Today I was studying the book of Ruth and something caught my eye which I had never noticed before. When Ruth got married to Boaz, she conceived and gave birth [almost] immediately (Ruth 4:13). That made me wonder, “Wasn’t Ruth married to Naomi’s son, Mahlon, long enough to have children?” Indeed, when I turned back to Ruth 1, I discovered that the two were married for at least 10 years by the time of Mahlon’s death (Ruth 1: 4-5). The big question then is, “Why?”

Was it for the lack of trying that Ruth did not give birth all those 10 years? Or was it for the lack of interest in having children. My answer to both questions is “No”.

First of all, I say no because Ruth lived between the 4th and 6th Century BC (rough estimate from a quick Google search). During this time, the role of a woman was generally to tend the home and to bear children. Furthermore, “Reproduce and fill the earth” was still a very serious commitment at that time (since the earth was not full at all anyway). Therefore, we cannot say that Ruth and Mahlon were not trying. We also cannot say that they were not interested. Ruth in particular had become really close to this family and from the story, we can see that she desired nothing but to please her mother-in-law, Naomi. Ruth must have been truly interested in having children in order to carry on the family name and so was Naomi and Mahlon.

If Ruth and Mahlon were interested and were trying; and we know from the story that Ruth was not barren [I have thought for a second that Mahlon was the one who could not have children, but I will disregard that thought because there is no precedent in the Bible, that I know of, to indicate that the problem was with the man]. If all of the above was the case, why then didn’t Ruth have children for all the 10 years she was with Mahlon?

Could it be that the delay in childbirth was allowed by God? Could it be that God saw the bigger picture, where one day Ruth would have to go to Bethlehem as a widow and would need a kinsman redeemer?

Let me take a step back and explain myself. When Boaz was having that meeting with his relative and the clan elders in Ruth 4:1-12, he made this statement twice, “[Buy Ruth along with Elimelech’s other possessions]…. in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance”. This means that the major reason (probably only reason) that Ruth was even a part of this [kinsman redemption] transaction is because she had no children with Mahlon and thus it was justified for Boaz to marry her as part of the redemption – so as to preserve Mahlon’s and Elimelech’s lineage.

This is quite profound. If we step back 10 years from the time Ruth gave birth to her first child, we would meet a woman who did not know anything about the bigger picture. A woman who in that moment only thought about the fact that she could not have children and wondered desperately why this was so. She probably prayed earnestly to God; starting every year believing and hoping that it was the year she would conceive and ending the year crushed with disappointment.

Leaving the past and fast forwarding 10 years later, I can imagine Ruth seated at the makeup table on a her wedding day, looking back at the 10 years of disappointment and this time not with despair but with a knowing smile. Understanding finally that God’s delay was indeed not a delay. It was preservation.

I see her holding the beautifully embroidered fabric of her wedding dress; her mind flooded with the light of understanding. The Master had been interweaving a beautiful story behind the painful piercing of failure and disappointment.

On that day, and most profoundly on the day she gave birth to Obed, Ruth understood the God of the Bigger Picture.

2 Peter 3:9 The LORD is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.