Day 12

Ruth’s Legacy

from the Ruth reading plan


Ruth 4:18-22, Isaiah 11:1-10, Matthew 1:2-16, Ephesians 2:19-22

BY Jasmine Holmes

One Sunday, a friend of mine stepped into the pulpit to read a section of Scripture. Our church was making its way through the Pentateuch, and this poor soul had been assigned a genealogy chapter. He was a seminarian, a fledgling pastor, and an optimist, but even he stumbled over a few unfamiliar names as he read about the fathers of, the sons of, and the sons of the sons of long-dead patriarchs. 

I come from a straight-laced church background, but when he got to the period at the end of the last sentence, someone let out a whoop, and we applauded because he had made it!

I thought about him often when I read through the Bible last year. My tendency is to skim over the genealogies with a dismissive, “We get it.” But if my friend could stand up in front of an entire congregation and read every name, then surely, I could give those names a moment in my quiet time. 

When we make it to Ruth 4:18–22, it can be easy to skim over the names we find there: Perez, Hezron, Ram, Amminadab, Nahshon, Salmon, Boaz, Obed, Jesse, and David. Especially if we grew up in the Western church, when we see names that feel odd in our mouths or tinny in our ears, we give that dismissive nod to the foreignness of it all: they’re just names. 

But they’re so much more than names. In this small grouping of ten names, we see the promises of God fulfilled and the promises of God foretold. 

The promises of God are fulfilled in the very survival of this family tree. Way back in Genesis 12, God promised a man named Abraham that his barren wife would bear a son and that he would be the father of a nation (Genesis 12:1–3). God kept this promise through ten more years of infertility. Within two generations, He kept the promise through brotherly betrayal and famine. He kept the promise through harsh slavery in Egypt four hundred years later. And forty years after that, He kept the promise while Abraham’s offspring wandered the desert. 

He would keep that promise through judges and kings; through captivity; through exile. He would keep that promise through generation after generation until the promise bore its fruit in the person and work of Jesus Christ. 

Ruth 4 is just one moment where we see God keeping His word to Abraham: the nation would continue to have fathers and sons. 

And in that fatherhood and sonship, we see a promise not just kept, but also, foretold. Because although Ruth’s name is not present in this chapter, we will find her in Matthew’s genealogy in the New Testament as the mother of Obed. This woman—whose name would have been foreign to Israel’s tongue—was grafted into the genealogy of the Messiah.

Much the same way that we who are not of Abraham’s lineage have been grafted into the family of faith.

It would be easy to skim those names in the genealogies with little care. But imagine them as just a foretaste of what it’s like to read the names that God has written in the Book of life—the names of the people grafted into His eternal family. 

Imagine you will find your name there. 

And then read carefully—because each and every precious soul therein is part of the plan God has been mighty to see to the end. 

Post Comments (41)

41 thoughts on "Ruth’s Legacy"

  1. Victoria E says:

    Adrienne praying god you !

  2. Janelle Heath says:

    Yes, I love this! Amen!

  3. Allison Bentley says:

    2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
    the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
    the Spirit of counsel and of might,
    the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord— 3 and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.
    He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
    or decide by what he hears with his ears; 4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
    with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
    He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
    with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. 5 Righteousness will be his belt
    and faithfulness the sash around his waist. – Isaiah 11:2-5. This was Boaz’ character just as much as Jesus’. My Redeemer lives! Praise be to God!!!

  4. Jenn Mejia says:

    I too, used to want to skip through genealogies, but I am finding that when I take the time to be still and read through the genealogies I am reminded that I too have been grafted into God’s family, and everything the Lord does is intentional. From the beginning He’s been intentional, so if He made ti a point to have genealogy in the most important book we’ll ever read, then it’s not just important, but valuable. God values those who belong to Him and he knows each of us by name, what a beautiful God we serve.

  5. Sara F says:

    Some people argue that Jesus wasn’t in the line of David truly because Joseph is not his “real father” but I think the adopted child relationship rings true in that situation and in our situation. Also God had to mend Jesus in the womb with a Y chromosome, and I have to think He used Joseph’s.

  6. Alayna P. says:

    ❤️

  7. Corallie Buchanan says:

    Dear one. Hugs to you

  8. Zereta Sucharski says:

    Leaving a legacy of faith is what God has been speaking to me lately. This study continued to reinforce that! Thanks.

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