Individual Chapters in the Big Story (Ruth 4)
This sermon was preached on 9/9/2012
As we look at the contents of chapter 4 we can see that there are several speakers with something important to say. The first two speakers are Boaz and the potential redeemer, then Boaz speaks about his role, then the city officials speak, then Naomi speaks, and finally the women of Bethlehem speak. Each of them has an interesting story to tell. Yet, at the same time, each is part of a bigger story, and that at different levels – for example, they belong to the story of the nation of Israel, which is a very important feature of human history. And beyond that, they are connected to the coming of the Saviour who will be one of their descendants away in the distant future. Because that is the case, their stories are of interest to us.
God’s Word in Boaz’ Story – the Upright
Boaz, as we have seen, was an upright man who had sought to fear God throughout life. Yet although he had done so, there was something missing in his life and that was an heir. By this time he was now an old man and perhaps had assumed that he would never have one. Now he had met a woman, Ruth, who had indicated she was willing to marry him. Boaz knew that there was another man who had a stronger case in Israelite law to function as Ruth’s redeemer.
It is interesting that we are not told the man’s name (according to one commentator, the description of this man is used for anonymous givers to synagogue funds). Perhaps his line had died out by the time the Book of Ruth was written. Maybe his family had risen to prominence and it would be embarrassing to them if it was mentioned. Personally, I think it is an example of the Holy Spirit preventing distractions in listening to the story. To reveal this man’s name would have led readers to wonder what happened to him. And that was not even a remote detail in the story.
What would Boaz do? Would he try and push his personal interests at the expense of his male relative? It seems to be the case that the relative did not know about the existence of Ruth, so it could have been easy for Boaz to marry her and get the inheritance that way. But Boaz knew that it would be wrong to have done so. Here was a man who was governed by the will of God in everything that happened to him.
When are we liable to ignore the Word of God? No doubt we can imagine a person being tempted to do so if danger seemed a consequence of obeying the Word. Yet danger is not the only reason that may cause us to disobey it. Delight can also lead us astray. Here was Boaz on the threshold of obtaining what he wanted. Yet it looked as if God’s Word prevented him because it had stipulations about who could be the redeemer. And at that moment it seemed as if those stipulations would be a barrier to Boaz’ progress.
Boaz, no doubt with a trembling heart, determined to do what God’s Word said and approached the individual about the situation. In public he reminded the relative of his duty to buy the field that Naomi was selling. Probably his heart beat faster when the relative indicated he would redeem the field. Then the difficult moment for Boaz came when he had to put the fate of Ruth into the hand of his relative. His obedience to the Word of God had taken him into a place that he would have given anything to avoid.
Is this not what providence often does? Earlier that day, when the relative just happened to pass by when Boaz was at the city gate, providence seemed with him; now that the man wanted to redeem the field, providence seemed against Boaz. Indeed we can imagine the relative assuming that providence was on his side; after all, he had arrived at the city gate when Boaz was there and he was informed about land which God’s law said he was responsible for taking.
Yet at this moment of crisis Boaz discovered that the God of the Word honoured those who took seriously the Word of God. Providentially the relative could not function as a redeemer for Ruth, probably because he was already married. Some suggest that he realised that, should Ruth have a son even to him, the inheritance would not be his but the son’s. One assumes that Boaz would have known that, but he may have thought that the relative would be willing to have another wife. Whatever the reason, Boaz experienced the temporal rewards that are given by the Lord to those who are obedient to his will. In addition there would be eternal rewards for him in the next life, but we must note that he was given a clear reward in this life. All the days of obedience to God’s law had led him to this moment of rich grace.
We are all familiar with the story of Eric Liddell in the 1924 Olympics. Because he believed that he should keep the fourth commandment he refused to run in the 100 metres because the final was on a Sunday. He was also due to run in the 400 metres, but he was not expected to win. As he went to the starting point, an American trainer passed him note on which was written, ‘Them that honour me I will honour’ (1 Sam. 2:30). He ran the race with that note in his hand, won it, and broke the world record. Liddell discovered that obedience to God’s Word will bring its rich reward. How many people know the name of the man who won the 100 metres? But millions know about Eric Liddell and admired him, and recently his name was once again prominent.
Of course, the man to whom these words were originally said was Eli, a priest in Israel, and they were said to him as a rebuke because he had not brought up his sons according to God’s Word. They missed out on God’s rich grace. But Boaz and Eric Liddell both tell us that the path of obedience leads to great blessing.
As far as Boaz was concerned, the degree of blessing was stated by the witnessing elders when they gave to him their blessing: ‘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, 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’ (4:11-12).
Why is Tamar mentioned here? I would suggest two reasons. We can read about her in Genesis 38 when she tricked Judah into fulfilling his obligations to continue the family name and father a son. First, the future seemed uncertain, but only to humans. In God’s hands, nothing is uncertain. Through that son had come many descendants, and the elders wanted the same for Ruth. The other reason is that Tamar, like Ruth, was not an Israelite, yet God had used an outsider in his plans.
Boaz was like the man in Psalm 1 who delighted in the law of the Lord and became like a strong tree, able to provide shelter for Ruth and Naomi from the storms of life. His character was made by what he thought about and meditated on. If we want to have similar blessings to Boaz we will have to imitate his priorities. Just like the individual in Psalm 1, the opinions of others did not prevent him from following the Lord as closely as possible.
God’s Word in Naomi’s Story – the Penitent
As we observed in previous studies, Naomi and Elimelech had done the opposite of what Boaz did. Instead of obeying the law of God and remain in the land of Canaan they chose to go to the land of Moab. It took a long while for Naomi to repent and return to the Lord, but eventually she did. Yet initially she did not have great expectations of God’s blessing and advised the people of Bethlehem to call her by a new name, Mara, which means empty.
Naomi at that moment did not appreciate the rich grace that is given by God to returning penitents. She imagined that she would be travelling lowest class for the rest of her journey through life. But now she had discovered the riches of God’s grace towards her. He had abundantly blessed her and given her a descendant to carry on the family inheritance.
It is important for us to remember that God is like that. He does not want his penitent people to wallow in self-pity for the rest of their lives (it is easy to move from penitence to self-pity). While they should not forget their folly, neither should they forget the extensiveness of God’s blessing.
John Bunyan deals with returning backsliders in his treatment of the intercession of Christ. Listen to what he says about such people: ‘A returning backslider is a great blessing,’ and that to two types of people. He is a blessing to those not yet converted because he tells them that God forgives great sinners. He is also a blessing to converted people because he is a warning that they should not imitate him. Naomi was like that, was she not?
According to Bunyan, ‘The returning backslider, therefore, is a rare man, a man of worth and intelligence, a man to whom the men of the world should flock, and of whom they should learn to fear the Lord God. He also is a man of whom the saints should receive both caution, counsel, and strength in their present standing; and they should, by his harms, learn to serve the Lord with fear, and to rejoice with trembling (1 Cor 10:6-13, Isa 51:11-13, Luke 22:32). This man has the second time also had a proof of God’s goodness in his Christ unto him, a proof which the standing Christian has not—I would not tempt him that stands to fall; but the good that a returning backslider has received at God’s hands, and at the hand of Christ, is a double good, he has been converted twice, fetched from the world, and from the devil, and from himself twice; oh, grace! and has been made to know the stability of God’s covenant, the unchangeableness of God’s mind, the sure and lasting truth of his promise in Christ, and of the sufficiency of the merits of Christ, over and over.’
So in the story, there is Naomi now the centre of the happiness of the women as they gather together to praise the Lord for what he had done for her. And without them realising it, her blessing would be a cause of future blessing for their descendants because David, Naomi’s descendant through Ruth, would bring blessing to the whole country. God is rich in mercy to the penitent.
God’s Word in Ruth’s Story – the Outsider
The narrator tells us that Ruth became the wife of Boaz. What did that mean for her? Boaz was the son of Salmon, one of the leading princes of Judah, who had married Rahab after she had escaped the destruction of Jericho. Ruth, the outsider from Moab, became a member of a dynasty that was yet to rule the nation through the line of David. In her experience is a picture of the verse in the psalm which says that people from the dunghill are so elevated by the Lord that they join the princes of his people. She had no idea of what the Lord would do for her on the day when she had said to Naomi, ‘Your God shall be my God.’ The outsider from Moab was given a place in the heart of the family of Israel, both in the one that belonged to Boaz and, more importantly, in the one that belonged to God. She is an example of God’s amazing grace.
Her experience is a vivid picture of what happens to a sinner when he or she trusts in Jesus. Such don’t merely become members of a family with a little real estate; instead they become members of the family who are heirs of all things. Their past, when they were estranged from God, has gone and now they are regarded as belonging to a new race composed of those who have been forgiven. Although they had been marked by spiritual poverty, they are now as rich as the King.
Their place in God’s Story
So far we have looked at the lives of Boaz, Naomi and Ruth from their individual experiences of God’s grace. The Lord had come into each of their lives and given them great blessings. Yet the author of Ruth, writing after the ascent of David many years later, wants his readers to see that the lives of these individuals were connected to a far bigger story, that of the extension of God’s kingdom and his plan of salvation for the world (4:21).
That is where we are today. We are not only families enjoying the blessing of God, which is what a church usually is. In addition we are connected to God’s endless and growing kingdom and we can contribute to it. The story of Ruth, with its emphasis on family life in a small community, reminds us to extend our vision and see ourselves in the overall plan of God. When that happens, we see that there is great significance in our everyday affairs.
Some wonder if those men listed in verse 21 could cover the period of four hundred years between the arrival in Canaan and the rise of David. If each of them was old when their descendant was born, they could have (Boaz was old when Obed was born, and David was the youngest son of Jesse). It is possible that the narrator excluded some names from the genealogy, but I doubt that he did so. The family tree is proof that nothing is impossible with God, which of course is the message of the Book of Ruth.