Ruth 3

Discussion Questions

What do you think changed in Naomi as she shifted from passive grief to active planning?

Have you ever seen someone show costly, committed kindness when they may have had the right to look out for themselves instead?

The passage ends with waiting: “sit still, my daughter, until you learn how the matter turns out” (v 18). Where in your life are you between faithful action and uncertain outcome? How are you trusting God while living in between the two?

Transcript

Ruth 3, Tom Yarbrough

We do study through books of the Bible here at the Village Chapel, so if you’d like a paper copy to follow along, just slip up your hand. Someone would be glad to pass one to you. Welcome to those who are joining us online as well as in the room this morning. We’re so glad that technology allows some of you who are not with us here in Nashville to join us for worship services. We’ve been joined recently by folks as far away as Dubai in the UAE and Plymouth, Massachusetts, which is actually where I was born. So shout out there to Plymouth; Detroit, Michigan, and Albert Lee, Minnesota, all three in the USA, obviously. We’re so thankful that you’re joining us from wherever you are. And again, to those of you in the room, so glad you’re here. Well, we’re continuing on in our study of Ruth this morning. So, in the Pew Bible, I believe chapter three is on page 200, easy to turn to if you know where Joshua, Judges, and then Ruth is right after. It’s a very small little book, right after the book of Judges. Just a quick recap in case you’re one of those people who lets the recap play through on the episodes that you’re watching. I always skip those. I’m like, I know what’s going on, but quick recap. You know, the purpose of those recaps is to make sure that you understand what’s important from the last episode so that when you watch the next episode, you pick up on things, right? That’s why they do that. It’s not because they think you don’t remember, it’s because they want to point out specific things to you. Same for this morning.

The theme of chapter one was loss and emptiness, as we saw Naomi lose her husband, her two sons, and a daughter-in-law, the husband and two sons to death, and the daughter-in-law, Orpah, as she turned back to go back to Moab while in the midst of struggling for provisions. So, she returns to Bethlehem empty, but with her loyal Moabite daughter-in-law, Ruth, who we see exemplifying this steadfast Hesed love, the covenant love of Yahweh, the love that will not let us go. We heard the choir sing that beautiful George Matheson text earlier. In addition to loyally attaching herself to Naomi, Ruth has effectively professed a faith in Naomi’s God, and her behavior and character are a testimony to the kind of woman that she’s becoming in spite of what must have been intense grief on her own part after losing her husband and leaving her home. And in chapter two, we see that character at work as she gleans in the barley fields in order to provide for her mother-in-law, still wrought with grief and bitterness. And as if by coincidence, she finds herself gleaning in the field of this noble man, Boaz, who notices her, shows particular kindness toward her, and begins to see to it that she is specifically provided for in her effort to provide for Naomi. And I think what we begin to see between them is at least a mutual admiration for each other’s character. And Ruth comes home with much more than expected on that first day of gleaning, and it gets the attention of Naomi, who we see is now beginning to get just a glimmer of hope that the Lord is being kind toward her through this man, Boaz, and through Ruth.

She informs Ruth that Boaz is actually a close relative of theirs. The Hebrew word here is “Goel,” not just someone who is related to them, but someone who is eligible to act as a kinsman redeemer. A Goel is a kinsman redeemer, according to Levitical allowance, someone who could restore to them what has been lost. And we’ll talk more about that later. The narrator gives us, the readers, these little hints along the way. We’re getting bits of information before the characters are. It’s a masterful way of storytelling. It creates drama; it creates suspense. And we’ll see that today’s chapter really is the climax of that suspense and drama. Let’s pray before we open the Word together: Father, thank You for Your love for us, Your steadfast Hesed love, for Your new mercies that awaited us this morning. Thank You for Your kindness toward me and allowing me to study and teach this particularly beautiful text. Spirit, I ask that You would continue to speak to me and through me. Teach us all as You illuminate the Word and point us to Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen.

Well, it’s always helpful to have a little map of roadside attractions as we take a trip through any part of the Bible. So here are three questions I’d like us to consider as we read through Ruth 3. First, how is God moving on behalf of the characters in the story we’re reading? How is He moving on their behalf? How is God moving on behalf of His people? A larger context. Think of this as concentric circles. We’re working our way out from the middle. How’s He working among the characters in the story? How’s He working among His people? And how is God working and moving for all of mankind? We’re going to scope out from concentrated and small and local out to a broader general context. If the book of Ruth were divided into four acts that go with the four chapters, this third act would be broken up into three main scenes. And scene one begins here in Chapter 3, verse 1, in the home of Naomi. She’s having this conversation with Ruth. It says, “Then Naomi her mother-in-law [Ruth’s mother-in-law] said to her, ‘My daughter, should I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you? Is not Boaz our relative, with whose young women you were? See, he 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.’”

Who’s uncomfortable? Anybody uncomfortable? I’m a little uncomfortable. I’m not going to lie. Like this makes me kind of squirmy about this plan here. So, what is going on here with Naomi? First of all, the first thing we notice is for the first time in this narrative, Naomi is taking some action. That’s the first thing we notice. Naomi, instead of grieving, which we understand, instead of saying, you know, don’t call me sweet, don’t call me Naomi, call me bitter, call me Mara, you know, the Lord’s hand is against me, He’s taking things away from me. Apparently, chapter two has given her a little glimpse of this hope. And now in chapter three, we see her saying, “Hey, something’s going on here!” And it makes her want to take action. She wants to move, she has a plan. You might even say she has a scheme. Like it feels very scheme, doesn’t it? It feels like she’s plotting in some way. But what I want you to notice is that her attention has turned to Ruth suddenly. She’s now, instead of focusing on herself, she’s now turned her attention to Ruth. And she said, “Ruth, we have to figure out a future for you.” That’s essentially what she’s saying. “What are we going to do with you, Ruth? You have to have a future. I have to find rest for you. I have to find refuge for you.”

Naomi’s not going to live forever, and she knows that. And so, she says, “Should I not seek rest for you?” She knows that she has some responsibility toward Ruth. Ruth has had this responsibility toward Naomi this whole time and has really served her in this incredible way. And now we see Naomi turning her attention to Ruth. And she says, What about Boaz? Boaz, this guy that for all of the barley harvest so far, you’ve been in his fields, you’ve been gleaning on the edges of his fields. He’s obviously been providing for us in this very particular way. And he’s a relative of ours. And she has this plan that has to do with this process, this winnowing process that takes place at the end of the barley harvest. This might not be something that all of us are used to. How many of you have ever winnowed before? Any winnowers? Sarah, that doesn’t surprise me. So, I’m not an expert. I don’t want to pretend like I’m an expert at winnowing. I know just about as much as the internet told me. But my understanding is that when it comes to barley, grain, wheat, those sorts of things, what would happen is they would bring what they had harvested in, it would go onto this large stone floor, right? That’s called a threshing floor, and a large animal like an ox, some sort of a large beast, would come and tread that. And they would break that up, and they would be, in essence, kind of cracking the holes and the shells so that seed, the good stuff was now exposed.

In this winnowing process, I think this is fascinating, in the evening, when the breezes would start to blow through at the end of the barley season, they would take these forks and they would throw all of this stuff up into the air, and the wind would catch the light stuff, the unusable stuff, the husk, the hull, the seed casings, and the wind would carry it away, and then the stuff that had weight, which was what they wanted, would fall to the ground. And they would go through this process over and over. And you can imagine it’s this rhythmic process. There’s multiple people doing that in the evening, at night. The winds are blowing through, carrying the bad stuff away, and the good stuff remains. It’s where we get this idea in the Bible of separating the wheat from the chaff, right? So, she says, “I know that he’s going to be going through this winnowing process at the threshing floor tonight.” We don’t know how he knows that, but she’s probably tapped in. There’s probably a little bit of a network in the community there. And we know that there are women who she we would presume are friends with that show up in the first and the last chapters of Ruth. So, people are probably talking, you know, “Boaz is finishing the harvest tonight, they’re going to be winnowing” So she says, “He’s winnowing tonight, Ruth.” And then she says, “Wash, therefore.”

Do we think that Ruth has not been washing this whole time? No, that’s not that’s not what we should assume here. What she tells her when she says, “Wash and put on [some translations say] your best clothes,” right? She says, “Ruth, it’s time for you to come out of mourning. It’s time for you to put away your morning clothes, it’s time for you to dress like someone who is eligible, it’s time for you to dress like someone who wants to be betrothed at this point.” Ruth’s been mourning, and she’s been about the business of providing and working. And so she says, It’s time to fix yourself up a little bit.” Which is ironic messaging coming from Naomi, I think. It’s really ironic that here’s Naomi saying, “Hey, it’s time for you to pull yourself together, Ruth, and stop mourning.” I think this in essence, this is energizing Naomi to do the same thing. But she tells her to put on her best cloak, and she tells her to go to the threshing floor, but to keep herself hidden. Wait until he finishes eating and drinking, and then this is important, observe where he lies down. Why would she include that detail? Well, it’s going to be dark. There are going to be lots of men lying down at the threshing floor. There’s a potential here that Ruth could find the wrong person. That’s a big deal. Like we have to consider that that’s a real risk here. So, she says, make sure you know which one is Boaz. And then she gives her this what to us is this very strange instruction to uncover his feet, lie down, and then she says, “He will tell you what to do.”

So, are we to assume that this is some sort of a ritual or a custom that Boaz understands? Maybe. I’ll be honest, I’m not sure about that part. But we know that Naomi trusts Boaz in this situation. She’s trusting Boaz to deal kindly and justly with Ruth. And that’s a big thing. And of course, Ruth in her obedience replies, “All that you say, I will do.” Scene two: Ruth begins to go down to the threshing floor, so we assume it’s night. “She went down to the threshing floor [verse 6] and did just as her mother-in-law had commanded her. And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain.” Don’t assume here that Boaz is in a drunken state. That’s not what the text says, and that’s not what the character of Boaz that’s been given to us through the whole narrative would lead us to believe. But he’s eaten, he’s enjoyed his food, he’s enjoyed the drink that they would be having at that feast. He’s celebrated this barley harvest, and now his heart is merry. He feels good, he’s in a good mood, and he goes to lie down at the end of a heap of grain, most likely by himself, because he’s the landowner, so he’s probably not lying with the other workers.

He goes by himself to the end of a heap of grain and he lies down. “Then she [Ruth] came softly and uncovered his feet and lay down. At midnight the man was startled and turned over, and behold, a woman lay at his feet!”  I love how the narrator does this. “Behold, a woman lay at his feet!” We know the woman’s there, but Boaz doesn’t know the woman’s there. It’s a surprise to Boaz, and we get to see the surprise. “And he said [in verse 9] ‘Who are you?’” Now he’s seen Ruth before, we know that, but it’s dark. Also, he knows Ruth. Did you ever remember growing up like seeing one of your elementary school teachers out of context, like not in school, and you’re like, “I know I know you, but who are you?” Like you see them, you know, at a restaurant or something, and because they’re not in the classroom, you don’t know exactly who they are. That used to happen to me. This is completely out of context. He knows Ruth, but he doesn’t know Ruth to be lying down next to him in the dark on the threshing floor. This is all completely out of context. And he says, “Who are you? Identify yourself.” “And she answered, ‘I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer.’” A Goel, same word that Naomi would have used in chapter two whenever she said, “He’s a close relative, a Goel, he’s able to redeem.”

I want to point one thing out. When she identifies herself as his servant, she’s using this word “Amah” in Hebrew. That would have been different, that would have been a particular kind of maid servant. Okay, and in chapter two, we see that she responds to his kindness by saying, “I have found favor in your eyes, my Lord, for you have comforted me [This is in verse 13] and spoken kindly to your servant.” Okay, that would have been “sifa,” that would have been a different Hebrew word, “…though I am not one of your servants, Amah, I’m not one of your maidservants. I’m not part of your family, I’m not eligible to marry you at that time.” That’s how she refers to herself. But here she refers to herself as a maidservant who’s eligible for him to marry. So, we need to be very clear about the fact that she is proposing to Boaz here in the dark of the threshing floor. Further, what she says there, spread your wings or “cover me with the corners of your garments.” That word for wings is the same as the corner of a garment. Spread your wings over me. This means something. This is symbolic, it’s something that he would have understood, she would have understood. We don’t get it. We don’t really understand that. But uh there’s reason to believe that this would have been customary in this in this context of asking for the Goel to redeem you, or even in asking someone to marry you.

And his response in verse 10, “May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter.” What a relief. What a relief. It doesn’t take advantage of her. He doesn’t tell her to go away. He calls her my daughter. “May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter. You have made this last kindness [that’s Hesed, that’s covenant kindness] greater than the first in that you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich.” We could easily just assume that what he means there is, “You had pity on an older man, an older unmarried man. You could have found yourself a young, good-looking husband, and instead you had pity.” It’s more than that. He sees her kindness, he says, “You have made this last kindness greater than the first.” What’s the first kindness? The kindness that she’s shown toward Naomi, her mother-in-law, that he commended in chapter two. He knows her kindness toward Naomi, and he says, “This also is a kindness toward Naomi. I see what you’re doing here. I see your effort to redeem here is for Naomi as much as it is for you.” So, it’s not just a kindness to him, it’s a kindness toward Naomi. It’s greater than the first. Verse 11: “And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you ask. For all my fellow townsmen know that you are a worthy woman.” We talked the last couple of weeks about Proverbs 31, right? What is he saying here? All my fellow townsmen know that you are a worthy woman. In other words, her works have praised her in the gates, as Proverbs 31 said. The people know that she’s worthy. So, he’s commending her character once again.

We could just end there and say, “All’s well that ends well. What a happy ending. This is great. He said yes. You know, she popped the question, he said yes.” But verse 12 introduces a little bit of a snag. “And now it is true [he says] that I am [a Goel] a redeemer. Yet there is a redeemer nearer than I.” What does that mean? “Remain tonight. And in the morning, if he [this other redeemer] 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, in other words, he knows he’s not next in line. There’s a closer relative who is eligible to redeem Naomi and Ruth. And he has to do things by the book. He has to do things according to the custom and the law. And it would not be right for him to marry Ruth without giving this other potential redeemer an opportunity to say yes or no to that. So, there’s a little snag here, but he assures her, either way, she’s going to be redeemed. Verse 14: “So she lay at his feet until the morning, but arose before one could recognize another.” We could call this scene three, it’s the morning. “And he [Boaz] said, ‘Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.’” I think we can assume that he might be saying that to some of his trusted workers. He’s not trying to cover up a scandal here. He is looking out for her reputation, looking out for his reputation. Also, he’s got this process to go through now when it comes to redeeming her. And it really wouldn’t be helpful for this other redeemer to know that she had gone to Boaz first. So, he says, “Let it not be known that a woman came to the threshing floor.”

Verse 15: “And he said, ‘Bring the garment you’re wearing and hold it out.’ So, she held it out. He measured out six measures of barley and put it on her. Then she went into the city.” So, we don’t know exactly how much that was. Some translations indicate an ephah. That would have been way, way too much for her to carry in a garment, but she carried a lot of barley back with her. “And when she came to her mother-in-law [verse 16] she said, ‘How did you fare, my daughter?’” This is actually not such a great translation. What she’s actually saying in Hebrew there is, “Who are you, my daughter?” Same question that he asks her when he wakes up in the dark, Who are you? And so, you know, we could speculate that it’s morning and she’s saying, “Is that you, Ruth?” That that’s a way of saying, “Is that you, Ruth?” I think it might also be the case that she’s saying, “Who do you belong to?” After this mission that I’ve sent you on, were we successful? Are you the future Mrs. Boaz? Or are you Ruth the Moabite, my daughter-in-law, unmarried, without prospects of a future? Like she’s asking, “Who do you belong to there?” And Ruth tells 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, [Naomi] ‘Wait, my daughter, until you learn how the matter turns out. For the man will not rest, but will settle the matter today.’” It’s interesting that suddenly, I don’t know, it starts in the dark here in this narrative. There’s this just reference to the man and the woman, and the man and the woman, rather than these names, something very specific happening between these two people here.

Naomi tells her to be patient because she knows men, and she knows that Boaz means and intends to marry her. That’s why he sent this pledge of barley back. But the interesting thing is this word “empty.” “You must not go back empty-handed to your mother-in-law.” This is the same word that we see in Chapter 1, verse 21, when Naomi, speaking of her loss, says, “I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty.” It’s the same word. And so, we see here Boaz saying, “No, fullness for your emptiness, fullness for Naomi’s emptiness. This is my pledge. This is my intention to restore what has been lost.” It’s a remarkable turn of events that we see here. So, we remember those three characters, those three questions that we asked at the beginning of the text. And what do we actually see happening here in this third act of this true drama of The Book of Ruth? We begin with what I think we all can agree is a dangerous plot. We referred to that earlier. It’s a dangerous plot. Now I will say, Naomi did take action, and so we’re glad to see that happening. But what are we to make of this plan? We might even call it a scheme, as I mentioned earlier. Is she meddling? Is she matchmaking? For the first time since she has experienced loss, she’s finally taking action, turning herself toward Ruth’s situation, acting in Ruth’s interest, who she loves, but I think she also sees a way for Ruth to be provided for through this Goel, this kinsman redeemer, and at the same time continuing the line of a Elimelech.

Okay, we talked in chapter one about this idea of leveret marriage. This is not the same thing as levirate marriage. She had made that comment about “Am I going to have more sons that could potentially marry you if you waited for them so that we could I could continue to have offspring?” That’s not what this is. It’s a broader responsibility. A kinsman redeemer, a Goel, had the responsibility of buying back land and property that had been lost, of freeing people from slavery, and of continuing a family line with children. So, it’s broader this Levitical allowance than levirate marriage would be. And uh so I think that there is um sort of a sense that the leveret marriage is a more narrow concern. And she suddenly realized she has this broader option that cares for Ruth, that cares for her, that continues the line of Elimelech, the man who has died, and it would work in the same way, that those would be considered his children. But we know that even though there is a social obligation here, this is not something that Boaz is obligated to do. He doesn’t legally have to do it. He can say no. So, what do we make of Naomi’s involvement in this? Is this faithlessness on her part? Does it feel like she’s getting ahead of God? We see that sometimes in the Old Testament. I don’t think it is. Just because God is sovereign doesn’t mean that we are called to sit idly by if we see a situation that requires action.

So, here’s an encapsulating statement to help us make sense of this. God accomplishes His will with or without means. But Ruth 3 reminds us that sometimes He sovereignly works through the initiative of His children to accomplish His will in their lives and in the world. So sometimes there’s a collaboration between the sovereign will of God and the initiative and the actions of His children. God doesn’t need that in order to accomplish His will, but sometimes He operates through that. So, while we might agree that Naomi’s plan leaves us feeling uncomfortable for good reason, we see that God is working through her good desire and her action on her behalf. But while this secrecy and the cloaking and the darkness, I think it’s interesting when we consider this concept, this practice of winnowing here, in a way, I think what Naomi has done is winnow out all that is unnecessary. Right? She’s gone through, she’s created a situation that ensures that only the two people who are part of this process, only the two people who are part of this decision, are left. There’s no bystanders, there’s no workers, there’s no witnesses, there’s no townspeople, no one is there. She’s not even there. Except for the two people who matter the most in this relationship and in this process, she’s winnowed away what is unnecessary.

We should be reminded here that each of us who are believers do have our own personal experience with the Lord that is between only us and Him. And yes, we are saved into community. Thank you, Lord. We worship, we serve corporately, just like we have this morning, but faith is an individual and intimate journey for each of us. I love the way Christopher Ash puts it in his Guide On Teaching Ruth and Esther: “In this intimacy we see something of the deeply personal and individual nature of saving faith. Certainly, to exercise faith is to transfer from one community (the world, this corrupt generation’ Acts 2:40) to another community, the church. Nevertheless, each man or woman exercises faith alone; each of us needs to enter one by one through the narrow gate (Matt. 7:13.)” Kelly Minter puts it even more simply in her study on Ruth: “Some places we can only go with God by ourselves.” I think that’s what we see happening here with Ruth. She has to go by herself, she has to go and request this redemption by herself. But this plan contained real risk for Ruth. First of all, she was a Moabite. The daughters of Moab had led the men of Israel astray via sexual immorality. Israel knew this. We see in Genesis 19 that Moab himself was the result of a drunken, incestuous encounter between Lot and his daughter. This history of Moab was sordid and sinful and shameful. She knew that; they knew that.

So, in spite of her character, would she be seen as somehow attempting to be seductive? At the time of the judges, the threshing floor in general was a place where prostitutes were known to be employed, all kinds of debauchery went on. Would Boaz’s threshing floor reflect his character in some way? What if Boaz took advantage of her in some way? What if Boaz mistook her intent? What if Boaz rejected her? There was real great risk, but in spite of the risk, Ruth carries out the plan and then goes on to go off script. Wasn’t part of Naomi’s instruction, was it? She goes off script and into a direct proposal. Married people in the room. Do you remember your proposal? Do you remember your proposal when you asked your spouse? I don’t know if everyone in here, you know, if the husband asks the wife or if the wife asks the husband, I’m not judging here. Okay. It’s 2026. Okay, you wives, you want to ask your husbands? Go ahead. Was it memorable? I guess I would ask. Was your proposal memorable? We probably all remember that moment. It’s an important moment, and we probably all remember it. Proposals have gotten to be a big deal. I don’t know if you guys have seen this, but people engage in all kinds of deceit and lying and hiding and sneaking just to ask someone to marry them, and they get their friends involved, and people have to have like three camera people at different angles recording it all, and it all goes on social media. It’s wild.

I got permission from Jenny, my wife, to share this. Our proposal, my proposal to Jenny, was memorable, but not direct, like Ruth’s. I sometimes have trouble with that with directness, and I had bought this ring, and we had talked about a future together, and so we knew we wanted to be married. And I’m not great at planning things. And so, I thought, “Well, we’ll have dinner, you know, we’ll do it. This will be really traditional. We’ll have dinner and then maybe over dessert, you know, I’ll ask her.” And she had phoned me and said, “I’m not feeling good. I know you wanted to do dinner tonight, but I really don’t feel like going to dinner.” And I had this ring in my pocket, right? I had already called her dad and asked for his blessing, all that stuff. And I said, “Well, I would like to see you if possible. Is there anything you need?” We came up with an excuse to see each other, and she wasn’t feeling good, and I said, “What did you do today?” And she said, “Well, I went dress shopping. I went to look at wedding dresses, but I didn’t spend very long in there because I could tell that the salespeople were looking at me like I was a faker.” And I said, “What do you mean, a faker?” And she said, “Well, I don’t have an engagement ring.” And she wasn’t being manipulative at all. She said, “I don’t have an engagement ring, so they know when you’re coming in there to buy or whether or not you’re just looking. And I was just looking because you know, we’re not technically engaged yet.” And I was getting so nervous. And she said, “Why are you acting weird?” And I said, “You can tell.” And I so I pulled the ring out of my pocket and I said, “Because I don’t want you to be a faker.” And yeah. And she looked at me and she looked at the ring, and she said, “Yes.” So, my proposal was not clear. It was not direct. I’m surprised she married me after that.

But Ruth did not leave any room for misunderstanding around what she was asking for from Boaz. What she’s clearly asking for here is marriage. And again, it’s not as clear to us; it would have been clear to them. So, this is an ancient Near East betrothal custom that was understood to indicate marital intent. We have these cultural expectations here. We might assume that the man would kind of initiate this by spreading his garment or cloak over if that was going to be the way to do it, to declare that. But what’s happening here would not have been considered forward. It would not have been considered out of bounds. It was actually proper in that day in the case of someone who was requesting redemption. So, Ruth is asking Boaz to declare his intent by protectively covering her with his garment. We actually even still see this in some Jewish ceremonies today, with the veiling of the bride. After the groom has looked at the bride before the ceremony, he veils her, and in some ways, that’s also symbolic of him saying, “I am committed to protecting, to covering you.” So, she’s asking him to marry her and to redeem her, his relative Elimelech and his family. We see this strange but beautiful imagery used elsewhere in Scripture, not just here in Ruth. Some 500 years later, we see it in Ezekiel 16. God is spreading his garment over His young bride, Israel, with this covenantal intent. It’s not language that we’re used to or that we’re comfortable with in our day, but let’s take the time to look at this.

“When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness. I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, and you became mine.” It’s an image of protectiveness of what is vulnerable. It’s very similar to the language we saw Boaz use in Chapter 2, verse 12, when he said, “The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” He’s essentially saying to Ruth, “I see what you’re doing for Naomi, and only the Lord could repay you in full for this. And so, I’m asking for that on your behalf. You’ve come to the right place to seek refuge here under the wings of the God of Israel.” And what Ruth is essentially saying here in chapter three is, “You prayed this for me. Now you have the means to provide the answer to that prayer, so do it.” That’s what she’s saying. She’s referencing that. It’s a bold and beautiful request.

Psalm 17, written by the great grandson of Ruth and Boaz, King David, contains similar imagery. “Wondrously show your steadfast love. [That’s Hesed love.] O Savior of those who seek refuge from their adversaries at your right hand. Keep me as the apple of your eye, hide me in the shadow of your wings.” Ruth is seeking refuge and rest not only for herself but for Naomi. She knows that Boaz can provide it. So, we hold our breath in anticipation of Boaz’s response, but not surprisingly, he acts the way we might expect a man of his character and kindness to act, and he calls her daughter. And again, he has a deep admiration for the character of Ruth because of how she cares for Naomi. Unmarried people, if you desire to be married, don’t settle for someone whose character isn’t attractive to you. Character in a mate is so important. You need to be deeply attracted to the character of a person before you commit to a relationship with them. We see out of this deep admiration of character, a deep promise from Boaz to Ruth. He responds by saying, “I see your [Hesed] love, your kindness toward Naomi and to me. You could have thought only of yourself. Instead, you took this great risk to ensure that Naomi is provided for and that the line of Elimelech continues.” And then the next morning, he sends her away with a pledge of his intention. We see fullness instead of emptiness. What might help us understand Boaz’s particular kindness toward Ruth? Yes, his character, but what else?

Who is Boaz? The mother of Boaz is Rahab, the prostitute. If you are reading through the Treasuring God’s Word, you read in Joshua, she’s the one who kept and hid the spies of Joshua when they came into the city, when they came into Canaan. She put the scarlet thread outside of her window so that they would know to spare her and her family, and she was brought into the nation of Israel as a result. So, she, in essence, took this very big risk, saved her family, and then became part of the children of Israel. But she was an outsider. He was raised by this Canaanite woman who would have been an outsider, who would have known what it was like to go into this group of people as an outsider, who would have known what it was like to have to assimilate and adapt. So, in some ways, he might have even known what it was to be an outsider. But he says, “Don’t fear, I’ll provide for you, I’ll protect you. I just have to work out this situation with the other redeemer who is technically in line before me. And if he’s willing, then good.” And what he’s really saying here is stronger than just willingness. He’s saying, “Unless this man delights in the opportunity to restore and redeem this family, as the Lord lives, I will do it.” So, we see this mutual attraction to character for both Ruth and Boaz.

But let’s talk about why Boaz was qualified to be the Goel or the kinsman redeemer for Naomi and Ruth. What were Boaz’s qualifications as a Goel? First, we see that he was a relative of Elimelech. This was crucial in order for the family line to be maintained. It had to be a relative. Second, he was financially in a position to be able to redeem them. A Goel had to have the means to buy land and property and to provide for the family of his relative. And Boaz was a man with the means to do just this. Third, he was willing to redeem. Although you might say there was a kind of social obligation for the Goel, there was no legal requirement, as I mentioned earlier, for a person to perform this duty. Boaz would have been perfectly within his rights to say no to this, but he didn’t. He was willing to redeem. Do you know that in this little four-chapter book of 85 verses, the word redeem is mentioned 23 times? That tells us something important. This book, although it might seem like a love story or a biblical romance, is actually a redemption story. It’s a story of the Hesed covenant love of God for His people. It’s a gospel story. It’s pointing to a redeemer that is nearer than Boaz. It’s pointing to something well beyond just these changing fortunes of this little family from Bethlehem. Even though we end this chapter on a bit of a nail biter, we clearly see the fingerprints of God all over this story. Something larger is at work in the lives of this family here in Bethlehem. Behind the dangerous plot, behind the direct proposal, the deep promise is a divine plan. God is working in the shadows all along. Remember the questions from the beginning of the study. Let’s go back to those for a moment. How do we see God moving on behalf of the characters in this story? Redemption, restoration of what is lost, emptiness is now fullness for Naomi and for Ruth, provision.

There’s so much direct care going on here from the Lord’s hand. How is God moving on behalf of his people? Remember that last line of The Book of Judges? “There was no king in Israel. And everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” Through the line of Ruth and Boaz, God is bringing a good king for his people who have no king. And how is God moving on behalf of all mankind? There’s a real foreshadowing here of the fact that through the line of Ruth and Boaz, God will bring a kinsman redeemer, a Goel, for all of mankind, someone who can restore and redeem all that has been lost to sin. And Jesus is that kinsman redeemer. The incarnation of God in the person of Jesus Christ as a human who walked the Earth means that He is our kinsman. And what He accomplished on the cross makes Him our redeemer. You see, we are all Ruth in this story. And that is not to say that we don’t need men and women with godly character like Boaz, like Ruth, like Naomi, but the best application of this story is to realize that we are the needy, desperate foreigners casting ourselves on the goodness of someone else to redeem us.

Reverend J. Arch Warren, who was a Nashville pastor years ago, said it this way in his great little book, The God Who Welcomes the Stranger: “Like Ruth, we lost sinners were outside the covenant family of God, bankrupt, with no claim on His mercy. But God, just like Boaz, took the initiative and made a way for us to be made a part of His family apart from any merit of our own.” Let’s continue to examine this idea of Jesus as our ultimate kinsman redeemer. His qualifications as the one who can redeem all of mankind are really similar to those of Boaz, but wider in scope. First of all, He’s qualified to redeem us because He is our brother. Let’s look at Romans 8.29: “For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” And in Hebrews 2.17, the writer says, “Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” He is our relative, he is our kinsman. Secondly, He is able to redeem. What makes Him the only one able to redeem us is that is He is the only worthy, spotless lamb whose blood can purchase us. He’s the only one with that means. No one else has the means or ability because no one else is sinless.

His last qualification as our kinsman redeemer, He is willing to redeem us. Titus, Chapter 2: “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodly and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who [listen to this] gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” He gave himself to redeem us. It was his will. Ephesians, Chapter 1: “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us [We sang about it earlier today] in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ.” It’s a gift. This redemption is a gift. It’s a grace that’s been freely given to us out of His love for us and His will for us.

Remember those concentric circles? We worked from the inside out. We looked at the local, we worked out toward the global. Let’s reverse those. Let’s turn the telescope around for a moment. Work our way from the outside to the inside with some different questions. When we’re faced with challenging circumstances, when we’re faced with loss, with seasons of suffering, like Naomi, like Ruth, with seasons of doubt that God is with us or that he loves us, here are three questions we could ask that direct us toward God’s love for each and every individual one of us. Number one: How has God offered redemption for all mankind? What’s the big picture here? Number two: How has God redeemed His people? We’re working our way in there. We have evidence of that from this story. And how is God showing His redeeming love, His steadfast Hesed love to me? Some of you may have come here today feeling empty, feeling hopeless. Perhaps you can relate to Naomi’s assumption that God’s hand was working against her. You have a redeemer who delights in covering you with His wing, in clothing you with His righteousness. You need only to come to Him with the empty hands of faith. He will not turn you away, He will not leave you wanting, He says.

Now, when you have a redeemer who is bound to you by family ties, like Jesus, our elder brother, you have all His provisions and resources as well. How then can we be poverty stricken? No more than Ruth could ever be poverty stricken after she was married to Boaz. A picture of Jesus as our redeemer. Amen. Amen. Let’s pray together: Father, we come to You in great need of someone else to redeem us, Lord. We cannot save ourselves, Lord. We cannot keep ourselves, Lord. We fall upon Your mercy. We come to You with the empty hands of faith. Lord, we ask You to restore what has been lost. We thank You for the redemptive power of the blood of Jesus, the only blood that can satisfy, Lord. The only blood that can wash clean the stains of sin in our lives, Lord. We ask, Lord, that You would continue to give us boldness and courage to come to You to take hold of what You’ve already offered us, Lord, and to walk in that hope. Father, we love You. We ask that You would continue to work on hearts in this room as we continue to respond and worship You in this place together. We ask it in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Songs, Readings & Prayer

Songs

“Lift High The Name“ by Ed Cash, Fionan DeBarra, Keith Getty, and Kristyn Getty
“His Mercy Is More“ by Matt Boswell and Matt Papa
“The Lord Is My Salvation“ by Jonas Myrin, Keith Getty, Kristyn Getty, and Nathan Nockels
“Here Is Love (Everlasting Praise)“ by William Reese, Keith Getty, Kristyn Getty, and Matt Boswell
“Doxology” by Thomas Ken and Louis Bourgeois
All songs are used with permission. CCLI License no. 2003690

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Call To Worship: Psalm 100

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; Come before Him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; We are His people, the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; Give thanks to Him and praise His name.For the LORD is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.

Classic Prayer: George Matheson

Restore my soul, O God. There are green pastures around me for which my eye has no lens; there are quiet waters beside me for which my ear has no chord; restore my soul. The path on which I go is already the path of your righteousness; open my eyes, that I may behold its windows. The place I call dreadful is even now the house of the Lord; the heavens shall cease to hide you when you have restored my soul. May I be content to know that goodness and mercy shall follow me without waiting to see them in advance of me.

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