Ruth: A Story of God’s Redeeming LoveSýnishorn

As you read through the book of Ruth, you probably believe that Ruth was the one being redeemed. While that is undoubtedly true, there is another who was redeemed far more than Ruth: Naomi. Ruth and Naomi both experienced remarkable transformations, but Naomi’s transformation is one of the book’s highlights. Her redemption foreshadows the redemption of all who trust in the Lord.

Throughout her story, Ruth grows in confidence and experiences social ascendancy. Ruth began the story as a Moabitess, a pagan foreigner in a strange land, an impoverished widow. Upon meeting Boaz, she identified herself as “lower than a servant.” After she had gleaned on his land for several months, Ruth had established a relationship with Boaz, and he had taken care of her. She identified as Boaz’s servant when she asked him to marry her (that is what she did if you missed that). Marrying Boaz had increased her social standing to the wife of a wealthy landowner and a man described as “worthy.” However, Ruth’s transformation didn’t end there. She became elevated to something even higher than a respected wife and community member. She is forever counted among the honored people in the Lord’s genealogy. But the book of Ruth is also about Naomi’s redemption.

The culmination of God’s redemption of Naomi highlights God’s faithfulness and providence regardless of Naomi’s past. At the end of Chapter 1, Naomi returned to Bethlehem as a penniless refugee. She was spiritually, physically, and emotionally empty. She claimed that “the Lord had dealt bitterly with her.” By the end of the book, Naomi was spiritually, physically, and emotionally full. God did not forget Naomi. The baby boy in her lap proved it. Naomi, who had bitterly lamented of having no heir, now held one in her arms. God had restored her financial security and status in the community. She had come full circle: from Mara to Naomi, bitter to pleasant, empty to full, from penniless prodigal to great-grandmother of a king – the greatest king in the history of Israel. She went from a childless old woman without an heir to an ancestor of Immanuel, God with us, Jesus Christ.

Ultimately, the message of Ruth is God’s loving-kindness, which leads to restoration and blessing – physical and spiritual. This is what God does; He restores what sin and rebellion have destroyed. We can learn from Naomi’s transformation that our God is keenly aware of our needs and is deeply concerned for our welfare. Christ’s death on the cross placed the welfare of believers ahead of Himself.

Naomi’s magnificent restoration is the type of transformation that God makes in the lives of all who trust Him as their Lord and Savior. We all make the same transformation: from bitter to pleasant, empty to full, being outside of the family of God to being children of the Almighty, co-heirs with Christ. There can be no more extraordinary transformation. In Faithful God: An Exposition on the Book of Ruth, Sinclair Ferguson said, “This is God’s way. He takes the weak things of this world and through them confounds the things which are mighty; through the things which are low and despised, He shames the strong; and through the things which are not, He confounds the things which are.”

Do you think Naomi’s redemption was greater than Ruth’s? Are there people in your life who would benefit from hearing about your transformation?