Ruth 3 Sermon

Today’s sermon is on Ruth Chapter Three. Please turn in your Bibles to the book or Ruth, it is after the book of Judges and before 1st Samuel. I am oging to read the chapter, which will be starting in the middle of a story, then give extensive background before we look closely at the text in question.

READ RUTH CH 3

In Scripture there are very few people that are shown without any flaws. And we know the Bible is not squeamish about pointing out the many flaws of those held up as heroes of the faith! But among those few who stand as perfect examples are Ruth and Boaz. Throughout the book they uphold Scriptural ideals of loyalty, kindness, strength, law keeping which is all summed up under this term covenantal faithfulness or righteousness. Righteousness in Scripture is faithfully holdng to coventantly obligations.

I want us to explore this idea of covenantly faithfulness in the book of Ruth with chapter three being the height.

Now before I read Ruth chapter 3, let me set the context for the passage since we are parachuting into the middle of the story!

Ruth takes place in the time of judges, which if you know anyting about that book, it is a time of wickedness and very little covenantal faithfulness. The story begins during a famine in the town of Bethlehem, and famine happens when the people of God are sinning against Him, as God himself lays out in Deuteronomy in the list of curses He will bring down on covenant breakers. And so we see a husband and father, Elimilech bring his wife Naomi and his two sons Malon and Chilon out of the promised land where there is currently famine and into the evil land of Moab, the ancestral enemy of Israel. This is critical to understand, because what Elimileck does is evil. The curses of GOd are sent to bring about repentance for His people! But rather than repent, Elimelck excommunicates himself from the promised land and seeks personal gain among the heathens. And more than that, he has his sons marry to Moabite women, also against the covenant of God.

And so in consquence of his sin, not only does God inflict bareness on the wives of Elimelich’s daughters in law, but God ultimately has the heads of the household Elimelich and his sons pay for thier sins with their very lives.

I focus on this because it is important to see that Ruth opens with multiple acts of covenant unfaithfulness, but resolution and reconciliation happens when the characters involved are faithful to the covenant. unfaithfulness brings barenness and death. Faithfulness will result in fertility and life!

So now a widow, with two widowed dauthers in law, Naomi remains bitter and angry toward God, and sins herself when she tells Orpah and Ruth to return to their false gods rather than come with her to the promise land!

To put this into a modern context. say you have a family lthat leaves the church and converts to Islam. Whle there, thier sons marry two muslim girls and then the father and teh sons die. Now image the widow gloomly returning the church but telling her daughters in law to stay and worship Allah rather than coming with her to the church….. This is sin.

But Naomi does do one thing right, she returns to Israel. This is crucial! Even though she does this out of bitterness, she makes the right choice because only in the promise land can blessing and healing be found, at least at this point int he story of Scripture!

APPLICATION: And this remains true today brothers and sisters! Only the promise land is not tied to any one geographical landmark but is itslef hte church! There is no salvation, no rest, no true satisfication to be found outside her walls! The church is the bride of Christ, to abandon the church is to spit in the face of Christ. No matter what is going on in your life, no matter the trials that God has you going through, do not abandon the church. Do not let go of the bride of Christ.

Well, in the midst of this rampant covenant unfaithfulness, aka sin. We get the first ray of light and it comes from the Moabites Ruth. During her time with Naomi and her family, despite their apstosay and self imposed excommunication, Ruth must have learned of Yahweh, of the God of Israel and the Lord made her dead spirit alive and she was determined to not be parted from this God. So when Naomi returns, and Ruth makes her impassioned promise to make Naomi’s people her people and Naomi’s God, ruths God; it is important to realize that there is more here than love of Naomi. There is a love for and a desire to be faithful to God! For even after Naomi dies she promises to be buried where Naomi is buried and calls down an oath upon herself should she go against her promise.So this is more than a promise of faithfulness to Naomi, Ruth is coventanly binding herself to Yahweh. At this point, Ruth understands more of the covenant thatn Naomi. She realizes where salvation is to be found and she will not let it go!

So the two return to Bethlehem where God has blessed them with harvest. Needing to eat, Ruth heads out to glean, and according ot the Biblcla lwas for caring for the poor and needy, the harversters were not to glean to the edges or go back for any grain dropped. This would allow the poor and needy to follow behind and pick up what was left or dropped so as to supply their own table. This was not easy work, but allowed those willing to work to still feed themselves.

So Ruth, knowng these laws tells Naomi she will go and get food for them to eat. And remember, this hardship of gleaning has been freely taken on by Ruth. When she bound herself coventantlly to the God and to Israel and Naomi, for all she knew she would end her days as poor widow. And know she has to work in the heat of the day, gleaning for leftovers to feed them. But her commitment to the covenant is such, that she forsaken what could have been a better life in Moab for this poor and detitute life in Israel.

This really brings into focus the words of Christ

Matthew 10:37–38 “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”

We must be willing to give up all for the sake of Christ. Family, position, country, hertiage, everything. It does not mean that God will alwasy require that of us, but we must hold all that as nothing compared the excellency of knowning of Christ! Ruth gave it all up, willig to commit herself to the fate of being a poor, widowed, Moabit foreigner in Issrael and all for Yahweh, for the hope of the coming Redeemer. May we be inspiried by her actions and her commitment to the covenant as we seek to lead faithful lives in the service of our God.

So Ruth goes out to glean and here we see the humor that pops up in Scripture.

Ruth 2:3–4 “So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech. And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. And he said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you!” And they answered, “The Lord bless you.””

As Christians, we know there is no such thing as coincedence with God. The writes knows this too and you can imagine the air quotes in this verse, and she “happened upon” the one field belonging to a relative of Naomi. And then i love then, Behold! ANd Boaz came forth! Can you image! What a coincendence, wink wink. Brothers and sisters, the Bible is not a stuffy, dry tome of religious text. It is a beautiful story with drama, love, evil deeds and even humor!

Well, back to the text!

This story is a classic comedy. Meaning a story that ends well. Where a need is presented in the beginngin and the stories resoution sees that need being meet. And we know that Naomi needs a male in order to inherit her families property, but she is too old to have children herself. We know too that Ruth is in need of a husband and children in order to help bring about the promised redeemer and provide care and protection for her and Naomi.

Chapter 1 sets up these needs and then in Chapter 2, “Behold Boaz!” This is the moment in the romantic comedy where the tall dark stranger walks through the door, the light shines around him and all eyes are drawn to him and every viewer knows, this is the love interest! Only in Ruth, Boaz is far more than a love interest, in ways we will explore as we go on, he is a kinsman redeemer, he is a Second Adam, and he is a Christ type figure, pointing forward to the real Christ.

For right now we need to understand what a kinsman redeemer is because this is crucila to the plot and resolution of this God wrought story.

This is important because one of hte main purposes of the book of Ruth is to show the poeple of God their need for a kinsman redeemer and to foreshadow a ultimate and final kinsman redeemer, Christ, which is why Boaz is a type of CHrist. The kinsman redeemer is a relative who redeems and resscues anohter family member in need. The instutition presuppoes covenantal bonds and solidarity between the one who is need of redeemption and the one who does the redeeming. The redeemer acts on that bond to rescue, deliver, or to liberate his family member usually at great cost to himself. Thus the kinsman-redeemer shows covenant faithfulness.

There are two duties of a kinsman redeemer that we need to know for this story. If a family lost their inheritance, ie land, he was to buy it back and return the land promised by God to his relative. And if he was not married, was to act in role of a levir.

The word levir comes from the levirate law that essentially said, that the closest kinsman redeemer, if single, would marry the the wife of a widowed kinsman if he left no sons. The first son born to this marriage would be raised in the name of the dead relative and the son would assume the inheritance, as he would take the place, in the eyes of the law, of the deceased brother and and the widows deceased husband and carry on his name and inheritance. Any other children the kinsman redeemer has with his now wife would be his, but not the first son.

We see this in action in the story of Judah and Tamar in Genesis 38. Where Judah’s first son is killed by God after being married to Tamar but before a son is born, so Judah gives his second son who is also struck down by God. Judah refuses to give his third son to Tamar and so Tamar, knowing her rights, and as another foreign woman who wants to be connected to the promised seed and part of the people of God, tricks Judah into giving her the son she is legally and convenatnally owed. this is why when Judah discovers what happened, he credits Tamar with righteousness and himself with guilt.

So now we can see why the author points out Boaz’s relationship to Naomi before Boaz himself is introduced. The audience would have known all about the kinsman redeemer and levirait marriage laws. So knowing that Boaz is a relative, when the author writes, “Behold, Boaz!” Everyone could start clapping and cheering! Here is the answer! Here is he who can redeem Naomi and Ruth out of destitution!

We also learn early on that Boaz is a man of worth. He has money and status, which is important because the redeemer has to be able to buy back what was lost, but this description of worthy is more than financial. He is a worthy man before God. He is a covenantally faithful individual. We see this inaction when he greets his workers in a call and resonse, “The Lord be with you!” and they all respond “THe Lord bless you!” Remember, this is during the dark time of the Judges, when everyman did as he saw fit. Bethelhem had just suffered famine due to the curse of GOd upon the people but here we have a worthy man, a coventanlly faithful Isrealite. I have little doubt that is the actions of men such as Boaz, working in the community in God honoring ways that brought about the blessings of God upon the community.

Brothers and sisters, this is the blueprint for changing our neighborhoods and towns and cities and countries. It is acting righteously with all around us and calling those we can to repentance and resting in the power of the Holy Spirit to use our actions to change and transfomr lives. It might take a long time, there will moments of darkness as God decides not to remove HIs curse upon a people, but we must never doubt that there will be a day when the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the seas spread across the globe!

And in Boaz we see the Biblical pattern of the second Adam. The first Adam failed in the Garden and brought death. And so we needed a Second Adam could bring life and suceed where the First Adam failed, so the true Second Adam is Christ, our kinsman redeemer who frees us from the chains of sin! But this pattern repeats itself throughout Scripture and are all pointers to Christ. In this story, Elimileck is the first Adam. his failure, his sin brought death to his family and threatened to end his line altogther. But in Boaz we see the hope of a Second Adam. In Boaz we see a kinsman redeemer who, through Ruth, can raise up a son to keep the family name alive.

And when Naomi finds out about Boaz, and his kindness to Ruth she realizes all of this right away and that brings us to Chapter Three! But with the cultural context and textual clues and typological characters we have discussed, this chapter should come to life in a brand new way from when we first read it.

READ Ruth 3:1–5 “Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to Ruth, “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.””

One thing to understand is that Ruth had gleaned in the fields of Boaz for probably upwards of four months. The last verse of chapter two says she gleaned till the end of the barley and wheat harvests. And so this is not a case of Ruth meeting Boaz and the next day Naomi sends her out to get a husband. Later in Chapter three Boaz remarks how Ruth’s covenantally loyalty is well known to the people of Bethlehem and that couldn’t happen in just a matter of days. So for four months she has worked hard to feed herself and Naomi. Four months where Boaz could see the character and loyalty of Ruth. Note, no mention is made of either Ruth’s or Boaz’s apperance, and the Bible does comment on beauty! And I think that is not by accident. The author wants the reader to see Boaz and Ruth by their actions, not by their apperance. For you men and women who are single, take this to heart. Physical attraction is important, don’t hear me saying it is not, but a woman who fears the Lord should be prized above all else! A man who upholds the covenant in all respects and who acts honorably to all should be desires far more than height and money.

So its been four months of hard work and so we can make sense of Naomi’s comment, “Should I not seek rest for you.” Now that the gleaning is over, Naomi wants to find rest for her God-honoring daughter in law and that rest is to be found in a husband, Boaz. Now I want to be clear, this is not the Bible saying that women can only find rest in a husband everywhere and at all times! In this instance, the rest Ruth will find is in the fulfillment of the covenant. If both Ruth and Boaz do what the covennat requires, aka marrying to raise up a son for Naomi, rest will be found for all intheir covenantly faithfullnes So whats important is to hear the typological truth being presented. Remember, Boaz is a type of Christ. When Naomi points Ruth to find her rest in Boaz as husband, one thing we can hear is us being pointed to Christ to find our ultiamte rest. To seek out the one who himself promised “Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.”

So to do this, to achieve rest with Boaz as her husband, Naomi gives Ruth a rather interesting set of instructions. To be clear, this is not a plan for an immoral encounter between Ruth and Boaz as some commentators hint at, at least not in the way they imply. By uncovering his feet Ruth is in fact inviting Boaz to take her under his wing, to take her into his care as his wife and yes, that includes consumating the marriage there on the threshing floor. And as this is a leviriate marriage proposal, if Boaz is the closest redeemer, he can, in coventenal faithfulness and moral intergrity take Ruth as his wife that night, consumate the marriage, and nothing untoward would have happened at all! Is this the normal way marriage should happen, no! But neither are these normal circumstances in the Book of Ruth!

To say that Ruth is trying to seduce Boaz, or that Boaz gave in to Ruth’s seduction is to besmirch the charcter of two of the most godly people we find in Scripture. WE know the Bible has no issues with pointing out the character flaws of its heros. In this book, Ruth and Boaz are seen as upright, righteous people and we have zero reason to think otherwise.

Before proceeding, I really want us to understand the depth and magnitude of what Ruth is doing for Naomi. Nothing is forcing her to seek out Boaz as a kinsman redeemer, nothing is forcing her to seek out this levirate marriage. And remember what this means. that Ruth will marry Boaz, and her first born son will in the eyes of the law and community will not be hers but rather Naomis. She will grow, give birth too, nurse, and raise a son who will not benefit Ruth and Boaz in any way in terms of inheritance and continuing the family name. There is no promise of two sons. And if there is only one, then Boaz and Ruth would now be left with no family to inherit and carry on their name.

Women, can you imagine giving birth to your first born son, but ultimately he be considered the son of your inlaws? That is why, spoiler alert, when Ruth gives brith to Obed at the end of the book, Naomi take teh son into her lap, there is far more behind this phrase than simply where teh child was physically. This is why immediately after the women proclaim “A son has been born to Naomi” This is the strength of Ruth’s covenant loyalty. Tamar demonstrated her desire to be a part of the covenant through child birth by the extremes she went to with Judah. Ruth demonstrated faithfulness to the covenant by forsaking everything, to include her first born son, to fulfill her obligations. May their desire to be a part of the covenant people of God leads us, the church, hold on and to never let go of the redempetion we know have in Christ!

So, Ruth goes to the threshing floor

Read Ruth 3:6–15 “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.”

To continue with Ruth, we can understand why Boaz is in awe of Ruth’s actions. He blesses Ruth because of her covenantally loyalty. First her loyalty and kindness to Naomi in coming to Israel with her and now her coventnaly actions in coming to Boaz and requesting a leviarate marraige

We also learn two things about Boaz in this set of verses. First, Boaz shows great self-control. Here is, it is night, he is by himself and this young woman comes requesting a marriage where he could take her right there on the threshing floor. But he is covenantoy faithful man in that he acknowledges there is a redeemer closer than him. If Boaz had taken Ruth then, it would have been a sin because he would have trangressed the law of the kinsman redeemer. And to be covenantally faithful, we too must cultivate self-control. But self-contril that comes only through gritting ones teeth to reject the apperant pleasures of sin will eventually fail. Our self-contirl needs to come from not only a sense of what not to do, but from a desire to do what God wants from us, and that we find in Boaz.

For the second things we learn is taht Boaz finds great joy in being faithful to the covenant. We hear this strange phrase from Boaz “You have made this last kindness greater that the first in that you have not gone after young men.” What I believe Boaz is expressing is gratitude that Ruth has given him the opportunity to fulfill his coventantal obligations!. And being asked to be a kinsman redeemer, a levir for the house of Elimileck, even though it will cost him, fills him with joy! For Boaz, the Law of the Lord is sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb! There is no greater challenge to all of us as Christians to seek to approach the Law of God with this delight. To find delight, rather than gloomy acquesiance to God’s Word. And in Christ we can find even more delight than Boaz, for our salvation does not rest on our actions but on the finished work of Christ! And so much more than Boaz shold we find joy in following the commands of God!

And in his actions, Boaz foreshadows the greater Kinsman Redeemer. The Son of God who led a sinless life and who found conintul joy in obeying his father, even to the point of death on a cross.

And then finally

READ Ruth 3:16–18 “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-in-law.’ ” 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.””

The chapter began with Naomi seeking rest for Ruth,and now Ruth has rest because Boaz will do the work, through his swift faitfulness to the covenant he has given Ruth peace of mind. This once again points us to Christ. When Christ went off to the Garden to pray prior to his death, he went alone and what where the disciples doing? They were quiet litleraly resting. When Christ went to the cross, he did so alone. In the same way, Boaz is going to to go and complete Ruth’s redemption while she rests. Naomi says to Ruth, “You rest, he is going to go take care of the matter. He is going to work our your redemption for you, totally apart from you, alone.”

And this brings up applications for especially husbands and wives.

Husbands, may your faithfulness to the the covenant you made with your wife be like Boaz and may it bring her rest. And this goes beyond sexual faithfulness. If your wife can bring to you a problem or issue and leave knowing it will be taken care of or that you will find a way to resolve the issue, you have given her rest. But if you are known to take too long, or fail in your commitments your wife will never be able to rest. And this rest is important because when she can rest in your faithfulness, she can then bloom in her calling as a wife and mother.

So men, be swift in your obligations, may your wife know that you will not rest till you accomplish the task

Wives, take note of the joy of Boaz when Ruth gave him an opportunity to be faithful to the covenant and to act. You want to give your husband rest in your love, help him see where he can be faithful and let him act. It can be easy to think I can do that myself, or even I could do it better. But your husband knows when you do not trust him and it robs him of rest in the same way that a husband who does not act robs you of rest. Let him be a Boaz to your Ruth

So wives, let your husband fulfill his obligations for in doing so he will find rest in way that energizes and empowers him as a husband and father.

Ruth showed amazing acts of covenant faithfulness, she left home and family, she did back breaking work to feed herself and her mother in law and she gave herself in marriage to a man in order to raise up a child not for herslef but for her mother in law. And the Lord gave her rest.

Boaz showed amazing acts of covenant faithfulness by staying in famine stricken Bethlehem, showing kindness to foreigners, putting the joy of covenant obligations ahead of sinful pleasure, and acting swiftly on his duties. And the Lord exalted his name and gave him rest.

And while we give honor to Ruth and Boaz for their covenant loyalty, they should point us to our Father who has always been faithful to His covenant which is why we, the church, can truly rest. He is the God who does not change like the shifting shadows, and He is a Father who loves to good gifts and honor His covenant with His children. Naomi and Ruth started the story both widows and childless, unprotected, and alone. God brought about a complete change, giving a husband to one, a son to both and peach and protection through the house of Boaz. Both Naomi and Ruth needed a second Adam, and they where provided an earthly one and through them the true Second Adam now gives rest to all. Through His coventantl faithfulness, God gives us rest

So as we take the Lord’s Supper today, do so with thanksgiving for the true rest we find in Christ. OUr Kinsman-Redeemer who brought us back from death and sin and into a glorious salvation!

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen!

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And this is why Christ is the great kinsman redeemer. Through the cost of his life, Christ has redeemed us from the power of sin and slavery and brought us into a state of salvation and freedome! As Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:24 “He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.” He will do what? He will redeem you and see you through to the end. CHrist bought you at a great price, he will not let you go but will finish the great work he has begun in you!