It was Sunday morning and Harry was off. He pulled out of his driveway in his 2-seater convertible, with the roof closed because of typical Melbourne driving rain, and headed for church. But as he turned into the main road he saw ahead of him three bedraggled figures huddled under a single umbrella at the next bus stop. One was old Mrs Fletcher. She still insisted on getting to church by herself, despite her arthritis which was always worse in wet weather. There was Dr Jones, the local GP. A year earlier Dr Jones had diagnosed a rare and dangerous disease that Harry had contracted on an overseas holiday, so Harry virtually owed him his life. And the third person was Judith. Harry had had a crush on Judith for the past 6 months since she joined their church but had never had the courage or the opportunity to ask her out.
Harry had about 3 seconds to decide what to do. There was only one spare seat. Who should he offer a lift to? But 3 seconds was enough. He pulled to a halt, jumped out, passed the keys to Dr Jones, helped Mrs Fletcher into the passenger seat, then modestly waved them good-bye as he huddled close to Judith under the umbrella.
As we’ll see as we move on in our story of Ruth and Naomi, in matters of romance, chance and good sense often go together to bring about a happy ending. In fact in so many areas of life God’s will is brought about by a combination of divine providence and human responsibility.
Last week we saw how Naomi and Ruth returned from Moab after a series of disasters, widowed and without any visible means of support; destitute, bitter and seemingly without hope. For Ruth it was worse because she was a foreigner, a member of a cursed people. What’s more she was without a dowry, she was apparently unable to have children, having been married for 10 years without bearing a child, and therefore her marriage prospects were poor. All told, their future was grim, a future of loneliness and poverty.
Yet as we know, the story of Ruth has a happy ending. Ruth will find a husband. Naomi will become a grandmother. Ruth and Boaz will begin a family that will become a Royal dynasty, that will include David and ultimately, God’s own Son, Jesus Christ. But first, our main actor, Ruth has to do something about it. God puts her into the right place. She just happens to begin to glean in a field owned by her kinsman, Boaz, but divine providence isn’t all that’s required. She has to do her bit. Human responsibility is there as well. If you like, God buts Boaz by the bus stop, but Ruth has to find a way to get herself under the umbrella.
There’s no doubt as you read through this narrative, that the author wants us to understand that in everything that happens, God is at work. Naomi sees this clearly from the start. God has provided food for his people again. She calls herself Mara, bitter, because of what the Lord has done to her. She went away full but the Lord has brought her back empty. She knows how the world works. Even if her conclusion is a little premature, she knows that God is sovereign in all that happens in this world. But what she doesn’t see at this stage is that there’s nothing arbitrary about the disasters she’s experienced. Nor are they God punishing her for leaving Judah. Rather, they’ve happened in order to bring Ruth into this situation so God’s plan for the salvation of the world can be progressed. The scale of this plan, you see, is enormous. What started off as a plan involving a small group of descendants of Abraham, who were blessed of God, is about to be shown to extend even to those who are under God’s curse. Ruth, the pagan Moabite is about to be brought into God’s plan in the most significant of ways, by becoming the great grandmother of David and the ancestor of Jesus Christ. ’God moves in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform.’
By the way, there’s a lesson here about the way God brings about his will that would be helpful for us to learn. It would appear at first glance that Elimelech’s decision to take his family to Moab was a big mistake. That was certainly Naomi’s conclusion. Yet if he hadn’t made that mistake, none of the rest of the story would have happened. Yet how many times have you heard Christians expressing the thought that they’ve missed out on God’s best because they made some wrong decision in the past. How often have you heard preachers teaching that sort of idea. As though God was bound by circumstances or by our poor judgement. As though if you don’t get every decision right in your life, or at least the major ones, you’ll have to settle for God’s second best! I’ve heard those exact words used. But what sort of God are we talking about here? Where in the Bible have human mistakes of judgement ever stopped God from doing what he planned? So if you’ve made mistakes in your life, don’t let them bind you. Confess them and get on with your life. Thank God that he can use even your wrong decisions to bring about his purposes. And of course, learn from your mistakes so you don’t make them next time.
Further evidence of God’s providence in action is found at the beginning of ch. 2. "Now Naomi had a kinsman on her husband’s side, a prominent rich man, of the family of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz." Our narrator tells us this at the beginning, to alert us to the fact that even in the midst of tragedy, God is at work. In fact God has been preparing for this moment for many years. Back in the days of Moses, God had made laws that allowed for the poor to glean in the fields after the harvesters had been through, prohibiting the harvesters from going back over the field to pick up the bits they’d missed. That way those who were poor, who didn’t own any land, could get enough grain to live on. And he’d provided a safeguard for women like Ruth, to ensure that they wouldn’t be left destitute and without heirs in the case of their husband dying, through the institution of the kinsman-redeemer who would marry her and give her an heir.
And so God’s providence moves on. Ruth is out gleaning, as it turns out, in Boaz’ field and again, just by chance, Boaz happens to call in to check on his workmen. It’s like something out of a movie. The poor widow who’s given up everything to care for her mother-in-law. The rich and handsome grazier. Their eyes meet and the electricity flies. He has to know who this strange woman is. She hurries home at the end of the day to tell Naomi all about this wonderful man who’s been so kind to her. And Naomi again sees the hand of the Lord at work, but this time for their good. She says of Boaz "Blessed be he by the LORD, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!" Naomi’s faith has been tested, but now it springs back to life. The sky has been dark, but now she can see a patch of blue, a sign perhaps that the storm clouds are going and the sun will shine again after all.
But first the main actors have to do their parts. God has done his, now it’s up to Ruth and Naomi and Boaz. Naomi recognises what’s needed. She understands God’s provision for his people, particularly widows like Ruth. So at the start of ch 3 she explains it to Ruth. She tells her what to do. She’s to go to Boaz in the middle of the night and lie down with him at the foot of his sleeping mat. And notice how she’s to get ready. She’s to wash and anoint herself, and put on her best clothes. Nothing’s changed has it? Spray on Chanel No 5. Put on that slinky red number. And make sure you catch him unawares. Wait until he’s had a few drinks and is in a relaxed mood. Then you can act. Do you get the impression Naomi knew what she was doing?
So Ruth goes down to the threshing floor, waits for Boaz to lie down and fall asleep and then lies down at his feet.
Which brings us to Boaz. Now from what we’ve read up to this point in the story, we have something of an idea about Boaz’ character. What comes out in his dealings with Ruth in ch2 is that he’s a man of principle. A righteous man. Even before he appears on the scene, you see a hint of what Boaz is like. The way his workmen treat Ruth is an indication of how their boss would treat her. The fact that his servant girls are allowed out in the fields to glean shows that Boaz took God’s law seriously and made sure his workers did too. But his treatment of Ruth when he hears how she’s been looking after Naomi, makes it even clearer. He wants to reward her for her faithfulness to Naomi. He appreciates the sacrifice she’s made and the fact that Ruth has bound herself to the people of God and he wants to repay it somehow. He shows real concern for her welfare and safety. He gives her the protection of his workers. He offers her food at lunch time, and even tells his harvesters to leave her some extra stalks of grain to gather, and not to stop her even if she picks some stalks out of the standing sheaves. It’s an act of a generous man isn’t it?
But now we come to the scene at the threshing floor. It’s midnight and here’s Boaz lying in the dark when he stirs and feels something against his feet. Well, that wakes him up if he wasn’t already. He rolls over and there at his feet is a woman! So what does he do? He’s found a woman lying in his bed, just asking for trouble and what’s his response? Does he take advantage of her? She’d certainly taken the risk that he might. But no, when he finds out who she is he treats her with great respect. In fact it seems he’s actually flattered by her advances. He says how kind she is that she’d think of approaching an old guy like him when there are all those younger men around.
But before we go any further I want you to notice what Ruth says to him in v9. She says: "I am Ruth, your servant; spread your cloak over your servant, for you are next-of-kin." Now look back to 2:12 to the way Boaz blessed Ruth when they first met: "May you have a full reward from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge!" It’s as though Ruth has taken the words Boaz used back then and is now saying, if I’m to find refuge under the wings of the Lord, it’ll only be if you take me under your wings. That is, if you marry me. She could have seduced one of the young men and manipulated him into marrying her perhaps, but that wouldn’t have resulted in God’s blessing. Only by following God’s law would his blessing be secured.
Well, Boaz understands this and is obviously pleased with the idea, but still he’s a righteous man and just as he won’t take advantage of Ruth’s vulnerability, so too, he won’t usurp the place of another. It seems he knows of someone who’s more closely related to Ruth than he is and who therefore has first right of refusal to Ruth as well as to any property that belonged to Elimelech. So he agrees to talk to this man first and if he doesn’t want to marry Ruth, then he’ll gladly do it.
He completes his kindness to Ruth by telling her to stay with him while it’s too dark to walk home by herself, but then sending her off before it gets too light so no shame will fall on her for being with him during the night. And as she leaves he gives her a gift of 6 measures of barley to take back to Naomi as a gesture of goodwill.
So Ruth returns to Naomi with the good news, and the barley which Naomi takes as sign that Boaz will settle things quickly.
Meanwhile we discover that not only is Boaz a righteous man, but he’s also a wise man. If he were to simply go to this other man and ask if he wants to marry Ruth, he’d leave himself open to some serious bargaining. Instead, he makes out to be acting on behalf of Naomi. He calls a meeting with the man with 10 of the elders as witnesses and begins to negotiate over the sale of Elimelech’s land. Then, when the kinsman says he’ll buy it, he drops in the fact that with the land comes Naomi and Ruth. The implication is clear that if he takes Ruth as his wife he’ll be expected to father her children. What will happen then is that their first born son will inherit the land that belonged to Elimelech. That way the land will stay in his family. Well, this other kinsman decides he doesn’t like the sound of that. Why should he work Elimelech’s land if his own first-born son won’t inherit it. So he changes his mind and Boaz gets the answer he wanted. They then complete the formalities and Boaz is formally betrothed to Ruth. But not before the elders pronounce this blessing on Boaz: "May the LORD make the woman who is coming into your house like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you produce children in Ephrathah and bestow a name in Bethlehem; 12and, through the children that the LORD will give you by this young woman, may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah." It’s as though God is putting words in their mouths that prophesy Boaz and Ruth between then forming a new dynasty like that of Israel and Judah, a new family line that will become the new people of God.
And that of course is how our story finishes, with Boaz and Ruth marrying, and straight away God enabling her to conceive and bear a son. Naomi is full once more, with her grandson in her lap, and the women of Bethlehem rejoicing with her. And the book ends with the family tree of Boaz recounted from Perez, the son of Judah, down to David the son of Jesse.
What we discover in this Tale of Two Widows is that faith in God is at the same time passive and active. It’s passive in the sense that it depends on God acting. There are times when faith in God requires us to wait, to see what God will do to bring about his purposes. Paul reminds us in Eph 1:11 that God "accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will." That perhaps is where Ruth’s faith is shown first of all, as she refuses to give in to bitterness like Naomi, but trusts God to look after them.
But that doesn’t mean that faith equates with inaction or complacency. There’s no room for fatalism in the Christian worldview. Because, while faith requires us to trust God to act, it also demands action, enterprise, initiative. Imagine how this story would have ended up if Ruth and Naomi had just sat around waiting for God to do something. They’d be dead and gone and forgotten long ago. No, faith implies acting on what you know about God. (Heb 11:8 NRSV) "By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going." Sometimes faith requires us to take risks. Calculated risks perhaps, but still to act without knowing exactly what will happen, but trusting that God will be with us and will fulfill his purposes for us.
The fulfilling of God’s purposes so often depends on that interaction between God’s providence and human responsibility, between God’s provision and our initiative. That’s the tension in which we need to live, between waiting in passivity for God to act, and being so self-reliant we neither wait for God nor feel the need for him to act. To walk the narrow path of patience and enterprise. In other words, to walk by faith.
For further sermons from this source go to http://home.vicnet.net.au/~sttheos/sermindex.htm/
