Faithfulness

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love: joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22 – 23, NASB).

Tradition is very powerful when it comes to interpreting the Bible and affects the meaning we assign to a particular text. The book of Ruth is an example. Tradition sees it as a love story between Boaz and Ruth, but that view misses the main point of the story.

As Naomi was returning to Bethlehem from the land of Moab, Ruth made a commitment to Naomi to stay with her until death (Ruth 1:16 – 17). Her faithfulness to Naomi – our study word for today – is a characteristic of the love of God that Ruth is abiding in and will continue to abide in. If we look under the covers of this love we will see God at work.

At this point Naomi is a widow and is beyond childbearing. She has no heir and had a piece of land that now needs to be redeemed. If Ruth, who is baron, could bear a male child and give it to Naomi then she would have an heir if the man who fathered the child filled the roll of redeemer. That father would also have to purchase back the land for Naomi. With that understanding, what God is putting into the mind of Ruth and is going to orchestrate is an amazing story of redemption, which continues the genealogy toward Jesus Christ. God places Ruth is a field of Boaz and his kindness allows Ruth to challenge him to supply her with more grain for food for her and Naomi. As the relationship grows and Ruth believes Boaz to be a qualified redeemer for Naomi, she meets with Boaz at night and challenges him to marry her and produce a male child. This would be a considerable cost to Boaz, who is already married and has a family, to purchase more land, which he will not own, and take another wife and bear offspring, which would produce more heirs to divide his estate with. This will all happen because it is God’s plan. You see, according to Matthew 1:5 – 6, Boaz was the son of Salmon by Rahab. Ruth did marry Boaz and bore a child named Obed, who fathered Jesse, who fathered David the great king.

Boaz said, “Moreover, I have acquired Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, – a son of Naomi – to be my wife in order to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance, so that the name of the deceased may not be cut off from his brothers or from the court of his birthplace; you are witnesses today” (Ruth 4:10, NASB). Boaz purchases the land and marries Ruth and the Lord enabled her to conceive and she gave birth to a son. She took this son and gave it to Naomi (Ruth 4:16). Ruth has now completed her work and disappears from the pages of Scripture until the account in Matthew.

I covered this story today because it demonstrated so clearly the characteristics of love as seen in both Boaz and Ruth. Ruth was faithful to her vow to Naomi and demonstrated it through her kindness and yes, great boldness. Boaz also demonstrated characteristics of love through his kindness, goodness, and gentleness. When one abides in the love of God, some powerful things can happen in the lives of people. Boaz did not marry Ruth particularly for his love for her, but because she challenged him to fulfill his duty of being Naomi’s redeemer through her. Out of love, Ruth gives up her child so that Naomi would have someone to care for her in her old age and be an heir of her property and family name.

The fruit of the Spirit is love and its characteristics are powerful when one abides in that love. The Spirit produces the love and its characteristics are identified with the one who abides in that love. Faithfulness is powerful in developing relationships between people. Without it things can become very ugly.