A Little Town With a Big ImpactSample

Bethlehem, the little town with a big impact, has been the setting of many incredible stories throughout the centuries, and today’s account from the book of Ruth is one of them. A Jewish woman, Naomi, had returned from sojourning in Moab. Her husband had taken the family there to ride out a famine in the land of Israel, but it had not gone well. Both of their sons had taken Moabite wives, and not long after, both of her sons and her husband died.

Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem, where they had lived, and she instructed her daughters-in-law to return to their people. Orpah did as Naomi instructed, but Ruth clung to Naomi. With steadfast determination, she told Naomi, “Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”

Upon their return to Bethlehem, Ruth went to glean in the fields to procure food for her and Naomi. She “happened” to land in the field of a man named Boaz, who was a kinsman, a close family relative. To make a long story short, Boaz became smitten with Ruth and desired to marry her. But there was a roadblock; another relative was closer in line and had the first right to marry Ruth and purchase Naomi’s land.

At the gate of Bethlehem, another page was added to the rich history of this tiny town. The nearer kinsman gave up his right, and Boaz stepped up to redeem Ruth. They were married and Ruth would become the great-great-grandmother of another famous Bethlehemite, King David. Ruth, this Moabite foreigner, was redeemed into the lineage of Jesus the Messiah.

Just as Boaz redeemed his bride in the gates of Bethlehem, we have a near kinsman from Bethlehem Who has redeemed us. If we place our faith and trust in His finished work on the cross, we too can be redeemed.

It all started in Bethlehem—the little town with a big impact.