Introductory Comments
1. As we saw this morning, the book of Ruth is the story of Naomi. She left Judah for Moab. Naomi, who lost her husband and two sons in Moab and returned to Judah with Ruth, her daughter-in-law. Naomi, whose life has become bitter, who sees no hope in her life, no future or purpose. Who is struggling with her God.
2. She knows that He is a sovereign God, nothing will happen to her unless He allows it. She also knows that He is a loving God and that He cares for His people. Why then has her life fallen apart? Why Has He turned His hand against her?
3. Bitter and yet, with a slim hope, she returns to find the God whom she knows is there.
4. This morning we compared Naomi's life and our lives to a tapestry or wall hanging. We saw the side that was a tangled mess of loose ends, unravelled knots, and unrelated colours - no purpose, no meaning.
5. Tonight we turn that tapestry around to see if there is any pattern to the threads of Naomi's life and to our lives. We see if God is a faithful provider and if He is, how He does provide for us. We follow her plight through the rest of book of Ruth.
6. As we do so, it becomes evident that Naomi now takes a secondary role in the story. She is placed in the background as the focus seems to shift to Boaz and Ruth. Has God forgotten about her? We will see.
Teaching
1. In vs. 1 of chapter 2, the author shares a secret with us, a secret that Naomi is either not aware of or has forgotten. Sometimes in the midst of despair, we are so overcome by the despair that we fail to see the hope and the resources that we do have. We are told that Naomi has a relative on her husband's side. A man of wealth whose name is Boaz. Naomi doesn't know but God will use Boaz to work out his plans.
2. God cared for the homeless and the aliens that lived in Israel. In Leviticus 19:9 and 10, God told the people:
"When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest."
Leave them for the poor and the alien. When crop harvested, some of grain would be left behind by the reapers. Instead of having someone gather this, the owner of the land was to leave it behind for the needy.
3. Ruth asks her mother-in-law if she may go and pick up sone leftover grain for food. As she goes out there seems to be some coincidences. In vs. 3 we read "as it turned out, she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz". In vs. 4 we read "Just then" Boaz arrived from Bethlehem, and he then noticed Ruth gleaning in his field." The words "as it turned out" and "just then" make it seem like these things are coincidences. But Naomi later sees these things are not coincidences. In vs. 20, after Ruth tells Naomi of the day's events, Naomi says "The Lord has not stopped showing His kindness to the living and the dead."
4. Life is not a game of chance. When we have a problem and someone comes along to help us, it is not a coincidence but God has sent that person our way. We live in a society that believes in luck. Buy a lottery ticket and if you're lucky, you will be an instant millionaire. We are quick to say "Good luck" to people. As Christians, though, we deny God's sovereignty with those words.
5. Boaz asks his foreman who Ruth is and the foreman gives a good report about her. She has worked steadily from morning until noon ,except for a short rest in the shelter. Boaz has heard all about what ruth has done for Naomi - leaving home and family for her. And so Boaz is attracted to Ruth.
6. During harvest, men would cut the grain in the fields and the women would gather the sheaves and tie them together in bundles. Boaz tells Ruth to stay with the girls who are working for him. He tells the men not to touch her. Boaz was obligated to allow Ruth to gather the gleanings, but those who gathered the gleanings were expected to keep their distance from the reapers. Otherwise they might take some of the sheaves that were part of the harvest. Boaz goes beyond what the law requires him to do.
7. He offers her a meal and later he tells his men not to say anything and embarrass Ruth if she would accidently pick up some sheaves that were meant for the harvest. In fact they were to pull some stalks out of the bundles and leave them for her.
8. To understand the remainder of the story and the importance of Boaz in the story, we need to be familiar with two Jewish concepts. That of the levir and that of the goel.
a. Levir is a Latin word which translates the Hebrew word for brother-in-law. The levirate law stated that when a man, died, his nearest relative had the responsibility of marrying his wife and having a son so that the dead man's name would not disappear without a heritage.
b. The law of the goel or the protector is found in Leviticus 25:25. It states "If your brother becomes poor and sells part of his property, then his next of kin shall come and redeem what his brother has sold." The goel was a near-kinsman. It was his duty to act as a redeemer in situations of family need. The relative would be obligated to, at his own expense, to buy back the property and give it back to the relative who had sold it.
c. Both of these laws showed NB of family in the Jewish community. Each person is a member of a covenant family and responsible for each other's good name and welfare
9. In ch. 3, Naomi starts taking a more active role in securing a future for Ruth. Now that she sees God's favour coming back upon them, she is motivated to work toward making things better. She makes a plan where by Ruth can let Boaz know that she would like Boaz to marry her. Perhaps she seems to be scheming but we must remember that in Israel in those days, the parents took a far more active role in arranging for their children's marriage. That is why Samson, when he saw the young Philistine woman he wanted to marry, asked his parents to arrange for the wedding.
10. Naomi plots for Ruth to go down to the threshing floor at night while Boaz is lying there asleep. Ruth approaches him quietly, uncovers his feet and lays down. To lie at one's feet is a lowly position and it represents Ruth as a petitioner- one who is asking someone for something.
11. Boaz gets the message. Ruth asks Boaz to spread the cover of his mantle over her and he does. Ruth is asking Boaz to be the levir and marry her so that her dead husband name (and that of Naomi's) may be perpetuated.
12. Boaz has a new surprise for us. There is a closer relative than him to Ruth and, according to the law, he must be given the first opportunity to marry her. But if he does not wish to marry Ruth, then Boaz will gladly do so - not just out of obligation. So Boaz arranges to meet this nearer-kinsman at the gate of the city. It was at the gate that townsfolk met for conversation and for the administration of justice. Here the poor waited for aid and here business was transacted. We find out that through Elimelech, Naomi owned a piece of land and was planning to sell it for money on which she could live. The relative is asked if he wants to buy the land to keep it in the family. The issue seems simple and he agrees to redeem it, However, Boaz then tells him the rest. On the day he buys the land, he must also marry Ruth. Now the relative sees that things are not in his favour and he backs down from doing that which a good relative was expected to do. For the land would have to be given to future son so he would loose it. There was a cost involved in transaction. He is not willing to pay it but Boaz is.
13. The ending of the story comes in a short few verses but they tell us much about God and how His grace of provision is present. Boaz takes Ruth to be his wife and they bear a son to perpetuate the name of Naomi.
14. The greatest joy of how well things turned out seems to be for Naomi. In 4:14 and 15, the women of the town praise God for what He has done for Naomi. READ. The birth of a grandson is so importnat for Naomi that the women say that she herself has a son. Naomi had returned to Israel empty - no children and no purpose. She wondered if God really cared about an ordinary person as herself. Now she is full - has a grandson and a purpose.
15. In fact, Naomi's grandson became the grandfather of David, the greatest king of Israel and through their family line Jesus was born. Naomi's life was important - she played a role in bringing Christ into world.
16. God is a God of grace - a sovereign God who watches over each of us and cares for us. He watches over you and knows your struggles, your doubts, and fears, your need for a sense of purpose.
17. And so the book of Ruth reveals God's faithfulness to us- His grace of provision. And we learn HOW God is faithful to us:
a. First, we see that God's grace goes beyond the law. God calls us to be faithful to Him in order that He might bless us. We read in 2 Timothy that even when we are faithless, He will remain faithful, for He cannot disown Himself. Boaz went beyond his legal obligations to help Ruth and Naomi. God could have said that Naomi had made her own bed and now had to lay in it. That she had to reap what she sowed. True, we often reap what we sow, but God is a gracious and loving God. Sometimes the seeds we sow in our lives are not very good but God turns them into good seeds. Even the mistakes we make can be turned into good by God. When you feel that things are bad and you blame yourself, do not feel that God is punishing you. He does refine us and discipline us but He does not take us out of His grace because of our disobedience - if we are His people. For we all have disobeyed Him through our foolishness.
b. The other thing we learn is that God often uses the very people who pray for others to help the people that they are praying for. In 2:12, Boaz prays "May the Lord repay you for what you have do. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel." She was repaid and rewarded by God through Boaz. Have you ever prayed to God that He would help someone and then found yourself being God's instrument of help? As I pray, God urges me and shows me how to help.
c. We also see that God's grace and care does not mean, that we do not have to take any action or make any decisions - naomi very active as was Boaz - but God works through us. We don' t sit back in either good or bad situations and say that God will take care of things. We take an active role in working out our problems, knowing that God's grace will keep us either through our actions or despite them.
d. We also see that there is a cost of helping people - was a cost to Boaz. He had to pay for a piece of land that he would not own. And yet he was blessed. We don't just help others when it is safe and costless to do so. Christ did not -He gave His life for us.
e. We see that God's hand is in our lives even when the focus seems to be on others. The focus is on Boaz and Ruth and yet God has not forgotten Naomi. So it is in our lives- perhaps others seem to be in God's favour or in the limelight. Perhaps younger people or the next generation. But God has not forgotten us.
f/ Finally, Boaz is seen as a figure to represent how Christ would redeem us. He became our brother by taking on earthly flesh and He paid the price of reuniting us with His father. We are spiritually poor and there is no way that we could get back the perfect relationship that we had when God created us. But Christ stood ln our stead as Boaz did for his dead relative.
18. God is faithful and just. He cares for ordinary people like you and me. May we remember that when we go thru valleys. We may not see Him, but He has not left us. May our hope always be in Him.
