It’s been said that “one measure of a good short story is a surprise ending.” I think that’s generally true. I like stories with a surprise ending. That’s part of the reason I like the story of Ruth. We don’t where it’s going and then it suddenly stops short in a way we would never guess. Only then do we realize the story wasn’t entirely what we thought it would be about.

This story is not just about one little family trying to survive a famine, and not just a love story between Ruth and Boaz. It’s about God working out his plan for the arrival of the Savior. But what is equally remarkable about the story of Ruth is the fact that it has surprise beginning.

In the opening verses we meet a man named Elimilech, his lovely wife Naomi, and their two sons. We are left with the impression that the story will focus on this father and his sons.

Then, to our shock, all the men are wiped out in the first five verses – leaving behind three grieving widows. It’s like a TV program where the lead characters are killed off in the first sixty seconds. We are left wondering, “Now what?”

In the ancient world, that surprise start would have been the end of story because no one really cared much about widows. But it doesn’t end, and we suddenly realize this story is not heading in the direction we anticipated. For one thing it’s not going to focus on the men… but on the women.

This surprise beginning also forces us to think about the harsh realities of life in a broken world – in a world of sin, sickness, disease and death; a world of pain, disappointment, heartache and loss. We see all of this right from the start, in the story of Ruth.