The Book Of Ruth

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Behold our God, come let us adore him. That's what we will do through this book of Ruth that we have this evening.
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We get to see the hand of God, the invisible hand of God, the providence of God, that just showcases itself in this little tiny book, the book of Ruth.
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I'm going to provide you a rather extended introduction here, just to give you a little bit of a theological and historical overview.
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And then we're just kind of going to follow the plot line of the book. This is just such a simple but beautiful story of God's hand in the life of this small family.
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And so that's what we will do in this book. Because it's small, we can actually go through the entire book. But before we do that, let's go to the
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Lord in prayer. A loving and gracious father, Lord, how you provide.
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You provide in ways that we so often fail to notice. And Lord, help us to remember that you hold the oceans in your hand.
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You number the grains of sand and you order the stars of the universe.
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And yet you care for each and every one of your children.
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Impress that deeply upon us, oh Lord, this evening. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. All right, so the book of Ruth, if we again look at the large panorama of redemptive history, we have the
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Pentateuch. We had Adam and the fall. And right from there, God's redemption begins. You have
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God promising Adam. We get to see Noah and Abraham, one man picked out of the nations.
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And then through Abraham's lineage, there is going to come the promise that was given to Adam.
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And we are further along in the narrative of how God made the descendants of Abraham into a nation, how he redeemed them out of Egypt, how he brought them through the wilderness, how he brought them into the promised land.
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And in the promised land where they were supposed to have rest, last week we saw in the book of Judges, the people, instead of being active participants, people who said, we are part of God's redemptive plan for the world, they decided instead that they are going to be like the world itself.
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And we saw this tragedy in the book of Judges. In fact, the last verse in the book of Judges, in those days there was no king in Israel.
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Everyone did what was right in their own eyes. We just see how the people of God had reached such a horrible low point in their history.
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And you look at that and say, if the judges are so wicked and the people are so depraved, is there any hope for these people?
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What is God's plan through this mess? Now you need to remember, if you just skip the book of Ruth and move forward, you have 1
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Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, and you know that there are kings who are coming. And even as the book of Judges ends with this low note, no king in Israel, people do whatever is right in their own eyes.
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There is coming kings that God would use to bring these people together as a nation, but ultimately the king of kings who will be born.
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It's not just Saul. It's not just David. It is a descendant of David that we are looking forward to in the grand scheme of redemption.
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Now, between Judges and 1 Samuel, the story kind of zooms in. It just focuses on this one particular family.
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And as the story begins, it doesn't seem like there is any great significance attached to these individuals that we are going to see.
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What we are going to see is what seems like commonplace life. This is a story set in the time of the judges going through their trials and their tribulations.
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And we are more concerned with the family and their problems and what could happen to this sad tale you just had chapter one read to you.
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And as God's hand gets exposed through the narrative events, you get to see there is a much grander plan, even as God cares for that sparrow.
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Not one sparrow falls down without your father's knowledge. So also
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God has his grander plan that will not fail even when all the judges fail.
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In fact, the theme of this book would be best summarized as the providence of God. God cares for every single event in your life.
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He brings those events and he transforms us through those powerful, life -changing events that he brings.
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This connects very much with what we heard this morning. Trials God brings into our lives in order to test us and to prove more than our own faith to showcase his power and his glory through the lives of his people.
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Now, in this book, you have to notice the narrator never calls your attention to the providence of God.
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You get to see the characters talking about God as they go through. You'll see Naomi say some things which almost sound like Job.
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You will see Boaz say some things, but the narrator doesn't say
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God did this. Like, you know, if you think of the book of Jonah, God brings the storm.
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He brings the whale. He kind of orchestrates everything and the narrator wants you to know that as the hand of God is doing this, it's a visible hand of God.
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But this book is almost like Esther in the sense, you know, you don't get to hear God mentioned in the book of Esther. Here you get to see the
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Lord mentioned, but it's not really given the focus because the story is so well written by Samuel.
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The last judge was the character in our next book. He brings out the hand of God so powerfully.
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You don't even need to say that this is God who's doing all these things because you look back and say, who else but God?
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Now. Another part of the introduction before we get into the book is Jesus.
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Many of you know that Jesus is our Redeemer. He rescues us from the slave pit of sin and death and destruction.
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He redeems us from slavery by giving his own life on our behalf.
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He pays a very high price, a price that we could not pay in order to redeem us. But the book of Ruth has an added element to this aspect of redemption.
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And here we have this man, Boaz, who is the kinsman Redeemer of Ruth, which we're going to see.
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I think all of you know the story of Ruth, so I'm not spoiling any surprises as I'm giving this away. But I think I want us to keep this in mind as we go through the book.
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Boaz is a close relative. He is a kinsman. He is very closely associated with Naomi and able to come and rescue
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Naomi and Ruth out of their predicament. And likewise, we have
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Jesus, who is not just a God who is far above in heaven, just decreeing your redemption.
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But he is also fully and completely a man, a man who identifies with you and he pays his life.
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He's imminent. He's in our midst. And he rescues us out of our predicament, as it were.
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In fact, in fact, when you think of where Jesus comes from, when
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I said he is one of us, he is actually going to be in this line of Ruth. And we're going to see some of the significance of what that means in the to the extent to which he identifies with us in order to redeem us.
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In fact, the book of Ruth is probably the only book that brings out this aspect of kinsmen,
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Redeemer, the picture of Jesus Christ as our Redeemer, as our kinsmen,
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Redeemer in the entire Bible. Now, when we look at the book of Ruth as an outline, chapter one covers over 10 years of time.
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When you when we read it, you probably caught it. If not, I'll point out to it in a moment. Chapter two covers about five months from the barley harvest to the wheat harvest.
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And then chapter three is really just one night and some radical events that happened there. And then chapter four is about a year.
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So if you think of the book of Judges, we looked at about 300, 350 years. And here we kind of zoom in into this 10 plus years of time.
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So let's now walk through the book of Ruth. I'm going to walk quickly through. I'm going to point a few things, but I want us to just capture the.
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The pathos of what is happening with these individuals as we get to see the invisible hand of God underneath.
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Verse one in the days when the judges ruled, you really want to stop there and say, I remember the times that these people lived in.
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Everyone doing what is right in their own eyes. The land is filled with evil.
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When the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. Now, can you connect what happens with the first part of the phrase in the second part?
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The judges ruled and there was a famine in the land. You need to remember. That when
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God brought his people into the promised land, he said, I'm bringing you into a land with milk and honey.
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And he said in Deuteronomy 28, in fact, I'd like us to turn there for a moment.
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Deuteronomy 28, verse 15, that there is. They the people of Israel, the nation of Israel lived in a slightly different dispensation than what you and I live today.
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They lived, you remember, in the mosaic covenant. They had a conditional covenant. And what was the condition under which they were to live?
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So Deuteronomy 28, verse 15.
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Well, let me back up a little bit. Verse one. If you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord, your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today.
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The Lord, your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you if you obey the voice of the
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Lord, your God. And in fact, verse five. Blessed shall be your basket and your needing bowl, meaning you will not lack food.
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Move forward to verse 15. But this is the second condition. If you will not obey the voice of the
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Lord, your God, or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today. Then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.
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Verse 23. The Lord will strike you with wasting disease and fever. I'm sorry, that's 22.
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Verse 23. The heavens over your head shall be bronze and the earth under you shall be iron.
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What does that even mean? You will not have food, no rain. The land will not produce what it is naturally supposed to do because God will prevent it.
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That's his curse. You disobey. You need to recognize it is God who brought you into this land. The land is not flowing with milk and honey on its own.
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It provides to the people that God has brought in and a people who will listen to it.
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So they are Israel in the under the conditional covenant. They knew exactly what they were coming to.
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But 350 years later, they've kind of forgotten. The milk and the honey had gotten to their head and they rejected the
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God of heaven and earth. And they went after the gods of the people around them. And God is fulfilling his promise right here in verse one.
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There was a famine in the land, just as we saw the cycle in the book of Judges. Here's it is happening again.
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Now, what were they supposed to do when there was a famine in the land? These curses were meant to wake up the people to remind them that they need to go back to their
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God. But what we see here is a man of Bethlehem and Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab.
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He and his wife and his two sons. So rather than what we would like to see a return to the
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God of heaven and earth with repentance, with sackcloth and mourning, we see
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Elimelech go out of the promised land into the land of Moab.
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Just a moment. You know, which town is this this guy from Bethlehem? What do you think of when you think of Bethlehem?
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Why did Joseph Joseph and Mary in the New Testament have to go to Bethlehem for the census?
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Because here you have a descendant of the line who will come back. And, you know, that is
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Jesus Christ. But at this point in time, Elimelech goes to the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.
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Now, you need to remember, again, Moab, because you're going to see Ruth called the Moabitis over and over and over again, because unlike the other people, this lady is a foreigner and not just any foreigner, but a foreigner of this country that that God would call the
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Wash Basin. This is not the kind of country that you want to be associated with.
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This is the kind of country that worships Chemosh, that does child sacrifices. This is not a good place.
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In fact, their origins begin with Lord. Lots incestuous relationship with his daughter produces
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Moab and his descendants occupy this land. And numbers 22 to 25.
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Talk about a much more recent encounter that the people of Israel had, even as they were coming into the promised land out of Egypt, as they were on the verge of entering the promised land, as they are on the other getting ready.
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They were on the plains of Moab. Actually, just stand there for a moment. I just want to point a couple of verses. Numbers 22. If you remember, this is what people should have been thinking of Moab as as.
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Their neighbor, who is against the people of God, the people of Israel set out and camped in the plains of Moab beyond the
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Jordan and Jericho. And what happened? Balak, the son of Zippor, solved all that the
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Israel had done. Moab was in great dread of the people because they were many. They were in fear.
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And then they said, these people are going to attack us. So let's go for Balaam. And you remember that whole encounter with Balaam trying to curse.
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But God turns that cursing into blessing. Now, when Balaam, Balaak's efforts failed with Balaam, if you turn over to verse chapter 25 of Numbers, here's what the
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Moabites did to incur God's wrath on the people.
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While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. These are the people of God that were enticed.
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This was Balaak, Balaam's advice to Balaak. And this happens. These invited the people to the sacrifice of their gods.
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The people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor and the anger of the
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Lord was kindled against Israel. And you get to see the judgment of God that came upon them.
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So when the people think of Moab, both from its beginnings to its most recent history, you want the people to be thinking these are dangerous people.
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We need to remember what God, how God views the Moabites. But that's where Elimelech goes.
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All right. So let's move on with the story. So Elimelech and his wife, Naomi, Naomi Pleasant, and the two sons,
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Marlon and Chilean, they are Ephratites, Micah 5 .2, Bethlehem Ephrata.
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And they come to the country of Moab and stay there. No food. Cross over the
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Jordan on the other side of the Dead Sea. You have Moab. There's food there. Let's go.
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Not sure what Elimelech's view of God and the dangers of pagan worship was, but God would take about this decision providentially and bring forth his redemptive purposes through it.
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So Elimelech dies. So Naomi no longer has a provider for her, but her sons are alive. The sons, instead of marrying women from Israel, marry
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Moabite women, something that was expressly prohibited when the people were entering the
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Promised Land. And the women are Orpha and Ruth, and they live about 10 years.
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And after that, the sons of Naomi die as well. So now you have a widow with two widow daughter -in -laws.
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In that time and age, very, very desperate circumstances. These women cannot provide for themselves in the culture that they lived.
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And there is very little hope for one who has no lineage and has no provision for them.
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So as the first five verses, you get to see very dark times, very dark choices. And what is to come of this?
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And then in verses six through the rest of the chapter, you get to see. The beginnings of the hand of God, as it were.
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So in verse six, Naomi hears while she's in the fields of Moab, that God is providing food to the people in Israel.
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So she decides that she will go back to the land she's aware of. There is some kind of provision for widows in her land back again, and she no longer has any affiliation with Moab and she wants to go back.
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And she says some things about her daughter -in -laws, which I think are helpful for us to recognize. In verse eight, may the
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Lord may the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me.
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So there is something she recognizes in these daughter -in -laws in the way she they related to her husband's and to her.
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And she blesses them and says, stay where you are, marry other men.
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And I hope that you are well with your family and with your gods.
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And and she knows that it is going to be very difficult if these foreign women were to come with her into the land where she herself is going to find it hard to sustain and live.
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But we get to see how the. The daughter -in -laws persist, insist, and Naomi says,
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I don't have the means, the ability to provide for you. I cannot raise sons that will be your husband's and please go.
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She she wants them to leave. But in verse 13, she says something more.
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She says, it's exceedingly bitter for me, for your sake, that the hand of the
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Lord has gone out against me. As you get to see what Naomi thinks of God's work in all of this, she gets to profess the hand of God going against her.
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And at this point in time, as you look at this events that have gone out, gone forth up until now, that seems to be all there is to it.
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So the time of the judges, we do not know what Elimelech's faith was. We see Elimelech die, his sons die.
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And who is the one who gives life and takes it away? The Lord must not like me.
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He is he is going to crush me and snuff me out of this word. It is very bitter to me.
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Do not come and share in my bitterness. You go your ways. One daughter -in -law leaves, but the other one does not.
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And I think that's in verse 15. Your sister -in -law has gone back to her people and to her
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God's return after your sister -in -law. And this is probably the only place where you get to see the profession of Ruth in terms of where her heart is.
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And you get to see the rest of the events in her actions. She says, do not urge me where you go.
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I will go where you lodge. I will lodge your people shall be my people and your
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God, my God. We cannot read into what
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Naomi had told her, but there is something about the God of Naomi that Ruth is committed to.
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And she tells the extent of her commitment in verse 17. In fact, if you were
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Naomi and you are going to be walking this lonely road from Moab all the way back to Bethlehem.
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You'd be thinking, wow, I actually have someone with me. But Naomi's response when she sees this daughter -in -law's determination, she just says no more.
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Like, OK, whatever. Come along. Then I'm glad you would stick with me. And you get to see the rest of chapter one.
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They come to Bethlehem and there is an uproar. There is a stirring. Naomi has returned.
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People are looking. And Naomi's response is, do not call me Naomi, which means pleasant, but call me
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Mara. Because the Lord, because the almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.
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It is a sovereign hand of God that has gone out against me. And I am bitter. Verse 21.
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I went away full. I had a husband and two sons. The Lord has brought me back empty. Naomi, do you recognize you have
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Ruth with you? Why call me Naomi when the Lord has testified against me and the almighty has brought calamity upon me?
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So Naomi comes back. Ruth, the Moabite is with us. Ruth, the
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Moabite, her daughter -in -law with her. And they returned from Moab. And it's the beginning of the barley harvest.
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So this is how the stage is set. The Samuel and the spirit of God want you to recognize in the time of the judges.
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This is the pitiable situation in which Naomi is.
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And this is how Naomi herself views herself. There is no hope for her as she comes back into the land. What will come of them?
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So let's move through chapter two. So before we look at chapter two as a through the sections,
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I want you to think of what. What you would do if you were
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Ruth or you were Naomi. There seems to be little hope for Naomi as she comes here.
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There are some provisions in the law, a law that is not so commonly followed in the time of the judges that should provide for Naomi.
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But there is really very little hope for a future that she can hope for. And that's what is going to change between chapters two and three in chapter two.
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Verse one, there seems to be almost a clue that Samuel gives us. He says right at the beginning.
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She had a relative of her husband, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was
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Boaz. In fact, in the book of Judges, you don't see the word worthy. You just keep seeing unworthy, unworthy fellows is what you would see.
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You know, the judges were surrounded by all these useless, reckless and ungodly men.
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But here you have a godly man whose name was Boaz. And that pretty much stops. And then you get to see what happens with Ruth.
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So Ruth is not the kind to sit down and say, well, I don't know what to do. I'm in a new land, new place, new country.
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People don't like me here very much. Maybe, you know, I just sit here. We'll moan and I know she says, let me go to the field and glean among the years of grain after him in whose sight
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I shall find favor. And Naomi says, go, my daughter. Here you have an industrious woman who recognizes that she is the younger, able bodied person and knowing gleaning.
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This is from Leviticus 99. This was the law that was to provide for those who are poor. You know, you don't have
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Social Security, but you have the people of God who reflect the generosity of God. Those who have fields and harvest were to give out of their plenty to those who had need.
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And that's that's the law. And whether it will be followed or not is a different story in the time of the judges.
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But Ruth is willing to go and work. So in verse three, she goes, she gleans after the reapers and then.
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She happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz. Don't you love that what happened?
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I wonder what Samuel was chuckling when he wrote this down. She happened to come.
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And by the way, Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech. And you stop here.
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Ruth is gleaning. She comes to this field. But it happens that Boaz is also visiting from Jerusalem to this.
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I'm sorry, he comes from Bethlehem to the fields to his workers and he says, the Lord be with you. They answer him, the
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Lord bless you. You can see that there is a knowledge and an appreciation and a love for the Lord as they commune with one another.
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But was five right there. Boaz notices something different. He asked the reapers or the man in charge of the reapers, whose young woman is this?
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I don't recognize this. She's new. And then the servant in charge replies, she is. What would be the adjective that you'd like to be described as if someone was describing you?
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She's the young Moabite woman. Remember, Israelite thinking of Moabite. You might as well say, you know, that's the you remember that ISIS group that was there?
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That person, you know, and a widow, that Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab.
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She said, please let me glean. And so she came and she continued from early morning until now, except for a short rest.
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He says she this Moabite woman, she actually came with a mother in law and she's been working hard from early morning until now.
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She seems to be a very committed young woman doing what she is doing. And then you see verse eight.
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And this is kind of crucial for us to notice. What expectation does Ruth have as she's going through all these fields and gleaning?
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Not much. She's a foreigner. She's well aware of how people would view her. But Boaz looks at her and says, now, listen, my daughter, do not go glean in another field or leave this one.
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But keep close to my young woman. Immediately you see the favor of Boaz upon Ruth.
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Let your eyes be on the field. They are reaping. Go. The people, the women go after them.
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Have I not charged the young women? Have I have I not charged the young women not to touch you when you're thirsty?
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Go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn. Why do you think he has to say, have I not charged the young women not to touch you?
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Young men. What did I say? Sorry.
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Time of the judges. Time of the judges. That is why, you know, here is a you remember the last two events in the
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Book of Judges. It is horrible. There is no awareness of morality in the public place.
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And Boaz protects this women, this women and especially Ruth and says, you will be safe here.
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Because when you go somewhere else, that cannot be guaranteed in Israel. And he has favor upon her, not not just for the gleaning, but also for water with his own people.
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And then Naomi's response, she falls on the ground, says to him, why? Why have
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I found favor in your eyes that you should take notice of me? And what what is
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Naomi thinking? Because I am a foreigner. I kind of understand where I come from.
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I know my status. It's not like I'm the queen of Queen of Sheba. I know
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I'm not someone big and noticeable that you should say, oh, come in and let me show you my wealth and give off it. You don't owe me anything.
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But what is it that Boaz has noticed? Verse 11. All that you have done for your mother -in -law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me.
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So when when the young man tells him this is the mobile woman who came with Naomi, it was not just over the mobile woman.
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What Naomi has what Ruth has said in the end of Chapter one, what
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Naomi talked about Ruth, when she said the kindness with which you dealt with the dead and with me. There is something that is about Ruth that Boaz has been observant of and watching.
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You left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before.
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The question that. Pastor Mike asked last week, you know, what is more important than Jesus to you?
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Here you can see her father, her mother, her native land, everything that she knows going to a place where her people are not valued.
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She does that because your God shall be my God and your people, my people.
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She has aligned herself with Naomi and her worship that Boaz recognizes it and look at verse 12.
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The Lord repay you for what you have done and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the
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God of Israel under whose wings you have come to take refuge.
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And you need to let that word sink. If you want to memorize any verse here, this would be a good one to do.
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The God of Israel under whose wings you have come to take refuge. You're going to see the word wings in the next few books, but a couple of times right here.
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We often think of the bird, that mother hen that puts its wings around the chicks. But the word wings, when you think of a cloak, you want to be thinking of the edges of the cloak that I mean, and nowadays for costumes, it's kind of cool if you put a fan with a cloak, it kind of floats around.
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But this is the kind of cloak that you can cover with. And here it is.
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Let God cover you with his cloak and under his protection and his care. And verse 13, she replies,
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I have found favor in your eyes, my Lord, for you have comforted me and spoke kindly to your servant, though I am not one of your servants.
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And then you can see Ruth experiencing the favor and rejoicing in it.
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And then you get to see how Boaz continues to show his favor upon her. Not just the gleaning, but more so in terms of providing for her.
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So much so in verse 17, when she leaves the end of the day, she has an Ipah of barley, which is like 40 pounds.
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There's a lot of food she has for a day of gleaning. So much so that she goes back home, verse 18, and a mother -in -law saw what she had gleaned.
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And actually, she has eaten food with Boaz and the rest extra food she has brought back. She asks, who did you glean with?
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Where have you worked? Blessed be the man who took notice of you. And then she says, the man's name with whom
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I work today is Boaz. And Naomi say, may he be blessed by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living and the dead.
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Wait a minute, Naomi. I thought you just said God was against you to destroy you. But she can recognize the hand of God that is happening here.
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This does not happen. There is something supernatural that has happened. As the providence of God underneath has brought her to the place.
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Why is this so important? Why is she saying that God is favorable to her?
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The man is a close relative of ours, one of our Redeemers. And here's where that kinsmen
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Redeemer theme comes back into the forefront. And besides, he said to me, Ruth says, stay with my young men until we are finished all harvest.
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And she says, it is good lest in another field you be assaulted. Not just Boaz. Naomi knows as well.
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This is not a good time to be for young women to be out. And she stays there gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvest.
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So this is the five months from the beginning of the wheat barley harvest to the end of the barley and wheat harvest. You're talking about five months where she lives with her mother in law, supporting her mother in law through this gleaning.
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You know, anytime we move from chapter two to chapter three, we think, oh, things just happened many times in our lives. Trials come.
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And then there is a time of waiting. And then before we get to see how the
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Lord takes us through those trials, how we've been transformed by it, how God has purposed underneath providentially in all the events that happen.
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But many a time, I want my life to go from chapter 22, chapter two, verse 22 to chapter three, verse one, without verse 23 in the middle.
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I don't want to endure through those circumstances that God has placed. Waiting for the hand of the
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Lord to work. Now we come to chapter three, the one night that will set the course.
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Of. Naomi and Ruth's future existence, their current provision is provided for in chapter two.
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In chapter three, you get to see what is to happen of them in the future. Now, Naomi comes up with a bold plan in chapter two.
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Ruth came up with a plan. She said, I'm going to go glean and the Lord providentially provided for her.
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So those next five months were taken care of. Now, Naomi comes up with a plan in chapter three. And you're going to see how
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God works that through in the life of Naomi, Ruth and Boaz. My daughter, should
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I not seek rest for you that it may be well with you? Remember what
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Naomi had said to Ruth in Moab. Go back to your people, marry a husband, settle down and have rest.
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Ruth said, no, your God shall be my God. Naomi said, I have nothing to promise offer you if you were to come.
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But in these five months, Naomi has gotten to see the hand of God that has been favorable. And she says,
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I would love to see you find rest in our land. The land that you have come and settled to the to the
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God of Israel. And then in verse two is not Boaz a relative with those young women you were.
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See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. Wash, therefore, and anoint yourself and put on your cloak.
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What is she saying? The widow's clothes that you are wearing. It's time to let it go.
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You've done your duty as a daughter in law to me. It is time for you to find a husband.
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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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But when he lies down, observe the place where he lies. When everybody's sleeping, then go and uncover his feet and lie down and he will tell you what to do.
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She replied, all that you say, I will do. Here is a very elaborate scheme. And the intent of this is rather unique.
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And I'm going to tell you what the intent is once we get past the next few verses. So Ruth, in verse six, does exactly what her mother in law says.
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Boaz eats, drinks, goes to sleep. She comes slowly, softly, uncovers his feet and lie down.
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And Boaz is sleeping and he wakes up startled because there is something under his foot. A woman at his feet.
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And you can imagine it's dark. He doesn't know what is happening. He's like, what? Who are you? I am
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Ruth, your servant. And what does she say? Spread your wings.
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Have you heard that word before? Spread your wings over your servant. Why? For you are a redeemer.
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She recognizes that Boaz is able to redeem her. We're going to see what that means in a moment. But she asked him to spread his wings over you.
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Now you might be wondering, this sounds a little risky. What is really going on? But as you look at Ruth and Boaz interact, you get to see what really underlying the culture comes to the forefront.
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Look at verse 10. How does Boaz respond? He doesn't respond in the way the people in the time of the judges would.
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He is a man of integrity and looks at it as how God has ordained this to be. He says, may you be blessed by the
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Lord, my daughter. It's quite probable that they have a little bit of an age difference here. You have made this last kindness.
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Why is this the last kindness? Remember what Naomi said to Ruth? You've been kind to the dead, her former husband when he was alive.
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You've been kind to me, Naomi, when we were in Moab. She has been kind for these last five months to Naomi.
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But then this last kindness is even more. What is she talking about? How is Ruth being kind to Boaz?
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If you keep reading, you get to find out. In that you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich.
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That kind of gives you a little bit of an idea how old Boaz might have been. You could have gone. You're a pretty lady. You're young.
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You could have married any other young man. But you are coming to me and asking for my hand in marriage.
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It's kind of like a proposal in reverse. And that's really what she's doing. You are my redeemer.
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Would you redeem me? Would you marry me? Again, as I said, we'll see what that redemption means in a little bit further.
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And then in verse 11, do not fear.
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Of course, you can just imagine what Ruth is thinking. I don't know this culture that well. This is kind of weird for me to be in a stranger's place under his foot in the middle of the night.
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What is he going to do? Is he going to kick me out? But he says, do not fear. I will do for you all that you ask.
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Why, for all my fellow townsmen know that you are a worthy woman.
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Just as Boaz was a worthy man, Ruth has demonstrated her character in her life up until now.
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It is true that I'm a redeemer. There is a yet there is a redeemer nearer than I remain tonight. And if he will redeem you good, if not, if he is not willing, as the
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Lord lives, I will redeem you. So he says, I will do my best to fulfill what you have asked of me.
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So she stays there and he is very careful to protect and preserve her honor.
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Even in the morning when she wakes up, when the people, the workers in the threshing floor, which is on the top of the hill. He tells the people, don't don't spread this word that this woman was here.
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He gives a cloak, gives the food. It's almost like, hey, this is my advance in for our marriage.
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He gives her a lot of food and sends her back home. And so when she comes back to Naomi, you can just imagine what
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Naomi's thinking all night. I don't think she slept a lot. How did you fear my daughter? Verse 16. And she tells her everything.
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And then six measures of barley don't go empty handed. It's like, you know, I will take care of you.
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Wait, my daughter, until we learn how the matter turns out for the man will not rest until but will settle the matter today.
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So one night and there's going to be a radical difference. So in verse chapter four, we get to see the culmination of the story.
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Ruth's story from Moab to the fields, to this threshing floor. And now what's next?
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Moaz goes up to the front of the gate. He meets that redeemer who's closer than himself, has him sit down, gets 10 of the elders.
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They sit together and then they talk about this redemption process. So if you want to think of redemption,
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I'm not going to read this for the sake of time in Leviticus 25, 23 to 25.
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You have the laws of redemption talking about what do you do when your land is gone?
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So here is a limelight who has left Bethlehem, gone to Moab, most likely because of the famine, sold his land to the.
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To someone else, and it belongs to someone else until the year of Jubilee, which is 50 years away.
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And he doesn't have money to redeem it. Neither does Naomi. It belongs to someone else. So Naomi is back in town.
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Boaz is a redeemer, but there is one more guy, nameless person. We will see who has the ability to do so.
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So when Boaz tells him, hey, would you redeem the land in verse four?
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If you will, let me know. If you will redeem it, redeem it. If not, let me know, because there is no one else besides you to redeem it.
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And I come after you. And the man says, well, this is a good thing. I would like to redeem the land. I'm not sure what he's thinking, but he says, sure.
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And then Boaz does this real nice job of saying, well, you can redeem her.
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But there is another law that goes with it. There is a levitate marriage concept that is based in the question that Boaz brings in where he says, the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi.
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You also acquire Ruth. Ruth, the
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Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.
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So this is not just a land that comes where you know, but Naomi's old.
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You're not asked to marry her. You know, it's not like this. This land now becomes part of your inheritance. There is a line that needs to be continued.
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You need to remember when Joshua came into the promised land, the land was divided among all the different tribes.
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This is the tribe of Judah. And this portion in Bethlehem that belongs to this tribe, Elimelech's clan needs to continue the land in its in its ownership.
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So redemption is not just the price of the land, but it is the continuation of the people that God has brought into his promised land.
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So there is a little bit of a string attached to this, and the string has a Moabite by name.
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Redeemer says. I cannot redeem it for myself. Why? Why? You were so eager to do so, lest I impair my own inheritance.
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I'm selfish. I'm not as generous. You take my redemption yourself, but I cannot redeem it.
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So you get to see how it is not just the ability to do so, but a desire and a willingness to do so.
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And when you want to think of Jesus Christ as our kinsmen Redeemer, it is not just someone who is able to, but freely and willingly will give off his own life in order that you and I may have life today.
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And then in verse seven, you have this very interesting custom. The one who refuses to redeem takes a slipper and gives it to the one who would redeem instead.
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And I don't know if the idea is more of, you know, you have the sandal and wherever you walk on in the sandal now belongs to you.
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But this was the custom and the tradition. And Boaz gets this slipper, if you will. And you have a guy with one slipper.
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And Boaz says, hey, you are witnesses. I'm ready to both redeem. No, let me read that verse nine.
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You are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi. All that belong to Alimelech and all that belong to Chilean and to Marlon.
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Marlon was Ruth's husband and also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Marlon.
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I have brought what bought to be my wife to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place.
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You are witnesses this day. And the people say, and I want you to look at the blessing that the people give here.
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The elder said, we are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who built up the house of Israel.
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Israel is the name of Jacob that was transformed. And it is from this one man. You have those twelve tribes, twelve sons and the tribes that came forth.
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It says, let it be like that. Let it grow forth and multiply. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem.
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May a house be like the house of Perez. Wait, who is Perez? Whom Tamar brought to Judah. Who is
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Tamar? Tamar is? We'll get to that in a moment because of the offspring that the
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Lord will give you by this young woman. I want to just note the name Tamar because as we conclude,
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I want us to think of that. So Boaz takes Ruth, Ruth becomes his wife and she bears him a son.
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And Naomi, if you remember in the beginning of the book, dejected, desolate, leaving from a famine, losing her husband and her sons, thinking the
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Lord's hand is against her. Now, at the end of the book, gets to see from chapters two, three and now four, she's actually blessed back with a lineage, something that she had no hope for.
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She just thought, you know, daughter -in -laws go away. I can't, I won't get a husband. I'm not going to have a son.
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My line is dead. I don't even know if I can survive. Not only has she survived, she now has a lineage continuing because she can see the hand of God in her life.
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Verse 14, blessed be the Lord who has not left you this day without a redeemer. The women tell Naomi, may his name be renowned in Israel.
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He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age for your daughter -in -law who loves you.
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Naomi, when you came back, you didn't come back empty. You came back with Ruth. You came back with a hand of God that was to provide for you all this time.
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This daughter -in -law who loves you, she's not empty. She's more than seven sons. This young woman has given birth to this child.
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So Naomi takes care of this child and they named him Obed. And he was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
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And then you have this lineage as this book closes. As I said,
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Ruth is this junction between judges and first Samuel. In judges, you have the judges who are ruling.
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In Samuel, the kings are going to come. And you get to see how God orchestrates this in bringing the forefather of David into this land.
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Now, think about this. There are two women that are mentioned here. One of them is Ruth, obviously, the book.
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And who is she? A Moabite. No qualification, if you will, no royal blood in her.
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She is an alien and a stranger that is planted and grafted into the people of God as God saves her, gives her faith, a faith that just endures through really hard times and provides for her a husband through whom comes
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Obed, who will be an ancestor of David. But not just Ruth, you have
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Tamar. You know, if you think the
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Moabites had problems with Lot and the daughter, you have Judah, who has problem with his daughter -in -law.
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You know, if you want to be thinking of this, you know, if you think of the kings of England and all this big lineage and the royal blood and everything else, you would not choose this as your line.
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Well, that's the line that David comes from, and that's the line that Jesus will one day be born.
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Matthew 1 .5 talks about this. It talks about Boaz. You get to see that when you think of kinsmen redeemer, it is not as if God sends a son who's kind of in another plane.
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He's like, well, I kind of get close to you, but not all that way. He kind of gets right into the midst of it.
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It's like you are mired in sin. You are lost and without hope. I'm going to come and get you where you are.
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Yet this redeemer, we see in Boaz this picture of the future redeemer, Jesus Christ, who will rescue us from sin, being sinless himself, who's willing to give up his life on our behalf.
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But as we look at the ending of the book, what you want to be thanking God for is that there is a
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God who provides, a God who is active in every single circumstance of our life, whether it is in the famine in the land, whether it is in the plains of Moab when we have rejected and gone for other means of sustenance, or whether it is in the fields of the barley harvest, or even on that threshing floor when you do not know what the outcome would have been.
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We have a mighty God who rescues us, and he doesn't just leave us.
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He is with us every step of the way. Let us pray. Lord, we are grateful.
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We are grateful for your word that recounts your work in the life of these three characters,
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Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz. Help us, O Father, even this evening, to be reminded afresh of your
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Son, our Lord and Savior, and his redemption for us. Help us to remember that each of us here can count on your active hand in our lives.
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Help us open our eyes to recognize that we are under your wings.