A brief overview of Judges and Ruth

While I was in California I finished reading through Judges and Ruth and wrote this short overview of the two books in an effort to think through them in light of the redemptive work of Christ throughout all of human history.

In Judges we see the nation of Israel constantly fall into sin, come under the oppressive rule of their enemies, cry out to God for salvation, and God provide a savior for the nation in the form of warrior judges. In Judges we find warning for us about the danger of falling away, allowing sin to remain in our lives, the danger of pride and the need for humility, our own propensity to falling away, and our desperate need for a Savior. We cannot save ourselves from our sins. We need a Savior to free us. In Judges we see a variety of saviors. We see God calling many from unexpected places or backgrounds (e.g. Gideon) and all are flawed (perhaps none shown to be more vividly than Samson). In these men we see the foreshadowing of Christ and also the imperfection of human salvation and the inability of men to bring about total, complete, and perfect salvation. These men only brought, at most, 40 years of peace. These imperfections and inabilities point and direct our hope toward the perfect and holy Savior, Jesus Christ. This is why I don't believe Judges is meant to be read apart from Ruth.

In Ruth, we see the provision of our perfect Savior. In this book Ruth is a picture of the church (saved from a totally sinful background to live a life of purity and worship to the true God) and Boaz is a picture of Christ (our humble Redeemer who takes our salvation on his own shoulders and accomplishes all our hopes). From this humble background came the lineage of Christ. It is a very humble story. Christ comes not from a family of greatness or means, but from a Moabite woman of pagan background - not even an Isrealite by birth - and a humble, older, land-owner - not a warrior - from a tiny town that just came out of a devestating famine. The story of redemption does not come from where man would anticipate it but finds its roots in a humble beginning - much like the story of the incarnation, life, and death of Jesus. Jesus is constantly a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are being saved the gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of salvation.