If we want to sum up the book Ruth in a sentence, we can say that the Lord brings joy through the Savior. The main character of the book is not Boas or Ruth, but Naomi. The first chapter begins to describe Naomi's unfortunate condition and the last chapter ends with Naomi having great joy. In the first chapter (Ruth 1:20) she calls herself Mara, "because" she says, "the Almighty made me very bitterness." Surely the Lord's hand rested heavily on her. In the last chapter, however, her tune clarified, she does not deny it when her neighbors praise the Lord about the outcome he has given to her (Ruth 4:14). What happens in the middle two chapters is how the Lord saved her from her bitterness for joy.
When we look at the first chapter in more detail, especially the first verse, we learn a very important background that will make us understand the book Ruth correctly, and it will guide us to see how the book about Jesus goes. Here in the first verse we read that there was famine in the country. We also read that it was in the days of the judges, and we know how chaotic was the condition because of the sin of the people. It should not be surprising that there is famine in the country during this period in which the people have so often wandered from the Lord. Famine is one of the covenants that the people would make if they began to commit idolatry (Deut. 28: 15-68). Thus, from the first verse of Ruth, we learn here that Naomi is under the judgment of the Lord. Then we also read that they tried to escape the judgment of the Lord and try to run away from the Lord from the land of Israel, but God also found them in the land of Moab and Elkana, Maglon and Giljon die (Ruth. 1: 3 and 5). This piece of history teaches us that Naomi is a sinner who deserves the Lord's righteous judgment of sin. That's why Naomi is in no way alive and she has nothing, no more a place to stay among the people of God as part of his people - she has no place for God.
Later in the first chapter we read that Naomi returned to the promised land because she heard that the Lord had visited the land again and that there was food again (Ruth 1: 6). This is because the people again called for salvation and the Lord sent a ruler who led the people back to the Lord. By returning to the people of God and the promised land, Naomi indicates that she again sought the presence of the Lord and, as we saw in Judges, when the people cried for help, the Lord gave a savior . In came Boas.
Naomi is too poor to redeem her inheritance for herself to have a place for the Lord to serve him in peace and peace. Although Naomi is too weak, the Lord has given a lover to her (Ruth 2: 1). The looser is someone who repurchases the inheritance at the expense of himself for the true heir of it (see Leviticus 25: 23-34). Boas does it right, for harm to himself he pays the ransom that Naomi once again has a place for the Lord to serve him.
It's our first reference that the book is about Jesus. He is the one who looses an inheritance to the believers at the expense of himself so that they have room for the Lord to serve him. We all, all mankind, lost with Adam and Eve our place before the Lord when we, together with them, were kicked out of the garden of Eden. We are not worthy to live with the Lord because of our sin. God is a consuming fire and can not bear sin, He is light and there is no darkness in Him, so no dark sinner can come into his presence without disintegrating. Therefore, Jesus had to come and pay off the sinful debt we had against God at the expense of his own blood of life as ransom. Yes, Jesus took the punishment we had to take on Himself and wore it so that nothing has to happen to us, but that we could serve God without fear of punishment in the new Jerusalem - our new home.
We have seen Naomi once again have a piece of land where she can stay before the Lord, but the great problem that Naomi has, which became apparent to us in the first verses of the book, namely, that she is a sinner, still need to be solved. Naomi's problem in the deepest was not that she just had no land to attend, but that she was not worthy to live in God's presence. Her previous problem still needs to be solved. She briefly asks the Savior whom the Lord promised in Gen. 3:15 What will come to destroy all the work of Satan? She asks the savior who will put an end to her sin and the death she deserves. We know, however, that this Savior should be born of a woman because He really must be human to pay for human sins. In came Ruth.
Ruth is a beautiful example of someone who has turned from paganism and seeking her salvation in the Lord. We especially see that he is gracious to God's promises when she marries Boaz through the swear marriage (see Deuteronomy 25: 5-12). What matters to the brother-in-law is that if an eldest brother married and died without having children, the next surviving man must marry the oldest deceased brother's wife. The first son born of the brotherly marriage is not the next-born child, but of the older brother who died. It sounds like special strange legislation for our ears, and it is quite right that it is, because we do not have promises made by the Lord to our physical ancestors that must be fulfilled. It is true that God made promises to Israel's physical ancestors (see Gen. 49), and these promises were still to be fulfilled. Among other things, the King who brings peace to the world, promised to the tribe of Judah, should also come (Genesis 49:10).
The fact that Ruth and Boaz had high regard for the brotherly marriage shows us that they have high regard for God's promises, including a high regard for the promises that the Savior will still come. Because they entered the swear marriage, they actually say they want the Promised Redeemer. And that's exactly what happened when you watched their genealogy (Ruth 4: 17-22). One of their sons is Obed, and Obed found Jesse and Jesse for David, and we know that Jesus was born of David. Thus, according to the promise that the Savior would be born of a woman, the Lord gave the Savior to Naomi to dignify her to live in God's presence through her daughter-in-law Ruth. And so is the book Ruth about Jesus. Through Jesus, the Lord restores our joy.