by Marcel Rebiai

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The book of Ruth teaches us the profound relationship between the Church and the Jewish people. It illustrates how the Church can help Israel find the way back to her God and how believers in the nations can grow into a deeper relationship with their Messiah. The book of Ruth shows us how to fulfil God‘s command, “Comfort ye, Comfort ye my people“. (Isaiah 40:1)

Every Biblical figure embodies various aspects of our faith. Naomi stands for the Jewish people as well as for the life of believers in general. Abraham is considered to be the ultimate picture of faith and discipleship, the father of the Jews and of all believers.

Naomi: a picture of the Jewish people

Naomi and her family represent the entire Jewish people. But her experience also reflects our own lives. At first glance her story seems to be simple. During the era of the Judges there was a man named Elimelech, who lived in Bethlehem with his wife Naomi and his two sons, Machlon and Kilion. When a famine came on the Land of Israel he decided to leave Bethlehem and move abroad to Moab so that his family could survive. The name Elimelech means “My God reigns“ and his wife‘s name Naomi means “Pleasant“. Elimelech was thus a man who lived under God‘s reign, and under this ‘reign‘ he was given pleasure. It is no coincidence that Elimelech lived in Bethlehem, which means “the house of bread“, because where God reigns is a place of bread, where He promises His life and provision for us.

The sons‘ names are also significant. Machlon means “illness“ and Kilion means “consumption, destruction“.
So Elimelech who lived under God‘s reign in Bethlehem/the House of Bread, was confronted with famine and illness. Something broke into his existence which drove him and his wife Naomi, out of the “House of Bread“ and into a foreign place. There in Moab Naomi lost everything. God‘s reign came to an end. Her husband and sons died and she was left poorer than she had been before she left Bethlehem. She was alone.

At this point we can ask ourselves, “Who gives us life?“ From whom do we expect help when we are afflicted by illness and need and when our emotions try to tell us that there will be no more bread and God is no longer caring for us? We have all experienced those circumstances when we ask ourselves, “Where is God?“

Leaving God‘s reign

The departure of Naomi and Elimelech from Bethlehem illustrates the history of the Jews. Israel was called to live under God‘s reign and was led into the “house of bread“. God promised the Jewish people that He would make sure that their bread never ran out and that they would be protected from illness and miscarriage if they remained in Him. (Lev. and Deut.) During the course of Israel‘s history, illness, drought and failure were always rooted in the fact that she did not truly submit to God‘s reign. Whenever such a difficulty arose, just as Elimelech and Naomi had departed from Bethlehem many years earlier, the people of Israel let themselves be driven out of God‘s reign. They went away from their “house of bread“. They no longer believed in the provision of their heavenly father and sought life in a foreign place, a place where God did not reign.
According to Israel‘s understanding, God did not reign in Moab because the Moabites were not God‘s people and another god reigned over them. Even if Elimelech and Naomi were not aware of this, they still placed themselves under the authority of another god and expected to receive help and life from him.

In the First Book of Samuel (8:5) we also read of Israel‘s desire to be like all the other nations i.e. to leave its own inheritance in order to draw from the wells of life among others, thus placing herself under the reign of other gods.
“Now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.“ This desire has characterised Israel to this day. The Jewish people are still drawing life and leading from a diverse variety of wells, invariably with disastrous consequences. In the end they stand like Naomi. They are bitter, poor and empty; having lost infinitely more than they have gained.

We can see Israel‘s behaviour in our own lives. How often have we placed ourselves under the reign of other authorities and powers in order to find satisfaction and life? It is always the same result. If we allow our needs and problems to drive us out from under God‘s reign, if we distance ourselves from His provision and seek help elsewhere, we will lose everything. For in the foreign place under the reign of another god, there is only death and destruction.

Back to Bethlehem, the place of the inheritance

After the death of her husband and sons, Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem, to the house of her fathers. She who had departed in hope had to return as an absolute failure; poor and naked. Nevertheless she returned. For Israel to do this would be a miracle but it has to be, because she must return to the place of her inheritance.

It is the calling and destiny of the Jewish people to come home. It doesn‘t matter in which place Israel ends up, or what judgments she passes through. She will have to return to the place of her inheritance. Whether they want it or not, there is no other place for the Jews and God is waiting there for His people.

Naomi returned home but she had no hope of coming back to life in her homeland. She held God responsible for everything she had experienced.
“The Lord‘s hand has gone out against me!“ (Ruth 1:13) When she was greeted in Bethlehem she said, “Don‘t call me Naomi, call me Mara (bitter), because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. (1:20) Her accusation is an expression of bitterness. Her attitude portrays exactly that of the Jewish people today. Their questions are full of deep bitterness over the loss of their land, their possessions, their sons and daughters, their inheritance. Where was God in the Holocaust? Where was God in the pogroms? Where was God during the centuries, amongst the millennia?

This bitterness has made the Jewish people feel very hopeless when it comes to God. Even the religious do not expect God to move palpably in their lives. Faith has been reduced to carrying out a number of external rituals and forms and is often excludes a personal relationship with God. This is evident in Israel‘s present, difficult situation. Hardly any religious leader, let alone a political one, has stood up and called on the people to pray; to turn to the God of Israel and look to Him for help. The fact that God is hardly mentioned in the current situation shows that the Jewish people, apart from a small minority, are like Naomi and no longer expect anything from God. They are deeply bitter.


Ruth: a picture of the Church

“Don‘t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.“ (1:16) Ruth the Moabite and daughter-in-law of Naomi comes from a heathen background and is thus a picture of the Church, the believers from the nations. She is capable of recognising the God of Israel, in spite of Naomi‘s struggle and suffering, because as Jesus said, “She is a woman of truth“.
“Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice“. (John 18:37)

Why anyone is of the truth is ultimately a mystery. In spite of Naomi‘s disappointment and bitterness, Ruth discovered that Naomi‘s God was not like her Moabite god, Kamosh, nor any other gods known to her.

Rahab of Jericho

Ruth was given the same revelation as Rahab of Jericho. Rahab also lived under the reign of other gods but came to the conclusion that the God of Israel must be the only, true living God. This led her to position herself with this God and His people. She was convinced that the God of Israel would be victorious and would reach His purpose with His covenant people. Therefore, she decided to conceal the spies and to put her life in their hands.

When Jericho was conquered by the Israelites she was saved because of the sign in her window, a red chord. It was not by chance that the colour red was chosen. This was the sign that there was only one way Rahab could be saved. It represented blood and sacrifice; the blood which had saved Israel from the death of the first-born in Egypt. It also stands for the blood of Jesus through which everyone can participate in the promises of Israel and her inheritance. Like Ruth, Rahab the prostitute was a woman of truth. She listened to God‘s voice and was obedient. Therefore she became an ancestor of David and belongs to the direct line of the Messiah.

Ruth was also saved because she was obedient to God and there is even more to be seen in her life. By rousing and revitalising Naomi‘s dead faith she enabled Naomi to discover her inheritance. Figuratively speaking, Ruth helped the Jewish people discover their inheritance. She was a key figure for the Jews.

Rare characteristics

In Ruth we observe certain rare characteristics. Her faithfulness to her  mother-in-law is more than a matter of a good heart and love for Naomi. Ruth‘s faithfulness cost her everything; her own inheritance, her own people. In fact it cost her everything which had formerly been part of her life. In this she was fulfilling the words of the later prophet Jeremiah , “O Lord, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in time of distress, to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say, “Our fathers possessed nothing but false gods, worthless idols that did them no good. “Jer 16:19)

Ruth realised that the inheritance of her fathers had no substance because it lacked any personal relationship to the living God. Thus she left it, alongside everything which had previously given her security and protection. She turned to the God of Israel and His covenant people. She came to this people as a foreigner and could only count on God‘s mercy. Without a husband, just as the companion of her mother-in-law, she had no guarantee that she would be accepted. But she was confident that Naomi‘s God was also her God and that He would give back to her all that she had left behind.

Ruth was not only faithful. She was humble and modest. For her mother-in-law‘s sake she was willing to humble herself and appear as one in need, among the Israelites. She gleaned the fields like a beggar; like a widow or an orphan would have done. She demanded no rights and made no claims. She didn‘t look for recognition, appreciation or gratitude.

She listened to her mother-in-law and submitted to her, at the same time letting go of her own ideas. It is written that she gleaned all day until sunset and she invested wholeheartedly in what she did. Ruth worked more than the other servants in the field. Her attitude is an example to all Christians who want to serve the Jewish people.

Ruth and the Saviour

Boaz, the owner of the field in which Ruth worked, is a picture of the Messiah. The servants and the local people didn‘t notice Ruth but Boaz noticed her and took an interest in her. He asked about her, gave her food and promised to protect her. After this encounter she returned to Naomi in the evening richly blessed.

None of this escaped Naomi‘s notice. She saw the blessing and realised that Ruth had had a special, unexpected encounter, so she asked, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!“ (2:19)

Ruth (the Church, the congregation, the believers from the nations) had met with the owner of the field, the one with the inheritance and she had received riches. That was obvious to Naomi and led her to say for the first time, “The Lord bless him, who has not stopped showing his kindness.“ (2:20) Suddenly Naomi again began to recognise God. She understood that the God of Israel had not deserted her. She remembered that Boaz was her relative and not only a relative but also her kinsman-redeemer, the saviour, in whose hands was the answer to her needs.

This same process of recognition is taking place among the Jewish nation today, as the believing Church stands with her saying, “Your God is my God, your people is my people“. As the Body of Christ makes this confession, it is able to overcome every form of rejection, bitterness and lack of understanding that it encounters. The riches God gave to the Church are released into its relationship with the Jewish people through this act of faithfulness and obedience. As a consequence of this, Israel sits up and listens. She is beginning to realise that „the One who enriched the Church also has something to do with her! The Jews also know the One who gave the Church such wealth!“ They discover that Jesus was a Jew!

One example of this happened recently in the U.S.A. As a result of the positive attitude of the Christians towards the Jewish population, many Rabbis decided that they must take a new look at Jesus. They reasoned that, after all, the Christians believe in the same God as the Jews. The Jewish people who return to their inheritance need a “Ruth “ to draw their attention to this Redeemer. A „Ruth“ is needed to stand by this people; a people who are without a view of God; a people embittered, without hope or future.


Closer to the Messiah

Naomi, the hitherto bitter woman, began to hope again. She told Ruth how to get help. She had to approach Boaz and make herself known to that redeemer. Her initial relationship with him was not close enough.

Ruth heeded Naomi‘s advice again and purposed to do what her mother-in-law told her. For the Body of Christ it is difficult to listen and obey like this. For the past two thousand years, there has been little interest in the Jewish people and the Jewish roots of the Gospel. Consciously or not, many Christians have thought that the Jews were no longer of any importance and had nothing meaningful to say. This attitude of the Church reveals pride and arrogance and we have even seen a claim by the Church to the inheritance. All this was able to take place because of a tragic, unhelpful misunderstanding.

The existence of the nation of Israel causes us to remember God‘s command to the believers in the nations to comfort His covenant people, (Is. 40:1), and to show her the way to her God by applying the promise in Jeremiah 31:33. This is the heart covenant that Jesus made on the cross. God wants His Jewish covenant people to see His face - the Father whom Jesus revealed- in the lives of Christians. We are often unwilling to do this because we don‘t feel accountable to the Jewish people, and therefore we obstruct our own path; a path which would lead us closer to Jesus.
Ruth took Naomi‘s advice to wait at Boaz‘s feet until he woke up. She thus took the place of a servant who slept at her master‘s feet and expressed her total dependence on Boaz. She demanded nothing but behaved like the servants in Luke 17:10. “When you have done everything you were told to do, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have done only our duty.‘“

The Church should have the same attitude toward the Messiah that Ruth had towards Boaz. She was not to waken him but had to wait until he awoke and turned to her. When Boaz awoke, Ruth said, “Spread the corner of your garment over me“ (3:9), which meant that she wanted him to marry her.    

This attitude showed devotion and submission to the redeemer‘s authority. Ruth was not primarily interested in finding a husband. She accepted Naomi‘s advice that this man was the solution to her need and she humbled herself for Naomi‘s sake. Through her marriage to Boaz, Ruth would enable Naomi to receive a future and a hope, and Naomi would have descendants and a claim to the inheritance. Ruth‘s submission to the redeemer, her obedience and the dedication of her own life is linked in with Naomi‘s inheritance.

The key to the inheritance

Ruth became David‘s grandmother. From her family the Messiah is a descended. David was a symbol of God‘s reign, which is the inheritance of the Jewish people. God‘s reign was first established among the Jews and from them it was to go forth over the whole of creation.This inheritance can only be released through the obedience, humility and service of the church, the believers in the nations. The life of theChurch is only to be found in the inheritance that God has given to the Jews. If the Church moves away from this life, under the impression that she no longer needs it, she ends up back in paganism. This is clear from Church history.

On the other hand, because of its history, the Jewish people are incapable of releasing their inheritance. God in His wisdom, ordained that the Church and the Jewish people would need each other. In the Letter to the Romans, Paul says that the salvation of the heathen is intended to make Israel jealous and to open the eyes of the Jews. When Israel becomes jealous, she will recognise that the heathen became rich through Her inheritance, her God; through promises that were first given to the House of Israel.

The Church is a key in God‘s hands, through which He wants to give the Jewish people access to their own inheritance. In our days God is especially calling His Church, which is the believing congregation from all the churches, to take a stand for the Jewish people, thus becoming like Ruth.

During the past 2000 years God gave wisdom and riches to His Church. But that is not everything! Paul says, that when the Jewish people receives its inheritance, it will mean resurrection from the dead. (Romans 11:15)

Then salvation will spread to all of creation. Everything else is merely a prelude. It will only be the true beginning when the Jewish people recognise their Messiah Jesus. “For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?“ (Romans 11:15)

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