…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
and are justified by his grace as a gift,
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus…
Romans 3: 23–24
Ruth is one of two women whose names grace a book of the Bible. But Ruth isn’t known as just Ruth. She’s called (insert raised eyebrows here) Ruth the Moabitess. That dicey descriptor brings to mind Rahab’s unwanted appendage: the harlot. That job description stuck for centuries, even when Rabah was touted in the New Testament as an example of faith.
But really, is Moabite status worthy of the same condemnation as harlotry? Well, Deuteronomy 23: 3 says, “No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of the Lord; none of the descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall every enter the assembly of the Lord.” That judgement sounds as hopeless as a fallen woman’s.
Yet, mere months after Ruth the Moabitess and Naomi returned to Bethlehem, Ruth was redeemed by Boaz and welcomed into Jewish culture “like Rachel and Leah, both of whom built the house of Israel.” (Ruth 4:11) A stunning turn of events. What possessed Boaz to redeem Ruth the Moabitess so quickly?
Ruth asked him the same thing, and he replied, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband has been fully reported to me, and how you left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and came to a people that you did not previously know.”
Notice that Boaz was too polite to say that traveling with Naomi, a founding member of the Bad Mother-in-Law Society, was no picnic. Boaz did hint that, for a Moabitess, living among the people of God was a remarkable act of courage.
More than that, the book of Ruth shows her act was one of redeeming love. Ruth redeemed Naomi by following her after being told to go home. By gleaning in the fields for food, at the risk of sexual assault. By loving an unloveable old woman beyond what she deserved.
Most commentators point to Boaz’s redemption of Ruth as a picture a picture of how Christ Jesus redeems us, Moabites every one. A picture of the once-for-all, grand redemption of our eternal souls that comes through Christ alone.
But Ruth is also a redeemer in this story. She redeemed Naomi life on earth through ordinary, every day acts of provision, companionship, forgiveness, faithfulness, and love. That’s the work God call His redeemed to perform throughout our lives. The work of redeeming the earth and building His kingdom. Like Ruth did for Naomi, and like Jesus, their descendent and Rahab’s, did during His time on this earth.
God saw fit to redeem the earth and build His kingdom in and through Rahab the harlot and Ruth the Moabitess. If He had the power to redeem and partner with them in the redemption of His kingdom, how can we doubt His ability to use us, too?
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