As New Creation in Christ, Let Us Speak with the Law of Kindness

"She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness." (Proverbs 31:26)

This passage features a virtuous woman (Proverbs 31:10), worth more than rubies.

There is only one woman who is described as virtuous: Ruth!

"And now, my daughter, fear not; I will do to thee all that thou requirest: for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman." (Ruth 3:11)

What made Ruth virtuous?

She believed in the LORD, and trust Him for favor!

Consider what she pleaded with her mother-in-law Naomi:

"And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:" (Ruth 1:16)

She believed on Him!

She then expected to find favor because of Him!:

"2And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, Go, my daughter." (Ruth 2:2)

When Boaz, a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ, found her and was favorable to her, she said to him:

"13Then she said, Let me find favour in thy sight, my lord; for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine handmaidens." (Ruth 2:13)

And finally, even Naomi noticed that favor of the LORD, which visited Ruth:

"And Naomi said unto her daughter in law, Blessed be he of the LORD, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen." (Ruth 2:20)

Noami had returned to Bethlehem urging her friends to call her "bitter", because in her opinion, the LORD had dealt with her very bitterly (cf. Ruth 1:20)

But Ruth was not bitter. She believed that God would do better, and help both her and her mother-in-law overcome the hardships they were facing.

Now, let's look at the verse from Proverbs.

Ruth is the only woman mentioned in the Old Testament as "virtuous" (cf Ruth 3:11)

She believed in the Lord, and she received from Him favor.

Therein you have "the law of kindness" or literally:

וְתֹֽורַת־חֶ֝֗סֶד

"Torah" can also mean "guidance", "direction", or "teaching", not merely concrete, stolid "law".

God's grace, or "chesed" in Hebrew, is the greatest of teachers!

"11For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12Teaching us ... "(Titus 2:11-12)

Today, since we are new creations in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17), let us speak the law of kindness, the "law of grace" so to speak. We have His favor. Let us declare it, and let us declare that God is faithful to fulfill His promises for us!

"He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32)

How Ruth Was Obedient: She Trusted in God's Favor

Ruth had everything going against her:

She was a woman.
She was a widow.
She was a Moabite, one of a select number of races cursed by God, and not open to receiving the blessings of God or entering the congregation of the Israelites until the 10th generation
She had no prospects or property
She had no family other than her mother-in-law, who had become embittered from great loss.

Yet instead of looking at what she did not have, she looked to Him who has everything:

"And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:" (Ruth 1:16)

Ruth had very little idea how good God would be to her!

"And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz. 2And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace." (Ruth 2: 1-2)

Notice that Ruth does not know about Boaz, but her loving God did!

"And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech." (Ruth 2:3)

Notice it says "her hap." She wasn't planning where to go. She had no idea that this field belong to any kind of a kinsman-redeemer.

As a Moabite, she would have no knowledge a "kinsman-redeemer" or what he is (would be?) in the first place.

Then Boaz, his kinsman-redeemer, and a picture of our Lord Jesus, said to Ruth:

"The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust." (Ruth 2:12)

What was Ruth's work?

Ruth and Boaz (Credit: Walking Together Ministries)

She believed in a God in whose eyes she would find favor!

Consider what Jesus, our heavenly Kinsman-Redeemer, to the Israelites of His day:

"Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." (John 6:29)

Today, we need to believe that because we believe in Jesus, we can trust that He covers for us, and will provide for us in every way, and exceed our asking!

"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us" (Ephesians 3:20)

Consider also that under the New Covenant, we are called on to believe Him!

"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

11And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.

12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8:10-12)