Amen. Please be seated. This privilege to come with you or to the Lord this morning in his word and to continue our study through the Book of Ruth as I have opportunity to preach here with Deamer. I remind you that from chapter two we held the Lord in his providing work and providing hand that was even central to the law.
The law reveals the heart of God and his desire to meet our needs and to provide for his children. And so it is that Naomi and Ruth are beginning to experience that provision and we're going to see it even more so the heart of God in our passage this morning. It's not invite you to turn with me to Ruth chapter three. I'm not going to answer this God's word.
But we do read God's word. I'd invite you to pray with me. Would you please pray with me? Oh Lord, we do thank you that you have spoken to us.
Let you have revealed yourself in your word. We know this is your truth. Would you sanctify us in your truth? Would you cause us to delight in it, to cherish it, to hide it in our hearts?
We might value it even more than gold, even fine gold. Might be sweeter to us than honey. Might we taste the sweetness of God this day. And so we ask that you would bless us, that she would strengthen us.
Ask your spirit, it would rest upon us. In Christ name I pray. Amen. Again, this is God's word.
Ruth chapter three. Let's give you here. 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.
It 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. And 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 laid 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. And 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 near 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 laid 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.
And so she held it. And he measured out six measures of Barley and put it on her. And she went into the city. And when she came to her mother-in-law, she said, How did you fare, my daughter?
And she told her all that the man had done for her, saying, These six measures of Barley he gave to me. For he said, You must not go back and be 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 with the matter today.
The rest with her. And the flower falls. The word of our God stands forever and ever thanks to be the God. In October of 2010, eyes around the world were glued to their TV.
Some 33 miners had been trapped half a mile underground in Chile for some 69 days. They'd worked through their reserves of water and food at the underground shelter where they salt shelter. And a small hole had been drilled through the rock that allowed notes to be passed and then later food and water. And finally, a tunnel painted blue, red and white, the colors of the Chilean flag was carved out over the course of 24 hours, all 33 miners were lifted safe to the surface.
It was interesting about a billion people worldwide watched the rescue live on TV. And I wonder if the sense of hope these men knew when that first hole had been drilled and notes had been passed and communication restored. And then food and water had come down and their needs were met. I wonder what Naomi is going through here in our text.
Even as she begins to see the light break through the tunnel so to speak, as her world perverbially crashes in around her, she begins to glimpse the hope of the Lord. First in her provision and God providing even food for her to eat, but even here there's this potential for her family to be redeemed and all to be made right and to be restored and renewed. And so would it be even this morning that we would be whole that the Lord does provide. In fact, we see it in God's law that even as it reflects and reveals to us the very heart of God that he is and has the heart of a redeemer of a Savior.
And so I want to look to our text this morning first. I want you to notice that a plan is hatched. A plan is hatched. And just as Ruth takes the initiative in chapter two to go into glean in the field seemingly here in chapter three, so does Naomi.
Her Hebrew wheels are turning and she sees a potential way out of their current situation in state of life rooted in God's provision. My daughter, should I not seek rest for you that it may be well with you is not Boaz, your relative. Not to us this may sound strange, but this is really the first instance where Naomi sees the law of God in some ways as really being on her side. You may recall from last time I had opportunity to preach that when Ruth returned, she returned literally burdened with the amount of food for the field belonging to Boaz.
And Naomi responded, this is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers. It was likely some six, eight weeks have passed and Ruth has been relying on the provision of God and as such the generosity of Boaz and his field, their needs have been taken care of. And all the while Naomi seems to be plotting away to make all things right. Without getting too bogged down into all the details here and proof texting us into oblivion, what Naomi and soon Ruth realizes that Boaz as a close family member could rescue or could redeem a limulex family by buying their land, marrying Ruth in hopes of having a baby boy.
But the family line could continue. Boaz is what the Old Testament and what Naomi even here refers to as a kinsman redeemer. Goel, which is central to this book moving forward. It's been noted that Naomi mentions this at the end of chapter two, almost out of curiosity.
Again, perhaps the wheels begin turning here and we through Hebrew ears might wonder in what way Boaz might redeem Ruth and Naomi. You know, while there isn't a one-to-one comparison or illustration here necessarily, we understand that there are many ways in which you and I can help someone who's fallen part times. You've been there. You see someone standing on a corner, perhaps disheveled or sitting or standing near their belongings with a small cardboard sign scrawled with words saying something like homeless, veteran, anything will help.
God bless. And there are a number of different things you could do to help, right? You could roll down your window and spare change. You could call a friend of yours who owns a business and see if you can help them get a job.
You can hand him an address and card for a local benevolence ministry or you could even open up your passenger door, have him hop in, take him to your house, fix him up a room and give him a new place to stay, eat and sleep, taking him into your family. Well, that last one is kind of what we have in mind here with Naomi Mayhope. And with the scriptures speaks of this idea of a redeemer or redemption, we can turn to places like Leviticus 25 and see how one might redeem or buy back or provide for the land to return it from those who've been dis-disessed. There are different means of application of this idea of redemption in the Old Testament.
But here in this passage, what Naomi sees as a possibility is a certain kind of redemption that involved by this time a close relative taking the widow of his brother or family member as his wife in hopes of providing the male heir. And so according to Naomi, if Boaz would agree to such a thing, perhaps Ruth might know such blessing and prosperity that Naomi and Boaz had both wished upon her. She's leaning upon Deuteronomy 25. Reads, if brothers dwell together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger.
Her husband's brother shall go into her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her, and the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother that his name may not be blotted out of Israel. You begin to see here that it's clear that Naomi has spent these weeks plotting and maybe even scheming, waiting for the right time to pull the trigger so to speak on her plan. And I wonder if as a text we was read just moments ago that maybe Naomi's plan, her scheme didn't make you just a little bit uncomfortable if perhaps you might suggest to your own children to do this. It made you shake your head and think, no, Naomi, I don't know if this is such a good idea.
You begin carefully to what Naomi's suggesting, watch therefore, telling Ruth, watch therefore, 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's finished eating and drinking. And when he lies down, observe the place where he lies and go and uncover his feet and lie down and he will tell you what to do. She'll be able to hear the language in some ways rather ambiguous. There's some general encouragement and commands here, and many scholars believe that the author intends Naomi's instructions to be taken at least one of two ways.
I personally find it hard to believe that Naomi encouraged her daughter-in-law out right towards promiscuity and to seduce Boas to the end of her and Ruth being redeemed. That's one way people take this message, especially after she'd just been wished on her such grand blessings. I do think the author's putting forward Naomi's rash and hasty plan, recognizing the potential for everything to blow up in her face. Here we have Naomi telling Ruth to get dolled up and to sneak out in the middle of the night and go to the threshing floor, which was known as a place of intimate activity, like the local overlook or the field where nothing could ever happen after sundown.
And alone with day laborers who'd likely had their fill of food and wine, we had a specific instruction for Ruth to follow Boas to where he slept, to uncover his blankets, and to lie down beside him and to wait for him to wake up, where Boas is to tell her what to do. Even on time this morning to break this passage down and all of this potential sketchiness, know what to do, that's appropriate. But I think you get the point, right? We're supposed to cringe in our biblically-informed minds and wonder, Naomi, what are you doing?
This is not how you go about seeking the Lord's will to be done. I believe we see Naomi something that you and I know too well. You live with the tension of seeing glimmers of God's providence and seeking to press his hands. You know, in one sense, Naomi here is trying to be the answer to her own prayer, forcing the situation she sees two and she sees two and tries her best to make four, setting out to glean from this situation.
On one hand, we do have respect and we applaud them before seeking to make things right. But here she hatches this plan to set up Ruth and Boas. There is a right way and a wrong way. In church, we understand that the road to the Lord's blessing in our lives isn't paved with sin and foolishness.
So that we find here Naomi's scheming and guiding a guiding principle for us, that God's blessings and his providential work are his timing, not in our timing. We must wait upon the word. We must be careful in faith or trust in the Lord to provide. Say we don't work or we don't act, but there is a sense where we need to be careful in how we go about these things.
First we see again a plan hatched and secondly what I want you to see is a promise kept. A promise kept. You see, I agree with other commentators who consider what would be going through the minds of the Hebrew audience listening to this story. They ask the question what would they be thinking?
There seem to be a couple of options for potentially a number of motifs at play. I don't know if you've ever noticed, perhaps when a majorly baseball team honors the past, they make use of retro uniforms. Maybe remembering the days of the 70s or 80s, days gone by. Maybe you might even remember some of those uniforms when they wear them.
And here it's quite possible that this encounter between Ruth and Boas is something like a symbolic throwback or callback to the garden. Where we find Boas waking from his sleep and seeing Ruth and rather than the garden it's the threshing for where the harvest was processed. Likewise I believe there'd be another situation that the author could be alluding to. We are reminded throughout the first two chapters of Ruth's nationality, right?
Of Ruth being a Moabite. This being a Moabite means she comes from controversial beginnings. In Genesis 19 Moses records the beginning of the Moabites. Lot is the father of Ruth's people by an incestuous relationship where Lot was tricked by his daughters who widowed, sought to continue their family line and did so through manipulating Lot with wine.
And so to pull these two things together, to put it simply, I believe the audience is to have these two situations in mind when Ruth goes to the threshing floor. And I think the author's intent is to build tension, making the audience ask this question, what will Ruth do and how will Boas respond? Will it be the first words of man recorded in the scriptures? Which is a poem by the way, poetry is mainly as behold, here's this woman, right?
Will it be such a relationship marred by sin, Ruth and Boas becoming another proof text and footnote to how sin has corrupted the relationship between man and woman and has marred the sexual ethic that God has provided his people. And so we look to the text and we see that Ruth follows her mother-in-law's instructions practically to a T. Right? Boas's feet are uncovered, he stirs and awakens and he sees the strange woman and asks after her.
And here it is where Ruth diverges from her mother-in-law's commands. She strays from her instructions. Instead of waiting for Boas to tell her what to do, she speaks saying, I am Ruth, you're servant. Spread your wings over your servant for you are a redeemer.
Now, careful we can blow through this response and it's significance. This is a bombshell dropped in this passage. And what Ruth is saying here is essentially, will you marry me? Will you marry me?
She pops the question here on the Threshold floor. And so we have this far and widow, a Moabite nonetheless, who seeks out a kinsman redeemer from a limulex clan, her father-in-law, being pretty forward and asking Boas to marry her. I want you to point out that this is not normal, even in the days when the judges ruled. But listen to the beauty of this statement.
I want you to see how the Lord is providentially working all things and orchestrating all these things for Ruth's good and for his glory. You recall from last time in Chapter 2 when Ruth asked Boas why he was showing such kindness to her, he responded by saying this, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. He says, the Lord repay you for what you have done and a full reward be given to you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge. In Ruth in Chapter 3, saying to Boas, spread your wings over me.
In some ways of saying to him, I want you to be the blessing you wished upon me that day. Will you be the blessing you wished upon me that day? And here we have covenantal language, reflected in even the institution of marriage as Ruth pops the question. And we begin to see the Lord at work more clearly.
Like the tell of his invisible hand, this book is steeped in the earthly perspective. It's steeped in the earthly perspective. And time and time again, we see these reflections of the Lord and his people, Ruth's faithfulness to Naomi and pledging herself to her and to Yahweh. Ruth's kindness and determination to provide for Naomi by way of food and even hear Boas's recognition of Ruth's faithfulness and wishing and providing blessing to her in Naomi.
And here the way forward has been blazed. It seems to be the greatest display of Ruth's faithfulness to Naomi yet asking for Boas to marry her and by so providing for and potentially redeeming Naomi's family line. Notice that Boas responds with grace and humility and righteousness. If there's a question, how will Boas respond?
Well, he responds in a way that is resembling more of Genesis 2. There's no compromising position here. He is trustworthy man and he respects Ruth. Here in the solitude of the woods of the midnight hour, Boas demonstrates his worthiness and love of the Lord and how he doesn't take advantage of such a situation that shows his true concern is for Ruth and her mother-in-law.
Even responds in humility. You notice he says you can have any eligible bachelor in Bethlehem. You can have someone way younger than me. And you show me kindness.
He's shocked and surprised. But note also his words of comfort. Do not fear, Boas says. And Boas has Ruth's own care and mind and her own dignity.
You're safe with me here, Boas says. And so the cards have been played. The way forward is revealed and it's through the lens of God's faithfulness that we see this unfolding. We see God restraining sin and rescuing this potentially catastrophic and devastating situation that I'm not so certain Naomi intended.
But the stage was set for this to go way south. And while Ruth nor Boas responded and sin, we do learn from Boas that there is a problem. That's our last point. We see that a problem does arise.
There is yet another indication of Boas's faithfulness here in his love for the Lord. He doesn't seek to potentially cheat out this nearer redeemer. He doesn't look to capitalize and lust on this compromising situation, but he simply responds. 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 in the morning if he will redeem you. Good. Let him do it. I am not willing to redeem you.
Then as the Lord lives, I will redeem you. Lie down until the morning. We see here as Boas makes it clear that the duty for a man to redeem his family members was greater, the closer they were in familial relation to the husband. This isn't a spell out in the Old Testament law, but there is a sense here where there is this ordering of next to kin.
And perhaps what we see here as a Jewish custom has been developed since the law was given from the days in which the Israelites wandered into wilderness. But what we see here is a problem. And I want you to see Boas's response. I think it's extremely informative and instructive for you and for me.
Right now, there are folks out there who want to boil down this passage and say something like, ladies, wait for your Boas. Or ladies, search for your Boas as if this is something like the Song of Solomon. I have a highly inspired romantic novel. But it's so much more than that.
And I want you to see that, just so much more than that. But we do recognize that on some level, this is a love story. Ruth seems to love Boas and Boas seems to love Ruth and there is something romantic here at play which makes Boas's response all the more glorious. The trust in the Lord.
What do you see here that Boas is content in the Lord's will? Boas is content in the Lord's will. It is quite possible the Lord might not bless this union, that this closer kinsman Redeemer might claim his right to the kinsman Redeemer and Boas trusts the Lord that he is good. And his answer may be no and Boas is okay with that.
I think there's a little bit of a contrast between Boas and Naomi here. Naomi plots and schemes her way into providing Ruth the Redeemer with the best intentions I might add. But Boas here, he trusts in the Lord's timing and his providential care which I think is the better intention here. You can imagine here as Ruth returns, Naomi is eager, likely giddy to know the outcome and you can imagine her saying something like, right, tell me everything.
You can imagine her potential concern as Ruth breaks the news that there is a nearer Redeemer and she reports the problem. Yet there is a subtle comfort that Boas sends with Ruth. Note that Boas takes great care of Ruth and protects both their reputations from compromise, sending her home before anyone else could assume the worst. But he also sends her home with more food.
I want you to see the connection that the author makes. Naomi asks, how did you fare my daughter? And then what does Ruth do? She told her all that the man had done for her, saying these six measures of barley he gave me.
For he said to me, you must not go back into your mother-in-law. It's interesting that there isn't a specific measure, and it's not as if it wasn't last week when she was laid down with the 30 to 40 pounds of barley. Here's just six somethings given directly from the stores of the threshing floor. And then we note Naomi's response, which seems very much unlike what we know of Naomi so far.
Wait, she says. Wait, my daughter. I know you learned how the matter turns out for the man will not rest, but will settle the matter today. Here we have Gung Ho, plotting Naomi, advising patience, caution, and faith.
What happened? Are we seeing Naomi transformed here? Well, it seems that she's trusting that the Lord redeems, that the Lord is who he says he is, coming to see even in the law of God the goodness of God, his very heart to provide, to believe this to be true and to have faith in the Lord. This cold, hard heart begins to melt in the face of the Lord's loving kindness.
Naomi who returned to Bethlehem, Chastend, and bitter, toiling under God's providence, might even assume she's angry with him. She has no choice but to be subdued by the grace of God. So she trusts in him. How much more might we trust in the Lord?
Who have a greater kinsman, redeemer in Jesus Christ? Christopher Wright knows that there are three requirements for the kinsman to redeem or to redeem. First, he must be a member of the family, a kinsman. Second, he must be willing to redeem.
It must be a desire to. And third, he must be able to redeem, meaning he must have amends. It's a glorious thing to see that Jesus meets every one of these requirements. We might consider that great Christ, him, of Philippians chapter two, but have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form he humbled himself by being obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross, and therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name.
So that the name of Jesus, every knee, should bow, heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father. Wright concludes from this passage that Jesus meets every requirement to be our kinsman, redeemer. There's this provision of redemption we see on display in this passage. There's a longing for it, and we know this redemption fully and completely in Christ who is the son, who is the heir of all things, who rescues us and redeems us in all love and compassion bearing our sin and guilt upon the cross, and taking upon himself the very wrath and curse of God that we deserved, and by so granting us all righteousness, justifying us in the sight of God as we believe upon Christ, and taking us from that place of despair and sin and misery and exalting us with him in the resurrection and the ascension of Jesus.
Which our God redeems. Our God rescues. Our God restores. And we see this at play in the book of Ruth, but we see it most gloriously in Christ.
And friend, there is no situation, right? Not even while we were still sinners from which he cannot rescue us. If you're here this morning and your world has crashed around you, those walls have doubled in, and you feel like one of those Chilean miners. What you need to see from this passage is that the light breaks through, that God hasn't made your way in Christ.
And surely as we know that he has rescued us from the sure pits of hell, he will give us this day our daily bread. He will provide for us in all righteousness. He will lead us by way of faith. He will meet every one of our needs.
And so might we as well rejoice that in Christ we have a Redeemer. Praise God, let's pray. Oh God, we do thank you. Lord, that you have not left us, that you have not left us in the sin and misery of our first parents.
Oh, but that you have redeemed and rescued. We even see from the very beginning, you promised one that would come to crush the head of the servant. In Lord, we rejoice even this morning that you are God who does rescue and redeem, and we pray that you would increase our faith. Oh Lord, that we, like Ruth and Naomi might have our heads on a swivel and that we might behold the goodness of God at work and our lives.
You might lead us to trust in you and to rely upon you all the more that we might indeed counter blessings, even name them one by one. That we might rejoice in you for all that you've done for us. And so will we pray for your spirit to bless us, to be with us, to lead us. You might rejoice in you now.
I pray in those things in Jesus' name. Amen. I encourage you to take your bulletin, let's stand and sing. Our