Ruth and Boaz - A match that only makes sense in Heaven

Drawing of Ruth & Boaz
obtained from Google Images

At Hope Crossing we're in a series on Ruth. I really enjoy Ruth because I can TOTALLY RELATE to being a young poor single lady looking after her mom! :D (who is also poor and yeah).  Our pastor pointed out that a lot of people though Ruth and Boaz's meeting was "love at first sight" but it might not have necessarily been. 

Ruth was a foreigner and the Israelites were told not to marry foreign citizens. Therefore, Boaz wouldn't have even considered her for marriage. Also, he calls her "my daughter" when he addresses her. John Piper said that could indicate a large age gap between them. Therefore, he probably wouldn't think of her as marriage material because she was too young for him. 

Boaz was a rich guy, but he was OLD! Like, he probably had to trim his ear and nose hair and pop his back in five different places before going out to the fields to greet his workers. Ruth probably didn't consider marrying him at first because a) she was a foreigner and probably thought he wouldn't want to marry him anyway and b) she was barren so she couldn't really be of any value in continuing on his line. She hadn't had kids in 10 years of marriage and that was when The Pill and such definitely didn't exist. 

However, God had other plans. He made Ruth see that Boaz is a nice guy and by the way her kinsman-redeemer. He made Boaz see that here was the opportunity to show he had a pair and step up for his family he never knew existed until recently. Their marriage wasn't based on mutual feelings of drooling over each other, and I'm sure when Naomi basically told Ruth, "Hey! Propose the the guy!" the conversation may have gone something like this: 
"Um.... Mom - do you mean propose to the old guy?" 
"Yes, the old guy who HAPPENS TO OWN THE FIELD YOU WORKED IN ALL SUMMER! Our kinsman-redeemer *wink wink*" 
"Oh - oh yeah. *cringe* Um, but I'm a barren previously married foreigner and such." 
"Well, if he has a pair and remembers which family you married into AND  knows the Levitical law, he'll do it." 
"Well. Ok. See ya, mom!" 
"Ok - FIX YOUR HAIR!" 

And God softened Ruth's heart to listen to her mom :D 

But anyway, yeah. Just reading the story without knowing God was in it, people might be like, "What!?! That's a nice love story but... odd?" But when we read it knowing God used a very unlikely pairing to continue the Messianic line of Christ, it becomes epic!!!