Ruth 2:4-10 Favor for a Foreigner

Praise to the sovereign king

Well, it was an absolute blessing. Once again, it's always lovely to hear everybody singing to God. And even that second song that we sung, even just humming is just wonderful when we didn't have the lyrics up on the screen.

Ruth 2:1-3 and the Setting of Boaz’s Field

So today we are gonna be continuing in the book of Ruth. Ruth chapter two, verses four through 10 today. So I would encourage you to please turn that way in your ways of being able to open up God's word.

Ruth chapter two, verses four through 10. But as you're making your way there, let's just open off with a little word of prayer. Lord God, I would just pray and ask Lord. First Lord, I would just thank you so much.

For this church, God.

For this local body of believers that glorify you, that love you, that wanna tell others about you, Lord. And God, I just pray that we as a church would continue to grow in you, that we'd continue to understand who you are, that we'd continue to fear you, Lord.

That we'd continue to recognize your faithfulness towards us, Lord. God, let us grow in these ways, Lord. And we just pray that this would cause us to be sanctified in you. And that we continue to recognize you in the ways that we have failed to so far, Lord.

God, I just pray that you would bring comfort in the trials that we are each going through in our different means and different ways today. That we'd recognize your providence and sovereignty in these things.

And Lord God, I just pray that this would translate into having a more meaningful ministry, a more purposeful driven worship towards you, Lord. God, we just want your will to be done in these things. And we say this in your name, Jesus Christ, amen.

So, like I said, please make your way to Ruth chapter two, verses four through 10. Since it was three weeks now, since we were in the book of Ruth, I'm gonna just read just a couple verses prior to it.

So we'll start in verses one through three, just to kind of help us remind ourselves of the context of what's going on in here. As verse one really kind of tells us what's going on here. So Ruth chapter two, verse one through three says this.

Now Naomi had a kinsman of her husband, a man of great wealth of the family of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, please let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after one whose sight I might find favor.

And she said to her, go my daughter, this is Naomi. Verse three, so she departed and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.

Now behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, may the Lord be with you. And they said to him, may the Lord bless you. Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, whose young woman is this?

And the servant in charge of the reapers answered and said, she is a young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the land of Moab. And she said, please let me glean among the gatherers and glean and gather, excuse me, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.

Thus she came and has remained from the morning until now. She has been sitting in the house for a little while. Then Boaz said to Ruth, listen carefully, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field.

Furthermore, do not go on from this one, but stay here with my maids. Let your eyes be on the field, which they reap and go after them. Indeed, I have commanded the servants not to touch you when you are thirsty, go to the water jars and drink from what the servants draw.

Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground and said to him, why have I found favor in your sight that you should take notice of me since I am a foreigner? Let us pray over this text. Lord God, I thank you so much for the sovereign encounter that we are reading about here with Ruth and Boaz, Lord.

God, it is through these means that not only King David is born, but ultimately the King of Kings is born, Lord. And we thank you for this, Lord. It is that King that we glorify today. It is that King that we wish to know better this day, Lord.

And we just wish and ask of you, Lord, that we would remember your gospel in this kind of a text, Lord. That it is through your dust that we see the death, burial and resurrection that we are saved. Lord, just as Ruth has found favor in the eyes of Boaz, Lord, we have earned unmerited favor in you, Lord.

We've been given this. And we thank you for this mighty grace that we have, Lord. God, let us remind ourselves that it is not from what we have done that we have received this, but it is all from you and your goodness, Lord.

So we praise you for this and we say this in your name, Jesus the Christ, amen. So just to remind us real quick about some of the context that's going on in here in chapter two of Ruth. This is of course in the Old Testament rather than the New Testament.

And we made mention of this before, but I just wanna remind us of the importance it is when we look at scripture. When we look at any portion of any text, regardless if it's the Bible or if it's a historical book, there's something that's called hermeneutics that we use in order to read and understand the text that we're reading.

Hermeneutics play a huge part in the Bible, huge part. It's the way that we are to interpret it. That's what hermeneutics are, is the means that we, the methodology that we go about trying to understand something.

And many, many great theologians and scholars much better than myself have said this, and I will echo this, that the primary hermeneutic that each one of us must apply to any text from the Genesis to the book of Revelation is that we must seek to see Christ in it, that Christ is in this text right here.

And if you don't see it, you're not looking hard enough because it's obvious that Christ is in this text. The Bible, the book of Ruth including, is about God's glory, is the main purpose of the Bible is teaching us about God's glory in a salvation and redemption of vile evil men and women like you and I in our Lord and Savior Jesus,.

The Christ.

That is the whole story that we will see from the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation over and over and over again, and Ruth is no exception to it. What we see here in chapter two is the beginning of this love story that's taking place between Ruth and Boaz.

We have now seen that Boaz has set his eyes upon Ruth, Ruth has been recognized by Boaz, and we see this starting to unfold. The story up to this point, if we have not taken notice of chapter one, is that Ruth is now a widow.

Her husband has passed away in Moab. The whole family of Naomi and Elimelech left the land when there was no king in the land of Israel. And if we understand about Abraham's promise, his Abrahamic covenant that we see in Genesis 12, 15, and 17, they were to have kings in their nations.

They were to be a blessing unto the nations in this way. And so we see that in verse one of chapter one, it says that there was no king and that the judges ruled. So we know that this is a time where Israel has gone against God, and so we see Elimelech and Naomi continually going against God by departing from the land that they should not be departing from, that they should actually be staying in.

And thus we see this terrible tragicness come over them where they lose Elimelech, Naomi loses her husband, and she loses her two sons. So that's the background to what's going on in here. Naomi and Ruth have come back to Israel in this text.

They are now back in Bethlehem. And so that's where we find ourselves in verse four, is that Ruth has sought to go to the field to glean among the ears of grain there and to possibly find work and hopefully find a husband is what she is going about in these intentions.

Now, as a reminder from these weeks prior, and I think this is important to remember, Ruth does not go to the field of Boaz knowing who Boaz is. Verse one is context for the reader when we read this. Ruth, in her mind, she is just going down the fields and is just happening upon this certain field of Boaz.

She doesn't know that this is the family kinsmen right away. She doesn't know these things. God will be revealed to her later. And we then therefore see God's providence in this, that she didn't end up in a different person's field.

She landed in Boaz's field, which is beautiful. So let us read verses four here and let us start looking and dissecting what this text has to say for us with the primary purpose of recognizing Christ in this kind of a text.

Boaz’s Greeting Reveals His Identity

So verse four, it says, now behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, may the Lord be with you. And they said to him, may the Lord bless you. Now I want you to take close attention to who this Boaz character is and some of the ways that he acts in these kind of a texts, because we're gonna see a man that is very honorable in his dealings, one that obeys God, one that has not departed from the land.

Remember that that's where Elimelech and Naomi have just done, they have left the land that they should not have left during famine. Boaz has been here the whole time. And what we see in here is that Boaz says, may the Yahweh be with you.

This is a Israelite that talks like what?

An Israelite.

This is somebody that's ethnically Jew, but that also has the law of God written on his heart to the point that he can talk the talk and walk the walk is the attitude that we're gonna see in here of Boaz.

Now it says that Boaz came from Bethlehem. What is that term and city called Bethlehem? It means the house of bread. Now, why is it significant that it's recording for us in here that Boaz is coming from Bethlehem?

That is the same town that Naomi and Elimelech have left this house of bread. Boaz has been in the house of bread. He has not departed from these things. He's been faithful to the land in these ways. We know that David, who is gonna be a descendant of Boaz and Ruth, I hope I didn't spoil the story for you.

David, that is a descendant of them, is anointed in the city of Bethlehem. And even better than these things, we will now recognize Christ in this. Christ comes from Bethlehem. Christ comes from Bethlehem.

So we see this foreshadowing of events that are taking place in here. Now it says that he came from Bethlehem and he comes up to the reapers. These are workers in his field. These are people that are employed by him because he's a man of great wealth, has this property, has these means of being able to provide for the city and these ways of collecting grain and so on and so forth.

And so he has these servants and reapers that do the work in his field for him. And he comes up to his workers, the reapers, and he says, may the Yahweh be with you. Church, is there any doubt in our minds of who, where Elimelech, or not where Elimelech, excuse me, where Boaz is from in this kind of a text?

If you heard this language, you would automatically know in that day that this is somebody that is an Israelite. His identity is that of ethnic Jewish background. His identity is those things. If this is only an analogy, so don't take this too far.

But if I was to tell you, may the force be with you, do you think I'm a Star Wars fan?

Yeah, right?

I wouldn't be saying that if I wasn't a Star Wars fan, right? You'd be thinking, what is this guy saying to me right now? That's the way that Boaz is talking. May the Lord be with you. May the Yahweh be with you.

You know where he's from. You know his identity. You know his background because of the way that he's talking in this kind of a text. And likewise, we also see the reapers that are working in his field also identifying the same way.

May the Lord also be with you. I would ask, does the world recognize the way that you talk today? Just as I say, may the force be with you, and you know that I'm a Star Wars fan from that, do you tell your neighbors, God bless, go in peace?

Do you tell them, Jesus is king and Lord. I'm going to worship him this Sunday. Do you say these kind of things to your friends and your families so that they understand and know your identity? Or have we become like Naomi and Elimelech that leave their country, leave their fellowship, leave their community, and have lost their identity?

It's important for us to remember as Christians in Christ that have been saved by his grace that the world ought to recognize us by the way that we act and walk and talk. That these should be identifying ways that this person's a Christian.

I can't not deny this. We recognize that as Boaz in this text. He is obviously a follower of Yahweh. So he greets those servants that are working in his field. May the Yahweh, may the Lord be with you, and they say back to him, may the Lord bless you.

Ruth’s Identity as a Foreigner and a True Israelite

Verse five, verse five says, then Boaz said to his servants who was in charge of the reapers, whose young woman is this? So we see in this text that in whatever way that we want to picture this, that Boaz is coming to his field and he recognizes there's somebody in his house that he does not know, that is not one of his servants, right, is not one of the workers of his field.

It's this new lady that's in his house. And so he goes about inquiring who this woman is. And he says, then Boaz said to his servants who was in charge of the reapers, whose young woman is this? And the servant in charge of the reapers answered and said, she is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the land of Moab.

She is the young Moabite woman who has returned with Naomi from the land of Moab. We talked about this weeks prior. Is moving from one city to another a simple and easy decision that one makes?

No.

Is foregoing all your friends, your family, your relations to go to a foreign land that you know you're going to be treated differently in and it's seen as, in fact, in this day, you're going to be seen as less rights as the culture that you're going to.

Is that an easy decision to make?

No.

But we see Ruth in the previous chapter speak very confidently about what she's doing. May your God, may your Lord, your Yahweh, Naomi, be my God. May your people be my people. Where you die, I will die.

Where you go, I will go. Where your land is, is going to be my land. Ruth's identity, we're speaking about identity in these kind of texts. The servants see Ruth as a Moabitess woman from the land of Moab.

Ruth's identity is that of an Israelite now. Your God is my God. Your land that you departed, Naomi, that's going to be my land. Your people will be my people. Think about identity in this kind of a text here.

And it says in verse seven, it says in verse seven,.

And she said,.

"'Please let me glean and gather "'after the reapers among the sheaves.'. "'Thus she came and has remained "'from the morning until now. "'She has been sitting in the house for a little while.'". Church, we recognize this kind of attitude that we see in this text, and we might not even notice that we recognize this.

And I hope that what I say right now is not insultful in any way. This is, once again, an analogy, so don't take it super seriously. But who in here was born in Idaho?

I was.

Okay, you guys, I'm sure you're already thinking of where I'm going with this. We see a lot of people now moving from California, Washington, Oregon, so on and so forth,.

Coming into Idaho.

A common saying that I think we can not go a week without hearing is that I don't mind if you move here, but just don't bring your attitude here. Once again, I don't wanna be insultful.

To anyone in this room.

But you can tell somebody has moved from Idaho based off of the stickers they have on the back of their car. Have you noticed that? That if somebody's from Idaho, they have a lot of Idaho sticker. If they're from California, they have a lot of Idaho stickers on the back of their car.

I've noticed this anyway. I would rather have somebody not have the Idaho stickers on the back of their car, and I'd rather have them have the attitude of Idaho in their heart. I could care less where you're from.

I would like you to have the same values that this community has, that we love God and love our neighbor, amen? I think that's a good way of saying what Idaho is. That's what I've recognized when I've grown up here.

I want you as a foreigner coming to Idaho, I'm gonna welcome you with open arms, but just don't destroy the community that we have here. Love God, love your neighbor. We have a wonderful community here in Hagerman.

We don't wanna lose this kind of community. We don't wanna lose our identity. I would much rather have the Californian that has the heart of an Idahoan than the Californian that's trying to hide themselves with the stickers on the back of their vehicles.

What we see in here is that Ruth has not come to Israel and trying to attempt to appear as an Israelite. She's not trying to put on this front of what an Israelite might look like, but what she has proclaimed to Naomi and what we're going to see in this text is that she has the heart of an Israelite.

She has the heart of an Israelite. She has the fear of Yahweh in her heart, and this is important to remember. In fact, I wanna read real quick with us. We'll look here just in Romans chapter two. We've read this in the past, and I would like to read this again with us.

And this is just speaking once again that we are not looking for the outward signs to say somebody's from Idaho. We're not looking at the outward signs to say you're a Christian. We want what really matters, and that's a change of a heart, a circumcision of the heart.

Romans chapter two, verses 28 through 29. Like I said, I hope I'm not offending anybody by speaking about that. That's not a political statement by any means, so don't think that that's where we're going with this.

Romans chapter two, verses 28 through 29. If you're from California, welcome to Idaho. I love you very much. I'll say that. Romans chapter two, verses 28 through 29. It says in here, for he is not a Jew who is one outwardly.

Neither is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew who is one inwardly. And circumcision is that of the heart by the spirit, not by the letter. And his praise is not from man, but from God.

We see and recognize this here in several different ways, especially in the book of Romans. I'll just turn just one page prior. In verse 16 through 17, it says, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

For in it, the righteousness of God has been revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, but the righteous man shall live by faith. Romans chapter three, the page in front of chapter two. Romans chapter three, verses nine.

We could just go through page after page in the book of Romans and it's beautiful and it teaches us about how we're equal in sin. We're equal in deserving God's wrath. But if we're in Christ, we're equal in Christ.

That there's neither Jew nor Gentile. There's neither male nor female. It says in Romans three, it says, what then, in verse nine, what then are we better than they? Not at all, for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are under sin.

Verse 10, as it is written, there is no one righteous, no, not even one. And it says then, therefore, just a few verses later in verses 20 through 23, it says, and this is just important to remember this identity that we speak of as a Christian, because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight.

For through the law comes the knowledge of sin. But now apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifest being witnessed by the laws and the prophets. Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe, for there is no distinction for all that sin and fall short of the glory of God.

Verse 28 says this, for we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law, apart from the works of the law. Church, I need us to remember and remind ourselves of the identity that we have in Christ.

Did you know that the thief on the cross that was guaranteed salvation in paradise with Christ as Christ was dying, receives the same reward as you and I? He deserved the same wrath as you and I, but he got the same reward as you and I as long as we place our faith in Jesus the Christ.

There's no distinction. There is not one that is better than another. We're all have a great and mighty privilege of coming to God on his throne. Even though we might be the foreigners, even though we might be the Californians in this sense, we are equal in Christ.

That's our identity if you've been born again and have been circumcised of the heart, the only circumcision that really ever matters. Ruth chapter two, and remember that a Jew is not one who is outwardly, but is one inwardly.

Ruth chapter two, if you wanna turn back this way now in verse seven says this, and she said, please let me glean. So this is what Ruth has told the servants in the field. This is what Ruth's proclamation to the servants is.

It says that when Ruth enters the field, it says, and she said, please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves. Thus she came and has remained from the morning until now. She has been sitting in the house for a little while.

Has Ruth departed from Naomi and gone back to the land of Moab in this text? No, she's being faithful to her word, to promise to Naomi that I will be a part of your people. She's trying to engraft herself and plant herself in this community in these different ways.

She's trying to go to a land that she has no ties in, and she's trying to establish ties for herself. She has gone to the field to glean among the field in this way. It says in verse seven once more, and she said, please, please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.

Thus she came and has remained from the morning until now. She has been sitting in the house for a little while. Church, this is the report of the ethnic Jew to another ethnic Jew. This is the report from the reapers to Boaz.

How does the world report you to the world? Or how does your Christian brother and sister report you to another brother and sister? Do they have a charge that they can accuse you of? Do they speak highly of you?

Does the world recognize you and hate you because that's what God told us that they would do in John chapter 14, I believe it is. How does the world recognize you? How do those around you recognize you?

Is your identity once again, that which is in Christ, is your language, that of may God be with you, God bless you, or whatever language you wanna speak of, is your neighbor recognizing you as what we are proclaiming here on a Sunday to be?

Are they recognizing you as saved in Christ? Our neighbors, our friends, our family should be giving a report to another similar like this that the way that Ruth is acting in these ways, I'm telling you about, it should be when a Christian is talked about, when the Christian isn't there, should be, man, that guy is a Jesus nuts or something along those lines maybe.

Or that guy really loves his neighbor or that guy does a lot of service and he can't stop talking about God. That guy does X, Y, and Z, this lady serves nonstop in these different ways. That should be how the world talks about us.

And once again, like I said, according to John 14, the world will hate you for these things. So don't forget that. But in verse eight, it says this, then Boaz, this is now Boaz is now coming unto Ruth.

And so we see once again, not to spoil the story, this is a love story between Ruth and Boaz to a certain degree in this text. Once again, what is the primary purpose of the scripture? Is to glorify God through the revealing of our salvation in Jesus Christ and the redemption of a vile and evil man like you and I.

But we see that in the background of that main purpose of the Bible, we have this lovely love story between Boaz and Ruth. And it says that then Boaz said to Ruth, listen carefully, my daughter, do not glean in another field.

Furthermore, do not go on from this one, but stay here with my maids. Let's read the next verse. It says, let your eyes be on the field which they reap and go after them. Indeed, I have commanded, indeed, I have commanded the servants not to touch you.

When you are thirsty, go to the water jars and drink from what the servants draw. Ask yourself this, as a foreigner, Ruth, coming into this land that is foreign to her, that's what a foreigner means, she's referred to as a sojourner in these kind of texts, she has come onto this foreign land, how is Boaz treating her in this text?

Is he treating her like a foreigner? Or is he treating her like an Israelite? Ruth, you drink from the same cup of water that my servants drink from. In fact, the water that they get, you drink from it.

My land, that is part of the land of Israel, my land, do not leave it, because I want you to be a part of this land. Do not go to another one's field. In fact, Ruth, I want you to look and see what my other servants do, and you learn from them.

You stay here. My servants won't harm you, my servants won't touch you, they will leave you alone in this kind of way. You will be taken care of, Ruth. This is Boaz opening his arms and accepting a Moabite woman into the land.

How can we think about this for ourselves? The same privilege that the thief on the cross had of being in paradise with Christ that day is the same privilege that you and I have. If the world, if a person from the world comes unto Christ, we are to open arms the heck out of them.

The same cup that I drink from, the same privilege that I have, the same privilege, I've been saved for seven years. Has anybody in here could say they say.

That they've had faith in Christ.

For over 40 years in this room?

I see one too.

You have the same privilege as the person that just believed a minute ago. You do not gain any better inheritance from the Father in this way. You have the same privilege. We ought to be like Boaz in this text.

Heaven that I have not earned but have been given, the reckoned righteousness that I have received that's from Christ has covered you just as it has covered I. I open arms you. Come, drink. Come, partake.

Come, learn. That's what Boaz has done in this text towards Ruth in this very physical way. But we can see the application in the New Testament kind of context in the way that you and I treat other Christians.

So Boaz has seen Ruth. He's accepted her into his household or at least given her the offer in this way of saying, look, if you stay here, this is your field. If you stay here, this is your water. You get to drink out of those same pots.

You have the same privilege as anyone else here in my land. I wanna read verse nine again. It says, let your eyes be on the field which they reap and go after them. He's saying, please come and work in the field like my other servants.

You're now accepted as a group of my household, a group of my land. And he says, I have commanded the servants not to touch you when you are thirsty. Go to the water jars and drink from what the servants draw.

You have a mighty fountain that you and I get a drink from. It's the one that will never cause us to thirst again. It's the water that satisfies. It's that everlasting life. Jesus the Christ dying upon a cross.

Grace, Favor, and the Gospel Fulfilled in Christ

In verse 10, it says this. Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground and said to him, why have I found favor? Why have I found grace in your sight, in your eyes? That you should take notice of me since I am a foreigner.

Ruth recognizes the way that she ought to be treated. And she recognizes the fact that she isn't being treated the way that she ought to be treated, the way that she might have heard other Moabite women or men being treated in the land of Israel.

It says that she falls to the ground, bowing her face. This would be known as a prostrate stature, a prostrate position, meaning that you are before the person on your face and glad and happiness and worship in this kind of a sense.

She's before Boaz. She has fallen to her face in gratitude at his feet. And she says, why have I found favor in your sight that you should take notice of me since I am a foreigner? Another reminder of this text, Ruth does not know that Boaz is the family kinsman yet.

She doesn't even know yet that this is a male that is related to Elimelech that is to redeem her and Naomi in this way. She doesn't know these kinds of things. She just sees an Israelite man that is opening his arms to her and accepting her into his field.

Now this word, why have I found favor, favor grace is carpet bombed both through the Old Testament and the New Testament. It's all over the place. It's all over the place. We can see that this was a physical type of favor that she was accepted as physically into the field in these kinds of ways.

But I wanna remind us of how this word is used often at times throughout both the old and the new. Genesis chapter six, verse eight, when God sees Noah before Noah is even given a command to build an ark.

It says that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, found favor, the same word in the eyes of the Lord before any command has ever gone out, before any plan has ever been made between Noah and God, Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord, found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

In the New Testament, we often define grace as what? The unmerited favor of God. Ephesians chapter two, verses eight through nine, I hope we know it. And I'm probably gonna butcher it when I try to quote it right now, but it says, for by grace, you have been saved through faith not that it not be of yourself, lest any man should boast it is the gift of God.

We see in here a woman that is a foreign or a Moabitess finding favor in the eyes of Boaz. She recognizes that she's a foreigner. Brothers and sisters, if you don't see Christ in this kind of a text, you don't know the New Testament very well.

I wanna go real quickly, just Luke chapter 24, verses 27 and 44 through 49. Luke chapter 24, verse 27 and 44 through 49. Luke 24, verse 27. I absolutely love this text because this to me is like a Bible study that we're reading about right here.

One that I really wish I could be a part of because this probably was the most amazing Bible study for anyone to be a part of. This is Jesus who has met some disciples on the road to Emmaus and he tells them these kinds of words in here.

In verse 27, it says this. This is Jesus speaking to his disciples and it gives us some context about what he spoke to them about. It says, and beginning with Moses and with all the prophets he explained to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures.

Remember what I said is the primary hermeneutic that we have to always apply, that the scriptures reveal Christ.

Why do I say that?

Because Christ says it. All the scriptures concerned him. Even Ruth chapter two, verses four through 10, concern the Christ, concern the Christ. Let's read now verse 44 through 49. It says, and he said to them, these are the words or my words, which I spoke to you while I was still with you that all things which are written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.

That is what makes the Christ the Christ is the fulfillment of the old. And it says then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. And he said to them, thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day.

He just spoke of the Old Testament revealing his gospel message, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. And it says in here, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sin should be proclaimed in his name to all the nations.