The Ripple Effect of Ruth

Reading:   The Book of Ruth

It's so interesting to see the culmination and grandeur that occurs from the simplest of choices, okay maybe not the simplest of choices because I'm sure it was a very difficult choice, but still, a choice is made and centuries later an event occurs that -BOOM- changes the world...

Ruth was the daughter in-law of Naomi and when her husband died (Naomi's son) she was given leave to return to her people, the Moabites.  Ruth decided not to leave the widowed Naomi, who had lost her husband and both her sons, despite Naomi's fervent request that she do so.  This was the choice I referred to above...Ruth chose to stay with Naomi and willingly accompanied her back to Bethlehem despite being a stranger in the midst of the Israelites.  With much advice from Naomi, Ruth eventually married a wise man named Boaz and she soon gave birth to a son...

RUTH 4:17

17    And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David. 

Here we are given the name of Ruth's son and then immediately given a foretelling of his seed, Jesse and then the son of Jesse, David.  Why is this significant?  I will let Aileen H. Clyde tell you (as I learned it from her as well)...

In a culture hostile to the leadership of women, these women-Naomi and Ruth-lived to bring about an end the scripture's writer carefully emphasizes: Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of David, through whose lines, which are carefully detailed for us in the first chapter of Matthew, came Jesus who is called Christ. Would you ever have expected the small book of Ruth to foretell such a great event? 

 Ruth confidently met hardships not uncommon in our time-the death of a loved one, loneliness in a new place, and the need to work hard for her bread. Her small efforts, linked significantly to a later great event, tell me that each of us can take seriously the importance of our daily lives and decisions as we choose to follow God. 

~Confidence Through Conversion, 1992 October General Conference, General Women's Meeting

I truly enjoy little nuggets of knowledge and this is definitely one of those nuggets to tuck way in the knowledge closet.  Ruth made a choice and that choice has affected all mankind through the eventual birth of our Savior and the global reach of Christianity!

~Kipling