你的国就是我的国

Your People Shall Be My People

Dear brothers and sisters,

I am Ruth, a woman of Moab. Perhaps you have heard my name, for by the grace of God it was inscribed in the genealogy of the Messiah Himself. But before that, I was nothing more than a foreign widow, one whom the law explicitly excluded from the assembly of the LORD.

"An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever:" (Deuteronomy 23:3)

This was the law's verdict upon my people. Ten generations, forever, how absolute those words are. If someone had told me in my youth that one day the God of Israel would become my God and the people of Israel would become my people, I would have thought it a fool's dream. Yet this is precisely the wonder of grace, it is not earned by human merit, nor limited by human origin. Grace is the free gift of the Most High.

I. The Years in Moab: Preparation in Darkness

I was born in the land of Moab, a land that worshiped Chemosh. Our ancestors did not know the LORD. All I knew from childhood were idols and empty sacrifices. Then a family came from Bethlehem, Elimelech, Naomi, and their two sons Mahlon and Chilion. They had left the land of Judah because of famine to sojourn among us.

I married Mahlon. Those days were brief, yet it was through Naomi that I first heard the name of the LORD. She spoke not of a distant, cold deity, but of a God who made a covenant with His people, who led them through the wilderness and parted the Red Sea before them. Something stirred within my heart, though I could not fully understand it then.

Yet sorrow followed upon sorrow. First Elimelech died, then Mahlon and Chilion. Three widows, in that era, virtually three people without hope. Naomi resolved to return to Bethlehem. She said to me and Orpah:

"And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, Go, return each to her mother’s house: the LORD deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me." (Ruth 1:8)

Orpah kissed her and departed weeping. I do not blame her. From a human perspective, she made the most rational choice, returning to her own people, her own gods, and the possibility of remarriage. Naomi urged me to follow.

But I could not.

II. The Choice on the Road: A Confession of Faith

Brothers and sisters, I want you to understand, this was not an impulsive decision. I knew what following Naomi would mean: leaving everything familiar, going to a strange land, becoming a despised foreign widow. What was a Moabite woman in the eyes of Israel? The law plainly stated that we could not enter the assembly of the LORD.

Yet one thing I knew more certainly than anything else: the God whom Naomi worshiped was the living and true God. Not Chemosh, not the hand-carved idols of Moab, but the LORD who created heaven and earth, who called Abraham, who brought Israel out of Egypt, He alone was the true God.

And so I spoke those words that welled up from the deepest place in my soul:

"And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me." (Ruth 1:16–17)

This was not merely loyalty to my mother-in-law. This was a confession of faith. "Your God my God", in that moment I surrendered myself entirely to the LORD. I did not know what the road ahead would hold, how the people of Bethlehem would regard me, or where tomorrow's bread would come from. But I knew this God was faithful.

Brothers and sisters, faith has never been a step taken only after everything is certain. Faith is following when you cannot see. As your apostle later wrote:

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1)

I did not know those words then, but I lived them.

III. The Fields of Bethlehem: Gleaning Grace

We arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest. Naomi's heart was bitter. She told the women who recognized her:

"And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the LORD hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the LORD hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?" (Ruth 1:20–21)

Naomi means "pleasant"; Mara means "bitter." She felt the hand of God pressing heavily upon her. Brothers and sisters, have any of you known such a season, when God seems distant, when life turns from sweet to bitter? Let me tell you: Naomi did not yet know that God was secretly weaving the most marvelous story on her behalf. Suffering was not the end of the story; it was the prelude to grace.

To survive, I went to glean in the fields. The law contained a gracious provision:

"When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands." (Deuteronomy 24:19)

Behold, the same law that barred Moabites from the LORD's assembly also left room for grace toward sojourners and widows. Does this not reveal God's very heart? The law exposes sin and unworthiness; grace opens a way for sinners.

I "happened" to come to the field of Boaz, but in God's providence, nothing "happens" by chance. Boaz was a relative of Elimelech, a man of great wealth. He saw me, inquired about me, and said:

"And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the death of thine husband: and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore. The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust." (Ruth 2:11-12)

I fell on my face, bowing to the ground, and said:

"Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?" (Ruth 2:10)

Brothers and sisters, "though I am not one of your servants", this was my true feeling. I was nothing: a Moabite widow, gleaning leftover grain in someone else's field. Yet Boaz did not despise me. He commanded his servants to deliberately pull stalks from the bundles and leave them for me. He invited me to sit with his workers, to dip my bread in vinegar. His kindness went far beyond what the law required.

This is grace. Grace does not give you what you deserve. Grace gives you what you could never deserve.

IV. The Night on the Threshing Floor: Seeking the Redeemer's Covering

Naomi discerned the kindness of Boaz and told me he was our kinsman-redeemer, in Hebrew, גֹּאֵל (go'el), one who had both the right and the responsibility to redeem a relative's property and marry a relative's widow. Naomi instructed me to go to the threshing floor, and after Boaz had finished eating and drinking and lay down, to uncover his feet and lie there.

I know this may sound bold to you. It was indeed the most courageous act of my life. That night I washed, anointed myself, put on my cloak, and went quietly to the threshing floor. At midnight Boaz awoke with a start and found a woman lying at his feet.

He asked, "Who are you?"

I answered:

"And he said, Who art thou? And she answered, I am Ruth thine handmaid: spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid; for thou art a near kinsman." (Ruth 3:9)

"Spread your wings over me", these words carry far more weight than appears on the surface. Boaz had blessed me for taking refuge under the LORD's wings (כָּנָף, kanaph). Now I asked him to spread his wing (the same word, כָּנָף) over me. I was saying: You are God's answer to your own prayer. You blessed me to take refuge under God's wings; now I ask you to become those wings.

How did Boaz respond?

"And he said, Blessed be thou of the LORD, my daughter: for thou hast shewed more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, inasmuch as thou followedst not young men, whether poor or rich. And now, my daughter, fear not; I will do to thee all that thou requirest: for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman." (Ruth 3:10–11)

V. Redemption at the City Gate: Grace Fulfills the Law

But there was a complication. There was a nearer kinsman than Boaz who had the prior right of redemption. The very next morning Boaz sat at the city gate, gathered ten elders, and settled the matter publicly.

The nearer kinsman was at first willing to redeem Elimelech's land, but when he heard that he must also marry Ruth the Moabitess to raise up offspring for the dead, he withdrew:

"And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance: redeem thou my right to thyself; for I cannot redeem it." (Ruth 4:6)

He drew off his sandal and gave it to Boaz, the custom of attestation in Israel. Then Boaz declared before all the elders:

"And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all the people, Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, of the hand of Naomi. Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: ye are witnesses this day." (Ruth 4:9–10)

Brothers and sisters, do you see it? The nearer kinsman who would not pay the price, is he not like the law itself? The law can identify the problem, the land needs redeeming, the widow needs caring for, but the law has no power to accomplish redemption. The law withdrew, saying, "I cannot redeem."

But Boaz stepped forward. He willingly paid the price, bore the full cost, and took a Moabite woman as his wife. Brothers and sisters, is this not precisely what Christ has done? The law cannot save you; it can only reveal your sin. But Christ came, He is the true kinsman-redeemer (גֹּאֵל), and He redeemed you with His own blood.

"For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren," (Hebrews 2:11)

He who is not ashamed of foreign sinners, He is your Redeemer.

VI. The Cry of Obed: From Bitter to Sweet

Then the LORD enabled me to conceive, and I bore a son. The women of the neighborhood named him Obed, meaning "servant." They said to Naomi:

"And the women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the LORD, which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age: for thy daughter in law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath born him." (Ruth 4:14-15)

Behold, she who had said "Call me Mara" now held the child in her arms and became his nurse (Ruth 4:16). Bitterness turned to sweetness, emptiness to fullness, mourning to joy. Not because we had done anything worthy, but because the steadfast love of the LORD endures forever.

And this child, Obed, fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered King David. Brothers and sisters, consider this: the descendant of a Moabite woman became the grandmother of Israel's greatest king. And from David's line, the King of kings and Lord of lords, Christ Jesus, was born in the flesh.

"And Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah… and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ." (Matthew 1:6, 16)

And in this genealogy, Matthew specifically recorded:

"And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse;" (Matthew 1:5)

My name is there. A Moabite woman's name, in the genealogy of the Messiah. Not because of any merit of mine, but grace, entirely grace.

VII. To Today's Brothers and Sisters: Grace Beyond Every Boundary

Dear brothers and sisters, I write to you to say one thing: no one stands beyond the reach of grace.

Perhaps you feel, as I once did, like an "outsider", unqualified, unholy, wrong background, too broken a past. The law may have condemned you. The world may have labeled you. But the Most High God, His grace transcends the boundaries of the law. He received me, a Moabite woman. Will He not also receive you?

Your apostle Paul later wrote:

"But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ." (Ephesians 2:13)

This is my story, from far off to near, from excluded to embraced, from a gleaning widow to the grandmother of a king.

But remember: grace is not cheap. I had to leave Moab. I had to lay down everything I had known, my homeland, my people, my idols. To follow the LORD meant a total turning. Faith is not words on the lips; faith is stepping out onto the unknown road.

You who follow Christ today face the same call. You are summoned to leave the old self and take up the cross. The road ahead may be unclear, but He who called you is faithful. Just as Boaz said to me on the threshing floor, "Do not fear," so your Lord says to you:

"As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe." (Mark 5:36)

Finally, I thank you for remembering my story today. I am but a small part of God's grand narrative of redemption. Yet through one Moabite woman's life, God declared an eternal truth to the world:

Grace does not ask where you come from; it only asks where you are going: into the arms of the Redeemer.

May all of you be able to say, as I did: "Your people shall be my people, and your God my God." May the true kinsman-redeemer, our Lord Jesus Christ, spread His wings over every one of you.

In the grace of Christ,

Your sister, Ruth of Moab