Ruth and the Kinsman Redeemer

I have to admit, this next woman is my favorite.  Her story begins in the gentile land of Moab. When she is introduced to us, she is living with her widowed mother-in-law, a Jewish woman named Naomi. Because of a famine, Naomi and her husband, Elimelech, had journeyed from their home in Bethlehem to this foreign land. Their two sons married non-Jewish girls, even though it went against their religion.  When in Moab, as they say!!! In the course of time we are told that Elimelech, and both sons died, neither son having produced offspring.  By now you know that a widow’s lot is not a happy one, in fact Naomi changes her own name to Mara, which means bitter.  Mara decides to return to Bethlehem, and her childless daughter-in-laws, Orpah (this is what Oprah Winfrey’s name was supposed to be) and Ruth ask to go with her. Mara convinces Orpah to stay in Moab, but Ruth in this moving plea, begs to go with her.  “But Ruth replied, "Don't ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.” Ruth 1:16. (I read this at my own wedding, before I knew the whole story!).  The heart-melting saga continues in Mara’s hometown.  She has some ground to sell, and must offer it to her husband’s closest relative, so he can redeem it as her close kinsman.  The first cousin turns it down, but Boaz, the next in line, steps into the role of the Kinsman Redeemer.  The love story that ensues, between he and Ruth, has all the elements of one of the greatest romances ever told.  Please read it for yourself, you won’t be able to put it down.  Boaz marries Ruth, knowing full well that as her redeemer, all his offspring will be considered as children of her dead husband.   All ends beautifully.  Ruth becomes the mother of Obed, the grandfather of King David, and Mara drops her bitter name in favor of Grandma Naomi.  What a picture Boaz paints of Jesus as our kinsman redeemer, pulling us out of the hopeless lives we were living, and offering us his amazing and selfless, and redemptive love.