Naomi’s Boy


Scripture

The neighborhood women named him Obed, but they called him “Naomi’s Boy.”

~Ruth 4:17, CEV

Quote

Jesus is my LORD and Savior, not my religion.

~Image Quotes

Ruth is a very short but very fascinating book. It contains all the emotions: sorrow, sadness, separation, grief, depression, bitterness and ecstatic joy. I love the book of Ruth because it has a happy ending. I love happy endings. Naomi, which means pleasant, became a very bitter woman due to all she lost. First, due to famine and crop failure, she lost her home; then her husband, then her two sons. She lost these three important men in her life within the space of a decade. Folks, this is a lot of grief for one person to handle. Naomi let it get to her spirit and when she returned to her home in Bethlehem, the women of Ephrath were there to greet her, “Welcome home [Naomi] Pleasant.” Naomi was quick to correct them, “Don’t call me Pleasant; call me {Mara} bitter because God has made my life bitter.” Hey, I am not casting stones at Naomi; who knows how I would react under such circumstances. This woman had suffered great loss, more than I can even imagine but in the end, Naomi is very pleasant. Her grandson gave her new life.

There is a second reason I love the story. It is a beautiful picture of Christ’s love for us. Boaz, who is a type of Christ, in this story was Naomi’s kinsmen redeemer, the ga’al. The ga’al is mentioned eight times in the book of Ruth[Ruth 3:9,12,13 & 4:1,3,6,8,14]. In the Hebrew legal system, Boaz had the legal right to redeem Naomi’s property that she lost when she moved to Moab. The kinsmen redeemer had to meet three qualifications: [1] Had to be a relative, [2] He had to be financially able to redeem the property and [3] he had to be willing. Boaz was all three and so was Jesus. Life delivered a hard blow to Naomi and she was all be despairing. I really don’t know what would have become of her had Ruth not been a faithful loving daughter-in-law. Defeated, bitter and hopeless, Naomi was hanging on to a shred of hope and her kinsmen redeemer came through. Boaz was both able and willing: he redeemed Naomi’s property, married Ruth and gave Naomi’s the son that literally changed her life and her outlook. Legally, the boy did not belong to Boaz. In the Hebrew system, he belonged to Ruth’s first husband, Naomi’s son, thus he was Naomi’s grandson although there were no genetic ties. Wow, Jesus is all over the book of Ruth. Praise God for our blessed kinsmen redeemer. Jesus had to leave heaven and take on our flesh [relate to us] to become our redeemer and He is also the Son who gives life and hope. Hallelujah, what a Savior!

It has been an unusual week with my routine being inverted. I like beginning my day in my study and I don’t like to be rushed but my schedule moved me out of my routine. I do thank the LORD for helping me get a couple of projects completed yesterday. I love my friends and I enjoyed the fellowship but I am not a golfer. I had a wonderful time of fellowship with some top notch guys but I played horrible. I was by far {like not close} the worse golfer on the course, not just my team. I didn’t have one decent shot all day nor one luck shot. Don Widner is 72 and he played circles around me. Kelvin and Anthony also had some great shots. I did enjoy the fellowship and the reckless driving: Don thought I was going to roll our golf cart. I said, “Whatever you do, don’t mention the reckless driving to Priscilla.” [inside joke] It will be my luck that she reads the blog. I had to get up at 5:30 to play in that tournament. I don’t normally go to bed until 12:00 and I have to get up early this morning for a work day at GRACE POINT. This early rising is killing me.

Pray for the storms to pass before Egg Hunt activities.

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