Shalom everyone. Today we are going to start in a ministry meeting with a new book from the Word of God. And we're going to begin today to study a very short book in the Tanach, namely the book of Ruth. In Hebrew it's Ruth. So let's turn to the book of Ruth. Ruth. And we're going to begin to read Ruth. Chapter 1. I just want to give a little bit of introduction to the book of Ruth. It is amazing how the Bible is teaching us many lessons and every passage in the Tanach, in the Old Testament, presents before us a spiritual lesson also. It didn't only occur an event that occurred in the history of our people Israel, but there is a spiritual lesson for those of us today who are believers in the body of the Mashiach, the body of the Messiah.

Every thing that was given to our people of the Messiah was given for our learning, that we today will learn from it and grow spiritually and be able to be a good testimony to our Lord Jesus, Yeshua, the Messiah. Let me just read by way of introduction to the book of Ruth, the first two verses. Ruth, chapter 1, verse 1 and 2. Now it came to pass, in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land, and a certain man of Beit Lechem, Yehuda, went to surgeon in the country of Moab. He and his wife, he and his wife and his two sons.

And the name of the man was Eli Melech. And the name of his wife was Naomi. And the name of his two sons, Machlon and Kilion. Ephratite, Ephratite, of Beit Lechem, Yehuda, and they came into the country of Moab, and continued there. If you just go down at verse 4, at the end. And they dwelt there about ten years. And I'm going to stop with the reading of this passage by way of introduction. I would like, beloved brothers and sisters today, to give an introduction in this ministry meeting to the book of Ruth in English. But the Hebrew name is Ruth. The nickname of Ruth is Ruthi.

It's a very beautiful name. In fact, this is one of the only two books in the whole scripture that is entitled by a woman's name. The first one, of course, is Ruth here. Later on in the history of our people Israel, we have the book of Esther. Two women. One of them is a Gentile. Another one is Jewish. These two women have been a great testimony to the things of God. And it is for you, dear sisters, to encourage you to learn from this. And of course, it is for all of us. But it is so precious to know that it is not only that a man is called to live for God.

But men and women of God are called to live for the Lord. And in the story of Ruth, we see a beautiful picture of a woman who made a decision to follow the God of Israel. And it is so interesting that this woman was a Moabitish woman. Twelve times in this book, the name Ruth is mentioned. It is mentioned in chapter 1, verse 4, verse 14, verse 16, and verse 22. It is mentioned in chapter 2, verse 2, verse 8, verse 21, and verse 22 in chapter 3 and verse 9. In chapter 4, verses 5, 10, and 13. Twelve times the name of this woman is mentioned in this book by the name of Ruth. In no other place in the Tanakh, in the Old Testament, her name is mentioned except one time her name is mentioned in the Brit HaChadasha in the New Testament.

But Ruth is mentioned in the genealogy of our Lord, Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah. Let me just read you in Matthew chapter 1 and verse 5. Listen, how beautiful to see that the name of Ruth is mentioned. And Salmon beget Boaz from Rahab. And Boaz beget Obed of Ruth. And Obed beget Jesse. And Jesse beget David, the king of Israel. And on and on we find out the generation of Yeshua the Messiah, the son of David, and the son of Abraham. It is amazing to see that a Moabitish woman not only have in the Old Testament, in the Tanakh, a book recording her life given a title by her name.

But also her name is mentioned in the New Covenant in Matthew chapter 1 and verse 5 in the genealogy of our Lord, Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah. Now what is the meaning of her name? It is very interesting. It comes from the Hebrew word Reut. It simply means friendship or to be a friend. Her name is Ruth, coming from the word Reut, friendship. Many times you will find in the Tanakh, in the Old Testament, the name friend or Rea or Reim, which simply means a friendship. As it says in Proverbs chapter 18, there is a friend that sticks us closer than a brother. And the name friend in the Tanakh, in the book of Proverbs, it's the word for lover.

There is a lover that sticks us closer than a brother. And it is interesting that it is used near each other, a friend and a lover in the same way. And you know, beloved brothers and sisters, what we learn from Ruth is really a woman that her name depicts a friend, a lover that is sticking closer than a brother. It's really pointing us to the person of our Lord, Yeshua, the Messiah. Even though she has entered into the congregation of our people, the people of Israel, we find five times in this book of Ruth, that she is called Ruth, the Moabitish woman. In Hebrew, we say Ruth HaMoaviyah.

She has always been remembered of the woman that has been from the land that is called Moab. And you know, it is interesting as well, that it's reminding us of the fact that even though she became part of the nation of Israel, she was always remembered of the one that was from Moab. Far away from the land of Israel, a nation that was in opposition to the people of Israel, a nation that was against the people of God. And isn't it true? You and I were enemies, the one who did not want anything to do with God. And we are always to remember that it was the grace of God that brought us to be where we are today.

We are core heirs with the Messiah. We are redeemed by the blood of the lamb, but never to forget where we came from. For by grace I is saved through faith. And this is not of yourself. It is a gift of God, lest anyone should boast. And this woman was a Moabitish woman, Isha Moaviyah, whom God had brought to become part of the nation of Israel. Secondly, that I want to mention is who was the author. In fact, we do not know who is the author of the book of Ruth. Many times it is interesting that in the Jewish writings, most of the Jewish writings attribute the writing of the book of Ruth to the man by the name of Samuel, of Shmuel.

Shmuel, if you remember, was one of the leaders of our people Israel, the judge among the people of Israel, who grew up after the time of the judges, when the end of the days of the judges. And he became a prophet in Israel. And he recorded the story of the life of Ruth that had already happened years earlier. In fact, most Bible teachers teach us that the book of Ruth was written at about 1000 BC, while it actually occurred much earlier, because the time of the judges was from about 1425 BC to about 1120 BC, about 300 years in the period of the judges. Somewhere along this period of time, this situation of the life of Ruth had occurred, and the story was recorded by Samuel, Shmuel, some believe, a few years later on, so he can look back at the event that occurred in the time of the judges.

And so, we do not really know the name of the person who wrote the book. We really don't have it in record, but most believe that it was Shmuel who recorded the event that happened in the day of the Shoftim, in the day of the judges. And the book of Ruth is so important because it bridges and helps us to understand the genealogy of our Lord Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah. We are going to get to it in a moment. When I first became a believer and I opened the English Bible, I noticed that the order of the English Bible is different than the order of the Hebrew scripture, the Tanakh.

All of the events are mentioned in the English text, but the order is different. And the order of the book of Ruth is found immediately after the book of Judges. And the reason is because it does say in Ruth chapter 1 and verse 1, "Now it came to pass in the days when the judges judged, when the judges ruled." And so, automatically, they have placed this in connection with the book of Judges. And while it is true, it is very much connected with the book of Judges, but you see, the English text of our Bible today is ordered after the Subtuagent, the Greek text of the Old Testament.

It was written about 200 years before the Messiah came. But the Tanakh, the structure, the way the Tanakh is divided into three sections. The Torah, the first five books of Moses. The Nevi'im, all the prophets from Joshua all the way to Malachi, to Malachi. And finally, the K'tuvim, the writings. And the writings is from 1 Chronicles all the way unto the book of Nehemiah. It is different structures that are mentioned in the Tanakh, in the Hebrew text. And so, in the Hebrew text, the book of Ruth is actually part of the writings, of the K'tuvim. While in the English text, it is found among the so-called prophets that are found here, Joshua, Judges, and on.

The structure is a little bit different, but in the Hebrew Tanakh, it is found under the third section of the Hebrew Old Testament, namely the K'tuvim, the writings. And in the writings, there are actually five scrolls, which we call in Hebrew Megilot. I would like to point them to you, the Song of Solomon, the Book of Ruth, the Book of Lamentation, the Book of Ecclesiastes, and the Book of Esther. All these five scrolls, five Megilot are read in Jewish holidays, in the Jewish feasts. Everyone in a different feast among the feasts that we, the Jewish people, are celebrating during the year. The Book of Song of Solomon is usually read in the period of Passover, Pesach.

The Book of Ruth is read in the period of time called the Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks. Then we have the Book of Lamentation. It is usually read in the time that is called the Ninth of Av, in Hebrew Tisha B'Av, in the time where our people are lamenting over the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. The Book of Ecclesiastes, Kohelet, is read in the Feast of Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles. And the Book of Esther is read in the Feast of Purim, the Feast of Esther. You remember the story of Esther and the story of the Purim. So, five Megilot, five scrolls. Ruth is one of these scrolls.

It is a short scroll, short book. And it is read specifically in the Feast of Weeks in the Senagogues, as the people recollect the history of this woman by the name of Ruth, in the time when she came with Naomi back to the Promised Land, the land of Israel. Now, let's look a little bit at the background of this story. I want you again to look at the text. The Book of Ruth, chapter one, in verse one said, "Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, or judged, that there was a famine in the land." And a certain man from Bethlehem, Yehudah, went to a surgeon in a country called Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.

Now, notice how the book began. The background to this book was in a period of time when there was a famine in the land. Now, it is interesting that it says that the man that left the land of Israel left the land from the city that is called Beit Lechem. Now, how is it possible that there will be famine, no lechem, no bread, in the very city that is called Beit Lechem, the house of bread. Most of the time we read of a famine in scripture. It's affiliated with judgment of God upon his people. Let me go back with you for a moment to Leviticus, chapter 26, please.

When God had instructed Israel to enter into the promised land, as they were preparing to come into the promised land, in verse 18 of Leviticus 26 it says this: "If ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins, and I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass, and your strength shall be spent in vain, and your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits." You see, our nation Israel was a nation that is called to live in the promised land, in submissiveness to the Lord, and as Israel is submitting to the word of God, God will bless Israel, and the heavens will be opened, and the rain will descend, and the ground will be filled with all the fruit and the food to provide for our people Israel.

But God gave a warning to Israel: "If ye will not for all this hearken unto me, here is my promise to you Israel, I love you, you are my people, you are my nation, but I am giving you a warning, I am going to punish you seven times more than your sins." Perfect, complete discipline of the people of God. And you see, when God's blessing does not descend from heaven, the rain, and then the blessing will flow upon all the land, there will be no fruit, no food, no provision for the people of Israel. In other words, "Lo lechem bebet lechem," "No bread in the house of bread." It's a discipline of God.

Sometimes you and I, when we as believers, stay away from the Lord, and we are deviating, going our own way with pride and arrogance, God is going to say to us, "I will spiritually cause you to be famished." And don't you feel, beloved brothers and sisters, at times when we are walking away from the Lord, we find lack of joy in our spiritual growth, less of a sense of the blessing of the Lord, because we have turned away from the Lord, and we can't expect the Lord to give us joy in our hearts and blessing in our hearts when we deviate and go astray from Him.

He gave Israel this warning. Let me read you another verse in Deuteronomy chapter 28. Another very interesting verse, verse 23 and 24. "And thy heavens that is over thy head shall be a brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron. The Lord shall make the rain of thy land powder, and dust from heaven shall it come down upon thee until thou be destroyed." You see, God meant blessing for our people, of all the people of Israel. But if the people of God do not want to walk with God and only expect the blessing from God, well, He will show His people like He showed Israel in the time of the judges that blessings do not come when there is a complete violation of the Word of God.

And so the lesson is tremendous here: famine is a consequence of disobedience to the Word of God. For Israel, it was physical famine, and I am sure spiritual as well. But for you and I today, in the present-day dispensation, we might have everything physically, but no spiritual growth and blessing and joy in our own hearts. And no wonder sometimes we as believers in Yeshua feel that. Famish. We feel empty. There is not much to give for the Lord. No joy. That's why, remember, we just finished the book of Philippians, "Rejoice in the Lord always." And again I say, "Rejoice! Let your moderation be made known unto all men." The Lord is near.

He is at hand. But when we stay away from Him, there will never be blessing. God have intended to bless the people of Israel, and therefore He gives them this warning. Now, I'm reading verse 1 again. "Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled." Or in the Hebrew it's better to be said, "When the judges judged." "Vaya he bimei shvot ha shoftim." Now what happened in the day of Judges? Let me read to you. If you turn back to chapter 2 of the book of Judges, please. I want you to notice what it says in Judges 2:10 on. This story, this event happened in the day of the Judges.

In Hebrew we call them shoftim. God gave our people of old Israel warning in chapter 2 of the book of Judges, beginning from verse 10. "And all that generation were gathered unto their fathers." This is the generation of Joshua who came into the Promised Land. "And there arose another generation after them which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works that He had done for Israel." Now notice, the older generation passed away, the new generation came to being, and the new generation forgot or didn't know the history of the people of Israel. God had been so gracious to our people of Israel in this 40 years journey in the wilderness.

And as He brought them into the Promised Land, and have given them so much in the land. And then the new generation is born, and the new generation, as it says here, they knew not the works that the Lord had done for Israel. And look what they did. Verse 11. "And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. And they served Baalim, and they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt. And they followed after other gods, and the gods of the people that were round about them. And they bowed themselves unto them, and they provoked the Lord to anger." Now imagine!

The God who brought our people of all into the land of Israel, brought them out of Egypt, brought them into the Promised Land. And a new generation was born, and instead of worshiping God, what did they do? They were evil in the sight of the Lord, and they served Baalim. Idols! Imagine how God felt when His very own people who came out of the land of Egypt, now instead of serving Him and glorifying His name in the time of the judges. There was such a decline in the history of the people of God, the people of Israel, that it says, look at this. Verse 12. "They forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they followed other gods, the gods of the people that were round about them.

And they bowed themselves unto them, and they provoked the Lord to anger." Now, you know, you can understand why God is this holy anger against His nation that He loves so much. You can understand why God would be righteously angry against His people. Look what it says in Judges 2:13, "They forsook the Lord, they served Baal and Ashtaroth, and the Lord's anger was hot against Israel. And He delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and He sold them into the hands of their enemies round about. So that they could not any longer stand before their enemies. Whither they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn unto them, and they were greatly distressed." You know, brothers and sisters, the Lord is for His people, but when His people make decisions to follow other gods, the Lord turned around, and He began to be against His people.

Not because He doesn't love them, but He's going to take His people to their woodshed, and will have to give us the discipline that we so much need to receive when we violate His word, insisting on our own way. That's what happened in the history of our people Israel in the days of the Shoftim, in the days of the Judges. Now notice that, and I'm going to continue to read Judges 2:16, "Nevertheless, look at the grace of God, look at the love of God for His people." I mean, it's overwhelming to see, "Nevertheless, the Lord raised up Judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them." Verse 17, "Yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a-whoring after other gods, and they bowed themselves unto them, and they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the Lord, but they did not so." In other words, they should have looked back, like you and I should have looked back at believers who walked with the Lord, and how when they submitted to Him, and they were so blessed.

And we should learn from them, Israel in the days of the Judges should have looked back to their fathers, especially when we think of Abraham and Yitzhak and Jacob, with all the failure that they had, they wanted to follow after God. But when the people of God, but when the people of God do not want to follow after God, God becomes an opposition to His own people. And the Lord raised Judges, and notice verse 18, "And when the Lord raised them up Judges, then the Lord was with the Judge, and He delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the Judge." "For it repented the Lord, because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them, and watched them, and it came to pass when the Judge was dead." "Listen to this, brothers and sisters." "They returned and corrupted themselves more than their fathers in following other gods, to serve them, and to bow down to them." "And they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way." You know, what we see in the day of the Judges is what we see today in the present-day Laodicean Church Age, in which you and I live, the very same condition.

In fact, I want you to notice, if you go again, we are in the book of Judges. If you turn to chapter 17 and verse 6, "In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes." Look at chapter 18 and verse 1, "In those days there was no king in Israel." Look at chapter 19 and verse 1, "And it came to pass in those days when there was no king in Israel." And then finally, look at the last verse of chapter 21 in the book of Judges. "And again, look at the repeat. In those days there was no king in Israel." And look how the whole book of Judges ends.

"Every man did that which was right in his own eyes." What a condition! And I believe, seriously, that the day of the Judges in Israel's "Our People" history is very much similar to the day in which you and I live in today in the Church Age. According to Revelation chapter 3, the Laodicean Church really depicting the present-day condition of the Ekklesia. Where the Lord said to the people of the Laodicean, "Because you say that you are rich and in need of nothing." And you think that you don't need me or you don't need God and you don't need Yeshua the Messiah in your life. He said, "I will spew you out of my mouth." The condition of the present day in which we live in it is really one of the worst conditions in the Church Age of 2000 years of history.

According to Revelation chapter 3 in connection with the Laodicean Age. So, the title is Ruth. Her name means to be friend or friendship. The author is unknown. It may be Shmuel. And Shmuel wrote it much later on, about a thousand years B.C., a few hundred years later on after the actual days of the Judges. The location in God's Word, it is in the Ketuvim, in the writings. It's one of the Megilot, one of the scrolls that are found in the Tanakh. The background history, it is in the time of the Judges and there was a famine in the land and the famine comes because of the judgment of God upon His people.

Why? Because every man does that which is right in his own eyes. Now, I want you to go to verse 1 of Ruth chapter 1. You notice that another country is mentioned there. It says, Now it came to pass, in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land and a certain man of Bethlehem, Yehudah, went to surgen in the country of Moab. He and his wife and his two sons. Now, not only the name Bethlehem is mentioned, the house of bread in the area of Judah, Yehudah, in a city called Bethlehem. But the name Moab is mentioned here in this verse 1.

Where did he go? He went to Moab. Well, it is next door to Israel. But Moab, beloved brothers and sisters, Moab, it's the name Me'av from the Father, is one of the greatest enemies of the people of Israel. Now, what happened here is instead of turning to the Lord and confessing the condition, he leaves the land. He takes his wife with him, he takes his two sons with him, and he leaves the land of Israel, Yehudah, and the city of Bethlehem. And where does he go? He goes to an enemy's land. Now, what is about Moab? Let's look at the history of Moab from the scripture.

Go to Genesis chapter 19 for a moment. Interesting name, Moab, in Hebrew, Me'av, from the Father. And look what you read about Moab in the account scripture. The first time we find the name Moab is mentioned in Genesis chapter 19. We find in verse 37, towards the end of the chapter, that the name Moab is mentioned who was a child that was born to Lot. Look at this. It says in verse 36, Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father. You remember what happened when God wanted to judge the city of Sodom and Gomorrah, Sodom and Gomorrah. And you know the condition that prevailed there in the city of Sodom.

And so those angels told Lot and his family, leave this city because God is going to judge the city of Sodom. So when they fled, you remember that Lot's wife looked back and she became a pillar of salt. And then they moved to somewhere further away and Lot's two daughters got their father drunk. And when they got them drunk, they got impregnant by him. And as it says here in verse 37, The firstborn bare a son and called his name Moab. The same is the father of the Moabitish nation, even unto this day. And then we read the second one, verse 38. And the younger, she also bare a son and she called his name Ben-Ami.

The same is the father of the children of Amon, even unto this day. Now it is extremely interesting because these two nations became one of the greatest enemies of the people of Israel. They are brother nation, you might say. They are brother nation, you might say. Because Lot was a nephew of Avram. And Lot, who stayed away from Avram, wanted to have his own way, ended up to live in a city that is called Sodom. And ultimately, look at the condition that came out of this situation. God had to come and judge this city of Sodom. And then when he delivered his own people out, look at the condition that happened here.

The two daughters got their father drunk because they wanted to have a child out of him. And look, we have Moab and Amon, who are up till present day, are one of the greatest enemies of the people of Israel. Look at another thing that I want to mention about these Moabites, as it's mentioned a bit later on in Scripture. Notice what Moab wanted all along to do with the people of Israel. Moab became an enemy of God's people Israel. And the Moabitish king wanted to curse the people of God. So you know what he did? Look at this. Numbers chapter 22, verse 1. It says that the children of Israel set forward and they pitched in the plain of Moab on this side of Jordan by Jericho.

And Balak, the son of Tzipor, saw all that Israel have done unto the Amorite. Verse 3. And Moab was so afraid of the people because there were many. And Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel. He didn't need to be distressed. Had he give room for Israel to get in and had he embraced and helped them. This is a brother nation. But look what he did. It says here in verse 4. And Moab said unto the elders of Midian, Now shall this company lick up all that are around about us, as the ox lick up the grass of the field. And Balak, the son of Tzipor, was the king of the Moabite at this time.

And he sent messengers, therefore, unto Bilam, the son of Beor, to Petor, which is by the river of the land of the children of the people, to call him. Listen. He said in verse 5b, saying, Behold, there is a people come out from Egypt. Behold, they cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against me. Come, Bilam, now therefore I pray thee, and curse me these people. This man, by the name of Balak, who was the king of the Moabites, he hired a false prophet by the name of Bilam, for the express purpose that he will curse the people of God. And if you read Numbers 22, 23, 24, 25, every time when Bilam tried to curse Israel, God turned around from cursing to blessing.

How can I curse whom God had not cursed, and God had blessed. And every time he wanted to curse the people of Israel, God had turned about and brought a blessing out of this. And he ended up blessing the people of Israel. But you know, eventually, Bilam succeeded to trick the people of Israel and cause them to stumble with the daughters of Moab, as it's mentioned in Numbers chapter 25. And if he couldn't curse Israel, he could cause them to stumble. He beguiled them, and they surely fell into sin. So God had to discipline his very own people. And Moab is a picture of the enemy of the believers in the Lord Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah, who always seek to beguile the people of God, always seek to stumble the people of God.

And therefore, we learn how Moab became a great enemy of the people of Israel. In fact, I want you to see another verse in the book of Judges chapter 3. We read in verse 12, And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord strengthened Aglon, the king of Moab, it's another king later on, against Israel, because they have done evil in the sight of the Lord. In fact, what happened later on in the history of Israel is that Israel became slaves to the Moabites when they violated the word of God. And an enemy nation now became strengthened by God in order to possess the nation of Israel and to cause them to suffer and to be under great stress in the time of the judges.

What an amazing thing to think about when we study these days, there's many lessons that we can learn. I want you to go one more time, please, to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 23. Here's another thing about the Moabites. It was a pagan nation who worshiped Moloch. And in Deuteronomy chapter 23, God said this about the Moabites and the Ammonites. Look at this, Deuteronomy 23 verse 3. An Ammonite and a Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord. Even unto their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the Lord. And then it adds at the end, forever. The Olam. God gave command to the people of Israel under the law that no Ammonite and no Moabite can ever enter into the congregation of Israel.

But here, beloved brothers and sisters, in the book of Ruth, who was a Moabitish woman, we learned that the grace of God, the grace of God reaches beyond. The law condemned us. Because none of us could rise to fulfill God's law fully. There's only one who lived fully in accordance to the law of God. His name is Yeshua. The rest of us all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And if it would not be for the grace of God, none of us would ever be able to be part of the assembly, of the congregation, of the redeemed company. And again, to remind you, Ephesians 2, by grace are ye saved through faith.

It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should vote. Now, the theme in the book of Ruth. What is the theme? The theme of the book of Ruth teaches us many, many lessons. Because the theme is, number one, is that God is working in every day's life. He is sovereign. You know, God is working in your life and in mine every day. The young people who go to school. The older people who go to work. The mothers who remain at home. Wherever we are in our life, God is sovereign. He is in charge of everything. Everything that happened to us in our life, He knows it ahead of time.

He knows every trial, every situation in our life. In our life, Ruth teaches us in this book that God is sovereign. In chapter 2 and verse 3 of the book of Ruth, we read, "And she went and she came and she gathered in the field after the reaper, and it happened to be on a part of the field that belonged to Boaz." It used the expression, "It happened to be..." There was no accident here. God directed this woman by the name of Ruth, and He's directing you and me in our lives. He is in control over the event. Of course, He wants us to obey Him. Ruth desired to obey the God of Israel, but He directs us.

He directs things in our lives. Sometimes things happen to us as believers that we don't understand why they happen. But Paul, Shaul said in Romans 8:28, "For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose." So God, as a sovereign God, He is dealing with the affair of our lives. Why did He allow me this to happen in my life? Why did He allow this situation that exists in the Middle East today? In France, it just happened that we just heard about it from last night. Why? He's sovereign. He allowed things to happen.

He's in control of everything that happened in the life of the people of God. We learn this. Secondly, we find out in this book that God's grace supersedes the land of Israel. It's reaching beyond the borders of Israel. See, God chose our people Israel to be only a vessel of blessing to the nations of the world. And in the book of Ruth, we see how God welcomed a Gentile, a Goya, from the nation that is called Moab, an enemy nation. But when her heart fell in love with the God of Naomi, God had embraced her. He brought her in. Now, brothers and sisters, look at us.

We are coming from many people, tongues, and nations. And God embraced us, Jewish and non-Jewish, and brought us in. The grace of God reached beyond borders. It's reaching up to all the nations of the world. Whosoever will, let him come. God is inviting whosoever will. And we can see that He welcomed this woman by the name of Ruth. Again, you can see this in chapter 1 and verse 22. And Naomi returned en route to the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, with her. And they returned to the city of Bethlehem. Now, she was not from Bethlehem. She was from Moab. But because she believed in the God of Israel, God had embraced her and welcomed her into the nation of Israel.

The third thing we learn here from the book of Ruth, Ruth, that God guides families' life. Not only that He knows everything that's going on in our life, but He also guides His people. You know, He guides us. If we only desire His will, He will show us the way. He will show us the way to follow after Him. He will show us the direction of how to come forward and to get closer to Him if we want this. But if we don't, He will allow us to experience like He have allowed Elimelech to experience staying away from the city of Bethlehem. And I want to encourage you and myself also, don't stay away from the things of the Lord.

Don't allow the enemies to draw you and I away from the things of the Lord. Don't say to God, I'll pray later. I'll read the Bible later. I'll go to the meeting next month. And I'm going to fellowship with believers later on. Don't do that. Why? Because you will experience sooner or later that God knows a little better than you and I and He wants us to stay close to Him. The enemy always desires to draw us away from God. And fourthly, God works in a sovereign grace and He also provides redemption. You see, the lesson that we learn here from the Book of Ruth, that it's pointing to the Kingsman Redeemer.

Boaz is a picture of the Redeemer, Yeshua HaMashiach, of the person of our Lord, Yeshua the Messiah. Now, let me get a couple more points here. There are seven points that we learn here from the Book of Ruth that I just want to mention them to you here by way of introduction to the Book of Ruth. The Book of Ruth illustrates God's grace for all humanity. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him shall not perish but have everlasting life." God is gracious to all humanity. You know, that's why even though we work among our Jewish people, our hearts does not go only for our Jewish people.

Our hearts go for Jewish and non-Jewish individuals. And we love to share the message of the Gospel for all men, all women, all creation. And God's grace is reaching out beyond our nation Israel to all the nations of the world. Secondly, the Book of Ruth teaches us that a man and a woman are together co-heirs of the grace of life. It's not only limited to men, but men and women. You know, the Bible gives dignity to women. The Bible elevates women. And you remember what we read in 1 Peter 3, when the husband and the wife are being taught here, and I'm reading in verse 7 of 1 Peter 3: "Husband, dwell with your wife according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife, as unto a weaker vessel, and being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered." You know, it is so beautiful to see here that the lesson that we learn from the Book of Ruth is that not only that it illustrates God's grace for all humanity, but it also presents before us the fact that a man and a woman, husband and wife are co-heirs of the grace of life.

It's not limited for men, but it's not limited for men, but it's for men and women. And you can see here how beautiful to see this love story when it comes to the life of Ruth and how God directs her to the men by the name of Boaz. Thirdly, the Book of Ruth also helps us to understand the expectation that God has for women. In fact, Ruth becomes a beautiful picture of the virtuous woman that he found in the book of Proverbs 31:10. "Who can find a virtuous woman?" This is for you, sisters, young and old. Solomon said about this virtuous woman in Proverbs chapter 31, and it says in verse 10: "Who can find a virtuous woman for her price is far above rubies?" The heart of her husband does safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.

She will do him good, and not evil, all the days of her life. And I can continue to read all the lists, but at the end it says: "Favor is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman that fears the Lord, she shall be praised." What a blessing it is to have a woman such as Ruth to be your wife. A woman such as the virtuous woman in Proverbs chapter 31 verse 10 to be a wife. What a blessing it is. And what a blessing for a sister to learn from this and to find out that Ruth is teaching us the lesson of being a virtuous woman, a godly sister.

It's a goldmine. You know, over the years, in the ministries, the base upon the blessing that we receive is not so much from us who stand in the front, but from those who work behind the scene and making things work. It was the women who have served Yeshua the Messiah at a time when he was heading towards the cross. It was the women who served him and ministered to him and have been blessing to him. It is amazing. In fact, we find ourselves many times, most of our Bible studies and Bible class are filled with sisters who want to learn about the things of the Lord.

And it's such a blessing to have a virtuous woman that Ruth teaches us and show us this in this book. They're forcing in the study of the book of Ruth that Ruth pointed us to the fact that God is sovereign. He does what he wants. He can take a woman from Moab. He can bring her into the land of Israel. He can bless her. He can bring her in to be part of the nation of Israel. Even though all the people of Israel probably said, well, she's a Moabitish woman. God, didn't you tell us earlier in the law that the Moabitish people cannot enter into the congregation?

But God shows us that he's sovereign. You see, the only one you might say who is above his word is the person of God who makes it. You see, he gave the law to our people of Israel. But through grace, he shows us that he reaches beyond it because he knows all has fallen. And he can extend his grace to the person such as Ruth and also to you and to me. Number five, the book of Ruth gives us a wonderful typology of the work of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who became the Kingsman Redeemer. We learn that here in this book of Ruth that the Messiah is the one that is depicted by the man of Boaz.

Like Boaz, he is a picture of our Lord Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah. And not only that, we find out that the book of Ruth shows us that Ruth now have entered into the line, into the genealogy of the birth of the Messiah. She is one of the four Gentile women who are mentioned in Matthew chapter 1. There are five women mentioned in Matthew chapter 1. Four of them are Gentiles. One of them is Jewish. Tamar, the wife of Uriah, Batsheba. And Rachav, the prostitute. And Ruth, Hamuaviyah. Four Gentile women became part of the genealogy of Yeshua the Messiah. And the fifth woman was Jewish. Her name is Miriam, who gave birth to Yeshua the Messiah.

Five women. I mentioned four of them are Gentiles. The grace of God. Amazing. Just quickly to go towards the end. Here, Ruth proved to us that the throne of Israel belonged to Yeshua the Messiah through the tribe of Judah. How would we know if we didn't have the book of Ruth? That Yeshua the Messiah was a descendant of the tribe of Judah through the family of David. Turn for a second to Ruth chapter 4 and verse 17 to 22. I'm going to just read that so we can have this by way of introduction. And the women, her neighbors, gave it a name to the baby that was born to Boaz and Ruth.

And they said, there is a son born unto Naomi. Of course, he was not born to Naomi, but he was born to Ruth. And they call his name Oved. He is the father of Jesse, Yishai, who is the father of David. You see, we don't have any genealogy in the book of Samuel. And this is very interesting because now we find out the link between David with the one by the name of Oved from the tribe of Judah. And here's the list, verse 18. Now these are the generation of Perets. Perets beget Chetsron. Chetsron beget Ram. Ram beget Aminadab. Aminadab beget Nachshon. Nachshon beget Salmon. Salmon beget Boaz.

Boaz beget Oved. Oved beget Yishai, Jesse. And Yishai beget David. Now you see, beloved brothers and sisters, if we don't have this genealogy found in the book of Ruth, chapter 4, verse 17 to 22, it will cause us a lot of problems to find out when the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, entered into this world and became, was born in accordance with the scripture as a descendant of David. And you remember how the Gospel of Matthew began? This is the book of the generation of Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Well, how do we know that David was a descendant from the tribe of Judah unless we have this genealogy here in Ruth, chapter 4.

And you remember the first man that is mentioned here is a man by the name of Perets. Perets, in verse 18, you remember how Perets was born? Perets was a son of Judah who had sinned and because he didn't want to give his daughter-in-law Tamar his third son because of the two first sons who died. Perets somehow happened when his daughter-in-law pretended to be a prostitute. And Judah took her later on without to know that she was his daughter-in-law. And there were twins who were born according to Genesis chapter 38. And one of these twins was Perets, the first one that is mentioned in Genesis 38 and verse 29.

And from Perets on, in spite of the falling of Judah's disobedience and sin, in spite of it, it continued on the seed that had been promised in the past to be a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the tribe of Judah. Judah, Judah, Judah, out of which the Messiah was born. And so, the book of Ruth helped us to see the genealogy of Yeshua the Messiah. It puts the link together and helps us to see that the Messiah was born to the tribe of Judah and to the family of David. Mashiach ben David, Messiah, the son of David. So, please go back to this first chapter, and I just want to close with this.

Ruth chapter 1 and verse 1. Now it came to pass in the days when the judges judged, or the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Beit Lechem, Judah, went to sojourn in a country of Moab, he, his wife, and his two sons. And the name of the man was Elimelech. And the name of his wife was Naomi. And the name of the two sons was Machlon and Kilion. And Ephratai, or Beit Lechem. And they came into the country of Moab, and they continued there. And from verse 4, we know for 10 long years. Now listen to these brothers and sisters.

You can see what happened when God come in judgment upon his own people. The famine was a result of the discipline of God upon his people. And when the discipline of God came upon his people, there was famine, there was no food. And you see what happened? To learn from this spiritually, when we do not stay close to the Lord and submit to the Lord, God will allow famine for the people of God to experience in their lives. And that famine brought about the departure from the city of Bethlehem by the whole family. Elimelech, Naomi, Machlon, and Kilion all left the city of Bethlehem. And they stayed in Moab for 10 years.

Now in the will of the Lord, in our next ministry meeting, we're going to take it verse by verse and chapter by chapter. And we're going to look over this book of Ruth, and we'll see what the Lord teaches us from the story, from the events that occurred many, many years ago in the life of the woman by the name of Ruth. May the Lord help us to understand his word and to grow spiritually, and to appreciate what he teaches us in his precious work.