Ruth's Kinsman Redeemer | Sermon 07/07/2024

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Pastor Wade Orsini begins a new sermon series on the Book of Ruth going over Ruth 3:1-18, with sermon titled, "Ruth's Kinsman Redeemer."

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All right, if you would, please turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Ruth. Book of Ruth in the
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Old Testament, it's just right after the book of Judges, before 1
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Samuel. We're going to be in Ruth chapter 3 today, the entire chapter, verses 1 through 18.
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And the title of the sermon today, church, is Ruth's Kinsman Redeemer.
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Ruth's Kinsman Redeemer. Starting in verse 1 of the book of Ruth, chapter 3, hear now the inerrant and infallible words of the living and true
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God. To verse 5, then Naomi, her mother -in -law, said to her,
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My daughter, shall I not seek security for you, that it may be well with you? Now is not
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Boaz our kinsman with whose maids you were? Behold, he winnows barley at the threshing floor tonight.
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Wash yourself therefore, and anoint yourself, and put on your best clothes, and go down to the threshing floor.
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But do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. It shall be when he lies down that you shall notice the place where he lies, and you shall go and uncover his feet and lie down.
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Then he will tell you what you shall do. She said to her, All that you say,
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I will do. Thus ends the reading of God's holy and magnificent word. Let's pray once more as a church before we get started.
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God, we come before you as your people with open hands, looking to receive from your word, your eternal word, that is always feeding us.
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You said that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
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And so God, feed us today as your people. We recognize how we can be on spiritual
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E, empty, Lord. And so God, we ask that you would fill us, that you would teach us,
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Lord, what you want us to know in these verses. God, to understand what Ruth was doing and what
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Boaz indicated to do for her, and how this all brought you glory, dear
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God. Lord, we look to see here today what we can take away as well, and how we might be transformed by the hearing of your word this morning.
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Please be with us, Lord Jesus Christ. Keep our every focus on you today. I pray this in Jesus' name.
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Amen. Well, church, like any good story, the book of Ruth has thus far captured our hearts.
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It has for me, I hope it has for you. We've been drawn into the plight of a limal
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X family. We saw their journey to Moab when we saw how it turned out. Naomi took comfort in her two sons and their wives.
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But the family never grew beyond that. Stagnation, then even worse, degradation and death.
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And that pain affected Naomi and Orpah and Ruth, and it was tangible.
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You could see it. It's not something many of us have lived through ever before, but it's definitely something we think about from time to time.
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I know the morning of my wife's surgery, a week and a half ago,
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I had opened my Bible and she wrote me a note that you're the best husband, God has given me the best gift.
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You know, and these things come to our minds sometimes, right? These women lost their husbands, these people suffered great loss, and we can't help but think about this sometimes.
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Sometimes, as we saw Naomi make up her mind to go back to Israel and the grief that the women shared together at their parting from one another, we thought of similar goodbyes that we've had in our own lives.
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But Ruth clung to her. Ruth clung to her mother -in -law in the most peculiar and yet selfless kind of way.
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It took one person. It took one person to change the theme, to change everything, to turn it around, a remnant.
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Ruth brought hope to the situation that seemed so hopeless. Now when
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Naomi and Ruth came back, the women of Bethlehem couldn't believe
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Elimelech's wife had returned, and she was, not only did she return, but she returned without her husband and her two sons.
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Where's the whole family? What happened? Is that Naomi? Who's that with her, and where is everyone else?
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And the scene kind of became pitiful. She said, call me Marah, for the
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Lord has dealt bitterly with me, and so I shall be called bitter from now on. Don't call me
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Naomi, which means sweet or kind in Hebrew. Call me bitter. That's my name now.
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I've changed who I am. God has poured out his judgment on me, and I can't take it anymore.
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I'm giving in. She couldn't see the evidences of grace all along the way.
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However, when Ruth went out to glean, in whatever field of whomever would give her favor,
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God sovereignly brought her to the one field that would have mattered the most, right?
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Out of all the upright men in all the land, she was brought to a man who was not only upright but a candidate for Goel.
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Told you that. That's the Hebrew word for kinsman, redeemer, their Goel. We watched the encounters with Ruth and Boaz.
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We saw his protection, his care for her, his respect, his sympathy, his kindness towards Ruth.
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We saw that he was like a type of Christ I mentioned. He gave her his own bread, and he let her dip her bread in his cup, and she sat as equals among Israelites.
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She's a foreigner. It's unheard of. This is a lowly outsider who was with God's chosen people.
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A stranger was brought near. And Ruth's actions were considered, this is the second
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Hebrew word I told you, Goel and chesed. Chesed.
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Boaz's actions were chesed. That is the word that encapsulates so many traits of God's kindness and goodness all in one word.
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Boaz's actions were chesed. Ruth's actions were chesed.
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Boaz became the instrument of God's kindness and grace towards Naomi and Ruth. To the point, if you remember last week, what happened.
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Naomi praised the living God. She praised God once again, the
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Lord Yahweh, that he has not, she said, he has not withdrawn his chesed from us.
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God has not. I thought he was bitter towards me. I thought he treated me terribly. She accused
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God, and she said, God has not withdrawn his kindness towards me. He sees her.
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God sees her. He's never left her. The hard shell of bitterness started to melt away from this woman.
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She's thought mostly about herself this own time. She's thought mostly about her own plight.
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She's had eyes for nothing and no one else. But this shook her loose.
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This changed things. She's going to think about another person now. We're going to see she's thinking about Ruth's future.
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Because like any good story, it can't end at chapter two. It simply can't.
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Ruth continued to glean in Boaz's field until the end of the barley and wheat harvest. And if the narrator of the book of Ruth were to put in the end, and she gleaned for the rest of the season, the end, we would go, what?
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There's got to be something more to this. We've put these people in our hearts.
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We have to find out what happens. We imagine each day that Ruth went back to glean during the harvest, she was thinking of Boaz.
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And I imagine that Boaz was waiting for her each day. I told her, she doesn't need to go to another field.
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I hope she returns. Is she here? Is she coming? And he sees Ruth coming back to his field.
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And she did again. And she did again. And when he thought maybe she wouldn't come back, she came back.
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Ruth came back all throughout the harvest. I wonder if in some way,
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Ruth and Boaz didn't want the harvest to end. Because that would be their time together.
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How will they see each other again in Bethlehem? What will become of these individuals and what is
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God showing us in this story? It's in the Bible for a reason. So we've got to go forward to find out.
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Okay, verse one, then Naomi, her mother -in -law said to her, my daughter, shall
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I not seek security for you that it may be well with you? So Naomi sees it as part of her duty as a mother to find
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Ruth a husband. And isn't it funny? I sense that most mothers likely feel this responsibility to find a mate that is suitable for their sons or daughters.
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Some of you have been sizing up potential suitors since you got here or since they were born, right?
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You know, who's my kid going to marry? And so number one, calm down.
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Number two, Naomi gets it, right? Naomi understands what you're going through. She wants to do that too.
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When she says, shall I not seek security for you, that is literally a place of peace in the
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Hebrew. It's synonymous with a home that has a husband and a family and protection, a place that was used that women would long for.
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Oh, I hope for a place of peace one day, a place to settle down and have a family.
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And Naomi had prayed, if you remember, in chapter one, that Yahweh, the
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Lord, may he give hased or deal kindly with you,
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Ruth. May he give you, what did he say? Rest in the house of a husband, a new husband.
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Her husband was dead. May God give you rest, a place of peace in the house of a husband.
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And she saw that while it would ultimately be up to God, a little meddling would be appropriate too.
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And don't all mothers do that, a little involvement there. And that's what
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Naomi did. Even a mother's meddling is not outside of God's sovereignty, by the way.
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And Naomi recognized that. She wants things to go well for Ruth.
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That is to say, she wants, specifically, when this word says, I want it to go well with you, she wants the burden of widowhood to be gone, to be removed from her daughter -in -law.
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You know, in small towns, everyone knew who the widows were. Everyone knew the town widows.
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Why? Because if you were actually righteous, you would often visit. If you actually cared, you would bring a meal.
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People knew who the town widows were. And even the people would meddle as well.
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I wonder if this person would consider the widow. And so that's what would happen.
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And a day is coming when Naomi will die. And Ruth will have no
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Israelite clan connections. Ruth could be preyed upon. And above all,
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Ruth is a foreigner. Within a century or so prior to this, Moabite women were the ones who tempted
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Hebrew men to immorality and idolatry, not even just 100, 150 years prior to this in Numbers 25.
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And so there's an image of Moabite women among the Israelites.
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Could that image of Moabite women be overcome enough to where a man would be willing to marry
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Ruth? And lastly, what is marveling about this moment is
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Naomi doesn't think of Elimelech's name to be carried on. Oh, I must have my husband's name carried on.
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She doesn't think that. She's not concerned about finding an heir for her son, Malon.
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That Malon's name would be carried on. Who she's thinking about? She's thinking about Ruth, her daughter -in -law.
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She's finally caring for someone else. And it makes sense. As a widow herself, she knows what it's like to lose everything.
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She wants her daughter -in -law to gain what she can't get back. She goes, I'm too old to start over.
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Not you. Let me help you. This is huge because bitterness, bitterness wants everyone to be as miserable as you, at least it thinks that.
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Joy and contentment in the midst of loss wants others to have more joy than you.
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Do you see that? You could even be going through terrible hardship, but someone who has real joy, real contentment, and no bitterness goes, my life is hard, but may
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God bless people more than me. That's a heart of contentment. That's a heart of joy. So Naomi thinks, what can be done?
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Verse 2, now is not Boaz our kinsman with whose maids you were?
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Behold, he winnows barley at the threshing floor tonight. So Naomi's mind goes right to the man that they have seen give them compassion.
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The man whom they have seen much of his character throughout the entirety of the barley harvest, they know this man.
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They've seen how well he treats his employees and those of his own household. They've seen how he treats the sojourner, the foreigner.
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They've seen how Boaz protects women. He actually protects women. He doesn't want men to fall upon women in the fields.
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They've seen how he believes the Lord is the only one in whom you may find refuge.
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And not only that, Boaz is a relative of Elimelech. Naomi specifically says, our relative.
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She's with Ruth and she says, Boaz is our relative. She includes her. It doesn't matter that she's a
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Moabitess. It doesn't matter that she's not connected by blood. She is connected to Israel now in Naomi's mind.
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And Naomi says, behold, look, Boaz will be winnowing the barley tonight.
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You see, the reapers would go out into the fields and they would take sickles and they would cut the stalks with the grain heads on top and they would make bundles of this barley and of the wheat and they would put it in a storehouse.
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But they didn't want that stuff to go rancid. As long as you separated the wheat head or the barley head from the rest of the stalk and you stored that in a dry place, it would stay good for years, definitely through to the next season.
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But if you let that stalk start to degrade and compost, you'll spoil the kernels of wheat and barley.
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And so after you're done and after you've gathered the bundles, you've got to go to the threshing floor.
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And that was work in and of itself. And they would beat it. They would beat the wheat, the barley, and the chaff, and the stalks, and everything would fall, but the kernel would remain, right?
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And that's what Boaz was doing, okay? And so, according to one commentator, where they would do this is people would find a hard rock surface so that when the kernels of wheat fell, when they were, you know, beating the wheat and the barley, they wouldn't get mixed into dirt because then they'd become spoiled.
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So threshing floors were often built on a hill, by the field, and over a slab of rock.
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And it was built on a hill because you would want on the hilltop for the wind to run through it, and so the wind would blow away the chaff and the wheat kernels would remain.
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And we presume that Boaz did this at night because it's now late May, early
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June in Israel. It's hot. It's the desert. They're a little higher in elevation than other parts of Israel, but it would get cooler at night.
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So that's what he did. That's a smart man. You go to the threshing floor at night. So Naomi knows who to look for, where he will be, and what he will be doing.
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It's now time to make a plan. But how does a woman go up to a man and make her hopes known, right?
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In Israel, what would typically happen is an agent of a man's house would join him, and they would go, and they would speak to the father of the woman he sought to marry.
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So it was either someone up high in your household, or a young man and his father would go to the father of this woman's household, and they would negotiate even a dowry, a bride price, you know, where they would live if he would build on an attachment to his father's house.
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And that's how it would occur. And so in this culture, though, it would be improper for Naomi and Ruth to approach
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Boaz like this. I wonder if they were hoping for him to act first during the barley harvest.
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She went there every single day, but that man didn't say anything about her status.
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He did nothing. So here's the plan. Boaz is clueless, so we've got to act.
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We've got to show him. Verses 3 -5. Wash yourself, therefore, and anoint yourself, and put your best clothes on, and go down to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.
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It shall be when he lies down that you shall notice the place where he lies, and you shall go and uncover his feet and lie down.
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Then he will tell you what to do. Ruth said to Naomi, all that you say,
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I will do. So what's happening here? I'll tell you what's really happening here.
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Naomi is telling Ruth it's time to move on. It's time to move on. Wash yourself, bathe, and be clean.
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Anoint yourself, apply perfume to yourself. You see, they would take olive oil, and they would take herbs or flowers, and they would put it inside a jar of olive oil, and let the olive oil infuse from the flowers and from the different herbs, and they would make this perfume.
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And so she says, anoint yourself. Put on this olive oil perfume. Put on better clothes.
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Now, some have said Naomi is prepping Ruth in a way that women would prepare for their wedding nights.
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Some have said that Ruth is even preparing for a sexual encounter.
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But they already know Boaz to be a righteous man. He's an elder at the gate in Bethlehem, bypassing his request for engagement, acting like this is a marriage night, or dressing to seduce him would be things that would repulse a righteous man.
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It would repel him. It would turn him away. She's trying to appeal to him, not to repel him, not to repulse him.
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Immorality won't bring a man like Boaz to her. Immorality won't work for him.
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And that's a lesson for us as well. You see, if it takes immorality, if you're with someone and they want you to commit immoral acts with them, if it takes immorality to gain a husband or a wife, then you may just be with the wrong person.
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Now, all of us have marriages where we've been through a lot, and God sovereignly brought us through that, but how should it be?
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What is the ought, not what is? What is ought? The ought is immorality shouldn't be used to gain a husband or a wife.
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No potential suitor of high quality will ask you to disobey God. So what is
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Naomi doing here with Ruth? Why is she telling her to do this, if this is all the case?
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It's possible Boaz has never approached Ruth because Ruth has still acted like a widow in the period of grieving.
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She has had a sign on her person, so to speak, that says ineligible, grieving widow.
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And Boaz, as a righteous man, he respected that. He respected that.
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He doesn't know if she desires to remain single, a single widow for the rest of her life.
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And unfortunately, these women didn't concoct their plan during the harvest.
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It's over. Ruth, during the harvest, didn't change. She didn't take off the sign that said ineligible.
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How will he see that she's available now? She's going to have to visit him and show him that she is.
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It's exceptional. It's not the norm. It's an exception.
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And the way that she's going to do that, well, consider this, 2 Samuel 12 20 shows us how one changes the perception of everyone else around you after you've been grieving.
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Following the death of David's son from his union with Bathsheba, it says this in 2
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Samuel 12 20, So David arose from the ground, he washed, he washed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes.
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And he came into the house of the Lord and worshipped. Then he came to his own house, and when he requested, they set food before him, and he ate.
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So do you get that? To show that she's no longer an unavailable, grieving widow,
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Ruth must wash herself. She must anoint herself with perfume.
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She must change her clothes. And you know what's so wild? This is
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David's grandmother, by the way. Ruth is David's grandmother. And she did the same thing.
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Wash, anoint yourself, change your clothes. So Naomi is basically saying, don't do an immoral act.
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She's saying, Ruth, show Boaz that the period of mourning for your husband is over.
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It's done. You're available. And he showed her such kindness, and more than a friendship was building in Boaz's mind, but he dared not approach a woman in the state of mourning.
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I believe that he started to love her. But he was a righteous man. He's not going to go to a woman who looks unavailable, grieving, and in mourning clothes.
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She's in mourning clothes. So she used to bathe, apply a scent, change her clothes, then go to the threshing floor.
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Okay? Normally, an Israelite man would work. He'd work in the field, and each night he'd go back to his home.
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Usually his home was within a walled community for security. But Boaz intends to sleep by the grain that he had just winnowed.
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Why? Because of animals and critters that would seek to eat the harvests that they just collected.
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Because thieves and bandits could come in and take all your grain. So on these special occasions, a man like this is to sleep right next to the grain at the threshing floor.
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Okay? Notice that he doesn't make his servants do that.
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Boaz takes the risk himself. He does it himself. Boaz says,
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I'll be the first line of defense for what we've all worked hard for. That's a man.
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That's a man. Naomi says, let him finish for the night. Don't let him see you.
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Let him eat and drink first. That is, let Boaz cease from the burden of work.
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Let the man get satisfied and relaxed. And while it is very likely, in fact, almost 100 % likely that he was drinking wine, this is not to be like Lot and his daughters in Genesis.
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The ones in whom Moab was born, do you remember? How did Moab come into being?
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How did Moab become a nation? When Lot's daughters thought the world had ended, and they got their father drunk, and they committed incest with their father, and one of the children's name?
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A son named Moab. That's where Moab came from. And so what
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Ruth is, Ruth is trying to right that wrong. That was the bad way to do things.
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And this story is the redemption of that error. That's one way to see it.
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So Boaz was not a drunkard. There is no indication in the text that Naomi expected him to be drunk, but having just completed his work, having just eaten dinner, having had a little wine with that dinner,
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Boaz is now resting. He's comfortable. Because, you know, when a man's at work, right, if your husband's doing a project in the garage, and he's right in the middle of it, and he's going, you know, he's sawing something, he's doing something, and you're like, honey, honey, and he's like, you're killing me a little, right?
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You know, there's some impatience showing through there. When a man's got his mind focused on work, he doesn't want to be approached.
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But when the work's over, and he's sitting down, and he's relaxed, it's time to come to him. Naomi knows.
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Naomi was married for a long time. She knows what to do, okay? A man who is done with his work, it'll bode well, better interaction.
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So Naomi continues. She tells Ruth to watch for him when he lies down, make note of it.
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And finally, what is one of the most controversial verses in Scripture, one that has proffered a variety of interpretations, and this is most likely in part because several of these
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Hebrew words can be used in multiple ways in the Bible. Some of these words are very ordinary, but they can also be used in very sexual ways.
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Right here, okay? She is to uncover his feet and lie down.
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I can't go into all the ways that those Hebrew words can be used, but that's what our translation shows.
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I think it's an accurate translation. According to one commentator, in this cultural context, it was possible that prostitutes would come in the middle of the night during the harvest time.
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Prostitutes would come to threshing floors and find the men sleeping by the grain. And while they were tired from all that they did and weak, wicked men, the prostitute, in the middle of the night, would offer their services to these men for payment.
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And a weak man, a wicked man, would succumb to this immorality. So why would
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Naomi risk everything with this plan? Why would she risk everything that has been built up thus far with Ruth and Boaz?
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Well, while definitely forward, it's definitely forward, there is nothing to suggest in the text that it was immoral.
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In fact, Naomi would want to maintain a sense of virtuousneer for her daughter -in -law.
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Ruth is to simply uncover Boaz's feet, and likely only up to his lower legs, just below the knees.
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That's what we believe the text says. Nothing higher than that. There's nothing about uncovering his nakedness here, despite some people believing that that's what happened.
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You see, such an action like that, if this was sexual, if this was uncovering his nakedness, if that were the case here, that would go against the whole context that the narrator has been trying to establish thus far.
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You see, the narrator was trying to show us the beginning was like judges, the beginning was immorality, the beginning was wrong decisions, the beginning was evil, and then they paid for it.
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We're now supposed to be in the stage of the book of Ruth where grace and redemption is happening.
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This would be so out of place if Naomi wanted her daughter to do something sexual, something inappropriate, okay?
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This would be against Yahweh, the Lord that they've been calling upon. This scene is trying to show us and keep in line with what's already been established.
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Boaz is a man, a mighty man of virtue. I talked about how that means he's a noble man, and Ruth is loyal,
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Ruth is selfless and loving. To make this moment anything other than innocent is to disregard what we've been told to know and feel about these people in this story.
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And it doesn't say here that she is to lie down, even touching his feet.
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She isn't to lie down touching his body or curled up against his body.
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There's nothing to indicate that. It says literally, lie down and wait. Wait for him.
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He'll tell you what to do. And so the whole idea rests on a razor's edge.
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There's no doubt about that. There's no going around that. This whole idea is on a razor's edge.
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This could possibly go very, very wrong. But Naomi has faith in it.
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She's seen what God has done. She knows He can do this for her and Ruth, so her daughter -in -law trusts her.
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All that you say, I will do. Ruth says, you know more than me. I'm going. Go to verses 6 and 7.
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So she went down to the threshing floor and did according to all that her mother -in -law had commanded her.
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When Boaz had eaten and drunk and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain.
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And she came secretly and uncovered his feet and lay down. So Ruth did exactly what
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Naomi told her. They are depending on Boaz's sense of integrity.
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Are they not? They're depending on Boaz's sense of integrity. Because even though Ruth and Naomi might have the right intentions in mind, what does a man have on his mind when he sees a woman at the threshing floor?
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What will he do? Will Boaz do the right thing? They're counting on it. They're counting on Boaz doing the right thing.
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That he will interpret this gesture favorably and righteously. In fact, what
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I believe, I believe that God has to impress upon him what's happening here.
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I believe that God's Spirit must show this man what's happening here.
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He must not indulge in the flesh. I will say that the word for clothes in verse 3 was simla in Hebrew, which often means a cloak of poverty.
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Okay? So Ruth is not in the seductive outfit of a harlot.
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She bathed, she put on perfume, and she took off her widow's clothes of grief.
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And when she laid down, when she uncovered his legs up to the knees and she laid down, it basically says that she put a cloak over herself, a cloak of poverty.
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This was a cloak or a garment to show that she was needy. She's saying, I have no one.
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I am lying on the ground in the dirt and I've got no one. I'm lying with a poor man's blanket.
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And so what she's doing right here, okay, this is it. What's happening right here? This is it.
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She's saying this all in an image. She's saying by washing and anointing herself and changing her clothes, she's saying,
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I'm done with the period of mourning. I'm available. Okay? Then by uncovering his legs and then laying down with a garment that is typically used for someone who is poor, she's saying,
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I need a Redeemer. I need a husband. I need someone. I'm available. I'm no longer mourning.
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And I'm needy. Would you be that Redeemer for me? That's all happening in this image.
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Will you be what I need? Will you give me what's yours despite me deserving none of it?
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And isn't that what Christ does? Christ puts
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His cloak of righteousness over us. We need Christ to cover us in our sin.
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None of what we were, who we were, that sin that stained us is ever seen again because Christ covered us.
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He didn't have to, but He did. So will Boaz see a foreigner unworthy of Him?
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Will Boaz see an immoral woman? Will he see a potential marriage that will ruin his reputation in Bethlehem?
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Okay? Let's keep going. Go to verses 8 through 13.
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It happened in the middle of the night that the man was startled and bent forward, and behold, a woman was lying at his feet.
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He said, Who are you? And she answered, I am Ruth, your maid. So spread your covering over your maid, for you are a close relative.
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Then he said, May you be blessed of the Lord, my daughter. You have shown your last kindness to be better than the first by not going after young men, whether rich or poor.
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Now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you whatever you ask, for all my people in the city know that you are a woman of excellence.
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Now, it is true I am a close relative. However, there is a relative closer than I.
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Remain this night, and when morning comes, if he will redeem you, good, let him redeem you. But if he does not wish to redeem you, then
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I will redeem you as the Lord lives. Lie down until morning. So we're not certain how much time went by after she uncovered his legs and laid down, but eventually
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Boaz woke up in the middle of the night. It's possible what startled him was the chilled night air that came through the threshing house.
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That cool summer air drifted over his bare legs. Okay? And it says that he was startled by it, and he woke up, and he leaned up where he was lying, and he was about to cover his legs.
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And so bending forward to cover himself, he sees a woman lying on the ground at his feet, right near him.
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Remember, this book was at the time of the cycle of the judges and the sin of the people. Most men would see a woman lying there and take advantage.
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But Boaz is not most men. He says, who are you?
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Who are you? What's interesting is she doesn't say, I am Ruth, the
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Moabitess. She doesn't say, I am Ruth, Naomi's daughter -in -law. She keenly says,
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I am Ruth, your maid. She gives him possession. I'm your maid.
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And this time she doesn't say the Hebrew word for slave girl. She says the word maid in Hebrew that makes a woman eligible to marry an
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Israelite landowner. She goes out on a limb. She called herself a lowly slave before, but she listened to her mother -in -law and said,
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I'm a woman that you can marry now. But then she takes the focus off of herself.
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She says who he is and what he can do for her. You are a Goel. You are our kinsman redeemer.
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And she says spread your covering over your maid. You see, Boaz was about to cover himself, but she's asking for him to take what is his and cover her.
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She wants to remove the garment of poverty and be clothed by him, be covered by him.
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That's the image of what's occurring here. And if he does that, if he removes her cloak of poverty and gives her his cloak, she will be his.
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She will be his wife. This word, this covering, this word for covering is actually used 107 times in the
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Old Testament. And 78 of those 107 times, it literally means wings or wing.
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That's what's amazing is Ruth specifically chose the word in response to his blessing back in chapter 2.
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Do you remember? Boaz said to her, may the Lord give you peace, the God of Israel under whose wings you have sought refuge and safety.
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And being covered by the wings or an edge of a man's garment was a saying back then to indicate you are a
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Goel. You're a kinsman redeemer. Would you marry your maid
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Ruth? She's saying would you marry me, essentially. Would you be there for me?
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Would you cover me? And so what you can see here is did
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Ruth's mother -in -law tell her to do this? Did Naomi tell her to say these things?
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She didn't. Ruth went beyond her mother -in -law's instructions as you can see.
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She told her what? Uncover his feet and lay on the ground and he'll tell you what to do.
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He'll tell you what to do. Be silent. So it's a bit surprising in a way.
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In the command form, a servant tells the master to marry her.
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A Moabite demands an Israelite. A woman approaches a man in this way.
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A poor person comes to the rich and says give me what you have.
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Now there is no indication that she was breaking God's law as there were more descriptions on marital engagement rather than prescriptions.
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But she's definitely acting outside the cultural norm. Ruth is acting outside the cultural norm.
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We don't know what overcame her except maybe the sovereign hand of God. That she would speak up this way?
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That's what I see this as. That Ruth would do and say what she said. Normally it would be unacceptable and that Boaz would interpret it correctly and respond favorably.
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That all this would go so perfectly right? That's God. That's the sovereign hand of God acting through maybe the imperfect actions of humans.
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Not the right way. Not the way back then a woman ought to do it.
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But she did it. She spoke out. Cover your maid. Give me your garment.
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Essentially saying can I be your wife? Can I be your wife? Despite what has come over her
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Ruth is hoping, she is praying Boaz would be this redeemer for her.
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It's still up to him. He's got to decide what to do. Nevertheless his response is exactly what
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Naomi was longing for. He knows. That's what crazy is. He knows she didn't come for a sexual encounter.
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She came for marriage. She came for redemption. She came for all the protection and provision that goes with it. Because he is her
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Goel. That's what she says. You are our kinsman redeemer. Cover your maid. And that's how he sees it.
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It's perfect. And so he says may you be blessed of the Lord my daughter.
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You have shown your last kindness to be better than the first. By not going after young men whether poor or rich.
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Boaz doesn't cry cursed be you harlot. Leave my presence prostitute.
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He doesn't say that. He says rather blessed be you my daughter.
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Using this title again my daughter continues the theme of love and respect and care for her.
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And it causes everyone including us including Ruth to finally take a deep breath.
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How is he going to respond to this? And he says may you be blessed. He blesses her in the name of the
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Lord. Your has said your kindness now in this act is greater than the first.
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And the first act of his said he praised her for was leaving her people and her home. And so Boaz believes that this night
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Ruth has shown more grace. She's shown more kindness more goodness than before.
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And just as Ruth goes the way many people consider nonsensical.
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Like going with a widow to a foreign nation. Isn't that radical? That's radical.
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She could have stayed home with her family. She could have remarried a Moabite man. She could have had all that she needed with no burden of taking care of a widow.
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But she did what people think is nonsensical. So also her choice here is considered culturally nonsensical.
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Why would this woman do this? She doesn't do what's appealing by the world's standards.
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She doesn't do what's born of her fleshly desires but what is right. Part of her has said, he says, is not going for young men.
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Whether poor or rich. Part of her kindness is going after a man like him.
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And the root word for young men is choice. Choice men. Men of better status.
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She could have gone for men, young men for status. She could have found a poor man who was really good looking and married him for love or lust.
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She could have found a rich man in Israel and gotten married and committed herself to him because of wealth.
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But she chose Boaz instead of all those types of men. She wanted righteous.
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She wanted caring. She wanted hardworking. She wanted virtuous. That's what she wanted.
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And out of all that, she gets love. She wanted who God brought before her in his providence.
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Whose field did she wander into? Boaz. Sometimes what's interesting is
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God has to put what we need often right in front of us.
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And sometimes we still can't see the fact that we need what's right in front of us because our own standards are different than God's.
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We want this, this, and this, and this, and we make the list of all that we want, and God says, I want you to want this, and this is it in front of you.
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Whether it be a potential spouse or the job. And we've got our standards, and God said,
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I want to bless you. It's right in front of you. Take it. Righteous, caring, hardworking, virtuous.
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And so continuing to be gentle, he tells her, don't fear.
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Do not fear. And Naomi had told her exactly what Boaz, to do exactly what
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Boaz had commanded her, but in a complete role reversal, Boaz says what? I'll do exactly what you say.
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Boaz will command you what to do and do what he says, but here Boaz says, I'll do what you say to this young woman.
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I'll do what you say. And this isn't disregarding right gender roles or headship or anything like that.
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Boaz is taking a posture of humility. Humility. It's like how
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Christ set aside his status for our sakes. The master became a slave that would die on a cross to save the slaves to sin.
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Now regarding the people of Bethlehem, God has even turned their hearts favorably toward Ruth already, despite her foreign status.
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You see this? God is changing the hearts and minds of everyone involved. Naomi's mind, he made
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Ruth do something that was crazy, go with this widow. God changed
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Boaz's heart and mind and made him generous and loving towards a foreign woman, and then now even the people of the town think favorably of Ruth.
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It literally says that all the people in the gate know that you are a woman of excellence. All the people in the gate, basically all the prominent people where they go to the gate to make judgments and decisions, where all the important things happen, the people there think you're a woman of excellence.
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And this is astounding, because Boaz was a man of virtue or valor, according to chapter 2.
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Now a foreign woman, as low as a slave, is regarded as the equal to a man of virtue.
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In the Hebrew, it said that he was the Ish Ha 'il. And for her right here, it says that she is the
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Ish Ha 'il. He was a man of excellence. Now she is of the same status.
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She's a woman of excellence. This phrase occurs also in Proverbs 31 .10. An excellent wife, a woman of excellence, who can find, for her worth is far above jewels.
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Ruth is the Proverbs 31 woman. Ruth is the Proverbs 31 woman.
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In fact, in the Hebrew ordering, the book of Proverbs comes right after the book of Ruth, so that when you get to the end, when you get to chapter 31, you'll see that Ruth is that excellent woman who can find, you can find it.
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This is key. She's praised at the gates. She didn't gain this reputation among the people because she sought for it.
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No one going after their own glory ever gets it, do they? Or it's bootleg glory.
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Because of her devotion to her widowed mother -in -law, for abandoning her gods, for abandoning her people, her family, and her security, and reducing herself down to a scavenger in a field to glean barley for herself and her mother, the people knew that this was a special kind of woman.
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She was more like a child of God than many of the Israelites because her chesed, her kindness, his kindness, his chesed, their grace they give to others and one another, and ultimately the chesed of God, the kindness of God, because of all these things, this woman has become of equal status to one of the most upright men in all the land.
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She was lower than low, but now she's up there with him. And so at this moment,
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Ruth is getting filled up to the brim, oh, the plan is working, this is going well.
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She's getting filled with anticipation and hope and what could be, and then
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Boaz has to say those words, but now it may be true that I am a redeemer for your family, however, there is a redeemer of higher rights than I.
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He has higher rights than I, and Ruth must have clutched at her heart, oh no, this is something that my mother -in -law didn't foresee.
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We thought he was the ultimate redeemer in the family, but if Boaz is a man of integrity, and he is, he must follow the standard of God set out for kinsmen redemption.
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He has to report the woman's request. He knows no other way. She might at this moment look down or gotten sad, we don't know, but he reassures her in verse 13.
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He says, it's going to be all right, stay here tonight. And when morning comes, if he redeems you, good, let him redeem you.
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If he doesn't redeem you, then as the Lord lives, and that's an oath by the way, that's a law abiding oath, as the
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Lord lives, he takes his vow that if that man doesn't take her, he will.
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He vows to God that one of two courses will take place for this woman, and he'll see to it personally.
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He promises her no matter what, she'll be taken care of. We can imagine, though, what this woman is hoping for, huh?
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The man right in front of her, Boaz. And so to further protect
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Ruth, he won't send her away in the middle of the night when creatures or foul men could be around. And to protect her chastity, he doesn't use the words for sexual intercourse, but the words in Hebrew for lodging, stay here tonight, lodge here for the evening.
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And so she sleeps there, but nothing occurs between them. And then real quickly,
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I do have to say that we went over those five aspects of the Goel in the Bible. And I do have to tell you that none of God's word says that the redeemer must marry a widow.
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That was typically called something, something called leveret marriage. If a brother died and he had a younger brother who was single, then the younger brother must by law marry his brother's widow, if his brother died, and raise up offspring to the name of his brother.
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And that was the sin of Onan. You ever heard of Onan who spilled his seed? He was to marry
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Judah's daughter -in -law, Tamar. I believe that's her name.
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And Onan was to go into her that night, and Onan spilled his seed so he wouldn't have a child born to his brother's name because he wanted his own name to go forward, his own inheritance.
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That's called leveret marriage. That's a whole other category that's not required in kinsmen redemption.
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Okay? And so what Boaz is saying is the higher -up redeemer related to Elimelech may just redeem her, but Boaz implies that he will both redeem
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Naomi and Ruth and he will marry her as well. That's what he implies.
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Which is to say, since he's not legally bound to do this, if he marries her, it must come from a place that truly, honestly, lovingly desires to be a husband for her.
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It's got to be born out of care. It's not required. He'll marry her because he loves her and cares for her.
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Go to verses 14 and 15. So she laid at his feet until morning and rose before one could recognize another.
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And he said, let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor. Again, he said, give me the cloak that is on you and hold it.
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So she held it, and he measured six measures of barley and laid it on her. Then she went into the city.
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I wonder if they slept very well that night, either of them. You know? He's thinking about, okay, in the morning,
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I've got to go to my relative and tell him the story. We've got to do it before witnesses.
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A man like that's thinking he's got to get it done. And will I get to marry this woman? She's probably thinking the same thing.
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Will I get to marry this man? They're laying there, separate from each other. She's probably also a little bit worried, what's it going to look like if I leave this threshing floor in the morning and workers see us?
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So that kind of worries on her mind, too. This is anxiety, right?
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And so they both wake up under the dark sky that precedes the dawn, before the light comes up, before the sun comes up.
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He already wants to protect her reputation. He will not let her reputation be tarnished.
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That's a man right there. A husband protects his wife's reputation. A wife protects her husband's reputation.
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And so he didn't take advantage of her in the night, and he's even concerned for her image when she leaves.
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Where in the world are men like this, by the way, these days? And so not wanting his workers to recognize her,
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Boaz sends her away, but not without lavishing her with more generosity.
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He asked for her cloak of poverty, and he filled it with wealth. Six measures of barley grain.
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It was all that she could carry, but it was also a shrewd tactic. If somehow someone saw
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Ruth leaving this threshing floor early in the morning, they could both say with clear consciences that she was obviously there for grain.
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She was there for grain. And so he does that. He gives her the grain. He also shows her, though, hopefully in that act that there's more to come.
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Then they leave. Now go to our final verses for the morning.
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Verses 16 to 18. When she came to her mother -in -law, she said, How did it go, my daughter?
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And she told her all that the man had done for her. She said, These six measures of barley he gave to me.
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For he said, Do not go to your mother -in -law empty -handed. Then she said, Wait, my daughter, until you know how the matter turns out.
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For the man will not rest until he has settled it today. I can't help but wonder if Naomi got a lot of sleep that night herself, right?
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Sending her daughter -in -law off to a man in the middle of the night.
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How would the plan work out? It's got to take a miracle to work out, right?
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Surprisingly, in the Hebrew, Naomi asks, Who are you, my daughter? It doesn't say, actually, how did it go?
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She says, Who are you, my daughter? Now, obviously,
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Naomi knows who Ruth is. So the question is a little bit puzzling. Ruth has been
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Ruth the widow. She's been Ruth the Moabitess. She's been Ruth the daughter -in -law of Naomi.
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She's been Ruth the slave girl. Ruth the woman who gleans in Boaz's field.
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But now, also, she is Ruth, the woman of excellent character who is praised in the gates.
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But the question is, Who are you, my daughter? Are you Ruth, the wife of Boaz?
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Are you a wife now? Well, she reports all that happened that previous night.
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And she relays something that we didn't see Boaz say, that the six measures of barley were given so that she would not come to her mother -in -law empty -handed.
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This could be a sign of multiple things. I'm about to conclude here in a moment. But this gift of barley could mean several things.
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You see, it may be that Boaz is trying to show his confidence in God that he will play the role of Goel to this family.
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He will be the kinsman redeemer. He's giving this grain, and he's like, More will come.
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More will come. It could be that the gift of barley to Naomi is demonstrating appreciation for her actions in this plan.
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Hey, thank you for encouraging Ruth to take off her widow's clothes and put on the normal outfit and show me that she's available.
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Thank you. Right? Thank you for having her pursue me, even though it's in a non -conventional way.
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Or maybe, maybe Boaz gives the barley to Naomi as a sort of initial payment of what's called the mohar.
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That is, in the Hebrew, the bride price. The bride price, that is negotiated at the time of engagement.
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And that's not to say that women were bought and sold as wives back then. That term means it was a promise to show the parents that the man would do two things.
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Number one, he would do the right thing until the wedding night. He wouldn't violate her until the wedding night.
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And then that bride price was also something to show that he can provide.
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Hey, have no concerns. I can provide for your daughter, so here's a gift.
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Naomi accepts Boaz's gift. She takes it, whatever it meant, she takes it. And what can they do now?
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Ruth is maybe going, well, what should we do now? Should I go down to Bethlehem?
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Should I go to the city and see what happens? And she says, don't even worry about it.
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Boaz won't relax until he has brought the matter to its conclusion, so you can relax.
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The man will do it. He'll bring it to its very end. Well, it's now time for our end for today in the sermon.
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And I have one question for us, okay? This is the application.
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What are we willing to risk to do the right thing? People make many risks for awful things.
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People take risks for pleasure, risks for excitement, risks for even sin.
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It's a risk to jump from an airplane to skydive in pursuit of a thrill.
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It's a risk to throw your life savings into the stock market or dogecoin like some of you guys that are full of regret, right, for hasty wealth.
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It's a risk for the man or woman who commits adultery that that one night may cost them everything.
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They may lose their family. That man who commits adultery can lose his kids, lose his wife, lose his home, lose everything.
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It's amazing what people risk for when it doesn't matter or worse when they risk for what is wrong.
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You see, Elimelech and Naomi risked their covenantal status with God to go to Moab for what?
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Food, more food. And we saw the risk didn't pay off.
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It took God redeeming that situation to fix the risk.
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It was a risk for Ruth to follow her mother -in -law back to Israel and a risk she understood would not pay very well.
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But she was willing to do it for the sake of someone else. Boaz was willing to risk his image before his employees when he treated a foreign woman so well.
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He didn't think of personal payoff. Naomi and Ruth risked
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Boaz rejecting Ruth as an immoral prostitute or worse, but they knew if she remained righteous in this, she had nothing to fear.
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They put it in God's hands. And Boaz is risking a whole lot by going to the elders at the gate in Bethlehem and going before the town and the people to see if his relative will not only be a redeemer to Naomi, but be a redeemer to Ruth, a foreign woman.
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And not only that, to be Ruth's husband. And he bluntly says,
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I'll be both. Boaz is risking a lot. He's risking his reputation.
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He put it on the line to do what he thought was right. It honored God and it cared for the needy.
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What are you and I willing to risk to be faithful to God? What are we willing to risk?
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Do you see the life or even the eternal life of someone else is more precious than your name?
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More precious than what people think of you? Will you help redeem someone at very little to no gain to yourself, but all the gain to the other person?
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Will you suffer loss? Will you give gifts to the point of sacrifice for someone else the way that Christ did for you?
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1 Peter 2 .20 -23 says, For what credit is there if when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience?
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But if when you do what is right and you suffer for it patiently and you endure it, this finds favor with God.
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For you have been called for this purpose since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in his footsteps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth.
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And while being reviled, he did not revile in return. While suffering, he uttered no threats, but kept entrusting himself to Him who judges righteously.
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If you're going to be a Goel for someone, if you're going to be a sort of redeemer for someone in this life, you've got to be like the
01:08:40
Redeemer. You've got to be like Jesus Christ. And so again, the question is, church, are we making all the righteous risks that we ought to for God?
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And if you are, are you trusting yourself to Him who judges righteously when you do it?
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You'll need to answer those questions yourself. What are you holding on to?
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What are you holding on to that you're not willing to risk to do the right thing? Because I tell you what, guys, for many of us in 50 years or less, we will be in the presence of God.
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We will stand before God. For many of us, 50 years or less, are you willing to risk what you hold so dear, reputation, money, fame, the best house, all those things, are you willing to risk it for the sake of knowing
01:09:41
Jesus and making Him known? You know, in the end, this story with Boaz and Ruth isn't truly about romance.
01:09:54
Sure, it's about love, but mostly it's about the love of God running behind the scenes of this entire story.
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And we'll see that chiefly when I wrap up our series in two weeks. I don't want to give it all away now, and so we'll find out next week, as Naomi said, what happens to Ruth and Boaz, and then we'll complete this series and see the gospel in all of it, okay?
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That's it for today. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank You. Thank You for today.
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We thank You, Lord, for this glorious and magnificent Word. Lord, we thank
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You for this account. God, we see people who definitely emulate the righteous things of Jesus Christ.
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We see people, Lord, who are willing to risk many things to do the right thing.
01:10:57
And I'm concerned, God, that we have grown complacent, that we've grown comfortable. God, where are the risky
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Christians who are willing to risk name and life and fame and personal glory and possessions to make
01:11:18
You known, Lord, and to know You? Where are they,
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God? We ought to do what we have to do to establish righteousness in this land.
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We ought to give the gospel and see righteousness flourish in this land. We ought to do what's right.
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That's for sure. But are we putting too much stock in what's here and now and not enough stock in what's ahead?
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That's what I hope You convict us over today, Lord, because if that's the case, then maybe we're not risking enough right now to do what's right,
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Lord. So, God, please be with us. Give us repentance. Change our hearts as You changed the heart of Naomi and Ruth and Boaz, Lord.
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Thank You for this time. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. All right.
01:12:16
Well, we've now come to the time where we're going to take of the Lord's table. If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, a baptized believer, you can partake of the table today.