12 Extraordinary Women, Week 12
Notes
Transcript
As we look at last weeks description of Ruth, again we see the love story for her mother in law. Being in a foreign land and losing her husband, and two sons had left Naomi without any way of caring for herself and certainly not her two daughters in law. The difficult decision was made to go back home, and the daughters in law started the trip with her. Naomi did not want to burden them, and pushed for them to turn back and go back home. Orpah returned, but Ruth followed Naomi back to Bethlehem.
Resolve
Resolve
Ruth was determined to stay with Naomi, regardless of the personal cost. The still-young Moabite girl probably felt that she quite literally had nothing left to lose anyway. In keeping with the meaning of her name, Ruth seems to have developed a close bond of friendship and attachment to her mother-in-law.
Naomi still tried to dissuade Ruth from going any farther with her. “She said, ‘Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law’ ”.
15 And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.”
Naomi no doubt felt it was not in Ruth’s best interests to be shackled to an aged widow. On the other hand, she certainly could not have truly believed that it would be a good thing for Ruth to go back to her people “and to her gods.” In all likelihood, Naomi was testing Ruth, hoping to coax from her an explicit verbal profession of faith in YHWH. It would be wrong to take Ruth to Israel and place a widow without financial support in that society if she had no genuine commitment to Israel’s God.
Ruth’s reply is a beautiful piece of poetry in Hebrew style:
16 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.
17 Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”
Ruth was staying with Naomi. Her affection for her mother-in-law was sincere. She still desired to remain part of that family. Above all, her devotion to the God of Israel was real. This was an amazingly mature and meaningful testimony of personal faith, especially in light of the fact that it came from the lips of a young woman raised in a pagan culture. The witness of Naomi and her family must have made a powerful impression on Ruth.
When Naomi saw that Ruth was not leaving, Scripture says, “she stopped speaking to her” meaning, of course, that she gave up trying to dissuade Ruth from coming with her to Bethlehem.
18 And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.
After ten years or more in Moab, Ruth returned to people who remembered her and knew her name. Naomi’s return caused no small stir. Scripture says, “All the city was excited because of them; and the women said, ‘Is this Naomi?’ ”
19 So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. And the women said, “Is this Naomi?”
Naomi means “pleasant,” and in an earlier time it must have been a perfect description of Naomi. The fact that so many women remembered her and were so glad to see her suggests that she was beloved by all who knew her. But now her life was so colored with sadness that she told the other women, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara [meaning ‘bitter’], for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the LORD has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the LORD has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?”
20 She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.
21 I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?”
This was not a complaint as much as a heartfelt lament. She knew, as Job did, that it is the Lord who gives and takes away. She understood the principle of God’s sovereignty. In calling herself “Mara,” she was not suggesting that she had become a bitter person; but (as her words reveal) that Providence had handed her a bitter cup to drink. She saw the hand of God in her sufferings, but far from complaining, I think she was simply acknowledging her faith in the sovereignty of God, even in the midst of a life of bitter grief. Everything Scripture tells us about Naomi indicates that she remained steadfast in the faith throughout her trials. She was not unlike Job—she was a woman of great faith who withstood almost unimaginable testing without ever once wavering in her love for YHWH and her commitment to His will. So hers is actually an impressive expression of faith, without an ounce of resentment in it.
Elimelech had a wealthy relative named Boaz, who had prospered despite the years of famine. He was a landowner of vast holdings and considerable influence. Scripture says he was “a relative of Naomi’s husband”, but does not spell out the relationship. He might have been Elimelech’s brother, but that seems unlikely, since he wasn’t, technically, Naomi’s next of kin. He was more likely a cousin or a nephew of Elimelech.
Boaz was also a direct descendant of Rahab. Matthew 1:5 says, “Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab” (NKJV), and that agrees with Ruth 4:21, but the number of years spanning the time between the fall of Jericho and the start of the Davidic dynasty suggest that there must be more generations between Salmon and David than either Matthew 1 or Ruth 4 explicitly name. Hebrew genealogy often used a kind of shorthand, skipping generations between well-known ancestors. Matthew seems to do this deliberately to achieve a kind of numerical symmetry in the genealogical listing (Matt. 1:17)—probably as an aid to memorization. So rather than being the immediate son of Rahab, Boaz may very well have been a great-grandson. He was nonetheless in Rahab’s direct line. He undoubtedly knew her story well and gloried in his heritage. His connection with Rahab would certainly have inclined his heart to be sympathetic to the plight of a foreign woman like Ruth who had embraced YHWH with a faith reminiscent of Rahab’s.
REDEMPTION
REDEMPTION
In agreeing to return to Bethlehem with Naomi, Ruth was agreeing to help support the aging woman. The biblical data suggest that Ruth was still quite young and physically strong. So she went to work in the fields, gleaning what the harvesters left behind in order to provide enough grain to eke out an existence.
Biblical law established this as a means by which even the most destitute in Israel could always earn a living. Leviticus 19:9–10; 23:22, and Deuteronomy 24:19–21 all required that when a field was harvested, whatever fell from the sheaves should be deliberately left behind. When fruit was picked from trees and vines, some of it was to be left unplucked. The remains of the harvest were then free to be gleaned by anyone willing to do the work.
Ruth’s options were limited to that, and that alone. She had no relatives other than her mother-in-law. Naomi’s own next of kin weren’t even close enough to be legally obliged to support her. With no visible means of support, Ruth saw the necessity of working the barley fields, so she sought and obtained Naomi’s permission.
2 And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.”
As it happened, she gleaned in one of Boaz’s fields, and he saw her. The language of the text suggests that this was purely by happenstance—“she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz” (v. 3 NKJV)—but we know from the clear teaching of Scripture that God Himself providentially orchestrated these events. Nothing happens by “chance,” but God is always behind the scenes, working all things together for the good of His people. There is no such thing as “luck” or “fate” for believers.
Boaz visited his fields that very day, to see the progress of the harvest. When he noticed Ruth, he took an immediate interest. She was obviously young, able, and diligent. Boaz sought out the foreman of his crew and inquired about Ruth.
The chief servant replied, “It is the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. And she said, ‘Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.’ So she came and has continued from morning until now, though she rested a little in the house” (Ruth 2:6–7 NKJV).
6 And the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, “She is the young Moabite woman, who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab.
7 She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers.’ So she came, and she has continued from early morning until now, except for a short rest.”
Boaz immediately realized, of course, that this woman was his relative by marriage, so he began to show her special favor. He encouraged her to glean only in his fields and to stay close by his harvesters. He gave her p 78 permission to drink from the water he supplied his servants, and he instructed his young men not to touch her.
Ruth, moved by his gentle kindness and generosity, knew very well that such extreme liberality was highly unusual, especially toward an impoverished woman from a foreign land. “She fell on her face, bowed down to the ground, and said to him, ‘Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?’ ” (v. 10 NKJV).
10 Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?”
Boaz explained that he had heard of her extraordinary faithfulness to Naomi and the great sacrifices she had made to come to a foreign land. Then he gave her an unusual blessing that reveals what a godly man he was: “The LORD repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge” (v. 12 NKJV).
12 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!”
Her reply was equally gracious, and beautiful for its humility: “Let me find favor in your sight, my lord; for you have comforted me, and have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your maidservants” (v. 13 NKJV).
In that first meeting, Boaz immediately seemed smitten with Ruth. He invited her to eat with his workers at mealtime and personally saw that she had enough to be satisfied (vv. 14–16). He instructed his workers to permit her to glean among his sheaves, and he even encouraged them to let grain fall purposely from the bundles for her sake. Thus he lightened the load of her labor and increased the reward of it.
Ruth nonetheless continued to work hard all day. “She gleaned in the field until evening, and beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley” (v. 17 NKJV). That was a full half bushel, approximately enough to sustain Ruth and Naomi for five days or more. This was about four times as much as a gleaner could hope to gather on a typical good day. Ruth took the grain, as well as some leftover food from lunch, and gave it to Naomi.
Naomi was clearly surprised and pleased at Ruth’s amazing prosperity. She seemed to have instinctively understood that Ruth could not possibly have done so well without someone’s help. So she asked where Ruth had gleaned and pronounced a special blessing on “the one who took notice of you” (v. 19 NKJV).
When Ruth told her the man who had been her benefactor was named Boaz, Naomi instantly saw the hand of God in the blessing. “Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, ‘Blessed be he of the LORD, who has not forsaken His kindness to the living and the dead!’ And Naomi said to her, ‘This man is a relation of ours, one of our close relatives’ ” (v. 20 NKJV).
The Hebrew word translated “one of our close relatives” is usually a prominent male in one’s extended family. He was the official guardian of the family’s honor. If the occasion arose, he would be the one to avenge the blood of a murdered relative (Josh. 20:2–9). He could buy back family lands sold in times of hardship (Lev. 25:23–28). He could pay the redemption-price for family members sold into slavery (Lev. 25:47–49). Or (if he were a single man or widower and thus eligible to marry) he could revive the family lineage when someone died without an heir by marrying the widow and fathering offspring who would inherit the name and the property of the one who had died. This was known as the law of levirate marriage, and Deuteronomy 25:5–10 presented it as a duty in cases where one brother (obviously unmarried and presumably younger) was living in the household of a married brother who died. (Think of the question asked of Jesus by the Sadducees) If the surviving brother refused to fulfill the duty of the goel by marrying his brother’s widow, he was treated with contempt by all of society.
The Old Testament places a great deal of emphasis on the role of the goel. There was a significant redemptive aspect to this person’s function. Every kinsman-redeemer was, in effect, a living illustration of the position and work of Christ with respect to His people: He is our true Kinsman-Redeemer, who becomes our human Brother, buys us back from our bondage to evil, redeems our lives from death, and ultimately returns to us everything we lost because of our sin.
Boaz would become Ruth’s goel. He would redeem her life from poverty and widowhood. He would be her deliverer—and Naomi grasped the potential of this glad turn of events the very moment she learned it was Boaz who had taken an interest in Ruth. He was not only a kinsman; he had the means to be a redeemer too. Naomi strongly encouraged Ruth to follow Boaz’s instructions and stay exclusively in his fields. Ruth did this until the end of the harvest season (Ruth 2:21–23).
21 And Ruth the Moabite said, “Besides, he said to me, ‘You shall keep close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’ ”
22 And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, lest in another field you be assaulted.”
23 So she kept close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
Naomi saw it as her duty as mother-in-law to seek long-term security for this faithful Moabite girl who had so graciously proven her loyalty, generosity, diligence, and strength of character throughout the hot and difficult harvest season. In a culture where arranged marriages were the norm, this meant doing what she could to orchestrate a marriage between Ruth and Boaz.
Because she was a woman, protocol forbade Naomi from approaching Boaz to arrange a marriage for Ruth. In fact, there was no suggestion that Naomi had spoken to Boaz at all about anything since her return from Moab. Yet from the very beginning, Naomi clearly had an intuition about Boaz’s interest in Ruth. Having watched and waited through the long harvest season, Naomi apparently decided Boaz needed some subtle help to get the ball rolling. The way things finally played out suggests that Naomi’s instincts were right on target.
If Boaz had ever been married, Scripture does not mention it. According to Jewish tradition, he was a lifelong bachelor. He may have had some physical imperfection or personality quirk that stood in the way of a suitable marriage arrangement. At the very least, he desperately needed prodding. Although he obviously took a keen interest in Ruth from the moment he first saw her, it does not seem to have entered his mind to pursue the goel’s role on her behalf. By his own testimony (Ruth 3:10), he was surprised that Ruth didn’t deem him unsuitable for marriage.
10 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.
Naomi had sized up the situation correctly though, and she instructed Ruth on what to do. Naomi’s scheme was bold and utterly unconventional. Of course, Ruth, as a foreigner, could always plead ignorance of Jewish custom, but if Naomi’s plan had been known in advance by people in the community, the propriety police certainly would have been up in arms. Of course, the scheme did not involve any real unrighteousness or indecency. Naomi certainly would not have asked Ruth to compromise her virtue or relinquish godly modesty.
Still, what Naomi advised Ruth to do was shockingly forward. (Even to enlightened twenty-first-century minds, it seems surprisingly plucky.) Naomi’s plan, in essence, was for Ruth to propose marriage to Boaz! She told Ruth, “Wash yourself and anoint yourself, put on your best garment and go down to the threshing floor; but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. Then it shall be, when he lies down, that you shall notice the place where he lies; and you shall go in, uncover his feet, and lie down; and he will tell you what you should do” (Ruth 3:3–4 NKJV). By the custom of the time, this would indicate Ruth’s willingness to marry Boaz.
3 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.
4 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.”
It was the end of the harvest. The threshing floor was a site, most likely out of doors, where grain was winnowed. This involved tossing grain into the air in a breeze so that the light husks of chaff would be blown away. Boaz would work late, sleep outdoors at the threshing floor all night, then arise early and go back to threshing. Thus he both extended his work hours and guarded his grain through the night. He worked well into the night, had a short meal, and laid down next to the grain pile to sleep. Scripture says “his heart was cheerful” (Ruth 3:7 NKJV). p 82 The harvest had been abundant. After years of famine, Boaz was exhilarated at his prosperity.
In accordance with Naomi’s instructions, Ruth “came softly, uncovered his feet, and lay down” (v. 7 NKJV). Boaz was so fatigued that he did not notice her until he awakened at midnight and was startled to find a woman lying at his feet.
He said, “Who are you?”
She answered, “I am Ruth, your maidservant. Take your maidservant under your wing, for you are a [goel]” (v. 9 NKJV). Ruth was borrowing language (“under your wing”) from the blessing Boaz had given her (2:12). This was, in effect, a marriage proposal.
This came as an overwhelming and unexpected blessing to Boaz. According to Ruth 3:10–13:
11 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.
12 And now it is true that I am a redeemer. Yet there is a redeemer nearer than I.
13 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.”
Then he said, “Blessed are you of the LORD, my daughter! For you have shown more kindness at the end than at the beginning, in that you did not go after young men, whether poor or rich. And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you request, for all the people of my town know that you are a virtuous woman. Now it is true that I am a close relative; however, there is relative closer than I. Stay this night, and in the morning it shall be that if he will perform the duty of a close relative for you—good; let him do it. But if he does not want to perform the duty for you, then I will perform the duty for you, as the LORD lives! Lie down until morning.” (NKJV)
Scripture doesn’t identify the man who was Naomi’s actual next of kin. (He would almost certainly have been either an older brother or cousin of Boaz.) Boaz knew immediately who it was, and he knew that custom required him to defer to this other relative. He explained the situation to Ruth, swore to her his own willingness to be her goel if it were possible, and urged her to remain at his feet through the night.
Nothing immoral occurred, of course, and Scripture is clear about that. But Boaz, being protective of Ruth’s virtue, awoke her and sent her home just before dawn. He gave her a generous portion of grain as a gift for Naomi, saying, “Do not go empty-handed to your mother-in-law” (v. 17 NKJV).
Naomi, of course, was anxiously awaiting word of what had happened. Ruth told her the whole story, and Naomi, whose feminine intuition was impeccable, said, “Sit still, my daughter, until you know how the matter will turn out; for the man will not rest until he has concluded the matter this day” (v. 18 NKJV).
She was exactly right. Boaz went immediately to the city gate and found Naomi’s true next of kin. The two of them sat down in the presence of ten city elders and negotiated for the right to be Ruth’s goel.
That role involved, first of all, the buy-back of Elimelech’s property. In Israel, land portions were part of each family’s lasting legacy from generation to generation. Plots of family land could not be permanently sold (Lev. 25:23). Real estate that was “sold” to pay debts remained in the possession of the buyer only until the year of Jubilee, at which time it reverted to the original owner’s family. This arrangement helped keep Israel’s wealth evenly distributed, and it meant that land-sale deals were actually more like long-term leases. Land sold for debt relief could also be redeemed at any time by the seller or his goel. As long as Elimelech had no heirs, the property he and Naomi had sold to pay their debts would automatically become the permanent possession of anyone who acted as Naomi’s goel by redeeming her property. This made the prospect extremely appealing.
Boaz said, “If you will redeem it, redeem it; but if you will not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know; for there is no one but you to redeem it, and I am next after you.”
“I will redeem it,” the other relative replied (Ruth 4:4 NKJV).
4 So I thought I would tell you of it and say, ‘Buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people.’ If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not, tell me, that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you.” And he said, “I will redeem it.”
But then Boaz explained that there was a catch. While Elimelech had no surviving heir, the man who would have been his rightful heir (Mahlon) had left a widow. Therefore, Boaz explained, “On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also buy it from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance” (v. 5 NKJV).
This changed things a bit. Because if Ruth did remarry someone under the principle of levirate marriage, and she produced any heir in Mahlon’s name, rights to Elimelech’s land would automatically pass to Ruth’s offspring. The only way to eliminate that risk would be to marry Ruth. The unnamed close relative was either unable or unwilling to marry Ruth. And he didn’t want to take an expensive risk that might jeopardize his own children’s inheritance. So he told Boaz, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I ruin my own inheritance. You redeem my right of redemption for yourself, for I cannot redeem it” (v. 6 NKJV).
6 Then the redeemer said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”
A formal contract was then publicly sealed in the customary fashion: the relative removed his sandal and gave it to Boaz (v. 8), in effect granting Boaz the right to stand in his stead as goel for Ruth and Naomi.
And Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, from the hand of Naomi. Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, I have acquired as my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brethren and from his position at the gate. You are witnesses this day” (vv. 9–10 NKJV).
Everyone loves a good love story, and the people of Bethlehem were no exception. As word got out about the unusual transaction taking place in the city gate, the inhabitants of the city began to congregate. They pronounced a blessing on Boaz and his bride-to-be. “We are witnesses,” they told Boaz. “The LORD make the woman who is coming to your house like Rachel and Leah, the two who built the house of Israel; and may you prosper in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. May your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring which the LORD will give you from this young woman” (vv. 11:1–12 NKJV).
The blessing proved to be prophetic. Boaz and Ruth were married, and the Lord soon blessed them with a son. At the birth of this child, the women of Bethlehem gave a blessing to Naomi as well: “Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a close relative; and may his name be famous in Israel! And may he be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has borne him” (vv. 14–15 NKJV).
All of that came true as well. As verse 17 explains, “The neighbor women gave him a name, saying, ‘There is a son born to Naomi.’ And they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David” (NKJV). In other words, Ruth was David’s great-grandmother.
That is how Ruth, a seemingly ill-fated Moabite woman whose loyalty and faith had led her away from her own people and carried her as a stranger into the land of Israel, became a mother in the royal line that would eventually produce that nation’s first great king. Her best-known offspring would be Abraham’s Seed and Eve’s hoped-for Deliverer.
Ruth is a fitting symbol of every believer, and even of the church itself—redeemed, brought into a position of great favor, endowed with riches and privilege, exalted to be the Redeemer’s own bride, and loved by Him with the profoundest affection. That is why the extraordinary story of her redemption ought to make every true believer’s heart resonate with profound gladness and thanksgiving for the One who, likewise, has redeemed us from our sin.
Next week: Hannah
MacArthur, John F., Jr. 2005. Twelve Extraordinary Women: How God Shaped Women of the Bible and What He Wants to Do with You. Nashville, TN: Nelson Books.