Pastor's class on Chapter 9 was not recorded.
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The Story in Review- Chapter Nine
The Faith of a Foreign Woman is not only the title of this chapter but the ironic plot twist as well. Moab, as much as any other country, is in constant conflict with Israel. Moab, as much as any other country, represents the temptation that faced Israel to chase after other gods. Yet it is a Moabite woman, who while living in Moab and having lost her husband, father-in-law and brother-in-law to death, and having heard her mother-in-law declare that “the LORD is against her,” proves to be one of the most outstanding examples of the faith of Israel. “May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.”
Faith in the LORD compels this woman to leave her home, to return to a “foreign” land with a bitter companion to eek out a meager existence in fields already harvested. Yet it is the owner of these fields who presents to us a picture of our God as he redeems this faithful, humble, lowly outcast and bestows upon her his name, his estate and his standing; not out of cultural necessity or familial responsibility but out of love. In “redeeming” Ruth, Boaz pictures for us the ultimate Kinsman-Redeemer, one of Ruth’s own great grandchildren, our brother and savior, our kinsman-redeemer Jesus Christ.