WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:13.859 hi good morning everyone please turn with me to Ruth chapter 2 as we continue the story of Naomi 00:00:13.859 --> 00:00:23.339 and Ruth Ruth chapter 2 now Naomi had a relative of her husband's a worthy man of the clan of 00:00:23.339 --> 00:00:31.140 Elimelech whose name was Boaz and Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi let me go to the field and glean 00:00:31.140 --> 00:00:38.939 among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor and she said to her go my daughter 00:00:38.939 --> 00:00:45.859 so she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers and she happened to come to the 00:00:45.859 --> 00:00:53.120 part of the field belonging to Boaz who is of the clan of Elimelech and behold Boaz came 00:00:53.119 --> 00:01:03.379 from Bethlehem and he said to the reapers the Lord be with you and they answered the Lord bless you then 00:01:03.379 --> 00:01:10.819 Boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the reapers who was it whose young woman is this and 00:01:10.819 --> 00:01:18.799 the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered she is the young Moabite woman who came back with 00:01:18.799 --> 00:01:26.899 Naomi from the country of Moab she said please let me glean and gather among the sheaves of the reapers 00:01:26.899 --> 00:01:36.299 so she came and she has continued from early morning until now except for a short break then Boaz said to 00:01:36.299 --> 00:01:45.599 Ruth now listen my daughter do not go to glean in another field or leave this one but keep close to my 00:01:45.599 --> 00:01:52.599 young women let your eyes beyond the field that they are reaping go after them have I not charged 00:01:52.599 --> 00:01:59.599 the young men not to touch you and when you are thirsty go to the vessels and drink what the young 00:01:59.599 --> 00:02:08.400 men have drawn then she fell on a face bowing to the ground and said to him why have I found favor in 00:02:08.400 --> 00:02:17.319 your eyes that you should take notice of me since I am a foreigner but Boaz answered her all that you 00:02:17.319 --> 00:02:23.640 have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me and how you 00:02:23.640 --> 00:02:30.280 left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before 00:02:30.280 --> 00:02:37.819 the Lord repay you for what you have done and a full reward be given to you by the Lord the God of 00:02:37.819 --> 00:02:47.180 Israel under whose wings you have come to take refuge then she said I have found favor in your eyes my 00:02:47.180 --> 00:02:54.659 Lord for you have comforted me and has spoken kindly to your servant though I am not one of your servants 00:02:54.659 --> 00:03:03.599 and at mealtime Boaz said to her come here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine 00:03:03.599 --> 00:03:11.699 so she sat beside the reapers and he passed to her roasted grain and she ate until she was satisfied 00:03:11.699 --> 00:03:20.000 and she had some left over when she rose to glean Boaz instructed his young men saying 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:29.240 let her glean even among the sheaves and do not reproach her and also pull out some from the bundles 00:03:29.240 --> 00:03:37.620 for her and leave it for her to glean and do not rebuke her so she gleaned in the field until evening 00:03:37.620 --> 00:03:46.039 then she beat out what she had gleaned it was about an ephah of barley and she took it up and went into the 00:03:46.039 --> 00:03:53.060 city her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned she also brought out and gave her what food she had 00:03:53.060 --> 00:04:02.060 left over after being satisfied and her mother-in-law said to her where did you glean today and where have 00:04:02.060 --> 00:04:09.799 you worked blessed be the man who took notice of you so she told her mother-in-law with whom she had 00:04:09.800 --> 00:04:19.199 worked and said the man's name with whom i worked today is Boaz and Naomi said to her a daughter-in-law 00:04:19.199 --> 00:04:25.360 may he be blessed by the lord whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead 00:04:25.360 --> 00:04:35.860 Naomi also said to her the man is a close relative of ours one of our redeemers and ruth the moabite said 00:04:35.860 --> 00:04:43.699 besides he said to me you shall keep close to my young men until they have finished all my harvest 00:04:43.699 --> 00:04:52.180 and Naomi said to ruth her daughter-in-law it is good my daughter that you go out with his young 00:04:52.180 --> 00:05:00.960 men met with young women lest in another field you be assaulted so she kept close to the young women of 00:05:00.959 --> 00:05:07.839 moaz leaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests and she lived with her mother-in-law 00:05:07.839 --> 00:05:22.339 okay just as we uh as we begin on um the story of ruth 2 which we've heard read out and then acted 00:05:22.339 --> 00:05:28.019 out with toys um we're going to walk through that story but i need to lay some background for it 00:05:28.019 --> 00:05:32.399 particularly if you weren't here last uh with us last week but um there is a there's a kind of an 00:05:32.399 --> 00:05:38.479 undercurrent throughout this particular chapter of danger ruth and naomi have made already made an 00:05:38.479 --> 00:05:44.979 arduous journey uh and a costly journey in leaving moab and moving through to um to return to the promised 00:05:44.979 --> 00:05:50.000 land to israel but in doing that they've left behind everything they had they would have gone with what 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:56.019 they could carry they turned up in a country that was naomi's own but but certainly not ruth's and um 00:05:56.019 --> 00:06:00.959 they turned up as widows with no no men to support or protect them so they were in an incredibly 00:06:00.959 --> 00:06:05.060 vulnerable state so to help us to get a bit of a sense of what that might have been like 00:06:05.060 --> 00:06:10.359 i've prepared a short video which we're going to watch now and and it gives you just a snapshot into 00:06:10.359 --> 00:06:16.060 what it's like uh to live as a woman in the 21st century where you know calling a calling the police 00:06:16.060 --> 00:06:20.659 is is just like a few minutes the police are a few minutes away an ambulance is a few minutes away 00:06:20.660 --> 00:06:25.200 we live in a very safe world and yet still uh women feel vulnerable so let's just share some of 00:06:25.200 --> 00:06:31.580 those ways we're going to look at um the particular vulnerabilities of um of ruth um of ruth and that 00:06:31.580 --> 00:06:35.500 was that she was female and that she was foreign in the in the land of israel so let's have a look at 00:06:35.500 --> 00:06:44.600 that video now one of the times i feel most vulnerable as a woman is when i'm walking home 00:06:44.600 --> 00:06:52.520 um to get to my car from the university library um it's dark and i will often have my car keys um 00:06:52.520 --> 00:06:56.620 in my hand ready to go and ready to hop in my car and unlock the door 00:06:56.620 --> 00:07:07.580 when i walk home from my bus stop uh at night it's pretty dark and poorly lit so um yeah i feel 00:07:07.580 --> 00:07:11.379 vulnerable especially when there's someone walking behind me and i will even go 00:07:11.379 --> 00:07:19.120 to the point of pretending to check my bag just so that so they will walk past and so that there's 00:07:19.120 --> 00:07:23.639 no one walking behind me and i feel a lot more comfortable times that i would feel most vulnerable 00:07:23.639 --> 00:07:32.060 would be coming home to an empty house um that's at night and it's dark and walking back to my car 00:07:32.060 --> 00:07:36.360 after say um having dinner with friends uh but i'm on my own 00:07:36.360 --> 00:07:45.360 when i moved from australia to england one of the hardest things was to leave my family 00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:51.439 especially my twin sister and also all my friends and i had to start all over again 00:07:51.439 --> 00:08:01.360 it's been really hard recently as my mom's health has been declining um i'm not able to go across and 00:08:01.360 --> 00:08:08.580 help her as i'd like to do and and that's really tough i feel like i have two homes 00:08:08.580 --> 00:08:12.420 but to be honest i don't feel completely at home in either 00:08:12.420 --> 00:08:20.800 my name is cindy i'm a born and brett chinese came into australia 15 years ago 00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:26.860 after 15 years of integration overcoming language and culture barriers 00:08:26.860 --> 00:08:33.399 my biggest struggle is still to form a meaningful and truthful relationship with other people 00:08:33.399 --> 00:08:37.460 i tend to feel like a misfit in many social settings 00:08:37.460 --> 00:08:43.580 and i guess that's probably because i'm so out of touch being a chinese 00:08:43.580 --> 00:08:48.159 and probably will never be blue enough to be called an aussie 00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:50.259 even after marrying one 00:08:50.259 --> 00:08:56.240 okay thank you for that and thanks for persevering with that too 00:08:56.240 --> 00:09:02.679 i hope that gives you a bit of a snapshot into to what it's like to live as a woman in this world 00:09:02.679 --> 00:09:07.059 in particular and from the perspective of being female and being foreign there's a certain 00:09:07.059 --> 00:09:12.639 vulnerability that comes with that and uh it's a challenging one to live with it's one that ruth and 00:09:12.639 --> 00:09:19.279 um that ruth in particular would have been living with all the time 24 7 as soon as she uh left her 00:09:19.279 --> 00:09:25.299 family and and moved into israel this would have been her life uh she would have had nothing she was 00:09:25.299 --> 00:09:32.000 started with nothing and she would have been an incredibly vulnerable state but this chapter begins 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:40.139 with a with a it's just a ray of hope in in this um there is a redeemer and we see that in the um 00:09:40.139 --> 00:09:46.600 the first verse where this man is a certain man is introduced we read in verse one now naomi had a 00:09:46.600 --> 00:09:54.340 relative of her husband's a worthy man of the clan of elimelech whose name was boaz this up front 00:09:54.340 --> 00:09:59.580 introduction is a kind of a it's a device that storytellers use it's a signal for us to watch 00:09:59.580 --> 00:10:06.120 out for this guy and here's why he's a relative of naomi's he's of the same clan as elimelech 00:10:06.120 --> 00:10:13.539 that's the ephra thites which we know from last week means fruitfulness and he's a potential kinsman 00:10:13.539 --> 00:10:17.919 redeemer now that's something that uh that doesn't come to the fore at this stage just the fact that 00:10:17.919 --> 00:10:24.000 he's a close relative the people who first listened to this story and um as it was handed down and uh 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:29.179 who read it uh would have known exactly what this meant uh for us it's a bit of a a bit of a 00:10:29.179 --> 00:10:34.100 jump for us to work out what that relationship actually means but then beyond that we read about 00:10:34.100 --> 00:10:41.220 his character he's a worthy man worthy means um more more commonly is translated as physically 00:10:41.220 --> 00:10:48.379 mighty or materially rich or morally upright so that's the character of this particular guy 00:10:48.379 --> 00:10:56.000 and then his name is boaz and boaz as far as we can tell it's kind of an obscure word um but we we 00:10:56.000 --> 00:11:02.180 think it means quickness when i say we i mean the boffins i just listen to them but but what we can 00:11:02.179 --> 00:11:08.759 gather from this is that boaz is an impressive man despite all that though ruth doesn't know any of 00:11:08.759 --> 00:11:14.919 this she has no idea who he is and no expectation that he or anyone else will help because as we see 00:11:14.919 --> 00:11:23.599 from her identity ruth is a moabite and in verse 2 we can read these words and ruth the moabite said 00:11:23.600 --> 00:11:29.600 to naomi let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grains after him in whose sight i shall 00:11:29.600 --> 00:11:39.879 find favor it's ruth chapter 2 ruth is not just a moabite she is the moabite boaz is um boaz is worthy 00:11:39.879 --> 00:11:47.340 we read in in these um first verses but ruth is moabite now i don't think we can underestimate the 00:11:47.340 --> 00:11:53.480 hostility between israel and moab moab moab was synonymous with enemy it used to appear in the 00:11:53.480 --> 00:11:58.980 lists of um of of enemies of israel that the prophets used to prophesy against and you can see 00:11:58.980 --> 00:12:06.120 for an example of that and say isaiah 25 10 moabites were never to be included in the assembly of god's 00:12:06.120 --> 00:12:13.019 people even the egyptians who enslaved israel actually they got a three generation uh kind of 00:12:13.019 --> 00:12:18.860 buffer zone but then they're actually allowed in the moabites never they weren't even to be treated 00:12:18.860 --> 00:12:24.860 with kindness we read and if you have a look at um deuteronomy 23 verses 3 to 6 you'll actually see 00:12:24.860 --> 00:12:31.939 that spelled out in deuteronomy which is the book of the covenants so the storyteller as he tells his 00:12:31.939 --> 00:12:37.899 story about um ruth he stacks these truths next to each other and he does it on purpose we're supposed 00:12:37.899 --> 00:12:46.220 to hear them and see the gulf between naomi and boaz yes there's a redeemer but naomi is too old and ruth 00:12:46.220 --> 00:12:55.100 is disqualified but we also learn in these verses first verse that ruth isn't just a foreigner she's a 00:12:55.100 --> 00:13:01.579 faithful friend and look at how um how ruth responds to a situation she knows it and she knows they'll starve if 00:13:01.579 --> 00:13:07.419 they don't do something and for her the barley harvest is her opportunity to act so ruth asks to glean 00:13:07.419 --> 00:13:13.099 now as boaz already pointed out gleaning is legal and we saw that in deuteronomy 24 you can also look 00:13:13.099 --> 00:13:19.659 up leviticus 19 verses 9 to 10 and that'll show you a similar kind of teaching this is god's loving 00:13:19.659 --> 00:13:27.579 provision for the poor and the foreigner in the midst of the israelites but gleaning is also dangerous 00:13:27.979 --> 00:13:35.179 especially for ruth and this note of danger is provides a context or a backdrop for the whole chapter 00:13:35.179 --> 00:13:42.859 ruth ruth knows that she has to find favor to have any chance and naomi only agrees because she knows 00:13:42.859 --> 00:13:52.219 that they have no choice and in the midst of all this comes a chance encounter in verse 3 we read what 00:13:52.219 --> 00:13:58.219 she does ruth so ruth set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers and she happened to 00:13:58.220 --> 00:14:05.019 come to come to a part of the field belonging to boaz who was at the clan of elimelech verse 3 this verse 00:14:05.019 --> 00:14:09.899 represents a journey that we can really easily overlook ruth happens to come to a part of the 00:14:09.899 --> 00:14:19.019 field belonging to boaz because every other field she tried sent her packing and while she's gleaning 00:14:19.740 --> 00:14:26.460 boaz turns up and can i just say it seems like a chance encounter but chance in this story is 00:14:26.460 --> 00:14:32.940 presented as the hidden hand of god god doesn't overtly act in this story he acts powerfully in 00:14:32.940 --> 00:14:39.259 and through the lives of his people so we glimpse god in boaz's character from the start too through 00:14:39.259 --> 00:14:44.379 his greeting he says the lord be with you and that with the response from his workers and you know and 00:14:44.379 --> 00:14:49.500 the lord bless you and that may probably probably it's a standard green you know like we say g'day 00:14:49.500 --> 00:14:54.220 but in the context of ruth and the fact that this is the first time we see anything like this 00:14:54.220 --> 00:14:58.860 suggested it's something more that we're getting a glimpse into who boaz is and we also see his 00:14:58.860 --> 00:15:04.300 character through his fatherly presence the way he speaks or the way that he is addressed in relation 00:15:04.300 --> 00:15:10.540 to the other people in the story you know young man young woman and daughter boaz is a mature older 00:15:10.540 --> 00:15:18.860 man and his kindness radiates like warmth from the pages this man boaz he is a redeemer by nature 00:15:18.860 --> 00:15:26.220 and boaz immediately notices ruth and asks who is she and the servant who is in charge of the 00:15:26.220 --> 00:15:31.500 reaper's answers she is the young moabite woman who came back with naomi from the country of moab 00:15:31.500 --> 00:15:38.620 that's in verse six that is how he describes her in the in that in his little um response he 00:15:38.620 --> 00:15:45.180 he describes right that ruth is courteous she's had a hard she's a hard enough work to actually impress him as 00:15:45.179 --> 00:15:57.819 the foreman but she's a foreigner emphasized twice the moabite from moab so what will an upright god 00:15:57.819 --> 00:16:07.259 fearing man like boaz do boaz had every right to banish ruth and to be seen as right in doing so 00:16:07.259 --> 00:16:18.299 instead he emphatically provides refuge rest look at these verses that boaz um once he's in once he's 00:16:18.299 --> 00:16:26.700 introduced to ruth look at what he says he says these words listen my daughter do not go and glean 00:16:26.700 --> 00:16:32.059 in another field or leave this one but keep close to my young women let your eyes be on the field that 00:16:32.059 --> 00:16:37.220 they are reaping and go after them have i not charged the men not to touch you and when you are thirsty 00:16:37.220 --> 00:16:45.620 go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn do not leave keep close watch carefully 00:16:45.620 --> 00:16:52.899 follow my young women when you thirst drink from our provisions all of these speak to the danger that 00:16:52.899 --> 00:17:00.540 ruth was in and they show how boaz reversed it and then comes one of the most moving moments in the 00:17:00.540 --> 00:17:04.920 story i don't know about you but there are certain moments in uh in in some of the bible stories that just 00:17:04.920 --> 00:17:10.600 move you to tears and i this is this is one of the two in in uh in ruth it's kind of guaranteed as i 00:17:10.600 --> 00:17:15.779 sat in my study and was preparing this part of the talk it moved me to my i felt my eyes welling up 00:17:15.779 --> 00:17:22.759 with tears just just looking at it because this response is just speaks volumes to where ruth was 00:17:22.759 --> 00:17:30.840 coming from she's overcome and we read in verse 10 she fell on her face bowing to the ground and said to 00:17:30.839 --> 00:17:37.759 him why have i found favor in your eyes that you should take notice of me since i am a foreigner 00:17:37.759 --> 00:17:45.659 ruth has been carrying her identity around like a weight around the neck she's been living as a 00:17:45.659 --> 00:17:52.379 foreigner an outsider an enemy of israel she's been living a life of constant fear and shame 00:17:52.379 --> 00:17:59.639 the weight of that must have been crushing then boaz provides a little refuge 00:17:59.640 --> 00:18:06.380 and she's overcome some kind of mixture of shock and relief that means she can't even stand up 00:18:06.380 --> 00:18:10.240 because finally she can rest 00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:20.000 such a moving moment in this story but how can boaz do this as we've already found he would have been 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:25.440 well within his rights to do the opposite and to be called righteous for it well the answer comes in 00:18:25.440 --> 00:18:31.940 boaz's reply that's in verses 11 and 12 boaz answered her all that you have done for your 00:18:31.940 --> 00:18:36.460 mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me and how you left your father 00:18:36.460 --> 00:18:42.420 and mother in your native land and came to a people that you did not know before the lord repay you for 00:18:42.420 --> 00:18:48.860 what you have done and a full reward be given but to you by the lord the god of israel under whose wings 00:18:48.859 --> 00:18:56.219 you have come to take refuge it's kind of reminiscent of genesis 12 1 1 to 3 as we read this 00:18:56.219 --> 00:19:02.259 abraham left his country his people and his family he placed his life in the lord's hands 00:19:02.259 --> 00:19:07.240 and the lord's promise was to bless all nations through him 00:19:07.240 --> 00:19:14.539 boaz recognizes this kind of movement that that sorry that ruth has actually gone through 00:19:14.539 --> 00:19:21.720 all that you have done all that you have left all that you have chosen to come to ruth has taken 00:19:21.720 --> 00:19:29.659 abraham's journey in ruth's mind she is no longer a foreigner she's the lord's under his protection 00:19:29.659 --> 00:19:38.460 and boaz knows that this is exactly what god intended and what he desires god desires to bless not to curse 00:19:38.460 --> 00:19:46.220 god is not itching to condemn god is longing to save just look at john chapter 3 verse 16 and 17 and 00:19:46.220 --> 00:19:51.440 you'll see that for god did not come send his son to condemn the world but to save the world through him 00:19:51.440 --> 00:19:55.700 god is in the business of turning his enemies into his friends 00:19:55.700 --> 00:20:04.279 friends do you ever doubt god's heart toward you do you feel like you deserve to be rejected 00:20:04.279 --> 00:20:08.819 is your sin your shame your sense of unworthiness dragging you down 00:20:08.819 --> 00:20:16.460 some of us feel this way acutely and frequently the point is that everyone should start this way 00:20:16.460 --> 00:20:25.599 but that god doesn't leave us this way the lord is our redeemer god loves to welcome people like us 00:20:25.599 --> 00:20:31.180 into his family he willingly takes our shame on himself at the cross the son provides the redemption 00:20:31.180 --> 00:20:36.799 that we all need now don't get me wrong boaz doesn't know jesus at this point he's in history 00:20:36.799 --> 00:20:42.000 he's well before um before jesus lived and died on the cross and rose again but he knows the lord and 00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:45.779 he knows the heart of the lord and he knows that he owes everything to his redeemer himself 00:20:45.779 --> 00:20:52.720 so he provides refuge and food rest and fullness for ruth 00:20:52.720 --> 00:20:59.100 you get the sense here that boaz is reflecting god's generosity toward him 00:20:59.099 --> 00:21:05.159 let her glean do not reproach her pull out some of it and leave it for her and do not rebuke her he 00:21:05.159 --> 00:21:11.079 says in these uh the instructions to his servants and suddenly boaz's servants are caught up in the 00:21:11.079 --> 00:21:15.000 scene they're literally throwing food on the floor if you understand how that economy worked 00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:22.779 they're throwing money on the floor for her and then at lunchtime boaz invites ruth to join them 00:21:22.779 --> 00:21:27.719 these were the kind of the you know the people who gleaned were generally the kind of more towards 00:21:27.720 --> 00:21:33.460 the fringe of society and yet boaz draws them in and she sat beside the reapers and they ate together 00:21:33.460 --> 00:21:40.079 they shared the same cup and she ate until she was full and she had some left over 00:21:40.079 --> 00:21:48.759 in this moment the emptiness is banished and ruth experiences the fullness that god provides 00:21:48.759 --> 00:21:56.360 all this fulfills god's promise to abraham through his descendants all nations would be blessed 00:21:56.359 --> 00:22:06.439 the lord redeems ruth through boaz the lord's nature is infused into him and to us 00:22:06.439 --> 00:22:13.819 it surfaces in all kinds of ways in us and for example i can i can give some examples from our church 00:22:13.819 --> 00:22:21.099 life in how we show compassion by providing nova meals by giving and to support churches and uh 00:22:21.099 --> 00:22:27.740 christian workers in in the philippines in myanmar in how we deconstruct racism sexism and under other 00:22:27.740 --> 00:22:31.779 inequalities wherever we go whether it be the workplace the home environment or wherever 00:22:31.779 --> 00:22:36.599 and most of all in how we testify to our redeemer 00:22:36.599 --> 00:22:41.019 but is boaz their redeemer 00:22:41.019 --> 00:22:49.079 well is he their redeemer ruth still has no no idea who boaz is in terms of relationship and how could 00:22:49.079 --> 00:22:56.240 she she goes out on a hazardous quest and returns with so much that naomi is stunned naomi um asked 00:22:56.240 --> 00:23:01.740 where did you glean today and where have you worked blessed be the man who took notice of you that's in 00:23:01.740 --> 00:23:09.519 chapter uh two verse 19 see gleaning isn't just isn't that productive it's kind of below the minimum 00:23:09.519 --> 00:23:14.819 wage and if you're thinking about how it fits into our social structures so there's no way ruth would 00:23:14.819 --> 00:23:23.180 come back from gleaning with this kind of results unless a man was extremely kind to her but who was 00:23:23.180 --> 00:23:29.440 it well the answer is drawn out in the sentence that ruth replies with but the answer is one word really 00:23:29.440 --> 00:23:38.319 it's boaz and naomi's response to this has two significant layers in verse 20 we see them um we see them 00:23:38.319 --> 00:23:40.220 unfold let me read those verses 00:23:40.220 --> 00:23:49.579 okay and naomi said to her daughter in law may he be blessed by the lord whose kindness has not forsaken 00:23:49.579 --> 00:23:57.000 the living or the dead naomi also said to her the man is a close relative of ours one of our redeemers 00:23:57.000 --> 00:24:05.439 can you see the two layers there the lord he has redeemed them and the man he is a potential 00:24:05.440 --> 00:24:11.940 redeemer it's a breakthrough moment finally naomi is seeing the goodness of god in her circumstances 00:24:11.940 --> 00:24:18.539 and isn't that so often the way for us we know god's good goodness in times of hardship but when 00:24:18.539 --> 00:24:25.960 we experience his goodness it feels like the sun breaks through the clouds let me give you the example 00:24:25.960 --> 00:24:33.140 of the um the the hymn it is well with my soul horatio spafford was able to to see goodness even in the 00:24:33.140 --> 00:24:40.980 the deepest tragedy of his life and sing of it but at the same time it is a mournful song isn't it 00:24:40.980 --> 00:24:48.000 it's a song that expresses the weight of loss at the same time but when we experience goodness 00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:54.220 somehow it gives us a deeper sense of the truth that's been true all along and that is that god 00:24:54.220 --> 00:25:01.060 has not forsaken or forgotten us and that's where ruth and naomi are the lord hasn't forsaken or forgotten 00:25:01.059 --> 00:25:07.240 them not the living that's ruth and naomi or the dead elimelech and and the sons the two sons 00:25:07.240 --> 00:25:16.839 here is a concrete expression of his kindness where kindness is actually the word hesed in in hebrew 00:25:16.839 --> 00:25:23.339 which means covenant faithfulness steadfast love the love that was there all along expressed in concrete 00:25:23.339 --> 00:25:33.839 terms boaz has been kind to ruth but ultimately it's the lord's provision the lord is their redeemer 00:25:33.839 --> 00:25:45.599 but is boaz his redeemer what role is boaz to play in the future ruth explains that boaz offered 00:25:45.599 --> 00:25:50.599 protection until the end of the harvest and naomi acknowledges the wisdom of this she survived one day 00:25:50.599 --> 00:25:58.039 but there's still very real danger in continuing to glean but will he be the kinsman redeemer that naomi 00:25:58.039 --> 00:26:06.759 hopes what is a kinsman redeemer well up until now the story is focused on on ruth and naomi's emptiness 00:26:06.759 --> 00:26:15.099 in with regards to losing their husbands but now we start to get a sense of what that loss truly means 00:26:15.099 --> 00:26:22.059 yes ruth and naomi were living life uh adrift in a in a really in a man's world they had no men to 00:26:22.059 --> 00:26:29.719 protect and support them but the the second tragedy and a deeper tragedy was that these two women were 00:26:29.719 --> 00:26:36.459 childless which meant that the line that their husbands represented within the people of israel 00:26:36.460 --> 00:26:44.460 was coming to an end with their lives a kinsman redeemer could reverse even that tragedy 00:26:44.460 --> 00:26:54.180 but will boaz be that kinsman redeemer that naomi hopes either way the door is opening to a new life 00:26:54.180 --> 00:27:00.779 ruth the moabite has experienced the lord's kindness the lord is her redeemer and her identity has changed 00:27:00.779 --> 00:27:07.420 an experience that we that we have too in our savior jesus christ thanks 00:27:07.420 --> 00:27:09.420 you