Better Than Seven Sons

I've just finished reading the book of Judges in my devotions. Reading Judges is a little like a car wreck on the highway. It's horrifying, but you have to look. In Judges a man makes an oath to sacrifice the first thing that comes out of his house if the Lord will give him success in battle; the Lord gives success in battle, the first thing out of the house is Jephthah's only daughter, and it's likely he kept his oath. In Judges, a man steals money from his mother, returns the money,  the silly mother makes an idol to celebrate the returned money, the son sets up a shrine in his house and hires a personal priest. In Judges, a priest throws his concubine out to a raving mob of crazed men who rape her all night long until she lies dead on the doorstep. The man then cuts his dead concubine up into twelve pieces and sends the parts all over Israel. In those days, there was no king in Israel, especially not God, and people did what was right in their own eyes.

You get to the end of Judges and feel that there is absolutely no hope. You realize that we, after all, are like the people in Judges. We do what is right in our own eyes, and we need to be saved. And that's why there is the book of Ruth. Ruth is the bright, shining spot--the way out of the book of Judges.

The story is set during the time of the Judges. Israel is experiencing a famine, so a family from Bethlehem (ironically, "the house of bread")--Elimelech, Naomi, and their two sons--moves to Moab. While it would seem to make sense to move away  from famine to prosperity, it's important to understand that Elimelech was moving his family away from the Promised Land and the people of God to live among Israel's enemies. The father of the Moabites was the progeny of an incestuous relationship between Lot and his daughter, back in Genesis, and Israel and Moab were not on friendly terms. Moabites were not to enter the assembly of the Lord, yet Elimelech and Naomi were entering Moab to live among the people there. In time, Elimelech dies, and his two sons marry Moabite women. Eventually the two sons die too, and Naomi is now a childless 
widow--and that's about as bad a condition as a woman could find herself in in those days. 


Naomi hears that there is bread again in the House of Bread, so she decides to return to her home. She encourages her sons' young widows to go back to their mothers and their gods, but the heroine, Ruth, insists on staying with her mother-in-law and makes a great confession of her faith in Naomi's God, the God of Israel. She returns with her to Bethlehem. In Bethlehem Naomi tells her friends to call her Mara, which means bitter, because God has dealt bitterly with her.


If you haven't read the story, read it. The two savvy women recognize that hard work and a good husband are the ways out of poverty. In God's providence, Ruth meets the much older Boaz, who agrees to be her kinsman-redeemer and marry her. It's a beautiful story, and when you understand that Boaz is a type of Christ, our own kinsman -redeemer, and we, his people, are Ruth, it's even better. But what struck me when I read the familiar story again was this verse from the very end of the book. Ruth and Boaz are married, Naomi now has happiness and security, and the women of the town rejoice. This is what they say in Ruth 4:14-15:

“Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel! He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.”

This is an astounding statement! How can Ruth be better than seven sons? Remember that at the beginning of the story, Naomi lost two sons--all that the Lord had given her. It almost seems cruel to taunt her by saying that this daughter-in-law is better than seven sons. In the Bible, seven is the number of completion, of being satisfied, of having enough. God rested on the seventh day after creating the earth. And now the women say that Ruth is better than having enough sons to a woman who no longer has her sons.

It is interesting that the women point out that Ruth loves Naomi, but she is better than seven sons because through her, the one Son will come who will lead his people out of the despair of the time of the judges. Ruth gives birth to Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of David the king. And from David eventually would come Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of God. And this is how Ruth's Son is a  restorer of life and a nourisher of old age. This is how Ruth herself, who forsook the gods of her people to become a child of the true God is, indeed, better than seven sons. Through her would come the greatest blessing the world will ever know.