Prophetic Prospective Daily Devotional

The little book of Ruth has a unique way of including how the Lord would use a "kinsman redeemer" to bring into the lineage of the Messiah, through King David, a Gentile woman, a Moabite.

Ruth, the Gentile woman, a Moabite, had married into a Jewish family and soon afterward saw the Lord take her husband in death. Ruth had, through this experience, become very close with her mother-in-law and had chosen to go to live in Israel with Naomi for the rest of her life.

As we read the narrative we see that Ruth and Naomi, her beloved mother-in-law, would return to Bethlehem, hometown of Ruth's deceased husband. The story found in our reading for today is a “love story”, but also the presentation of the Biblical principle of the "kinsman redeemer."

It is the story of how the Lord would allow for a Gentile woman, Ruth, to become a member of the family that had been prophesied to bring forth the Messiah to the Jewish people.

Naomi had a “kinsman” who would play the role of how Christ, the Jewish Messiah, would also reach out and redeem the Gentiles as well as the Jewish people. It is a wonderful story that should be closely studied for your own benefit.

As I re-read this passage for our devotional time today, I was once again amazed at how the Lord continues to move the world and even the smallest details of the world into place for Bible prophecy to be fulfilled.

Ruth and Naomi came to Bethlehem to live and it was there that Boaz, the “kinsman redeemer”, would fall in love with this Gentile and follow through on his responsibility to marry this non-Jewish woman.

As you know, Ruth would be the great-grandmother of David, King David, who would receive the “covenant promise” of God that one of his descendants would sit on the throne of the Temple in Jerusalem, forever. That One, of course, will be the Jewish Messiah, Jesus Christ.

I commend to you the entire book of Ruth for your reading as evidence that God's plans for the future will be played out in the lives of people, His people, and even us today as well.

PRAYER THOUGHT: Dear Lord, help me to be obedient to Your plan for the future in my own life, even as Boaz and Ruth were many years ago.