 recording started. Good morning everyone. Welcome to today's session on the book of Ruth before we could start a class. Can I request one of us to lead us in prayer please? Leah Laba, can you lead us in prayer? Some of you haven't prayed before. Georgia Hamilton. Good morning everyone. Let us pray. Yes God as we come before you this morning we just want to thank you for carrying us today. Thank you God for guiding us and protecting us mighty Father. Lord God I ask Lord God that you will carry us through this session this morning mighty Father. Mighty Father cover our lecture this morning mighty Father. I pray Lord God that the information will impact us mighty Father. It will be clear. It will be concise and God we will understand mighty God. Lord I thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much. Let me project the notes. So today we're going to study on the book of Ruth. We can look at the background little later. We will look at the author. The author of this book is unknown. We see that the Jewish tradition in the Talmud has accepted Samuel as the author of the book of Ruth. And we also see the date. It is written between 2011 and 931 BC. And the very purpose of this book was to know the genealogy of Jesus. How did he come from? From Ruth has been a great grandmother to David. And from the David how the genealogy of Jesus comes. And we also see the second purpose of God's providence and how God has been loyal to his people to those who seek. We see that in this book. And also to summarize all these three points we see that to give the insight into the spiritual side of life in the time of charges there was godly remnant that remained true to the law of God. And also we see as I said the genealogy of David through his grandmother Ruth who was a mobite and to show that the Gentile could believe in God and become a Jew. And three of the four women in Christ genealogy we read that in the book of Matthew was Thamma, Rahab, Ruth, but Shiba was there. And the unique features we see in this book is Ruth provides a marvelous illustration of redemption. The law made provision for the women who due to the death of their husband were left without an heir and faced with the loss of their property and both of them were secured by a close relative of a kinsman redeemer. So in the same way we see like how Jesus redeemed us it actually illustrates about Jesus redeeming Israel. And the key verses are listed here is Ruth chapter 1 15 to 16 and chapter 4 verse 10. Some of the key words if you are doing a word study we can do on kinsman and kin and redeem and rest. And some of the qualifications of a kinsman redeemer we see in the book of Deuteronomy we'll read in detail when we're going through the notes that must be from the blood relative to those who redeem, must be able to redeem, must be willing to buy back any fortified inheritance example. The land to be prepared to marry the widow must affect it by meeting the just demands of the law. And a few of the Hebrew names and its meaning it's like Elimelech means my god is my king. Naomi means pleasant, sweet or favor. Bethlehem means house of bread. Mahalon, joy or soul, chileon, ornament or perfectness. Mara means bitterness or palm means skull, Ruth, rest or satisfied. Boaz strength. And we also see the portrayal of Jesus Christ in this book as a kinsman redeemer towards Israel. And yeah some of the themes and outline that we can see in this book when we're doing a study. There's also a comparison with the book of Genesis to the book of Ruth and also from Esther to Ruth. Genesis we see Genesis like Ruth contains examples of God's providence. What a first seems to be the coincidence often turns out to God's plan like we see in the in the life of Joseph how God turned Joseph hardship and blessed him in the land of Egypt. Same way Ruth when she entered Bethlehem along with the mother in law the hardship that she faced turns out to be a blessing later. And even in the book of Esther we see that Ruth was a Gentile who lived among the Jews and we see Esther was a Jew but who lived among the Gentiles and Ruth married a Jew and Esther being a Jew she married a Gentile. Both Ruth and Esther had relatives to obey and both were rewarded for their obedience. We also see the book of Ruth contains evidence of God's providence overruling the coincidence of life. So and second I'll just accept some. We'll see the shadow of Christ in this book of Ruth is the Kinsman Redeemer. It's important for us to put the work of Christ what he did for us to redeem Israel to redeem us by paying a price by becoming the redemption. He was willing to redeem. We see that Jesus was not forced to the cross but then he paid his price willingly he sacrificed himself willingly to redeem us to redeem Israel from this well to redeem each one of us. We see that in the New Testament. So with this we will move on to the book of Ruth. I'll just share the presentation the class and keep our bibles ready as well. So who was the audience that this book was written to? We see the audience was the Jewish people. This book was returned to them like during the time of David's reign as a king. The audience were familiar with David but they didn't know his background his family background beyond his father Jesse. So you know Samuel I mean the tradition says Samuel the author of this book had to write down to to let us know the background of David the lineage of David so that we can also see how God orchestrates from David the lineage comes to the divine plan Jesus. Let's look at the history the background of this book but for that I'll just accept a few papers who have joined it. Okay let's look at the history the background of this uh events during this time of judges in Israel probably in the 12th century Beesley perhaps 50 to 100 years before the birth of David it was a time of great instability and trouble in Israel with everyone doing what was right in their own eyes and we studied on the book of judges yesterday and yesterday that people forgot their God forgot the new generation especially forgot who God was and how God rescued them from from Egypt and from the slavery and bondage and they started doing what was right in their own eyes by mingling with the pagan gods and the pagan culture they started inculcating in their life. So the book of Ruth is one of the Bible's shortest book telling us the story in just four chapters and its main feature is the mobite women named Ruth who married an Israelite family eventually she gets converted to Judaism we will see to it later and she becomes a great grandmother of King David and aunts and ancestor of the Messiah. Now let's look at Ruth's background she's from a mobite background so the mobi let me just give you a little bit about the tribe how did this how did this mobite tribe start mobites were a tribe of people who descended from Moab one of the sons of Lot as we in the book of Genesis when we study we see that Genesis in the book of Genesis we see that Lot lost his wife during when he was coming out of Sodom and Gomorrah and he landed up coming only with his two daughters and the two daughters thought they will not have any generation so what they did is they they gave drink to their father and through their father they got two sons and one of the son the first born was named as Moab meaning from the father from the father so despite the strange nature of Moab's birth and the development of his people the history records many important insights regarding his legacy especially in this book because Ruth is from the tribe of Moab we also studied about the Moab tribe you know when we were studying on the book of Deuteronomy when and book of Deuteronomy or book of Joshua I think it's book of Joshua when the when the when the when the Israelites were passing through the wilderness there was a king who was scared of the size of this uh uh Israelite so he started he he he he sought the soothsayer or the he recommended Balak to curse on the Israelites we see the Moabite king who did that but here we come to the story of the book of Ruth who is from the Moabite tribe and how she accepts she accepts God as a personal god along with the mother-in-law and some of the strengths of Ruth I would like to point out here even before we could start the story the strength of Ruth was a kindness and loyalty that didn't come suddenly but then I guess this was there with the noh as she grew that's why we see that being permeated as Ruth's character and we also see as a woman she had the integrity and she also maintained a high value in dealing with you know Boaz Boaz and she was also very hard working in the field gathering the leftover grains to to you know to provide for a mother-in-law and herself and finally we see Ruth's deep love for a mother-in-law to take care of her with this kind of a person we will enter the story so that we will know you know exactly how Ruth was handling the whole situation so what happened is in the book of Ruth chapter one let's turn to our bibles Ruth chapter one everyone take up Ruth chapter one so during a time of famine a man named Eli Melek took his wife Naomi and two sons they had two sons named Malon and and Kilion and moved towards east from Bethlehem to a place called Moab a Moab of desperation given them the long you know there was an enmity already between the Israel and Moabites but then he thought there may be some prospect to get some work for their sons in Moabite greater because you know in Israel they were undergoing some famine so with that intention this family moves to the land of Moab but we do not know whether their sons found a work but the sons both the sons found a wife in Moab Mahalon married Ruth and Kilion married Orpah so within 10 years they experienced both social and economic tragedy in that land and this landed up to the death of all the men all the three men Eli Melek Malon and Kilion died passed away in that land leaving Naomi and the two daughters I mean two daughter-in-law without husband so we have three widows there who needed need to be supported for themselves and they didn't have any legal rights in that land and you know there were no men in the land to support them and in short they were like you know or they didn't have a land no resources with which they can make their living so here we see in chapter one verse 20 you know we see the Naomi lamenting Naomi lamenting saying that can one of us please read you can unmute and read but she said to them do not call me Naomi call me Mara for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me so do not call me Naomi but call me Mara don't call me pleasant or sweet I'm no more that I've become bitter I've become bitter and because of which God has dealt bitterly with me because they had lost the protection they lost the support of their husband and they were easily targeted for the economic and social abuse and exploitation in that place and they became the aliens in the land of Moab now perhaps in response to the vulnerability they had to face in that land as an alien so Naomi hears now Naomi's hearing that Bethlehem Israel is doing well they've overcome the famine and everything is fine so Naomi decides to return back to her home and she's urging and she urged a daughter-in-law's to go back to their parents place to a maternal home and she also prayed God that the God of Israel would grant each of them security with their household and she urges both of them with much dispute or a second daughter-in-law accepts a mother-in-law's wish and she left her left back to her place weeping but yet Ruth being the first daughter-in-law she refuses to be separated from Naomi no matter what the hardship could be her words to Naomi you know shows the love and loyalty that she carried for we see that in verse 16 to 17 can one of us read chapter 1 verse 16 to 17 please and she but Ruth said entreat me not to leave you or to turn back from following after you for wherever you go I will go and wherever you lodge I will lodge your people shall be my people and your God my God 17 where you die I will die and there will I be buried the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts you and me so look at this remarkable statement that Ruth is making to a mother-in-law though she's from you know pagan background but here she is ready you know she's ready to become a Jew by choice she's ready to accept you know accept God as a God and I will go with you where you go and I'll accept your people as my people I'll accept your God as my God and I will die where you die that easy for a girl to step out when she has a future in the place where she's staying it's very risky and it is not that easy but she chooses to do that not ready to leave Naomi aged mother-in-law alone she goes to support her to provide for her to be with her but instead of putting it that way she says I want to come I accept your people as my people your God as my God a new family altogether and she's ready for any kind of hardship and she moves with her to Bethlehem to Israel now Naomi and Ruth face when they come to a new place yes there would be an hardship but when we trust in God hardship is not an hopeless situation anymore although we encounter even in our personal life when we encounter you know any hardship but when we have the hope and trust on God He gives us the strength to overcome that in the story of Ruth we don't see and you know very obvious miracle or miraculous intervention but throughout the story when we read we see the hand of God leading by no means you know is leading her throughout and he is orchestrating everything for Ruth we see every moment looks like God was at work and he was faithful in providing you know in providing the food and shelter and also making Ruth's life beautiful meaningful because she trusted on the God of Israel and she has stepped out in faith we can also relate that with Abraham how he stepped out in faith not knowing where he's going but he trusted on God and he stepped out in faith Ruth also trusted on the God of Israel and she stepped out in faith today God is asking you and me can we have that kind of faith in us to step out so that we can experience the hand of God in our life the God who is faithful with Ruth is the same God will be faithful with you and me I see some comment one second please okay the same God was faithful to you and me so once they reached Bethlehem Naomi and Ruth sought for food so Naomi guides Ruth there is a field out there you can go and gather the the leftover grains it's one of the rule in the Jewish tradition is was not to empty the field completely but to leave out some grains for the poor people in the land they would come and pick that grains so it was not only Ruth it was even some of the other Israelites who were poor in that land would go to the field to gather the grains for their living so just like that Ruth steps out she gets this place she goes to this field to Boaz the kinsman was Boaz but she she does not know anything about Boaz she just goes obeying Naomi as per her guidance she goes there to pick up the grains we see God's providence there we see that as God was with Ruth Ruth found favor in in the eyes of Boaz she found favor he was a wealthy farmer so Boaz was a relative to Ruth's husband who had died according to the law of Moses if a man died without children his nearest relative must marry his wife and raise up her children we see that in Deuteronomy 25 can one of us please turn to Deuteronomy 25 verse 5 onwards I'll just tell you till where can one of us please turn to Deuteronomy 25 can somebody else read other than Rosalind 5 to 10 we can read verse 5 to 10 Elisha can you be a little louder please okay Deuteronomy 25 verses 5 to 10 yeah if brothers draw to I'm reading from the English standard version okay if brothers draw together and one of them dies and has no son the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger her husband's brother shall go into her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her and the first son whom she bears shall secede to the name of his dead brother and his name may not be bloated out of Israel and if a man does not wish to take his brother's wife and his brother's wife shall go up to the gates to the elders and say man husband's brother refuses to perpetuate his brother's name in Israel he will not perform the duty of a husband's brother to me then the elders of the city shall call him and speak to him and if he persists saying I do not wish to take her then his brother's wife shall go out to him in the presence of the elders and pull his sandals off his foot and spit in his face and she shall answer and say so shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother's house and the name of his house shall be called in Israel the house of him who had his sandals pulled off so this is the tradition that has been followed here so we see that you know Boaz offered Ruth the protection and the food when Ruth looked at this kindness and generosity of Boaz she was surprised so she asked them why for I am a foreigner in this land in fact you know we see that you know Ruth giving out the extra grains and you know a lot of favor upon her and Ruth was surprised with this action and we see in the book of Ruth can we turn to book of Ruth chapter 2 verse 11 and 12 can we read can someone else Anita Govekar answered and said to her it has been fully reported to me all that you have done for your mother-in-law is the debt of your husband and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth and have come to a people who did not know before well it was and the Lord repay your work and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel under whose wings you have come for refuge yeah so here we see how Boaz had learned of Ruth's faithfulness to her mother-in-law and he prayed that the God of Israel would bless Ruth for her loyalty and later part we see how Naomi forces a a Ruth to marry Boaz by invoking the kinship with him because Ruth was not aware of the tradition but here Naomi explains about the tradition and she tries to bring them both together she sent Ruth to Boaz at one night with the tradition how she needs to offer herself to him on that one particular night when they have some kind of celebration but the upright but we also see Boaz been a very righteous man fear of God he refuses to take that as an advantage over Ruth but instead we see him trying to do right things in a right way to get Ruth to get married to Ruth so you know according to their rituals and inheritance as what we just read in the book of Deuteronomy Boaz you know announces to the elders and all the people we see that in chapter four can we turn to chapter four verse nine to ten so Boaz he tries to redeem Ruth in the right way by whatever the ritual needs to be followed of buying the land or exchange of anything so we read in verse nine can one of you all please read nine and ten please one of us can we please read nine and ten Ruth chapter four verse nine and ten and the Boaz said unto the headers and unto all the people here witness these days that I have bought all the that was Remelix and that was Shillion and the Melion of the land of Naomi moreover Ruth the Moabite the wife of the Melon I have I I persist to be my wife to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance that the name of the Lord the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren and from the gauge of his place we are witness these days amen amen so we see in this way Boaz held Naomi and he marries Ruth by rescuing her from the sad life of a widowhood in the ancient times it was not easy for a woman to live alone and especially if she's a widow people take advantage of her vulnerability but raise God like how Boaz was ready you know but he was he was a he was a man who feared God and you know he wanted to he wanted to be a blessing so he held Naomi and he marries Ruth in the right way as per the tradition so then we see in the same chapter four 16 and 17 can one of us please read 16 and 17 uh root chapter 4 16 and 17 then Naomi took the child and laid him on her bosom and became a nurse to him also the neighbor women gave him a name saying there is a son born to Naomi and they called his name Obed he's the father of Jesse the father of David yes we see because uh Boaz did the right thing he also found favor in God's eye Ruth and Boaz were orchestrated by God himself we see the hand of God on both of their lives and we see how God blessed them God blessed them with a child because you know uh child bearing was an honor for the women in those days so as soon as they were married God blessed Ruth with a child Ruth and Boaz with a son and they named him Obed God was the father and Obed was the father later in the book we see Obed was the father of Jesse and Jesse was the father of David who was anointed by God to become the king of Israel we will we will read to it in the first book of Samuel and Jesus was a descendant of David we read that in the book of Matthew chapter one verse five and we see how God orchestrates everything he brings the lineage of David to the birth of Jesus yes it took many centuries to put this in place but the result is God's plan of salvation which was at the very beginning was fulfilled we see how God is fulfilling that throughout the book he is mindful of God you know of the salvation of us to bring out Jesus into this world will become our redeemer and in the story we see that Ruth plays a very key role in coming of the promised Messiah and Ruth becomes one of Jesus's Gentile ancestor showed us the Christ came to save all people you see that God been so kind to everyone is the God of everyone not only Jew but even of the Gentiles that's what we also see in the New Testament when the apostles were very keen on preaching the gospel to only to the to the Jews but later the Holy Spirit opened up doors with the Gentiles because God is for everyone this redemption the Jesus paid the price for everyone in this world whoever believes in him will be saved so this is what we see like how God was so merciful and kind on you know on Ruth and he blessed her he made a faithful throughout the book we see we see the key theme that is the faithfulness how Ruth was faithful to Naomi and also now we've been faithful to Ruth because of it you know she refers Boas and she says he's the kinsman and later part we also see Boas been faithful to Ruth and overall in the story we see the faithfulness of God towards everyone though Ruth was married for 10 years before but she didn't bear any child but now after the after she gets married to Boas immediately God opens her home and blesses her with a son you see there was a God's plan on Ruth's life the similar way in our life we see something been delayed we see many hardship in our life when we trust on God friends be assured that God is faithful God is faithful may we may not know the complete picture of his plan but God is faithful as per Jeremiah 29 11 that God as a plan for us plan to prosper us if he's asking us to wait when we wait on God waiting period is not a wasted waiting on God is not a wasted time God will bless us he will reward us with much greater blessing we read that in Ephesians 3 20 whenever God blesses he blesses us abundantly exceedingly abundantly above and beyond what we could think or imagine along with the faithfulness we also see the kindness towards each other that is the God's character God is a God of kindness and mercy he's full of love and we see that that's how God handles us if God can change Ruth's right life and make it fruitful and bless her with a good future today God is looking at each one of us and telling us that I will bless you and make your give you a good future give you the honor for your shame and give you the protection when you're insecure God is that when we look up to God when we cling ourselves to God just like how Ruth did we need to cling ourselves when we when we cling ourselves to God we see God's faithfulness kindness protection and the blessing overall blessing of Abraham upon each of us finally we see the redemption is the underlying theme in this book of Ruth as Boas was the kinsman redeemer and saves Ruth from the hopeless situation the same way Jesus has been illustrated as the kinsman redeemer in our life Jesus is our redeemer so with this I'll open to the class to our learning what did we learn from this book of Ruth what are the life lessons that we can carry from this book of Ruth ma'am can I yes please um we can trust God in our times of hardship when we have like ups and downs we can trust God like Ruth yes yes trusting God at all times thank you anyone else can I share yes the bill yeah um one thing uh it's like God can change any worst situations of our life into good he has the power to do it will he he can do it yes man anyone else okay anyone else one more person what was the learning from this book okay some of the things that I would like to recollect and reiterate is humility was the wise attitude that you know her root showed in this book she humbled herself by you know leaving her household and choosing Naomi and she also trusted Naomi's God and she moved in that was really nice and we also see uh uh you know uh Ruth making the right choices in her life she she made the right choice at the right time and we also see that even though there was hardship she never looked back she never looked back but she endured in the choices that she made and maybe one of the reason of god blessing her was towards her end towards her endurance you know pursuing with good motto good attitude she carried her life and we also see God's providence was a wonderful thing here and in the end of the book we see how Ruth experienced the loving kindness of boas in her life which she would have never imagined that you know uh somebody can give a give meaning to her life and make a life fruitful she would have never imagined that she would give birth to a son and uh you know she would have never thought but uh um faithfulness towards God made her uh made her to come under the line age of Jesus so God we see God is a God of not partial God is the same for everyone and that's how God is chosen Ruth if some of us may think that we are not from a proper background or when we look back at a life at the sinful life what we go through at the minute we uh we repent and we turn back and we receive Jesus as a Lord and Savior God again says there's no partiality you are in my home you are in my you know my lineage you are with me you know uh the uh we have the same relationship with God as an Heavenly Father so there's you know uh there's love of God is the same for all of us uh despite our background despite of uh you know what type of background we come from but God is a God of us this is something that I personally learned from this story okay uh before we could end this class can one of us please lead us in prayer thank you Father thank you Lord for teaching us uh Father through uh your word uh helping our pastor Lord to explain uh Father to delve deep into uh uh Lord what made Ruth special what made uh Lord her life turned into uh Father miracle Father Lord every um yes Lord your faithfulness Lord your redemption Lord we see through uh Lord in uh Ruth's life Father Lord we uh we also know Lord as we trust in you Lord as we make the right choices as we humble ourselves and surrender ourselves to you Father Lord endure uh Father even through the hardships Father you are a God who can change Lord all our um uh bad experiences uh Father Lord all the lost time all the um uh Father harm that has been done Lord you are the God who can redeem it Father Lord you are the God who can restore Father Lord thank you that Jesus Christ is a kinsman redeem us bless Father Lord thank you Father we cling on to you yes Father we uh Lord hold down to every word Father that all that you are yes Father all that you are brings life to you Father Lord so help us trust in you Lord depend upon you and just like we learned from Ruth Father Lord you help us Lord walk uh in humility and surrender to you all the days of our life Father let's uh pastor Diana Father Lord thank you Lord that you spoke through her Lord uh continue Lord to use her mightly for your kingdom I pray for every student Father Lord uh let the words that have been imparted to us Father Lord let it become uh Father uh Lord let it help us in our sanctification to be sanctified Father Lord let us be sanctified by your word and the Holy Spirit Lord all these things we pray in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ amen amen amen thank you so much for joining in today's session see you all tomorrow God bless bye thank you ma'am