My God and My Country

The Book of Ruth Chapter 4:13-22

13 So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife: and when he went in unto her, the Lord gave that she conceived, and bare a son. 14 And the women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the Lord, which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, and his name shall be continued in Israel. 15 And this shall bring thy life again, and cherish thine old age: for thy daughter-in-law which loveth thee, hath borne unto him, and she is better to thee than seven sons. 16 And Naomi took the child, and laid it in her lap, and became nurse unto it. 17 And the women her neighbors gave it a name, saying, There is a child born to Naomi, and called the name thereof Obed: the same was the father of Jesse, the father of David. 18 These now are the generations of Perez: Perez begat Hezron, 19 And Hezron begat Ram, and Ram begat Amminadab, 20 And Amminadab begat Nahshon, and Nahshon begat Salmon, 21 And Salmon begat Boaz, and Boaz begat Obed, 22 And Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David.

We now have Ruth a wife. Boaz took her, with the usual solemnities, to his house, and she became his wife (verse13), all the city, no doubt, congratulating the preferment of a virtuous woman, purely for her virtues. We have reason to think that Orpah, who returned from Naomi to her people and her gods, was never half so well preferred as Ruth was. He that forsakes all for Christ shall find more than all with him; it shall be recompensed a hundred-fold in this present time. Now Orpah wished she had gone with Naomi too; but she, like the other kinsman, stood in her own light. Boaz had prayed that this pious proselyte might receive a full reward of her courage and constancy from the God of Israel, under whose wings she had come to trust; and now he became an instrument of that kindness, which was an answer to his prayer, and helped to make his own words good. Now she had the command of those servants with whom she had associated and of those fields in which she had gleaned. Thus sometimes God raiseth up the poor out of the dust, to set them with princes, Psalm 113:7-8 Ruth a mother: The Lord gave her conception; for the fruit of the womb is his reward, Psalm 127:3 . It is one of the keys he hath in his hand; and he sometimes makes the barren woman that had been long so to be a joyful mother of children, Psalm 113:9 ; Isaiah 54:1 .Ruth still a daughter-in-law, and the same that she always was, to Naomi, who was so far from being forgotten that she was a principal sharer in these new joys. The good women that were at the labour when this child was born congratulated Naomi upon it more than either Boaz or Ruth, because she was the match-maker, and it was the family of her husband that was hereby built up. See here, as before, what an air of devotion there was then even in the common expressions of civility among the Israelites. Prayer to God attended the birth of the child. What a pity it is that such pious language should either be disused among Christians or degenerate into a formality. "Blessed be the Lord that has sent thee this grandson,’’ verses 14- 15. Who was the preserver of the name of her family, and who, they hoped, would be famous, because his father was so. Who would be hereafter dutiful and kind to her, so they hoped, because his mother was so. If he would but take after her, he would be a comfort to his aged grandmother, a restorer of her life, and, if there should be occasion, would have wherewithal to be the nourisher of her old age. It is a great comfort to those that are going into years to see any of those that descend from them growing up, that are likely, by the blessing of God, to be a stay and support to them, when the years come wherein they will need such, and of which they will say they have no pleasure in them. Observe, They say of Ruth that she loved Naomi, and therefore was better to her than seven sons. See how God in his providence sometimes makes up the want and loss of those relations from whom we expected most comfort in those from whom we expected least. The bonds of love prove stronger than those of nature, and there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother; so here there was a daughter-in-law better than an own child. See what wisdom and grace will do. Now here; The child is named by the neighbours, verse 17. The good women would have it called Obed, a servant, either in remembrance of the meanness and poverty of the mother or in prospect of his being hereafter a servant, and very serviceable, to his grandmother. It is no dishonour to those that are ever so well born to be servants to God, their friends, and their generation. The motto of the princes of Wales is Ich dien—I serve. The child is nursed by the grandmother, that is, dry-nursed, when the mother had weaned him from the breast, verse 16. She laid it in her bosom, in token of her tender affection to it and care of it. Grandmothers are often the most fond. Ruth is hereby brought in among the ancestors of David and Christ, which was the greatest honour. The genealogy is here drawn from Pharez, through Boaz and Obed, to David, and so leads towards the Messiah, and therefore it is not an endless genealogy.

Editor’s note - The genealogy extends down to us today for our Goel, is Christ, who has redeemed us for his own, and has made us joint heirs in the kingdom of God.