After the dark days of Judges, the book of Ruth is a breath of fresh air.  Recording events that occurred “in the days when the judges ruled” (1:1) and following Judges in our Bibles, it shows that there were some Israelites who did not do “as they saw fit” (Judges 21:25) but knew, loved and obeyed the LORD and were shining examples of his covenant kindness in their relationships with other people. 

Named after its Moabite central character, Ruth tells many different stories.  It tells the love story of widowed, childless Ruth finding “rest in the home of another husband” (1:9, cf. 4:13) as bachelor Boaz agrees to become her redeemer.  It also tells the story of the filling up of “bitter” Naomi who felt herself to have been “afflicted” and made “empty” by God (1:20-21, cf. 4:14-17).  It tells the story of Boaz who was given an extraordinary opportunity to be his family’s redeemer.   Finally, it tells the story of how the great king David came from this little family (4:18-22). 

It weaves together themes of redemption, kindness, blessing, provision, identity, security, belonging and mission, while continuously pointing to the God who proves himself able to work through natural events (1:1), ‘chance’ happenings (2:1-3), wily human schemes (3:1-13), legal proceedings (4:1-12) and human biology (4:13).