Ruth - The Virtuous Woman

[0:00] We're going to the book of Ruth here and it's the eighth book of the Bible after Joshua! and Judges. Interesting that the harvest festival of Shavuot finished just yesterday and it's the! tradition to read through the book of Ruth at this time and the book of Ruth is a three thousand year old book it's a love story we read of crisis suffering and sorrow and of God's grace it starts with famine loss and barrenness it ends with joy laughter and fruitfulness it begins with death and ends with birth it begins with tragedy and ends with triumph we go to scene number one there's four scenes four chapters scene one is in moab this pagan land we see naomi's despair and ruth's decision we start from chapter one verse one now it came to pass in these days when the judges ruled that there was a famine in the land and a certain man of bethlehem judah went to sojourn in the country of maab he and his wife and his two sons so this was the days of the judges turbulent times there was no king every man did that which was right in his own eyes and what happened there was a great famine and this little family now set forth from bethlehem to go and seek refuge in an enemy nation verse two and the name of the man was elimelech and the name of his wife naomi and the name of his two sons malon and chilion epaphthethites of bethlehem judah elimelech means my god is king and elimelech and his wife naomi and their two sons leave their homeland bethlehem which means house of bread to go and dwell as strangers in a pagan land land and they came it says into the country of moab i'm continued there then tragedy strikes elimelech the father dies leaving naomi as a widow now in a foreign land verse three and elimelech naomi's husband died and she was left and her two sons and they took their wives of the women of moab the name of the one was orpah and the name of the other ruth and they dwelt there about 10 years so here they are ruth marries one of the sons of naomi the two sons of naomi marry moabite women and then it says verse 5 these two sons malon and chilion died also both of them so the woman naomi was left of her two sons and her husband naomi was left alone now no husband no sons and her daughters in law are widowed as well verse 6 then she arose with her daughters in law that she might return from the country of moab for she had heard in the country of moab how that the lord had visited his people in giving the bread wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was and her two daughters in law with her and they went on the way to return unto the land of judah verse 8 and naomi said unto her two daughters in law go return each to her mother's house the lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me so naomi tells her daughters in law to stay stay in moab where they would more likely find new husbands and start anew and she thanks her two daughters

[4:01] in law for their kindness to the dead and to her and the word is suggested here where the lord deal kindly the word kindly kindness is suggestive of the covenant loving kindness of god and this covenant love this faithful love is a repeated key theme through the book it speaks of kindness of faithfulness of loyalty so naomi commanded her daughters-in-law for their kindness and said how the lord deal kindly with you verse 9 the lord grant you that you may find rest each of you in the house of her husband then she kissed them and they lifted up their voice and wept so naomi prays that each of them might find her home her place of rest and security verse 10 and they said unto her to naomi surely we will return with thee unto thy people and naomi said turn again my daughters why will you go with me are there yet any more sons in my womb that they may be your husbands turn again my daughters go your way for i am too old to have a husband if i should say i have hope if i should have a husband also tonight and should also bear sons verse 13 would you tarry for them till they were grown would you stay for them from having husbands nay my daughters for it grieve with me much for your sakes that the hand of the lord is gone out against me and they lifted up their voice and wept again and orpah kissed her mother-in-law but ruth clave unto her so here she is naomi urging them to return to moab at first they both wanted to go with her and then orpah relented and she kissed naomi goodbye but ruth clings to her mother-in-law it's interesting it's the same word where it says ruth clave unto her she cleaved unto naomi it's the same word where adam cleaved unto eve in genesis 2 24.

[6:08] so it's a very close relationship between ruth and her mother-in-law naomi verse 15 and she said behold thy sister-in-law has gone back unto her people and unto her gods return thou after thy sister-in-law and ruth said entreat me not to leave thee or to return from following after thee for whether thou goest i will go and where thou lodgest i will lodge thy people shall be my people and thy god my god so here we see that ruth confessed her trust her faith in the god of israel she didn't want to go back to the gods of moab the idols of moab she refused to go back she wanted to go with naomi because she had the same faith the same god she confessed that faith verse 17 it reads where thou diest will i die and there will i be buried the lord do so to me and more also if ought but death part thee and me so ruth is so committed here so deeply committed to naomi so loyal to her and her well-being and welfare that she says i'm going to go there and i'll go there till death parts us so we see the grace of ruth here she was so selfless her character was so devoted so faithful despite all the hardships that they were going to face as they could expect to face despite all of that she had loyalty and trust in her god and that kept her going and this was a huge step of faith you can imagine for ruth to leave her familiar surroundings uh her home of moab to go into this unknown to go to this people that would see her as a stranger a foreigner and she would face the prospect of poverty and no chance of finding a husband it was a hopeless situation yet ruth had faith we see verse 18 what happened next and when she naomi saw that she ruth was steadfastly minded to go with her then she left speaking unto her here we see overwhelmed by grief naomi naomi is feeling desolate yet she decides to return to bethlehem her hometown so they too went until they came to bethlehem so we see here that they walked together this 70 miles from moab to bethlehem alone this is verse 19 the second part and it came to pass when they were come to bethlehem that all the city was moved about them and they said is this naomi so as ruth and naomi arrived the whole town's abuzz with the the news that naomi has come and it was a big event now bethlehem was only a small town maybe 200 people some say so it was quite a big thing when naomi came back to her hometown of bethlehem and verse 20 it reads and she said unto them call me not naomi call me mara for the almighty have dealt very bitterly with me now the name naomi means pleasant or happy and she says no i'm not naomi anymore call me mara now which means bitterness it meant that her life was bitter now naomi's life had fallen apart and she's grief stricken now in this pain tragedy and heartbreak had brought her deep sorrow and it reads verse 21 i went out full and the lord had brought me home again empty why then call you me naomi saying the lord testified against me and the almighty have afflicted me so here here we see naomi she's confessing how she's consumed by her suffering she's buried her husband and now

[10:13] buried both of her two sons she's angry discouraged bitter about life who could relate times like that who could blame her for feeling so angry and frustrated and hurting naomi means pleasant or happy mara means bitter another name meaning is ruth what does the name ruth mean it means friend or friendship oh to have a friend when we're feeling bitter when we're feeling hurting and ruth that one who to her mother-in-law ruth was that friend she showed friendship true friendship it's good to have a friend and to be a friend in a time of trouble isn't it we see the character of ruth there what a blessing that she was to her mother-in-law we move on to scene two to chapter two now bethlehem is really repeatedly through the book we see the significance of that when we see who ruth became the fields of bethlehem now are seen too and ruth meets boaz and boaz provides for them in chapter two we meet boaz he's a man of standing it says chapter 2 verse 1 and naomi had a kinsman of her husband's a mighty man of wealth of the family of elimelech and his name was boaz interesting the word boaz the name boaz means strength boaz is a man of noble character and generosity a real man a valiant courageous a worthy man what a fitting picture of our lord who is mighty to save amen because we see really boaz is a likened to christ he's a type a picture of christ as the the redeemer as he would become and so his name was boaz verse 2 and ruth the moabiter said unto naomi let me now go to the field and glean ears of corn after him in his sight i shall find grace and she said unto her go my daughter so barley harvest is about to begin and so ruth heads out to the fields and gleaning was a kind of welfare system that helped the poor so ruth goes to go and gather the leftover grain that's left from the harvesters really the best that she can hope for is to come home with only about two handfuls of grain that was about the the best that they could expect enough grain really only to make the one small meal to share for the day really it was a starvation diet this was difficult hard times we see ruth how did she respond she kept on going she had that humble diligent spirit she's an amazing worker she's so desperate that she will work all day from sun up to sundown it's difficult tedious work and for so little food just a handful of grain but ruth kept on keeping on she had that resolute faithful diligent nature despite her hardship she didn't lose hope she actively sought a way to provide not only for herself but for her mother-in-law it's interesting naomi didn't go with her she stayed home maybe she was feeling so burdened and and heavy and bitter and hurting that she just didn't want to leave her home maybe there was depression there we could surmise but ruth's hard work led her to some unexpected blessings as we read now chapter 2 verse 3 and she went and

[14:14] came this is ruth and gleaned in the field after the reapers and her hat was to lie on a part of the field belonging unto boaz who was of the kindred of elimelech now it says there it was her hat in other words it just so happened that ruth came to glean in the field of boaz boaz was a close relative of naomi's late husband really this was not coincidence this was not happenstance this was not some fluke it was god's providence that we see here truly i know some people say it wasn't coincidence it was a god incidence that's kind of the situation here isn't it really it was a divine appointment of all the fields that she went to that one field that was boaz's field because god's unseen hand was working behind all of this guiding ruth's steps leading her to this field and here is god's providential plan unfolding because really as much as the writer actually doesn't use the word god or lord he is right through the book of ruth and really he is the one that is picturing pictured in boaz we meet boaz in verse 4 it says that he is the one who had ownership of that field really you could say he was the lord of the harvest he was the lord of the harvest in a sense where we can see as our lord is the lord of the harvest as in the harvest of souls he's the one who's the lord and verse 4 it says and behold boaz came from bethlehem and said unto the reapers the lord be with you and they answered him the lord bless thee so here's boaz his name means strength he was a man of god he didn't just greet these people any which way he greeted them with the lord be with you he confessed the lord he acknowledged the lord clearly he was a man of god and boaz was this man of integrity of virtue and he was going to play a crucial role in the redemption of ruth and naomi verse 5 then said boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers so the kind of overseer whose damsel is this who's this girl and when boaz arrives in the field he notices ruth and he asks about her it's like wow this is something that stood out to him verse 6 and the servant that was set over the reapers answered and said it is the moabitish damsel that came back with naomi out of the country of moab and she said i pray you let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves so she came and have continued even from the morning until now that she tarried a little in the house so it's got the sense where she doesn't take breaks like the others she didn't take the comfortable way she worked hard from sun up to sundown and she was meek and humble untiring in her hard work verse 8 then said boaz unto ruth hearest thou not my daughter go not to glean in another field neither go from hence but abide here fast by my maidens so boaz extends generosity and kindness to ruth he tells her stay in my field notice boaz what does he do for ruth he provides for her and he protects her another picture of what god does for us isn't it what our lord does for us he provides for us and he protects us verse 9 boaz says let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap and go thou after them have i not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee and when

[18:19] thou art a thirst go unto the vessels and drink of that which the young men have drawn so boaz here he made sure that ruth was going to be treated with dignity and with respect what does ruth do verse 10 chapter 2 verse 10 it says then she ruth fell on her face and bowed herself to the ground and said unto him why have i found grace in thine eyes that thou shouldest take knowledge of me seeing i am a stranger so ruth bows before boaz humbly showing her gratitude for such favor again we think when boaz pictures christ how wouldn't we to humbly bow to humbly recognize our dependence upon him our great redeemer and give thanks to god for his redeeming grace for his mercies and be thankful so we see ruth here bowing down in this humble posture and ruth asks why why have i found grace in your sight we can ask that too couldn't we the grace of god the grace that god showed paul as we heard earlier the grace that he shows to us despite our unworthiness verse 11 and boaz answered and said unto her it hath been fully showed me all that thou has done unto thy mother-in-law since the death of thine husband and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother and the land of thy nativity and are come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore so boaz recognizes what's ruth done she's left her land of a nativity where she was born that land of moab she's come now and she showed grace she showed love and faithfulness to her mother-in-law ruth has chosen to be with god's people now she's left behind the idol worship of her pagan land she's left behind the old ruth the old life and she's put her trust in god she says i believe i believe your god i'm going to follow you and follow your god and your people are going to be my people and my you know that sense where she's confessing of faith and so ruth now was become boaz's spiritual sister and he came to love her now they've just met in this love story they've just met but notice the one first thing that he does he prays for her he prays for her that's a good thing to do courting couples to pray for one another isn't it and marry couples too to pray for one another to pray for your spouse and so boaz does that what an example to us of the man of god that he is verse 12 and what does he pray he says the lord recompense or reward thy work and a full reward be given thee of the lord god of israel under whose wings thou art come to trust so boaz as he prays for ruth that god will reward her he sees that she has sought her refuge under the very wings of god picture of god being like this this mother bird as it were this this covering bird that he covers us with his feathers and we can seek refuge refuge under his shelter and find security and refuge in him and she trusted god such that she was calm under the very wings under his very covering verse 13 then she said let me find favor in thy sight my lord for that thou has comforted me and for that thou has spoken friendly unto thine handmaid though i be not like unto one of thine handmaidens so here ruth responds with with gracious gratefulness that she's found favor now in the sight of boaz and how a blessing it was to her verse 14 and boaz said unto her at mealtime come thou hither and eat of the bread and dip thy morsel in the vinegar and she sat beside the reapers and he reached her parched corn and she did eat and was sufficed

[22:23] and left so here's ruth boaz gives a special treatment now she was one of these ones who were gleaning but he invited ruth to come to his table to come where his men and women were working that he could share sustenance with her that she could have a meal and so it was a special favor again and upon learning of ruth's loyalty to naomi boaz showed her such kindness and protection and we read on verse 15 and when she ruth was risen up to glean boaz commanded his young men saying let her glean even among the sheaves and reproach her not and let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her and leave them that she may glean them and rebuke her not so here boaz lovingly instructs his workers to allow ruth to glean without hindrance and he even instructs them to intentionally leave extra sheaves behind for her to gather so again the gracious kindness of boaz could think of our lord again can't we go ahead and read on verse 17 so she gleaned in the field until even and beat out that she had gleaned and it was about an ephah of barley and she took it up and went into the city and the mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned and she brought forth and gave to her that she had reserved after she was sufficed so she ate what was given to her and she took some extra home for her mother-in-law so this extra portion of meal and her mother-in-law said unto her where has thou gleaned today and where wroughtest thou blessed be he that did take knowledge of thee so naomi saw wow this is something extraordinary here that she would bring such extra supply and asked where have you been what's what's the story and so we read on continuing verse 19 and she showed her mother-in-law with whom she had wrought and said the man's name with whom i wrought today is boaz so this is where ruth communicates to naomi the man who she labored for in his field was boaz verse 20 and naomi said unto her daughter-in-law blessed be he of the lord who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead and naomi said unto her the man is near of kin unto us one of our next kinsmen verse 20 we see the word kindness here again it's this recurring theme of kindness of god's gracious loving kindness is pictured here and god's kindness was showed through boaz to ruth and we see that naomi recognizes boaz he is near of kin to us he's a near relative so there's something special here this was significant that boaz was a relative and verse 21 and ruth the moabitess said he said unto me also thou shalt keep fast by my young men until i have ended all my harvest so he wanted to make sure she was cared for that she was watched over and safe verse 22 and naomi said unto ruth her daughter-in-law that thou go out with his maidens that they meet thee not in any other field so stay in this field verse 23 so she kept fast by the maidens of boaz to glean unto their end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest and dwelt with her mother-in-law so here we see boaz taking that special care and attention and providence to ruth so we'll move on now scene three another scene another setting another chapter chapter three we see boaz's threshing floor and then we see boaz's desire to marry ruth

[26:30] although the marriage is delayed for a time so we see chapter three verse one 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 you know she wanted to seek a home for ruth verse two and now is not boaz of our kindred with his maidens thou wast behold he winnoweth barley tonight in the threshing floor so naomi recognizes boaz as one of the kindred one of the family and that now she was aware he was going to be winnowing the barley in this threshing floor so the grain was going to be winnowed with the in that place of the threshing floor and naomi gives to ruth this plan to meet boaz and to plant that indication that she was willing to marry him and so verse three it says 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 so what naomi says here in this verse three chapter three verse three naomi says to ruth wear your best clothes in dressing this way it showed that ruth's time of mourning had ended you know normally she would have been there maybe in the in the gardening clothes reaping and sweating and and laboring perspiring uh in that hard work of the harvesting of the gleaning but naomi says to her no put something new on here put some new things on because it was kind of signaling that now ruth's period of mourning had ended it signaled that ruth was now ready and she was willing to remarry verse 4 and it shall be says naomi explaining the plan to ruth when he lie down that thou should 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 so naomi knows that boaz is a close relative and a potential redeemer and naomi could see wow this man boaz he could be a potential husband for ruth and so naomi instructs ruth to approach him at the threshing floor during the night and to make her presence known to him so in uncovering uncovering his feet eventually i don't know about you but cold feet tend to wake me up so the cold feet would have kind of stirred him woken him up and verse 5 and she said unto her all that thou sayest unto me i will do and she went down onto the floor and did according to all that her mother-in-law bade her so she acted in faith she obeyed in faith despite the risks and uncertainties ruth agrees to carry out the plan verse 7 and when boaz had eaten and drunk and his heart was merry he went to lie down at the end of the heap of corn and she came softly and uncovered his feet and laid her down down so ruth presents herself at the feet of boaz on the threshing floor she wanted to ask for his protection as her kinsman redeemer so this one who could redeem herself and really she risked a lot here in doing this she risked being rejected and ridiculed but she followed naomi's counsel in the face of her fear verse 8 and it came to pass at midnight that the man was afraid and turned himself and behold a woman lay at his feet so here she was lying down near his feet boaz was startled he was surprised verse 9 and he said who art thou and she answered i am ruth thine handmaid spread therefore thy skirt over

[30:31] thine handmaid for thou art a near kinsman so really it was a kind of symbolic gesture here to spread the corner of your garment over your maidservant had the meaning of to marry what effectively was being done here is that ruth is proposing marriage it was a symbolic sign to the husband to provide and sustain her as a future wife it was symbolic of a marriage covenant there's a like reference in ezekiel 16 verse 8 so she says extend spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid so this covering she invited boaz to cover her with his garment and the word skirt is literally wing so she's inviting boaz to become the answer to his own prayer of chapter 2 verse 12 where he talks about how she would find refuge under the wings of the lord so it's like she would in being covered by by boaz's garment was likewise picturing how she would come under the covering of the refuge of the wings of the lord and boaz would become really an answer to his own prayer for ruth verse 10 and he said blessed be thou of the lord my daughter for thou showed more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning in so much as thou follow us not young men whether poor or rich so verse 10 this is chapter 3 verse 10 thou has showed more kindness there's this word again kindness this repeated key term this key theme of the loving kindness we saw the loving kindness that boaz showed that reflected god's loving kindness and now boaz commenced ruth for showing that same kindness that loving kindness in in proposing marriage to boaz verse 11 boaz continues and now my daughter fear not i will do to thee all that thou requirest for all the city of my people did know that thou art a virtuous woman now we talked lately in recent time of proverbs 31 the proverbs 31 woman who is the virtuous woman as she's called and boaz praises ruth for being such a woman just such a woman a woman of strength a virtuous woman a woman of noble character a woman of worth of bravery of capability now it's interesting that in the hebrew order of the books of the bible the way the hebrews order the various books the book of ruth comes straight after proverbs so straight after proverbs 31 telling of the virtuous woman telling of the virtuous woman you've got the book of ruth so it's very fitting that proverbs 31 that tells of the virtuous woman is followed by the very living example of ruth itself thou art a virtuous woman that's a great commendation as a woman to have such a expression of you that you might seek to be such a virtuous woman verse 12 and now it is true that i am thy near kinsman how be it there is a kinsman nearer than i so boaz here he's a close relative of elimelech he possesses that right of redemption and a redeemer is the one who's got the right the obligation to redeem to redeem means to come to help or rescue someone and boaz honors her request for redemption he tells her he's willing to redeem her but there's a closer relative there's a closer kinsman there's a nearer kinsman than i he says so that person has to get the first option they first have to decline that first relative who's closer has to get the first opportunity to redeem her and if he decline then roa says i will fulfill this role as the redeemer so here was the situation that ruth proposed to boaz

[34:35] boaz says yes i i'm willing but they have to give the legal right to that first one to take that course of action of course now this is all a bit strange to us this is the customs and traditions and the and the protocol of the time obviously quite different to modern times but but yeah it was a system that worked that provided for these widows that provided for those in need a husbandless woman was very much at risk and not having provision and felt was very vulnerable so it was a system that worked at the time and that was appropriate at this time that that the living relative could take the place of the one who passed away the husband who passed away and provide for that one so we see verse 13 it reads on boaz says to ruth tarry this night he says stay and it shall be in the morning that if he will perform unto thee the part of a kinsman well let him do the kinsman part but if he will not do the part of a kinsman to thee then will i do the part of a kinsman to thee as the lord liveth lie down until the morning so boaz assures ruth he was willing he was ready he was preparing to to redeem her to support her but he had to follow the necessary procedure so boaz advises ruth to remain at the threshing floor till the morning to avoid scandal or misunderstanding there was nothing inappropriate that happened here this was just expressing her willingness to marry and of course boaz reciprocated and said yes that he was willing to marry her and verse 14 she laid his feet until the morning and she rose up before one could know another and he said let it not be known that a woman came into the threshing floor so they trust in god's perfect timing there's times when we might you know want to do something but there's a procedure there's something to go through that can be in life we just have to trust god's perfect timing when we get some delay for what we need and want verse 15 also he said boaz says bring the veil that thou hast upon thee and hold it and when she held it he measured six measures of barley and laid it on her and she went into the city so she holds this big veil and as a kind of container and he pours in these six measures of barley apparently it was some 13 kilos of grain so it was an enormous load of grain and they reckon it was equivalent to one month's wages in one day so she was really blessed with this abundant supply verse 16 so she goes home when she came to her mother-in-law she said who art thou my daughter and she told her all that the man had done to her and she said these six measures of barley gave he me for he said to me go not empty until thy mother-in-law boaz didn't want to send ruth home empty-handed he gave a great providence great supply verse 18 then said she sit still my daughter until they know how the matter will fall for the man will not be in rest until he had finished the thing this day so naomi recognized this generosity the kindness of boaz and obviously the his willingness to marry now ruth and it was quite an exciting development and we come to the final scene now scene four chapter four it really tells of god's redemptive plan so that now the setting the scene here is in the city of beverlyham again and we see that boaz marries ruth we see the birth of obed and naomi is blessed with a new family

[38:37] and ruth is an ancestor of david so verse one of chapter four it reads and then went boaz up to the gate and sat him down there and behold the kinsman of whom boaz spake came by unto him he said oh such a one turn aside sit down here and he turned aside and sat down so here was boaz at the city gate and the city gate was where the governance of the city was conducted all the legal matters took place and boaz notices this closer kinsman and boaz went to the gate of the city to conduct the business of redeeming ruth he had to go through the requirements he had to meet the man who had the first rights to redeem ruth and her property so this one relative he was more closely related to ruth than boaz himself and it says verse 2 he took 10 men of the elders of the city and said sit you down here and they sat down and he said unto the kinsman naomi that is come again out to the country of moab selleth a parcel of land which was our brother elimelech's so boaz confronts this closer kinsman talks about naomi talks about how she is as they both are related to elimelech and how there's this situation now verse 4 and i thought to advertise thee inform thee saying buy it before the inhabitants and before the elders of my people if they will redeem it then tell me that i may know for there is none to redeem it beside thee and i am after thee and he said i will redeem it so here boaz he presents this opportunity to redeem the property the livelihood of naomi and ruth and he presents this opportunity for redemption and the closer relative expresses interest in acquiring the property of elimelech verse 5 then said boaz what day they buy us the field of the hand of naomi they must buy it also of ruth the moabitess the wife of the dead to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance so boaz put to the man you're acquiring this property but it includes ruth you've got to marry ruth as part of the the deal and verse 6 and the kinsman said i cannot redeem it for myself lest i mar mine own inheritance redeem thou my rights to thyself for i cannot redeem it so the man changed his mind he said oh i've got to think twice about that i'm not sure that i want to marry ruth as part of the deal so he withdraws his offer and so that means now that boaz has got the clear option to be the redeemer to be the kinsman redeemer he could marry ruth and redeem both her and naomi so it's all the kind of the legal machinations of of having the clear rights now to redeem ruth and naomi verse 7 now this was the manner in former time in israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing for to confirm all things a man plucked off his shoe and gave it to his neighbor and this was a testimony in israel therefore the kinsman said unto boaz buy it for thee so he drew off his shoe so this is all part of the kind of the custom the tradition the confirming of this transaction was this giving of a shoe this is how they confirmed the transaction and the word redeem means to be set free by paying a price we think of the situation here ruth and naomi they'd lost their property during the famine while they were in moab and now the death of their husbands they lost everything boaz came to buy it back for them that is what our lord jesus did for us redemption he's purchased what we've lost through sin the garden of eden and everything of god's relationship by redemption we bought back he's he set us free by paying a price amen

[42:41] when we think of the picture of ruth and of boaz that boaz pictures how our lord jesus came to buy back to buy us back from that loss from that farness from him he's brought us back he's brought us close to himself he's fulfilled that role as redeemer and that's what boaz did he fulfilled the processes he met all the legal requirements verse 9 it reads and boaz said unto the elders and unto all the people ye are witnesses this day that i bought all that was elimelech's and all that was chilions and malon's of the hand of naomi moreover ruth the moabites the wife of malon 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 from the gate of his place you are witnesses this day so notice there verse 10 it says ruth have i purchased to be my wife now i don't know so not not the same picture in modern day times but there's a sense where there's a purchase isn't there there's a cost you know having a wife is is is a is a costly thing isn't it but a very precious thing but but but uh here with ruth was bought with a price bought with a price what a picture but we could think of it as our lord can't we that we bought with a price can't we today we're bought with a price what a price the very precious blood of our lord and so this act of redemption by boaz is a powerful picture of god's redeeming work the price think of the price that he paid the very price of our redemption was his precious precious blood verse 11 and all the people that were in the gate and the elders said we are witnesses the lord make the woman that is coming to thine house like rachel and like leah which too did build the house of israel and do that worthily in epaphrata and be famous in bevlehem and let thy house be like the house of pharaohs whom tomah bear unto judah of the seed which the lord shall give thee of this young woman so ruth the moabitess is received into the clan the the way was clear now that boaz could make her his wife and boaz married ruth and she conceived and bear a son verse 13 so boaz took ruth and she was his wife and when he went in unto her the lord gave her conception and she bear a son and what happened next is the women of the city praised the lord for his goodness in her life and for providing her a redeemer verse 14 and the women said unto naomi blessed be the lord which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman that his name may be famous in israel and he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life and a nourisher of thine old age for thy daughter-in-law which loveth thee which is better to thee than seven sons have born him so the women say ruth is better to thee than seven sons what a testament to the blessing that ruth was to naomi the friendship of ruth to naomi better than seven sons and so we see then through this marriage they could continue the family line they could continue the lineage and there would be provision made with sons who could support the family ahead and as ruth and boaz enter marriage the community blesses them and god's work in their lives so we see verse 16 it reads and naomi took the child and laid it in her bosom and became nurse unto it and the women her neighbors gave it a name saying there is a son born

[46:43] to naomi and they called his name obed he is the father of jesse the father of david of course it was ruth's son it was ruth's son but naomi as the grandmother was effectively a mother again a son born to naomi and they called his name obed so the city women they named the child obed obed means servant he would become the grandfather of king david think of that so all of these machinations all of these strange goings-on and developments and the journey that ruth had came to this place this point in time where she would be a forebear an ancestor of david and here we see the book of ruth ends with the lineage the genealogy of david and how naomi now becomes the great grandma to king david david's greater son is already reaching out to the gentiles here we think of ruth as a moabites boaz was the son of raham the prostitute again another another gentile so we see that god's providence is such that the gentiles are reached right back here in the old testament time we see rahab a gentile woman gave birth to boaz we see here ruth the moabitess from the moab the land of the idolatrous land of moab and so david's greatest son is even reaching the gentiles here already reaching out to them so verse 18 we see now these are the generations of pharahs pharahs begat hezron hezron begat ram ram ram begat aminadab aminadab begat nashon nashon begat salman and someone begat boaz and boaz begat obed and obed begat jesse and jesse begat david amen to that so the book of ruth tells us that the power of faith doesn't it of loyalty we see the kindness the kindness of of boaz the kindness of ruth but more especially the kindness of god can't we the kindness and provision of god the loving kindness of god the grace of god that here this woman of faith ruth she showed courage she showed trust she was willing to leave her comfort zone the homeland of moab to go into this strange land to be a foreigner such that she would become an ancestor of david and what's even more precious an ancestor of our precious lord himself in boaz we see faith kindness the generous compassionate heart of boaz this godly man we see how god gave hope and salvation in what was a hopeless time that book started off with the hopelessness didn't it there was loss there was emptiness there was tragedy famine then we see provision supply blessing it was hope and salvation god gave to that brokenness that was ruth's and naomi's lives and in all of this we can see the foreshadowing of a greater redemption to come a greater redeemer to come can't we the book of ruth that shows god's power through the happenstance through the the coincidences we would think that actually god had a plan that he was bringing to pass and a greater redemption was just ahead and so the book of ruth it shows god's power his redeeming love in christ and think of it brothers and sisters today what can we learn from ruth herself and we've only just really scratched the surface we've got we've glossed over so much here really of the book of the person

[50:46] of the character of ruth let us like ruth trust god's plan for our lives now according to tradition david was born and died on shavuot this time of the barley harvest the line of boaz and ruth goes to king david but ultimately to our lord jesus christ the ultimate redeemer and just as boaz redeemed ruth and naomi the lord jesus christ redeems us he pays that purchase price he does he undertakes all of the legal transaction all of the necessary procedure because without blood there is no remission of sins he had to shed his precious blood his very costly price was his own precious blood poured out and it's through christ we can become part of god's family even though we were strangers we brought in to the very closeness of relationship with him and we made heirs of all his promises and we receive his very abundant grace this great supply as pictured in the gracious kindness of boaz we see the kingly line of christ reminds us of god's great superintending and his redemptive plan made possible and the themes of the book are this foreshadowing god's ultimate plan is to redeem us we see god's working in that unseen hand that was behind the journey of ruth and think of it as we close christ today as it's been said truly that christ is in all the books of the bible we've done a quick kind of bird's eye view of the four chapters of ruth but really christ is in all the books of the bible and in the book of ruth we see him as really the true kinsman redeemer so what made a kinsman redeemer the redeemer had to be a near kinsman the lord jesus christ had to become one of us in order to redeem us now he wasn't some superman he was one of us truly man very man but at the same time very god he was truly god and christ had to become that nearest kinsman he had to become god manifest in the flesh he had to become and as coming down from the throne to become as a servant to become clothed in human flesh to become one of us in order to redeem us another thing about the redeemer the redeemer had to be willing to redeem thank god he's willing he's willing to redeem he's willing he's ready he's able to redeem the redeemer had to be able to pay the price for redemption the lord jesus paid the ultimate price the absolute necessary price his life his blood our great kinsman redeemer and the redeemer had to follow the proper method of redemption you know there was some legal goings on there at the city gate as they passed the shoe and did all of that necessary customary fulfillment of the law of the time of the the expectations of the time the lord jesus followed everything that had to be done everything that had to be done was done at the cross everything that had to be transacted the lord jesus met all the legal requirements of your salvation all the legal requirements that had to be affected for us was done at the cross the great transaction that is the cross that is the new covenant the new relationship with god everything was done at the cross of calvary at that hill for you for me everything was made

[54:52] possible everything was transacted there he affected for us the completed transaction at the cross and he cried out it is finished it is finished it was that legal declaration that everything has been done that had to be done stamped paid in full that was the sense of it it is finished the transaction was made we simply have to trust the transaction that he's made simply trust him believe believe be like ruth and say i'm not going back to moab and all of that i want to go with you i want to follow your god and your god's going to be my god and i want to be with you and i'll be with you to the end and she had that faithfulness that love and god blessed her with great redemption friends christ is the ultimate redeemer he is the one he's completed everything that had to be done he's become one of us he's willing to redeem us he's paid the price for us he's fulfilled everything that had to be fulfilled everything that was required to the extent of giving his very blood his very life for you i pray that you'll trust him as your redeemer let us pray lord we thank you that you are so gracious to us as as ruth fell on her face before boaz lord let us likewise humble ourselves and see your great grace that you should deign to even look upon us much more so that you would give us so bountifully such a gracious salvation lord that you would be the very redeemer that we need lord help us to learn from ruth her love her faithfulness her loving kindness as she received it and as she communicated it lord the loving kindness the very loving kindness that took you to the cross we see that you are that great fulfillment that great one our only and ultimate redeemer lord we pray each one might have that heart's trust that we might be like ruth and say yes i believe your god is going to be my god i'm going to follow you i'm going to be one of the people of god i'm not going back to moab i'm not going back there anymore i want to be with the people of god i want to be saved and lord we thank you that you are that great redeemer and show such loving kindness that you should visit us with your salvation we praise your holy name in jesus name amen