Every good relationship takes risk and commitment. Don’t you find that to be the case? If we never risk letting our true selves out there we will never have good relationships and if we don’t commit to those relationships in a meaningful and ongoing way we will not keep them.
Certainly, every good love story has these elements as well. Romeo and Juliet risked putting two families to war, for instance. Even in our fiction, we know that real relationships take risk and commitment.
The love story we’ve been studying in Ruth is no different, except that it is real. Today we see the seeds of the relationship blossom as both Ruth and Boaz take great risk and make great commitments in order to be together. And in the same way God’s love story for us shows how far God will go to have a relationship with us. The question for us, then, is how much of a risk will we take?
We pick up the story as Ruth, the Moabite, has found favor in the eyes of Boaz, a close relative.
1
Naomi wants to find a marriage for Ruth, as was the custom in that day. Remaining in a widow’s house would not provide much security for her. But I do notice that Naomi waited until she saw the character of the man and the response of Ruth. There was love first, then arrangement.
2 - 5
Naomi basically hatches this plan to see if Boaz wants to marry Ruth.
Covering over with a garment was an act of asking for an engagement to marry:
Ezekiel 16:8 "When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, and you became mine. ESV
6 - 7
The men and women doing the threshing would often spend the night with the crops to keep them safe. This is not a sexual overture by Ruth. In our own approach to God we come softly - not demanding, but asking, hoping, seeking.
8 - 9
"Wings" can also mean the corners of a garment. There is obvious double meaning going on here. Ruth is asking for Boaz to cover her and protect her more from just one night’s cold. We too ask God to protect us not just from one day’s trouble but for all of eternity, under his wings.
And God is willing:
Matthew 23:37-39 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! 38 See, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ’Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’" ESV
10 - 11
Boaz is a much older man and it pleases him that though she could find someone younger, she chooses him. It’s a choice we make as well. We could go off and marry ourselves to youth, beauty or pleasure, but instead we choose the security of a redeemer. But there is a problem for Boaz:
12 - 13
Apparently there was a relative that was closer to Elimelech than he, and he must be given first rights.
14 - 18
It’s likely that Boaz just digs into the grain with his hands and puts it in her shawl. Naomi realizes that Boaz will settle the matter quickly. I think it is also like God that when we reach out to Him he doesn’t leave us hanging but comes to save us instantly. Just as Boaz is anxious to take Ruth as his bride, Jesus longs for us to belong to him.
Isaiah 65:24 Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. NIV
4:1 - 4
Sitting down with witnesses was the way business, political and legal dealings were handled. Boaz has a plan to discourage the other man from buying the property so he offers only part of the deal at first.
Land was supposed to say within families (Lev 25:23-28) and normally land would pass to a son or a daughter if there were no son, but there was no provision for land to pass from husband to wife. So the man thinks it is a good buy and says he’ll do it.
5 - 6
Boaz gave up raising children in his own name by taking Naomi as his wife. According to the Law the children would be raised in Mahlon’s name and would inherit the land. Maybe the other guy realized that money he would pay for this land would not go to his own sons. That’s why he says "lest I impair my own inheritance." Jesus gave up His life to be eternally human in order to be with us.
And in doing this, Boaz raised up an heir who would be David, the forebear of Jesus Christ.
7 - 12
The taking off of the shoe apparently came from an old custom where someone would take possession of land by walking on it as the new owner. This turned into giving the sandal as a sign of transferring of ownership. The only thing we don’t know here is who gave the sandal to whom!
There were few written records in those days so the witness was very important. God very publicly died for us to purchase us from Satan. He was put on public display and scorn among many witnesses so that there would be no question about what happened.
It’s pretty obvious why the people compared Ruth to Rachel and Leah, but why Perez? Perez was born to Tamar when Judah slept with her as a prostitute because he had refused to give his son to her in marriage (Genesis 38). It could be that Boaz is fulfilling the Leverite law in marrying the widow and carrying on his name (in contrast to Judah who did it unwillingly).
13 - 17
Naomi had wanted to be known as Mara, which means "bitterness." She claimed in 1:20 that it was the Lord who had dealt her a bitter hand and that "the Lord has brought me back empty." Now she is full, a full family, cared for, and loved.
It’s so true with us too. We come to the Lord empty. We have nothing to give or offer Him but he gives to us so freely, and in fact, replaces many times over what we have lost by our own sin.
Joel 2:25-27
I will restore to you the years
that the swarming locust has eaten,
the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter,
my great army, which I sent among you.
26 "You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
and praise the name of the Lord your God,
who has dealt wondrously with you.
And my people shall never again be put to shame.
27 You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel,
and that I am the Lord your God and there is none else.
And my people shall never again be put to shame. ESV
18 - 22
Here’s where we see partly why this book was written, to show the line from Ruth to David. Ruth was David’s great grandmother.
There are a couple of great points here:
1. Ruth was a Moabite, yet is in the line of the Messiah. There is gentile blood running through the veins of the Jewish Messiah - isn’t that cool? Also, of course, Rahab from Jericho is in the line of Jesus.
2. Ruth is a book of relief in an otherwise dismal time in Israel’s history. At the same time that the nation ran headlong from God into idolatry, here were honest men and women who did the right thing.
We need to take heart because even in our day of great darkness, we can be men and women of integrity who go about doing good and restoring.
3. There is also a picture here or the nation of Israel. I think that perhaps Boaz represents Yahweh who goes to great lengths to redeem Israel, who has sold herself to foreign gods and has become like a Moabite-a foreigner in her own land. He takes the bad others have done and at His own personal expense redeems the nation.
4. Finally, of course, there is the picture of the Lord as our redeemer. He covers over us with his garment, his wings, and he gave up so much in his love for us in order to have us for his bride for all of eternity. So what kind of relationship are you willing to risk? Are you willing to lay out your true self to him, to risk rejection by coming to him?
He won’t reject you, I promise.
