Westcoast Chapel

Boaz

Intro

Ben Kovala

Work at Westside

Studying the bible for a living

One of my all time favourite books in the Bible is a very short book in the Old testament. The book of Ruth is an amazing story that has many fantastic details in it

Love story of people whose choose to be family

Story of God working in peoples lives.

story of a whole lot of small things that lead to the joining of a person to Israel which who lead became Davids great grandmother

Today we are gonna be talking about a man named Boaz

Context

The book of Ruth takes place in a time period where Israel was being ruled by judges.

the period of the judges was a dark time in Israel’s history as they were experiencing various hard ships under different leaders and rulers.

called to serve and for the elementary school we are focusing on a figure in the Bible who served God

Judges 21:25 ESV

25 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

This lead to much famine and natural disaster in the area.

A woman named Naomi left with her sons to a surrounding nation while they were away the sons got married. to ladies named ruth and Oprah unfortunately in the famine Naomis sons and her husband both died leaving the woman

Orpah leaves and Naomi and ruth to back to israel in hopes that it is better there

The women are alone in the world. bitter for all that they have lost.

Boaz

We are introduced to a man named Boaz. he is described as a funny sounding Hebrew word gbwr chayil which means he was a mighty man of honour who would have been wealthy strong, brave powerful and a great leader.

Boaz was a great and admirable man there is not much said about who he is or what he looks like. What we do know is that from Ruth chapter two is that Boaz is a Israelite from Bethlehem, He likely comes from some wealth as he owns fields and has staff that work these fields for the harvest.

additionally Boaz was a very kind man. The first piece of dialogue we get from Boaz is him greeting his workers with, “The lord be with you”

one day he was out in his feild and greeted his staff like he always did and he saw a lady gleaning

gleaning is a practise where we leave a little bit of left overs on the outside so that way a people have less can take some. Ruth was in a really desperate spot and needed to eat so she goes out and starts gleaning. Boaz notices her

Ruth 2:8–9 ESV

8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Now, listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. 9 Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping, and go after them. Have I not charged the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn.”

protection,

food and water

Boaz goes above an beyond what is needed for her

He was in the top position he owned everything yet he chose to serve the poor widow who was on the outside

Threshing floor

Boaz was able to rescue Naomi and Ruth from their situation. Ruth creates a plan where Boaz would maybe want to marry her

She devises this plan sneaks into where he was sleeping

be funny here

Ruth 3:10–11 ESV

10 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. 11 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.

by marrying he

resuces the ladies

redeems a line

preserves a memory of people

includes the outsiders

The story ends with them getting married. an living happily ever after

Being Like Boaz

Boaz didn’t even need to ask God. He just did what was right and God worked through him to show his character and its nature.

He had extra and was serving people from this. he cared about his community and those around him

workers

community

outsiders

As reflected God, the people by serving them, he saw good things and other people

The first was his generosity. Boaz was not with holding his abundance from others. He allowed Ruth to take not only left over from his fields but also gave her additional grain and provided provisions beyond necessary. Boaz did not only care for those with in his tribe, but he also cared for a Moabite someone who was not desirable in his community.

Showing many divine virtues providing love, care, charity generosity to his workers and a

foreign widow alike. This indiscriminate charity is something the modern church could learn from.

Particularly as the church as a whole deals with people from various marginalized communities we

should strive to be like Boaz. Caring not only for own tribe but also for those who are in need that society would not see as desirable.