Book of Ruth

[0:00] And we are going to begin chapter 4 this morning.

[0:16] Four short chapters of a short and sweet story, but it contains much more than the eye perceives in reading through.

[0:27] So, Ruth chapter 4. And so we'll kind of dive right in to some stuff that I've almost kind of taken for granted in the story that you know or are familiar enough with.

[0:53] And today we're going to make sure that we know what's going on here. Because if you've read the story, and I'm not going to read the chapter first. We're just going to spend time on this teaching and this concept.

[1:09] But if you've read the story, you know the book of Ruth. There's some weird things that go on here in this last chapter. Weird to us, culturally speaking. I mean, taking off your shoe and what in the world is that?

[1:21] Elsewhere we'll see that they're supposed to spit in the man's face. What's that all about? There's some customs in Israel that we are unfamiliar with in our culture. Now, if you read your Bible through, you read it.

[1:34] You hit these things. You hit these things. And maybe in your mind you have it together. But that may not be the case. And since we're covering this material in detail in Sunday school, I'm going to spend some time trying to discuss and reveal why this is taking place.

[1:51] Why Boaz is going to gather elders together and why they're going to sit down and have a discussion and do this kind of business meeting in the gate of the city. And what all this is about with this redeeming this woman or this land, this parcel of land that was Elimelech.

[2:08] And what's the whole point of it? Is it just, you know, getting a hold of some property? Is it a business deal? And so we're going to kind of try to understand that a little bit.

[2:18] At the end of chapter 3, you see in verse 18, the very last thing that Naomi says to Ruth is that the man will not be in rest until he have finished the thing this day.

[2:32] Now, we made comment last week about the type of Jesus Christ finishing the work that he came to finish and how he finished paying the price of redemption to redeem the church.

[2:46] And that's the typology there. But what is exactly the thing that this man Boaz is going to be going after that day? And so now we're going to take a look at that. We're going to need to study the Bible a bit to really understand this whole concept of what's taking place here.

[3:01] And I want to point out to you, as much as you might kind of lean this way, it's not a love story that you might suppose. And the reason this kind of gets propped up with women or women's Bible studies is if it's some beautiful love story.

[3:13] It's not. It's not. Boaz is not. Matter of fact, the word love shows up one time in the book. And it's about a love that Ruth has for Naomi, her mother-in-law, and how she was a selfless and virtuous woman.

[3:27] And so it's not a love story between Boaz and Ruth necessarily. But there's a lawful expectation. When I say law, I'm talking about Moses' law, what's been written in the Holy Scriptures, what God has commanded for his people, how they are to maintain their relationships and their families and the land and the laws that God put on them for their land.

[3:54] And there's a lawful expectation that is placed upon Boaz or first another man that we don't know his name, the nearest of kin.

[4:04] And then Boaz would follow to him in the line. And he has a duty that's to be performed and a reason for it. And so I want to teach this whole concept from the Bible so that you understand it.

[4:18] Like I said, you may have read these things, but we're going to put all the pieces together so that when we're studying the book of Ruth, you're not just like, well, what's that all about? So let's know what this is about. So come back to Numbers chapter 26.

[4:34] And let's cover a few bases back here first. There are some laws, like I mentioned, that God has established for the land in regards to property, in regards to inheritances of his people when they go inside the land and conquer it.

[4:52] And so we'll kind of try to put a few of these pieces together to make sense of what's actually taking place when we're reading Boaz in the book of Ruth. Numbers 26 and all the way to the end or near the end.

[5:07] Let's start in 52. Numbers 26 and verse 52. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, unto these.

[5:22] And now he's talking about he's numbered these people. All this new generation that's about to go into the land. The old generation has passed away. And unto these the land shall be divided for an inheritance according to the number of names.

[5:38] To many thou shalt give the more inheritance. And to few thou shalt give the less inheritance. To every one shall his inheritance be given according to those that were numbered of him.

[5:51] Notwithstanding, the land shall be divided by lot. According to the names of the tribes of their fathers they shall inherit. According to the lot shall the possession thereof be divided between many and few.

[6:04] So of the tribes some were larger some were smaller. The larger were going to get bigger parcels or inheritance or lots of land. And to the smaller they were going to get less land.

[6:17] Within that tribe the land was to be divided by the families. According to the number of families. However many there were.

[6:28] All right let's move forward to Numbers 27. Now when you get to read them crossing over Jordan and going into the land. You read in the book of Joshua. It gives the details of the specific lots that each tribe got.

[6:44] It shows you what Issachar got. It shows you what Zebulah got. It shows you what Dan received as an inheritance. It shows you specific families within those tribes receiving land.

[6:55] Now chapter 27 look at verse number 5. There's a case here where there's a man. He's mentioned in verse 1 called Zelophehad. Or it's actually I looked it up.

[7:08] Zelophehad. Zelophehad. I forget. And this man does not have any sons. He only has daughters. He's of the tribe of Manasseh. And his daughters go to Moses and say Moses.

[7:20] We're about to go into this land. But we're not going to get anything. Because our father died. But he did not die a bad death. Like they mentioned in number 3. At verse 4. Look at verse 4.

[7:31] They say to Moses. Why should the name of our father be done away from among his family? Because he hath no son. Give unto us therefore a possession among the brethren of our father.

[7:42] Moses brought their cause before the Lord. Because he didn't know what to do about it. And the Lord spake unto Moses saying. The daughters of Zelophehad speak right. Thou shalt surely give them a possession of the inheritance among their father's brethren.

[7:55] And thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them. And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel saying. If a man die and have no son. Then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter.

[8:08] And if he have no daughter. Then ye shall give his inheritance unto his brethren. So his own brothers. But if he have no brethren. Then ye shall give his inheritance unto his father's brethren.

[8:20] That would be his uncles. And if his father have no brethren. Then ye shall give his inheritance unto his kinsmen. That is next to him of his family. And he shall possess it. And it shall be unto the children of Israel.

[8:32] A statute of judgment. As the Lord commanded Moses. So there had to be a little clarification. Because things arise. And God gives him the clarification. And how that land.

[8:42] That possession. That inheritance. Stays within the family. And if there's nobody close. It's got to find the next one to keep it close. Now there's more. All right.

[8:52] Look at chapter. Go back to Leviticus. Back to your left. Leviticus. And find chapter 25. The land stayed in a family.

[9:03] And it stayed as near as possible to the deceased. It didn't go up for auction. Leviticus 25.

[9:19] And here's a really. This is a wild thing here that God set up. I don't know how familiar you are with the year of Jubilee. And just to give you.

[9:29] You could read this chapter. It'll break it down for you. But to give you a little glimpse. The Lord divides things by seven. And he tells them. You can sow in your land.

[9:40] And reap a harvest. Six years. But the seventh year. You're not to do it. The seventh year is a Sabbath. And there's a set there. There's six and one is seven. But then on top of that.

[9:51] He says. You can do seven sets of that. Which makes 49 years. And on the 50th year. Is a year of Jubilee. And God has some special things for that year of Jubilee.

[10:03] One thing. One specific thing that we're looking at here. In regards to land. Is if somebody sells their inheritance. Or if they even sell themselves as a servant.

[10:14] Because they have no money. And they have a debt to pay. And I'll serve you. When that Jubilee hit. When that 50th year hit. All bets are off. Everything reverts back to the way it originally was.

[10:26] This is really wild. And man. Could you imagine implementing that into our society? Things would really shift and change. Dramatically. But what God did. Was he made sure.

[10:37] That the land stayed within the tribes. And that nobody. Through hard times. Or sicknesses. Or bad things going down in life. Nobody.

[10:48] Ended up at the bottom of the barrel for long. Because they got their place back. Now. I'm not going to read the entirety of all of this. But. Here's a case.

[11:00] That I'll point out. Just while we're talking about it. Well. No. We won't. You can read that on your own. Bible reading. Look at verse. In regards to the land.

[11:10] Look at verse 23. Leviticus 25. 23. The land shall not be sold. Forever.

[11:21] What does that mean? It means it's going to. It's going to revert back to the original owner. You will not make a sale. And it's permanent. And fixed. It'll only be good until. That 50th year.

[11:31] And so earlier in the chapter. Just to. Help you understand the whole system. Earlier in the chapter. He says. When you're making a sale here. Or when you're. Whatever it would be. If it's land. Or a house.

[11:42] Or a servant. You. You. You. Prorate. The sale. By where you are. In these 50 year. Increments. If you're close to 50 years. You're only going to get the land.

[11:53] For a short time. So you sell it. You prorate the land. You understand that. That's. That's understandable. That's mentioned back in 14. 15. 16. Somewhere in there. So. The land. Shall not be sold forever.

[12:04] Why? Because God says. The land is. Mine. It's mine. It's not Ruben's. It's mine. It's not Jacob's. It's not Abraham's.

[12:14] The land God said. Is his. And let that apply. To. Today. And let the Bible be clear. God didn't change his mind. On that. Verse number 23. For ye are strangers.

[12:25] And sojourners. With me. And in all the land. Of your possession. Ye shall grant a redemption. For the land. He's going to talk about. How things can be redeemed.

[12:37] And I'm. I'm just not going to read. The entirety of all of this. To get you to understand. I hope you get the glimpse there. That. The thought about the land. Being passed around. From person to person. So.

[12:48] The land gets restored. To its original owner. In that year of Jubilee. It could be sold. And then it could be bought back. Even before that.

[12:59] And could be redeemed. By the rightful owner. And some of that's mentioned. A little bit later. In the passage beyond. Where we just read. Now. That's some. Some groundwork.

[13:10] To understanding. Inheritances. In the land. There's been violations. Of this though. Let's take a look at those. And. Look at 1st Kings 21. 1st Kings 21.

[13:27] You remember. You remember. A king named Ahab. And he got looking. On some land. That was nearby. Hard up against his. Kingdom. And his. Palace. And he said.

[13:39] I want that land. I want that vineyard. And the man that owned it. Gave him a response. That we need to. Understand. And. And how. And why this matches.

[13:50] What we've already read. 1st Kings 21. And. So he says. In verse 2. That Ahab. Spake unto Naboth.

[14:01] Saying. Give me thy vineyard. That I may have it. For a garden of earth. Because it is near unto my house. And I will give thee. For it. A better vineyard than it. Or if it seem good to thee. I'll give thee the money.

[14:12] Or the worth of it. And money. That sounds legit. He's being fair. But Naboth said to Ahab. The Lord. Forbid it me. That I should give the inheritance.

[14:23] Of my fathers. Unto thee. That's against. His word. The land doesn't change hands. Not like that. And the case is not.

[14:36] That Naboth is poor. And that he owes. And that he has to find a way. And he has to use his land as. No. This is the case of a king. Wanting something. That's not his to have. It's an inheritance.

[14:47] By God. Given to that tribe. That family. To that man. And he said. I'm not allowed to do that. King. And so. Thanks to the wicked wife. He lost his life.

[14:57] And I think you know that story. Look to the right. And. Try to find Micah. The prophet Micah. Amos.

[15:10] Obadiah. Jonah. Micah. And chapter two. And in Micah chapter two.

[15:21] Here's a prophet. Some years later. That God is. Is speaking through. And he's condemning his people. And he says in the first chapter. You're.

[15:31] You're making me come up out of my place. Of rest. You're making me come out. And do something here. You're. You're forcing me. To judge you. And so in chapter two.

[15:42] What is it. What is one thing. At least that they're doing. Let's take a look at it. In Micah chapter two. And look at verse number one. Woe to them that devise iniquity.

[15:53] And work evil. Upon their beds. That is. They're laying up at night. Devising. Thinking of how they can. Take something. That's not theirs. Specifically. When the morning is light.

[16:05] They practice it. Because it's in the power of their hand. They covet fields. And take them. By violence. And houses. And take them away.

[16:15] So they oppress a man. And his house. Even a man. And his. Heritage. That's his inheritance. And they steal it from him. Verse three.

[16:26] Therefore thus saith the Lord. Behold. Against this family. Do I devise. An evil. From which ye shall not remove your necks. Neither shall ye go haughtily.

[16:36] For this time is evil. In that day. Shall one take up a parable. Against you. And lament with a doleful lamentation. And say we be utterly spoiled. He hath changed the portion.

[16:47] Of my people. The portion. Our land. He did something. And came and took it from us. How hath he removed it from me?

[16:58] Turning away. He hath divided our fields. Therefore. Thou shalt have none. That shall cast a cord by lot. In the congregation of the Lord. So because of what they did.

[17:09] The Lord's sowing and reaping. And the Lord says. I'm going to come back. And do exactly that to you. And you're going to be kicked off of your land. Verse number nine. Of the chapter. The women of my people. Have they cast out.

[17:20] From their pleasant houses. From their children. Have they taken away my glory forever. So these wicked men. Are violating. The commands. And the laws of God.

[17:32] And using their power. Because we read that in verse one. Because it's in the power. Of their hand. To do it. Do you remember what Jesus Christ read? Let's turn to it quickly.

[17:42] Look at Matthew 23. This ought to ring a bell to you. Maybe make sense. And apply. Christ accused the men of his day. Of doing the same thing. In Matthew 23.

[17:53] And so I'm just showing you. There's been violations of this law. Throughout the course of time. And God notices it.

[18:04] And he does not allow it to pass. Matthew 23. Christ is pronouncing these woes. Upon the scribes and Pharisees. Publicly.

[18:16] And I want you to see it in verse 14. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees. Hypocrites. For ye devour widows houses.

[18:28] And for a pretense. You're pretending. It's a fake. It's a show. Make a long prayer. Pledging this to God. May God. May you receive this.

[18:40] This possession. As a gift to you. Into your synagogue. Into just a bunch of baloney. Dressed up in pretty robes. And all religious sounding.

[18:51] And making a big show. A big ceremony. And what the truth is. What people are being told. Is that they forced that widow out. They took her possession. Her home. Her inheritance.

[19:02] Her possession. And claimed to do it in the name of God. There's a lot. You can read historically. On this kind of thing. This kind of thing. Just to give you an idea. That say a widow.

[19:13] For instance. Falls behind on her bills. She doesn't have a provider. And therefore they come to take away her house. But oh no. We'll step in for you. The Lord will step in for you.

[19:25] And we will work it out. That if you'll give it to the Lord. We can make this go away. Or work out some deal. And it's all fake show. While they're just confiscating property.

[19:36] Sounds like the Pope. Sounds like Vatican City. Anyway. There was violations of this. Now come back to Numbers. All the way back to Numbers again.

[19:47] Close to where we were. This will be the last chapter of Numbers. 36. And you remember the story.

[20:01] These daughters of Zelophehad. That came to Moses. Saying our father's dead. And we're not going to get an inheritance. Well that thing.

[20:12] Was not fully resolved in that day. So some more clarification. Had to be known. In Numbers 36. And so take a look here. I don't want to read the whole thing.

[20:29] So what the fear was. Was that the men of Manasseh. The family said. Hey. Here's a problem Moses. That when these daughters marry. If they marry outside of this tribe.

[20:42] They're going. The land's going to be inherited by that family. It could be one of Gad. They could end up taking this property. It's supposed to stay within Manasseh.

[20:53] And so that's a problem. And in a year of Jubilee. They say if it's theirs. It stays with them. And look at verse 4. It says. When the Jubilee of the children of Israel shall be. Then shall their inheritance.

[21:05] Be put unto the inheritance of the tribe. Where unto they are received. Where they married. So shall their inheritance be taken away. From the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers. Now we're getting back into this inheritance.

[21:18] And passing it on from one generation to the other. And it's going to tie back into what we're studying in Ruth. In verse 5. And Moses commanded the children of Israel. Saying to the word of the Lord. Saying.

[21:29] The tribe of the sons of Joseph have well said. This is the thing which the Lord doth command. Concerning the daughters of Zelophehad. Saying. Let them marry to whom they think best. Only to the family of the tribe of their fathers shall they marry.

[21:43] So shall not the inheritance of the children of Israel. Remove from tribe to tribe. For every one of the children of Israel. Shall keep himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.

[21:56] And so it's pretty plain. He continues up there with. It's not going to pass from tribe to tribe. Says it again. In verse 9. Neither shall the inheritance remove from one tribe to another. But every one of the tribes of the children of Israel.

[22:07] Shall keep himself to his own inheritance. So this is God's plan. This is God's law. And when the problem came up. He drew the line. And clarified. No you're not going to allow that stuff to happen.

[22:20] That's what he set up for this land. All right. One more verse back here. Deuteronomy. Look at Deuteronomy 25. So in the case of a widow.

[22:31] Specifically now let's look at the widow. Because that's what we're dealing with. In the book of Ruth. Not only Naomi. But Ruth also. So Deuteronomy 25.

[22:46] And verse. We'll start in verse number 5. 5 through 10 here. If brethren dwell together. And one of them die.

[22:57] And have no child. The wife of the dead shall not marry without. Unto a stranger. Her husband's brother. This is a law.

[23:07] A duty. Of her husband's brother. Her husband's brother shall go in unto her. And take her to him to wife. And perform the duty. Of an husband's brother.

[23:20] Under her. Doesn't say the duty of a husband. The duty of a husband's brother. This is a specific duty. For him to perform. And it shall be. That the firstborn.

[23:30] Which she beareth. Shall succeed in the name of his brother. Which is dead. That his name be not put out. Of Israel. I want you to notice.

[23:41] God is concerned. That a name. Is not put out. Of Israel. Try to. Try to match that. To our. Society.

[23:52] And culture. And land. And laws. There's no such thing. If you die. Tough. If you don't have any kids. Tough. If you have an inheritance. You could. You could give it to some foundation.

[24:03] Of preserving. The snowy owls. Or something. Nobody cares. There's no laws of our land. We might live in the best land on earth. But nobody's protecting your name.

[24:16] And that's the one interesting thing. When a land sets up its laws. It's by man. It can be what it is. But when God sets up the laws. There's a personal touch. A personal touch of a God.

[24:27] That cares for you. And here it is. He doesn't. He will not allow your name. To be put out of Israel. In verse 7. And if that man like not to take.

[24:38] His brother's wife. Then let his brother's wife. Go up to the gate of the elders. And say. My husband's brother. Refuseth. To raise up unto his brother. A name in Israel.

[24:49] He will not perform the duty. Of my husband's brother. Then the elders of the city. Shall call him. And speak unto him. And if he stand to it. And say.

[24:59] I like not to take her. Here's what happens. Then shall his brother's wife. Come unto him. In the presence of the elders. And loose his shoe. From off his foot. And spit in his face.

[25:11] And shall answer and say. So shall it be done unto the man. To that man. That will not build up his brother's house. And his name. Shall be called in Israel.

[25:23] The house of him. That hath his shoe loosed. Some weird stuff. I know. And you're going to see it happen. In the book of Ruth. Why? Well this is why.

[25:34] It's prescribed in the law. But understand what's happening here. It's a reproach for that man. That brother. To despise his own flesh and blood. And say.

[25:44] Oh he's dead. I don't care. I'm not performing the duty. I'm not going to give her my seed. To raise up a name. For my brother. He's dead. And he's gone. And that's the end of it. That's how he looks at his own kin.

[25:56] His own flesh and blood. And that's a despicable thing to God. And it's to be treated roughly. He's going to get himself. A reputation. In Israel.

[26:07] And that's what he's. I mean. It's making sure. This is weird to us. The shoe loose thing. I know. And I can't really. I don't know. I can't put anything on that myself. I know that. There's places where somebody had their shoe loose.

[26:19] But that's because they're standing on holy ground. And I don't really see that one. Quite matching. So I don't really know what this is. Except this is. The law here. And it's a public thing.

[26:29] It's a visible thing. And now he's gotten his name. Tagged. And associated with. With a. Reproach. Of dishonoring. His own brother's name.

[26:40] That's wild. And it's not to be in Israel. So when a woman lost her son. Or her husband. She's widowed. And she has no sons to speak of. Somebody nearby.

[26:52] The closest. His own brother. If he doesn't have a brother. It's the next one. And if he doesn't. It's the next one. And we read that earlier. They are supposed to step up to the plate. And resurrect.

[27:03] That man's name. By giving her a son. That could live in his stead. It's not his biological son. But scripturally. Inheritance wise.

[27:15] He is. As far as the way the Lord looks at it. To keep that man's name alive. Through that woman. Now I really think that's interesting. That the Lord takes care. To keep a man's name alive.

[27:26] Now come back to Ruth. We're going to go back to Ruth chapter 4. We spent a lot of time. Running around. To give you.

[27:37] A clear picture. Of what we're reading. What's transpiring here. In the chapter. And since this is Sunday school. Then it's. I think it's important for you to know. What we're studying. So when she says at the end of chapter 3.

[27:53] That the man will not be in rest. Until he finished the thing this day. What he has is a duty. To follow through. And to see through to it. That this gets taken care of. Now there's another man.

[28:05] And that's going to show up here. In chapter 4. There's another man that's closer than Boaz. And so in a technical sense. It's not Boaz's duty yet. To consider Ruth.

[28:16] Let me say something about. Naomi. You say well Naomi's the one. That's the widow right. It's her. She left that property. Elimelech's her husband's. He's talking to. And you'll see it in the chapter. He talks about Elimelech.

[28:27] Well come back to Ruth chapter 1 real quick. Look at what Naomi says about herself. When her and. Ruth and Orpah. Are heading.

[28:39] Back from Moab to Bethlehem. Naomi says to him. Turn around. She says in verse 11. Naomi said turn again my daughters. Why will you go with me? Are there yet any more sons in my womb?

[28:51] That they may be your husbands? Turn again my daughters. Go your way for I am too old to have a husband. So she's past the time of expecting.

[29:05] She'll even say this to close it. If I should say I have hope. Meaning I can. I'm expecting a baby. If I should have a husband also tonight. And then she's like would you even stick around that long? Come on.

[29:16] Let's be reasonable. So her first statement is she's too old. For any of that. So she's past those years. So she's not really considered here as somebody's duty to raise up the name of Elimelech.

[29:30] But Ruth though. We know that Ruth is in the picture. And she is not. So let's come back then to chapter 4. And now you understand from the scripture the setting.

[29:42] You understand what's about to take place with a man seeking to get this woman and to take care of this land and all of that. It's all lawful. It's all a duty of them.

[29:53] It's not a businessman looking to get richer, wealthier, get more into his name. But rather this is the right thing and this is what God said. So verse number 1. Then went Boaz to the gate and sat him down there.

[30:09] And behold the kinsman of whom Boaz spake came by, unto whom he said, Oh such a one, turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside and sat down. And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, Sit ye down here.

[30:24] And they sat down. And he said unto the kinsman, Naomi, that is come again out of the country of Moab, selleth a parcel of land which was our brother Elimelech's.

[30:36] And I thought to advertise thee, saying, Buy it before the inhabitants and before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it. But if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me that I may know.

[30:48] For there is none to redeem it besides thee. And I am after thee. And he said, I will redeem it. Now we'll go on from there later. We understand that's not actually what took place.

[31:01] But you understand the conversation at the gate. And the discussion and all that falls into it. The law is a description of how things are to pass hands when somebody dies.

[31:14] Now there's some things I want to note before we even get into all of that. In verse number one, just so you know the text and why they're doing what they're doing. It says he went up to the gate.

[31:24] Remember last week there was this big argument and discrepancy in chapter 3, verse 15, whether it's she went into the city or whether he went into the city.

[31:37] And the argument is so much that even in the 1611, some original, what's the word I want, original printings in the 1611s, some of them said she and some of them said he.

[31:55] And there's a big debate over it. Well, which one should it be? And some of them say, well, the Hebrew will give the answer because it was translated from the Masoretic text. And that's a faithful text in Hebrew.

[32:05] And that has a masculine verb. So it's he. But your Bible, my Bible, says she. And so which is it? And what we came down to was the context overwhelmingly declares it was she.

[32:21] And why don't we go with the Hebrew, though? Most people's faith is in the Hebrew that this is translated from. And I made you a real quick case there to show you where does your allegiance lie?

[32:34] And where does your, rather, your faith lie was my point. And my faith lies in the text that's in front of me. She went into the city. Not because of the Hebrew. My faith is not in the Hebrew.

[32:46] It's not in the Greek. And it never is. And it never will be. My faith is in the King James Bible that I have right here. And I believe it. And believing it, the context becomes clear.

[32:57] Now, somebody who doesn't believe the text will go right to the Hebrew and say it's a masculine verb. It should be he. It's got to be he. And that's where their faith lies.

[33:09] And they'll never get to see why it's she. They'll just completely ignore all of it because they have their faith in something else. Now, I want to point out again. I've pointed out two or three different situations last week about this being she, being accurate.

[33:23] But I'll point one more out because we're in chapter 4. It says, then went Boaz up to the gate. This is Boaz now leaving the threshing floor. Back in chapter 3, verse 15, it was Ruth that left the threshing floor.

[33:37] Not Boaz. How do I know that? Well, then went Boaz up to the gate. Look back at chapter 3 and verse number 3. When Naomi instructs Ruth to leave her house, Bethlehem, and go to the threshing floor that Boaz is at, she tells her to go down.

[33:59] In verse 3, wash thyself, therefore, and anoint thee, and put thy raiment upon thee, and get thee down to the floor. And elevation, geographically speaking, she went down from the city to the field.

[34:14] And when she left, she went to the city, into the city. By chapter 4, verse 1, Boaz leaves the threshing floor and goes up to the gate.

[34:26] Now, it would be kind of redundant or even foolish if we're going to believe that he went into the city. And then while he's in the city, he went up to the gate. That just is something that we don't need to put into the text.

[34:39] It would create just a bad reading. And the truth is, she's already gone to the city, not him. And now by chapter 4, verse 1, he goes up to the gate of the city.

[34:53] So he shows up there in chapter 4, verse 1. And why the gate? What's the deal with the gate? We read it earlier in one of those passages, I think it was in Deuteronomy, that they were to gather to the gate of the city and to have this business take care of.

[35:08] And then this is exactly what's transpiring. The gate's a public place of transaction. And I don't think I read this verse. We're just going to read it.

[35:19] It's in Deuteronomy, if you want to write it down. Deuteronomy 16, 18. About the gate. Deuteronomy 16, verse 18.

[35:30] Before they go into the land, Moses says this. Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee throughout thy tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment.

[35:45] So the gate is a place of judgment, of business transactions. Today it might mirror what we have as a courthouse.

[35:55] In Deuteronomy, the elders were summons to the gate. There's several instances. He tells them there's various trespasses that were committed among the children of Israel. They were to be brought to the gate and judged and even punished in the gate.

[36:10] Stoned in some cases. It was to be the elders at the gate and judge them and stone them if need be. In other cases, there are domestic disputes, and all of these were handled at the gate. But this didn't come from the law of Moses, some heavenly thought of the gate.

[36:31] Because this was done long before that. Think about Lot back in Genesis 19. First he pitched his tent towards Sodom. The next thing we know in 19.1, Lot is sitting in the gate of Sodom.

[36:43] So in those days, the heathen and the extremely wicked heathen at that had their elders assemble at the gate of the city to conduct business.

[36:56] Lot had obviously worked his way into some position of political power or leadership or whatever it was. Furthermore, another time it shows up, if you remember Jacob's daughter Dinah in Genesis 34, she went out to see the daughters of the land and she got herself defiled by a guy named Hamar.

[37:16] And through the whole thing, the brothers decide, the brothers, the sons of Jacob decide, we're going to execute judgment upon these sinners. And they deceive the men.

[37:29] They deceive Hamar and Shechem, his father. And it says that those two guys went to the gate. They assembled the elders in the gate and said, hey, we need to mingle with these people.

[37:39] Give them our daughters. They'll give us theirs. And we're going to join them. And we're going to all of their cattle and flocks, all that's going to be ours. And it took place, the business of it all took place in the gate. And so what I'm showing you is this is long before.

[37:52] This is the heathen doing that. It's just the custom of the land. It's what they did. They assembled without such a courthouse place. It was at the gate. So in Ruth chapter 1, then went Boaz up to the gate and sat him down there.

[38:06] That's why he would do that. Everybody understood. You see him sitting in the gate. There's something that's going to have to take place here today. He starts assembling the elders together. And he gets 10 of them in chapter 2 to sit down.

[38:18] So it's obvious there's some business taking place here. Now, we're going to run out of time. So we'll stop with that. And Lord willing, pick this up right there next week and look at some things. Some oddities, some grammatical oddities in this text that stand out to me.

[38:34] And some things that go forward with this type of Ruth and the redemption of Boaz. So we'll pick that up next week. That's going to take about 10 minutes. So we'll pick that up next week.