Lesson 11: Ruth and Esther

11.2 Ruth and Boaz
The Redeeming Kinsman as a Type of Christ

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Introduction

In a world where many people live in material abundance yet remain spiritually impoverished, the story of Ruth and Boaz speaks to us in surprisingly contemporary ways. Naomi’s bitterness—her wish to be called “Mara”—reflects the mindset of those whose lives are shadowed by disappointment and resignation. Yet at the threshold of that despair, God’s rescuing care emerges: He has not forgotten us, and often His freeing work begins in the smallest acts of kindness. Thus, the text of Ruth 2:5–20 leads us to a turning point that not only brings new luster to an ancient tale but also fills our modern lives with hope.

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Bible Study – Ruth 2:5–20

1.Ruth’s Initiative and God’s Guidance (vv. 5–7)

– Ruth ventures out on her own into the fields to glean what remains of the harvest. Her loyalty to Naomi drives her into uncertainty, yet in that selfless act God leads her directly into Boaz’s field.

2.Boaz’s Generosity and Integrity (vv. 8–16)

– Boaz notices Ruth, offers her protection, and instructs his workers to leave extra grain for her. He acts not out of duty alone but from a heart obedient to God’s commandments.

3.Ruth’s Gratitude and Testimony (vv. 17–20)

– That evening Ruth returns with an ample harvest. Naomi marvels at the extent of God’s provision and learns that the man who sheltered Ruth is a relative of Elimelech—a future redeemer and bearer of hope.

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Answers to the Questions

Question 1: Read Ruth 2:5–20. Why is this such a decisive moment in the story?

This moment marks the shift from desperate need to tangible rescue. Up to this point, Ruth and Naomi depend entirely on alms and chance. But when God guides Ruth into Boaz’s field, it becomes clear that His care is purposeful and personal. He not only provides food but also reveals a plan that will end Naomi’s years of dislocation and reward Ruth’s loyalty. It is the moment when mere survival gives way to a fresh beginning.

Question 2: Why do you think Naomi’s discovery of her benefactor’s identity was such good news?

The revelation that Boaz is not only kind and generous but also a kinsman of Elimelech offers Naomi the prospect of permanently securing her inheritance. She realizes that her family’s poverty is not an unchangeable fate. A kinsman-redeemer can restore both the land and the family name. This insight awakens in Naomi the hope that God’s covenant faithfulness can cause lost roots to flourish again.

Question 3: Imagine that the Creator not only became part of His own creation but also died for it. How should this astonishing truth affect how we view our own existence?

When we grasp that Jesus as the “Son of Man” was not merely an observer but truly our kinsman who died in our place, our self-image is radically transformed. We are no longer strangers before God but beloved family members whose inheritance is secured by His sacrifice. Our spiritual poverty becomes not a stigma but the very context where God’s liberating grace shines. In this light, we value ourselves not for our performance but for His unlosable love.

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Spiritual Principles

• God acts concretely and personally.
  He makes His will visible in everyday circumstances: in a field, in a friendly word, in a hidden act of care.

• Faithfulness in small things is rewarded.
  Ruth’s willingness to glean at the edges of the field becomes the catalyst for God’s blessing.

• Trusting God’s covenant faithfulness brings new perspectives.
  Just as Boaz’s family obligation served God’s purposes, so Christ’s actions and sacrifice fulfill God’s ancient covenant in the most unexpected way.

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Application for Daily Life

• Recognize God’s invisible guidance: Pay attention to small signs—an unexpected conversation, an offer that helps you, or a timely phone call.

• Act even when you are alone: Just as Ruth courageously entered the field, we can take initiative during dark times—encouraging friends or tackling a task even if the outcome is uncertain.

• Believe in your divine inheritance: Don’t be driven by feelings of unworthiness. Our dignity rests in Christ, the true “kin” who has redeemed our right of possession.

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Conclusion

The encounter with Boaz in the grain field is more than a historical anecdote—it is a picture of divine intervention in our present. God has not forgotten us; in the rustle of everyday life He reveals Himself where we least expect Him. Through Jesus, the ultimate kinsman-redeemer, our spiritual poverty is transformed into precious riches, and our roots are reestablished.

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Thought of the Day

“The hand that sows in secret is the same hand that reaps in the dark.”

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Illustration – Autumn in the Backyard

Lea breathed in the cool morning mist as she walked along the overgrown gravel path toward the community garden. For months she had retreated into her grief: the loss of her life partner, the termination of her fellowship, the painful estrangement from friends. Her heart had become a barren field. But today—driven by a quiet conviction—she came to gather what others had left behind.

In the dawn light, she spotted a few remaining snails on withered cabbage leaves when she saw him for the first time: Viktor, the garden manager, a man in his fifties wearing blue overalls and rubber boots, emerging from the small shed. He carried handfuls of surplus tomatoes and distributed them to the first waiting visitors. His eyes rested on Lea as she bent down to pick up some partly spoiled berries.

“Would you like these?” he asked curtly, noticing the small net bag in her hand. She shook her head emphatically. Yet his tone was not dismissive but warm. “They’re still perfectly fine. Take them.” He handed her another box filled with fresh salad greens.

Surprised, she looked up. “Thank you,” she murmured. There was no pity in his smile, only recognition. She knew then that anyone humble enough to glean displayed an unbreakable will to survive. Viktor nodded, turned, and vanished into the shed.

With trembling fingers Lea opened her messenger app—and found a message from him:
“If you like, you can stop by the greenhouse this afternoon. We still have spots in our urban farming project. Your plant knowledge could really help us.”

Her heart leaped. For weeks she had met only rejection; now someone offered her a role that valued her expertise and love for nature. Was it coincidence? Ruth had dared to enter a foreign field, and God had led her directly to her kinsman-redeemer. Had she found her own Boaz-field today?

That afternoon she entered the greenhouse. It smelled of damp soil and fresh greenery. Viktor was adjusting a new irrigation line among the pepper plants. He looked up when she walked in and smiled: “Glad you could make it.”

In the weeks that followed, not only did the vegetables flourish but so did Lea’s hope. She took charge of nurturing small tomato seedlings. Her tender plants thrived—a reflection of her own renewed life. Every evening she wrote in her journal:
“Today I was not just a recipient but part of the care.”

One morning, as she inspected the row of red tomatoes, Viktor spoke:
“You know, my family once owned land just outside the city. But after wartime upheavals and expropriations, we all had to flee. I stayed behind to carry on the tradition.” He gestured toward the ripe fruit. “This harvest is for my family—and now for you, too.”

Lea swallowed. It was as if she heard Naomi’s voice: “A kinsman has redeemed your inheritance.” Not by blood, but by spiritual kinship—two hearts joined by a shared purpose: preserving and passing on life.

On the day of the harvest festival, she placed a bowl of plump tomatoes on Viktor’s bench. She handed them to him with the words: “Thank you for not overlooking me.” His eyes glistened. “God sees you,” he whispered. “He brought us together.”

In that moment Lea knew: God’s hand had guided her—from her bitter despair to newfound vitality. Her field was no longer barren but a garden of hope. And like Ruth at the end of the book, she could say: “Your God is my God.”

In the heart of the city someone had sown—and in her, God’s harvest had begun.

Source: https://fulfilleddesire.net/lesson-11-ruth-and-esther-11-2-ruth-and-boaz-allusions-images-symbols-living-faith/

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Lesson 11: Ruth and Esther

11.1 Famine in the “House of Bread”
God’s Caring Presence amid Human Need

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Introduction

Bethlehem—the “House of Bread”—suffers from famine. What a contradiction! In a world so abundant, there is scarcity. In a city whose name promises plenty, lack reigns. This is the opening to the story of Ruth—one of the most moving narratives in the Bible. It does not begin with triumph but with tragedy. And yet: this is exactly where God begins to work. Not with thunder and lightning, but in the small decisions of ordinary people. Ruth shows us that God’s providence doesn’t always look spectacular—sometimes it starts in the deepest darkness.

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Bible Study – Ruth 1:1–5

Verse 1 – “In the days when the judges ruled…”

The context is grim: Israel is in the chaotic period of the judges—an era of spiritual instability and moral decay (see Judges 21:25). Famine was not only an economic problem but also a sign of spiritual distress in the land (cf. Deuteronomy 28:23–24).

Spiritual principle: Spiritual decline always affects real life. Separation from God brings both inner and outer lack.

Verse 1b – “…a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab…”

Elimelech, whose name means “My God is King,” leaves the Promised Land—a prophetic contradiction. Instead of trusting God’s provision, he seeks help in Moab, a nation steeped in idolatry (cf. Deuteronomy 23:4–7).

Question: What do we do when the “House of Bread” is empty? Do we stay in God’s promise or flee from our need?

Verses 2–3 – “…and Elimelech died…”

Naomi experiences the first blow: the death of her husband. For a woman in that culture, this meant social invisibility and economic insecurity.

Verses 4–5 – “…and also her two sons died…”

After ten years of marriage, Mahlon and Chilion also die. Now Naomi is not only a widow but childless—without future, without protection. In that time, this was an absolute catastrophe. She is left with two Moabite daughters-in-law—strangers in Israel, without hope.

Symbolism: The loss of family represents the rupture of the original line of blessing—a kind of personal “fall.” Naomi is torn from her inheritance.

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Answers to the Questions

Question: Read Ruth 1:1–5. What problems did Naomi and Ruth face, and what caused them? How does this reflect the situation of all humanity today?

Detailed Answer:

Naomi and Ruth stand at the beginning of this biblical narrative amid the deepest personal and societal crisis. Their troubles are numerous, intertwined, and painfully real:

• Famine in Bethlehem (v. 1): The “House of Bread” is empty—a symbolic indication that even in the Promised Land, scarcity can prevail when the people turn away from God. Physical famine mirrors spiritual famine in the era when “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25). Collective rebellion and moral decay follow from ignoring God’s ways.

• Migration to a hostile land (Moab): Elimelech moves his family to Moab—a land not only geographically but spiritually the opposite of Israel. Moabites were known for idol worship (Baal, Chemosh) and often led Israel into sin (cf. Numbers 25). They chose what seemed a safe route but abandoned the place of promise.

• Death of the husband (Elimelech): Naomi loses her husband—more than grief, this meant the end of security, status, and often economic survival for a woman of her time.

• Loss of both sons (Mahlon and Chilion): After ten years without children, the two sons die. Naomi is left old, childless, and destitute, alongside two foreign daughters-in-law. This symbolizes the extinguishing of her line and her loss of cultural and spiritual identity.

These are not only individual tragedies but a mirror of human existence. Humanity began in Eden—with abundance, intimacy with God, and harmony. Through rebellion, humanity was exiled, vulnerable, and subject to death (Genesis 3). Instead of caring for creation, we now toil “by the sweat of our brow.”

Just as Naomi lost her home, husband, children, and future, so mankind lost its inheritance. We live with spiritual famine, existential insecurity, the death of loved ones, identity crises, and a longing for redemption. Naomi exemplifies anyone who doubts God’s promise yet feels there is no true refuge except returning to Him. Ruth represents those who remain loyal amid loss and become instruments of salvation.

Question: How does the earth, even after 6,000 years of sin and death, still reveal the wonders of God’s love and creative power?

Detailed Answer:

Despite the earth suffering under the curse—war, hunger, disease, disasters, injustice—it is still marked by signs of God’s presence and creative power:

In creation itself:

• A sunrise over the sea: Each dawn is fresh, unique, and beautiful—a daily reminder of God’s faithfulness (Lamentations 3:22–23).

• The cycle of seasons: Sowing and harvest, frost and warmth—despite human rebellion, God sustains nature’s balance (Genesis 8:22).

• The diversity and beauty of life: From majestic mountains to a delicate butterfly’s wing, nature reveals a God of order, creativity, and love.

In human experience:

• Love amid suffering: A mother caring for her ill child, a stranger offering tea to the homeless, a doctor going beyond duty—these acts are remnants of the divine image in us, evidence of God’s Spirit at work.

• Art, music, poetry: Our capacity to marvel, to create, to feel points to our being made in God’s image—even when that image is marred.

• Moral sense: Our inherent sense of justice, truth, and goodness comes from a righteous Creator.

In God’s dealings with people:

• The story of Ruth: God uses a foreign widow on society’s margins to prepare the Messiah’s lineage.

• The birth of Jesus: In a world broken by sin, God sends His Son—not as a palace king but as a child in a stable.

• The power of the gospel today: Across cultures, people turn to Jesus, experience healing, reconciliation, and hope.

Even after millennia of rebellion, God’s love flows unabated. The earth is wounded but not abandoned. It groans but still breathes. It dies yet stirs with new life, awaiting the coming redemption (Romans 8:22–23).

In short, God’s wonders are everywhere—in nature, in grace, in humanity, in hope. We need only look with the heart.

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Spiritual Principles

God allows loss—but never without purpose.
Naomi’s experience is painful, yet God continues working. Loss is not the end. He uses broken pieces to craft a new mosaic.

Fleeing the place of promise brings no real security.
Elimelech left Bethlehem seeking safety, only to meet death in Moab. True security lies only in God’s will.

Faithfulness shows itself in the valley.
Ruth, the Moabitess, makes a choice—though we don’t see it directly here, she will become the story’s heroine. Loyalty often begins in hidden places long before it bears fruit.

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Application for Daily Life

What does your personal famine look like?

• Financial insecurity?

• Spiritual emptiness?

• Family breakdown?

• Identity crisis?

Many today feel like Naomi—driven from the “House of Bread,” surrounded by loss, alone in a foreign land. Yet here God’s story begins. Famine is not the end but the start of the journey home.

What decisions do you make in crisis?
Do you trust God’s unseen hand, or do you flee to your own “Moab”—relying on people, anger, distraction? Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry” (John 6:35).

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Conclusion

Ruth 1:1–5 is no random beginning. It is all of our story. We are Naomi. We are Ruth. We are hungry people in an empty land. But God is not far off.

The famine in Bethlehem was not the end—it was the starting point of a redemption story that leads through Ruth, Boaz, and David to Jesus, the true bread from heaven.

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Thought of the Day

“When the House of Bread is empty, God often lights a new oven of grace.”

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Illustration – “The Way Back”

It was a Tuesday morning, just after six. Fine drizzle tapped the tram windows, which was nearly empty. Lea sat in the back, hood pulled low, fingers buried in her sweater sleeves. Her hands were rough, her nails bitten. She wasn’t going to work—she had none. No home either—only a bed in a shelter for women in the industrial district. After her husband Jonas died, everything fell apart: first cancer, then debt, then isolation. And eventually, it seemed, the last bit of hope.

She was thirty-eight. Once a florist full of energy and ideas—“the one with the laughter in her eyes,” customers had called her. Now she barely recognized herself.

In the shelter lived an older woman named Margit. Quiet, spoke little. But every evening she sat by the window with a worn Bible, sometimes humming old hymns. One day Lea asked, “Do you really think God still does anything? I mean…look around here.”

Margit was silent a long while. Then she said simply, “I believe He’s still here—even when we can’t see Him. Especially then.”

Lea laughed. But something about those words stayed with her.

A few days later she went to a church food distribution. She’d heard they offered not just bread but warm words. It was cold and damp; wind bit at her face. She stood in line behind a young woman with a headscarf and her little child. The child looked at Lea and smiled—completely fearless. And Lea, who hadn’t been smiled at in months, blinked suddenly.

When her turn came, the volunteer handed Lea a bag of bread and canned goods—and asked softly, “Would you like prayer too?”
Lea hesitated, then nodded. Something inside her yearned for it—not loudly or dramatically, just to hear she was still seen.

The woman laid a hand on Lea’s shoulder and prayed. Not a long or fancy prayer. Just:
“Lord, see Your child. You have not forgotten her. Be with her.”

That night Lea lay awake, thinking of all she’d lost—Jonas, the shared life, the little shop, her old home. For the first time in ages she didn’t ask Why? but What if I return? Not to my old life, but…to God?

The next day she returned to the church and spoke with the pastor. He listened—really listened. No quick answers, no pat answers. Just quiet companionship. Then he told her about Ruth—the Moabite widow who lost everything but chose to stay with her mother-in-law Naomi and return to a foreign land. “Your God will be my God,” Ruth had declared.

Lea felt something stir in her. She couldn’t explain why, but it felt like a door opening.

Weeks passed. She found a small job at a gardening business, helping to plant schoolyards. It wasn’t much, but she was among people again, her hands touching soil, and at night she slept tired in a good way.

Margit gave her a used Bible. “Just for you,” she said.

One evening, after dark, Lea walked through the city park. The trees rustled softly; the wind was gentle. She stopped, looked up at the sky, and whispered,
“God… I’m still here. I don’t know if You hear me. But I want to come back. I’m ready.”

There was no fireworks, no booming voice from heaven—just an inner knowing: she had arrived.

In the heart of God.

Source: https://fulfilleddesire.net/lesson-11-ruth-and-esther-11-1-famine-in-the-house-of-bread-allusions-images-symbols-living-faith/