The Book of Ruth - a continuing study July 2016

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1 The Book of Ruth session 2 July 2016 Ruth ch 2 Every detail in this book not only carries the Romance along between Ruth and Boaz but it also carries along the Romance of Redemption. It gives us a perspective of God s plan for each one of us. It s an old testament book about the church. One of those interesting times when we see the church hidden as it were in the pages of scripture. Considering that the book of Ruth is always read in the Jewish synagogues at Shavuot this is remarkable as it coincides with Pentecost, the birth of the Church era. It shows the role of the Kinsman Redeemer and ties in with ch 5 of book of Revelation. This is no coincidence. So ch 2 begins with Naomi being back in her homeland with Ruth who has clung to her side and refuses to be left behind in Moab. She has abandoned everything and fully embraced this new life. Ruth is taking care of Naomi and goes to glean in the fields. She will follow behind the harvesters as a way of collecting enough to make bread and provide for Naomi. Something very unusual happens. The field that she happens to glean on happens to be the field of a relative of Elimelech. And so the plot starts to unfold. Their arrival was during the Barley Harvest, March/April. (Nisan) Passover and firstfruits, Barley Harvest followed by Pentecost (Festival of Weeks) This is when the Book of Ruth is read. Ruth Chapter 2:1 1) And Naomi had a relative (kinsman) on her her husband s side, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz. 1

2 ...kinsman : [d;yum] kinsman, relative; the term also implies a history of valour, strong in strength. The blood-relationship was with Elimelech,(not with Naomi): Our Kinsman We, too, have a Kinsman ; one who was made like we are: yet sinless holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners (Heb 7:26). He is the one who is able to save us to the uttermost. The name Boaz means strength. He was a mighty man of wealth. You can also translate it a mighty man of war. And mighty man of law He is the hero of the piece He is of the family of Elimelech: God is King. 2) And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the fields, and glean ears of corn (pick up leftover grain) behind anyone in whose eyes I find favour. Naomi said to her, Go ahead my daughter....glean : Welfare system of those days: If you were a land owner, you were allowed to make only one pass through your field. You could not go back a second time. The concept was that what the reapers missed, or what spilled, was left for the widows and the destitute. Law of Gleaning (Lev 19:9,10;) 9 When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 Do not go over your vineyard a second 2

3 time or pick up the grapes that have fallen.leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the LORD your God. Leviticus 23:22 22 When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the LORDyour God. Deuteronomy 24: When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. 21 When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. 22 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this. Ruth 2:33 So Ruth went out to gather grain behind the harvesters. And as it happened, she found herself working in a field that belonged to Boaz, the relative of her fatherin-law, Elimelech. Coincidence is not a kosher word! (Coincidence is when God is working undercover!) The plot thickens 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. Boaz = Lord of the Harvest... 5 Then Boaz asked his foreman, Who is that young woman over there? Who does she belong to?...servant : What was the servant s name? Ruth is introduced to Boaz by an unnamed servant : (see Eleazer, Abraham s servant) (Gen 24). Why is this? 3

4 The Spirit does not speak of Himself John 16:13 Every place in the Bible where the Holy Spirit is typified by a person it s always an un-named person. It s fascinating to see how literally that is applied. Even when we can find out His name in the narrative it s left out at that part. The Hebrew word for servant is na ar, the foreman. He was responsible to supervise the workers, supply provisions for the reapers, and pay them at the end of the day. V6And the foreman replied, She is the young woman from Moab who came back with Naomi. 7 She asked me this morning if she could gather grain behind the harvesters. She has been hard at work ever since, except for a few minutes rest in the shelter. V8 Boaz went over and said to Ruth, Listen, my daughter. Stay right here with us when you gather grain; don t go to any other fields. Stay right behind the young women working in my field. In other words, the invitation is extended to continue gleaning in his fields permanently. She was free to continue throughout the barley harvest, which included March and April. She was free to continue throughout the wheat harvest, which included May and June. V9 See which part of the field they are harvesting, and then follow them. I have warned the young men not to trouch you. And when you are thirsty, help yourself to the water they have drawn from the well 1) She was to stay in this field. 2) She was free to follow immediately after the servant girls where the pickings would be the most numerous. 3) His intervention and provision on her behalf. Indeed, the fix is in She has obviously gained favour with Boaz and caught his eye. v10 At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, Why have I found such favour in your eyes that you notice me a foreigner? Hebrews play on words: You have noticed the unnoticed. Grace is the basis. 4

5 V jb;c tsabat singular (with his own hands) Boaz personally serves her as he provides bread and wine. 15 As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, Let her gather among the sheaves and don t reprimand her. 16 The Hebrew is emphatic: Even between the sheaves she may glean. It was unusual for a gleaner to be allowed to pick up grain this close to harvesters. They were normally permitted to glean only after the harvesters had completed all their work. 16 Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don t rebuke her. They were being told to do this on purpose. Making sure she had plenty....handfuls : means handfuls of ears and is used only here in the Hebrew Bible. They were to pull out a handful of stalks. This is the amount of grain that would be grasped with the left hand as the sickler cuts with his right hand. 17 So she gleaned an produced an ephah....an ephah : About 9 gallons. A dry measure of about one bushel capacity. It was the standard for measuring grain and similar articles 18. Ruth carried it home..she had 30 pounds of barley (enough for 5 days for both of them); plus own her left-over provisions. (she was well provided for) 19 Her mother-in-law asked her, Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you! Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz, she said. 5

6 20 The LORD bless him! Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead. She added, That man is our close relative; he is one of our kinsman-redeemers. And Naomi said to her daughter in law, Blessed be he of the LORD, who has not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said to her, The man is near of kin to us, one of our next kinsmen. AV...kinsman : la;g goel. Now is Boaz connected with the concept of the kinsmanredeemer. This is where Naomi sees a glimmer of light shining in what was up until now a very dark period of her life. We can also see how the role of Boaz as the Goel Kinsman redeemer relates to our Lord Jesus. Our kinsman Redeemer Then Ruth the Moabite said, He even said to me, Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain. Naomi realises that Ruth has caught the eye of Boaz. 22 Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else s field you might be harmed. Now Naomi begins to teach Ruth. She realises that it s good for Ruth to stay where she is. She is in fact getting Ruth ready for the next scene. She wants to make sure Ruth is kept safe by remaining close to the women of Boaz rather than going off to find another field. 23 So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law. Barley Harvest = time of Passover. Firstfruits about end of March/April Wheat Harvest = about 50 days after the Barley harvest = Shavuot, (through the summer till about July) Pentecost. (Jewish liturgy requires the reading of the Book of Ruth at Shavuot.) 6

7 The end came in two stages: first, the barley harvest, which began with the Feast of the First-Fruits around the end of March or the beginning of April and ended with the Feast of Weeks; and second, the wheat harvest, which began with the Feast of Weeks around the end of May or the beginning of June, and continued to the end of June or the first part of July (Lev 23:15 21; Deut 16:9 12; 2 Sam 21:9 Summary: Ruth Gleaning - Chapter 2 Ruth happens on the field of Boaz. (She is introduced by an unnamed servant. ) She finds favour on his field. Boaz is a kinsman of Elimelech. Potentially eligible to serve as Kinsman-redeemer. The Law of Redemption The Law of Levirate Marriage Law of Redemption (Lev 25:47-55) Law of the Land. Israel belongs to God. When Joshua entered the land, it was granted to the 12 tribes. That land was to stay in that tribe. You could sell your land, which was really more of what we would consider a lease (you sold the rights to use the land for awhile). In the year of Jubilee (49 years plus 1) the land would return to the original owners. 7

8 When you sold your land, the title deed would also include the rules for title redemption. The law required a procedure so that if your next of kin would show up there was some procedure where he could purchase back the unused years (called redeeming the land ). Jeremiah was instructed to buy land right before going into captivity (Jer 25). Even though the outlook was not good as he was going into captivity. After captivity: Jeremiah s descendants will come back and claim the land by redeeming it. The title deed would be a scroll, on the back of which would detail the procedure for redemption. This whole concept becomes important when you encounter the seven-sealed book, written within and on the backside and sealed with seven seals (Rev 5). Law of Levirate Marriage (Deut 25:5-10) The word levir is Latin for a husband s brother. The Levirate Marriage dealt with a situation where you had a widow with no issue (husband passed away with no children). She could go to the next of kin and put a claim on him to take her to wife to raise up children for the family. He had to meet three conditions to make it work: 1) First, he had to be a near kinsman. 2) Secondly, he had to be able to perform. 3) Thirdly, he had to be willing; (it was not required it was voluntary.) 8

9 If he chose not to, he had to give her his shoe, a symbol of shame; he had failed to do the kinsman s part. Laws of Ancient Israel They are important to understand in order to understand what s going on in the Book of Ruth. Law of Gleaning Chapter 2 Lev 19:9, 10; Deut 24:19, 21 Law of Levirate Marriage Chapter 3 Deut 25:5-10 Law of Redemption Chapter 4 Lev 25: