Ruth Chapter Three

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He arose before one could recognize another.
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And then he said, do not let it be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.
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And he said, bring the shawl that is on you and hold it.
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When she held it, he measured out six ephahs of barley, laid it on her, and she went into the city.
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So when she came to her mother-in-law, she said, is that you, my daughter? She told her all that the man had done for her.
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She said, these six ephahs of barley he gave me, for he said to me, do not go empty-handed to your mother-in-law.
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Then she said, sit still, my daughter, until you know how the matter will turn out.
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The man will not rest until he has concluded the matter this day." And so as we continue to work through this short book, again, I'll just keep reminding us how it is really a short book, but a great book.
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Because again, it speaks about redemption.
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It speaks about God's grace.
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And as we come to this chapter, we're going to see how the pledge, if you will, or the near kinsman comes into play.
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And then it's concluded in chapter 4.
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And again, I just want us to remind us that this is a great work on the part of God, and that the book speaks so much of God's mercy and grace and of his providence.
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And I do want to point that out, that as you think about this, remember now, it's a short book, but Ruth and Naomi have been together for over a decade, at least over a decade.
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And we don't know exactly how much longer.
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But we begin to see how God's providence begins to fulfill and work out.
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And I thought about that, and I just presented to myself that God's providence really works in mysterious ways.
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When you begin to think about all that's taking place and them going down to Moab, and then the husband dying, and the sons dying, and the daughter-in-laws are coming back and being received, and Boaz enters the picture, that you and I would realize that in God's providence, it's very mysterious.
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And it's also based on God's timing.
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And I think that's something that we often struggle with, where we expect and anticipate God's working on our behalf, and yet we're not as willing to wait on him.
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And waiting on God, I don't know about you, but waiting for anything is a problem for me.
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I don't like waiting on people.
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And I don't mean waiting on them, like I'm a waiter, but I don't like when people, I don't like when things are late.
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I don't know how you are, but it just, and it's something that's very interesting in the book of Ruth how this plays out in God's timing.
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So as we come to it, Ruth has continually, day by day, and again, she's been there now at least, and if you remember what we said, she started to go out into Boaz's field at the beginning of the harvest.
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And that was the barley and the wheat harvest.
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And they say it was mid-March, end of March, early April.
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And it concludes now, and that would have been June, somewhere in June.
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So I guess what I'm just trying to say is that Ruth has continued day by day for at least several months.
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And if you think about her, she is, in many ways, still a stranger.
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She's in a strange place.
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She's among strange people in that they are not those that she was accustomed to in her own home.
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And yet she continually presses on.
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And I thought, you never really hear Ruth complain.
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I've looked again in the book, and never once do I hear Ruth say, man, I should have just went back like my sister-in-law.
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And because, again, remember, this is not the cream of the crop job, gleaning in the fields every day.
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And you would imagine it's tedious work.
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It's a long day.
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And yet she continues on.
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And now Naomi enters into the picture.
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And Naomi comes.
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And you've got to believe that Naomi's thinking about all these things.
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She's thinking about, OK, now, what's next? How does this play out? And certainly, there's the relationship between Naomi and Ruth.
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And now there's a relationship between Ruth and Boaz.
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And again, I'll just mention it, never see Naomi and Boaz in direct conversation.
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And again, I'm not really sure in my own mind if that's of great significance or not.
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But I do think it's a point to be made, because they must have known each other.
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And yet Ruth seems to be the one who communicates to Boaz and then back to Naomi.
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So as we see this now unfold, you'll begin to see how Naomi has had this desire for Hasid to continue, particularly in the Old Testament.
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If you read through the Old Testament, you will find out that, particularly then, or specifically then, not having children, grandchildren, Hasid, was a greater approach.
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We know that from the early chapters even in Genesis.
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And then as we get to remember the story of Hannah, how Hannah was, in that sense, even ridiculed by Panina, because she was barren and Panina wasn't, and all those things.
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So you got to believe that Naomi has been contemplating this.
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Ruth's going out day by day, gleaning in the fields, working, not complaining.
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And Naomi is, I think, thinking of how to ensure that her house continues.
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And remember now, she said it.
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I'm old.
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I can't do this.
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I'm not going to be able to produce the seed.
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And so she has to be contemplating this as we go.
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All right, so with that, let's just go walk through the text.
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And maybe bring up some thoughts.
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So Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to her, my daughter, shall I not seek? And this is what I was just saying.
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Shall I not seek security for you that it may be well with you? And again, her thoughts are towards Ruth.
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Ruth's thoughts are towards her.
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Now Boaz, whose young women you were with, is he not our kinsman? In fact, he is winnowing Bali tonight.
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And I wanted to mention this whole idea of the near kinsman because it's very interesting.
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If you were to look at verse 9, I want to show you something.
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In verse 9, and we'll come back to it, but I just want to mention it.
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It says, and he said, who are you when Boaz wakes up? And she says, I'm Ruth, your maid servant.
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Take your maid servant under your wing for you are a near kinsman.
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Now, does anyone have a different, how is it said in a different translation? Anybody? Close relative? It does say redeemer? OK.
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So what's interesting is, if you were to read in chapter 2 and before chapter 3, where Naomi speaks about Boaz, she does not use the term that would have been associated with redeemer.
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She uses the term that would have been associated with relative.
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Now, as we come to chapter 3, and now as this begins to unfold, she uses the word gael, which is the word that was specifically meant for the kinsman redeemer.
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And I want to show you how that is essential to this whole narrative because there was laws given through Moses to the children of Israel on how that was to work out.
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So I want to look at a couple of sections real quick.
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Go to Deuteronomy chapter 19 a minute.
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Because, again, this is going to play into it, and that's why I believe Ruth might not be as aware of it, but Naomi certainly has this on her mind because God was very specific about what was supposed to happen if I'm just trying to make sure I got you at the right place I want to be at.
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Well, let me put it this way.
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In Deuteronomy 19, it talks about avenger of blood.
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In other words, there was someone that if someone got killed, if a man went out and he got killed, the kinsman was allowed to take revenge.
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And remember what was set up in different places throughout the land of Israel? What was it? City of refuge.
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And the person who committed whatever it was was to do what? He was to run to the city of refuge before the avenger of blood got to him, and then he was to meet before the judges, and the judges would determine whether he should have vengeance enacted upon him.
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But that really wasn't what I wanted to show you as much as I wanted to show you.
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Just go back to Leviticus 25 a minute because this is the one where we specifically get information about this whole idea of the kinsman.
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OK.
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So in Leviticus 25, and just look at it in verse 23, the land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is mine, and you are strangers and sojourners with me.
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And in all the land of your possession, you shall grant redemption for the land.
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If one of your brethren becomes poor and has sold some of his possession, and if his kinsman redeemer comes to redeem it, he may redeem what his brother sold.
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Or if there is no man to redeem it, but he himself becomes able to redeem it, then let him count the years since its sale and restore the balance of the man to whom it has been sold, that he may return the possession.
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If he's not able to have it restored to himself, then what was sold remained in the hand of him who brought it until the year of jubilee.
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And in the year of jubilee, it shall be released, and it shall return to its possession.
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If a man sells a house in a walled city, that he may redeem it within a whole year after it's sold.
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With a full year, he may redeem it.
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And if you continue to read on in this, you'll find out that this kinsman redeemer played a very central role in not only avenging, but also in restoration, and also in raising up seed.
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You remember, you could read about it, we read about it.
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Brother Keith brought it up in Genesis with Judah as he raised up seed, even unknowingly, he still was the one that was used by God.
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So this whole idea of redemption is brought into focus.
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And now we're gonna see it in Ruth chapter three, how Naomi has to be thinking about this, and thinking about how, because she sells the land, and you'll see it in chapter four, when Boaz finally meets the closer relative, and he says, well, you're closer to me in that relationship, do you wanna buy the land? And he said, yeah, man, I'll buy the land, and we'll get to that.
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But then Boaz comes back, he says, oh, by the way, if you buy the land, you gotta buy Ruth.
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Which, man, those are strange days, but nevertheless.
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And that Ruth had a right, in because there was no husband left, and no sons left, and because she was the widow, she had a right to have that land if it was bought to be compensated.
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So all these things are moving on in the thoughts and the actions of Naomi.
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And so she, if you will, in verse three, she says of Ruth, I'm back in chapter three, wash yourself, 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.
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And so she went, in verse four, then it shall be when he lies down, you shall notice the place where he lies, you shall go in, uncover his feet, and lie down, and he will tell you what you should do.
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Now, I wanna stop for a minute, because I've searched, and maybe some of you know better, I know of nowhere in the scriptures where it says that this was part of the redemption on how the kinsman was to be brought into the picture.
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Does anybody know of anything that, I don't think you're gonna find it, because I really believe this is Naomi's advice.
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Now, I've read that they say that it could have been a custom in that day, but there was no specific law that stated that this was to be done, to go and to lie down at the man's feet and uncover his feet, and just lay there.
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I do think Naomi, in one way, in her desire for Ruth, and in her desire for the redemption from the near kinsman, I think Ruth, Naomi's trying to help the scene.
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I think she's trying to encourage, and encourage Boaz to take Ruth under his wings, and yet, as I said, this is not necessarily something that must have been done, right? However, if you read what it says, after she told him to uncover his feet in verse five, and she said to her, all that you say to me, I will do.
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Now, think about that a minute, especially you women.
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Did that sound like something that, oh, I can't wait to go uncover his feet, just lay down at his feet.
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This must have been a little bit startling to Ruth.
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Again, maybe it was more of a tradition in that area, and maybe I'm missing the boat on this, but I still would suggest that this is really Naomi trying to move the process along, and I don't think we would fault that because, again, which one of us don't try to help God along at some point? Anybody wanna say that they don't try to kind of move things a little bit? Grease the wheels of progress.
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Grease the wheels of progress, because, again, God's timing is God's timing.
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It's in his hands, and he does it his way, and we want to, I don't know, I was just looking at you, sister, and I thought about your baby, and I remember as it got close, when our kids would come in, and the doctor would say, eat spicy food, go for a long walk, stand on your head for six hours, vacuum the floor, all these things to do what? Speed it up, let's get it going.
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So I do think that this is something to think about, and yet it's amazing to me that Ruth basically just says, okay, that she follows the instruction, and there must be trust between Naomi, there must be trust between her and Ruth, and she goes and she does exactly what she has been told to do, and that is something that you and I, I think, can learn a lesson from, that many times in our lives, the path that we take might seem a little bit strange to us, but if we truly trust in the Lord, now, I'm not saying, again, I'm not advocating that my wife laid down at my feet tonight.
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I heard something in her voice, but I don't really know what she said, so.
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She said she loved you.
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Oh, I know she didn't say that, brother, that I know.
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I'm sure there was a different way in which that was set up, but nevertheless.
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So she went down to the threshold before she did according to all that her mother-in-law instructed her.
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Now, verse seven, and after Boaz had eaten and drunk and his heart was cheerful, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain, and she came softly, uncovered his feet, and laid down.
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So she follows the instructions, and now we see what Boaz is doing, and a couple of thoughts on this.
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One, Boaz gets involved in the actual harvest, and I thought that that was worth mentioning because if you think about it, he goes down and he lies down at the end of the heap of grain, and he was active in this whole work, and I thought about how, you look at the character of Naomi, and I don't think any of us would say she's not a woman of character.
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I don't think you could look at Ruth and say Ruth is not a woman of character.
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I don't think you could look at Boaz and say he's not a man of character.
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The characters that are presented to us in the book of Ruth are good examples of what we ought to be on how we ought to act.
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Again, Naomi cares about her daughter or daughter-in-law, but yet to her, it's a daughter.
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Ruth cares about Naomi as if she was her own mother, and she's willing to follow her instructions.
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Boaz appears as a man of integrity.
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I mean, certainly Boaz could have just said, hey, go reap the harvest, and when it's all done, call me, right? He's the landowner.
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He's got the people working for him, and yet he gets involved, and he actually lays at the grain at night to protect it.
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And here's another thing, and I had to read up on this because I didn't really realize it, but so what they used to do, they did a lot of the threshing at night because the breezes would blow through, and so basically what they would do is take a shovel, they'd throw the grain up in the air, and the chaff would, with the breezes, blow away, and then the grain would come back down, and so that's how they winnowed the harvest.
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So it's right that he does it at night.
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Again, he's active.
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He's willing to get his hands dirty.
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He's willing to get involved, and to me, again, it's a commendable thing, and it's an example for all of us that, let me put it this way.
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I'll ask you this question.
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Would you agree with me that one of the characteristics of godly people is that they're not lazy? Would you agree with me that the characteristic of God's people should be that they are hard workers, that they are diligent, that they are willing to put their hands to the plow, and that you and I need to keep that in our minds? And I'll say it from a physical standpoint, and I'll say it from a spiritual standpoint.
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There is something to us being diligent.
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Remember how Peter even says, Peter says we ought to what? Grow in grace, be diligent to study the scriptures, be diligent to consider that you and I ought to be those who are noticed for our character, even when it comes to the things of this world, that we're not just those who just, in other words, that we just don't sit and read our Bible 24 hours a day.
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Now, I'm not saying we don't consider it and meditate on it, but that we are considered as hardworking, active, diligent, industrious.
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Certainly, if you read in Proverbs 31 about a virtuous woman, what is one of the characteristics of a virtuous woman? Up early, takes care of everything, actually has a business, feeds the kids, allows the husband to be known at the gates.
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I mean, you don't get the picture of her being lazy, do you? And so when you think about it and you see how Boaz enters into the picture now, and he lies down at the end of the grain and she comes softly at his feet.
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Verse eight, now it happened at midnight that the man was startled and turned himself, and there was the woman laying at his feet.
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And again, remember there's an age difference here, right? I mean, yeah, he's an old, that's a good way.
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That's a gracious way of putting it, right? I don't know what the age difference is, but it must've been sizable, because you remember when he first met her, what does he say to her? Will you listen to me, my daughter? And that was a term that was used when there was a pretty good gap in age.
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So I don't know about you, I just made me think.
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If I woke up at night and there was a woman laying at my feet, I'd be doing more than saying, who are you? I'd be freaking out, unless it was you, baby.
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My dog lays at my feet, by the way, on the bedside.
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But anyway, this scene is beginning to unfold, and look at verse nine, and he said, who are you? And she answered, I am Ruth, your maid servant.
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Now look what she says.
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Take your maid servant under your wing, for you are a near kinsman.
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So Naomi must have, this is my understanding, Naomi must have given Ruth some understanding of how this redemption, how this recovery, if you will, how it's worked out in the land of Israel versus, I mean, that doesn't necessarily mean it was like that everywhere else, but nevertheless, she must have told her that in some way, because she does say, take your maid servant under your wings for you are a near kinsman, and that's where she uses that word, gael, in the Hebrew, which again, means specifically the kinsman redeemer, not just, well, you're an acquaintance, so why don't you just help out the situation? But she specifically, she's asking, basically she's asking Boaz to take her as a wife, because she has some understanding, and again, Naomi has been thinking about this.
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Naomi knows what the law had laid out, and here's another thing.
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The law stipulated this.
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This wasn't something that could just, well, maybe I will, maybe I won't.
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Now, I could have moved through several relatives, and we'll see that as we get to chapter four, but again, Naomi knew that this was the law in the land, and I would believe Boaz understood that this was the law of the land, and I think Ruth has some understanding, so it's starting to move further down the line, if you will, and he says in verse 10, and I think this is interesting too.
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In verse 10, he says, "'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 again, my thought, I think Boaz has been falling in love with Ruth for a while.
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I think basically since the first day that Boaz saw Ruth, he was beginning to develop this desire towards her, and she towards him, and so I think this has been going on at least several months, and now he commends her because she didn't do what? She didn't just try to find the first solution.
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She didn't try to find the youngest, strongest, brightest, richest man.
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Sister, were you gonna say something? They'll ask her if she had a choice to go after someone who was not.
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Well, if you remember in the beginning, she didn't even notice, right? She didn't know who Boaz was, right? So she goes and she works in his field, and now that's where I think this relationship is starting to fire up, and now, and that's why I said, I believe Naomi has filled her in a little bit of how this all works, and so she follows the instruction of her mother-in-law, and maybe she has some understanding, but I'm not sure, I don't know, if she has this full, blown-out understanding, because again, if you go back and you read those sections of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, this was an expectation, even for a Moabite, once she was brought in and married, remember she married Maimon, the oldest son, that this was something that ought to have been done, and so I can't really say for sure on that, sister, but I know this, that I do believe that this relationship has been growing, and that he commends her in that she has been faithful to Naomi, she's been faithful in her integrity, she's not run around and chased after and tried to find a young man, whether poor or rich, and then in verse 11, and now, my daughter, do not fear, I will do for you all that you request for all the people of my town, know you are a virtuous woman.
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So again, he commends her, she is a faithful daughter-in-law to Naomi, and I'm gonna say she's a faithful woman in that she maintains her integrity, and I think that's another lesson for us to consider, that no matter what happens in our lives, brothers and sisters, our integrity before God is utmost, isn't it? Regardless of what happens, and you'll see it, because I think it plays into the picture as we get a little further, especially when Boaz has the near kinsmen come, Boaz, well, you'll see it when we get to chapter four, Boaz is a little bit, he's very careful about his words when he meets the closer relative, because if you read through the book, at first, he never tells him about Ruth, he just says, you wanna buy the land, right? And I think Boaz is trying to move this process so he can marry Ruth, but at the same time, he's remaining in his integrity to follow the way God had set it up, versus, again, how many times people will kind of do half of what God says, half of what they wanna do, and to me, that's doing nothing of what God wants, right? Seek ye first what? The kingdom of God.
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And so Boaz is, Boaz is a man of great integrity, and so he says that to her, and he says, I'm your near kinsmen in verse 12, however, there is a kinsman nearer than I.
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This is where, again, I think Boaz is all in for Ruth.
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I think Ruth is all in for Boaz, but there's a wrinkle, and the wrinkle is, there's another kinsman, and he's even closer, so Boaz literally, rightfully, can't do what? Can't go around him.
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He has to do it the way it was established.
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And so now he begins to give her some instructions, verse 13, stay this night, and in the morning, it shall be that if he will perform the duty of the near kinsmen for you, good, let him do it.
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But if he does not wanna perform that duty for you, I will perform it for you as the Lord lives, just lie down until morning.
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And I think this is where Boaz has got mixed feelings.
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Wants to do what's right, he also wants Ruth.
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And so now he has to be careful how he approaches this, and he tells Ruth that, and I think that's another characteristic that you and I, we ought to speak the truth.
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I mean, could they have just run off and went live somewhere else together? Suppose that would have been possible, might not have been right, wouldn't have been right, but he could have done that.
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But no, he's gonna do it God's way.
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And so when he says there's a closer kinsman, I think in the back of his mind is, man, I really hope he don't take her.
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Yeah.
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Obviously, I already thought it.
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Bubba is closer than that.
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Yeah, what translation does it say, Bubba? It's the Redneck version.
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It's the Redneck version, okay.
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The NRV, okay.
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But yeah, but I guess what I'm trying to get us to think about is that as we read the narrative, there's all this feeling, emotion, thoughts, activity going on behind the scenes, and that God is gonna bring it to fruition, and it will ultimately be gracious.
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But even in that, there's some things that are perhaps doubtful in their minds.
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And so he says, stay tonight, perform the duty.
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And so verse 14, she lays at his feet until morning, and she arose before no one could recognize another.
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Then he said, do not let it be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.
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And I thought about verse 14, and what are your thoughts? Why does she get up in the middle of the, basically before anybody else, and she's out of there? Any thoughts? I think that's it.
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I think she's trying to, I think both Boaz and Ruth are trying not to show any impropriety.
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And remember, he's commended Ruth for what? Not chasing after other men, and that he's really trying to make sure that this is upright all the way through.
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And so he basically says to her, get up before anybody else and go back, because this thing is now gonna begin to unfold.
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And I don't wanna give anyone any opportunity to say that anything happened between me and you, that shouldn't have happened.
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Again, I thought about what it says in the New Testament, we're to flee what? All appearance of evil, right? Even when we are not, we have to be mindful not only of what we do, but we actually gotta be mindful of what other people to a certain extent might think, that you and I are responsible not only for the management of our own souls, but we also have some responsibility not to give anyone any reason to question our integrity.
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I mean, we do that in the church, right? Hopefully we do.
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That's why we have offices in the church.
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That's why we have certain ways in which we maintain ourselves, certain ways the way we count money, right? So there's no what? No appearance of evil.
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I mean, what would you think? And we read about it, right? Pastor so-and-so and his wife, who's the associate pastor, they count all the money.
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Yeah, what does that do? The antennas go up right away, right? Because even if there was no impropriety, although certainly the woman pastor is an issue, but even if there was no wrong action, doesn't it send up a flag, right? Many times when a man talks with a woman, he won't talk with the woman by himself.
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And I believe that's the right thing to do, to have his wife present or be in a situation where there's others.
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I mean, you don't wanna even wanna be what? Accused of impropriety.
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So I think that's in part why he does this.
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And so he sets her out and he says to her, bring the shawl that is on you and hold it.
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And now he measures out six ephahs of barley.
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Remember an ephah was about a bushel.
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So basically he gives her six bushels to take home to Naomi and he laid it on her.
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And she went into the city and in verse 16, when she came to her mother-in-law, she said, is that you, my daughter? Then she told her all that the man had done to her.
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I believe that this six bushels that he gives her is to Naomi an assurance that he's gonna fulfill his pledge.
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And that in that sense, she now begins to find hope, real hope, because Naomi's gotta be hurting.
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Don't you think? She suffered great loss.
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She's got no seed.
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She only has a daughter-in-law.
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She's been up and down the mountain and the valley a couple of times.
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And now she begins to see, if you will, that there's light for her.
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So she said, these six ephahs of barley he gave me for he said to me, do not go empty handed to your mother-in-law.
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And then verse 18, she 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 of this day.
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So that's why I say, I believe Naomi takes this as a pledge that Boaz is gonna do the right thing.
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Now, I don't know if Naomi knows there's another person in between Boaz and the redemption.
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And I also will add to this, Naomi has sold the land before we get to chapter four.
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And you'll see that because it says that she sold land.
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So Naomi had to sell whatever she had just to continue to take care of herself and take care of Ruth.
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And so as she says, sit still, I think in faith she says, just let's sit and wait on the Lord because he's going to bring this to pass.
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So hope for Naomi, hope for Ruth, and I think hope for Boaz.
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And I think hope for Boaz because he truly loves Ruth at this point.
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Compliments, concerns, complaints, comments, interesting story, right? A story of great grace, story of godly character, a story of redemption, Jew and Gentile, Naomi as well as Ruth.
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We'll conclude it next week and we'll see how this all works out.
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And then of course, the birth of Obed who ultimately becomes what? In the lineage of the Lord Jesus, right? And so again, what takes place in this little book, in this little period of history has, if you will, eternal implications.
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Never underestimate what God has done, right? Despise not the day of small things.
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Okay, let's just close the word.
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Our father God, again, we thank you for this time.
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We thank you for who you are, the great God overall.
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Lord, we would not be forgetful for brother Mike and sister Sybil and their family and their suffering, Lord.
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We pray you would bless them, be with them, Lord, as only you can.
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Comfort them with the comfort, Holy Spirit, that is the true comfort.
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Now be with us as we worship.
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May we sing from joyful hearts.
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May we fellowship with one another knowing that we are in union with the Lord Jesus Christ who so loved us that he gave himself for us, amen.