The Love story of Boaz and Ruth

By Nayef Ghareeb – Tour Guide Student.

What is the meaning of love? Is it just a simple action that does not affect the future, or is it all a plan prepared by God for a more blessed future? On February 14^th everyone prepares a gift or a surprise for the one they love to express their love. The most meaningful gift is simply a flower from the field – a lot of stories start with this flower taken from the field to the one you love. But have you ever thought about the role of God in these love stories? God’s perspective of love is different from humans. We can see that in the love story of Ruth and Boaz that started in Naomi’s sadness and ended with joy and happiness for the world.

The story started when Naomi, in her sadness, decided to move back to Bethlehem after the death of her husband and two sons. Ruth, Naomi’s daughter-in-law, showed Naomi her loyalty by saying “For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you live, I will live; your people will be my people, and your God will be my God, “and she moved with her to Bethlehem. In Bethlehem, they needed food, and it was the beginning of the barley harvest. Ruth went to look for food, and ended up picking grain in the field of a man named Boaz, who just so happened to be Naomi’s relative. He saw her, and after finding out more about her story, he showed remarkable generosity to her. He made special provision so that the immigrant Ruth could gather grain in his field. It did not end there, though, Boaz decided to be Naomi’s “family redeemer.” This was a cultural practice where, if a man in the family died and left behind a wife or children, the family redeemer was responsible to marry the widow and protect that family, which is what Boaz did. He agreed to marry the Moabite woman, Ruth, and Naomi’s life started to be joyful again.

This love story continued with the marriage of Ruth and Boaz, who had a baby, and this baby was the grandfather of King David. After that the story continued until it reached to the birth of the Redeemer, not only of the family, but of the whole world, Jesus Christ.

God always has bigger plans for us – his blessing will always be upon us. Remember that God lets everything happen for a reason. Sometimes it might seem that life is getting harder but always believe that it will lead to a better future. God loves us and He does everything to protect us. His love is shown to us by stories like this and He showed His pure love by giving His Son to redeem the world and to cleanse us from our sins.