The Book of Ruth Part 8

[0:00] we're grateful to have the doors open grateful to have this congregation and Lord it's a privilege it's an absolute privilege to have this to be able to come to be able to have this liberty and freedom to do it but more than that to have this assembly and this is your doing we thank you for it we pray that this morning that we'd be a gracious one with another that we'd edify one another and a spirit of meekness and of love we pray that your words would speak truth to us and that your spirit would be able to reign in this building and in our hearts and Lord may the King James Bible be clear and may it teach us truth and Lord we thank you for this book and I thank you for these that have gotten up and come out to study it this morning so please make this time profitable and helpful and we pray this in Jesus name Amen so I'll pick it up back in verse 10 and come down through the context where Naomi has instructed Ruth to go to where Boaz is winnowing his barley at night in the threshing floor and he is there doing that and she's told to not make herself known to him until he's finished until everybody eats and then he lies down and typically speaking he's lying down he doesn't it wouldn't be normal for him to sleep there but because he has this heap of corn that's what the farmers do they lay there and they protect what's theirs from any intruders and thieves and so he's there alone and when everybody's gone then she shows up and lays at his feet uncovers his feet we talked about that last week and she makes herself known to him he's afraid initially because there's somebody there it's dark he's asleep and then there's somebody there and so this woman's laying there at his feet and she asks him to spread his skirt over her because he's a near kinsman so she's making it very obvious and plain what her intentions are with having him fulfill what the law described in raising up the seed unto the name of the dead and so now in verse number 10 and he said blessed art thou the Lord my daughter for thou hast showed more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning inasmuch as thou follow as not young men whether poor or rich and now my daughter fear not

[2:26] I will do to thee all that thou requirest for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman and so we kind of I'm sure it was near the very end last Sunday where we looked at this thought that she's a virtuous woman the only woman in the Bible that is called virtuous there's no other one and we looked at Proverbs chapter 31 which is probably where you think of initially about a virtuous woman and the statement in that chapter is who can find one who can find a virtuous woman and the answer is given of her value her price far above ruby it gives a description of her character and of her reputation but the statement is who can find such a woman and then we went to Ecclesiastes 7 and took a look at what Solomon who had a thousand women said one among a thousand among all these I have not found and then we ran to 1 Peter 3 and made some comments about the meek and quiet spirit and the role that God has given for the woman and you see this displayed in Ruth and she's not chasing after money and fame and she's not using her beauty externally we're presuming she has it she's got some youth for sure we're not seeing her behave in that manner she's gracious she's kind she's caring about somebody else she's devoting herself to Naomi and to caring for her leaving her father and mother and home and all of that and she displays such a great spirit she's hard working she works till even then she beats out what she gets she takes it back to Naomi she's just doing everything she's obedient she's compliant with the laws of the land and of the true God and she's not usurping or even attempting to do it her own way or the way or her customs one thing he didn't hear out of Ruth is well the way

[4:21] I used to do it the way we do it is this she's submissive so she's a virtuous woman alright we'll move forward then in verse 12 and now it is true I am thy near kinsman how be it there is a near kinsman nearer than I so he tells her to tarry this night it shall be in the morning that if he will perform unto thee the part of a kinsman well so he says in the morning so he's intending to take care of this right away the next day let him do the kinsman part but if he will not do the part of a kinsman to thee then will I then will I do the part of a kinsman to thee as the Lord liveth there's the vow the swearing by the Lord lie down until the morning alright so now we pick it up here I'm not sure if we got to this far or not so I will point this out I mentioned it already in verse 4 she lay at his feet until the morning and she rose up before one could know another and I pointed that out back when we were looking at the type of Ruth being a type of the church back in chapter 2 where she gleaned and then she went up into the city and here it says that she rose up before one could know another because this woman in typology is a mystery her presence is unseen and unknown by the servants of Boaz or what we'd call the Hebrews the Jews and so she's there she has a a special bond and relationship with Jesus Christ and then gets out of there before they ever really come back to him and the picture's pretty it's pretty cool it's all in this book in the very words of this book the typology just is is it's hidden but it's there and so verse number 14 he says this he says at the end let it not be known that a woman came into the floor now some speculate that Boaz is speaking to himself some speculate that he's speaking to the young men his reapers that would be showing up or that were there but I don't believe they're present at all

[6:26] I think he's just saying it in a in an indirect manner saying it to her like it's not a good idea if anybody finds out that a woman spent the night here you understand that I just think he's saying it like that to her although he speaks in that manner of let it not be known that a woman came into the floor so I think he's speaking to her I think it's just the two of them there verse number 15 and he said bring the veil that thou hast upon thee and hold it now a lot of the modern versions all change that word veil to a variety of words they change it to shawl they change it to cloak they change it to mantle to cape to covering to apron and those are just the six that I noticed why the change?

[7:15] is it because it wasn't a veil? is it because the veil is just too generic of a word we don't understand but it was really a mantle? did the word mantle change it? did it help it?

[7:26] did it reveal more truth? did cloak help? the answer is no no no it's just an opportunity to change a word because we have to make so many changes otherwise we can't have our copyright and if we can't have our copyright we can't sell our bible and so let's change a word and pretend like we helped it or made it easier to read which is nonsense through all of this so the word veil though is an interesting there's an interesting thing that as as I was trying to study this out and trying to find an answer to this and I'm not quick enough or I don't know I'm not capable of figuring this out on my own maybe maybe it's just a mystery but the word veil if you read through your bible you'll see it's spelled with an A and you'll see it's spelled with an E and I I looked up the references just quickly on the computer of both and I thought oh I bet it's because it's coming out of Hebrew and the one's coming out of Greek and I know that happens and so that's probably it

[8:26] I found out no that's not it because both the A and the E are in the Old Testament both the A and the E are in the New Testament and then I found that sometimes I thought okay it's probably speaking about something different for instance like a personal covering a woman might wear a veil and then maybe the veil of the tabernacle that was rent maybe that's like two different items two different things but no even that tabernacle veil was spelled in one case with an A another case with an E I thought now what's going on here well truth is I don't know what it is and maybe you'll never even perceive well now you're going to see it everywhere now that you're thinking on it you'll see it it just eludes me and there's probably a reason for it and those are the things that just get under my skin and I want to know why because I believe this book and I believe it's pure and I won't change or touch it and I want to know why there's certain things that the Lord just doesn't let me understand at least it may not mean anything or there may be something there

[9:27] I like to think there's something there but I don't know what it is yet alright verse 15 and he said bring the veil that thou hast upon thee and hold it and she held it when he measured six measures of barley and laid it on her and she went into the city now there's much debate over how much this actually was these six measures it's not told what the measurement was and some speculate it's this an ephah or something but then when you multiply it by six it's too heavy it's pretty much presumed it's too heavy for this woman to carry all the way back into the city so nobody knows to my knowledge nobody knows how much the measures were of barley that he laid on her but I think it's interesting to note that it says in verse 15 that he measured six measures of barley and laid it on her so he's securing it to her person some suggest it's on her head some suggest it was on her back or maybe over her shoulder where she carried it in this veil we don't know but he laid it on her he assisted her with it he lifted it up and put it on her or helped her and says hey are you got it you good you gonna be able to carry that is that good like that do you want me to change and she said nope I got it and she took off and that's what took place and what I think interesting here because we know that beyond just reading the story of Boaz and Ruth and what historically took place that night we're also seeing a picture of Jesus Christ and the church and when Jesus Christ lays something on her when he lays a burden or something of weight on her it's helping her it's barley it's to sustain her it's gonna carry her through for days and days and for Naomi it's a gift is what it is and it's a blessing but take your Bible and go to Matthew 23 and let's take a little contrast here to when religion lays something on you to when man lays something on you

[11:38] Jesus Christ said that my yoke is easy and my burden is light and he says take my yoke upon you and he's gonna be there with you to carry it however what man does with his religion as we see here with the Jews and the Pharisees and scribes Matthew 23 and verse 1 then spake Jesus to the multitude and to his disciples saying the scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat that's the seat of judgment all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe that observe and do but so they're supposed to be bidding you to observe the law the word of God what Moses said that you should follow the truth but do not ye after their works for they say and do not what do they do verse 4 they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be born and lay them on men's shoulders but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers now obviously they're not putting physical weights upon people they're putting rules and regulations and he goes on to describe some of that and that's man's religion is exactly what it is and instead of it helping it hurts it's a grief it's grievous to be born trying to fulfill man's burdens and man's mandates are it leads to frustration it leads to being something weary to be a burden to you it hurts instead of helps but the contrast is the Lord Jesus Christ here what Boaz did was he laid it on her but it was something that was a blessing it was something that was helping what Jesus Christ does is he feeds you he gives you something that will sustain you not weigh you down and be a burden to you

[13:41] Ruth wasn't going to carry that the rest of her life but that's the difference she was going to carry it for a short time and then use it and it was going to help her and it was going to sustain her man's religion says here take this and you're never going to be able to let it down you're going to have to fulfill this forever and hope that you're okay with God now back in Ruth 3 so he laid it on her and then in verse number 15 the Bible says and she went into the city does everybody see the end of verse 15 in your Bible everybody see the last couple words there look at it closely and just see what does it say and she went into the city I'm trusting that everybody's Bible says she now you might think okay big deal we've seen that all through this book whoop-dee well it is a big deal believe it or not it's a really big deal because there's a lot of fuss over the word she I'll bet you didn't know that and nor should you nor should you need to to get into some textual criticism and go digging up some Hebrew text to find out what this really is underlying in the verb that carries the pronoun but there it is a lot of fuss over the word she well what should it be some people say it should be he and it should say he went into the city because they teach that the Hebrew word that it was translated from says he and this is not something I really not really in my heart want to deal with in the amount of time it would take in a Sunday school hour but I want to spend some time on it because it's going to it's going to arrive at a conclusion that is going to be good for everybody it's going to force you to take a stand and you need to take a stand on something and have a belief and an understanding and so

[15:38] I'm going to do that with you this morning at this spot that he laid it on her and she went into the city now the idea here is that some of the first editions of this book printed in English in 1611 like 1611 first editions some of them said he went into the city others of them said she went into the city and it's easily presumed or to say well it was a typo it was a printer's error it should say she that was the case with most of the situation it was just cleared up by saying hey look they had one block in front of them per leaf and they handpicked each letter a n d space s h e space and doing it as quickly as possible because they've got a lot to do and there's other printers involved and we you know by the word of the king requires haste and there was these early editions were riddled with printers errors riddled with them not with translation errors printers errors all of which was cleaned up over and over one case was where the new testament says jesus the printer put judas like judas iscariot and that bible's got a nickname there's others there's several others there's some pretty almost comical mistakes that have been made in the printing in that early time now the she versus the he editions came out some of them were corrected quickly to say she and that was the end but others said no he is the original and the correct from the

[17:20] Hebrew and therefore the she's should be corrected to he's now this might sound like modern talk here about he and she and being confused but that's not the real issue here what we're talking about is not a gender identity problem but we're talking about whether or not the word should be translated he or whether it should be translated she and do you have the correct reading in your bible now there's a bigger issue though with all of this and that's the reason we're going to take the time on this I want to read something to you that a man wrote an article and it's about the he or she saying it's a gender mismatch thing in the King James Bible and so try to follow along try to get the idea here of what the problem is and I think it'll be helpful to you here he says what if an English Bible translation translated a Hebrew word meaning he as she does it sound odd well it's been done and not in some newfangled gender neutral bible

[18:21] I'm talking about the King James version advocates advocates of the King James only ism have a gender problem on their hands so he's telling me I have a gender problem in my book I have an error okay he discusses now he uses to call people that believe the King James Bible aka modern day what we call ourselves Bible believers what he calls us is King James only crowd and he uses some men that I would not line up with their stance so understand that but here's what he says your typical expression of King James version only bibliology expresses faith in the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Old Testament so that's the underlying Hebrew which everybody for the most part says that's fine that's the standard this is what we will translate from into English for the most part everybody follows that at least definitely the King James Bible did okay so he said they express faith in that text as their where they translate from and here's a statement from a

[19:26] Ambassador Baptist College doctrinal statement they say we believe in the preservation of God's word through the Hebrew Masoretic text and the Greek textus receptus so we believe this book is right because it came from the right manuscripts and so then the Dean Burgeon Society says some of the very similar things and I won't bore you with all the wording but in the end he points to the Hebrew Masoretic text he points to the Greek textus or received text to say that's where we get our Bible from all right and therefore he says I will accept this oh wait no David Cloud I forgot him David Cloud where's he at he again same thing Hebrew Greek because of those good texts that's where we get our Bible from and if you're calling me a King James only person it's because I believe that God has infallibly preserved his scripture in the original Greek and Hebrew writings through the

[20:28] Masoretic Hebrew and the received text in Greek and we have a beautiful translation of it in English in the authorized version and if that's what you mean then call me King James only is what he says so the Masoretic text is a textual form of the Old Testament it's the underlying text of the King James Bible it's the standard so what happens when these two differ the Hebrew and the English of our Bible what happens when they differ what happens when the King James version differs from the Masoretic text who is right great question most people will teach you they don't differ and they'll pretend this is a replication this is an accurate rendition or translation of the Hebrew it's an accurate translation of the textus receptus that's what they believe that's what they're taught and they've never they don't even know what they're talking about to tell you the truth so then here's a dilemma Ruth chapter 3 verse 15 case in point where the

[21:30] Hebrew or where the King James version says she went into the city the Masoretic text in the Hebrew says he went into the city and it talks about the Hebrew verb forms and it explains why it says that and it's true it says that no one disputes that but that's not what the King James version says so instead she went into the city 1611 editions some of them said he went into the city and they're saying because they translated it faithfully others say no it was just a mistake in the printing so those who believe the King James version is preserved in the Masoretic text have a disagreement between their translation and its parent text if they truly believe the Masoretic text is authoritative they should want to change their English translation to match it if they truly believe their English translation supersedes the Masoretic text then they have to ignore the

[22:32] Hebrew text that is translated from you see the problem now here's where the conclusion comes from his point of view perspective or perceptive readers may note that some modern translation opt for she went and some opt for he went he described saying there's some Hebrew manuscripts that they found that match either reading some say he some say she but the Masoretic text that everybody falls in love with and says the King James comes from says he his point is not about textual criticism the author says it's about where your loyalties lie should a Christian give primacy to an English translation or to the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts and that's where he ends this just kind of leaves you with this hanger where do your loyalties lie should you believe that it's in the Hebrew or should you in Greek or should you believe that it's in the English that's in your hands and especially the cases where they differ and that's not the only place where they differ now

[23:33] I'm going through all of this just to introduce this dilemma to you to force you to take a position not where your quote unquote loyalties lie but where your faith lies where your faith stands and the point is pretty easy most Bible colleges most Bible teachers most Bible scholars most everybody even especially in our conservative realm will defer to the Hebrew and to the Greek as their authority I'm not just talking about some liberal places that want to change and take on NIVs I'm talking about places that say the King James version is the best translation out there because it came from the Hebrew and the Greek that we love that's really their position it's an intellectual approach and it's a safe one to a degree but what it displays is where your faith lies most of them their faith lies in the Masoretic text of the Hebrew or in the received text of the New Testament the Greek and what I believe is you're wasting your time studying those things and you're deceiving people and you're misleading your congregations and your students and why do I say that because the

[24:42] Masoretic text is not the quote unquote original Hebrew that Moses wrote down it's a copy of a copy and their faith lies in that same with the Greek text if you get studying the Greek text that we have there is no there was never a collection of all of the Greek how do I say this there's so many editions in the what conservative Bible teachers believed to be the Greek received the right text that our King James Bible comes from there's so many editions and not one of those editions read identical I got into it I had a young man I went to a Bible college and he came out and he he believed the King James Bible is the word of God and he got discussing it and he revealed that his position was because it comes from the Hebrew Masoretic text it comes from the textus receptus and I said so is the textus receptus they call them

[25:45] TR men is the textus receptus the Greek text which you put your faith in is that your authority he's like no no I believe the King James Bible I said well what about where it differs and he just looked at me like what because he wasn't taught ever that the King James Bible differs from the quote unquote textus receptus as it does here from the Masoretic text he was never taught that why not because it's easy just to say it came from these and the other ones came from the other ones and we have the truth from this one and never really challenge it because they never really force you to decide where your faith lies does your faith lie in the text that you can hold in your hands or does it lie in what you believe it was translated from and you were taught that that's perfect and that was preserved perfectly but what you never hear is this one doesn't match that one and now you might have errors in your Bible if you believe the

[26:46] Greek and Hebrew is the right ones case in point Hebrews are Ruth three and there's several others so my question to you is where does your faith lie does it lie in the book in your hands or does it lie in some manuscript it was translated from another man writes this why is there such a discrepancy here why do the versions differ on their translations the reason is that several Hebrew manuscripts have the masculine form he went back to the city while others have the feminine form she went in the city in addition the feminine reading is supported he talks about where it supported from and so declare both masculine and feminine he or she if we say our allegiance is in the Masoretic text then we have a problem with the text in front of us and so my loyalty and my faith is not in the Masoretic text my faith is in the book on this pulpit right here in she my faith is in the book that

[27:46] God gave me the King James Bible I'm not you can say what you want it sounds to me like faith and the bottom line is your faith is in something something that you cannot prove that's the truth challenge any professor any teacher of the Bible anyone challenge him to display and declare what his faith of the Bible lies in and he will not be able to put something in your hands that is pure in the sense that it goes all the way back to the original he can't do it there's a big gap there so his faith lies in what he says this was translated from but he can't prove that that came from the original or that it matches the original in either Hebrew or Greek either one and it's like the Lord demands faith you understand that right without faith it's impossible to please him the

[28:46] Lord doesn't to force you to show where your faith is now all of that just to get to the point there that my faith lies in the King James Bible that I have right in front of me and I don't need anything else and if I believe that it was translated from the correct manuscripts I do for the most part but I know that there's issues there too and so where my faith God gave you and it's truth it opens itself up you'll get understanding you'll get light God when you exercise doubt and skepticism you're closing the door and so I'll just stick with this and let God shine through his book alright let's move on verse number 16 it says you know well never mind verse 16 and when she came to her mother-in-law notice it says she came when she came so verse 15 ends and she went into the city and when she came to her and when she came that and conjunction connects the continuing action of

[30:08] Ruth the context seems very clear that we're not referring to Boaz going to the city at all and context is your greatest friend in assuring that you've got the correct reading here especially when you have two contradicting authorities or manuscripts to be reading from or to decipher the context is clear it's referring to Ruth and she went into the city and when she came to her mother in law she said who art thou my daughter now that's Naomi talking to Ruth who art thou my daughter and that kind of odd that she'd asked that you'd presume that Naomi knows who Ruth is and some suggest that well she's asking the question in a tone that's suggesting did he receive you are you his wife that kind of a thought and that that's sound for some but it's not for me and the reason is because Naomi knows that this man has to do the work of redemption he has to go to the elders of the city he has to deal with all the business public process of this that hasn't happened yet and she said to him he'll tell you what to do and so when she shows up the next morning early in the morning

[31:28] I don't think she's saying so did it because she would know that all of that hadn't taken place yet so then what is she saying when she says who art thou my daughter well I just think it's a generic like it's maybe early in the morning she left before one could know another and maybe it's still dark maybe it's not but it's early enough in the morning that you don't expect somebody to be knocking on your door or showing up like that and you think she would have walked right in I think she might be carrying say six measures of barley and maybe she was kicking the door and saying hey are you up Naomi now whatever the case is I think her question is just a closed door no peephole saying who art thou my daughter some say well she says my daughter so she knows it's Ruth right no it's just that Hebrew form of speaking to someone younger than you Boaz does it in the same chapter look at verse number 10 when she is there at his feet that night in verse 10 he said blessed be thou of the

[32:28] Lord my daughter and now my daughter fear not Boaz is an older man she is a younger woman that's the way they talk to each other you see that back in that it's just that Hebrew ism not really anything to do with her recognizing Ruth is there that's why I called her daughter no everybody did that to a younger woman so anyway that I think it's I don't suppose that she's insinuating that they were married that the night before and that everything went that direction I don't think she's asking if you're his wife already okay she told her and she said these six measures of barley gave he me for he said to me go not empty unto thy mother in law and you know what we get we get a popular idiom into our language today from our

[33:29] King James Bible where you say don't show up empty handed that's almost taboo don't show up well comes right out of this book go figure one of many verse 18 then she said sit still my daughter until thou know how the matter will fall for the man will not be in rest until he have finished the thing this day now what is the thing that he's going to finish he is going to handle the business of redeeming her of taking care of the legal business that he could take her legally to be his wife and that business has to take place with several elders with the man that's closer nearer kinsman than he is and so there's something that has to take place he will not be in rest until he finished the thing this day in John chapter 19 speaking of typology here and how Boaz is a picture of Jesus Christ when Jesus cried out from the cross it is finished do you know what he finished that day he finished in what his business that he's going to take care of for this woman it pictures the

[34:42] Lord Jesus Christ finishing paying the required price in full for our sins to be bought to be bought back and covered and accepted by a holy God now Boaz is about I'll just say one thing we'll quit a little early here especially since we have some other things going on today in chapter four notice the very beginning of the verse then went Boaz up to the gate and I'm tying this back to this question of the he or the she then went Boaz so I want to back up and let your Bible just be as perfectly pure and clear about this as all that's necessary and then the verse 15 it says and she went into the city and when these are time elements and when she came to her mother in law she went to the city and when she came to her mother in law blah blah blah blah blah blah Boaz didn't go anywhere if it would say and he went into the city then you've got then Boaz went up to the gate so he went into the city early in the morning before business had really opened and nothing is really described there he left the heap of corn with nobody there if we're going to presume that it's he now he did go up to the city but it wasn't until later because chapter 4 verse 1 says then went

[36:05] Boaz he went she went in verse 15 and he went in chapter 4 and verse 1 and the Bible shows you where everybody's going when and where so no need to be misled by some arguing over some old manuscripts or some what I believe are printers errors or even if it was well I can't say that so there's really no need to argue over the context right there in our Bible preaches what the truth is about the whole situation and I know spending all that time on it this morning is a little bit like okay how are we going to use that well you don't have to use that except to know that there's a war being waged against your Bible you can find one error in it then where where's the next one and where's the next one and then God's a liar because he didn't preserve his words and they're not pure and he left you hanging he gave you something and then he took it away or he gave you something and then just left it die off at the hands of man and now you don't know if you have

[37:18] God's word now you don't know if you can trust this book and believe this book and stand on it and declare it and live by it because it might be you to stand on the book you don't need me and you don't need any internet resource you don't need any scholar you just need a Bible and the Holy Spirit of God and he'll preserve he'll preach he'll teach his words to you and bear witness to the truth so next week we'll pick it up at chapter 4 and let's take a break for about 15 minutes until then until then