Naomi told her daughter-in-law, “The Lord bless him! He has continued showing his kindness to the living as well as the dead.” Then Naomi told her daughter-in-law, “Boaz is one of our relatives. He is one of our protectors.”

Once, during a severe famine, a Jewish man named Elimelech took his family out of Israel and emigrated to Moab, a nation at the southeastern border of the Promised Land. To Moab, of all places! There lived the descendants of a man bearing the same name: Moab, the son of Lot (Abraham’s nephew) and Lot’s own daughter. Moab was the product of an incestuous relationship! A cursed, cast-out nation Moab was. “An Ammonite or Moabite may not join with the men of Israel when they gather to worship the Lord. And none of their descendants, to the tenth generation, may join in the worship of the Lord,” God orders in Deuteronomy 23:3.

Initially, it seemed nothing good came out of Elimelech’s move to Moab. He died, leaving his wife Naomi with their two sons. The two sons also died, and Naomi only had her two Moabite daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth. Yes, her sons married Moabite girls—as if God’s honor hadn’t been violated enough already.

Elimelech and his family got what they deserved, didn’t they? Serves them right, we would say, according to our moral standards. God, however, has other standards. God adds grace to the equation.

The story goes on. Naomi returns to Israel, and Ruth joins her. In order to provide food for her mother-in-law, Ruth goes to Bethlehem’s farming fields to gather grain. She ends up at the land of a man named Boaz, who treats her in an extremely friendly manner. Loaded with abundant grain, Ruth returns home and tells Naomi about Boaz. Naomi responds with today’s verse: “The Lord bless him! He has continued showing his kindness to the living as well as the dead. … Boaz is one of our relatives. He is one of our protectors.”

Naomi gratefully puts her trust in Boaz, her protector. With that, she simultaneously entrusts herself to the Lord of Israel, who installed Israel’s laws concerning family protection. In a footnote about the protectors, the ERV says: “Or ‘redeemers,’ those who cared for and protected the family of a dead relative. Often, they bought back (redeemed) the poor relatives from slavery, making them free again.” Redeemed! Who wouldn’t think of Jesus, our great Redeemer? Who comes to our rescue when we stray away like Elimelech and Naomi?

As the story continues, Ruth marries Boaz and becomes the great-grandmother of King David. Ruth is an ancestor of our Lord Jesus Christ! In Ruth, descendant of the cursed Moab, we see how God’s plan of salvation reaches far beyond His chosen people of Israel. God’s grace encompasses all of us!

Naomi trusted Boaz to redeem her. Today, we can put our trust in Christ, our Redeemer. He has bought us back from the slavery of sin and made us free. All glory to Him!

By Anton de Vreugd, Bible League International staff, the Netherlands