How the Book of Ruth Points Us to Christ

God’s Provision Bethlehem means “house of bread.” But, when the book of Ruth opens, there is no bread in the house of bread; there is famine. We know from Deuteronomy 28 that famine in the “land of milk and honey” is a sign that God is at work disciplining his people, seeking to draw them back to himself. We read that this story takes place “when the judges ruled,” a time when everyone was doing what was right in his own eyes (Judg. 21:25). That is what the leader of the family we meet in this book seems to be doing. Instead of responding to the famine in repentance and waiting for God to work to relieve their suffering, as God did again and again in the days of the judges, Elimelech takes his family away from the one place on earth where God had promised to bless and dwell with his people, to a pagan land, the country of Moab. The family’s pursuit of satisfaction and security away from the land of blessing is a failure inscribed on the gravestones of Elimelech and his two sons in Moab. Naomi is left with two foreign daughters-in-law. But then she hears some news: The Lord has provided bread in the house of bread (Ruth 1:6). Naomi’s daughter-in-law Orpah is not interested in forsak...