Ruth 4:17-22

 

There has been a real rise in the popularity of knowing your background and where/who’ve you have come from in recent years.
With websites like Ancestry.com and DNA-based genealogy tests.
And with the growing popularity of TV shows like ‘Who do you think you are?’

This isn’t a coincidence… history and genealogy and knowing your past and telling stories as a way of remembering have always been here.

As this love story concludes, the author of the book of Ruth tells us that Obed “was the father of Jesse, the father of David”.
The author also includes a genealogy that traces the roots of this particular family line as far back as Perez, 900 years of history!

Perez’s story is told in Genesis 38 (which we’ve already looked at) is referred to by the townspeople’s prayer… along with the ‘guardian-redeemer’ and ‘levirate marriage’ connections, there is a third reason why this particular genealogy is traced back to him…

Read Genesis 49:10. How does this connect to the love story of Ruth and Boaz?

 

And it doesn’t stop there… because, ultimately, this genealogy is about us too.
How can you meaningfully apply this genealogy of David to your life today?

 

 

[Read Ruth 4:17-22]

 

 

The emphasis on David and David’s family’s story all points to how God watched over David’s ancestors and guided them to fulfil this divine plan for that one family, that one tribe, that one nation… and ultimately this one world.

This genealogy reveals that there is a mixture of racial ancestry in David’s family tree. In particular, his great-grandmother is from the accursed Moabite race!
How do you think that David, as king of Israel, felt to have his family secret revealed?

 

 

 

 

What do we do with these long lists of names (like in 1 Chronicles 1-9, Matthew 1:1-17, Luke 3:23-38)?
Lots of the time we just skim through them or miss them out completely.
It can be difficult to see the point or relevance of them.

What, if anything, do you learn from reading/hearing a genealogy like this?

 

If you were to compile a genealogy of your family, how far back would you be able to go?
How would knowing the stories of your ancestors enrich your life?

 

The book of Ruth, as a whole, celebrates 5 main things about God and the nature of God. God’s sovereign…

PLAN

 

POWER

 

PROVIDENCE

 

PROTECTION

 

PROVISION

 

[Activity] Talk about / discuss how we see all five of these pointed out and celebrated within the book of Ruth…

 

 

In Ruth 4:14, the townspeople pray that Obed will “become famous throughout Israel!”… their prayers are still being answered today.
Every year, the book of Ruth is read by orthodox Jews on the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost).

And we’re reading/studying it today too!