Ruth - Part 4
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Redeeming something.
Not a word we use regularly in daily life, but an important biblical word. We need to know what it means.
What do you think it means?
Redemption is the idea of freeing or releasing someone or something through payment/claim.
If I want an apple, i can go to the shop with money and I can “release” the apple from the “bondage” of the shop through the payment of money.
But, if I have a voucher for an apple, then I can go down to the shop with my voucher and make a claim. This voucher entitles me to one apple and I will redeem it. In this case the apple remains at the shop until i exercise my right of redemption.
In Chapter three of Ruth we’re going to be introduced to the idea of a redeemer. If you have been around Christian circles for a while you’re probably familiar with this concept of a redeemer. Yet, I would wager that although we get the outlines of what redemption is, we don’t really understand how it works.
But, redemption is a key idea for the Gospel. The Gospel is deep and multi-faceted. There are probably 4 key aspects, or ways to talk about our Salvation,
2. Propitiation (atonement)
3. Justification
4. Reconciliation, and
1. Redemption
If you would have a deeper knowledge of what Jesus Christ has done for you, then you need to “get” redemption.
It is my prayer that today you would be encouraged and grow in this so that you may know God more deeply, and worship him more thoroughly.
Recap book so far
Ancient Israel, before King David but after the conquest of Canaan. Same time as the book of Judges.
Elimelech & Naomi & 2 sons go to Moab because of famine.
Elimelech dies, two sons take wives and then both sons die.
Naomi is left with Moabite 2 daughters-in-law. Precarious position for ancient near-eastern women.
Naomi hears things are better in Israel, famine is over, so she sets off home. She tells the girls they’d be better off going home to their parents in the hope of getting remarried.
Ruth 1:8–9 (ESV)
May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!”
Ruth refuses to go, instead pledging to care for Naomi, going so far as to leave everything behind, to look after Naomi. This also means converting to serve the God YHWH - your God will be my God.
When they get back to Bethlehem the barley harvest is starting. One of the ways that God looked after the poor and needy like two widows on hard times, is by law people had to leave behind the leftovers and dropped parts of the harvest for the poor to glean.
Ruth “happened” to start gleaning in the field of Boaz, a relative of Ruth’s dead husband. Boaz is a great guy!
Boaz met Ruth and generously provided for her, even though she was a foreigner, because he had heard of her loyalty and work to help Naomi.
He prayed:
The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!”
Boaz then began to fulfill that prayer himself by giving special permission to Ruth to glean extra close to his own workers, he asked his workers to look-out for Ruth so that she was physically safe, and he made additional donations of food to her.
Food security was a big deal for these ancient agrarian people, so more grain was like more money in the bank.
And the place where it was best to find security for them was in the context of a family unit. they didn’t have businesses and pensions and police forces. Safety & security was deeply connected to a family.
So we left the story with Ruth being generously provided for by Boaz, but with Ruth & Naomi still being widows by-themselves. They had their immediate needs taken care of, but there’s still uncertainty about their long-term flourishing, and the future of their family.
We are left wondering, will God answer the prayers more fully?
Will Ruth find rest with a new home & husband?
Will Ruth receive a “full reward’ for her loyalty and labour?
Answering Prayer through Planning
Answering Prayer through Planning
Well, as the heading might suggest, these prayers will be answered! Though as is often the case, the prayers are answered in a way that we might not initially suspect.
Sometimes when we pray we pay no heed to what it may take to answer the prayer. We ask the LORD for something, but then we may be unwilling to actually do aything about receiving what we ask for!
This is not the case for Naomi. She prayed for the well-being and blessing of Ruth, but now she sees and opportunity to make it happen and so she takes steps:
Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, should I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you?
Not only is it answering her prayer, Naomi also knows that it is her obligation to provide and care for Ruth. She is all the family that Ruth has, and she knows that she will not always be there.
Even though Ruth is lovingly committed to caring for Naomi, the question on Naomi's mind is “what happens next?”
So she has come up with a plan, she see’s an opening:
Is not Boaz our relative, with whose young women you were? See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. Wash therefore and anoint yourself, and put on your cloak and go down to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.
Boaz has a reputation for being a great bloke, and, he is a relative of Naomi’s & Ruth’s dead husbands. Just as Naomi had an obligation to Ruth due to a family connection, so too Boaz’s family connection implies some obligation toward Naomi & Ruth.
Once you harvested your grain you had to winnow it - remove the edible stuff from the packaging. Boaz was working hard to process all his harvested grain. While they did this they would sometimes camp out in the field - both because it was easier than making the journey into the city every night (remember, no cars, horses/donkey a luxury). but also because you would want to protect your freshly winnowed grain from wandering fingers.
Naomi says to get dressed up all nice and pretty, then go and find Boaz when he’s alone & in good mood - after he’s had a good feed after a long days good work and ready to hit the sack.
Naomi is playing matchmaker to try and set up Ruth for the future.
But when he lies down, observe the place where he lies. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do.” And she replied, “All that you say I will do.”
Commentators have suggested that Ruth may have been wearing clothes of mourning up until this point. If you were mourning a dead relative, especially a husband, you would wear mourning clothes to show everyone. But potentially here Naomi is suggesting that Ruth ditch the mourning attire to show others she was en eligible bachelorette.
Then go visit an eligible man.
She’s told to go lie down at Boaz’s feet and uncover them.
This is where much wild speculation ensues. Was this a normal way to make a marriage proposal? And just what is meant by “uncover his feet”?
“Feet” can be used to describe everything from the waist down, is she uncovering his legs? or just feet? Is this a euphemism for something?
Words like “uncover” and “lie” are associated with sexual intimacy in the Bible, is that what Naomi is expecting t happen? If not it certainly seems ill advised to send a pretty lady to hop into bed with a man in the middle of the night with such language!
SO we certainly feel a bit of tension rising in the story. What is going to happen?
Naomi seems absolutely sure Boaz will know what to do, and she trust him - “He’ll tell you what to do”
And Ruth goes along with it - “I’ll do it”
We’ll come back to this in a moment to see what happens, but before we move one, let me just circle back to what Naomi is doing. She is actively seeking to fulfill the prayer
Do not be passive in your prayers!
Do you pray for the salvation of your kids? Then teach them the Gospel
Do you pray for a Godly government? Then vote well and engage in the political process in a godly way.
Do you pray for a wife or a husband? Then go and look for one! Far to many men and women in the church who desire marriage are today single because they will not act on their prayers and wait passively. This is not a comment on this church specifically, it is what I have seen across churches.
Do you pray for a deeper connection to Jesus? Then seek him in His word!
Do you pray for the salvation of the lost, then do something to save them!
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
If we know that God will grant prayers in accordance with His will, let us confidently go out in anticipation of receiving them!
When you need work, you pray for a job, then you apply for jobs.
When you pray for spiritual growth, you must be willing to do the work that brings growth.
You pray to be freed from porn, then you take steps to cut it out of your life.
You pray to stop being lazy, then you start working harder.
Pray for your daily bread, then go out and plough the field.
Answering Prayer through Redemption
Answering Prayer through Redemption
Coming back to redemption.
Ruth does what mum says.
So she went down to the threshing floor and did just as her mother-in-law had commanded her. And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. Then she came softly and uncovered his feet and lay down.
A scene pregnant with fertility
harvest
mourning over, available younger woman
freshly washed and perfumed
approaching an eligible man in the night and
almost getting into bed with him!
The righteousness of each of them is tested at this point! The build up of their characters so far in the book, will they hold true?
At midnight the man was startled and turned over, and behold, a woman lay at his feet! He said, “Who are you?” And she answered, “I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer.”
Boaz suprised! Who’s this person at my seet in the middle of the night?
Ruth answers, calling on Boaz to Redeem her. She has now engaged his obligation to family to provide for her.
SO now we have two pressures hanging on Boaz will he take advantage of the young pretty lady with him in the middle of the night? and will he be willing to fulfill the family obligations?
Will he “spread his wings” over Ruth? He had prayed for Ruth to be rewarded for he loyalty, and in some sense she is now asking Boaz to fulfill that prayer. She had come for Refuge under the Wings of God, and shes is now seeking that refuge under the wings of boaz. It can be both!
How is Boaz a Redeemer?
And he said, “May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter. You have made this last kindness greater than the first in that you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich. And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you ask, for all my fellow townsmen know that you are a worthy woman.
And now it is true that I am a redeemer. Yet there is a redeemer nearer than I. Remain tonight, and in the morning, if he will redeem you, good; let him do it. But if he is not willing to redeem you, then, as the Lord lives, I will redeem you. Lie down until the morning.”
Waiting for Answered Prayer
Waiting for Answered Prayer
So she lay at his feet until the morning, but arose before one could recognize another. And he said, “Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.”
Down payment on future (a security)
And he said, “Bring the garment you are wearing and hold it out.” So she held it, and he measured out six measures of barley and put it on her. Then she went into the city.
Reporting back
And when she came to her mother-in-law, she said, “How did you fare, my daughter?” Then she told her all that the man had done for her, saying, “These six measures of barley he gave to me, for he said to me, ‘You must not go back empty-handed to your mother-in-law.’ ”
Waiting game
She replied, “Wait, my daughter, until you learn how the matter turns out, for the man will not rest but will settle the matter today.”
Waiting for the fulfillment of prayer and plans under God.
Once you have done your part, Trust and wait.
Resurrection & HS a down payment on our redemption!
So What?
So What?
God answers prayer, go and receive it!
Christ & the Church - redeemed the outsider bride!