Ruth Archives - Page 4 of 4

The Lovingkindness of God #2

Joe Harby on June 29, 2014

2:1 Boaz

In Numbers chapter 1, God orders Moses to take a census of all the men of war in Israel. And God appoints which man will stand as the head of the army of each tribe. The head of the tribe of Judah was a man named Nahshon, son of Amminadab. He was a man of great significance in the leadership of Israel at that time (Num. 7:12, 10:14, Ex. 6:23).

His son Salmon, we don’t know much about. He most likely fought under Joshua and Caleb when the Israelites invaded Canaan. And he is the man that took Rahab, the prostitute of Jericho, as his own wife. And the son of Salmon and Rahab was a man named Boaz. The book of Ruth says that Boaz was a very mighty warrior. We also know that Boaz was an Ephrathite, one of the older, established families in Bethlehem. As one commentator put it, “Boaz’s fullness is the counterpart to Naomi’s emptiness.”

2:2-7 Ruth Gleaning

The right to glean after the harvesters was a right reserved to the poor by the law of God (Lev. 19:9-10, 23:22, Deut. 24:19-22). Ruth has made it to Bethlehem just in time to participate in the harvest and wastes no time in getting out there. In God’s providence, Ruth ends up gleaning in the field of Boaz. When he visits his field, Boaz takes notice of Ruth immediately. She has already distinguished herself in the eyes of overseer of the harvesters. But Boaz already knows of her for another reason.

2:8-12 Boaz’s Favor

What Naomi had seemed to think was Ruth’s foolishness before (limiting herself to this family), Boaz now turns into a blessing. The farewell blessing of Naomi on Orpah and Ruth (1:8) is now being fulfilled in the field of Boaz (2:12). And the vow that Ruth made to Naomi (1:16-17) is now the basis for Boaz’s kindness to her (2:11). So we see two characteristics of Ruth that have been testified to in this chapter. First, she is a hard- working woman (2:7). Second, she is a woman of deep loyalty (2:11).

Notice that Boaz sees Ruth’s devotion also as a conversion. She has come under Yahweh’s wings (Ps. 57:1, Ps. 61:4, Ps. 91:4). There are several layers here.
1. Ultimately, this is about the line of Jesus. She has walked away from everything to give herself to Jesus (see Mat. 1:5).
2. The author of this story probably saw this in terms of the line of David (Ruth 4:17-22). 3. And a simple reading of this story would just see this as her giving herself to Naomi. It’s just the story of a really good friendship.
But even Boaz sees this as about an unreasonable and sudden devotion to Yahweh, and seeking refuge in him. Faith in the Old Testament, looking forward to Christ, had a different content, but the same object. We shouldn’t hesitate to be reading Christ back into these stories, even though they probably would not have been able to express the content of their faith in the same way that we would describe it for them.

2:13-18 God’s Provision

Boaz sees to it that Ruth’s gleaning is profitable. He also ensures her protection and provision throughout the day. When it was all over Ruth had gleaned a full ephah of grain – probably equal to just under 30 pounds, which is rather tremendous. At this time, this was equal to two full weeks wages for a field worker. But this is only a small thing. The provision proves that she has found favor in Boaz’s eyes, which is a far bigger deal.

2:19-23 Returning to Naomi

Ruth is quick to get home and share her proceeds with Naomi. Naomi sees that a possibility has been opened up that she did not anticipate. She advises Ruth to take her “all-in” attitude and focus it on Boaz.

The Lovingkindness of God #1

Joe Harby on June 22, 2014

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1:1-5 Moab

The passage begins with a time marker – “In the judging of the judges.” The book was written looking back on the period before Israel was ruled by kings, a lawless time when Israel was plagued by foreign oppression and national apostasy. At this time Israel lacked a true leader. And so it is significant that this book is about the establishment of the line of David.

Famine strikes in the house of bread. In the past, famines drove the patriarchs out of the land temporarily, to experience greater blessing – Abram (Gen. 12:10), Isaac (Gen. 26:1), and Jacob (Gen. 41-50). But Elimelech ends up in a very different story. Our temptation is to think that we see the story that God is telling and then we try to script for God how he will bring blessing out of disaster. That doesn’t usually work. We learn from history to trust in God’s promises, not to rest in your own prediction of how God will work things out.

Elimelech leaves Israel for Moab (v. 2), on the eastern side of the Dead Sea, a nation descended from Lot’s incestuous union with his daughter (Gen. 19:30-38). Relations between Israel and Moab were strained. Balaam was hired by the Moabites to curse Israel (Num. 22-24). They and their descendents were not to be permitted to come into the assembly of the Lord (Deut. 23:4). And during the time of the judges, Ehud killed Eglon, king of Moab ( Judg. 3:12-30) and subdued them under Israel.

And Elimelech dies (v.3). The sons then take wives for themselves from the Moabites and then dwell there ten years (v. 4). It’s time for something to happen, and what happens is both sons die. The story of deliverance in Moab is not off to a good start.

1:6-13 Goodbyes

6-9 Naomi sees the hopelessness of her situation in Moab. Hearing that the famine has lifted from Bethlehem, she begins to return home. Her daughters-in-law begin to follow her. She thanks them for the kindness (chesed) that they have shown (v. 8) and gives them a definitive goodbye (v. 9).

10-13 No, really, goodbye. Naomi explains that she is a dead end. Don’t tie your future happiness to her because she is a lost cause. The hand of the Lord, the power by which he orchestrates all that comes to pass, has gone out against her. The sovereignty of God is against Naomi, so don’t stand next to her.

1:14-17 But Ruth Clung to Her

This is the vocabulary of marriage (see Gen. 2:24). Orpah has returned to her people and to her gods. But Ruth makes a strikingly poetic vow to Naomi.

First, notice it is much bigger than just a promise of friendship and loyalty to Naomi. It includes people, place, and God. It extends beyond Naomi’s death, to Ruth’s death. And it ends with an oath before Yahweh (thus confirming that Naomi’ God is now Ruth’s).

Where did this come from? This is one of the clearest pictures of a conversion in the Bible. It closely parallels Abram’s conversion (Gen. 12:1-5), except for the fact that Abram converted after receiving a wonderful promise from God. But Ruth converts in the face of Naomi’s despair. Ruth exemplifies the Gospel commitment that Jesus would teach over a thousand years later (Mat. 8:21, 10:37, and 19:29).

Ruth is the embodiment of chesed, a term that will become a theme for the entire book.

1:18-22 A Grim Return

Ruth is determined. Naomi sees this and gives up on trying to convince her otherwise. Both Naomi and Ruth have been left empty and hopeless. One is young, resolute, and still determined. The other is every bit as determined, but it is a determination that is soaked with bitterness and resentment. She returns to God, but almost like a satellite that has fallen from its orbit and plummets to earth. Naomi seems like she has just resigned herself to the gravitational pull of God’s sovereign will. Naomi is fairly honest about where this has left her.

Now it was the beginning of the barley harvest, which was in late April or early May and was followed two weeks later by the wheat harvest. The harvest was a festival time, a time of celebration like our Thanksgiving. So how strange must it have been for Naomi to return home bitter at just this moment.

Remember also that we began the book with the statement that there was no bread in Bethlehem. At the same time that Naomi is telling everyone to call her “bitter,” God is beginning to change their circumstances. And they are about to learn that God’s ways are not our ways, and his story is not the story that we wrote for him.

Ruth 4: Tamar And Ruth

Joe Harby on October 3, 2010

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The Genealogy of Matthew 1

Although the idea of Mary’s immaculate conception had been held by some within the church for centuries, the doctrine was not formally embraced by the Roman Catholic Church until Pope Pius IX declared in 1854 that it was official dogma.

The idea behind the doctrine is that it just seems like the Messiah, who would be the perfect and sinless lamb of God, could not be born of a woman who had been stained by sin. And so Mary must have been kept completely pure for Jesus’ sake. But if we pay close attention to the Genealogy of Matthew 1, we will see that Matthew is highlighting something very different. Bathsheba, Rahab, Tamar, Ruth, and Mary – these five women are the only women mentioned in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus. If we wanted to talk about the purity of Jesus’ line, the author clearly picked a lot of the wrong women here.

Tamar

In Genesis 38 we read the story of Tamar.

Rejected

First Tamar loses her husband. Then she is rejected, in the most humiliating way, by Onan. In doing this, Onan was saying that it would be better for his seed to rot on the ground than to be in Tamar’s womb. Then Onan dies and Judah himself, in a very dishonest way, rejects her again and she is sent away to live with her father.

Defiant

But Tamar refuses to take this. She sees what Judah is doing and she hatches a plan. Just as Judah’s father, Jacob, got what had been rightfully his by deceiving Isaac, so too Tamar tricks Judah into giving her what was rightfully hers.

Righteous

When the whole story is over, Tamar is the one who is declared righteous. And she is the one who is included in Jesus’ genealogy. We have to remember that throughout this whole story, this Tamar fighting for the line of the Messiah.

Ruth

And then there is Ruth, the Moabitess. Although it might not jump right out at you at first, Ruth is clearly being described to us as being another Tamar. It might seem strange because Ruth is not nearly as scandalous in her behavior as Tamar, but the author had Tamar in mind when he told the story of Ruth.

They are in very similar situations. Both are foreign wives, taken by young Israelite men as they wandered with their fathers away from Israel. The husbands of both women died childless, leaving their widowed wives with the choice of returning to the home and gods of their fathers or of clinging to the hope that they might still find a place within the family of Israel, the people of the one true God.

Defiant

Unlike her sister-in-law, Orpah, Ruth refuses to leave Naomi, “Your people will be my people, and your God, will be my God.” And then again, when she understands who Boaz is, she insists on being with him.

Rejected

Ruth’s rejection is less obvious, but when Boaz agreed to be her kinsman-redeemer he tells her that there is another man who is closer to her, who is really the first in line. However, when Boaz puts the matter before this man, Palony Almony, he rejects Ruth because he is concerned that she will ruin his inheritance.

Righteous

Boaz declares that Ruth is blessed (3:10), because her covenant faithfulness has steadily increased. And he proclaims her to be a “virtuous woman” (3:11).

Ruth as Tamar

As the story of Ruth ends, the author of Ruth gives us several more obvious hints that we should be thinking of Ruth as another Tamar. First, the elders in the gates of Bethlehem give a blessing that explicitly compares the two women (4:12). Second, the chapter concludes with a brief genealogy, beginning with Tamar’s son Perez and going to Ruth’s great grandson David (4:18-22).

Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba as the Church

The last bit of genealogy in Ruth places the coming of King David in the context of the lives of these women. As David is the picture of the king to come, King Jesus, these women picture the bride that Jesus would take, sinful and rejected by men. These women, despite their rejection, cling to the covenant family with all that they have. What would it look like for someone to be in that position in our midst?