Ruth a Portrait of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, Piper argues

In his new book, A Sweet and Bitter Providence: Sex, Race, and the Sovereignty of God ( from Crossway ), John Piper points out that one of the major elements of the Old Testament story of Ruth is a breathtaking portrayal of biblical manhood and womanhood. The story of Boaz’s serving as kinsman redeemer to Ruth and of her pursuit of God through this redeemer are powerful illustrations of the way in which Scripture depicts the nature of marriage in Ephesians 5. Piper writes:

The book of Ruth is a portrait of beautiful, noble manhood and womanhood. The greatness of manhood and womanhood is more than sex. It is ore than a throbbing love story. In a day when movies and television and advertising and the Internet portray masculinity and femininity in the lowest ways, we are in great need of stories the elevate the magnificent meaning of manhood and womanhood. In making sex the main thing, the modern world is losign the glory and beauty and depth and power of what sexuality becomes when it runs like a deep and mighty river between the high banks of righteousness. Ruth and Boaz are extraordinary. Men and women today need heroes like this.

Ruth is also a profound love story, Piper writes, one that, above all, points readers to the final and greatest Redeemer. God seems to have gone all out to include a Moabite woman in the genealogy of Christ, Piper points out. God gives readers a glorious picture of His grace that eventually came to its fullness in Christ.

The application of this glory to us may be felt most personally when we focus on Ruth herself. How are we included? All the calamities of this story seem designed to get a Moabitess into the genealogy of Jesus. Ruth is one of the four women mentioned in Matthew’s genealogy (Matthew 1:5). God pursued her. He turned the world upside down, you might say, to include Ruth in the lineage of his Son. Surely this is significant for us. Does it not mean that God’s blessings are free and undeserved? Ruth was an idolatrous Moabitess before God pursued her (1:15). She did not merit this pursuit. It was free. That is the way God pursues you and me.

As always, Piper’s book is filled with Gospel-centered exegesis and application and, like all his other works, is a clearly-written ode to the glory of God as revealed in His Word. This work serves as an excellent companion to the study of Ruth.