Ruth - A Virtuous Woman

• References: Ruth 1-4; Matthew 1:5
  
• Memory Verses:  Ruth 1:16-17
  ; Ruth 2:12
  ; Ruth 3:11
  ; Proverbs 22:1
  ; Proverbs 31:10
  
• Dates:  1135?-1050? BC

Ruth has always been one of my favorite women in the Bible. She’s one of two women after whom a book is named and she is the only woman in the Bible specifically said to be virtuous. Not only that, but she isn’t even a Jew. She’s a Moabitess. She married a Jewish man and then watched while her father-in-law, her brother-in-law and her husband died. Then, she followed her mother-in-law back to Israel. To a country she had never been to before. She left her family, her gods and her nationality. And she traveled to a land she had never seen where she knew no one. She was a foreigner and an outsider determined to find the God of Israel.

Ruth is a picture of God’s grace in offering salvation to Gentiles. What did she see in her husband and his family that drew her to God? God blessed her devotion to her mother-in-law, Naomi. She married and had a little boy who became the grandfather of David. David’s great-grandmother was Ruth. Did he know her? We aren’t told, but I’m sure at the very least he heard stories about this godly woman. By the way, did I mention that she’s the first woman on record who proposed to her husband?

Look up the following words in a dictionary and give the definition:

• Sojourn (1:1)
• Steadfast (1:18)
• Suffice (2:14)
• Virtuous (3:11)
• Nourish (4:15)
• Virtue
• Ruthless

1. What one word would you use to describe Ruth?
2. What made Ruth a virtuous woman?
3. What is the significance of there being a whole book about Ruth?
4. What verses from this book really speak to your heart?
5. Read Ruth 2:12
   , why do you think it refers to “wings”?
6. Who is Boaz a picture of?
7. Is there anything Ruth should have done differently?
8. Look up Ruth 1:8
   , 2:20
   , and 3:10
   . How are kindly and kindness in these verses similar and how do they differ in meaning?
9. What was the name of Ruth’s first husband?
10. What was the name of Ruth’s son?
11. Who is Ruth’s great-grandson?
12. Who was Ruth’s sister-in-law?
13. What great compliment did the women of Bethlehem-Judah give to Ruth in chapter 4?
14. After all the pain and suffering that Ruth went through losing her father-in-law, brother-in-law, and husband all at once and then being deserted by her sister-in-law as well, what do you think still drew her to God?
15. In what areas of Ruth’s life is the hand of God visible?
16. Here are 3 verses from Proverbs 31. Find matching verses in Ruth.

• Proverbs 31:10
  
• Proverbs 31:23
  
• Proverbs 31:31
  

Bonus Question: Where did the Moabites come from? (Read Genesis 19:37
)

Note: An ephah (2:17) is about a bushel.

Fill in the blanks in this passage from Ruth 1:16-17

“Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from ________________ after thee: for whither thou _________, I will ________; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy ___________ shall be ________ people, and _________ God __________ God: Where thou diest, will I ________ and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but ____________ part ___________ and me.”

Kate Reagan

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