LESSONS FROM RUTH

1. God's providence puts a silver lining behind every dark cloud

   1. There was a famine (1:1)

   2. There was a family (1:2)

   3. There was a fear (1:16-17)

   4. There was a field (2:3)

2. God has a role for women

   1. Ruth

   2. Esther

   3. Elizabeth

   4. Mary

3. Good people may live in dark times

   1. Setting of Ruth – sad, dark times in Israel

   2. Ruth - “a lily in the mud pond of Judges”

   3. Naomi – lost both sons in a foreign land

   4. Go back home – dire conditions

4. Gentiles are included in God's plan

   1. Moabites – Moab is a son of Lot, enemy of Israel

   2. 4 women in Jesus genealogy – Matthew 1 (Rahab, Ruth, Tamar, Bathsheba)

   3. 2 of them were Gentiles – Rahab and Ruth

5. Christ is our kinsman redeemer – Ruth 3:9

   1. Duties of a kinsman redeemer

      1. Save them from poverty (bankruptcy)

      2. Avenge violence against them

      3. Raise a successor (Leverite marriage)

   2. The redeemer must:

      1. Be related by blood

      2. Able to pay the price

      3. Willing to redeem

      4. Be free himself

6. The rewards are worth more than we give up

   1. Luke 14:26

   2. Mark 10:29-31

7. Love for family must be evident

   1. Ruth 1:16-17

      1. Agrees to travel with Naomi

      2. Will dwell with her

      3. Join in religion with her

      4. Die in the same place

      5. Be buried in the same grave

      6. Only death will separate them

From tract by Allen Webster