Ruth Chapter Two

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chapter a week in the book of Ruth should take four weeks, this being the second week.
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And then one week of maybe just some summaries and some thoughts about the book and about some things to consider.
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And then brother Mike is gonna take us through 1 Samuel.
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So as we come to consider the second chapter, couple of quick notes, if you will, just to remind us of a couple of things.
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And the first is that if you've read this book a couple of times, and the more I read, I just keep reading it over and over again.
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It's such a beautiful story.
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It really is, it's uplifting in the sense of, not only what God is doing, good morning, but of the character of the people that are involved at this point.
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And it's amazing to me when you consider the time in which this is set, right? The book of Ruth is set somewhere early on in the history of the judges.
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And as we've gone through the book of judges and we've seen some of the activities of the, not only the judges, but of the people that the judges were over, it's a tumultuous time, right? In many ways, it was a godless time and many issues.
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And then you read this book and it's just filled with redemptive truth.
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It's filled with, I'm gonna say good character of people that you and I can learn from.
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So I just hope you'll enjoy this small little book because although it's small, it stands large.
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If you think about it as you go through it and you understand how it fits into the history, not only of God's redemptive work, but of also of the lineage of the Lord Jesus as we will see and how it plays in.
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So I just, to get you to think that way, and certainly as we come to it this morning, we're gonna meet another main character, if you will, or another person that's involved in this great story and it's Boaz as he now begins to come into contact with Ruth.
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So lots of good stuff and we'll come back to this week five and maybe talk about a couple of other things.
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But before we do anything else, let's just read the chapter together, Ruth chapter two.
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And Naomi, a kinsman of a husband, a man of great wealth of the family of a limonac, his name was Boaz.
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So Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, please let me go to the field and glean heads of corn after him in whose sight I may find favor.
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She said to her, go my daughter.
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Then she left and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, which was of the family of a limonac.
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Now behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, the Lord be with you.
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And they answered, the Lord bless you.
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Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, whose young woman is this? So the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered and said, it's the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab.
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And she said, please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.
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So she came and has continued for a morning until now, though she rested a little in the house.
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And Boaz said to Ruth, you will listen my daughter, will you not? Do not go to glean in another field, nor go from here, but stay close by my young woman.
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Let your eyes be on the field which they reap and go after them.
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Have not I commanded the young men not to touch you? When you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.
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She fell on her face and bowed down to the ground and said to him, why have I found favor in your eyes that you should take notice of me since I am a foreigner? Boaz answered and said to her, it's been fully reported to me all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth and have come to a people whom you did not know before.
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The Lord repay your work and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel under whose wings you have come to for refuge.
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Then she said, let me find favor in your sight, my Lord, for you have comforted me and have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your maidservants.
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Now Boaz said to her at mealtime, come here and eat a piece of bread and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar.
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So she sat beside the reapers and he passed parched grain to her and she ate and was satisfied and kept some back.
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And when she arose up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men saying, let her glean among the sheaves and do not reproach her and let some grain from the bundles fall purposely for her, leave it that she may glean and do not rebuke her.
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So she gleaned in the field until evening and beat out what she had gleaned and it was about an ephra of barley.
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Then she took it up and went into the city and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned.
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So she brought out and gave it to her and what she had kept back after she had been satisfied.
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And her mother-in-law said to her, where have you gleaned today? Where did you work? Blessed be the one who took notice of you.
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So she told the mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said the man's name with whom I work today is Boaz.
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Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, blessed be he of the Lord who has not forsaken his kindness to the living and to the dead.
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Naomi said to her, this man is a relative of ours, one of our near kinsmen.
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Then Ruth the Moabitess said, he also said to me, you shall stay close to my young men until they have finished all my harvest.
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Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, it is good my daughter that you go out with his young women and that people do not meet you in any other field.
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So she stayed close by the young women of Boaz to glean until the end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest and she dwelt with her mother-in-law.
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So as I said, we're now going to begin to see the encounter of the initial encounter between Boaz and Ruth.
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And again, it's amazing how this story will just continually unfold and how God is behind it all.
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And I think that's something that we need to keep in our minds, not only as we go through this account in the book of Ruth, but just to keep in mind that no matter what, brothers and sisters, God is always the one who works all things according to his counsel, right? And what seems to be perhaps at times insignificant is not really, nothing is insignificant when it comes to the work that God is doing.
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But let's just walk through some of the verses and just some thoughts that will come out of it.
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So as we're introduced to this main character, it says, and Naomi had a kinsman of a husband, the name, a man of great wealth, of the family of Elimenek and his name was Boaz.
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Best I can understand Boaz has a meaning of strength or a man of valor or something like that.
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It's a name that kind of goes along with his character.
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And if you notice it, not only is he a kinsman of her husband, and I think that's significant now as we get through this a little bit more, he's not Naomi's relative in that sense, but he's Elimenek's relative.
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And therefore that will play into this whole outworking of him being the kinsman redeemer who ultimately not only redeems the land that she sells, but he will also raise up seed through Ruth because of that as he fulfills what was laid out in the law.
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So as we begin to see him and he's a man of wealth and I would think he was well-known, wouldn't you? I would think that he had some prominence.
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As I said to you in the beginning, in the first chapter, I think Elimenek and his family had some prominence too.
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But he is from Elimenek's side.
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And remember, I just keep something in mind and I still haven't figured out why it keeps coming back in my mind.
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But I said to you last week, you will not find in the book of Ruth any conversation between Boaz and Naomi.
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Everything goes through Ruth.
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In that sense, Ruth is like the mediator between what takes place.
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And yet you would understand that if you think about it, I'm sure Naomi has knowledge about Boaz because she tells Ruth that later on and that Boaz must've known Naomi.
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And yet they never really have a direct conversation.
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Ruth is the, if you will, the go between.
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So verse two, Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, please let me go into the field and glean the heads of grain after him in whose sight I might find favor.
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And she said to her, go my daughter.
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So Naomi doesn't tell Ruth what to do, does she? Does she tell him to go and glean in Boaz's field? She doesn't do that.
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And as far as I know, she does not instruct Naomi to do that, but rather Ruth takes it in a sense, she has a concern for Naomi.
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And not only that, but she has a concern to help provide for Naomi.
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And remember now, these are two widows and they are, although back in Naomi's land, they are still two widows and the ability for them to continually to take care of themselves is a tremendous issue.
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They have to provide for themselves.
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I mean, it's not, I don't think they had DoorDash in those days.
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So when you think about it, Ruth's understands the situation to some extent and she realizes that, and Naomi's not in good condition.
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And I said that to you last week and I wanna ask you to think about it.
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Naomi's not only in a bad, I believe she's a little bit worn and torn from the excursion down to Moab, spending 10 years there, losing her husband, losing her sons, having no grandchildren, and then that work backup.
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I would think that Naomi, and I also mentioned that in chapter one, that she probably is a little less capable of taking care of herself.
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I don't know an exact age of Naomi, but I do know this, she's a little bit shaken and she also is shaken spiritually.
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I think you could have to say that and we'll see that as we go on.
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So Ruth goes out and she says, I'm gonna go out and I'm gonna provide.
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And basically she's, I think she's just gonna go out and see what she can do.
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And another thought about that is Ruth is not lazy.
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And I want us to think about that because later on in the book, Ruth is called a virtuous woman.
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And I thought about Proverbs 31, right? And I thought about how in Proverbs 31, it characterizes a virtuous woman.
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And one of the characteristics of a virtuous woman is that she is not lazy.
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Matter of fact, she works from morning till night, right? It talks about that, talks about how she gets up early, she takes care of the kids, takes care of her husband, takes care of the house, takes care of everything.
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And then she works on the side.
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And so I think that's important.
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And we'll see that, I think, even in the actions of Boaz, that Boaz is not a lazy person.
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And again, I think that's a characteristic that you and I should keep in mind as a lesson for us in our lives, that we ought not to be physically lazy and we ought not to be spiritually lazy because neither of those are profitable.
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So she goes out and she's concerned and she wants to take care of Naomi.
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And so she decides to go out and to glean behind the reapers in a field that she was to find.
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Now, one would think that this is not the choice occupation.
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Reaping in the fields behind the reapers or gleaning in the fields behind the reapers was probably not number one on Indeed or Monster classified.
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This was not a great job.
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Matter of fact, this was really a job for the poor and for the broken.
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And yet, as I said to you, Ruth knows that she has a need, not only for Naomi, but for herself.
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And so she goes out and she's gonna go glean in the fields.
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And again, try to put your mind in it.
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This is not, if the timing is right and the harvest started end of March, beginning of April, and it runs till about June.
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So there's a couple of months in which Naomi, I mean, Ruth is going to be in the fields working.
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And again, like I said, it was not something that, it's not something that many would have been proud of.
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But here's the thing about Ruth.
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Ruth's not concerned with herself as much as she's concerned with Naomi.
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Later on, we'll see Naomi is not as much concerned about herself as she is for Ruth.
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Then we'll see Boaz is not as much concerned about himself as he is for Ruth and Naomi.
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And then you can keep on going back to it.
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And really, ultimately, where's the great concern? The great concern is on the part of God, right? Because God is going to do a great work, even as we consider it.
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This whole book really encaptures or captures not only the story of Ruth, who is outside of the commonwealth of Israel, right? Gentile in that sense, but also Naomi, Jew.
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So when you think about it, I think there's some real strong gospel overtones of how the gospel goes out to who? To the ends of the earth.
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And it captures and captivates both Jew and Gentile.
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But like I said, she's ready to do whatever it takes.
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And so she left and she went in verse three and gleaned in the field after the reapers.
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And it's kind of neat how it says, she happened to come on the part of the field that belonged to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimenek.
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Different way, it says in some other translations.
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Mike, what does it say in the New Kingdom? Yeah, it says hap, right? Yeah.
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Anybody else have a different word in a different translation besides that? Okay.
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Mike, New American Standard? No, no, I'm talking about when she left the field and it says, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonged to Boaz.
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Verse three.
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Okay, so it says that way.
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But here's the thought, right? As I said to you, I don't believe Naomi said, go to the field of Boaz.
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Ruth is just gonna go and do whatever it takes to accomplish whatever is needed.
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Without pride, without arrogance, without anything.
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And she happens to come upon the field of Boaz.
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And so again, as you read these narratives, nothing happens by chance, right? Nothing's by luck.
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I remember I had a conversation with my son-in-law years ago and he was hung up on serendipity.
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Everything was a result of serendipity.
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Things just, it just, that's the way it happens.
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What kind of a God would God be if everything was a result of chance or luck or serendipity or, I mean, what a mess.
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So, Aaron? Not a God at all, right, exactly.
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Not a God who has both a purpose and the power to fulfill his purpose, right? So again, I don't know how people in this world today still consider things as a luck or serendipity or chance or any of those things.
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So, but interestingly enough, as the providence of God has directed everything to this point, so he directs her to the field of Boaz.
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And so verse four, now Boaz came from Bethlehem and he said to the reapers, the Lord be with you.
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And they answered, the Lord bless you.
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And not much to say about that, other than I do believe that this kind of reveals a little bit of the character of Boaz, right? He's the landowner, it's his field.
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And I read some of the brothers that spent a lot of time in us and he could have had up to like 200 workers work in the field.
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And he comes and he's not like the landowners of today.
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He comes and he greets his workers, he greets his, if you will, he greets the foreman who then is the one who's gonna relate the story of Ruth.
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But, and the greeting is right, right? The Lord be with you.
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And they answered, the Lord bless you.
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So again, I didn't find, there's not much negative in the book of Ruth.
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Everything seems to be positive.
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Everything seems to be uplifting.
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Everything seems to be, even in the midst of the book of Judges and the time it takes place.
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But Boaz, again, now he demonstrates his character.
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And so Boaz said in verse five to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, whose young woman is this? And I thought about that a little bit.
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And I wondered that, did Boaz know everybody? Did Ruth look differently? Was she dressed differently? How is it that Boaz fixes his eyes? Was it something about Ruth that caught his eye? I mean, I think that that is a possibility.
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I mean, ultimately he's gonna marry her.
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I remember, and maybe some of you would relate, as soon as I saw my wife, I didn't even know her name.
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And I knew I was gonna marry her.
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She didn't know, but I knew.
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There was just, there was something that just, that was it.
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She didn't run away.
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Huh? She didn't run away.
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No, I would have went and got her, bro.
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Yes.
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I did.
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I mean, I could say I could get myself in trouble with no problem.
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But I do think there was something that attracted Boaz.
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And what's behind it all certainly is why? God.
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Again, God is the one who sometimes is on, in front of the curtain, and God many times is the one who's behind the curtain.
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And so he's putting all these things in place, personalities, actions, kindness, all these different things.
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So he said to the reapers, whose woman is this? And so now the servant gives him the answer, and he tells him it's the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi, and how she came to him and asked him in verse seven, if she could continue and go behind the reapers and glean what was left for her to glean.
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And I thought it would be good for me to just read to you how God had set this up.
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In other words, there was laws that God put in place for Israel that had to deal with not only what they were to do, but what they were not to do.
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And what they were not to do was to strip the land and not consider the poor and the broken.
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And so I'll read just two sections in Leviticus 19.
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If you want to read, it says, when you reap the harvest of your land, you're not to reap the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest.
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You must not strip your vineyard bare or gather its fallen grapes.
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Leave them for the poor and the foreigner.
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I am the Lord, your God.
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So God had made provision even in that way for the poor, the broken.
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And so God cares for who? All, in that way.
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In Deuteronomy, it says, if you are harvesting in your field, Deuteronomy 24, you're harvesting in your field and you forget a sheaf there, don't go back to get it.
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It is to be left for the foreigner, the fatherless, the widow, so that the Lord, your God may bless you in all the works of your hands.
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When you beat the olives from your trees, you must not go over to branches again.
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What remains will be for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow.
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When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you must not go over the vines again.
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What remains will be for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow.
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Remember you were slaves in Egypt, therefore I am commanding you to do this.
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So God had set this up before and he put it in place because, and here's what I thought about, what a contrast to things of today.
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Just think about it.
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We live in a world today where we're gonna try to squeeze the very last drop out of things, right? How many people would purposely leave a bag of groceries for somebody, right? God is so good in setting up things in society and we have in many ways ruined it, but nevertheless, that was the principle, that was the law, and that was to be kept.
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And so she says to the foreman, whoever that person is, please let me glean.
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And then it says, verse eight, which is rather interesting.
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Then Boaz said to Ruth, you will listen, my daughter, will you not? Do not go to glean in another field, nor go from here, stay close to my young women.
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A couple of things.
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I think this reveals to us, in one way, the age difference between them.
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Because he uses that, when he says that to her, you will listen, my daughter, that would have been a way of speaking to someone who is, there's a great disparity in age, right? Just like we, I don't even know why I think of the things I think about, just like people, women, older women who pick up, who go after younger men and call what? Cougars.
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So I'm not the only one that knows that, right? I don't know what we call old men that go after young women.
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Okay, we got cougars and others, and others.
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But nevertheless, I think it reveals, this is an age difference, my whole point.
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Right? And if you remember what Naomi had said, she said, you know, I'm too old.
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I wonder if Naomi's age and Boaz's age are comparable.
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So anyway, he introduces himself to her in that way, and he says, don't glean in another field, nor go from here, but stay close to my young women.
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Now, a couple of things.
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Do you think he says that because he knows that Naomi is his relative? Do you think he says that because he's attracted to Ruth? Do you think he says it because he's just a kind and generous man? Do you think he says it maybe for a little bit of all those reasons? Again, this is a short book, and it doesn't go into great detail, but nevertheless, I do think there's some reality to the fact that Boaz having knowledge that Ruth is attached to Naomi, and Naomi is attached to him.
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Because if you remember in chapter one, remember what it said? When Naomi first came back with Ruth, it says the whole city was excited.
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I mean, this was headline news.
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This was the number one story.
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Naomi's back.
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And remember, she went into the whole thing, don't call me Naomi, call me Mara, bitter, because I went out full and I came back empty, and the Lord has afflicted me.
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So anyway, he tells her not to go anywhere.
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And I think that was a kindness, certainly.
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And he says, let your eyes, verse nine, be on the field which they reap and go after them.
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Have I not commanded the young men not to touch you? And when you're thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.
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Again, immediately it appears, he's going to take some real interest in Ruth.
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I think it's because in his heart, there's a stirring.
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Maybe part of it is because he knows he has some sort of obligation in this situation, but I do think it grows, if that's all it is now, it certainly grows and blossoms, right? Wait till we get to where he gets the closer kinsmen.
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And he says, well, if you want to redeem it, you can redeem it.
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And the guy will say, yeah, I'm going to redeem it.
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And then he says, but you've got to take Ruth.
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And the guy says, well, forget it.
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I think Boaz must've been excited.
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But at that time, I think he's flat out in love with Ruth.
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So just something to think about as you go through it.
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And so she falls on her face, bows down to the ground, verse 10.
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Why have I found favor in your eyes that you should take notice of me since I'm a foreigner? And Boaz answered and said to her, it's been fully reported to me all you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, how you've blessed your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people who you did not know before.
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The Lord repay your work and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel under whose wings you have now come to abide.
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So that certainly enters into it, right? He heard of all of the goodness of Ruth in staying with Naomi.
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By the way, as we get further on in the book, it talks about that the relationship between Ruth and Naomi was almost better than the relationship of a mother to a son.
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There's a bond here between Naomi and Ruth, and you could see it go back and forth in Naomi's care, Ruth's care for Naomi, Naomi's care for Ruth.
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And so a lot of these things are just working in, and again, God is behind it.
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God is just doing these things.
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And here's another thing.
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This might seem insignificant in the beginning, but it grows into something exceedingly large, doesn't it? Ultimately, where does the lineage of the Lord Jesus Christ trace back to? David, yeah, and David traces back to Salmon, and Salmon is the one who married Rahab.
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And so again, I thought about this, and I thought about that scripture that says, don't despise the day of small things, because you never know.
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When God is in it, anything can happen, right? And so I thought of it as a lesson for me to consider in my own life how, you know how many times in our own lives something small happens, and we just kind of move on? And I'm not saying because many things happen to us in life, but when we begin to see the imprint of God's hand, we need to take notice, right? Because again, with men, many things are impossible, but with God, all things are possible, right? So he tells her, Lord, we pay you under whose wings you have now come.
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And she said, let me find favor in your sight, my Lord.
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You have comforted me, you have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your maidservants.
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So certainly there was other women that were doing the same thing.
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And I think there's a little shock that Boaz actually is taken notice of, right? Again, why? Partly because of her character.
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Partly because God has his purpose.
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Again, we ought not to, and think about it.
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I don't think Ruth is all dressed up in her Sunday clothes.
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I mean, she's out in the field, right? You know how you are when you're out working in the garden? Yeah, I mean, we don't work, not too many of us work in the field, but you don't tend to look your best.
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So anyway, he did take notice of him.
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Boaz at mealtime in verse 14, come here and eat the bread and dip your piece of it, of your bread in the vinegar.
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And she sat besides the reapers and he passed the parched grain to her.
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She ate, she was satisfied and she kept some back.
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And that's interesting, she kept some back.
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Naomi's always on her mind.
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She's got this concern.
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Again, we ought to take that as a good lesson.
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We ought to care for one of those brothers and sisters.
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We live in a world that cares so little.
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We live in a world that is so harsh and it's me, mine and I, right? And it's a good lesson for us just to consider.
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So she keeps back, even if she's eating, she's being satisfied, she's gonna save some for Naomi.
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And so she does that.
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And she rose up to glean.
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It's probably, it was more like lunchtime.
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This is not at the end of the day.
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So she rose up and she gleaned some more and Boaz commanded his young men saying, let her glean even among the sheaves and do not reproach her.
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Verse 16 is kind of cool, right? Let some grain from the bundles fall purposely for her.
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Leave it to her that she may glean and don't rebuke her.
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Again, there's something's going on here.
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He's watching out after her.
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He's watching out after her.
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Like I said, I'm not saying it's for sure, but my wife is right.
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When I saw her, I became her protector.
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And she didn't even know I was the protector.
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But Ruth has really now come to, not only has she come to abide under the wings of God, the God of Israel, but Boaz is now going to, he's beginning to put her under his wings.
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And it is truly a beautiful story.
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So he tells the guys, you know, miss a few.
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And so she gleans in the field until evening, verse 17.
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She beat out what she had gathered and it was about an ephah, a barley.
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So I kind of looked what an ephah is.
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Basically she got a bushel of work.
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Now, if you think about it, I'm sure that as they reaped the field, they got as much as they could.
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Why? Steward would, right? That's, I think one of the reasons why he, Boaz tells them, when you go back out there, make some fall off the side so she can have them.
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But there's something about this.
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She gets a bushel's worth and that would have been a lot for what was really a scavenger hunt.
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So she took it and she went into the city and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned and she brought it and gave it to her and gave to her what she had kept back after she had been satisfied.
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So she goes back home to wherever they're abiding.
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And she is now going to have this conversation with Naomi.
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And this is where Naomi begins to come into some sort of understanding that is going to really be amazing for her.
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But again, Naomi takes care of Ruth, Ruth takes care of Naomi, Boaz takes care of Ruth, Boaz in that sense takes care of Naomi and God takes care of all of us, right? Just again, all I keep saying to myself is just good stuff.
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So her mother-in-law in verse 19 said to her, where have you gleaned today? Where do you work? Where did you work? And again, that's why I said to you, I don't believe she directed Ruth to go to Boaz's field.
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I do think she would have known where Boaz's field was perhaps, but she doesn't interfere in that way.
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She leaves things somewhat to the providence of God.
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And so now she comes back and she said, she sees a bushel full of grain, which again would have been a pretty good feat.
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And so her mother-in-law said to her in verse nine, where have you gleaned today? Where did you work? Blessed be the one who took notice of you.
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Again, up to this point, she doesn't specifically know it was Boaz.
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So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, the man's name with whom I work today is Boaz.
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Now we get to where all of a sudden things are going to change.
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And just look at what Naomi says in verse 20.
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Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, blessed be he of the Lord, who has not forsaken his kindness to the living and the dead.
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And Naomi said to her, the man is a relative of ours, one of our near kinsmen.
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So now she begins to reveal to Ruth more information about this relationship that they have.
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And I really think this is where Naomi starts to, and I'm reading into it, right? So if you don't agree with me, that's fine.
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I think this is where Naomi starts to come out of a spiritual depression, because I think she was depressed spiritually.
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And if you say you can't get spiritually depressed, just wait, you'll find out you can get spiritually depressed.
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But I think she's had it rough.
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How many of us can relate to that? Where we've gone through periods where it's rough.
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And if you think about it enough, our faith is not, and I asked you last week and nobody raised their hand last week, so I don't think it, is anybody willing to say they're always just on the top of the mountain, just flying along with the Lord.
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We all go through these valleys.
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It's just the way God has purposed it.
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And I think this is where God now is not only going to bring Ruth to Boaz, but he's gonna refresh Naomi.
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Because again, she spent at least 10 years, right? Out there in Moab.
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And I don't believe that that was the easiest life for her.
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With Malon and Chile on Diane, it complicated it even more, right? But now she begins to see through the kindness of Boaz that God has never really forsaken her.
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So Ruth in verse 21, Ruth the Moabitess said, he also said to me, you shall stay close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest.
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And that's where I say to you, this is now something that's gonna take place for a couple of months.
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If it was the end of March, April, May, June, I think June is where they would finish the harvesting.
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So Naomi is, I believe she's somewhat relieved and she's somewhat encouraged.
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And Boaz has told Ruth, you stay right here.
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And I think that's a pretty positive thing for Ruth, right? Because there's a lot of dangers for her being a Moabite in the land of Israel that she could have been taken advantage of fairly easy, especially as a widow.
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But nevertheless, God has got his hand on her.
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And so Ruth the Moabitess said, he said to me, you shall stay close to my young man until I finish.
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And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, it is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women.
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And that the people do not meet you in any other field.
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Again.
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And so she stayed close by the young women of Boaz to glean until the end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest.
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And she dwelt with her mother-in-law.
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So here we have this continuation of this account.
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They've gone out full.
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Ruth attached herself to her.
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They come back.
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And now we're beginning to see how God's unfolding this whole work in his providence to bring Ruth into that relationship with Boaz.
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And as we get to the fourth chapter, we'll see how that plays into it.
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Because then it brings up the genealogy again.
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And it talks about how the Lord Jesus Christ came through that lineage.
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I mean, think about it.
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You got Rahab the hollet.
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You got Ruth the Moabite.
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There's others that we could certainly come up with even talks about that at the end of the fourth chapter.
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Okay, just a second left.
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Comments, thoughts? Mr.
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Bryan.
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Yeah, I think it's not only understanding the law but what's given to them.
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You follow my law and see that throughout this section of Ruth and everything.
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You know, you see it, like as you said, the joy, everything seems to be happy.
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And, you know, looking right along, you see that with Boaz and everything.
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Most of that, I mean, I don't know, God and everything to be this prosperous and all.
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Yeah.
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I think also we can sit, knowing that we've read the New Testament, we can see part of the prodigal son here by Naomi.
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She said that, I love fool, I come back empty.
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We see that God has prepared and taken care of him that he didn't show him or anything like that.
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All the people were glad to see her and things of that nature.
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So there's a lot to take out of it.
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Yeah, and that's why I said, after we finished going through the text on the fifth week, I think we need to be a little bit careful that we, again, cause there's some weird stuff in this.
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I mean, Ruth goes with the land cause that's what he says when he goes to the close relative.
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He says, you buy the land, you got to buy Ruth.
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I mean, that's a package deal, I suppose, in those days.
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But we certainly wouldn't, I mean, how many women would appreciate that in today's world? That if you buy the car, you get the woman kind of thing.
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I don't think that's, but yeah, there's so many analogies of redemption.
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Restoration, kindness, consideration.
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And again, it's such a contrast to the days we live in today because everything is me, mine, get out of my way.
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Everything is bite and devour.
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And I was just thinking as I was thinking this morning, how this whole woke movement and I'm not trying, I'm saying it as we close, so I don't have to deal with it, but this whole woke movement is terrible, man.
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All it does is bite and devour and consume, pick on this and pick on that.
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There's no kindness in so much of this.
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It's just a bunch of mess.
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But nevertheless, we'll pick it up next week.
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And this is where the relationship grows and we'll see as we come to the end of it, how it finally manifests itself.
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Okay, let's pray.
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Our father in God, thank you for who you are.
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Thank you Lord that we can look in your word throughout your history and see your hand over and over and over again, that you are the God of all comfort, that you are the God who restores, that you are the God who brings all things to pass.
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Be with us this morning, be with brother Mike as he preaches Lord and may our worship be pleasing to you in Jesus name, amen.
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You got it? Thank you.