Review: Redeeming Grace by Jill Eileen Smith

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When Ruth risks all and leaves her land behind for a chance at a new life, will she be able to convince Boaz to risk his heart and redeem her from her desperate state?

My Review:

Redeeming Grace is the story of Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz from the time before Naomi and her family left Bethlehem to the birth of Obed.  We are given all three of their viewpoints throughout the story, and I would say that for the most part the story follows along the Biblical records.  The author does take some artistic license during the years before Moab and during the time Naomi and Ruth lived in Moab.  I found the author’s take very interesting and could see the meticulous research shining through.  We know, according to Scripture, why Naomi and her family left their home, but why did they not return sooner?  Why were Ruth and Naomi so destitute?  Why were there no children in 10 years of marriage and was Boaz married before or a bachelor?  The author attempts to answer these questions and gives us a believable sequence of events from her imagination and research.

What really stood out to me was how the culture of Moab was described; their gods, festivals, and evil sacrifices.  We see how the culture around us can corrupt and seem pleasing even to those chosen of God.  How careful we need to be to not be drawn in lest we lose not only our lives, but our souls.  I liked again how Jill shows a searching Ruth, (like Rahab) who believed there was something more, a better way then what she grew up in.  Hence her faithfulness to Naomi to set forth as a foreigner to a land that may not have been friendly to a foreigner from a hostile nation.  The comparisons between Bethlehem and Moab the land, people, and festivals were thought provoking and interesting as well.

The love Ruth has for Naomi shines bright and her willingness to obey and put her Mother-in-law’s needs above her own.  The romance and genuine love between Ruth and Boaz ultimately resulting in the birth of their son Obed, the grandfather of King David and in the ancestral line of Jesus was a treat to watch unfold.

This story does not sugar coat the trials that were faced and shows how even God’s people dealt with depression and questioned a God who was good yet allowed bad things to happen.  

  

I received a copy of this book for free.  I was not required to give a positive review and the views and opinions expressed are my own.