Book of Ruth Armenian/English Christian Broadcasts

The book of Ruth was written in the time of the judges. When corruption and moral perversion prevailed in Israel (10th century BC), a man named Elimelech lived in Bethlehem, Judea went to Moab with his wife and two sons during the Israel famine. In Moab his sons married Moabite women and after 10 years both of his sons died. He died too.







After the death of Al-Malik and his sons, his wife Naomi, decided to return to Bethlehem so that she could live a better life there and be able to worship the true God because there was so much idolatry in Moab. His daughters in law went with her partly because of Naomi ‘s love for them, but Naomi encouraged them to return to their families because she could not promise to provide them with a husband or to provide for them financially (Ruth 1: 11-13) One of his daughters in-laws, Orpah, listened to her advice and went back to her family, but Ruth clung to Naomi. She was determined to return to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law.







Naomi and Ruth returned to Bethlehem.  The barley harvest was beginning in Bethlehem. Ruth went off to the farm of a wealthy man called Boaz (who happened to be a relative of Naomi) to collect leftover grains behind the harvesters. Her aim was to make ends meet. She eventually got to know Boaz and found favour in his eyes. He looked after Ruth well because he realized how well she had served her mother-in-law. She eventually got married to Boaz as per Naomi’s guidance. They had a son called Obed.







There are a few lessons we can learn from the life of Ruth:







1.     Ruth was determined to enter into an unknown adventure in her life, surrendering to God’s will and providence







It did not appear to be a humanly speaking wise decision for Ruth to stay away from her family and join her mother-in-law. As a widow in the culture of Israel of that time being away from her family could potentially make her more prone to being abused by some men or she would be neglected as a widow in the new land. But she seemed to have great peace of mind to join Naomi at this unknown journey. She was even willing to join her spiritually making her God as her own God. We can read Ruth 1: 16- 17







But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Ruth 1: 16







She surrendered herself to the true God Naomi believed in. There was something about Naomi’s God that drew Ruth to it. She by faith set her eyes on something bigger than she could see. I believe she took this journey believing that God will guide them and provide for them.







Michael and I got to know each other over 20 years ago in Iran. Michael was working for a charity assisting Afghan, Kurdish and Iraqi refugees and I was heavily involved in church ministries. After we got engaged, we rented a place and furnished it. We were hoping to get married and live in Iran for many years. We eventually managed to have our church wedding. However, the authorities did not register our marriage legally for an unknown reason. Unless our marriage was registered according to the Law of Iran, we could not live there legally. We had no choice but to leave the country.















When we registered our marriage in the Iranian embassy in UK, we happily returned to Iran but the authorities stopped Michael from entering the country and he was deported back to UK. I knocked at any possible governmental doors as I could hoping to resolve the situation, but it was all in vain. I had to join him 3 months later.







We both thought it’s a logical decision for us to live in Iran and to serve there,  but like Ruth,