The third and final non-Jewish woman who was included in the genealogy of Jesus is Ruth. Ruth was Moabite. She was married to a Jewish man, who moved to the Moabite territory with his parents and a brother. He died, and Ruth became a widow. But her tragedy was less compared to the tragedy of her mother-in-law, Naomi. She lost her two sons and her husband in the land of Moab. In bitterness and hopelessness, she decided to move back to Israel. At that time, while the other daughter-in-law decided to stay back in her country, Ruth persisted on and determined to follow her mother-in-law, saying, "Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God." (Ruth 1:16) This determination revealed her faith, and God saw her faith. Ruth became a part of God's family, and received the honor of being Jesus' ancestor.
Being included in the genealogy of Jesus symbolically testifies what it means to be saved and be a part of God's family. And the salvation, as we have examined, is not based on anything other than faith. Those three gentile women "thought" that if they trusted in Jehovah God that the Israelites knew about and relied on, they would live. That little thought is faith! It is as small as a mustard seed, and but it is all that matters in salvation.
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