Ruth 3
please turn in your copy of the
Old Testament to the book of Ruth. Our reading is Ruth chapter
three and chapter four. Also, uh, these last, uh, or
last week and this week we, uh, would have had it not been for
the weather, uh, two weeks ago, had a three part series on Ruth.
So as it is now, it’s a two part series on Ruth. You’re getting
the, The CliffsNotes version, one commentary I’ve been studying,
had 20 sermons on Ruth. And so you see how broad a book
it is. We’re trying to jam pack it into
two weeks. But we are looking for Christ.
We’re looking for Christmas and Ruth. And by God’s grace, we
see his hand in human history. We see his gracious work of redemption,
and we see it through the dark times in Ruth. Remember, Ruth
is a story about a family, the family of Elimelech. His wife,
Naomi, their two sons, they sojourned from Bethlehem, the city of David,
the city of bread. They sojourned to Moab, a foreign
nation, not a friendly nation to the people of God, to the
covenant people of Israel. But nevertheless, they sojourned
there and their two boys, Malon and Chilion, married Moabite
women. not a practice that was pleasing
in the sight of God. But nevertheless, we see in the
book of Ruth, through Ruth, the Moabitess, that God does save
people outside the covenant of Israel. He saves Gentiles. He includes, he grafts them in. And so we see the glorious expansion
of the gospel of Jesus, not only to Israel, but to other nations
through this wonderful story. Remember that there was in the
beginning of Ruth, there was famine. Not only was the land
barren, it did not produce grain, but also the women or the line
of a lemon lick were barren. And so we get to a dark place
in the story of Ruth, but light begins to come as God through
his providential care of his people and the family of Elimelech
leads Naomi and Ruth back to Bethlehem. And they bump into
this righteous man named Boaz, who will redeem Naomi through
Ruth and their marriage and their children. And from that marriage,
from the offspring of Ruth, we see the grandfather of King David,
who will be the great grandfather, as it were, of Jesus, the savior
of the world. So hear God’s word beginning
at Ruth. Chapter three, verse one. Then Naomi, her mother-in-law,
said to her, to Ruth, my daughter, should I not seek rest for you,
that it may be well with you? Is not Boaz our relative, with
whose young women you were? See, he is winnowing barley tonight
at the threshing floor. Wash, therefore, and anoint yourself,
and put on your cloak, and go down to the threshing floor. But do not make yourself known
to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. But when
he lies down, observe the place where he lies, then go and uncover
his feet and lie down and he will tell you what to do.” And
she replied, all that you say, I will do. So she went down to
the threshing floor and did just as her mother-in-law had commanded
her. And when Boaz had eaten and had
drunk and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end
of the heap of grain. Then she came softly, she uncovered
his feet and lay down. At midnight, the man was startled.
He turned over and behold, a woman lay at his feet and he said,
who are you? And she answered, I am Ruth,
your servant. Spread your wings over your servant for you are
a redeemer. And he said, may you be blessed
by the Lord, my daughter. You have made this last kindness
greater than the first that you have not gone after the young
men, whether poor or rich. And now, my daughter, do not
fear, for I will do all that you ask and for my fellow townsmen
know that you are a worthy woman. Now it is true that I am a Redeemer,
yet there is a Redeemer nearer than I. Remain tonight and in
the morning, if he will redeem you, good. Let him do it. But
if he is not willing to redeem you, then as the Lord lives,
I will redeem you. Lie down until the morning. So
she lay at his feet until the morning, but arose before one
could recognize another. And he said, let it not be known
that a woman came to the threshing floor. And he said, bring the
garment you are wearing and hold it out. So she held it. She measured
out six measures. He measured out six measures
of barley. He put it on her and she went to the city. And when
she came to her mother-in-law, she said, how did it fare, my
daughter? He told her all that the man
had done for her, saying these six measures of barley he gave
to me. For he said to me, you must not go back empty handed
to your mother-in-law. She replied, wait, my daughter,
until you can learn how the matter turns out. For the man will not
rest, but will settle the matter today. Now Boaz had gone up to
the gate and sat down there and behold, the redeemer of whom
Boaz had spoken came by. So Boaz said to him, turn aside,
friend, sit down here. He turned aside, he sat down
and he took 10 men of the elders of the city and said, sit down
here. So they sat down and he said to the redeemer, Naomi,
who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel
of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. So I thought
I would tell you of it and say, buy it in the presence of those
sitting here. And in the presence of the elders of my people, if
you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not tell me that
I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it. And
I come after you. And he said, I will redeem it.
Then Boaz said, the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi,
you also acquire Ruth, the Moabite, the widow of the dead in order
to perpetuate the name of the dead and his inheritance. Then
the Redeemer said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair
my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself,
for I cannot redeem it. Now, this was the custom in foreign
times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging. To confirm a
transaction, the one drew off his sandal and he gave it to
the other. This was the manner of attesting in Israel. So when
the Redeemer said to Boaz, buy it for yourself, he drew off
his sandal. Then Boaz said to the elders
and all the people, you are witnesses this day that I have bought from
the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged
to Chilion and all that belonged to Malon. Also Ruth, the Moabite,
the widow of Malon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate
the name of the dead and his inheritance, that the name of
the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the
gate of his native place. You were witnesses this day.
Then all the people who were at the gate and the elder said,
we are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who
is coming into your house like Rachel and like Leah, who together
built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah
and be renowned in Bethlehem. And may your house be like the
house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah because of the offspring
that the Lord will give to you by this young woman. So Boaz
took Ruth and she became his wife. And he went into her and
the Lord gave her conception and she bore a son. Then the
women said to Naomi, blessed be the Lord who has not left
you this day without a redeemer. And may his name be renowned
in Israel. He shall be to you a restorer
of life and a nourisher of your old age. For your daughter-in-law
loves you. It’s more to you than seven sons.
And she has given birth to him. Then Naomi took the child and
laid him in her lap and became his nurse. And the women of the
neighborhood gave him a name saying, a son has been born to
Naomi. They named him Obed. He was the
father of Jesse, the father of David. Now these are the generations
of Perez. Perez had fathered Hezron and
Hezron fathered Ram and rather Ram had fathered Amenadab. Amenadab
had fathered Nashon and Nashon had fathered Salmon. Salmon fathered
Boaz. Boaz fathered Obed. Obed fathered
Jesse and Jesse fathered David. Amen. This is God’s holy word.
Pray with me. Lord, give us grace to see and to hear and to understand
and to believe all that is written in your word this day for the
sake of your glorious name and for our good. We pray this in
his glorious name. Amen. Well, what do we have in
chapters three and four of Ruth? Well, we have a mother-in-law,
a mother-in-law that sends chills through many of your spines.
It sends tingles through your body. Just the mention of mother-in-law. And we have a scheming mother-in-law
in this story. We have a scheming mother-in-law
who desires to be a matchmaker. She wants a husband for Ruth. Naomi is desperate for Ruth to
meet Boaz and for all things to work out for Naomi’s good
and Naomi’s glory. She’s a scheming type. She’s
a meddling mother-in-law. We might say she’s a matchmaker
and boy, does she have a plan? Ruth, take a bath, spray on the
perfume, tease your hair a little, put on a fancy dress and go down
to the threshing floor. You understand this is not only
a risky plan, it’s a, what do we call it? A risque plan. She’s moving ahead of the providence
of God. She’s desperate for Ruth to become
married to Boaz and for, for Boaz to redeem not only Ruth,
but Naomi and the great name of Elimelech, her deceased husband,
as well as her boys, Malon and Kilion, who died in Moab. Naomi is empty. Naomi has, come
up with nothing. Her social security is gone.
Her husband, her boys, and she and Ruth have returned husbandless
as widows to Bethlehem, the city of bread. And so she’s a scheming,
matchmaking mother-in-law. And she hatches this plan. Go
to Boaz. Lay at his feet. Go to the threshing
floor. You understand that at the threshing
floor of A man in Bethlehem has a sign that says, girls, keep
out. I mean, this is the place where
they smoke cigars and, you know, they drink their heavy drinks.
They work hard. They sweat. They probably swear
a little bit. And as you have seen from the
early part of the book of Ruth. The fields and the threshing
floor are no place for women. Remember that Boaz has instructed
his young men, his foreman, you leave Ruth alone, you don’t touch
her. He’s warned Ruth, you stay within my fields for my men,
my people have been charged to look after you, to look after
your name and your reputation. He’s protected Ruth. But nevertheless,
Naomi has sent Ruth into the room with a man. I mean, how
many of you would say to your daughters, dress up and, you
know, get to smelling good and go to some private place? It’s
not a thing done, but that’s what has been done here. And
it ends in a marriage proposal. You know, I don’t. like to be
awakened in the night. And I’m sure that was the case
with Boaz. But about midnight, he wakes
up and there’s someone at his feet. Someone has stolen the
covers, as it were. We know how that wrestling match
goes at night. The covers go this way. They
go that way. You wake up in the morning and the sheets are off
the bed and you haven’t slept well because your toesies have
been cold. And here’s Boaz. He’s been awakened in the night.
There’s a scandal. There’s a woman in the threshing
floor. Who are you? She says to him,
I’m your servant. And if you, you read in the language
of the old Testament, the Hebrew language, when she speaks of
herself here as a servant, it’s different from before. She’s
no longer the, the, the servant who will glean the servant who
will, uh, will pick his crops for him. She is a servant who
is marriageable. She is a woman who desires to
be united with a man in marriage, in redemption, to have children,
to carry on the family name of her mother-in-law, of her father-in-law,
Naomi and Elimelech. And so here’s a marriage proposal. Now we like in the Bible sometimes
to read it and we like to say, well, if that’s how they did
it in the Bible, therefore that’s how we should do it in this life. Well, not everything in the Bible
is normative as we say. We don’t say, well, they did
it that way. So therefore we should do it. Some things in
the Bible are bad examples. We understand some things in
the Bible are not meant to be repeated. In fact, Paul says
in the Corinthians, these stories, the old Testament were written
for your instruction. Don’t be like that stiff neck generation
in the wilderness. We read in the apostle Paul.
And so not everything in the Bible is written for our example. And so a word to young people.
You’re looking for a spouse. Trust the Lord. Read the scripture,
read the Proverbs, read about what a godly young man, a godly
young woman ought to be. Don’t put the providence of God
to a test. You understand that what Naomi did to Ruth and Boaz
was very risky. She put their reputations at
risk. She put their good name on the auction block, as it were. But thanks be to God, these were
righteous people. Ruth, an honorable woman. Boaz,
an honorable and righteous man. And in the providence of God,
all things worked out. But you see, Naomi was a little,
she was a little pushy. She was a little schemer. And
we need to be careful. We need to be careful when we’re
looking for love to get ahead from God, to get ahead of God
and say, I must, I must take matters into my own hands. I
must look a certain way. I must act a certain way to catch
the attention. Isn’t it interesting? Ruth had
already caught the attention of Boaz and it was her character. It was her kindness toward her
mother-in-law. And it was the grace of God saving
a woman by faith. And so we ought to be careful,
got to be careful in how we look for love, how we look for mates
in life. Now the story goes on. What is
Naomi doing? She is at home waiting with bated
breath. And next morning, here comes
Ruth, essentially carrying a 90-pound sack of grain. Now, when I go
to Lowe’s and buy a little 50-pound thing of fertilizer or quick
concrete or something of that nature, it gets a little heavy. I’m a pretty big fella. It’s
a little heavy. But here’s a lady who walks from
the fields outside Bethlehem back into the city to her mother-in-law,
basically carrying her coat full of 9,100 pounds of grain. And you can imagine she’s waddling,
she’s huffing, she’s puffing, she’s perspiring. It’s not an
easy task. And what does Naomi want to know? Can I help you with the load
there? No, she wants to know how did it go? What took place? She’s at home waiting for news.
She probably didn’t sleep the night before. But she assures
Ruth, he will do the right thing. Boaz will not rest until he settles
the matter today. Boaz will not rest until he makes
arrangements to give you rest, to give us rest, to provide for
our family in this great and gracious way. He will do the
right thing. Oh, be careful how we scheme. Be careful how we
put our good name at risk. Be careful how we get ahead of
God. We should be people of the word,
people of prayer, people who trust, and oh, isn’t that the
hard thing? We think God cannot spread a table in the wilderness,
God cannot provide in the midst of famine, and so we leave Bethlehem,
we leave the covenant people, we go to Moab, we sojourn, we
take matters into our own hands, but look at how God, in his grace,
works things out. The next morning, it’s probably
early, And you understand Boaz is not in love. I mean, I’m sure
Ruth is attractive, but you understand he’s probably married. He probably
has another wife or other wives as was the custom of that day.
He has other children, but this is an act of honor. This is an
act of doing the right thing in the land of Israel. It’s an
act of social justice, you might say. And he goes to the gate
and we might think that Ruth’s redemption, Naomi’s redemption
is hanging in the balance because there’s another redeemer. Young
man, step aside here. By the land of Naomi, the widow
of Elimelech. Okay, I’ll take care of that.
Oh, but wait, there’s something that comes with it. You know,
we do these inspections when we buy a home these days. We
don’t want an underground fuel tank to dig up. We don’t want
an EPA project on our hands. We look for asbestos. We look
for other hazardous things in our homes. We look for foundation
troubles. We get home inspections. Well, Boaz is rather forthright. If you buy the 40 acres and the
barn, you get with it. Ruth. Oh, hold on a minute. I don’t think I want to buy the
land. It’s just as Boaz wants. And so he makes this public transaction. I’ll take Ruth. I’ll take the
land. I’ll redeem the name of Elimelech.
Their name will not be dead in Israel. Something of a good lesson
here from Boaz. We have a wonderful phrase that
we like to speak up from time to time about being a life giver. It is good as a Christian to
be a life giver. We read from the beginning of
the Bible that God tells us as men and women, as husbands and
wives, as Christians, to be fruitful and to multiply and to fill the
earth. We hear that commission again
in the great commission, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth,
not only with offspring, but with baby Christians, with new
Christians, with people who have come to faith in Jesus because
we’ve been faithful to proclaim the word of God. We’re to be
life givers. And so we’re to seek to give life through the
family. We’re to seek to give life through
the gospel. But we’re to seek to give life
where we can meet needs. It is our job. It is our duty
as Christians to love God and worship him, to work hard and
provide for our families, but also to give to the poor and
to help others in need. moved into an era, this day and
time, where the government takes care of social needs, the government
takes care of everyone, young and old and in between, but it
is our job to be godlike towards others. The apostle Paul says
in Galatians, particularly to the household of faith, but we’re
to be godlike to others. Where would this story be? Where
would it end if God was not full of steadfast love, or hesed as
we say in the, The Hebrew Old Testament. Where would this story
be? Where would it end if God had
not been loving and kind and steadfast toward Naomi and to
Ruth? They would still be in Moab.
They would still be starving. Bethlehem would still be in famine.
The people of God, the offspring of Israel, the line of David,
the seed of Jesus, the future salvation of Israel wouldn’t
be. But God shows his steadfast love
in human history to Israel, to the line of Elimelech, to Ruth
through Boaz and gives us David and gives us Jesus. And we are
to be God-like in the same way. It’s a finite way. We’re limited.
We’re not God, but we’re to be God-like in some way, shape or
form to others. We’re to be redemptive. We’re
to be life givers. And that’s what we see in Boaz.
He makes this public transaction and he gives life. He gives life
to a family. Now, what’s the big picture in
this wonderful story? We can zero in and see Elimelech
and his death. We can see the death of their
boys, Maelon and Kilion. We can see the, the, the barrenness
of Ruth and Naomi. We can see their bitterness.
We can see. Hard times ahead, they come back
to Bethlehem and nothing good happens. But the story changes
here. And why does the story change?
Does it get good because God wants to bring glory to his
name through Ruth? Of course it does. But there’s
a bigger picture, a grander picture. And that story comes to us at
the end in a wonderful and surprising way. The little baby that is
born to Ruth and Boaz. becomes the grandfather of David
and Naomi, who was left empty, Naomi, whose life was bitter
and no longer pleasant. She’s now the nurse for the grandfather
of David. She’s the nurse for this child
who will continue the godly seed promised in the garden when God
promised to come and make his blessings flow as far as the
curse is found, when he promised to come and send one who would
fight off the seed of the serpent of Satan and wage war against
sin. You see, Jesus comes into the
life of Ruth and Naomi. It’s a distant Jesus. It’s 1200
or so years to come. But Jesus comes and takes away
the darkness, takes away the bitterness, takes away the famine,
takes away the barrenness. and fill someone who is empty,
full, full of joy, full of hope, and full of salvation. And did you notice all the little
benedictions that pop up? What do the women say, not to
Ruth, but to Naomi? What do the people say to Boaz? What benediction do we see on
Ruth? we see that good things come. God promises to fill Israel
again. God promises to take away emptiness
and to fill these lives full. You see, brothers and sisters,
that’s the message of the hope of the gospel. That’s the message
of Christmas. God comes into the darkness of our lives, the
mess of our lives, the emptiness of our lives, the barrenness
of our lives, the bitterness of our lives. And when we look
to him in faith, we see that he is doing something in us far
greater than we could ever imagine or ask for. So how does the story
end? The story ends well. She bears
a descendant of Jesus. What do we know of Jesus? He’ll
come 1200 years later. His name will be Jesus because
he will save his people from their sins. And between the coming
of Jesus and the birth of this little child, there’ll be kings. There will be wars. There will
be prophets. There will be sin. There will
be exile. There’ll be judgment. There will be hard things. But
Jesus comes yet again into the life of Israel and he takes away
their darkness. He takes away their sin and he
gives them light. So may God give us his great
blessing, his great benediction, his great goodness, as we see
the wonderful hand of Yahweh showing his steadfast covenant
love to Elimelech’s family, to the household of Israel, and
even to our own homes this Christmas season. Pray with me. Our Lord
and God, we thank you for these wonderful short stories of the
Bible, how they show us the greatness of God, the glory of the Son,
and the work of redemption in families, and in the line and
the descendants and the lineage of David and even Jesus. Lord,
help us to see how great a God you are, how great a Redeemer
you are, how great a Savior you are, and help us this Christmas
Eve to put our faith, our hope, our trust, our love, our affection,
our worship on you, the only one who can redeem us and take
away our sin, who can fill up the barren, who can Make the
wheat grow, the harvest plenty, and can fill our bellies full.
This day help us to rejoice, to trust, and to hope in the
Christ child, the Lord Jesus. And it’s in his name we pray,
amen. Let us stand together and sing
number 136, the first Noel.