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Ruth #2: The Strangers Return

Christ Church on August 25, 2019

The Text

“And she said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” 16 But Ruth said: “Entreat me not to leave you, Or toturn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall bemy people, And your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, And there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, If anything butdeath parts you and me.” 18 When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her.

19 Now the two of them went until they came to Bethlehem. And it happened, when they had come to Bethlehem, that all the city was excited because of them; and the women said, “Isthis Naomi?” 20 But she said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 21 I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?”

22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. Now they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest” (Ruth 1:6-22).

A Riddle of Returning

Famine in the House of Bread (vs. 1-5)

Crossroads of Hesed (vs. 6-10)

A Levirate Marriage? (vs. 11-13)

A Faith-Full Oath (vs. 14-18)

Naomi’s Bitterness and God’s Barley Harvest (vs. 19-22)

Ruth #1: Harvest of Sorrows

Christ Church on August 4, 2019

The Text

“Now it came to pass, in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, went to dwell in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. 2 The name of the man was Elimelech, the name of his wife was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion—Ephrathites of Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to the country of Moab and remained there. 3 Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left, and her two sons. 4 Now they took wives of the women of Moab: the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth. And they dwelt there about ten years. 5 Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died; so the woman survived her two sons and her husband. 6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had visited His people by giving them bread” (Ruth 1:1-6).

The Judgment of the Judges (v. 1)

Famine in the House of Bread (vs. 1-2)

Exile in Moab (vs. 3-5)

A Harvest of Hope (vs. 6)

Surveying the Text: Ruth

Joe Harby on January 4, 2015

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Introduction

The book of Ruth seems like a quaint little story, off by the side of the road, but it is actually a crucial part of the story of the coming Messiah. The fact that these events were recorded long before the arrival of David shows the sense of expectancy that attends this story.

The Text

“And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon; And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse; And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias” (Matt. 1:4–6).

Summary of the Text

When we do research in our family tree, which is usually an innocent activity, we are not generally looking for the horse thieves. We like to find distinguished ancestors, like the great great-grandfather who held Robert E. Lee’s horse at Appomattox. But among the Jews it was different—their interest in genealogies was rooted in their desire to find a distinguished descendant. A good portion of the Old Testament consists of telling us the story of how God was narrowing down the options, leaning into the future. First, He chose Abraham (Gen. 12:1). Then from Abraham’s sons He chose Isaac over Ishmael (Gen. 21:12). After that, so that God’s sovereignty might be highlighted, He chose the youngest twin Jacob over his brother Esau (Gen. 25:23). Jacob had twelve sons, and one of them had to be “the one,” and it was Judah (Gen. 49:10). Tamar had twins by Judah, and Perez pushed out ahead of Zarah the firstborn who had the scarlet thread tied to his wrist (Gen. 38:30).

Achan was a great prince in Israel, who caused Israel to stumble by his covetousness (Josh. 7:1), and he was removed from the messianic line by means of execution, his whole household perishing with him. That house was cut off. A distant cousin to Achan named Salmon, a cousin from a rival house, was a man descended from Perez, and we should not be surprised when Salmon married Rahab, the woman who marked her household by means of a scarlet rope (Josh. 2:21). Salmon and Rahab had a son, whose name was Boaz.

And after Boaz married Ruth, we are still leaning forward, yearning for the Messiah to come. The thing to note about this is that messianic expectation is not something we project backward with the benefit of hindsight. They looked forward, with the benefit of promises. What was the blessing given to Boaz through Ruth by the people of her city, and by the elders? “And let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman” (Ruth 4:12). And Boaz was like Perez, making his move in the back stretch.

“Now these are the generations of Pharez: Pharez begat Hezron, And Hezron begat Ram, and Ram begat Amminadab, And Amminadab begat Nahshon, and Nahshon begat Salmon, And Salmon begat Boaz, and Boaz begat Obed, And Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David” (Ruth 4:18–22). So we have narrowed it down quite a bit further. We have now come to the one who would give his name to Jesus. Jesus was the son of David (Rom. 1:4), He was Jesus ben-David, or, as we would put it, Jesus Davidson. This is what the book of Ruth is about.

Zeal for the Law

One of the things we learn from this book is that David’s ancestors were pious and devout, even during a time when Israel as a whole frequently was not. The law was given to Israel, and we see how the law is honored by them. The laws concerning gleaning are honored by Boaz (Lev. 23:22). The laws about the kinsman-redeemer were honored (Lev. 25: 25, 47-49). The laws concerning inheritance are carefully followed (Lev. 25:23). The laws concerning solicitousness for the alien are observed (Deut. 10:18). Remember that zeal for the law is nothing other than zeal for love.

Empty or Full

The book is about loss and restoration, about emptying and filling again. Bethlehem, the house of bread, suffers a famine. Elimelech and Naomi go to Moab. Their two sons marry there, but Elimelech dies as do his two sons. Naomi is left desolate, with two Moabite daughters-in-law. There is an ancient rabbinical midrash that says Ruth and Orpah were sisters, daughters of the Moabite king Eglon, the one assassinated by Ehud. There is no biblical warrant for this, but it helps us identify other assumptions we may have had about Ruth that are equally unsupported.

Naomi returns to Bethlehem with Ruth, both of them with empty arms. But the barley and wheat harvests are good—a master image of abundance and filling—and their arms and hearts are filled, in ways beyond imagining.

The harvesters work gathering in the grain. Ruth works hard also, gathering in what she is able to glean. Boaz makes sure extra grain is available for Ruth, so that she may gather much. In addition, Boaz expresses the wish that God would gather Ruth under His wings (Ruth 2:12). Ruth echoes that language in the next chapter when she asks Boaz to spread his garment over her, gatheringher in (Ruth 3:9). Boaz does so, but also gathers six measures of barley to give her. And at the culmination of the book, Naomi gathers Obed to her arms so that she might hold on her lap the grandfather of the greatest king Israel would ever have. Naomi, who had been bitter and empty, was now privileged to hold in her arms all the promises of God.

Fullness of Christ

When we come to Christ as supplicants, we come with nothing. When we cry out for salvation, we are crying out for something we do not have. But notice how Boaz responds to Ruth’s request. Boaz is the kinsman-redeemer, and he does not put a mercenary construction on Ruth’s request. He is (probably) twice her age, and he could easily have interpreted her request as the move of a gold-digger. But he did not. “And he said, Blessed be thou of the Lord, my daughter: for thou hast shewed more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, inasmuch as thou followedst not young men, whether poor or rich” (Ruth 3:10).

The fact that we need to be saved by Christ alone does not mean that we might not be tempted to look for salvation elsewhere. When people try to save themselves, when people try to figure out for themselves what kind of help is most suitable for them, then they do what Boaz praises Ruth fornot doing. She went where there was real help, not where there was apparent help—younger and good-looking help. Ruth was a woman who walked by faith.

The Lovingkindness of God #4

Joe Harby on July 13, 2014

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4:1-2 In the Gates with Peloni Almoni

As a chokepoint for all coming and going, the gates became the center of business deals in the ancient world. Here Boaz runs into the man who is the nearer kinsman-redeemer. We are not given his name. He is simply referred to as Peloni Almoni, which translates as “old so-and-so,” or perhaps “what’s his face.”

3-4 The First Part of the Deal

Either Peloni was not expecting his role as kinsman-redeemer to also include the obligation of the levirate marriage or (and more likely) he expected the levirate marriage to be with the elderly Naomi, who would not be capable of having children. Either way, Peloni expected his role as kinsman-redeemer to be something that actually enriched his own line rather than as something that gave away to others. There is a long tradition of men turning charity into a profitable racket.

5-6 The Second Part of the Deal

Boaz presents a surprise part of the deal. Instead of marrying Naomi, the man must marry Ruth. Peloni hadn’t seen this coming. If he marries Ruth, she is likely to have a son and the redeemed land will go to that line instead of to Peloni’s existing line. And so Peloni backs out of the deal.

7-10 Sealing the Deal

In the ancient world the foot stood for power, might, dominance, and ownership ( Josh. 10:24, Ps. 8:7, Deut. 11:24, Josh. 1:3, 14:9). The shoe came to represent this same power and authority (Ps. 60:8, 108:10, Ex. 3:5, 2 Sam. 15:30). If a man refused to act as kinsman-redeemer, the widow that he was supposed to marry was to remove his sandal to indicate his abdication, namely his failure to use his power as it ought to be used (Deut. 25:9-10).

So the man’s sandal was a picture of both his power and authority, as well as a symbol of his obligation to act as redeemer. Rather than having it removed and getting slapped with it by Naomi or Ruth, Boaz is gives Peloni
an out by offering to trade positions with him. That is why they trade sandals. Boaz now declares before the men his marriage to Ruth, fulfilling the promise that he made to Ruth on the threshing floor.

11-12 The Blessing of Men

The men give Boaz two blessings. May Ruth be like Rachel and Leah, the founding mothers of Israel. And may she be like Tamar, a woman who demonstrated the same sort of faith as Ruth by committing herself to this family line.

13-17 The Blessing of the Women

Now God supplies the thing that had been missing all along, the birth of the son. The women praise God for his deliverance through this boy.

18-22 The Genealogy of David

So now we see the fulfilment of all these blessings. It turns out that Ruth’s son from Boaz is Obed, grandfather of king David. Peloni ditched this because he wanted to preserve his name. And in doing so, he lost his name.

Whose name is listed in Mt. 1:5 and Lk. 3:32? What Peloni tried to save, he lost. Ruth did not have the genealogy. But she did have faith.

The Lovingkindness of God #3

Joe Harby on June 29, 2014

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3:1-5 Naomi Hatches a Plan

The attention that Ruth received from Boaz opens up a possibility of deliverance that Naomi had not expected – the existence of a redeemer. There are two legal principles at work here.

One is the right to redeem land (Lev. 25:23-34, see also the right to redeem an Israelite from slavery Lev. 25:39-55). This was a right that was given to someone who was near of kin (Lev. 25:48-49), which is why we call him the kinsman redeemer. The other is the duty to keep a family line alive (Deut. 25:5-10). Again, this was a duty that fell on the close relative to keep a family name alive.

In the story of Ruth, these two principles are both at work. Naomi and Ruth need to have their land redeemed, but they also need a line to receive this inheritance, because it can’t be passed on outside of the family (Num. 36:9).

The plan is for Ruth to be deliberately seductive towards Boaz. She is going to wait for the right moment to approach Boaz, but part of this is that she is bypassing any interaction with other men so that she can focus solely on Boaz.

6-9 The Threshing Floor

The threshing of the grain is accompanied by a celebration of feasting. Naomi chooses this moment, ripe with innuendo, for Ruth to approach Boaz. Ruth calls Boaz to fulfil the role of redeemer. The request to cover her with his wing, is a request for him to be her husband (Ez. 16:8 and the prohibitions of sexual infidelity – Deut. 22:30, 27:20, etc.). But it is also a reminder that Ruth’s seeking of refuge with Boaz is her seeking refuge with Yahweh (2:12).

10-11 The Blessing of Boaz

Boaz recognizes Ruth’s faithfulness for what it is. Her faithfulness gets better and better ( John 2:10). He grants her request and then Boaz pays her a very high compliment, calling her “a virtuous woman.” This corresponds with the description of Boaz (2:1) and sets Ruth as the embodiment of the perfect woman (Prov. 31:10-31). Ruth stands for two things here, the first is what real biblical femininity looks like. The second is what real biblical faith looks like (without regard to gender).

12-13 A Nearer Kinsman

But Boaz notes that there is still a kinsman that is nearer to Naomi than himself. The duty of being the redeemer falls first to this nearer kinsman and then to Boaz. Ruth will have to be patient while he sorts this matter out.

14-18 Ruth Returns to Naomi

Ruth returns to Naomi with the news that Boaz will act. But she also brings back a gift of barley from Boaz. But remember that the barley is just a token of a much larger and more significant provision.