Ruth 4 - epilogue: Two women, integral to God's plan
Perez was the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
Ram the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
Salmon the father of Boaz,
Boaz the father of Obed,
Obed the father of Jesse,
and Jesse the father of David.
The events of the previous chapter reach their happy conclusion. Like in all good romance stories, there's the threat of another, but it is all soon resolved with a further twist in the plot and the girl gets her man. Except that, as explored in the previous post, we see not only two people coming together, but a pointer towards the ultimate redeemer, who has bought us, the spiritually destitute outsiders (for that is what we are without him, regardless of our social standing), with his blood and promised us love and security. In this chapter we see those promises fulfilled. Ruth takes up her married life and bears a son.
But aside from God's very practical 'sermon illustration', there's something even bigger going on.
When we started the book of Ruth we met two women: one dispirited, bitter and dejected, and the other an outsider who has left her home in order to take refuge in Yahweh, and in his people and the land he has given them. Two women, who God chose, not just for the gospel to be shown in their lives, but on whom to build his salvation plan. The story of Ruth does not end with the birth of Obed and Naomi's joy at being able to be a grandmother, but with a genealogy.
Sometimes it doesn't make much sense to us - why does God need to build up an extensive family line, along with all the history and successive covenants, before he sends Jesus to redeem the world? Theologians can probably give even more good reasons why than me, but at it's basic level, it is because that is that way he chose - for all our learning we can never fully and completely understand how a timeless God interacts with a temporal humanity. However, think about it for just a moment longer, and we realise that this is because Jesus was fully man, as well as being fully God. Being human is not just about flesh and blood, but history. (The irony (if that's even the right word) is that Jesus was actually adopted into this family line - he was, of course, not biologically Joseph's son. God's family is not just made from misfits, but also adoption - a wonderful symbol of his own adoption of us)). We are made from our family backgrounds - whether our chosen family, biological family, or adoptive family. Some see them as a source of pride, others a shame that they try to shed, but having a background is a part of being human.
God, incarnate as Jesus, made is background in a family. That family was set apart to be a 'Kingdom of Priests' - to mediate God's love to the world. However, this was merely a foreshadowing - a preparing of the ground. And of course, there were imperfections and failures. There were the Naomis, who found themselves bitter and giving up hope. There were the Ruths - the outsiders judged as different. And there were also the downright failures - like when David committed adultery with Bathsheba and then killed her husband Uriah to cover up his misdemeanour.
God makes a statement in his genealogies. Ruth joins Rahab, Bathsheba and Tamar (see Matthew 1) - those who were, not always through fault of their own. splattered with the mud of a broken and mixed up world - whether that be prejudice and 'otherness' (in Ruth's case), violence or sexual immorality. But God does not shed his broken family - he redeems it, by coming into that family and calling it his own. Like a piece of Kintsugi pottery, he makes the statement that his kingdom is brokenness redeemed, and that redemption proudly displayed.
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