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The obvious purpose of the book of Ruth is to help recount the origins of the house of David and thus a vital part of the lineage of Messiah. Through analogies, this book contains instruction and guidance for Christians, as we prepare collectively and individually to be the Bride of Christ at his coming. It also shows us the responsibilities for conversion of the gentiles.

Ruth is one of only two books of the Bible to be named after a woman. The other is Esther. Interestingly, in Ruth a Gentile woman marries a Hebrew husband, while in Esther a Jewish woman marries a Gentile husband. The stories of these women also show that the message of God was not just for Israel, but also extended to the rest of the nations.

The book opens during the days of the Judges with a famine in Judah. A man named Elimelech (meaning My God is king) and his wife Naomi (meaning My pleasant one) and their two sons, Mahlon (Sick), and Chilion (Pining) moved from Bethlehem to the land of Moab to escape the famine. Elimelech dies and his sons take wives for themselves from the Moabites around them, namely Orpah (Gazelle) and Ruth (Friendship).

Ten years after Elimelech died, his two sons Mahlon and Chilion also died. It appears that Naomi held fast to her heritage, culture and beliefs and taught these things to her daughters-in-law. When Naomi learned that the famine in Judah had ended she decided to return home. Both her widowed daughters-in-law decided to follow her but only one, Ruth, ended up doing so.

Without a husband to provide for either of them, both Naomi and Ruth were poor and so Ruth went out to glean in the fields during the spring harvest. By providence, Ruth came to glean in the fields of Boaz, a relative of Naomi's deceased husband. He was extremely wealthy and offered her protection and encouragement.

Sensing God's hand was in this, Naomi instructed Ruth to approach Boaz at the end of the harvest and to indicate her desire to marry him. Ruth did this, but another kinsman of Elimelech had prior claim to marry Ruth. Boaz redeemed her from this kinsman and married her. The book closes with Boaz and Ruth having a son and Naomi rejoicing in her grandson, from whom David and ultimately Joshua (Jesus) the Messiah were descended.

One of the most profound qualities of Ruth was her willingness to abandon everything in her life. She left all that was important to her (her homeland, her family, her friends, her culture, her religion) to follow Naomi back to Israel and cleave to her and her people, and her God (Ruth 1:1-18).

When Naomi first announced her intention to leave Moab and return to her homeland, both Orpah and Ruth began the journey with her. When Naomi protested, Orpah ended up leaving and returned to her people, while Ruth clung to Naomi (Ruth 1:19-22).

The time of the barley harvest means that it was the time of Passover. The type of commitment Ruth displayed is the type of commitment we as Christians ought to have. For us, repentance and baptism symbolise a total renunciation of the self and a total commitment to a new identity and new destiny (Rom. 1:19-22; Col. 3:3-4).

Orpah, however, displayed a kind of worldly sorrow – a kind of remorse that did not lead to real commitment and change (2Cor. 7:10; Lk. 9:62). Ruth on the other hand is a shining example of genuine and total commitment and she typifies those Christians who are willing to give up everything, including their lives if necessary, in order to follow Christ.

When Naomi and Ruth arrived in Bethlehem, Ruth took it upon herself to go out and glean in the fields and so provide for her mother-in-law and herself (Ruth 2:1-3). Ruth went out to glean and it "happened" that she came to glean in the field of her future husband Boaz. Now a gleaner did not sow, irrigate, or tend the crop as it matured. These jobs were the responsibility of the husbandman who owned the field, but a gleaner was allowed to share in and benefit from the efforts of another. In many ways this typifies the relationship of Christians to their future husband, Christ. It was God who called us. Read the parable of the sower is in Matthew 13.

This example is interesting because as the "seed" of the gospel is scattered around, some of it falls on good ground where it grows up and brings forth fruit. Christ said that the good soil is those who hear the word and understand it (Lk. 8:15). It is Christ who prepares the "soil" of our lives to make us able to receive the things of God's word, or the "seed".

Not only does God first prepare the soil of our lives before He scatters the seed in our direction, but He also leads us along the way, giving us experiences and opportunities so that the seed can grow and flourish and produce fruit (1Cor. 3:6-7).

When Boaz learned Ruth was Naomi’s daughter-in-law, he made sure she would be safe and her labours profitable (Ruth 2:4-14).

He also deliberately instructed his reapers to leave extra grain behind, so that Ruth would be encouraged (Ruth 2:15-17). In his approach to Ruth, Boaz typified the love and care and concern Christ has towards us. As Boaz cared for his future bride, Ruth, so Christ will care for us with empathy and compassion (Ruth 2:18-23).

This is a concept of faithfulness to Christ in the tasks that he has been allotted. We are expected to remain faithful to Christ throughout all of this harvest until the end of the age. We are not allowed to go back into the fields of the other Lords who are placed over us (the fallen host). We are not to leave off until that entire harvest is done. In other words we have to work until the very coming of the Messiah. We have no permission to stop.

Ruth had the boldness and courage to ask Boaz, a wealthy, highly respected landowner, to marry her. Naomi understood that God's hand was in this matter. There was also a legal question here as her boldness did not come of her own desire (Ruth 3:1-18).

Ruth requested that Boaz would "spread his skirt" over her, both symbolically by getting under his blanket at his feet and verbally when he awoke. To ask Boaz to do this meant that she was asking Boaz's to perform his duties as near kinsmen under Levirate laws. This was her right (cf. the papers The Sin of Onan (No. 162) and Genealogy of the Messiah (No. 119)). Boaz accepted this demand and sought to discharge it himself, in lieu of the nearer kinsman, given the expressed desire of Ruth. So too, we should seek boldly the "hand" of our Master in marriage. Christ is waiting to marry us (spiritually speaking) within the laws and structure set out for him by God. Ruth typifies the Church and Boaz typifies Christ (Eph. 5:25-32; Rev. 22:17; 22:20).

An interesting thing to consider is that, in our marriage to Christ, it will be a marriage of equal beings, of Elohim to Elohim. We will be on exactly the same plane of existence as he is, as glorified spirit sons and daughters of our Father and Christ's God and Father, as Christ's brethren, and co-heirs with him. He is our head as the husband is head of the wife, but they are both equal in type and being (Heb. 2:11; Rom. 8:16-17).

Although Boaz and Ruth wished to be married, Boaz was not free to marry Ruth because of how the Law of remarriages worked (Deut. 25:5-9).

Elimelech’s sons died without leaving an heir and there were no other sons to continue Elimelech’s name. So the brothers of Elimelech, as next of kin and their lines, had the responsibility to perform the duty of providing an heir under Levirate law. Because there was no living brother-in-law, the responsibility then fell to the next of kin in the tribe.

Boaz was willing to marry Ruth and thus raise up a son to Elimelech's name, but there was another relative who was closer to Elimelech than Boaz and who therefore had "prior claim" in this process (Ruth 4:1-12).

This is very important in the relationship between Christ and the Host. Look at this in a spiritual form and you are looking at Christ and the Host who are given responsibility for human beings. We are taken out of the gentile nations.

The spiritual type of all this is that Boaz was willing to, and indeed had to, redeem Ruth before he could marry her. So it is with Christ. The process of our redemption began with Christ's death at the Passover (1Pet. 1:18-19). But the process for us is still continuing and will do so until the first resurrection when our bodies will be transformed from matter to spirit and the adoption into God's family becomes complete (Rom. 8:23; Eph. 1:14; 4:30).

Boaz was a type of Christ who had to concede a prior right of the next of kin. In Deuteronomy 32:8 we read that God allocated all the nations according to the number of the sons of God. Each of these nations was given to those sons of God. They had a right to these nations in leading and in their development. These heavenly Host had to forgo their right to Christ. Christ had to redeem and the host were given the responsibility for these human beings from the time of the creation right through until the time of the ministry of Jesus Christ. They were given 4,000 years to discharge their responsibilities and a further 2,000 years after the Messiah was here in order to do that.

Messiah is taking the Church out of the gentile nations. He redeems them from the fallen host who had a prior right under Satan as Morning Star. That price was paid by Christ and he is dealing with that aspect. God is allocating people out of the gentile nations to Christ in order to develop the Church. That is what is happening here with Boaz and the redemption.

The Book of Ruth is a small book, but one rich in meaning. It is a beautiful and touching story in its own right, and an inspiring and encouraging message to Christians as they anticipate marriage to their soon coming King and Master, Joshua the Messiah.