God’s Comfort for the Afflicted
And the women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the LORD, which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age: for thy daughter in law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath born him. -Ruth 4:14-15
Here is a fulfillment of one of God’s promises. The woman mentioned above, Naomi, had lost her husband, and both of her sons, and it seemed that nearly all hope was lost for her happiness. Furthermore, her daughter-in-law, (and faithful friend) Ruth, in many ways had lost both a father (Naomi’s husband) and also her husband.
So we have two widows, and one (Ruth) is in a way “fatherless” as well, in that she lost her father-in-law, and she chose to stay with her mother-in-law rather than go back to her old family upon the death of her husband.
God has promised to be caring and attentive to the cries of a widow, and also to the fatherless, and to the stranger/foreigner. And Ruth, (being of a foreign descent as a Moabitess), could be considered in all three of these categories.
Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry; -Exodus 22:21-23
And sure enough, in the process of time, God was indeed faithful to both Ruth and Naomi, and gave them amazing comfort when it appeared as though they would both be desolate.
God sent a man into Ruth’s life, named Boaz, and they eventually got married, and had a son together. And as an added comfort, Naomi was given the honor of nursing and raising the child, and this was the context for the verses given at the top of this post: that this newly-born child, named Obed, would be a comfort and a “restorer of life” unto her.
And as God had planned it, this obscure woman named Ruth, being a foreigner, a widow, and without any family except her mother-in-law, would be blessed with a husband, and a family. And moreover, her son, Obed, would be part of the royal line leading up to king David, and also up to Jesus Christ. What a change of events, and what a blessing from God!
…and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse; And Jesse begat David the king… -Matthew 1:5-6
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