RUTH Resting in the Promise Ruth 3:1-18 Sunday, February 19, 2017 By David A. Ritchie Then Naomi her 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. And she replied, All that you say I will do. So she went down to the threshing floor 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. Then she 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! He said, Who are you? And she answered, I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer. And he said, May you be blessed by the LORD, my daughter. You have made this last kindness greater than the first in that you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich. 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. And now it is true that I am a redeemer. Yet there is a redeemer nearer than I. Remain tonight, and in the morning, if he 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 she lay at his feet until the morning, but arose before one could recognize another. And he said, Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor. And he said, Bring the garment you are wearing and hold it out. So she held it, and he measured out six measures of barley and put it on her. Then she went into the city. And when she came to her mother-in-law, she said, How did you fare, my daughter? Then she told 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-inlaw. She replied, Wait, my daughter, until you learn how the matter turns out, for the man will not rest but will settle the matter today (Ruth 3:1 18, ESV). I. Introduction I studied English literature in college, and somehow I ended up reading an abnormal amount of Jane Austen novels. Now for those of you who don t know who Jane Austen was a nineteenth century British novelist, who is primarily know for her stories of romance. The novel Pride & Prejudice is probably her most famous novel. In some ways she is the mother of the modern romantic comedy. Honestly, she is a brilliant writer. And, men, if you are absolutely mystified with the way that women think, maybe you should pick up a good Jane Austen novel, and read it while you sit in a duck blind to balance things out. 1
Now as in most English departments at modern universities, there were not a lot of men in my classes, so I tended to see things from a different perspective from my fellow students who were predominantly female. And one of the frustrations I had with Jane Austen is one of the same frustrations I have with any romantic comedy, and it is this: most romantic stories would end in 15 minutes if people had better communication. Things could be so simple Guy and girl meet. Guy and girl are attracted to one another. Guy and girl fall in love. Guy and girl get married. But instead, we want a good story, and good stories have conflict. Is he attracted? Is she attracted? Who is this other person? What did they mean by that comment? Should I be concerned? This month we have been studying the Old Testament book of Ruth. Ruth is setting up to be a Jane Austen novel. A review of the story and themes (Providence & Covenant-kindness). Now there is a tension and a need for resolved. Naomi ain t got no time for that. She makes the DTR happen. Between chapters two and three, two months of barely and wheat harvest have past; so too it is time to reap romance. The conclusion is not reached, but a promise is made. Chapter three is framed by the pursuit of rest. 1 Ruth needs a rest that is more than a nap. Block: The word mānôa, place of rest, derives from the same root as mĕnûâ in 1:9 and speaks of the security and tranquility that a woman in Israel longed for and expected to find in the home of a loving husband. 2 Ruth will rest because her redeemer will make a promise to go to work. So today we will look deeper into this text and what it teaches us about Resting in the Promise. II. The Text 1.) The Promise of Marriage. An engagement is going to happen, but lets set the scene. The main scene of action is the threshing floor. Block: It is true that normally landowners and field workers would go out to the fields in the morning and return at dusk to the security of the walled village for the night. It seems that at winnowing time, however, an exception was made, and the men would sleep at the threshing floors to guard the fruits of their hard labor against thieves or marauding animals. 3 The time is at the darkness of midnight, and there is a forward move toward deeper intimacy. Naomi s advice is seemingly scandalous: dress up, lay down alone next to a single man after a hard day s work when he s had a little but of wine, and the, do whatever he wants? What could go wrong here? This is not a prescriptive formula for locking down a husband. However, in order to understand this passage, we must also work hard to detox from our culture obsessed with innuendo. 1 Barry G. Webb. Five Festal Garments: Christian Reflections on the Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther. New Studies in Biblical Theology. Ed. D.A. Carson. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 46. 2 Daniel Isaac Block, Judges, Ruth, vol. 6, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 681. 3 Ibid., 684. 2
Naomi has reasons to push the gas pedal on Ruth and Boaz s romance. She knew Boaz was a redeemer, and she certainly knows there is another man that should be providing for them, but has yet to offer any provision of this obligation. However, Boaz is a one in a million catch and that sparks are flying. Naomi wants to accelerate things, and that is what she does. While this is not a formula for engagement, there are some principles we can glean for things we want to see when two people are brought together for a marriage in the season of engagement, as well as things we want to continue to see happen in a marriage between two believers. There is evidence of God s providence: a mutual belief that God has provided and brought about this engagement. God s invisible hand has been moving through this story. The relationship enters into a place of mutual pursuit. Women, sometimes men need to know you re interested. Men, sometimes you need to pursue. There is a level of physical attractiveness. Ruth, at Naomi s instruction washes herself, puts on perfume (anoints herself), and puts on nice clothes. Physical attractiveness is not a bad thing. God is the author of beauty and romance. God has made everything beautiful in its time (Eccl. 3:11). The relationship enters place of vulnerability, honesty, and equality. Block: Ruth acknowledges this social order in v. 9 (she is Boaz s servant), but then proceeds immediately to subvert it by lecturing him on his obligations. Now Boaz declares that he is the servant of Ruth, the destitute Moabite widow! 4 Boaz and Ruth share common vision and values for life. Boaz s response to Ruth is a is a blessing and a promise. Boaz s response shows that he has interpreted Ruth s action, not as an invitation to shady sexual conduct, but rather a proposal for marriage Boaz s response reveals a preexisting interest in Ruth; he knows his prospects with Ruth and the challenges that stand in the way Boaz response shows that the way the city of Bethlehem sees Ruth has turned upside down. When she came to the city, she was simply Ruth the Moabite, the foreigner from an enemy land. Moab wasn t positively viewed. Genesis 19 says that the nation of Moab was born out of incest. In Psalm 60, Moab is called a toilet. Thus, the initial perception of Ruth probably was negative. But now as news of her sacrificial love for her mother-in-law has been made know, as she has revealed her true character by her diligent and servant-hearted work ethic in the barley fields, the whole town sees her differently. By her inner and outer beauty apparently become the most eligible bachelorette in town, at least in the eyes of Boaz. Boaz says in verse 11, She is a worthy woman. This word worthy is translated from the Hebrew word י ל.ח It is used to describe women in two other notable places in the book of Proverbs: An excellent wife is the crown of her husband (Proverbs 12:4a, ESV), and An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. (Proverbs 31:10, ESV). There is a commitment to purity righteousness, even in a place of tension and temptations. This would be a seemingly justifiable place to compromise But Boaz knows the Law, and his instinct is for righteousness. A promise is made. A guarantee is given (the 6 measures of barley are a foretaste of provision). Plans are set into motion, and there will be an understandably short engagement 2.) The Promise of Redemption. This isn t just a romance, it is technically a redemption. 4 Ibid., 694. 3
Boaz is Naomi s redeemer too, and maybe even foremost. But what is a redeemer in its Old Testament context? To understand the laws of redemption we must understand the Year of Jubiliee, which was a social reset button. Essential the redeemer could bring the year of jubilee into the present by his sacrifice. Block: As a kinship term it [redeemer] denotes the near relative who is responsible for the economic well-being of a relative, and he comes into play especially when the relative is in distress and cannot get himself/herself out of the crisis. The Scriptures note five aspects of a gōʾēl s redemptive role: (1) to ensure that the hereditary property of the clan never passes out of the clan (Lev 25:25 30); (2) to maintain the freedom of individuals within the clan by buying back those who have sold themselves into slavery because of poverty (Lev 25:47 55); (3) to track down and execute murderers of near relatives (Num 35:12, 19 27); (4) to receive restitution money on behalf of a deceased victim of a crime (Num 5:8); and (5) to ensure that justice is served in a lawsuit involving a relative (Job 19:25; Ps 119:154; Jer 50:34). The Israelite provision for the gōʾēl is based upon an assumption of corporate solidarity and the sanctity of the family/clan: to offend a relative is to offend oneself. The custom of redemption was designed to maintain the wholeness and health of family relationships, even after the person has died. 5 The redeemer was one who was able to bring forward the promise of justice, freedom, inheritance, and even resurrection. This was a conservative law because it conserved the family as the most basic and foundational unit of society. It is a law that seeks to keep families together. Likewise it was a socially liberal law in that it seeks to prevent cycles of generational poverty, or wealth being gained in perpetuity at the expense of the poorest of the poor. But this law is ultimately a revelation of the character of God (Ex. 6:6-8): Say therefore to the people of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment (Exodus 6:6, ESV). Moreover, the image of redeemer evokes a picture God s love for his people; like a groom for a bride: 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 (Ezekiel 16:8, ESV). The New Testament too describes Jesus as a redeemer. He is the kinsman-redeemer. He is human and related to us, but unlike us has the power to save us when we can t save ourselves. As a redeemer, he is able to set free, reclaim, avenge, and resurrect those who are his. He will not rest until this work is done. Naomi says, Ruth may now rest, because the redeemer will not rest until his work is finished. So too we may know true rest in our souls because our Redeemer has made a promise. We can rest that every wrong, every evil, every injustice waged against us will be righted, when our Redeemer comes to judge the living and the dead and bring forth everlasting justice as the noonday sun (cf. Ps. 37:6). 6 We can rest in that even though we often feel enslaved by temptations and the consequences of our own sin, our Redeemer has promised that one day we will only know freedom, being utterly sure that he who began good work in [us] will bring it to completion until the day of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:6). We can rest in that one day all those who are in Christ Jesus, be they poor or rich, will posses an eternal inheritance; and as 5 Ibid., 674 675. 6 Boaz at the threshing floor can be seen as a picture of the redeemer as justice bringer. Several times in the Bible the threshing floor is seen as a place of divine judgment: see Ps. 1:6 and Mt. 3:6. 4
the six measures of barley for Naomi were a foretaste from Boaz of the redemption to come, so too God has sent forth his Holy Spirit to dwell within our hearts as a foretaste of that eternity: In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory (Ephesians 1:11 14, ESV). Let us be a people who rest in the glory of this promise. AMEN. Questions for Community Group Discussion: 1) In Ruth 3, Boaz promises to redeem Ruth. The functions of a redeemer are laid out in Leviticus 25 and Numbers 23 (the word for redeemer in Lev. 25:25 and avenger in Num. 23:12 both come from the same Hebrew word go el ). When we look into these texts, what do we learn about what a redeemer does? 2) With this Old Testament context, in what way can the work of Christ be understood as the work of a redeemer (see: Galatians 3:13; Titus 2:14; Hebrews 9:15)? 3) What are the areas of your life where you need God s redeeming work? 5