Biblical Welfare

All right let's pray. Lord God help us to grow in the knowledge of your son Jesus Christ our Lord and to remain firm in the confession of his blessed word. Give us the love to be of one mind and to serve one another in Christ then we will not be afraid of that which is disagreeable nor the rage of the arsonist satan whose torch is almost extinguished.

Dear father guard us so that his craftiness may not take the place of our pure faith and grant that our cross and sufferings may lead to a blessed and sure hope of the coming of our savior Jesus Christ for whom we wait daily.

Amen. All right any questions uh percolate up as a result of the sermon? Today's sermon was kind of straightforward. Does anyone here think coveting is a good idea? You know you do really Tom wow that's quite the confession.

Leviticus 19 and the Theocracy's Welfare for the Poor

All right um um let's see here we have been working our way through Leviticus at a glacial pace and and let's see I think we're up to chapter 19. I think that's where we're at. Yep chapter 19. That's where we last left off and let me reread chapter 9 and chapter sorry chapter 19 verse 9.

When you reap the harvest of your land you should not reap your field right up to its edge. Neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest and you shall not strip your vineyard bare. Neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard.

You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner. I am Yahweh your God. Now as uncomfortable as this is going to make certain conservatives feel we must deal with this fact that the theocracy of Israel had welfare.

This is most certainly true. So if somebody was down and out they found themselves in dire circumstances. Those dire circumstances were to be alleviated by their fellow citizens and neighbors and even if you were a sojourner.

I'm going to just be blunt a sojourner is somebody who is not a citizen of that country but somebody who is passing through. They were permitted by God to have a means to fill their bellies and feed themselves.

And you're going to note something here that this welfare system is not like any of our welfare systems today because here's how it worked. All right we're going to harvest our field. We're not going to harvest up to the edge.

Anything that we drop those are called gleanings. You can have them but you got to come. You got to do the work. You have to harvest it. You have to do the threshing. You have to do everything. We're not just going to write you a check and you can sit on your couch and watch Maury Povich all day long.

Is that even a thing? I haven't watched daytime television in two decades. It's the you are not the father show. Boy that's not awkward at all. So they're going to they confront fellows who've impregnated women and they do the DNA test and reveal the results on national television.

How is that entertainment? Got it okay. So you're going to note here that if you were to like take today's modern day political arguments for welfare and socialism and against welfare and socialism, the God solution is neither of those.

It's something kind of in between. Something kind of in between. Isn't that fascinating?

Yeah. I kind of like the system from the need and they don't lose. Correct. So you get a work ethic.

Yeah it's a good system. I think no no it's a fantastic season because you're right you do keep yourself respect and there's a work ethic and I would argue that America the American welfare system has decimated minority populations.

Absolutely decimated them. It has it incentivizes the breaking up of families and especially in the African-American communities. There's a large percentage of women who are raising children from multiple fathers and in the African-American community the welfare system makes it almost a guarantee that children are going to be raised without their dad.

That's devastating to them and I would say that that's harmed them more than anything in our time. So you'll note then we are to be generous and at the same time people who can work should. My grandmother had this verse from the New Testament that she would quote to me and because of the constitutional rights I have against self-incrimination I may or may not have done a poor job at my chores when I was a kid.

You know you fill in the blanks right. I may have not been enthusiastic in such a way and so my grandmother when she would visit she has this thick German accent and she would always tell me that the Bible says if a man should not work he should not eat.

Did you know that's in the scriptures? All right let's let's hunt this one down. All right we're going to do a little search in the epistles and eat is our word and we're going to go epistles on this one and let's see what we can find here.

We're going to hunt this one down. If a man will not work he should not eat. Okay give me a second to hunt this one down. Ah here it is 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 verse 10. 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 verse 10 and I'm going to put the context around it because we want to make sure we grab our context.

So I'll start in verse 1. Finally brothers pray for us that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored as happened among you that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men for not all have faith but the Lord is faithful he will establish you and guard you against the evil one and we have confidence in the Lord about you that you are do what that you are doing and will do the things that we command may the Lord direct your hearts to love to the love of God and steadfastness of Christ.

Now we commend you brothers in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not according and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us so you're gonna note here there's traditions right so the idea here is that the question is is it a man-made tradition or this one in accord with the word of God for you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us because we were not idle when we were with you nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it but with toil and labor we work night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you.

It was not because we do not have the right that right but but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate for even when we were with you we would give you this command if anyone is not willing to work let him not eat for we hear that some among you walk in idleness not busy at work but busy bodies and we may need to edit that part out.

No i'm yeah. So you'll note then God wills for us to be busy and boy i know what that's about never seems to stop does it. But that's what we find even Solomon was busy working. And this comes back to our text from Ecclesiastes that this is our lot right now to toil and so the idea then if somebody comes up with this idea that well i'm in need so it's your job to meet my need.

There's a lot of entitlement out there i'm just saying all right. Our response should be if you're not willing to work you shouldn't eat. End of discussion it's called what's for dinner. Yeah you can either have a nothing burger or you can have something and the nothing burgers.

If you do nothing you get a nothing.

Burger but it seems like that would just that wouldn't include people that are physically.

Unable to work. Yeah that's that's different altogether. So for the one who physically is incapable of work then it is our responsibility to care for their needs. And this makes perfect sense when you think of children all right.

There's laws against you know using them as slave labor which i'm really bummed about my g i'm joking about that part but but you know you'll note then that the the little ones they they are not capable of holding down a job and stuff like that.

But you know i remember when i got to an age when i can hold a job my parents sat me down and the talk went something like this son they call me that because i'm so bright but um a lot of editing today son we know that up till now you've enjoyed your summer vacations and you know you've swam and played ball and all this kind of stuff.

But you're old enough now and so we require you to get a job. What a job. What. And so from the time. Well how old were we. 15. When. 14. That's right my first job was probably when i was 14 and barb and i had a job working together.

But we can't talk about that without going to private confession but let's just say we were very creative and had a lot of fun anyway. But um so so the idea then is is that you know if somebody's not willing to work there they shouldn't need.

And so you'll note then that the welfare system of israel 100 was based upon generosity and 100 was based upon you need to work for this. It's not a straight up handout. There is there is a sense in which there's still toil involved there's work involved there's self-respect involved and i've pointed it out before and may even spend the rest of the time pointing out the fact that our lord and savior jesus christ the line of the messiah was saved through this welfare system.

Did you know that boaz that's right. He was ruthless for a while. So don't stone all. Right. We're going to take a look at the book of ruth. Ruth chapter one. Ruth chapter one. I've noted this before and i love telling the story and i like coming back to this.

It's been um a couple years since we've read this in and in kong's vinger but worth the read. Um i refer to this story as like the ultimate chick flick in the bible. It's awesome. And yeah i even though it's a chick flick it's just a great story.

But the uh the the types and shadows pointing to christ are amazing absolutely amazing. And so this is one of these pinnacle stories that shows the love the mercy the kindness of god. And then this thing that we just read in leviticus 19 regarding the gleanings this becomes the means by which the lineage of the messiah is saved.

Now a little bit of a note here so you can kind of get your characters worked out when the children of israel go in to conquer the promised land first city to be conquered is what jericho famous walls of jericho.

It's a type and shadow of jesus's return in glory to judge the living and the dead. Everybody in jericho dies. Except for whom. Rahab. And if you want to pronounce it properly it would be rahab. That is her name rahab and her vocation.

She was a prostitute. She was the prostitute of jericho and she was saved. She did not experience the destruction of jericho based upon whether or not she put something in her window. And what was that thing that was put in the window.

The red scarlet thread. Right. And so you'll note then you can you start to kind of see how this works out. Is that you can say that the scarlet thread it's kind of sacramental. It points to the blood of christ.

Her and her whole family were saved. And i would note that the archaeological digs done on jericho on on the tell there in jericho back in the early part of the 20th century showed an entire section of the wall of jericho that was not destroyed whereas everything else was.

And i think it's safe to say that that was probably where rahab lived. And there were apartments inside the wall itself built into the wall itself. And they and they've survived to this day in in tel jericho in in the in the tell at jericho.

Not all that being said once jericho falls what happens to rahab. She gets married. Who does she marry. Well let's do a little work here. All right. All right. So so far you guys cannot pass bible jeopardy.

That's okay. All right. So let's do this. You'll note rahab is mentioned in hebrews 11 by faith rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

She's in the great hall of faith passage. But she's also mentioned in the gospels. And i want you to note that in gos and the gospel matthew chapter one i'll read out starting at verse three judah was the father of perez and zarah by tamar.

You'll note that matthew does something quite scandalous. He puts women into the genealogy of christ which is not a common practice. But tamar is mentioned. And tamar how did she conceive perez. Another one of the is this.

This is like the daytime soap opera chapter of genesis in an act of prostitution the way the story goes judah had two sons. Actually judah had a son who married tamar and he died. He he flat out died and uh did he.

She was given then to another son if i'm remembering the story right. He also died because he did wicked things. And um judah was supposed to give another have another one of his sons marry her. But he didn't kind of fearing that.

You know if another one of my sons marries her he's going to die too. And so she remains a widow contrary to the culture she you know you know because the way the the culture works is that if you know if you are a brother you know and your brother marries a woman and your brother dies.

You marry the the brother marries the widow. And then the children. The first children's son that is conceived from the marriage will carry on the line of the dead fellow. So judah wasn't given his son to tamar.

And she continued to be a widow for quite a while. And then he went on a journey. I happened to be in the same town as tamar and she dressed up like the town hooker. And judah cast his eye on her. And um and he became her you know patron for the evening.

And she conceived perez through that. And uh when you read the account it's actually kind of it's it's silly and sad all at the same time. But you'll note that tamar conceives perez in an act of prostitution with her father-in-law judah.

And that son perez then is in the line of the messiah. So perez is the father of hezron. Hezron the father of ram. Ram the father of aminadab. Aminadab the father of nashan. Nashan the father of salman.

Salman the father of who boaz by rahab. So a good way to think about it is is that is a type and shadow of the church of the bride of christ. And after the fall of jericho she marries the messiah. And you have to put messiah in air quotes.

Because she marries right into the line of the messiah. And so boaz is rahab's son. That's who he is. And so we you know that's going to come into play here in this account. But i'm getting ahead of myself.

So ruth chapter one. In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land and a man of bethlehem in judah went to sojourn in the country of moab. He and his wife in a suit. Two sons. The name of the man was a limelight.

Yeah uh-huh. And the name of his wife was naomi. The names of his two sons were mahlon and chileon. They were ephrathites from bethlehem in judah. They went into the country of moab and remained there.

But a limelight. The husband of naomi died and she was left with her two sons. These two took moabite wives. The name of the one was orpa. The name of the other ruth. They lived there about 10 years. Both mahlon and chileon died so that the woman was left.

The woman was left without her two sons and her husband. And now so naomi's in dire straits at this point. And you're going to note here mosaic covenant. Jews are not supposed to marry moabite chicks.

They're just that's not supposed to be happening. But they did. So they've left israel. They've gone to moab. It's like going backwards into the wilderness right. And total disaster befalls them. Because inheritances are generally passed on from father to son from father to son.

And now the father's dead. Both sons are dead. And so now here's the thing in order for naomi to get back the inheritance of elimelech she's going to need what is called a kinsman redeemer. Somebody's going to have to redeem her or ruth because she had a valid marriage to one of her sons and marry her bear a son with her so that son can regain the inheritance.

Does that make sense. And so that fellow is the redeemer. It's a fascinating name if you think about it because jesus christ is our redeemer all right. So you kind of get the idea. So she's in dire straits at the moment and just everything has just gone kaput in her whole life.

So she rose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of moab. For she had heard in the fields of moab that yahweh had visited his people and given them food. So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law.

And they went on the way to return to the land of judah. But naomi said to her two daughters-in-law go return each of you to her mother's house. May yahweh deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me.

And yahweh grant that you may find rest each of you in the house of her husband. So then she kissed them and they lifted up their voices and they wept. And they said to her no we will return with you to your people.

But naomi said turn back my daughters. Why will you go with me. Have i yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands. Turn back my daughters. Go your way. For i am too old to have a husband. If i should say i have hope even if i should have a husband this night and should bear sons.

Would you therefore wait until they were grown. Would you therefore refrain from marrying. No my daughters. For it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of yahweh has gone out against me.

So they lifted up their voices and they wept again. And orpah kissed her mother-in-law. But ruth clung to her. So there's a lot of weeping. There's a lot of kissing. There's a lot total devastation.

Notice in the words of naomi. Then she's saying go ahead just go back to your own country. I release you you know because am i supposed to bear a son that you can then marry. Because in her mind her thinking is is that that's how that's going to work out.

But that's not that's not going to be how it works out. So the unexpected happens. And that is ruth this moabite daughter-in-law clung to her and you can see her faithfulness to her mother-in-law in this instance.

And she has exceedingly good character. She's not an idolater. She's not somebody of low character and she is expressing love and fidelity in a perfectly wonderful keeping of the fourth commandment even for her mother-in-law.

So she said see your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods return after your sister-in-law. But ruth said do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go i will go.

Where you lodge i will lodge. Your people shall be my people and your god my god. Where you die i will die and there will i be buried. And may yahweh do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.

And when naomi saw that she was determined to go with her she said no more. And so you note here that ruth even invokes the lord and occurs upon herself if she should not stay with naomi which sounds to me a lot like a statement of faith.

So being married then into the family of limeleck she has heard of the lord and has come to believe in him. So the two of them went on until they came to bethlehem. A lot of important things kind of happened in bethlehem.

Right. I can think of an important thing that happened there. We talk about it at advent. Yeah. But so you'll note this kind of starts to tease out this idea that bethlehem is an important place. So the two of them went until they came to bethlehem.

And when they came to bethlehem the whole town was stirred because of them. And the women said is this not naomi. She said to them do not call me naomi but call me mara. Mara means bitter. For the almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.

I went away full and yaweh has brought me back empty. Why call me naomi. When yaweh has testified against me and the almighty has brought calamity upon me. And from her point of view that's i mean the lord has dished out a pretty bitter bitter meal for her to consume if you would.

So naomi returned. And ruth the moabite her daughter-in-law with her who returned from the country of moab. They came to bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest. So we now know the time of year.

It's the beginning of the barley harvest. And this is where the commandment from leviticus will come into play. Now naomi had a relative of her husband's a worthy man of the clan of elimelech whose name was boaz.

And so we already know that boaz is the son of rahab and salman. And so you can say now. And this is kind of an important thing because you see this frequently in the old testament that the line of the messiah has come to boaz and no further.

And so if you remember the story of david and goliath all right this is not a story about you finding your five smooths to overcome the giants in your life. That's not what this story is about at all.

At that time the line of the messiah had come to david and no further. Solomon had not been born. In fact basheba and solomon hadn't even met yet. That being the case you can i always like to say that when this happens it's as if the messiah himself has stepped onto the field.

So boaz is a wonderful type and shadow of christ and the line of the messiah the scarlet thread of the line of the messiah has come this far and no further. And you can see how boaz exemplifies the kindness and the mercy and the grace and the love of christ.

It is there in spades. And so he is held up then as a man who is worthy he's not a worthless man. So ruth the moabite said to naomi let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him and whose sight i shall find favor.

And she said to her go my daughter. And so you'll note here that by ruth saying this she knows that boaz is potentially one of her kinsmen redeemers. And so she needs to feed naomi she needs to feed herself.

But she would prefer to do it in the field of a man who with whom she could find favor. Because in this particular case it's going to be kind of important that she finds favor with a kinsman redeemer.

Because in order for them to get back their property properly to receive back the inheritance that they've lost that naomi can't exercise their legal right to. Then ruth is going to have to marry this man.

And she knows it. So that's part of what's going on in her mind. So she said go my daughter. So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to boaz who was of the clan of elimelech.

And behold boaz came from bethlehem. And he said to the reapers yahweh be with you. Now note here in the english it says the lord be with you. Have you ever stopped to think where do we get this idea when we say to some you know in the church service the lord be with you and also with you.

This comes right out of the scripture. This is this is an old covenant old testament greeting the lord be with you and also with you. Right. And so they answered. And the lord blessed you. So boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the reapers whose young woman is this.

And the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered she is the young moabite woman who came back with naomi from the country of moab. She said please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the so she came and she has continued from early morning until now except for a short rest.

And so you'll note then that ruth is working hard. She is not idle at all. She is a very diligent hard worker. And she is quite set on doing a good job here because the life of naomi depends on it her own life depends on it.

And you'll note again this command of the lord regarding you do not harvest up to the edges of your field. The gleanings go to the poor and to the sojourner. She technically although she's not a member of the house of israel she's she's kind of in that sojourner but not quite sojourner status kind of a little bit in limbo.

But she's not forbidden either from doing this. So boaz said to ruth now listen my daughter. Do not go to glean in another field or leave this one. Keep close to my young women. Let your eyes be on the field that are that they are reaping and go after them.

Have i not charged the young men not to touch you. And so you'll note then that he has given specific orders. You are not to you're not to harm this girl. You're not to mistreat her. You know there will be no cat calling or molesting or anything like that.

And when you are thirsty you go ahead. You go to the vessels and you drink what the young men have drawn. And so she fell on her face bowing to the ground and said to him why have i found favor in your eyes that you should take notice of me since i am a foreigner.

But boaz answered her all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me. And how you left your father and your mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before.

So may the lord repay you for what you have done and a full reward be given to you by yahweh the god of israel under whose wings you have come to take refuge. This is just a beautiful story. It just is amazing.

And so you'll note that he's heard of her her good works come before her and he makes it very clear. He knows exactly who she is and what kind of woman she is. And he reiterates that she has in fact taken refuge under the wings of the lord god himself.

So then she said i have found favor in your eyes my lord for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant though i am not one of your servants. And at mealtime boaz said to her you come here and you eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine.

So she sat beside the reapers and he passed to her roasted grain and she ate until she was satisfied and she had some left over. I always like to point this out in some of the best stories in the old testament in one way or another bread and wine show up here.

It shows up again bread wine a type and shadow of christ. Are you paying attention. Yeah all right. So when she rose to glean boaz instructed his young men saying you let her glean even among the sheaves and do not reproach her and also put out some from the bundles for her and leave it for her to glean and do not rebuke her.

So she gleaned in the field until the evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned and it was about an ifa of barley and she took it up and went into the city. Her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned.

She also brought out and gave her what food she had left over after being satisfied. And so you'll note then when boaz allowed her to eat and gave her something to eat she saved part of that out put it in a napkin put it in her purse and brought it back to her mother-in-law.

She probably didn't have a purse but you get the idea right. And so you'll note then that ruth's kindness towards her mother-in-law is is just exemplified. And it's just it's. It's amazing. I mean this this is a this is a woman of amazing character.

So her mother-in-law said to her where did you glean today. And where have you worked and blessed be the man who took notice of you. Typical mother-in-law. All right. All right. 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.

And naomi said to her daughter-in-law well may he be blessed by yahweh whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead. Naomi also said to her the man is a close relative of ours and one of our redeemers.

And ruth the moabite said besides he said to me you shall keep close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest. And naomi said to ruth her daughter-in-law it is good my daughter that you go out with his young women lest in another field you would be assaulted.

So she kept close to the young women of boaz gleaning until the end of barley and the wheat harvest. And she lived with her mother-in-law. Now you'll note then that kind of the way this the theme works in this text is that naomi has lost her inheritance and she needs to have it redeemed and given back to her.

And this is one of the major themes of the old testament especially in relation to um the sabbath the the year of jubilee and the sabbath years you know. So the idea then is is that at at the year of jubilee all inheritance that was lost is restored.

In the year of jubilee all debts are canceled you know. And so the this is an important thing. And so here this woman through these circumstances beyond her control she has lost her inheritance and she needs to be redeemed so that her inheritance can be restored.

And is this not the story of the bride of christ. You know if the bride of christ being the church then going back to the garden of eden through the sin of of adam and eve after the deception of the devil they lost their inheritance and a kinsman redeemer had to come and redeem them and as promised to restore the inheritance that was lost.

Yeah. So you kind of see how the themes work out. Chapter three. So naomi her mother-in-law said to her my daughter should i not seek rest for you. That it may be well with you. Is not boaz our relative with whose young women you were.

See he's winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. And i always look at this thing going man. Is this woman a gossip. How'd you find out. That's he was up to. Who'd you had to ask. Yeah he's like how'd you come up with this information.

Was it on the internet. You know. Right. So wash. Therefore anoint yourself. Put on your cloak. Go down to the threshing floor you know. Clean up honey. Put on some perfume. You know. So uh. But don't make yourself known to the man until he's finished eating and drinking.

When he lies down observe the place where he lies. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down and he will tell you what to do. And she replied all that you say i will do. So she went down to the threshing floor and did just as her mother-in-law had commanded her.

And when boaz had eaten and drunk and his heart was merry he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. Then she came softly uncovered his feet and lay down. Man so he he was nice and cozy. She had covers his feet which guarantees he's gonna wake up.

Go man it's cold. What's going on here. And this is all on purpose. You know she's she's lying and wait for him. I'm telling you this is a scheme right. So at midnight the man was startled and he turned over.

And i love how this says. Behold a woman was lying at his feet. What is going on here. And he said who are you. And she answered i am ruth your servant. Spread your wings over your servant for you are a redeemer.

You'll note that she's proposing to him. And it's well said too it's just well said. Yeah. She's not saying you know you know she's not getting on her knee and saying will you marry me. But it's just so beautifully said spread your wings over your servant invoking kind of the imagery that he had made regarding yahweh.

You know that that she had come to seek relief under the wings of yahweh. And so he said she says to him you spread your wings over your servant for you are a redeemer. And that's a full-blown marriage proposition right there.

And he said may you be blessed my by the lord by yahweh my daughter you have made this last kindness greater than the first in that you have not gone after young men whether poor or rich. And now my daughter do not fear i will do for you all that you ask for all my fellow townsmen know that you are a worthy woman.

And so you'll note then that boaz is somewhat older than ruth somewhat older and he keeps calling her daughter. But in this particular case um he he commends her for not seeking young men who are good looking or young.

You know what would you want to go. What you want to marry me. Right. So it's kind of it's an interesting story. So again her character comes out in that she she isn't making a decision like this for vain reasons.

You know oftentimes you know you think about that people make some pretty boneheaded decisions as to who they're going to marry and why they're going to marry him. You know. And you know the worst case scenario you look at the woman who is that.

You know what they call the gold digger. You know such and such a fellow that guy's got a lot of money and she doesn't really love him. She wants his money. And so the gold digger get you know lands her husband.

You know. And that's it's a terrible marriage. Or you know you think of you know everybody you know who's young. You look at the young people. But in her in in this particular situation boaz is older than her.

But that doesn't matter because the fact that he is a redeemer and that he has good character and that this marriage would result in naomi's inheritance being restored to her as well as ruth youth and vanity and riches be damned.