Reading “Judges” and continuing on to “Ruth” is like traveling from a hopeless land to a place of joy. My heart suffers along with the Holy Spirit while reading “Judges” because of everything Israelites did before the Lord. It hurts me deeply because what the Israelites did were a vivid type of what our old life is and what it does to the Lord.
Then just to the same extent, my heart is blessed while reading “Ruth”. In contrast with the long-suffering and patience the Holy Spirit must have been taken while writing Judges, how much the heart of our Lord must have been pleased when revealing His redemption through a little one’s (Ruth’s) faithfulness in a painfully humbling situation!
Then your heart starts to understand the continuity from “Judges” to “Ruth”, and how the Holy Spirit patiently recorded “Judges” and looked forward to writing “Ruth”.