a family line for them. Boaz and his workers in the field are happy and blessed. They bless God as they are working. Boaz tells Ruth she can have as much food and water as she wants and tells the young men working to not even touch her. He goes beyond the law (Lev 19, 25) to bless Ruth even more than was required.

5) What does Naomi tell Ruth to do? What did this mean? What did Boaz tell Ruth when he found her?

Naomi says that Ruth should go out and lay down in the middle of the night at Boaz’s feet and uncover them. This was a sign that she wanted him to become her husband and redeem her. This could have went very wrong, but Boaz was righteous and he told her to lay down at his feet the rest of the night. Then in the morning he promised that he would go to the town elders and tell them he would marry her. He says “May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter…As the Lord lives, I will redeem you.” (Ruth 3:10,13)6) What does this teach us about God? Who comes from the line of Ruth? How does this point to Jesus?

God shows covenant loyalty to his people, even more than Ruth showed to Naomi. Even in death and loss God is working all things for good (Rom 8:28) because he is totally sovereign. Even in the lives of ordinary people and choices, God is at work to bring salvation. Through Boaz, we see God’s kindness to his people by providing the poor and widows food and provision. And we see God working to redeem his people, just like Boaz redeemed Ruth. Through Ruth, David was born and through the line of David, The Lord Jesus. Jesus is our redeemer. Jesus is our gracious Master. Jesus is the one who gave himself for us to redeem us. He is our Kinsman Redeemer.