(You can listen to this sermon here.)
As I said last week, the book of Ruth is a prodigal story. A story in which a daughter goes out full and returns home humiliated and empty only to be lavishly restored by a prodigal Father in the end. This story follows God’s familiar pattern of death and division and then resurrection and redemption and restoration—fertility made barrenness to be made abundantly fruitful at last.
This story then, points us to Christ and to the good news of God’s sovereign grace. And even further, for those of us who are in Christ, as this story follows the pattern of death and resurrection, it instructs us how to live and think as we experience this same pattern over and over as it is woven all throughout our lives.
To quickly recap, Naomi and her husband and two sons go to sojourn in the country of Moab. This is significant because they are Israelites from Bethlehem and Moabites were traditionally enemies of Israel.
Naomi’s husband dies and her two sons take Moabite wives and after ten years of barrenness, the two sons die. This leaves Naomi with only her two Moabite daughters-in-law. So she urges them to go back to their mother’s house to find husbands. One leaves, but Ruth clings to Naomi.
What we see is that instead of simply being a case of charity on the part of Ruth, she is actually insisting on staying a part of Naomi’s family and linage. And here Ruth famously says, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”
Naomi saw only bitterness as they returned home to Bethlehem. But the author gives us a shimmer of hope amidst the darkness—it was the beginning of barely harvest.
Heavenly Father, as we open Your word this morning, would You open our hearts. As we read Your word this morning, let it read us. Search us and know us. Your word is truth so teach us. For Christ’s sake we pray. Amen.
Read Ruth 2
(vv. 1-4)
Before, Naomi gave the impression (perhaps she forgot) that there was no kinsman for Ruth to marry. No way for her to stay part of this family and this line. We see here just how blind Naomi was. Not only is there a relative, he is a worthy man who’s name is Boaz.
In ancient Israel, names meant a lot more than they do in our culture today. People were prophetically named with purpose and meaning in mind. So they would not just say or hear “Naomi”, as an abstract title. Each time Naomi heard her own name, she would hear “pleasant” but she could only see her bitterness.
So remember this is a prodigal story. Just as the younger son comes home to his father insisting on being a slave instead of a son, Naomi returns insisting on being something else—being the bitter one—instead of Naomi.
But here in chapter two, we are introduced to another character, Boaz. “Boaz” means “strength”. The author doesn’t leave it to his name alone to tell us about him. He zooms in (v. 2) on who Boaz is and tells us he is a worthy man—a gibbor (mighty) hayil (to be firm, strong).
This hebrew phrase is translated a few different ways through the scriptures, “man of wealth” or “mighty man of power” (1 Samuel 9:1), “man of valor” or “mighty valiant man” (1 Samuel 16:18), and “mighty man of valor” or “mighty warrior” (Judges 6:12).
What is important to note is that both words, gibbor and hayil correspond to strength and might and power. So when Boaz (strength) is called a gibbor hayil, what we should hear is an emphasis something like “powerfully powerful strength”.
So then, with the narrator putting this obvious emphasis on Boaz, what do you think is going on? What are we being led to understand or assume about Boaz?
One could say the narrator is simply telling us how terrific Boaz is. (How strong, wealthy, valiant, etc.) And while I don’t think it would be incorrect to say that Boaz was truly a first-rate man, there is most certainly more to it than that.
When the phrase gibbor hayil is used in Judges 6:12, it is used by the Angel of the Lord who says, “The Lord is with you gibbor hayil.”
And the angel of the Lord appeared to [Gideon] and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” (Judges 6:12)
Notice the resemblance to what we see in Ruth 2:4. Boaz affectionately greets his workers by saying, “The Lord be with you” which is literally the same thing the Angel of the Lord says in Judges before He calls Gideon a mighty warrior.
The narrator here, is pointing us to precisely the same thing we see in Judges 6:12, that this double dose of strength comes from the Lord. The narrator is not just telling us about Boaz’s possession (strength, wealth, etc.), rather the narrator is telling us about Boaz’s position.
This is not just a strong man, but a man who is with the Lord. A man, who is by faith, with the Lord and therefore, Boaz is the possessor of powerfully powerful strength. And this is just what Jesus taught in John 15:5, that apart from Him—the Lord—we can do nothing.
The strength of Boaz had nothing to do with the man, it had nothing to do with a workout regiment or business savvy, and everything to do with the Lord who was with him. This relative, Boaz, is truly a man of faith who is following God, and as we shall see, He is a type and shadow of Christ Himself.
In addition to learning about Boaz, the kind of woman Ruth is, is also being fleshed out more in chapter two. We see that she works with willing hands (Proverbs 31:13) and brings food from afar (Proverbs 31:14). She is motivated and as we have already seen—persistent. She is audacious and confident but not entitled. She is humble and full of bold faith. She is abundantly patient and compassionate toward Naomi when in reality, Ruth has only a self-imposed obligation to her.
However, like all good heroes, she lays down her life freely. Ruth too, is a type of Christ.
Ruth sets out and happens to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz. With his tongue firmly planted in his cheek, the author is once more emphasizing something important that we must catch. Ruth just happens to come to Boaz’s field to glean.
In other words, we are meant to understand the sarcasm as indicating exactly the opposite. Of course it is no coincidence that Ruth comes to the field belonging to Boaz. It is God who has sovereignly directed the steps of righteous Ruth to orchestrate this divine conspiracy.
(vv. 5-13)
In Israel, by law, the poor could glean in fields that did not belong to them after they had been harvested and harvesters were required to leave some grain behind for the welfare of their poor countrymen (Lev. 19:9-10; Lev. 23:22; Deut. 24:19).
But something about what Ruth is doing is a bit different than the welfare provision laid out in Israel’s law. Ruth is at Boaz’s harvesting operation from early in the morning but she is not simply asking to glean, which is her right so to speak, she is asking to glean among the sheaves. In other words, she wants to go and glean among the bundles that have already been gathered and set out.
When Boaz arrives after he and his workers greet one another. Ruth catches his eye and he approaches her and says, “Now listen my daughter, don’t go to another field, stay with my young women and go behind them. You will be safe in my field, I have told the young men not to touch you. And when you are thirsty, go drink what the young men have drawn.”
Ruth is so overcome with the great favor of Boaz she bows down, and essentially says, you don’t even know who I am, why are you being so kind? She obviously did not know but he knew exactly who she was. The story had already been told to him of her selfless compassion and commitment to Naomi and he was intrigued and impressed by this woman—by her faith in Naomi’s God.
He pronounces a blessing upon her, “The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!”
Do you remember in James 2:15-16, where James is teaching that faith without works is dead? Well, Boaz is demonstrating the genuineness of his faith by not only opening his mouth to pronounce blessing upon Ruth. He is liberally opening his hands to her. In fact, Boaz is acting as the very hands of God to bestow blessing upon this Moabite widow.
(vv. 14-23)
Boaz invites Ruth to eat with his people, and tells his servants to allow her the unusual privilege to glean even among the grain that has already been gathered and set out. He even tells them to actually pull out some from what they had already bundled and leave it behind for her.
She gleans all day until evening, then she beats out what she has gleaned. It was about 22 liters (or around 30 pounds of barley). Strength and dignity truly are her clothing (Proverbs 31:25). This is an extraordinary score for a day’s work.
Ruth goes home with this prize in addition to what she had left over from her generously provided lunch. (Because as you know, when God provides lunch, there are always leftovers.)
When Naomi learns that Ruth has been working with Boaz, it is as if she was a stone statue that by some magic has come to life. Naomi’s hard heart is quickly growing softer and she enthusiastically responds, “May he be blessed by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead! The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.”
Before, Naomi could only see the bitterness of God’s providence. But it is like putting a cake into the oven and about halfway through you finally start to smell the sweetness. Now it is so obvious, there is a sweet aroma in the air—a sweetness that is beginning to be realized. This is not a result of Naomi’s planning, this is truly a divine conspiracy.
You see, if we look back into Boaz’s past, you may be surprised to find that he was none other than the son of Rahab, the prostitute of Jericho.
Rahab, like Ruth, was a gentile. But even more shocking than that, she was a prostitute in the wicked and doomed city of Jericho. It was a great and fortified city in the promised land that God had commanded Moses to take and to destroy with all of it’s wicked inhabitants.
Rahab hears of this. She hears of the power of the God of Israel and she knows that His enemies can not withstand Him. Before the great battle of Jericho, during the time of barely harvest interestingly enough, two hebrew spies are sent ahead, and they “just so happen” to end up at Rahab’s house.
Rahab recognizes this is no accident and begs for salvation—for mercy—and the spies tell her to hang a scarlet cord out of her window and to gather her family inside and they promise that everyone inside under the crimson mark would be saved alive.
Mercy has come to Rahab and she believes. By faith, this prostitute becomes a friend of God and is saved from Jericho’s miraculous and utter destruction. And she saves the spies who find refuge, just like Ruth, among drying, harvested bundles.
This is Boaz’s family story! His dad, a prince in Israel fighting in the battle of Jericho, and his mom a gentile—even a prostitute of the enemy nation—are divinely brought together.
You see, Boaz knows what Paul later taught us in Romans 3. None are righteous, no one understands, no one seeks for God.
Rahab and Ruth give us particularly vivid images of this reality. These foreign women did not belong to God’s people, they were outsiders, they did not seek God, but just like God does with all of His children, He pursued them. He found them. He showed up in their far off countries, at their door, and He saved. Just like He has pursued you and found you and showed up in your far off country, at your door and saved you.
We will close with the words of Paul from Ephesians 2:11-22,
Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
Let us pray.
Heavenly Father thank You for conspiring to save us. Thank You for Your abundant grace and kindness that does not leave us alone even when that means uncomfortable seasons. In our long, dark winters remind us that springtime will come and that You are only for our good and Your glory. Remind us that you are growing and pursuing us even when it doesn’t feel like it. Just as we see Your divine conspiracy in the lives of Ruth and Boaz and Rahab, would you reveal to us the work of You Son in our lives and through our lives, that You would be glorified in all of life and in all the world. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
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