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Ruth
2:1-23 “And
Naomi had a kinsman of her husband’s, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of
Elimelech; and his name was Boaz. 2
And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi,
Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose
sight I shall find grace. And she said
unto her, Go, my daughter. 3 And
she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the
field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech. 4
And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem,
and said unto the reapers, The LORD
be with you. And they answered
him, The LORD
bless thee. 5 Then
said Boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers, Whose damsel is this?
6 And
the servant that was set over the reapers answered and said, It is the
Moabitesh damsel that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab: 7
and she said, I pray you, let me glean
and gather after the reapers among the sheaves:
so she came, and hath continued even from the morning until now, that
she tarried a little in the house. 8
Then Boaz said unto Ruth, Hearest thou
not, my daughter? Go not to glean in
another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens: 9
Let thine
eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after them: have I not charged the young men that they
shall not touch thee? and when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels, and drink
of that which the young men have drawn. 10
Then she fell on her face, and bowed
herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes,
that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger? 11
And Boaz answered and said unto her, It
hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since
the death of thine husband: and how
thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art
come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore. 12
The LORD
recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD
God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust. 13
Then she said, Let me find favour in thy
sight, my lord; for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken
friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine
handmaidens. 14 And
Boaz said unto her, At mealtime come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip
thy morsel in vinegar. And she sat
beside the reapers: and he reached her
parched corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left. 15
And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz
commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and
reproach her not: 16 And
let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them,
that she may glean them, and rebuke her not. 17
So she gleaned in the field until even,
and beat out that she had gleaned: and
it was about an ephah of barley. 18
And she took it up, and went into
the city: and her mother in law saw what
she had gleaned: and she brought forth,
and gave to her that she had reserved after she was sufficed. 19
And her mother in law said unto her,
Where hast thou gleaned to day? and where wroughtest thou? blessed be he that
did take knowledge of thee. And she
shewed her mother in law with whom she had wrought and said, The man’s name
with whom I wrought to day is Boaz. 20
And Naomi said unto her daughter in law,
Blessed be he of the LORD,
who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, The man is near
of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen. 21
And Ruth the Moabitess said, He said
unto me also, Thou shalt keep fast by my young men, until they have ended all
my harvest. 22 And
Naomi said unto Ruth her daughter in law, It is good, my daughter, that
they meet thee not in any other field. 23
So she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz
to glean unto the end of the barley harvest and of the wheat harvest; and dwelt
with her mother in law.” [the end of the barley
harvest fell around the Day of Pentecost, 49 days after the beginning of the
barley harvest at Passover] Introduction [Audio
version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED643] “We
followed this record through the first chapter to where Ruth is the central
figure, obviously the Book named Ruth, who makes a decision to return with
Naomi to Bethlehem, to Israel (and Bethlehem is in the tribe of Judah, so it’s
called Bethlehem-judah). The first
chapter is about that decision, so important, the way we make decisions. Naomi and her husband Elimelech had left
Israel, gone to Moab because there was a famine. God was judging Israel, dealing with her,
this happens in the days of the judges, no doubt earlier than Deborah and
Barak, it’s early in the era of judges, and it tells us every man was doing
what was right in his own eyes, and men were doing that which was wicked in the
sight of the LORD. And in the midst of all of that insanity,
here is this oasis of God’s faithfulness of some folks of remarkable character
that are still worshipping the True and Living God. And I think it’s an exhortation to us, no
matter how crazy the world gets around us, and I need to remember that, it
matters what I do, and it matters what I think.
And I may be in the great minority, but it matters what my standards
are, it matters what I’m committed to, it matters how I think and what I allow
in my house, and what I allow before the eyes of my family, and it matters the
stand that I take. It matters to
God. And he watches and he knows, he
superintends. This family left Israel
for Moab, taking their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, who married Orpah and
Ruth. And then as time went by Elimelech
dies and leaves Naomi as a widow, and then Mahlon and Chilion die and leave
these three women. There’s no evidence
of any particular sin on their part, there’s no evidence that Ruth and Orpah
didn’t have a good marriage, no children, we wonder why. But three widows left together. And Naomi hears that there’s bread in
Bethlehem, Bethlehem the House of Bread, that there’s bread again, and
determines to return. She must know in
her heart that this is maybe where we should have been all along. She tries to talk her daughter-in-law’s into
going back to their families in Moab, so that they might find husbands
there. And knowing there’s little chance
of them finding a husband in Israel, they might be sexually abused there, or
raped, things were difficult, they had no respect for foreign women, they were
single, they’d find no rest there. And
Orpah decides to go back to her family, but Ruth says “No, I’m going to go
with you, I love you,” we know the
words, beautiful, “I entreat thee, not to make me return from following
after thee, for wither thou goest, I will go, wither thou lodgest, I will
lodge, thy people shall be my people,” and most importantly, “thy
God shall be my God, where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried,
and the LORD
do so to me and more also, if ought but death separate thee and me.” So, they go back, long journey, to
Bethlehem. As they come back, some folks
recognize her, they say ‘Is this Naomi?’ which means “pleasant,”
she says ‘No, call me Mara,” bitter, ‘that God has dealt
this hand to me,’ and she is struggling, she is broken, she is bitter,
and she comes back and she says ‘I left full, I came back empty.’ When she left she thought she was
leaving empty. Now that everything is
gone, she’s looked around, she has realized money doesn’t matter, wealth
doesn’t matter, property doesn’t matter, what matters is human beings, your
husband, your children, your family, ‘I left full’ she said, ‘now
I’m coming back empty, call me bitter.’ She’s
made that remarkable decision to come back.
Verse 22 of chapter 1 says “So Naomi returned, and Ruth
the Moabitess, her daughter in law, with her, which returned out of the country
of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem in
the beginning of the barley harvest.” early, April/May, coming back no
doubt to an old house, imagine years had gone by, cobwebs, dust, dirt, coming
back to an old house, an empty house, to old memories, coming back, two widows
to that house, having to clean up and begin to set things in order. No doubt there was some talk in the town. And we want to watch this second chapter,
now, because look, the first chapter the right decision has been made, for
Ruth, she’s made the right decision.
Sometimes we think that if we make the right decision, soon as we make
the right decision snap! everything’s going to be hunky-dory,
everything’s going to be great. That’s
not always the way it goes. There’s some
labour, the first chapter deals with the decision, the second chapter deals
with the labour, the work. The third
chapter finally deals with rest, and the fourth with the reward,
redemption. It’s an interesting scene
that’s placed in front of us. God’s
Provision For The Foreigner, Widow, Fatherless And Orphan It
says, in chapter 2, verse 1, “And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband’s, a
mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was
Boaz.” King James says “of wealth,”
the family of Elimelech, not her family, her deceased husband’s family, and his
name was Boaz. So the LORD
is just giving us information here, filling us in on something. She’s coming back into the area of Bethlehem,
she had a kinsman, a relative, proper translation. That relative was of her husband’s
family. He was “a mighty man of
wealth,” the King James says twice in the Book of Judges, and that is where
we place this scene, into the Book of Judges, in chapter 6, verse 12, and
chapter 11, verse 1, the same phrase is translated “mighty man of valour.” And that may be a better picture, because
there had been famine, there had been a dirth, there’s starting to be barley
again and grain again, it doesn’t give us a picture of this extremely wealthy
man, but I believe in fact that he was a mighty man of valour. And there may have been a pro-active place
that he had to maintain, to defend his field from Canaanites and so forth, he
was a man’s man it seems, this man Boaz of Elimelech’s family. His name is Boaz, which means “to strengthen,
to be strengthened.” On the two pillars of
our front when you come in, there’s a Hebrew word on each one, and those words
are Boaz and Jacinth, Boaz, to strengthen, Jacinth, to establish, it tells us
there were two pillars outside of Solomon’s Temple, and the pillars were called
Boaz and Jacinth. Boaz means to strength,
Jacinth means to establish. Of course we
pray that when we come here, we worship the Lord, that he will strengthen and
establish us, that that will take place as we are faithful in his Word. This man’s name is Boaz, becomes a famous
name in Israel as the years go by. “And
Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears
of corn after him whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, Go, my daughter.” It says in verse 7, “let me now glean,” and
it says in verse 13, “let me find favour in thy sight.” She is sensitive, she is not pushy, she is in
a different culture, different environment no doubt. Naomi has told her, look, “There is a
provision,” she must have said “What are we going to do for ourselves,
we’re going back, you’re at least an Israelite, I’m a Moabite, I don’t have a
husband, we have no provision,” and no doubt Naomi had said “In the Law
there is a provision for the foreigner, that’s you, for the widow, that’s you,
for the orphan, that’s you, there is a provision for those who are less
fortunate.” Very important for us to
look at this, because look, the other side of the coin was, religious
hypocrites in Israel immediately looked at someone who was down and out and
said ‘It’s because they were in God’s disfavour,’ and there’s enough
religious hypocrites around today. So
look, if you’re in hard times, if your life has fallen apart, if you’re broke,
if things are coming down in your life and you’re really struggling, there isn’t
anything in the Bible that says you’re in God’s disfavour. Paul said he had learned to be abased, and to
abound. Here, we can’t imagine a more
desperate situation for these two women, without work, without provision,
without husbands, one of them jeopardizing her wellbeing coming to a foreign
land, and as they come there, that God who was behind the scenes working, and
that’s the important lesson here, God had already made provision in his
Word. [Comment: as I am transcribing this for this website,
the war between the Russian Federation and the Ukraine is raging. It began when Vladimir Putin ordered his
troops to invade the Ukraine on the 24th of February 2022,
forcing millions of Ukrainian women and children into
crossing over into foreign lands without their husbands, so in that sense they
are widows by separation, and their children are fatherless by separation. They do not have jobs or work, all they have
is the clothes on their backs and their children. And they need help. I do not know if Samaritan’s Purse is
stepping up to the plate in this situation, but I have already started donating
through these relief organizations: Here
are a few refugee help organizations that will help Ukrainian refugee women and
children: Rescue.org
, https://www.globalgiving.org/
, https://www.hi-us.org/
Ruth
Is Proactive Not Reactive As
they come there, they start settling into this old home, whatever it looked
like, whatever it was. Ruth is
proactive, she is not reactive, that is very important, she is thinking. Because what happens to a lot of us, to me,
look, when life falls apart I’m a wimp, I’m not telling you this, that I’m, you
know, victorious 101 or something, I’m telling you this because I’m a human
just like you. And I know what happens
when everything starts falling apart, I start saying ‘Yo, Lord, what’s
up? This looks bad for your resume’, I’m
a pastor, doesn’t look good if everything is falling apart. What’s going on here, do you still love me,
why are you letting this happen?’ And
we so easily surrender hope, we so easily surrender it. The truth is behind the scenes, when God
wrote Leviticus 19, and when he wrote Deuteronomy, he was thinking about Ruth,
and she was already on his heart, she was already on his heart. Because there’s a much bigger story here, as
there is in our lives. She’s not sitting
around thinking ‘Somebody owes me something, poor me,’ we have enough of
that, don’t we. She says to Naomi ‘Let
me go, let me go to the field,’ she had never worked in a field in her
entire life, her father took care of her and her husband took care of her, she
may never have done this kind of labour.
Ruth knows that Naomi has no sustenance, Naomi’s older, she says ‘Let
me go, into the field,’ “and glean ears of corn [the grain] after him
in whom I shall find grace. And she” Naomi
“said unto her, Go, my daughter.” (verse 2b) She is bitter, she is worn, she is tired, she
just says ‘Go,” and no doubt has concerns, but she says
“Go.” “And she went, and came and
gleaned in the field after the reapers:
and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto
Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.” (verse 3) “and her hap” I love King James, I don’t
know what all your other translations say.
Now her “hap,” literally the Hebrew says “her chance chanced,” the dice
are loaded, “her chance chanced,” the Holy Spirit in his humour says, ‘Eh,
it’s coickidink, she just ended up in the field of Boaz.’ We know this, remember, this is put in here
for the reader, not for the experiencer, because Naomi doesn’t know this and
Ruth doesn’t know this. You and I know
this. Have you read the story, have you
read all four chapters? OK, so it’s no
fair. They don’t know, but we do. So, she’s willing to do that, she’s willing
to labour, she’s willing to put her hand into the work. You know, sometimes we say ‘Well what
should I do?’ Do what you know how
to do, don’t worry about what you don’t know how to do, just do what you know
how to do. Do that much. She said ‘Well let me go put my hand to
the work, let me go labour in the field,’ and she says ‘Go on.’ And it says ‘As she goes, just
coincidentally,’ which is not a Kosher word, ‘she ends up in the
part of the field that belongs to Boaz, who was of the family of
Elimelech.’ Now it’s the Good
Shepherd guiding her, there is a divine hand here. The Latins had a proverb and it said “Providence
assists not the idle, Providence assists not the idle.” In her going God was able to guide
her. ‘It’s easier to steer a moving
car than one that’s stuck in the mud,’ there’s another one, I don’t know
where that came from. [laughter] It’s like the servant of Abraham, it says ‘As
he went, God guided him, spoke to him, as he went.’ [You’re not gonna get the guidance if you’re
sittin’ on your butt 😊] She goes, she ends up, look, don’t despise
the everyday menial experiences of life, please be sensitive, because he will
meet you there, he will meet you there.
Remember when Jesus came to be baptized in the River Jordan and the
voice came from heaven, the Spirit descended like a dove and the voice from
heaven said ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’ The grammar says ‘This is my
beloved Son, in whom I am already well pleased.’ He had never done a miracle, never
preached a sermon, he’d been in the carpenter shop for decades, and God said ‘This
is my beloved Son, in whom I am already well pleased.’ He worked, he sweat, he spent the
majority of his earthly life the way you and I do, without notoriety, without
public ministry. Her hap, just so happened
she ended up in the field of Boaz, I love that.
Now verse 4, it says “behold,” think about this, “And, behold,
Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The LORD
be with you. And they answered
him, The LORD
bless thee.”
Now Boaz is a type of Christ, when we get to the end of the Book we’ll
go back and look at all that, he is a picture of Christ, he’s coming from
Bethlehem, where Christ comes from, he is the Kinsman Redeemer, all through the
Book there’s beautiful pictures and shadows of the Lord as we go through
this. “And, behold, Boaz came from
Bethlehem,” and these were the days when every man was doing what was right
in his own eyes, and everybody had turned away from the LORD,
look what he says to his men, “The LORD
be with you.” ‘May the LORD
bless you guys, and they said, the LORD
bless you too.’ It’d be great if you could do that when you
go to work. I have so many people come
up here after Sunday service and say ‘Pastor Joe, they persecute me at work,
I can’t have my Bible on my desk, I try to say something to this lady who sits
next to me because she found out her daughter has cancer, they’re screaming at
me.’ Wouldn’t it be great if you’re
going to work, walk right into the office and say ‘Yo, Praise Jesus! Bless you guys!’ and everybody yells back ‘Hey, bless
you too, great day! Can’t wait till the
Trumpet blows, Amen!’ These are in
the worst of times, and there are good people in the worst of times. ‘The LORD
be with you,’ and they said ‘The
LORD
be with you Boaz.’ Boaz
Takes Notice Of Ruth “Then
said Boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers, Whose damsel is this?”
(verse 5) this servant much like Eleazar, the
servant of Abraham, which means Comforter, sent to get a bride for his son,
he’s gonna introduce the damsel here to Boaz.
‘he said to his servant that was set over the reapers, Eh, whose
damsel is this?’ Now he knows
all of his workers, he knows the other people, it's a small town. ‘Ah, who is that, whose working the
field there?’ she’s a looker, I think, he notices. ‘Aah, who does she belong to?’ “And the servant that was set over the
reapers answered and said, It is the Moabitesh damsel that came back
with Naomi out of the country of Moab:” (verse 6) now the King James says
“the Moabitesh damsel,” there’s no real definite article, it just kind of says “this
is a Moabitesh woman that came back,” he doesn’t know anything about her that’s
notable, this servant, he basically just said ‘This is a Moabitesh damsel
that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab.’ We’re going to find out that Boaz
knows more about her. She came back out
of the country of Moab with Naomi, “And she said,” ‘she made a request to
me’ (Boaz’s servant) “I pray you, let me glean and gather after the
reapers among the sheaves: so she came,
and hath continued even from the morning until now, that she tarried a little
in the house.” (verse 7) ‘she’s a hard worker, she’s been faithful,
been working all day, she tarried a little, took a little break, but she’s been
working all day long.’ “Then said
Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter?” basically means “listen
carefully,” “Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but
abide here fast by my maidens:” (verse 8) he calls her “my daughter,” now
some think that indicates the difference in age, he is older. Now he wants to keep her safe, he has
reasons, and not what you think, stop
it. She was in danger in other fields,
and look, the fields were not marked like they would be today, usually there
was a stone marker, one field ran into the other, it was almost as though it
was a common field, but they were marked by pillars. So he said ‘Don’t wander into another
field, you stay by my reapers, stay by my maidens, stay here, see where you’re
at, this is where I want you to stay,’ it would provide safety for
her. Now look, the interesting thing is,
God is fast at work here. He’s fast at
work. And sometimes we loose our
sensitivities, we’re so glutted and barraged, our senses with media, with
cell-phones, with iPhones and with twitter world, whatever that is, still don’t
know. And all of that stuff, and we
loose our sensitivities to the Lord, to the Holy Spirit. You know, the LORD
called Moses when he was working. There
wasn’t anything that wasn’t sacred about that, he was keeping Jethro’s flocks,
and God came and revealed himself to him.
Gideon was threshing grain when God appeared to him and spoke to
him. David was tending his father’s
flocks when Samuel came and called him.
The disciples were mending nets when Jesus walked up and said ‘Drop
your nets, follow me, I’ll make you fishers of men.’ There isn’t any thing that is less sacred
about labour than about ministry in some respect, all of it is God’s life, paid
for in the blood of his Son, all of it is sacred. And sometimes in the most ordinary drudgeries
of life we think he’s not there. He’s
intimately involved with us, and that’s one of the things we’re supposed to see
here. Please don’t feel like ‘I’ve
blown it, my life is meaningless,’ please don’t feel ‘God doesn’t care
about me, my family fell apart, my parents are divorced, everything’s falling
apart,’ don’t take that view and cast God’s nature through that, please,
because he loves you, you’re here this evening, he has a plan for your life,
and he is fast at work, it is just hard for us sometimes to see that, to see
his hand. This kind of record is
preserved for us to put it in front of us.
He says to her, ‘Hey look, I don’t want you to go into anyone
else’s field, you stay here, you’ll be safe, you glean, you go after my
maidens.’ Verse 9 says, “Let
thine eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after
them: have I not charged the young men
that they shall not touch thee? and when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels,
and drink of that which the young men have drawn.” Because if she was a Moabite woman, up
for grabs in the field, they’d rape her, he says ‘I’ve charged the young
men, that they don’t touch you, and when you are thirsty, you can feel free to
go to the vessels and drink of that which the young men have drawn, someone
else has laboured, you can go there.’ Why
Have I Found Grace In Your Eyes?--Why Was Boaz So Gracious To A Foreigner? “Then
she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why
have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me,
seeing I am a stranger?” (verse 10) “and said unto him,” as we have often said to
the Lord, as I still do, ‘Why have I found grace in thine eyes?’ I still say that to him, because I know in my
heart, I am a sinful man. I want to put
that in proper context, I’m not committing adultery, I’m not taking drugs, I’m
not disqualifying myself from ministry in any way, but I have that heart, you
know. I have to bring every thought into
captivity to Christ, I have to remember the weapons of our warfare are not
carnal, but powerful to the pulling down of strongholds. There is always that battle for my thoughts,
my heart, I’m selfish, I’m a selfish man.
I have a lot of you fooled, but ask my wife [laughter]. And if she tells you the truth I’ll tell you
the truth about her. Today’s our anniversary,
31 years, [cheering, clapping]. I’ve had
31 great years, she’s had about 10 I think, one out of three days, that ain’t
bad…How often I find myself saying that to him, ‘Why have I found grace in
thy sight?’ It says in the ages to
come we’re still going to be learning about his grace and his mercy. Paul said ‘I have not yet apprehended
that which I have been apprehended for.’
He says he prays for us, you and I, ‘that we might
comprehend with all the saints, what is the height and the breadth and the
width of God’s love towards us and grace.’ Peter says ‘Grow in grace and the
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.’ John
says ‘If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves, the truth is not in
us. If we confess our sins, he is
favourable and just to forgive us and to cleans us of all unrighteousness.’ John knows the struggle, a 90-year-old
apostle. “If we say,” includes
himself. “why have I found grace in
thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a foreigner,
stranger.” (verse 10b) Well,
there’s one reason that this man is the way is, why he is as gracious as he
is. Matthew’s Gospel tells us ‘The
book of the generations of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham,’
it works its way down here and says ‘Naason begat Salmon, Salmon
begot Boaz of Rahab.’ You see,
Boaz’s mom was Rahab, a prostitute and a Canaanite [and citizen of pagan
Jericho before the walls fell]. His mom
had been a whore, and a foreigner, who took refuge in the God of Israel, and
found that he was gracious, and received her, and honoured her faith when she
was a foreigner. When Boaz was little,
no doubt many days and many hours, Rahab had spoken to him of how gracious
their God was, how loving he was. Many
times she said ‘Son, never mistreat a woman, I had been mistreated by so
many men, because a whore is somebody’s daughter, a broken woman is somebody
that God loves. And I felt forsaken, I
felt broken, until the God of Israel came to me and revealed himself and
demonstrated his love to me. You
remember that when you look at another human being, that there’s someone who
God loves.’ There was good reason
that Boaz looked at her and saw something that the others did not see. He had grown up, as it were, with a Ruth,
with somebody that men would esteem as worse than Ruth, his mom Rahab. It’s a comfort to her, she’s found a new
place, and new people, a place to work, so things are looking up, and she’s
amazed “Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take
knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?
And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been shewed me, all
that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the death of thine
husband: and how thou hast left
thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a
people which thou knewest not heretofore.” (verses 10-11) ‘I know the story, my mom told it to me
over and over.’ Small town, big
news, this new girl that’s come back with Naomi, he says ‘It’s been fully
shown me, I know who you are, I’ve heard.’
“The LORD
recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD
God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.” (verse 12) ‘The LORD
pay you back, you’ve shown kindness to your mother-in-law.’ Notice
what he says “under whose wings thou art come to trust.” He’s heard of her faith, he said ‘I
appreciate your faith in the LORD,
my mom did the same thing, I appreciate your faith, you’ve come to trust his
wings, I know your faith.’ Now
that word “wings” is going to come to play over in chapter 3, verse 9, where it
says the word “skirt,” same exact word. Don’t
look there, don’t worry about it, just telling you, just tuck that away, if the
Lord tarries we’ll get there, if he doesn’t you won’t care. “Then she said, Let me find favour in thy
sight, my lord; for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken
friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine
handmaids.” (verse 13) Now again,
first it was “Let me go,” then it was “let me glean,” now she says “let me
find favour in thy sight, my lord; for that thou hast comforted me, and
for that thou hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like
unto one of thine handmaids.” King James says “friendly unto thine
handmaid,” the Hebrew says “you have spoken concerning the heart of thine
handmaid,” in the sense ‘you’ve encouraged me, but you knew what
was in my heart, I left my mother and father, that is a struggle for me, I
walked away from my people, I’ve put my trust in your God, and the fact that
you can stand here and talk to my heart,’ I pray that the Lord, if
you’re cast down, you’ve been broken, is speaking to your heart this evening,
he’s the same yesterday, today and forever.
She said ‘You spoke into my heart, and I am thankful for
that.’ She had put her trust in
him. Listen, Naomi had not at this point
in time. Naomi still believes in God,
Naomi’s problem at this point in time is she does not believe in the goodness
and the kindness of God towards her. Oh
she knows God is real, but she feels she’s in his displeasure. Naomi is not believing in the blessing of God
at this point in time, Ruth has stepped beyond that, and IS believing,
she has taken shelter under the shadow of his wings, important for us. And there are times in our lives when we have
to do the same thing. Paul the apostle
would say this, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed,” unlike
me, I’m distressed when I’m troubled, “we are perplexed, but not in
despair, persecuted but not forsaken, cast down, but not destroyed.” he says “For our light affliction which
is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding eternal weight of
glory, while we look not at things that are seen but at the things that are not
seen. The things that are seen are
temporal, the things that are not seen are eternal.” she had taken
refuge under his wings. And she says ‘you’ve
spoken to the heart of thy handmaid,’ notice this, “though I be not
like unto one of thine handmaidens” ‘I’m a foreigner, I’m not like one of
the women here from your own home.’ “And
Boaz said unto her, At mealtime come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip
thy morsel in the vinegar.” bread and wine, that reminds you of someone,
doesn’t it, “And she sat beside the reapers:
and he reached her parched corn, and she did eat, and was
sufficed, and left.” (verse 14) I think our buddy is smitten with Ruth, I
think he does it too, because all of the labourers take note, that he calls her
over to sit right by him, in front of everyone else that’s working in the
field. “And she sat beside the
reapers: and he reached her parched corn,”
he serves her now, “and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left.” she
ate until she was filled. Interesting to
see Boaz here with the labourers, eating at the same table with them,
fellowshipping, and the kind of man that he is, wonderful. “Handfuls
Of Purpose” “And
when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her
glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her not: and let fall also some of the handfuls
of purpose for her, and leave them, that she may glean them, and
rebuke her not.” (verses 15-16) because
what would happen is they would cut the sheaves of grain, they would use a
sickle, as they would gather arms full they would lay them down and someone
else would tie them. He said ‘let
her glean, even if she goes into the grain that’s not cut yet,’ and he
says “reproach her not” ‘don’t humiliate her. She’s willing to work, she’s doing it for
someone else, let her glean, and even if she goes into the standing grain,
don’t reproach her. And more than that,
guys, let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose,’ one of my
favourite verses in the Bible. “let
fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them,
that she may glean them, and rebuke her not” ‘don’t make mention of
it, don’t humiliate her.’ Now
you’re translation might say “let drop some handfuls on purpose,” the idea is
the same thing, there is a purpose, “on purpose” or “handfuls of purpose,” the
same thing, these are handfuls, not bucketful’s, or cupful’s, these are
handfuls. And there’s something in it,
Ruth was in the heart of God, from the time he had written his Word. Because Ruth is going to marry Boaz, as you
know that, they’re going to have a son Obed, whose going to have a son named
Jesse, whose going to have a son named David whose the king of Israel. Ruth ends up to be the great, great, great,
great (keep adding greats) grandma of Jesus Christ the Messiah. And there’s handful of purpose here that
nobody’s seeing. You see, God had said
to Adam, in Eden when the fall took place, he said ‘I’m going to put
enmity between they seed and the seed of the woman,’ speaking to the
serpent. The seed of the woman is going
to be set aside, not noticeable, a lineage.
He had said to Abraham ‘I’m going to bless them that bless thee,
and curse them that curse thee, and through thy seed,’ that seed he had
talked about, ‘shall all of the nations of the earth be blessed,’
(Genesis 12:3-4) Christ. There were handfuls of purpose there. There were handfuls of purpose when Moses’
mother took him and put him in the reed basket, and set him out in the river
where Pharaoh’s daughter got hold of him [Hatshepsut, see https://unityinchrist.com/lamb/exodus1.html]
and named him Moses. We don’t even know
what his name is, we just know his Egyptian name, Moses [which in Egyptian
“Mose” means “son of,” but since there’s no prefix on the name, such as Thutmose,
which means “son of Thut,” the simple name Moses meant “son of ?”. Which implied that the Egyptians didn’t even
know who he was the son of.] Handfuls of
purpose, when God wrote Deuteronomy 24 and talked about caring for the
widows. And Rahab, on the wall of
Jericho, had her heart warmed with the True Living God, there were handfuls of
purpose. Not big, not noticeable, a
handful, God’s scarlet thread of redemption.
In chapter 2, verse 3, she happened, just so happened she wandered into
the field of Boaz, her chance was
chanced, handfuls of purpose. The
handfuls were from God, the purpose is his, and in the hard times in our lives,
if we still ourselves, when we want someone to drive up with a truckload of
purpose, just if you’ll still yourselves, and you’ll pray, because he’s the
same yesterday, today and forever, there are handfuls of purpose. He’s leaving handfuls of purpose for
you. Recognize them, he loves you. He’s telling someone else, beyond your
knowledge, be it angels or men, leave something in the gleanings. You’re struggling, make it a handful easier,
make it a handful easier. Make that
handful, the thread woven, to my divine plan, leave it there. And I think, how many times I’m in a
circumstance, I’m grouchy, a situation I don’t want to be in, so many times
when I feel trapped, I can’t breathe, or I don’t understand what God is doing,
and I have to sit around and say ‘Lord, forgive me, you’ve always known this
day, I’m such a wimp. You know tomorrow,
you knew me when you saved me, with all of my failings, you saved me
anyway. You somehow see me as justified,
sanctified and glorified, you see me finished Lord, and I’m such a work in
progress. And all along the way, Lord,
you’re committed to continue that good work you’ve begun, to conform me into
the image of your Son, which means every day there are handfuls of purpose,
things that he deliberately leaves in my path, small sometimes, a word, a
verse, a child, a smell, a picture, handfuls of purpose.’ This woman was in the heart of God to a
degree she could not even imagine, because she’s going to come to Boaz, and the
seed of the Messiah of the world is passing through her family. “And let fall also some of the
handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them, that she may glean them,
and rebuke her not. So she gleaned in
the field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned: and it was about an ephah of barley.” (verses
16-17) about 30 pounds of barley. “And
she took it up, and went into the city:
and her mother in law saw what she had gleaned: and she brought forth, and gave to her that
she had reserved after she was sufficed.” (verse 18) Now she’s on her way home to Naomi,
Naomi’s probably thinking ‘Man, it’s been a long day, I hope she didn’t get
injured,’ she’s probably worried, ‘I hope she’s not hurt.’ We’re not sure, because Naomi’s convinced
that God has left off his kindness to her.
“And her mother in law saw what she had gleaned: and she brought forth, and gave to her that
she had reserved after she was sufficed.” (verse 18b) Look back up in verse 14, when they were
eating there at lunch it says he reached out and he gave her parched grain,
“she did eat that and was sufficed.” So
besides the barley she brings home, it says here, that she gave to her
mother-in-law that which she had reserved after she was sufficed. Not only is she bringing the barley home,
she’s bringing home left-over lunch for her mother-in-law. And her mother-in-law, Naomi looks at her ‘I’m
getting a free lunch, 30lbs of barley?
Did you rob a bank?’ She
says ‘where hast thou gleaned
today? And where did you work?’ “blessed be he that did take knowledge of
thee.” she knows somebody’s been nice to her. “And she shewed her mother
in law with whom she had wrought, and said, The man’s name with whom I wrought
to day is Boaz. And Naomi said
unto her daughter in law, Blessed be he of the LORD,
who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, The man is
near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsman.” (verses 19-20) This is the first time we hear Naomi praise
the LORD
in the Book. She realizes God, you know,
she didn’t stop believing in God, she just stopped believing, it says she
believed he had left off his kindness. Listen,
I’m not accusing her at all. For you widows that are here, you’ve lost a
husband, or those of you from broken homes, or those of you have a relative
that’s dying of a terminal disease, I’m not accusing. Because I understand completely, ‘God, I
know you’re there, but I don’t know what you’re doing. And you’re a God of love, and you’re on the
throne, but why is this happening to me?
I don’t understand, Lord. I
believe that you love me, but I don’t know how the picture fits together, this
hurts.’ And it isn’t that we stop
believing in God, it’s that we somehow stop believing in his unconditional
kindness that’s extended to us on someone else’s behalf, never because we
deserve it. Boaz
Is A Kinsman-Redeemer--What Is That? She
says ‘I laboured with a guy named Boaz all day.’ “And Naomi said to her daughter in law,
Blessed be he of the LORD,
who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, The man is
near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen.” (verse 20) He’s a Goel, a kinsman redeemer. Now the tradition behind this, and some of it
still goes on in the Near East today, in the Middle East. The Goel, the kinsman redeemer has several
responsibilities. Sometimes it was a
father, more often than not it was the oldest son or the brother of a man. They had a responsibility of the avenger of
blood, there was no police force, there were no detectives. If someone were to kill my sister, I would
have the responsibility then to go and hunt that guy down and kill him, the Goel,
the kinsman redeemer. And sadly in some
of our culture today, that still goes on, it’s an unspoken thing. If your brother’s husband died, and they
didn’t have children, it was considered a responsibility to take your brother’s
wife or your nephew’s wife and raise up children under his name so they
wouldn’t loose their inheritance, the family lineage, particularly the
inheritance, the plot of ground and so forth.
And it tells us very clearly that what was supposed to happen is, you
would go to the elders, and the elders say ‘You’re the kinsman, you need to
marry her and raise up children to your relative,’ and if you didn’t want
to, and there were probably a number of reasons you wouldn’t want to, we won’t
talk about that, but if you refused to do it, then you had to take your sandal
off and she’d would spit in your face. And
then you became known as the one who only has one sandal or one shoe. They kindly left off the spit in the face,
which would have bothered me more than the shoe. Ah, the kinsman redeemer, if someone in your
family was impoverished, and had to sell themselves as a bondslave for 7 years,
to work for someone to pay the debt, and you’re the closest male relative, you
were allowed to pay that debt off and get that person out of debt. If someone in your family was extremely
impoverished and in great difficulty, you had the responsibility, if you could,
to help them. The Goel, the kinsman
redeemer is an interesting picture of Christ, interesting for him to be. Look, and those of you who’ve studied this
out, there are some things you want to take note of as we move ahead. One is, is that Boaz is not the closest one
to Naomi. There’s someone else involved
whose going to have to step aside. Not
only that, this is the only time in the Bible we find, Boaz doesn’t marry
Naomi, he was related to Elimelech, Naomi’s husband. Naomi must ask him to marry her
daughter-in-law so that there’s still lineage in their family, it was not
really his responsibility to take the daughter-in-law, ethnically it may have
been right, but it wasn’t under the law enforced. So we have a very interesting picture here,
where he will, instead of taking Naomi, she was too old to raise up children,
he’ll therefore take her daughter-in-law, not even her daughter, and raise up
children. So there’s a very interesting
picture as we follow it out. She, Naomi
says to Ruth ‘This is our kinsman.’
And now she’s praising the LORD. What she knows is this, she doesn’t know
what’s going to happen, and we’ve all been in circumstances like that, but we
know something’s up. Now for me
personally, when I know Jesus is up to something, that’s good enough. I don’t know what he's doing all the time,
but I get really excited when I think ‘Jesus, he’s up to something right
now, I know that, he’s sewing something together here, there’s threads,
something, he’s up to something.’ And
sometimes in the most terrible circumstances, my son, when he was dying in
front of us, when we got to the trauma unit and the doctor came over and said ‘Calvary
Chapel?’ and I said ‘Ya,’ after I’d been a bad witness, he said ‘My
wife went to your women’s retreat, really enjoyed it, let’s pray.’ I still didn’t know whether I was going
to lose my son or not at that point in time, but also I knew ‘God, you’re
involved, you’re involved, you’re up to something, you’re up to
something.’ And Naomi’s got ahold of
that again. She don’t know the story,
she never read the Book of Ruth, neither did Ruth, they haven’t got to chapter
3 yet, they’re living in chapter 2, we know.
She, Naomi said ‘This one, he’s a next of kin to us, he’s a
kinsman,’ “And Ruth the Moabitess said, He said unto me also, Thou shalt
keep fast by my young men, until they have ended all my harvest.” (verse 21) ‘Just stay and work until the entire harvest
is over, not just the barley harvest, the wheat harvest.’ He wants her around, he likes her, ‘when
the barley’s done you just stay here, the wheat’s next, when that’s done we fly
balloons, just stay here.’ [laughter] “And Naomi said unto Ruth her daughter in
law, It is good, my daughter, that thou go out with his maidens, that
they meet thee not in any other field.” ‘we don’t want that to happen, this
is a good thing, you’ll be safe,’ “So she kept fast by the maidens
of Boaz to glean unto the end of the barley harvest and of the wheat harvest;
and dwelt with her mother in law.” (verses 22-23) When
We Can’t Sense God’s Presence Listen,
the LORD
was at work here. They didn’t perceive
that, and sometimes I find myself in a very similar circumstance, when God will
be at work and I won’t be perceiving.
Job said this, and maybe this evening, I want you to listen, ok? maybe
this evening, if you’re the person this evening with a broken heart, with a
broken life, you’re the person this evening asking ‘Where’s God’s love? And
what is he doing? Ya, I believe, but
he’s never taken me to a place, I don’t know what the deal is.’ Job, in tremendous suffering, his
children had all died, his house had burned down, Satan left his wife alive to
say ‘Curse God and die,’ you know, everything’s gone wrong in
this guy’s life. He said “Behold,” in
chapter 23, “I go forward, but he [God] is not there, and backwards, but
cannot perceive him. On the left hand,
where he doth work, but I cannot behold him, he hideth himself from the right
hand, that I cannot see him, but he knoweth the way that I take, and when he
hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
My foot hath held his steps, his way have I not declined, neither have I
gone back from the commandment of his lips, I have esteemed the words of his
mouth more than my necessary food.” Job, in incredible suffering said ‘You
know, he’s at work, I can’t see him, in front of me, behind me, on the left
hand he’s working, but I can’t perceive him on the right, but I know he’s
there, and I haven’t left off from his Word, I’ve kept in his Word, I’ve walked
in his way, and I know when it’s all over, I’m gonna come out of this tried as
gold.’ God is the same
yesterday, today and forever. And if
you’re in a circumstance where you can’t sense ‘Lord, what are you doing
here? If you love me and you’re on the
throne, why is this happening?’ Look,
remember this, I don’t believe God would have recorded this chapter to make it
a carrot on a stick and hold it in front of us and tease us, he isn’t that
way. He forbids fathers to provoke their
children to wrath, God never teases us, he never tantalizes us, he never puts
something in front of us to deny us.
He’s holding something in front of us this evening, and I believe today
there is still a corner in every field, there are handfuls of purpose. Well it’s not a physical field, maybe an
emotional field, maybe a field of suffering, maybe a field of denial, or
betrayal, a field where there’s been a loss of a loved one. But he’s the same, he never changes. And there are handfuls of purpose, and if
that’s not real for you, you need to seek him.
It says, ‘He who spared not his own Son, how shall he not also
give us with him all things freely?’ If
he’s already given the best of eternity for us, his own dear precious Son, if
he’s already made a sacrifice that we could hardly imagine and we’re still
growing to appreciate, why would he deny us a handful somewhere around us right
now? If he’s already given us eternity,
an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fades not away, why would he deny
us the ability to glean in a corner of the field somewhere? You look, you look. Don’t sit around and have a pity party, if
you’re having one, wait until I’m having a hard time, we can join up and have
bigger pity party. You know what I have
to do, I have to say to my wife, ‘Pray for me,’ [I’d love to be able to
say that to a wife, you got one, I’m still praying for one]. I have to say to the guys in the office ‘Pray
for me.’ And they’ve been looking at
me so long, poor people, pray for them.
But they can tell right away ‘Are you ok? ya, sure,’ ‘what’s going on?’ We’ve grown to know each other’s
countenance, and sometimes we need those people around us, sometimes we need
someone to pray for us, to encourage us.
Because there is a corner of the field, he never changes, there are
handfuls of purpose, in your life, in my life this evening. They are a trail to an eternity of purpose,
incorruptible, undefiled, that fades not away.
Worldly men and princes and presidents and czars and potentates, it says
of them, the princes of this world, eye hath not seen, speaking of unbelievers,
ear hath not heard, neither has it entered into the heart man the things that
God has set aside for those who love him, but he’s made them real to you and I
by his Spirit. He’s given us hope, he’s
given us hope. And hope is like a tree
of life, it says in the Book of Proverbs.
If you’re hopeless, pray tonight.
If you’re hopeless tonight, look for that handful laid in front of you,
it’s not a truckload, a handful, a handful.
Look for the corner of the field, the field that everybody’s already
trampled and worn out, there’s something to glean there, left there, for you,
written in his Word, for you, precious beyond your imagination. Let’s stand, let’s pray together. Read ahead.
If you don’t know this God that we’re talking about, and tonight you
want to pray and you want to ask his forgiveness, you want to come and say ‘I’m
tired of the world, I’m tired of sin, tired of emptiness, I’m tired of playing
games. I don’t want to play church, I
don’t want to play phony religious games, but if you’re really there, and
you’re around me and I can’t see you on my left, on my right, before me, behind
me, but you’re there and you love me, I want to know who you are, and I’m
willing to turn from my sin tonight, and to make you my Saviour, my Lord,’ if
that’s you this evening, and you want to do that publicly as we sing this last
song, please feel free to get out of your row, other people jump out of the
way, you walk down here. If you’re
uncomfortable doing that, get yourself up here afterwards, we’ll be up here,
we’d love to give you a Bible, some literature to read. But if you don’t know him tonight, and you
don’t know his love, please don’t walk away, empty. Don’t walk away without making that decision,
tonight…[transcript of a connective expository sermon on Ruth 2:1-23, given by
Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue,
Philadelphia, PA 19116] related
links:
Audio
version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED643 Psalm
146, “The LORD
preserveth the foreigner, he relieveth the fatherless and the widow, but the
way of the wicked he turns upside down.”
The Psalmist would say this, “Sing unto God, sing praises
to his name, extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name Jehovah and
rejoice before him, a father of the fatherless, a judge on behalf of
widows, is the God in his holy habitation.
God setteth the solitary in families,” Comment:
as I am transcribing this for this website, the war between the Russian
Federation and the Ukraine is raging. It
began when Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade the Ukraine on the 24th
of February 2022, forcing millions of Ukrainian women and children into
crossing over into foreign lands without their husbands, so in that sense they
are widows by separation, and their children are fatherless by separation. They do not have jobs or work, all they have
is the clothes on their backs and their children. And they need help. I do not know if Samaritan’s Purse is
stepping up to the plate in this situation, but I have already started donating
through these relief organizations: Here
are a few refugee help organizations that will help Ukrainian refugee women and
children: Rescue.org
, https://www.globalgiving.org/
, https://www.hi-us.org/
There
were “handfuls of purpose” when Moses’ mother took him and put him in the reed
basket, and set him out in the Nile river where Pharaoh’s daughter Hatshepsut
got hold of him, see https://unityinchrist.com/lamb/exodus1.html |
