Then the elders and all the people at the gate said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the family of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. Through the offspring the Lord gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.” (Ruth 4:11-12)

Ruth’s commitment and Naomi’s wish for her have become true. Though a foreigner, Ruth is now fully a part of Israel. Though a widow, Ruth has now found rest in the home of a new husband. These are beautiful things, but one issue remains outstanding. Ruth’s first marriage was barren and Naomi still had no heir. While Boaz’s costly act of redemption could offer the foreign widow a place of home and belonging within Israel—only God himself could intervene to redeem the barrenness of Naomi & Ruth and bring new life.

This is what the people’s desire is for Ruth, and through her, for Naomi. They offer a blessing: that the Lord himself will accomplish this, making Ruth and Boaz fertile, famous, and prosperous. Then they go on to invoke some pretty profound foundational stories among the patriarchs of Israel.

Rachel & Leah were the wives of Jacob—the one who was called Israel. Like the whole of the book of Ruth—the focus is not on the men’s role in these stories, but the women’s. Jacob is not credited with building the house of Israel—his wives are. It was Rachel and Leah—their prayers, their fights, their tears—that built up the house of Israel. For a time, Rachel herself was barren—as Ruth had been. But God enabled her to conceive. From these two women came the 12 tribes of Israel—the foundations of the nation.

Bethlehem, of course, was a city of the tribe of Judah. Judah’s story includes the bold actions of a woman in a situation not so very different from Ruth. Tamar was also a foreigner, like Ruth: a Canaanite. Tamar was also a widow, like Ruth. Tamar also sought redemption, like Ruth. Judah’s first son was Tamar’s husband, who died. Judah gave her his second son to raise up an heir for his first son. But he also died. Judah then refused to give her his third son. He abandoned Tamar to her widowhood, leaving her outside the people of God. She, however, chose to outwit her father-in-law Judah through some harshly pragmatic means that brought forth her conception, by Judah, of two twin boys—the elder of whom was Perez. Perez’s family became the leading clan of Judah. Ruth’s bold actions to seek redemption among the people of God for Naomi paralleled those of Tamar—the matriarch of the tribe of Judah.

One gets the sense from all these blessings that it is those like these matriarchs of Israel and Judah who best extol the character of Israel. They are those who have wrestled most profoundly with God and sought his favour and redemption despite all the barrenness, widowhood, and exclusion stacked against them. They are the ones who would not let go of Israel’s God until he blessed them. Ruth and Boaz now stand among them, even as the people wish that this same hard-wrestled blessing of the Lord will be theirs.

The invitation here, is to continue to wrestle with God for the blessings of redemption, inclusion, and life that he has promised—and to not let him go until he gives that blessing. Just like Rachel, Leah, and Jacob, like Tamar and Judah, like Ruth and Boaz. This is the story of “Israel,” the people who wrestle with God.

As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you : wherever he may send you.

May he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm.

May he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonders he has shown you.

May he bring you home rejoicing : once again into our doors.