Never Ruthless – A Personal Story

By Debra DuPree Williams @DDuPreeWilliams

Not only are my husband and I and a few members of our family doing a chronological reading of our Bibles, but our church is, too. I will say, our pastor is moving along at a much faster pace than we are. This past week, he delved into the book of Ruth, the eighth book of the Bible, for his sermon. We just finished Deuteronomy, the fifth book, today, and that is with having read ahead a few chapters as we go along our plan.

Not many people know that my middle name is Ruth. So, we always joke that I’ve never been ruthless. I was named for my step-grandmother, Ruth Hall Dupree. I adored her. My sister and I always called her Grandmother, as we never knew our Daddy’s birth mother, Roxie Burdeshaw Dupree. She died from sepsis after stepping on a nail at age 54. My Daddy was only seventeen. I cannot imagine leaving any of our four boys when they were only seventeen.

MY THOUGHTS WHEN I WAS A CHILD

When I was a child and thought like a child, I thought the book of Ruth was either about me or my Grandmother. As I grew older and as I studied more of God’s word, I knew about Naomi and Ruth and about Boaz. I even sang the solo, Entreat Me Not to Leave Thee, at the weddings of many of my friends. I knew the words, but, as a teen or a young woman, they didn’t have the meaning to me then that they now do.

And, I certainly had no idea of the significance Ruth and her family played in the life of Christ.

Until we read the entire Bible chronologically in 2020. One of the best decisions of my entire life. Reading in such a manner has impacted us and our marriage in ways that you cannot begin to imagine. If you’ve never read your Bible thusly, let me stop here and tell you, it is never too late to begin. I’ll put some notes at the bottom of this post with links to help you should you decide to do that.

Did you know that Ruth is one of only two books in the Bible named for women? The other is Esther who was born for such a time as this. (Esther 4:14).

The first chapter of Matthew mentions Ruth in the genealogy of Jesus. (Matthew 1:1-17).

STELLAR LINEAGE

Ruth and Boaz had a son, Obed; to Obed was born Jesse; to Jesse was born David, the king, the shepherd boy who slew Goliath. Go read the entire passage. You will recognize many of the names listed. As our family genealogist, I found this entire list of names fascinating. To think, I was happy to find some of my roots back to the 1500s and earlier. I cannot imagine being able to trace my lineage so far back. Boggles my mind.

Never Ruthless - A Personal Story @DDuPreeWilliams #faith #writing Share on X

According to The MacArthur Study Bible, (NKJ, 1997), page 366, in his notes about the book of Ruth, MacArthur says, “Goethe reportedly labeled this piece of anonymous but unexcelled literature as ‘the loveliest, complete work on a small scale.’ What Venus is to statuary and the Mona Lisa is to paintings, Ruth is to literature.”

In my Bible, (NASB) the entire book is only three and a third pages long. You can read the whole book in a matter of minutes. It’s a lovely story and is read in synagogues at Pentecost since so much of it takes place at harvest time (Ruth 2, 3).

One final thing to note about Ruth. She is described as the representative virtuous woman of Proverbs 31 (KJV).

 

Do you have a Ruth in your life? Perhaps your wife or your mother or grandmother? I am so honored to have been named for my Grandmother, Ruth. But what a name to have to live up to. True, I’ve never been Ruthless, but I’m afraid I fall short daily when it comes to this sharing this woman’s name, but God’s not finished with me . . . yet.

Blessings, y’all!

A lovely rendition of Entreat Me Not to Leave Thee by Gounod.

Here are the links to the Bible study we are doing. Remember, it is NEVER too late to start.

https://www.thebiblerecap.com/

 

 

A personal note about the spelling of my maiden name:

DuPre with the accent on the e is the original spelling of my family name. Once they were in the colonies for a while, they began to spell it as most said it, no longer like doo PRAY, or even doo PWAY, but doo PREE. Thus, most of my family spelled it, Dupree. But my Daddy always wrote his name with a capital P.  Because he did, I always wrote mine that way. Neither my sister nor my mother ever did so. And my cousins still don’t. As a matter of fact, we even pronounce our last name differently. It must be because of all the years of singing in so many foreign languages. I say dew PREE. They say, DEW pree. We’re all from the same lineage and we all love one another. This isn’t me trying to be or seem to be someone I am not. It is just the way a child/teen saw and heard her world and her name. I’ve always been and will always be, Debbie DuPree Williams.