God Ordained Steps to a Redeemer

Introduction

Recap Ruth

Elimelech (EE - lim - el - ek) takes his family and goes to Moab in search of bread

a place of idolatry, promiscuity

a people from the incestuous relationship between Lot and his daughter

Elimelech (EE - lim - el - ek) dies and leaves his wife and two sons in a foreign land

Naomi finds wives for the two sons from the Moabite women

the sons both die

Naomi tells the women to stay in Moab as she plans to go back to Bethlehem

Ruth, of course, refuses and in the climax of the chapter gives the most beautiful verses of devotion in scripture

Naomi goes back to Bethlehem bitter

proclaiming that God had done all of this to her

the she left full and came back empty

Today - God ordained steps to a redeemer

Do you believe God is in control?

When all seems lost for Naomi and Ruth, God provides food and family. The very reason Naomi (pleasant) was now Mara (bitter).

PRAY!

Elaborate on the story as I read the passage… kind of a running commentary take time and go slow.

The entire chapter explains who this Boaz, a relative of Naomi’s on her husband’s side is and what his character is like.

Ruth 2 CSB

1 Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side. He was a prominent man of noble character from Elimelech’s (EE - lim - el - ek) family. His name was Boaz.

Boaz is introduced into our story as a character

what we know…

prominent = strong, not simply physically like Samson who we read about, but strong character

noble - wealthy, had means, he is not a fellow begger

he is a relative of Elimelech (EE-lim-el-ek)

Boaz is introduced after we see that Naomi has stated that she is empty

she has nothing because the Lord took everything

she told Ruth that she had nothing to offer

Ruth 2 CSB

2 Ruth the Moabitess asked Naomi, “Will you let me go into the fields and gather fallen grain behind someone with whom I find favor?” Naomi answered her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” 3 So Ruth left and entered the field to gather grain behind the harvesters. She happened to be in the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was from Elimelech’s (EE - lim - el - ek) family.

Ruth asks to go and glean

gleaning - practice of following the harvesters and collecting what has been left by the harvesters

it was law in Israel that they would not harvest the corners or close to the edge so that the poor could glean or gather grain for food

of course, not everyone was doing this, not everyone cared for the poor and not all poor cared to do it

Ruth goes out and just happened to go to Boaz’s field… the relative that was introduced in v1

just happened - by chance

the writer of the story is telling us that this is not accident

as we would say… she just happened, just by chance… what a coincidence…

he is saying that God is directing the steps of Ruth and has led her right into the field of Boaz

a man a means and good character

Ruth 2 CSB

4 Later, when Boaz arrived from Bethlehem, he said to the harvesters, “The Lord be with you.” “The Lord bless you,” they replied. 5 Boaz asked his servant who was in charge of the harvesters, “Whose young woman is this?” 6 The servant answered, “She is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the territory of Moab. 7 She asked, ‘Will you let me gather fallen grain among the bundles behind the harvesters?’ She came and has been on her feet since early morning, except that she rested a little in the shelter.”

We see Boaz’s character coming out right away

a greeting in the Lord is not uncommon language of the OT, but it would be at the time of Judges

a time when people were not following the Lord

this man of means also notices right away that there is an extra woman in the field

Again the author is making sure that we know that Ruth is a Moabite

twice in the first 6 verses she is called a Moabite

this Moabite seems to be of good character as well

she is asked before she jumped into the field

she has been working hard all morning

Now that the backstory has been laid out before us we see the two meet… this almost reads like a love story from the hallmark channel

and now the two meet!

Ruth 2 CSB

8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Don’t go and gather grain in another field, and don’t leave this one, but stay here close to my female servants. 9 See which field they are harvesting, and follow them. Haven’t I ordered the young men not to touch you? When you are thirsty, go and drink from the jars the young men have filled.”

Whoa Boaz…

he is telling her that she to follow his crew and she will be treated like his crew even though she is collecting food for herself

Ruth 2 CSB

10 She fell facedown, bowed to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor with you, so that you notice me, although I am a foreigner?” 11 Boaz answered her, “Everything you have done for your mother-in-law since your husband’s death has been fully reported to me: how you left your father and mother and your native land, and how you came to a people you didn’t previously know. 12 May the Lord reward you for what you have done, and may you receive a full reward from the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.”

Turning point in the book

Ruth falls down to the ground

like worship

Boaz has heard of how she has loved her mother in law

choosing Naomi over her own family

but all that he says is not the ultimate reason she is getting this blessing

V12 - she has come under the refuge of the Lord God of Israel

She has not come to Bethlehem and brought her gods with her

she has abandoned all and come to the Lord!

Remember we are looking at the lineage of Jesus through all of this

Ruth will find herself in the line of Jesus… the great grandma of King David

this is not because she was a hard worker or a good caretaker of her widowed mother in law

because she has taken refuge under the wings of the Lord God of Israel!

Ruth 2 CSB

13 “My lord,” she said, “I have found favor with you, for you have comforted and encouraged your servant, although I am not like one of your female servants.” 14 At mealtime Boaz told her, “Come over here and have some bread and dip it in the vinegar sauce.” So she sat beside the harvesters, and he offered her roasted grain. She ate and was satisfied and had some left over. 15 When she got up to gather grain, Boaz ordered his young men, “Let her even gather grain among the bundles, and don’t humiliate her. 16 Pull out some stalks from the bundles for her and leave them for her to gather. Don’t rebuke her.”

Boaz provides for her

allows her to eat with the harvesters

not only food, but roasted grain and she ate to her full and had leftovers!

he tells them to leave extra grain for her

like telling your combine driver to turn a little quicker

leave extra at the end of the row, when you have those corners that are left when you turn, just don’t go back and get those

Ruth 2 CSB

17 So Ruth gathered grain in the field until evening. She beat out what she had gathered, and it was about twenty-six quarts of barley.

Ruth is a tough lady!

six quarts of barley

The Reformation Heritage KJV Study Bible Ruth 2:17

Estimates of an ephah vary from six to ten gallons (thirty to fifty pounds of barley), far more than the small amount normally obtained by gleaning (Isa. 17:5–6).

This is huge amount for one day for two widows.

Isaiah 17:5-6 speaks about only gleaning will be left at the time of judgment, meaning you will barely have any food. If this is what gleaning produced, this would not be a judgment. This instead is a blessing.

Do not miss the words of the next verse… she picked it up and went to town

this is not like going to town and picking up parts

she picked up and carried this 35-50 lbs back to Bethlehem to Naomi’s house

Ruth 2 CSB

18 She picked up the grain and went into the town, where her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She brought out what she had left over from her meal and gave it to her. 19 Her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you gather barley today, and where did you work? May the Lord bless the man who noticed you.” Ruth told her mother-in-law whom she had worked with and said, “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz.” 20 Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May the Lord bless him because he has not abandoned his kindness to the living or the dead.” Naomi continued, “The man is a close relative. He is one of our family redeemers.”

CSB leads us to believe that it is Boaz that Naomi is saying has not abandoned the the living or the dead

other translations might lead you to read it another way

Ruth 2:20 ESV

20 And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!” Naomi also said to her, “The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.”

I believe that this is the Lord she is speaking of…

The Lord who had taken everything away from her and made her bitter

she now credits for taking care of her

Ruth 2 CSB

21 Ruth the Moabitess said, “He also told me, ‘Stay with my young men until they have finished all of my harvest.’ ” 22 So Naomi said to her daughter-in-law Ruth, “My daughter, it is good for you to work with his female servants, so that nothing will happen to you in another field.” 23 Ruth stayed close to Boaz’s female servants and gathered grain until the barley and the wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

You can feel the hope returning to Naomi

stay with them, this is a good thing

notice that she now even cares for Ruth’s safety where earlier in the chapter she didn’t

But just as you think that this hallmark movie will bring these two together the chapter ends with a verse that leaves us wondering

She stayed with his female servants

she lived with Naomi

Boaz? make your move…

God is Always Working

Naomi was bitter

she had lost her family (husband and sons)

she had no food

Ruth was willing to endanger herself for food

Ruth just happened to go to Boaz’s field

you have no idea what God is doing through the normal things of life

she just happened to go to that field

I rest much better at night knowing that God is in control… always

there is not a time that I have to take the load

there are times that I try

there are times I do not like what is happening and think that he is not in control

An Example of Obedience

Remind of the times… Judges

What the law commanded

gleaning for the poor

leave the corners

What did Boaz do

intentionally left some for Ruth to glean

Sermon on the mount Jesus speaks about not simply following the letter of the law, but following it with your heart

Boaz did not only allowed Ruth to glean, but went further

intentionally left grain for her to glean

told his men to not touch her and for her to stay with his female servants

giving her safety

fed her lunch and allowed her to keep the leftovers

allowed her to get water from their supply

instead of going to a well alone

this is how we are to live the law of Christ

it is the Pharisees in Christ’s day that measured out exactly a 10th to give to the temple without ever thinking of the poor around them.

we are to love God with everything that we are and love those around us

God’s Way is Greater

We started the story Elimelech chasing food

leaving Bethlehem (place of bread) and going to Moab

leaving his wife with nothing

a bushel is 32 quarts, Ruth gathers an ephah

about 26 quarts or .81 bushels of barley

at this rate, she would have collected enough food to last them a year

Ruth on her own

goes out without protection

hopes to get enough food to keep them from begging and starving to death

God’s Way Gives us Hope

God’s and Boaz’s provisions gives Naomi hope

she turns from Mara back to Naomi

Naomi tells Ruth to stay with him

He is a family redeemer

It is the redeemer who gives us hope

without him, our works will only get us by in this life for a time