Echoes of Time - Lesson 8 - Boaz & Ruth

The story told in the book of Ruth focuses on the lives of two women,
Naomi and Ruth,
and shows how God can turn sufferings into joy.

The story focuses on Naomi first.
When we are introduced to her,
she has a husband and two sons,
but they have lost everything because of a famine.

So, in desperation,
they leave their family property located near Bethlehem and go to Moab,
a neighboring country,
to try to find a way to make a living.

Things must have been pretty bad for Naomi's family
if they were willing to lose their family inheritance
in order to survive.

In Moab, Naomi's two sons found wives.
It looked like life was going to turn out okay,
even though they were not in their own country.

However, things went sour.
First Naomi's husband died,
leaving her without support except for what her sons could provide.
Then the two sons died,
leaving her at the mercies of her two
daughters-in-law and their families.

She must have felt very vulnerable,
being entirely dependent on the charity of people
that she was a stranger to.

Hearing that the famine had broken in Judah,
she decided to go back to Bethlehem,
and she encouraged her daughters-in-law to return to their families.

Ruth 1:15, ‘And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law.’

Do you use this type of reverse psychology on people to get what you want?





The second part of the story continues Naomi's story,
but the focus shifts to Ruth,
one of her daughters-in-law.

Ruth refuses to leave Naomi,
and returns with her to Judah,
where she now becomes a stranger in a strange land,
just as Naomi had been in Moab.

Things were at their absolute worst.
So, not only was Naomi completely at the mercies of peoples' good will,
without money or property,
and completely detached of her family,
except for Ruth.

She (Naomi) was also bitter,
and she attributed her misfortune to God's afflicting her life.

Ruth 1:20, ‘And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.’

Once again, possibly feeling sorry for herself to get attention?





Things were bad,
but life had to go on,
so Ruth volunteered to go gleaning in the fields.
Synonyms: garner, collect, pick up, gather, assemble,
bring together & scrape together

This practice was like a work-welfare program in that culture…

Deut. 24:19-22, ‘When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands. When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean [it] afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt: therefore I command thee to do this thing.’

People who were destitute would go to fields
that were being harvested and follow along,
at a respectful distance,
behind the harvesters and pick up the little bit
accidentally left behind.

Even though God had instructed his people to allow this practice as a kindness,
some people resented the poor getting even the little bit
they could pick up by gleaning.
So it must have been humiliating
and frightening to go to the fields.

The story begins its upward swing at this point.
Just when Naomi and Ruth are at the very bottom of their lives,
they keep walking in obedience to God,
and He begins to open doors.
First, she picks a field at random,
but it turns out to be the field of Boaz,
a kind man,
who was a close relative of Naomi.

Second, Naomi begins to have hope
that she will be able to get her land back.
God had made provision in the Law
for relatives to be able to buy back property
that had been sold in hard times …

Leviticus 25:23-28, ‘The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land [is] mine; for ye [are] strangers and sojourners with me. And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land. If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away [some] of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold. And if the man have none to redeem it, and himself be able to redeem it; Then let him count the years of the sale thereof, and restore the overplus unto the man to whom he sold it; that he may return unto his possession. But if he be not able to restore [it] to him, then that which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that hath bought it until the year of jubile: and in the jubile it shall go out, and he shall return unto his possession.’

This provision came to be known as the "law of the kinsman redeemer."
Boaz was a wealthy man,
and he was a relative (or kinsman),
so he could buy back Naomi's land for her if he wanted to,

But the law had also come to have an extra condition attached to it:
if there was a widow of the person who was the rightful heir of the land,
then the kinsman redeemer was to marry her
so that she could have children
and thereby keep the line of inheritance going.

So, not only would Boaz need to be generous enough to buy the land back
and give it to Naomi and Ruth (who was the widow of the rightful heir),
but he would have to marry Ruth so that she could have children.

This part of the story is very important,
because Jesus came through this line
as did David.
Matthew 1:3-6

As it turned out, Boaz did marry Ruth,
so Naomi and Ruth got their land back
and were provided for.

Furthermore, Ruth had a child with Boaz,
and she named him Obed.
Obed became the father of Jesse,
and Jesse the father of David,
and Jesus is from the line of David!

What do you think?
Did God have good in mind for Naomi and Ruth?
If He did, why did He allow them to fall into such desperate conditions?
Is God unloving when He allows such things to happen?
What can we learn from this story?
How a young woman’s life was enriched,
by her faithfulness and wise choice

Ruth 1:16, ‘And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:’

How a young woman’s life was enriched by humble industry

Ruth 2:2-3, ‘And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after [him] in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, Go, my daughter. And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field [belonging] unto Boaz, who [was] of the kindred of Elimelech.’

How a young woman’s life was enriched by accepting counsel from an older friend

Ruth 3:1-5, ‘Then Naomi her mother in law said unto her, My daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee? And now [is] not Boaz of our kindred, with whose maidens thou wast? Behold, he winnoweth barley to night in the threshingfloor. Wash thyself therefore, and anoint thee, and put thy raiment upon thee, and get thee down to the floor: [but] make not thyself known unto the man, until he shall have done eating and drinking. And it shall be, when he lieth down, that thou shalt mark the place where he shall lie, and thou shalt go in, and uncover his feet, and lay thee down; and he will tell thee what thou shalt do. And she said unto her, All that thou sayest unto me I will do.’

How a young woman’s life was enriched by a provincial alliance …

Ruth 4:10-11, ‘Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: ye [are] witnesses this day. And all the people that [were] in the gate, and the elders, said, [We are] witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem:’

A Spotless name

Ruth 3:11, ‘And now, my daughter, fear not; I will do to thee all that thou requirest: for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman.’

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