Ruth: the beauty of kindness

Ruth the Moabite is a drastic contrast to the other Moabites mentioned in the Bible, who worshipped other gods (Num 21:29), feared Israel and sent a prophet to curse them (Num 22) and led the Israelites into sexual immorality (Num 25). Ruth chooses to worship the God of Israel, Yahweh, and turns her back on the gods of her own people. Instead of fearing Israel, she joins God's people (much like Rahab before her). Unlike Rahab, Ruth is an example of moral purity. She does not seduce Boaz- she appeals to his sense of justice and righteousness.

But what the book of Ruth really seems to extol her for is kindness. She shows the kindness of covenant love which reflects the great hesed of God towards His people.

Ruth doesn't just make a promise like Orpah; she follows through, and at great personal cost: 'where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.' (Ruth 1:16). Naomi has nothing to offer her; she is a poor widow returning to her homeland (which was a place of famine at the start of the book) empty-handed. Ruth was probably grieving the loss of her husband, and Naomi was not going to offer much solace as her words mention the bitterness she feels towards God (Ruth 1:13, 20). Yet Ruth doesn't just talk the talk to her mother-in-law; she lives it out too. Her love for Naomi is steadfast throughout the book. She loves her enough to put aside her own interests and move to another country in order to care for her and look after her. She voluntarily binds herself with an oath in Yahweh's name, showing the seriousness of her commitment: 'May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.' (Ruth 1:17)

Ruth's kindness leads to Boaz's kindness towards her: 'All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord' (Ruth 2:11-12). Boaz, as an instrument of the Lord, rewards Ruth's loyalty and kindness with special protection, provision, and ultimately possession as he marries her when the nearer kinsman-redeemer declines to act. He sees Ruth's willingness to marry him as a greater kindness (Ruth 3:10), because she has not chased after the younger men.

There is nothing grasping or presumptuous about Ruth. It is interesting that the people bless Boaz's union with Ruth by saying 'May the Lord make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah' (Ruth 4:11). The implication is that Rachel and Leah were barren women (as Ruth appears to be from being married for ten years with no children) blessed with offspring by God, and this is what the people wish for Ruth with Boaz. However, whereas Rachel and Leah seem trapped in a cycle of grasping, demanding children and warring against each other in a lack of sisterly kindness and compassion, Ruth does not seem to think that it is her right to be married and have children. In fact, by travelling to Bethlehem with Naomi, Ruth was considerably lessening her chance of remarriage after being widowed. In Israel, Ruth would be a foreigner and without protection from her own family. So here we see a link between the kindness Ruth shows towards Naomi with Ruth's humility that makes her willing to be an outsider in a strange land, and go without the security of having a husband and family to provide for her.

As the 'underdog', the Moabite woman in Israel, Ruth recognises her dependence on others (such as Boaz), and ultimately her dependence on God. We can perhaps infer that it was her faith that Yahweh would look after her and Naomi, that He would provide for them, that gave her the ability to act in kindness and in faith, and leave the comfort and security of home behind her. Boaz recognises that it is "the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!" (Ruth 2:12) The story shows that her confidence was not misplaced. Ruth encourages us that God's kindness is available to those who depend on Him, and the more we cultivate humility, the more we will be able to show true kindness to others and put their needs before our own.