Ruth, the humble

This blog post is about Ruth, one of the many ladies in Scripture.  Before I start discussing her, however, I'd like you to actually read the book of Ruth, if you haven't lately.  Don't worry, it's only 4 chapters long. It's an engrossing story, so you should be able to get through it quickly.  If you don't have your Bible handy, you can right-click on the word here and select "open in new tab."  Click on the arrow at the right to move to the next chapter.  Or you can switch tabs back and forth between this blog post and the book of Ruth if you prefer.

Ruth is an important person in the Bible.  She is one of only two women to have a book of the Bible named after her (the other woman is Esther).  She is also only one of the two women listed in Jesus' genealogy in Matthew 1.  Ruth is listed in the genealogy because she is the great-grandmother of King David, and you can read about that in Ruth 4:17. 

Not only is Ruth an important person in Jesus's family line, but she also has character traits that we would do well to emulate.  I'll discuss them here.

Ruth was loyal.  You will recall that Ruth's husband died, as well as both of her sons.  Naomi told her daughters-in-law Ruth and Orpah to go home to their mother's houses.  But Ruth would not go home to her mother's house.  She wanted to stay with Naomi. In Ruth 1:16-17, Ruth says some of the most beautiful words of loyalty in all of Scripture.  She tells Naomi that Naomi's God will be her God and wherever Naomi would go, she would go too.  

Ruth was resourceful.  She knew that she and Naomi would need food if they were to survive since they did not have a man to support them.  So Ruth asked Naomi if she could go to the field and glean heads of grain to provide for them.  

Ruth was obedient.  Ruth followed directions and didn't ask questions.  When Boaz told Ruth not to glean in another field, to stay close to his young women, and to get water to drink when she was thirsty, she listened and obeyed.  When Naomi told Ruth how to make it known to Boaz that she was interested in him, Ruth followed Naomi's instructions exactly, although to our modern way of thinking, uncovering a guy's feet and laying next to them is a really strange way to let a guy know you're interested in him. 

Ruth was respectful. When Boaz spoke to her, she bowed down to the ground and spoke to him respectfully.  Ruth also spoke respectfully to Naomi. Ruth didn't have a bad attitude nor was she ungrateful.  

Ruth should be an inspiration to us. If we take Ruth's character traits and apply them to our own lives, it will help us in our relationships with others.  

Thanks as always for reading! See you next time!

Diane