Flight RUT01 Part 3

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Skip Heitzig: Now, in verse 11, Boaz answered and said to her, "It has been fully reported to me all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband and how you left your father and mother in the land of your birth, and you have come to a people whom you did not know before. Your reputation precedes you. I've heard of your kindness. You're the talk around town. Your attitude, your commitment. The Lord repay your work and a full reward." It's one of my favorite verses in scripture, certainly in this book. A full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge. You've lost it all. You didn't go back home and take refuge at your parents' house. You took the risk. You took the step of faith. You went into a new land, a new God. But you have come under the care, the covenant care, and the word he uses is or is used in the sentence here is Yahweh. The word Lord, notice it's capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. Whenever you find that in the Old Testament, that capital Lord is a reflection of the Hebrew tetragrammaton for consonant Yahweh or w h y h or v h Yahweh. It's the covenant name of God. You've left home. You've come under the the shelter, the shadow, the protection of Yahweh, the God of Israel. Boaz heard about her spiritual commitment. Boaz heard how at that little Y in the road when Orpah went back home, Ruth said, "Where you go, I will go. Where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people will be my people. Your God will be my God." And he thought that is an awesome woman. She is a converted woman. She's a Gentile who comes under the covenant of the Jewish God. In verse 15, she's out. Boaz in the meantime says stay for lunch, gives her parched grain. She has a nice big lunch. Verse 15, "When she rose up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men saying, 'Let her glean even among the sheaves and do not reproach her.' Also let grain from the bundles fall purposely for her. Leave it that she may glean and do not rebuke her." So, hey, this gal is going to tag along out in the fields and she's going to glean like the poor people do. If she wanders out into other fields, don't yell at her. In fact, throw out a little bundle from time to time on the road as a little extra. So she'll come by and go, "Wow, look what I happened to find." Awesome. Give her a little extra. Give her abundance. So she goes home, tells Naomi. Naomi, mother-in-law, hears about this and encourages the process. Verse 20, then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, "Hallelujah." Didn't say that, but that's the NSV, the new Skip version. It's almost though. "Blessed be the Lord. Praise the Lord who has not forsaken his kindness to the living and the dead." And Naomi said to her, "This man is a relation of ours, one of our goel." Is the Hebrew word close relatives, kinsman redeemer. That's the word goel, kinsman redeemer, close relative. So I love this about Naomi. She's totally in for this. She kind of sees what's happening. The dominoes are getting set up. And she encourages the process that she's going to tell her daughter-in-law to go after this guy. Which I like because she could have said, "You know, you'll never find another man like my son was a good husband to you. None of that stuff." She encourages a second chance. Now there's an undercurrent theme I mentioned at the very beginning of this book. I want to bring it up again. And that's the idea of God's providence. God's providence once again is God using natural events to affect a supernatural outcome. He arranges events. They seem to you like it just happened, but it didn't. See, I look back and I think, you know, it just happened that I was invited one night to my ex-girlfriend's apartment for a potluck. And it just happened that when I went, there was a girl who happened to be there named Lanya. And we happened to strike up a conversation. And then it just happened that I had a friend of mine who said, "I'm going to move to Albuquerque." And I happened to say, "Why?" And he happened to say, "You ought to come with me." And all those little happen stances became the will of God unfolded. And you don't see it at the time. You see it looking back, right? Go, "Wow, if I wouldn't have met that person, if that person wouldn't have said that, if I wouldn't have gotten into that wreck and that little fender bender, I wouldn't have met so and so, that wouldn't have happened." So that's providence. It's not miraculous. In a miracle, God intervenes in natural law, right? And and a miracle is the intervention and superimposition of supernatural over natural law. That's a miracle. Providence as God uses natural events, natural circumstances, natural law. The word providence, our word, comes from the Latin word provideo. Provideo comes from two Latin words, pro which means before, video means to see, video. So provideo, providence means to see it in advance, to to see something beforehand. God sees your whole life and knew your whole life before you were ever born. You're just discovering what he saw in the beginning. You don't know it. Things are just happening to you. They're programmed and planned by God. That's providence. He arranges the natural to affect the supernatural. So so, for example, uh notice the providence, the timing of this. It says back in chapter one, it was the beginning of the barley harvest. Now, Naomi and Ruth come back as poor people. God's laws uh to care for the poor is that you go out and glean. So now it puts poor people and professional landowners in the same field at the same time. Timing was perfect. The place was perfect. She just happened to glean in the field of Boaz. There's a lot of fields in Bethlehem as I said. By the way, Bethlehem is a Hebrew name that we talk a lot about around Christmas. A lot of people don't know that the Hebrew word for bread is lechem. Lechem is bread. Beit is house or place. So Beit Lechem, Bethlehem, actually means the house or the place of bread. It why? Because it was it's terraced and it was called the bread basket of Judah. It's where lots of farmers had lots of crops and Boaz happened to be one of those where Ruth just happened to be gleaning. So it was the right timing and it was the right place. As it says in chapter two, she happened to come to a part of the field belonging to Boaz. Chapter three, we come to Love's Request. Now this is this is sort of the heart of the romance of this story. Um Naomi is sort of so stoked. She she's being the matchmaker here. You ever see the movie Fiddler on the Roof? So at this point in the book of Ruth comes the song Matchmaker, Matchmaker, make me a match. Find me a find. Catch me a catch. You know the rest. Matchmaker, Matchmaker, look look in your book. And perfect match. Why am I singing to you on Wednesday night? I have no clue. So Naomi becomes the matchmaker, but really really, God's the matchmaker. It's a match made in heaven. God had all of this planned. Verse one, Naomi, her mother-in-law said, "My daughter, shall I not seek security for you that it may be well with you?" Now Boaz, whose young women you were with, is he not our goel, relative, kinsman redeemer? In fact, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. Winnowing is where you take the grain, throw it in the air in the late afternoon, early evening, the wind comes, takes the chaff away. Uh the the meat of the grain falls to the ground. That's how they would winnow. Therefore, wash yourself and anoint yourself, put on the best garment, go down to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. Naomi was practical. You know what she's saying to her daughter-in-law, right? Look like a million bucks. Look like a knockout. Put perfume on, get the best dress, do your hair just right, makeup. I mean, make him go, "Wow." Cuz he already said, "Who's this chick? Wait till he sees you tonight." Then it shall be when he lies down that you shall notice the place where he lies and you shall go in, uncover his feet and lie down. That sounds weird to us. I'll tell you about that in a moment. And he will tell you what you should do. Go down to verse nine. She goes, they're winnowing. He's done. He goes down to sleep along with all the other winnowers. It's nighttime. She lies down. He feels senses somebody's down there at his feet. And he goes, "Who are you? Like what are you doing at my feet? So you're smelling my feet or what what? Who are you?" So she answered, "I am Ruth, your maidservant." Now listen to this. "Take your maidservant under your wing for you are a close relative." She's proposing to him. She's popping the question. Marry me. Because they're poor, they have to sell the land that belonged to a limmalek. And according to the laws of the Old Testament, the only way that land can remain in the family is a close relative has to buy it back, has to redeem it.
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Skip Heitzig: But there was also a law in the Old Testament that if a a man and a woman marry and the husband dies without giving a a male offspring to his wife, then the brother of the dead husband has to go into that woman and produce an heir. It was a way to keep the family lineage going. Again, that 's an odd kind of a law to our ears today. But she is proposing to him. She is saying, "Take me under your covering. Cover me over with your protection." She's asking for lifelong protection. So she's she's asking the question. It was like a Sadie Hawkins thing, but but it worked. Then he said, "Blessed are you of the Lord, my daughter, for you have shown more kindness in the end than at the beginning and that you did not go after young men, whether rich or poor." Boaz is probably around 45 to 50 years of age. She's much younger, 25 30, half his age. He rightfully calls her my daughter cuz she's at that age. He he was a contemporary, remember, with Naomi and Elimelech. "And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you request. For all the people of my town know that you are a virtuous woman. Now it is true that I am a close relative. However, there is a relative closer than I. Stay this night, verse 13. Stay this night. In the morning, it shall be if he will perform the duty of a close relative for you, good, let him do it. If he does not want to perform the duty for you, then I will perform the duty for you as the Lord lives. Lie down until morning." Nothing immoral is going on. He's simply saying, "I accept. I will be your covering. I will be your protection." So the garment is symbolic of an intent. Chapter four, the last little chapter. This is Love's Reward. Now Boaz went to the gate and sat down there and behold, the close relative of whom Boaz had spoken came by. And Boaz said, "Come aside, friend. Sit out." So this is the guy who has the first right of refusal, the closer kinsman who could redeem the land for the family and marry Ruth. So he says, "Come here. Sit out. Let's talk." Courts the courtroom was the gate of the city. It's where all the legal proceedings took place. It's where all the business took place. It's where all the news was disseminated. So they're at the gate, this open large enclosure at the entrance to the city. And he took 10 men of the elders of the city and said, "Sit down here." So they sat out. They're going like, "What's up?" Then he said to the close relative, "Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, sold a piece of land which belonged to our brother Elimelech. And I thought to inform you saying, buy it back in the presence of the inhabitants, the elders of my people. If you will redeem it or buy it back, redeem it. If you will not redeem it, then tell me that I may know. For there is no one but you to redeem it. And I am next after you." Okay, really quickly. When Jewish people had a piece of property, they had a title deed. If they lost the property or had to sell the property, there was a title deed, a scroll that was kept by the seller and one that was sort of for public records for the buyer. So the buyer and the seller had access to the deed. So the deed was a scroll sealed with wax seals. On the inside, sometimes even on the outside, were written the stipulations of the of the transaction. Okay. Now for somebody to redeem that land that would be lost, there were qualifications. Number one, you had to be related, a goel, a kinsman redeemer. Number two, you had to be willing to do it like, yeah, I want that. I want to expand my boundaries, get more land. And number three, you had to be able. You had to have the money. So you got to be related, willing, able. So Boaz said, "On the day that you buy the field, verse five, from the hand of Naomi, you must also buy it from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance." Now notice how slick Boaz is. He goes, "Hey, man, there's some land in the family. Do you want it?" "Yeah." "Okay, but there's a catch. The catch is if you get the land, you get the chick. You got to marry her." Now she was obviously very beautiful woman, but notice this. And the close relative said, "I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I ruin my own inheritance." In other words, I married with kids. We've already got this thing going on. I'm not going to mess this one up. Down in verse nine, Boaz said to the elders and all the people, "You are witnesses this day that I have brought all that was Elimelech's, that I have purchased, bought all that was Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's. Um Sico and Crybaby's land as well from the hand of Naomi. Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, I have acquired as my wife to perpetuate the name of the dead throughout his inheritance that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among the brethren. And from his position at the gate, you are witnesses this day." So Boaz took Ruth. She became his wife. And he went into her and the Lord gave her conception and she bore a son. Verse 17, they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David. Now begins the royal line. This is important because King David will be mentioned, highlighted, become the seminal king. Now have you ever seen a person and when you look at the person, you go, that person reminds me of somebody. You've had that experience, right? I I I have had people come up to me and say, you you remind me of somebody. I had somebody come up to me recently go, you remind me of somebody. He's a preacher. So well, I'm reminding you of me. You probably remember the younger me. This is the older me. But I say, no, no, no, no, I I know you remind me of my brother or you remind me of my uncle or or something. When I look at Boaz, I think you remind me of somebody named Jesus. Because what he does with Ruth and with this land is a picture of what Jesus Christ will do. The goel, the kinsman redeemer, is one of the clearest pictures of Jesus in the Bible, a bridegroom who buys a Gentile bride and prepares that Gentile to be his wife. The Gentile bride is the church. Jesus gave a parable in which he said the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field which a man found and hid and for the joy over it, he goes and sells all that he has and he buys the field. Real quickly, fast forward to the ultimate real estate transaction in history, Revelation chapter five. You don't have to turn there, but in Revelation chapter five, John sees the scroll in the right hand of him who sat on the throne, written on the inside and on the outside, sealed with seven seals. And somebody said, "Who is worthy to take the scroll and unloose the seals?" And nobody came forth. So John said, "I wept much." Why did he weep? Because he realized what is being held is the title deed to the earth. The title deed to the earth that was lost when Adam gave it away essentially at the fall to Satan, the usurper, who became the God of this world, the prince of the power of the air. And nobody came forward to redeem it. And so he wept much. Revelation chapter five is what we call or what you would call if you're in the real estate business, the closing. Where Jesus at the end comes to fully redeem the earth. He redeemed by his own blood. He is the kinsman who was related, right? He's that's the first qualification. He was related. He He The word became flesh and dwelt among us. So first qualification, he's related to us. That's why there was an incarnation. Jesus became a man, flesh and blood, because now he's related to us as the goel. He was willing to do it. Second qualification, he says nobody takes my life from me. I lay it down of myself. I have the power to lay it down and take it again. So he's willing to do it. And third, he was able to do it. He had what it took to pay for it. What did he What did he use for his payment? Blood. Paul said, "Feed the flock of God which he purchased with his own blood." Jesus Christ, related, willing, and able, steps forward and takes the scroll from God the Father on the throne. And that is the picture of what goes on during that tribulation period and ends when Jesus comes back to rule and reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords over the field from which he purchased the bride, the bride of Christ, the church. So yeah, it's great great great story. What's amazing is that the book of Ruth takes place during the time of the judges, which were such dark days and in the midst of such dark days, such a beautiful love story occurs. Here's the parallel. We live in a dark day and age. But behind the scenes, God is all about preparing a bride, the church. And everyone who says yes Jesus, yes Lord, I give myself to you. I surrender myself to you. Becomes part of that great company, the bride of Christ. Comprised of Jew and Gentile, largely Gentile, that he calls out to become his own that will enjoy that inheritance forever.
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