Wednesday Bible Study: Ladies Night Part 11

 

I have read through Ruth many times, did studies on her book more than once, and I don't think the beauty of this love story ever hit me as it did this time.  Perhaps, because it is the first time I saw it through Naomi's eyes.  In a lot of ways, I see the Book of Job in this- people losing everything, and getting so much more back from God.

So let's thumbnail the story again.  Naomi is married to Elimelech, and they have two sons, Mahlon and Chilion.Now there was a famine in the land, and Elimelech, not being a rich man like some of his relation (stay tuned), moved the family to Moab in hopes of things getting better.  I'm guessing they didn't; the Boy's names translate to "sick" and "failing". Still, they lasted long enough to attract a pair of sweet Moabite girls for wives- Ruth and Orpah.  But sometime after that, before any children were born, the specter of death caught up to them.  After 10 years- and I don't know if that was ten years from coming there or not, the commentators are too busy bashing Elimelech for moving to Moab in the first place, and second on their radars is the fact the boys married foreign women- first Elimelech, then the boys, died.  Dad may have died before the boys married, (see Ruth 1:3-4), but the story remains the same- it was down to Naomi and her daughters-in-law.

Now here's where we really pick up our story.  These 'evil, foreign' daughters-in-law begged to stay with Naomi, but Naomi was wallowing in her misfortune:

Rth 1:10  And they said to her, "No, we will return with you to your people."
Rth 1:11  But Naomi said, "Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands?
Rth 1:12  Turn back, my daughters; go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons,
Rth 1:13  would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the LORD has gone out against me."

Orpah, eventually, listened, but Ruth stayed on with her, pledging herself to Naomi in one of the Old Testament's most beautiful passages...

Rth 1:16  But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.
Rth 1:17  Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you."

So back came Ruth and Naomi- and as yet, it hadn't dawned on Naomi that God had just replaced a son with a daughter.

Rth 1:19  So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. And the women said, "Is this Naomi?"
Rth 1:20  She said to them, "Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.
Rth 1:21  I went away full, and the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the LORD has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?"

So they arrive at the start of the Barley harvest.  And as neither of them have a means of support, Ruth decides to go a-gleaning, hoping someone might hire her, or at least allow her to get food enough to keep them going.  She happens into the fields of Boaz, who is a rich relative (though she doesn't know it at the time), but poor in one aspect- despite his age (he makes mention of the "younger men" who are his harvesters), he seems to have no wife or child.  This was another attempt of Satan to disrupt the line to Jesus; and here I see the love of God so clear, that He would reach into pagan Moab for the means to defeat the devil's plans.  And here's where I have the biggest problem with the idea that Naomi's family was cursed by the marriages- Boaz's own father, Salmon, married the harlot from Jericho, Rahab, who came into the community after Jericho's fall.  God was ALWAYS grafting the Gentiles into the Jewish olive tree.

So Boaz sees her, finds out who she is, and not only grants her to glean, but gives her other special treatment.  When she asks why, Boaz tells her:

Rth 2:11  But Boaz answered her, "All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before.
Rth 2:12  The LORD repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!" 

So back to Naomi she goes, and Mom knows that God is working on blessing them all for the first time:

Rth 2:20  And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, "May he be blessed by the LORD, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!" Naomi also said to her, "The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers."

Now God has slyly revealed his plan to Naomi; and she allows Ruth to continue to get to know Boaz through working in his fields.  You see, she worked from the start of barley harvest to the end of wheat harvest- three months, give or take.  It's then that Naomi tells Ruth to 'make her move':

Rth 3:1  Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, "My daughter, should I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you?
Rth 3:2  Is not Boaz our relative, with whose young women you were? See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor.
Rth 3:3  Wash therefore and anoint yourself, and put on your cloak and go down to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.
Rth 3:4  But when he lies down, observe the place where he lies. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do."

This needs a smidgeon of translating.  "Seeking rest for you" meant that it was time for Naomi to do the 'fixing up' thing, as rest for Ruth meant marriage to Boaz. "Uncovering his feet" was a sign of submission; like a valued servant might, she was to cover herself with the covers at his feet.  Like I said, Naomi knew what God had in mind, plus, she suspected Boaz was ready to act as their redeemer.  This meant that the fields that Elimelech once worked, and were sold to someone else, could be redeemed by a close relative; it also meant he would, as redeemer, have to marry Ruth and raise up sons for Mahlon.  That Naomi was right was shown by Boaz's response:

Rth 3:8  At midnight the man was startled and turned over, and behold, a woman lay at his feet!
Rth 3:9  He said, "Who are you?" And she answered, "I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer."
Rth 3:10  And he said, "May you be blessed by the LORD, my daughter. You have made this last kindness greater than the first in that you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich.
Rth 3:11  And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you ask, for all my fellow townsmen know that you are a worthy woman.
Rth 3:12  And now it is true that I am a redeemer. Yet there is a redeemer nearer than I.
Rth 3:13  Remain tonight, and in the morning, if he will redeem you, good; let him do it. But if he is not willing to redeem you, then, as the LORD lives, I will redeem you. Lie down until the morning."

First off, God's sense of humor- "and behold, a woman lay at his feet!"

Second, v9 is Ruth's clear (to Boaz) declaration that she's asking for him to marry her.

His answer in 10 shows how lovely this story really is- with three months to check out men both younger and more handsome than himself, she focused on him.  However, there is a fly in the ointment- a nearer kinsman with a closer claim.  But now, Boaz shows the extent of HIS love by making a deal with that nearer kinsman- who wanted the fields, but not at the cost of splitting his revenues with Mahlon's heirs.

So let's backtrack through this to see why Naomi went from bitter to Joyous.  She started being cared for by a poor husband; she ends being cared for by a rich son-in-law. She starts out with two sickly sons; she ends with a new son and daughter, and a grand kid!  And that?  After complaining that she wasn't able to present any more children for the daughters, even if they were willing to wait, in the end, she gets this:

Rth 4:14  Then the women said to Naomi, "Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel!
Rth 4:15  He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him."
Rth 4:16  Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse.
Rth 4:17  And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, "A son has been born to Naomi." They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

You catch that?  Despite what she told Ruth and Orpah, "a son has been born to Naomi!" Not to mention the part about Ruth 'being better than seven sons'. Everything she lost, she gained back many times, and better. Ruth, after losing a sickly husband, got one who was strong, wealthy, and loving, and gave her a son. Boaz, who had waited on the Lord's plan all these years, goes from bachelor to to great-grandfather of Israel's greatest king. God rewarded faithfulness with so much love, it's hard to fathom.

And one more thing:  God confirmed it was no accident, in the praises the people at the gate heaped on Boaz and Ruth at their betrothal:

Rth 4:11  Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, "We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem,
Rth 4:12  and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the LORD will give you by this young woman." 

 

Realize that the two houses they compare him to are not only the founding of the Houses of Israel and Judah, but the two other times Satan tried to disrupt the line to Jesus, and failed.