So Naomi finds out that Ruth is gleaning in Boaz’s field and she says, “Should I not seek rest for you, Is Boaz not our relative?” If you recall when Naomi was telling Ruth and Orpah to stay in Moab she said, “The Lord grant that you find rest, each of you in the house of her husband”. This rest seems to have to do with marriage and maybe even having children. So Naomi here again is saying “should I not seek Boaz to be your husband?”
Naomi knows that Boaz will be winnowing his barley at the threshing floor. You see these farmers would have a threshing floor usually on a hill that was exposed to wind. When the afternoon and evening winds would come up, they would go and throw their threshed grain into the air and all the chaff would blow away leaving the grain on the ground. His workers would probably have been with him as well.
When they were done for the night or the wind stopped, they would all sleep in a circle around the grain with their feet facing out to protect the grain from thieves. Now Naomi tells Ruth to clean her self up, finally get out of her grieving and working clothes, put on some perfume, your good clothes, and wait till they’ve all eaten and had some drinks so that they are sleeping soundly, and then go to Boaz.
Naomi sees that Boaz (the lord of this harvest) wants to be Ruth’s redeemer, he gives her everything, but Ruth ultimately has to claim him as her redeemer. I know it sounds kind of strange to us, but this process that Naomi gives Ruth to do is very customary for that time and culture.
We want to look closely at the process: wash, anoint, put on your cloak, lie down at his feet, tell him that you want him to have you/save you/redeem you. Doesn’t this sound similar to what a lost sinner does to receive Christ? We have to be washed by Christ. It says in Titus 3 that it is by His mercy that we are saved, by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. We must be born again, washed by the blood of Jesus.
After we are washed or saved by Christ’s blood we are anointed by the Holy Spirit. Now here Ruth is to wash herself and anoint herself, that is what they had to do before Christ came, but it is a picture of what happens in the future when we are saved by Christ. 1 John 2:20 “But you have an anointing from the Holy One”. So Ruth washes up puts on some “Midnight in Moab”, and then is to put on some nice clothes.
We are to put on the robe of righteousness. Paul speaks of this robe that we are literally to wear the righteousness of Christ, and not only that, we hear in Revelation that we are being adorned for the wedding feast of the Lamb just like a bride being presented to her husband.
So there’s all the preparation, then Ruth is to go to Boaz at the threshing floor and claim him as her kinsman redeemer. That is a crucial step, we can do everything else but in the end we must recognize our need for a redeemer and claim the gift that Jesus gives. He doesn’t pour it out until we ask for it.
We need to go and allow him to cover us with the corner of his cloak. Boaz like Jesus wants to be the redeemer, but that redemption must be claimed. We must ask for refuge under his wings. Ruth is to lay at his feet and cover herself with the end of his robe. She does this quietly at his feet so that there would be no misconstrual that this was in any way immoral.
And notice that it says when she does this, He will tell you what to do. We are to follow all that Jesus commands as he says in the Great Commission, but notice it comes after repentance and baptism. After we have sought refuge in Christ, that is when we are to do all that he says. Not to get His salvation. Why do you think that is?
I think it’s because when we really understand what he has done to redeem us and we claim that by faith, we will trust everything else he says, and obedience to his commands will be a joy because we know without a doubt that he loves us and would never ask us to do anything where he would not be there for us.
The Great Commission is bookended by “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me”, and “I am with you always, to the end of the age”. When we really believe that, is there anything we should fear as we obey his commands. Remember believing in is trusting in.
She pulls his cloak to cover her somewhat and of course this would eventually make him kind of cold, so he sits up and feels around and there’s Ruth. It’s so dark he asks who she was and she quietly tells him, “I am Ruth, please spread your wings over me, for you are a redeemer”. The sinner does the same thing when we realize our true nature and relationship to God. “I am unworthy, a sinner and I need you my redeemer, to spread your wings of salvation over me”.
Boaz has an interesting reaction to her words. He says that she should be blessed because she has made this kindness greater than the first. What does that mean? Well you see Ruth actually had the legal right to take Boaz to public court in the town square and force him to be her redeemer. If he refused she had the right to spit on him and throw one of his shoes away in public. Really!
But instead she comes and humbly pleads with him in private. Not only that, but Boaz is aware that she was not just out husband hunting for the youngest richest guy she could find. So her first kindness is to Naomi and now he sees this kindness shown to him even greater than that. She does everything she can not to humiliate him publicly.
Then in verse 11 Ruth gets what would have been a very wonderful compliment. Even though she is an idol worshipping Moabite, and many parents in town would have thought she would come scavenging for their young sons, who would be tempted to marry her. Instead Boaz tells her that her reputation in town is that she is truly a worthy or virtuous woman and he would not at all be ashamed to be her husband and redeemer.
The connection here to Jesus is that many of us choose to go out into the world and find the best that the world has to offer. Amoung all the attractive options, Jesus is often one of the last things we seek to make our lives whole. But Ruth sought none other as the world would have enticed her to do. She chose only Boaz, as Jesus wants us to choose only Him, because he is the only redeemer.
Unfortunately there is a catch. There’s another closer redeemer who has first dibs, and Boaz says he will get a chance, but if he is not willing, as sure as the Lord lives I will do it. You see he had already investigated this, he wanted Ruth but he checked things out to see if he was the only one who could have her, and he wasn’t. He let Ruth choose to some extent.
Boaz like Jesus was just waiting for Ruth to give him the green light, and he is ready to move right away to redeem her. But there is a potential adversary. So he asks her to stay to protect her from the dangerous Bethlehem streets in the middle of the night. So she lays at his feet, but gets up before it gets light and anyone can recognize anyone else. This keeps anyone from suggesting that anything unholy happened between them.
Notice that Boaz provided for her present needs without her asking. “You must not go back empty handed he says” (remember Naomi said she went away full but returned empty). Ruth takes her garment and Boaz fills it with grain for her and Naomi. He is not just redeeming Ruth but also filling Naomi.
The Bible says that we don’t have to fret over our basic needs either. That when we claim Jesus as our redeemer, God will provide everything we need for life and godliness. We don’t need to ask for what we need because God knows what we need before we do, we just need to claim Him and be thankful.
And just like it is with Jesus, once she claimed him, Ruth did not have to do anything else. She just had to sit back and let Boaz redeem her. He does it all and we can rest in Him. This doesn’t mean we won’t serve him as his redeemed one, but we need to do nothing to get the redemption other than receive it. Redemption is entirely His work.
What a wonderful Saviour we have. He has performed all the work of redemption and asks us to rest in Him. He tells his Father in his priestly prayer in John 17 that, “I have finished the work you have given me to do”, and as he hung on the cross he proclaimed, “It is finished”.
You see, when we truly believe what he has done for us, that we have to do absolutely nothing to gain the redemption he accomplished, we can fully trust him and a peace that surpasses all understanding washes over us. Nothing else I ever have to do to gain God’s favour all because of the work Jesus did. And if he did that what could I possibly not trust him with?
We come to Him completely empty with nothing to offer just like Ruth, but he fills us. Paul talks about this in Galatians. There are many people today who like to talk about their character, what a good person they are, or even that they are members of a church. Many feel that church membership or the label they have as Christian is synonymous with salvation.
There is nothing farther from the truth. God is not receiving your effort or my effort. No baptism, signing of a church membership card, or any other thing we do can gain us the redemption that Christ alone purchased on the cross. He is the sacrifice. In fact even our faith doesn’t save us.
Charles Spurgeon said, “It is not thy hold on Christ that saves thee; it is Christ. It is not thy joy in Christ that saves thee; it is Christ. It’s not even thy faith in Christ, though that be the instrument; it is Christ’s blood and merit.”
Faith enables us to take hold of his salvation, it allows us to claim him as our redeemer, but it is only his work that redeems. We either trust him or we don’t, we are either resting in his salvation or we are trying to earn our own salvation through our behaviour and rituals.
So the act ends with Naomi confirming this for Ruth. She says rest my daughter, see how it turns out. But she already knows how it will turn out because she says the man will not rest, but will settle the matter today.
For thousands of years God has been pursuing the mankind he created. He rested from creating, but he has not rested in pursuing us to be his children. Even since Jesus came He has spent over 2000 years pursuing, desiring us to come to him for refuge, and still he pursues, for he does not want any to perish.
But there will come a time when he does settle it, and that day could be today. Have you claimed him, is he your kinsman redeemer, or do you continue to look to man and the world? No one else can or is willing to redeem you from the consequences of sin. Come to his feet and let him put his cloak of righteousness over you, where He will keep you for the rest of eternity.
