DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- A LOVE STORY

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – A LOVE STORY

"Now it came to pass, in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, went to dwell in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.  The name of the man was Elimelech, the name of his wife was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Malon and Chilion – Ephrathites of Bethlehem, Judah.  And they went to the country of Moab and remained there."  (Ruth 1:1-2)

So begins a beautiful love story. It has all the elements of a classic story – tragedy, humor, pathos, joy, believable human characters, and a plot that thickens as the story is read.  

The two main characters in the story – Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth – are both widowed, living in the land of Moab.  Naomi was there because her husband, Elimelech, had migrated with the family to escape a famine in the land of Judah.  While aliens in this foreign land, first Elimech and then their sons, Mahlon and Chilion died. The sons had married Moabite women, so this left three widows without any means of support. So Naomi decided to return to her home country, Bethlehem in Judah.  

Naomi tried to persuade her daughters-in-law to remain in Moab, but Ruth determined to stay with Naomi because of her love for her.  We have the famous quotation of Ruth, sometimes sung at weddings:  "Your people shall be my people, and your God my God."

When Naomi and Ruth got back to Bethlehem, they still had no source of sustenance, except that Ruth could glean grain in the fields.  One field she gathered grain in belonged to Boaz, a relative of Naomi.  A romance developed between Boaz and Ruth and they married, and from that union came the line of King David, the progenitor of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.  

Boaz was what was referred to as a ga'al ( or go-el) or kinsman redeemer who had the option to redeem the land that originally had belonged to Elimelech and his sons.  Apparently the land had been sold to pay for the journey to Moab.  When Boaz re-purchased the land as a near-relative, a part of the deal was that he would also get Ruth, to carry on the family name.  

This is a great love-story on the human level, but it is a picture of the greater love-story between God and man.  Humans were sold into the bondage of sin, but because of His great love for us, Jesus came as a human – a close kinsman – to redeem us from the bondage of sin.  He is our ga-al – our kinsman redeemer.  As the Apostle Peter wrote:  "You were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold…but with the precious blood of Christ" (I Peter 1:18-19).  What great love!  This is a love story unequaled by any other love story ever written.  He loved me when I was an alien to God, He redeemed me, and made me a part of His family.  That's why I love Him so very much.

One of my favorite hymns says:  "Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it; redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.  Redeemed through His infinite mercy, His child and forever I am."  All praise to our Redeemer for His love and mercy.

Love, Dad