Isaiah chapter 8 - Ruth

The story we read in the book of Ruth is true. The things told therein really did happen, but the message contained in the story of Boaz, Naomi and Ruth concerns our ‘kinsman redeemer’, Jesus. The whole process that Boaz went through as he moved to make Ruth his wife was Jewish protocol in his day, and it was still Jewish protocol in the days that Jesus walked the roads of Judea.

In is neatly tucked into the beautiful love story we have all read many times over. The one who would redeem that which had been lost had to be someone who was near of kin to the one who would be the benefactor of the redemption.

When Naomi and Ruth left the land of Moab, they went home to Bethlehem. Bethlehem was, of course, the birthplace of our Savior, the Prince of Peace, Emanuel. Moab was a land East of the Jordan River in the country we call Jordan today. As the women traveled homeward, they traveled in a westerly heading, crossing the Jordan River, then traveling through the territory of Judah to finally arrive in Bethlehem within the territory of Benjamin.

It was in Bethlehem that the love story between Boaz and Ruth played out, and it would have been in Bethlehem that they became husband and wife, and it would have been in Bethlehem that Ruth conceived and bore a son who they named Obed, who would live to become the grandfather of King David, and be one of the men listed in the genealogy of Jesus of Nazareth. Now, with this much information in place we turn to the eighth chapter of the book of Isaiah.

In this chapter of Isaiah we find the following words and phrases:

“and she conceived, and bare a son.” (v3b)

Isaiah was talking about the conception and birth of his own son, but the passage applies to Ruth as well, and the same words are there in the book of Ruth.

“shall pass through Judah” (v8a)

Isaiah was talking about the king of Assyria, but it was Naomi and Ruth who passed through the territory of Judah on their way to Bethlehem.

“O Immanuel.” (v8c)

It is not clear to me why Isaiah used either this phrase or the next one in his prophecy, but both of them speak of Jesus the Christ who was born in the little hamlet of Bethlehem.

“God is with us.” (v10b)

This is the eighth chapter of Isaiah, and Ruth is the eighth book in the Bible. They are connected.