Pastor Nate continues our study through the Bible in the book of Ruth.
[00:00:00] You're listening to the Through the Bible Studio series with Pastor Nate Holdridge. Join us
[00:00:09] as we continue our study through the Old Testament book of Ruth. Here's Nate.
[00:00:15] King Asa was a wonderful king in the line of David, and so he was a king of Judah. And
[00:00:25] some of the things that he did during his reign were powerful and beautiful. He worked
[00:00:32] religious reforms in Judah and Jerusalem, driving out the high places and the worship
[00:00:40] of foreign gods. He militarily fortified various cities throughout Judah and made his country
[00:00:48] a more defendable place. He brought peace, the Bible says, in Second Chronicles on every
[00:00:56] side. And there was this major trademark victory in King Asa's life. Early on in his reign there
[00:01:06] was a million man Ethiopian army that came against the people of Judah. And it says
[00:01:13] in Second Chronicles 14 verse 11 that Asa cried to the Lord his God and said, There is none
[00:01:20] like you to help between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely
[00:01:25] on you. And in your name we have come against this multitude. O Lord, you are God. Let
[00:01:30] not man prevail against you. That was the early attitude of Asa's heart and life,
[00:01:38] dependence upon God in the face of adversity. Unfortunately, near the end of Asa's reign,
[00:01:46] a different attitude seems to have prevailed. The northern king, King Basheh had begun to
[00:01:54] build a strategic city against Judah, the city of Ramah. And Asa, instead of crying
[00:02:01] out to God, instead of praying as he had done previously in the face of a million man army,
[00:02:07] Asa paid the Syrians to attack Basheh's cities. And Basheh withdrew and Israel or Judah went
[00:02:17] and destroyed Ramah. And so it appeared that the plan of Asa's had worked. But at
[00:02:25] that time, Hanani the prophet came to him and said that the eyes of the Lord run to and
[00:02:32] fro throughout the whole earth to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward
[00:02:38] him. And he announced to him, You've done foolishly in this for from now on you will
[00:02:44] have wars. But the announcement there from Hanani the prophet, you know God is looking.
[00:02:51] The eyes of the Lord are running to and fro throughout the whole earth. And what God wants
[00:02:56] to do is he wants to find those whose heart is blameless toward him. And when he finds
[00:03:03] that kind of person, he wants to as Hanani announced, give strong support to them.
[00:03:11] What we have here in Ruth chapter two and really the entirety of the book of Ruth
[00:03:16] is just that God giving strong support to his people specifically to a woman, young woman,
[00:03:27] a Moabite woman named Ruth. Now in Ruth chapter one we saw that Naomi and her family had gone
[00:03:35] to Moabite territory because of a famine in Bethlehem. And there her two sons married
[00:03:41] but her husband and her two sons eventually all died. And Ruth, one of her son's wives,
[00:03:51] returned to Bethlehem after at least a period of 10 years with Naomi. They've returned
[00:03:58] and Naomi feels that she's empty. She tells the people in Bethlehem, the women in Bethlehem
[00:04:03] call me Mara, call me bitter because I went out full and I've returned empty. But
[00:04:09] of course the reader is meant to understand that God is working in the midst of these dire
[00:04:14] details of life. And so today I want to show you ways in which God is going to show strong
[00:04:23] support to Ruth and in so doing I want to show you three things from God and three
[00:04:31] things from Ruth. It takes two to tango as they say and it takes God finally to
[00:04:39] finding a person that he is able to show that strong support to. And so I want to show you
[00:04:44] how God shows that strong support and I want to show you some ingredients within Ruth's
[00:04:50] own life and heart that I think lent her to being that person who God's eye could find
[00:04:57] humble and blameless toward him. Now it says in verse one of chapter three, now Naomi
[00:05:05] had a relative of her husband's, a worthy man of the clan of a limileque whose name was
[00:05:10] Boaz and Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, let me go to the field and glean among the ears
[00:05:16] of grain after him and whose sight I shall find favor. And she said to her, go my daughter.
[00:05:22] So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers and she happened
[00:05:27] to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz who was of the clan of a limileque.
[00:05:35] Now these first three verses give us an anticipation of what is going to come in this story. First
[00:05:45] of all, the author tells us that there was a relative of Naomi's husband. This would
[00:05:53] mean that he was a blood relative and potentially a redeemer, potentially someone who could restore
[00:05:59] them perhaps even marry Ruth and perpetuate the line of a limileque, perpetuate the line
[00:06:07] of Naomi's husband and Naomi's family. He was a worthy man it says in verse one and
[00:06:14] his name was Boaz. This is all designed to tell us that he was a relative so he was
[00:06:21] qualified but also he was a man of standing, he was worthy so he's legally but also financially
[00:06:28] able to intervene in this situation. Now the author tells us there in verse two and three
[00:06:33] that Ruth she doesn't know about Boaz and Naomi is not conscious or thinking of Boaz.
[00:06:41] Ruth basically just says look I want to go out and glean among the ears of grain
[00:06:46] after him and whose sight I may find favor. In other words, I think that she's just simply
[00:06:52] saying look the law of Israel tells us that the reapers are not to reap the corners of
[00:07:02] the field and they're to leave a sheaf in the field and not go back and get it so that
[00:07:10] the sojourner and the fatherless and the widow may be taken care of and blessed. And probably
[00:07:18] there weren't many people in Israel who were actually obeying those laws from God's word
[00:07:25] but Ruth hopes to find someone who would favor the widow and the fatherless and the
[00:07:30] sojourner in that kind of way and so she goes out to the field with Naomi's blessing.
[00:07:37] The author tells us in verse three that she happened to come to the part of the field belonging
[00:07:43] to Boaz. And we're meant to understand that Ruth thought this to be chance but the narrator
[00:07:50] and the reader know it to be God's involvement. This is not fate, this is not luck but this
[00:07:58] is divine providence. And one of the things that I wanted you to see here about God
[00:08:04] is that God is willing to get involved with his people. God's involvement is the first thing
[00:08:10] I think that we see. The Bible is filled with this kind of concept that God involves himself
[00:08:16] in the individual lives of his people. You might remember in the book of Second Kings there
[00:08:25] was a Shunamite woman who Elisha had told to sojourn for a period of time because of
[00:08:32] a famine in the land and when she came back seven years later she went to the king of
[00:08:37] Israel to appeal for her old land back. And it just so happened that right at the time
[00:08:44] that she went into the king Elisha's servant was with the king and boasting about a time
[00:08:53] previously where Elisha had raised the Shunamite's son back to life. And just as he's
[00:09:01] telling that story, In walks in this Shunamite woman. It was God's involvement, God's providence
[00:09:10] in taking care of her life. There was a moment in the book of Esther where the wicked man
[00:09:17] Haman had determined that he wanted to finally execute his wrath against Mordecai and so
[00:09:25] he built gallows in order to hang Mordecai the next day. But that night the king who was more
[00:09:33] powerful than Haman could not sleep and so he asked his servants to read him from the
[00:09:39] old governmental records and it tells us that they read to him the story of Mordecai
[00:09:47] years earlier uncovering an assassination plot and not being rewarded for it.
[00:09:55] And the king began to inquire what should we do and so when Haman showed up he says what
[00:10:02] should we do for the one that the king desires to honor. It was God intervening in Mordecai's
[00:10:09] life at just the right moment. Or in the New Testament we see God asking Philip to go
[00:10:16] down to Gaza in the midst of a Samaritan revival. He goes down and finds an Ethiopian
[00:10:23] man who just so happens at that very moment to be reading from Isaiah 53 prophecies that
[00:10:30] are so clearly and directly about the crucifixion of Christ. Or later in the book of Acts when
[00:10:37] God wanted Paul to go to Ephesus and Apollos to go to Corinth he arranged the details
[00:10:45] of their lives and sent them where he wanted them to go even though they had not even
[00:10:51] met each other or coordinated with each other by that time. Now God is seen here as the chess
[00:10:59] player moving his pieces where he sees fit and so the involvement of God. And God's people
[00:11:07] we must recognize this and believe this to be so. And so she happened verse 3 to come
[00:11:14] to the part of the field belonging to Boaz. And behold verse 4, Boaz came from Bethlehem
[00:11:22] and he said to the reapers, the Lord be with you. And they answered, the Lord bless you.
[00:11:30] Now what we're learning here about Boaz is that he was a godly man, a godly leader.
[00:11:36] He comes out and the Lord is on his lips. The Lord be with you he says. And they
[00:11:41] answer the Lord bless you. It gives us a little snapshot of the kind of man that Boaz was.
[00:11:48] He was a benevolent leader. It tells us in Colossians 4 verse 1 Paul writing saying,
[00:11:56] Masters treat your bond servants justly and fairly knowing that you also have a master
[00:12:03] in heaven. You know if you're a leader of others and a believer they should have
[00:12:08] a wonderful experience being under your charge. He said the Lord be with you and they said
[00:12:14] the Lord bless you. Then Boaz verse 5 said to his young man who was in charge of the
[00:12:20] reapers, whose young woman is this? And the servant who was in charge of the reapers
[00:12:24] answered she is the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country
[00:12:30] of Moab. She said please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the
[00:12:34] reapers. So she came and she has continued from early morning until now except for a
[00:12:40] short rest. Now Boaz hadn't seen her before and perhaps this is a little bit of
[00:12:47] attraction as he asks the question whose young woman is this? And his foreman
[00:12:53] identifies her as Ruth. Boaz had likely heard her story about her return
[00:12:59] from Moabite territory and sticking with Naomi but he hadn't seen her yet. And so
[00:13:07] the foreman identifies Ruth and he tells Boaz that she's continued from early
[00:13:13] morning until now except for a short rest. She was a hard working young woman. Then
[00:13:19] Boaz said to Ruth, Now listen my daughter do not go to glean in another field or
[00:13:25] leave this one but keep close attention. Keep close to my young woman. Let your
[00:13:31] ears or let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping and go after them.
[00:13:35] Have I not charged the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty
[00:13:40] go to the vessels and drink what the young women had have drawn. So Boaz
[00:13:46] begins to behave very generously towards Ruth and really begins to care
[00:13:53] for her. There might be some feelings within Boaz's heart at this time but his
[00:14:02] way of expressing himself is to provide for her, to care for her, to give her
[00:14:07] food and drink and protection. And really what this is is God is sending
[00:14:15] his emissary to Ruth. He is sending his man into Ruth's life. And again I
[00:14:22] shared with you that we're going to observe how God works within Ruth and he
[00:14:27] he you know providentially ordered the affairs of her life and brought her to
[00:14:33] that field working in the details of her life. But here God's sending his emissary
[00:14:39] his man into her life. And often this is the way that God will work. God
[00:14:45] will work in your life via other human beings and God will work in the
[00:14:51] lives of other humans with your life. It is as they say all about
[00:14:57] relationships. You know it's interesting to me at the end of Paul's life when
[00:15:04] he was on his deathbed and you know knew that the time that he was going to die
[00:15:10] was about to come. He'd been spared from other Caesars but it appears in
[00:15:15] 2 Timothy that Paul knew that he was about to be poured out as a drink
[00:15:20] offering. It was time for him to die. And it says in 2 Timothy 4 verse 9 as he
[00:15:26] closes out his final letter, his final correspondence. He said to Timothy do
[00:15:33] your best to come to me soon. For Demas in love with this present world has
[00:15:38] deserted me and gone to Thessalonica, Crescens to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.
[00:15:45] Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you for he's very
[00:15:49] useful to me for ministry. Tichicus I have sent to Ephesus and in that short
[00:15:55] little paragraph Paul mentions multiple people. He's talking to Timothy. He
[00:16:01] refers to Demas who departed from him. He talks about Crescens and Titus
[00:16:07] and announces that Luke is with him and asks Timothy to get Mark and to
[00:16:12] bring him and he talks about sending a man named Tichicus to Ephesus where
[00:16:17] Timothy would have been. He talks about these seven men in just a couple of
[00:16:21] breaths because for Paul over the years it had become all about his
[00:16:27] relationships in Christ, people that he was co-laboring with for the sake of
[00:16:34] the Gospel. And maybe a question that we would ask in seeing God sending
[00:16:39] Boaz into Ruth's life is we would ask the question who are we called to
[00:16:44] help? In other words, who are we called to be a Boaz for? And then perhaps a
[00:16:50] second question would be who has been a Boaz for us? Who has treated us as
[00:16:57] Boaz treated Ruth? Then the other thing I think that we should see here. You
[00:17:02] know God involving himself in the details of Ruth's life but God also
[00:17:08] sending his emissary but also seeing God's provision for Ruth. It says there
[00:17:15] that Boaz, he told her not to go glean in another field. He protects her
[00:17:21] from the young men and provides water and drink for her. This points us
[00:17:28] to the provision of God upon the lives of his faithful people. I think this
[00:17:34] is something that we really must remember. The simple provision of God upon
[00:17:39] our lives. We live in a complex world with so many things that we
[00:17:45] refer to as needs but that really aren't needs in our lives and our lives
[00:17:50] can become so entangled with the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of
[00:17:55] riches. And the reality is that if we have the Lord, we have our food and
[00:18:02] we have shelter, clothing then we're fine. We have everything that we need and
[00:18:10] if we could just simplify things to that degree I think we'd have so much
[00:18:15] more joy than we so often have. Jesus said this in Matthew 6 25 he said I
[00:18:21] tell you do not be anxious about your life what you'll eat or what you'll
[00:18:25] drink nor about your body what you'll put on is not life more than
[00:18:30] food and the body more than clothing. Look at the birds of the air they
[00:18:34] neither so nor reap nor gather into barns and yet your heavenly father feeds
[00:18:39] them are you not of more value than they and which of you by being anxious
[00:18:44] can add a single hour to the span of his life and why are you anxious
[00:18:47] about clothing consider the lilies of the field how they grow they
[00:18:51] neither toil nor spin yet I tell you even Solomon in all his glory was
[00:18:56] not a raid like one of these but if God so close the grass of the field
[00:19:01] which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven will he not
[00:19:05] much more clothes you owe you of little faith therefore do not be anxious
[00:19:10] saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear for
[00:19:14] the Gentiles seek after these things and your heavenly father knows that
[00:19:18] you need them all but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness
[00:19:23] and all these things will be added to you therefore do not be anxious about
[00:19:27] tomorrow for tomorrow will be anxious for itself sufficient for the day is its
[00:19:33] own trouble here in Ruth we have a woman who exemplified God's provision upon
[00:19:40] her life she simply walked with God and God provided for her every need now
[00:19:47] upon receiving this grace it says in verse 10 that Ruth fell on her face
[00:19:53] bowing to the ground and said to him why have I found favor in your eyes that you
[00:19:57] should take notice of me since I'm a foreigner but Boaz answered her all that
[00:20:03] you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has
[00:20:06] been fully told to me and how you left your father and mother in your native
[00:20:10] land and came to a people that you did not know before the Lord repay
[00:20:14] you for what you have done and a full reward be given you by the Lord the God
[00:20:19] of Israel under whose wings you have come to take refuge here is I think the
[00:20:26] centerpiece of this entire movement of the story but Boaz does in his
[00:20:32] responses he points to two things he tells Ruth look the reason that I'm
[00:20:37] doing this is because you serve Naomi I heard about what you did you left
[00:20:43] your father and your mother in your native land you came to a brand new
[00:20:46] people you've been serving this old woman Naomi and not only that but you
[00:20:53] came under the Lord's wings for refuge you chose Naomi and you chose God
[00:21:01] and I think that as Boaz announces this to Ruth he is pointing to something
[00:21:07] that God himself is constantly looking for they asked Jesus what is the
[00:21:14] greatest commandment he said you shall love the Lord your God with all your
[00:21:17] heart with all your soul and with all your mind and you shall love your
[00:21:22] neighbor as yourself on these two commandments depend all the law in the
[00:21:27] prophets and Ruth was living out that reality she was loving God
[00:21:33] primarily and loving Naomi secondarily and Jesus said that's what it all is
[00:21:40] about it all boils down to that the love of God and the love of mankind the
[00:21:47] love of people you know incidentally and interestingly enough you know the
[00:21:52] book of judges which I've shared with you is the backdrop of the book of
[00:21:56] Ruth closed in a different way than the rest of the book is written the
[00:22:01] rest of the book it records for us various cycles of different judges and
[00:22:06] the ways that they were able to deliver the people of Israel from their
[00:22:11] bondage or captivity or enemy oppression but the book closes with two
[00:22:18] stories that there's no judge for but seem to be two examples of the
[00:22:25] depravity of the time of the judges of the first one is about a man named
[00:22:29] Micah who stole some silver from his mother and with it created a household
[00:22:35] God and actually paid for a Levite to come and work for him and be kind of
[00:22:40] his personal household priest and the tribe of Dan then persuaded that
[00:22:45] Levite to steal the idol and become their priest themselves and it's a
[00:22:51] very bizarre story but it shows us the idolatry that was in its infancy in
[00:22:57] Israel and then the second story that closes out the book of judges is of a
[00:23:02] Levite man who had a concubine which is a bad thing but took her to the town of
[00:23:08] Gibya where the people wanted to basically rape him and instead he sent
[00:23:16] her out and they violently raped her and he in his grief cut up her body
[00:23:22] and sent it to the 12 tribes in Israel it was a way to decry the deplorable
[00:23:28] actions of the men in Gibya. It's a grotesque story. It led to a civil war
[00:23:34] of sorts as the nation came against the tribe of Benjamin that harbored
[00:23:39] the Gibyanite people and what you're supposed to see there is that the
[00:23:45] care for mankind was lost and had turned into a brutality against
[00:23:51] mankind. So there you have idolatry and a hatred for man, a hatred for God and a
[00:23:59] hatred for man in ancient Israel but Ruth is the opposite of both of those
[00:24:04] things. Ruth loved God and Ruth loved her fellow man and because of that as
[00:24:12] the eyes of the Lord were looking to and fro he began to really bless and
[00:24:16] care for this woman but she did not consider it as a wage. Notice what she
[00:24:24] said, she said I have found favor verse 13 in your eyes oh my Lord for you have
[00:24:31] comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant though I am not one of your
[00:24:35] servants. Her attitude is the second thing that we need to see about Ruth
[00:24:40] you know her life of choosing God and you know worshiping the Lord and
[00:24:46] serving Naomi is one thing but her attitude is another. She did not see
[00:24:51] this as a wage from Boaz but she saw this as grace and you know the person of
[00:24:59] God has come to a place in their lives where boasting is excluded. Paul says
[00:25:05] in Romans 3 27 by the law of faith you know the Pharisee is the one who
[00:25:10] says God I thank you that I'm not like other men and I fast twice a week I
[00:25:14] give tides of all I get but it's not the Pharisee that is blessed by God it's
[00:25:20] the tax collector who beats on his chest and says God have mercy on me a
[00:25:25] sinner. Now in mealtime verse 14 Boaz said to her come here and eat some
[00:25:32] bread and dip your morsel in the wine so she sat beside the reapers and he
[00:25:37] passed her to her roasted grain and she ate until she was satisfied and she
[00:25:43] had some left over so again his favor gets even more intense at this part of
[00:25:51] the story invites her to a special lunchtime meal and she is stuffed and
[00:25:57] when she rose to glean verse 15 Boaz instructed his young men saying let her
[00:26:02] glean even among the sheaves and do not reproach her and also pull out some
[00:26:07] bundles for her and leave it for her to glean and do not rebuke her so she
[00:26:12] gleaned in the field until evening this is generosity way beyond with the law
[00:26:17] required Boaz is obviously favoring this woman then she beat out what she'd
[00:26:23] gleaned and it was about an EFA of barley or 22 liters or 93 or so cups of
[00:26:30] barley and she took it up and went into the city her mother-in-law saw
[00:26:35] what she had gleaned she also brought out and gave her what food she had
[00:26:38] left over after being satisfied and her mother-in-law said to her where did you
[00:26:43] glean today and where have you worked blessed be the man who took notice of
[00:26:48] you the final thing that I want you to see about Ruth is that you know in the
[00:26:54] midst of God's favor upon her life she really was a hard working laboring
[00:27:00] woman grace will do this to you I mean she had gone out she had gathered
[00:27:06] she had beaten she had gleaned and she's carrying now a lot of barley back to
[00:27:12] Naomi a few weeks worth of food more than likely and grace will make you into a
[00:27:18] hardworking person Paul said in 1st Corinthians 15 verse 10 by the grace
[00:27:23] of God I am what I am and God's grace toward me was not in vain on the
[00:27:28] contrary he said I worked harder than any of them though it was not I but
[00:27:33] the grace of God that is in me you know we're called to run a race and you know
[00:27:40] as we're running that race we're not to have an attitude that we deserve
[00:27:44] anything from the Lord we're expecting that it's all of his grace but that
[00:27:50] grace makes us want to run our race effectively and so Ruth was that kind
[00:27:56] of woman she just went for it and gleaned and worked well so she told
[00:28:02] her mother-in-law verse 19 with whom she had worked and said the man's name with
[00:28:07] whom I work today as Boas and Naomi said to her daughter-in-law may he be blessed
[00:28:12] by the Lord whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead Naomi
[00:28:18] also said to her the man is a close relative of ours one of our redeemers
[00:28:22] this is designed to give an anticipation of what's going to come
[00:28:27] later in the book when Boas redeems Ruth and Naomi and Ruth the Moabite verse 21
[00:28:35] said besides he said to me you shall keep close by my young men until they have
[00:28:40] finished all my harvest and Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law it is good my
[00:28:45] daughter that you go out with this with his young women less than another
[00:28:49] field you be assaulted so she kept close to the young women of Boas
[00:28:54] gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests and she lived with her
[00:28:59] mother-in-law so Naomi encourages her to simply stay with the young women and to
[00:29:05] stay in Boas's field and she did so until the end of the barley and wheat
[00:29:11] harvests it's in one sense the end of the story there's no marriage there's
[00:29:16] no romance there's no redemption and now the barley and the wheat
[00:29:21] harvests are over with and what are they going to do there's been no resolve
[00:29:26] there's been no closure there's been no redemption and that's where the text
[00:29:31] takes us into Ruth chapter 3 God bless you
[00:29:35] and amen thank you for listening for additional resources and teachings or
[00:29:44] to contact us please visit us at nameholdridge.com