Ruth and Esther are the ONLY 2 women in the Bible who have a book named after them.
So let’s draw some fascinating comparisons between these two female Biblical heroines.
FIRST, Ruth was a gentile, Esther was a Hebrew.
SECOND, Ruth was a daughter of a foreign land, Esther was a daughter of the Holy Land.
THIRD, Ruth ended up marrying a Hebrew but Esther married a gentile.
FINALLY, God’s name is mentioned all over the place in the book of Ruth but His Name is nowhere to be found, not even once, in the book Esther.
Those are the differences between Ruth and Esther.
But there are 3 amazing similarities as well.
FIRST, both women possessed great faith in God.
SECOND, both women were greatly blessed by God as a result of their faith.
THIRD, both women played key roles in Israel’s salvation history.
In Ruth’s case, it was her bloodline that gave birth to the Messiah.
In Esther’s case, God used her to save the Jews from being exterminated in Persia (the whole Haman incident).
I mentioned earlier that one of the main themes in Ruth is “friendship”…
How a gentile befriends Israel and is greatly blessed as a result.
The relationship of Hebrews to Gentiles who trust in the God of Israel is one of the great mysteries that’s fleshed out in Ruth.
The Apostle Paul tried his darnedest to explain this phenomenon and the closest he ever got was to say “There be neither Jew nor Gentile in the body of Messiah“.
It’s ironic that Jews and Gentiles are always seeking to separate themselves from each other.
Yet the Lord wishes to unite mankind into one body under Messiah.
We can see this irony especially fleshed out when we compare Ruth with Esther.
In the flesh, they were polar opposites of each other.
But on the heavenly or spiritual plane, they were very much the same.
See ya all next time.
Hi Boss, do you really mean; God’s Name is nowhere to be found, not even once, in the book of Esther.? Tnx
HaShem seems to be more in the background.
Today is Yom Kippur.;;; Happy feast
Thank you for your greeting Abraham. Be blessed.
Amen
Quote: “Jews and Gentiles are always seeking to separate themselves from each other. Yet the Lord wishes to unite mankind into one body under Messiah.”
So exciting — Yes, yes, yes!
In Galations 3, Paul says this mystery revelation that the Gentiles can be justified by faith (rather than ethnicity, or works of the Torah) is contained in HaShem’s words to Abraham “all nations on earth will be blessed through you” — how exciting!
In Deut. 32, Moshe says HaShem will make His people “jealous with those who are no people”, so Rabbi Paul worked to magnify his Gentile “ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous”
All through the prophets, it is promised that the nations would belong to HaShem, like Amos 9, the “tent of David . . .may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear My name”
“The time is coming to gather all nations and tongues . . .And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the LORD.” (Is. 66)
Not only can Gentiles be made right with Adonai, not only can they be adopted into the nation of Israel (Eph. 1) but some of them will one day serve Him as priests and Levites — we are talking about FULL adoption with all the rights and priveleges that go with it!
So why should Gentile children argue with and exclude their natural siblings? Or why should the natural siblings look down on the adopted children? HaShem has spoken it, both groups will be happier to accept it and enjoy the benefits 🙂