Ruth 3

Transcript (Auto-generated)

This transcript has been automatically generated, and therefore may not be 100% accurate.

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? Is not Boaz our relative, with whose young women you were? See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. 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.

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. And she replied, all that you say, I will do.

So she went down to the threshing floor and did just as her mother in law had commanded her. And when Boaz had eaten and drunk and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. Then she came softly and uncovered his feet and lay down. At midnight, the man was startled and turned over. And behold, a woman lay at his feet.

He said, who are you? And she answered, I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer. 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. 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. And now it is true that I am a redeemer. Yet there is a redeemer nearer than I remain to night. 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. So she lay at his feet until the morning, but arose before one could recognise another. And he said, let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor. And he said, bring the garment you are wearing and hold it out.

So she held it, and he measured out six measures of barley and put it on her. Then she went into the city. And when she came to her mother in law, she said, how did you fare, my daughter? Then she told her all that the man had done for her, saying, these six measures of barley he gave to me. For he said to me, you must not go back empty handed to your mother in law.

She replied, wait, my daughter, until you learn how the matter turns out. For the man will not rest, but will settle the matter today.

Fab. Let me pray as we look at that passage. Heavenly father, thank you so much for your word. Thank you. That here in the midst of the time when the judges ruled, when things were so tragic and awful, yet you were at work in the life of Ruth and Naomi and Boaz, and yet you didn't just have small plans, but you had great plans.

Help us today. I pray, as we look at them, to see and to hear your voice. Amen. I wonder what your, what your relation to risk is. Are you a risk taker?

Are you somebody who likes risk or somebody who hates it? Are you somebody who used to take more risks but nowadays it feels like the stakes are higher and perhaps you take fewer risks than you used to. We live in a world that is quite risk averse. Generation Z, Gen Z people who are born around of the year 2000 are known to be those who are characterised by risk aversion because we get news coming through 24/7 on our phones, all sorts of terrible things. And that's made us quite a risk averse society.

But what happens when being a Christian then looks risky? What happens when we sit in a church and we're hearing about a man, Joseph, selling a field and giving the money to the disciples and we're challenged on our giving and we think that feels risky, right? Like if I increase my giving actually, am I going to be able to keep doing that? That feels scary. Or we think about being a church that's evangelistic and that feels risky.

I was chatting to a friend of mine who is still a teacher and she was saying, do you remember when the King James Bible had its anniversary and all the schools got given a bible? She was in a sheep teachers WhatsApp group and they were all sort of joking about what they might do with this Bible. And she said, I felt so scared when I sent the message saying, actually I believe that that's God's word and we need to be a bit more respectful. It felt risky. What do we do when Christianity feels risky?

We're coming to a passage in the Bible that feels risky.

And what I want to start off by saying is sometimes the Bible describes something that has happened without prescribing what we should do. In other words, Ruth, chapter three is not to prescribe how we should do dating, okay? Because let's see what happens. So one day Ruth's mother in law Naomi said to her, my daughter, we must find a home for you where you'll be well provided for. Now, Boaz, with whose women you've worked, is a relative of ours to bring us up to speed.

If you've not been with us, we've got these two people. Ruthenhenne, Naomi. Naomi is a mother in law to Ruth. Naomi has headed off with a family to moab, which is where people were quite antagonistic towards God's people. But they went there and they married her sons, married these Moabite wives.

But very sadly, Naomi's husband and two sons had died. So she is left with her two daughter in laws, one of whom decides that she is going to go back and spend time in moab. The other says, no, I want to be with you, Naomi. I want to be with your God and your people, and I want to trust in him. And last week, we saw how God had provided this way in which poor people in Israel could follow behind people picking grain and collect grain for themselves.

And Ruth had gone and done that very bravely, wonderfully. And she ended up in this field with this guy called boas. And Boaz is this lovely, quite unusual at the time, godly man who not only does what God says in terms of letting people come and pick up in his fields, but shows faithfulness in saying, I want to be overly generous to Ruth. And so last week, we saw Ruth had spent the day gleaming and come back with a ridiculous amount of grain at the end of the day. But at this time, if you were a single woman without prospect of marriage or without father or children, especially sons, income was something that was very hard to come.

Bye. And so what Naomi is doing here is she looks at Ruth and she says, what we need is a permanent solution, that you are able to be in a place where you are provided for. And actually, the way in which that is going to happen is probably through marriage. Now, it is important that Boas is a relative, because God has built into his law in those days a thing called Leverett marriage. The idea being that if a guy marries a girl and that guy dies and doesn't have any kids, that the brother of that man would then marry the widow in order to provide children and to provide for her.

That was built into the rules. It's called Leverett marriage. And what happened is, over time, that kind of extended out to the closest male relative. So it wasn't just the immediate brother. And so what Naomi's doing here is she's saying, look, Ruth, there is somebody around who should provide for you, who should be able to marry you and to bring you into his house.

That's the idea of Leverett marriage, a home for Ruth. In the longer term, that's what Naomi's game plan is. Let's sort out a marriage for you. So what does she say? Wash, put on perfume.

Always good if you're going out for a date to wash and. But this isn't dating advice. Wash, put on perfume, get dressed into your best clothes. What's she doing? She's putting off the clothes of mourning.

She's saying, I'm getting into clothes that are saying, I'm no longer in mourning. I'm now in a place where I could remarry. Put on clothes, go down to the threshing floor, but don't let him know until he's finished eating and drinking. When he lies down, take note of the place where he's lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do.

Now, this is not the advice that I'm going to give to my daughters when they're getting married. What does she say? She says what you need to do is wait for the biggest party of the season, when people are there with all the grain that they've gathered and they've eaten and they've drunk and they're merry and they're sleeping down there in order to protect the grain. Then make yourself look really nice. Go in the middle of the night through town, uncover their feet and lie down there.

This is at a time, remember, when there are people who are being gang raped and cut into pieces and sent to different parts of Israel. This is not a safe time. This is a dangerous, dangerous time. And here is Ruth, and she says, verse five, I will do whatever you say. So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother told her to do.

And a little bit more as well. Verse seven. When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly. This is Sas Ruth, making her way to the very end of the grain pile.

And when she gets there, she uncovers his feet. Now, that's where Naomi's instructions have ended. Remember, he's going to tell her what to do. You think? Oh, really?

In the middle of the night? Something startled the man. I don't know. Maybe he had cold feet. Probably.

Something startled the man, and he turned, and there was a woman lying at his feet. Who are you? Verse nine. He asked understandably, what on earth is going on? And here is where Ruth goes off script.

And if this was already risky, here is where Ruth turns up the risk. I am your servant, Ruth, she said, spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a guardian redeemer of our family. So, first off, she says that I'm your servant. Ruth. You can see that they've got closer since last week.

Last week she said, I'm not even one of your servants. Now she says, I'm your servant. Then she says, spread the corner of your garment over me. Now, why does she say that? For two reasons.

The first is that this is a proposal of marriage. Here. Ruthenhenne is going beyond what Naomi has said. She says, you know that Leverett marriage thing? I want you to do that.

I want to have the garment of the corner of your garment spread over me. Now, this is risky. There are a whole bunch of taboos that are being crossed here. Here you've got a woman proposing to a man, which at that time would have been a taboo. You have a younger person proposing to an older person.

You have an employee proposing to an employer. You have a moabite person proposing to an israelite person. This is dangerous. Now, at this point, you can imagine that Boaz is in a slightly awkward position, but all he has to do is be offended. All he has to do is speak slightly too loudly in response to Ruth.

And then all of a sudden, everybody in the barn wakes up. They see Ruthen, and she's dolled up, and she's there. What is going to happen to Ruth's reputation if that happens? This is really risky. This is really bold of Ruth to be making this marriage proposal.

But if anything, it's not bold enough because she ratchets up the risk. Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a guardian redeemer of our family now, alongside the Leverett marriage stuff that Ruth, that Naomi was thinking about, there's also this guardian Redeemer or kinsman Redeemer side of things. We heard about this last week, the idea that if one of your relatives has to sell their land because poverty has come upon them, then you are able to buy back, to redeem back that land for a price, to buy it back for those people. That's something that you, as a relative, have the right to do. So what Ruth is doing here is, she says, it's not only that I want you to marry me, but I also want you to do the guardian Redeemer thing.

I want you to buy back the land. This is not only going to cost you in terms of us getting married, which might be a benefit, probably is, knowing Ruthenhenne, but this is also going to be a financial demand. On you. She's ratcheting up the risk.

Why would she do that? Why is it that she is willing to take all of those risks? Well, I think in part the clue is in what she says, spread the corner of your garment over me. Now, there's a little bit lost in translation here, but that is a very, very, very similar sounding phrase to the phrase that Boaz used in chapter two. Remember, he prayed for her.

He said, may Yahweh repay you for what you've done. May you be richly rewarded by Yahweh, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge. That under whose wings you've come to take refuge and spread. The corner of your garment over me are so similar that if I was to say them both quickly in Hebrew, you wouldn't know the difference. I'm not going to do it because my Hebrew is rubbish.

But it's true. What she's saying is, look, you have been praying that God is going to protect and provide for me, and I want you to be the answer to that prayer. You, man of standing, Boaz, I want you to be the answer to that prayer.

What's Boaz going to do? It's risky marrying a moabite. Somebody who remembers it would be a bit like a Ukrainian marrying a russian person. Fine and beautiful, but people might look down on it, buying back fields. That's going to cost him money.

There's risk involved. Verse ten. Yahweh, bless you, my daughter. He replied, this kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier. You have not run after the young man, whether rich or poor.

And now, my daughter, don't be afraid. I will do for you all that you ask. All the people of the town know that you're a woman of noble character. He looks at her and says, you are a woman of noble character. Actually, it's the same phrase that's used a boaz.

He's a man of standing. He says, look, I recognise there is something beautiful and godly about you. He recognises that Ruth is doing this and the kinsman redeemer thing. It's actually going to benefit Naomi more than it's going to benefit Ruth. So he recognises, look, here is Ruth and she is sacrificially risking for Naomi.

It's a beautiful thing.

But verse twelve, it is true that I'm a guardian redeemer of our family. There's another who's more closely related than I. Stay here for the night or lodge here for the night and in the morning, if he wants to do his duty as your guardian redeemer. Good. Let him redeem you.

But if he's not willing, as surely as Yahweh lives, I will do it. Lie here until morning. So she lay at his feet until morning. So Bera says, I'm willing to do this. He says, there is somebody else who probably actually has the right to do this before I do.

Somebody who is closer, more closely related to you. Just imagine for a second what the temptation must have been to Boaz. He knows that this woman is a noble and lovely woman. She's there at the end of his bed. She's uncovered his feet.

She said, I want to be married to you. Think what the temptation must have been for him at that point to say, yeah, we'll just forget about the other guy. You know, forgiveness is easier to obtain the permission, you know, we'll just go with this. That's fine, but such is his character that he won't do it.

Such is his character that when he says, stay here for the night, he uses a term, lodge. Lodge here. In other words, he purposefully uses a term that's not sexually, has no sexual kind of connotations. It's not that he and Ruth are having a steamy night in a barn. He's not doing that.

He's got too high a view of Ruth, too high a view of what's going on for that. Now he says, lodge here. And then what's his thought? Verse 14. His thought is for her dignity.

So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone else could be recognised. He said, no one must know that a woman came to the threshing floor. That will bring dishonour on you. It will ruin your reputation. So she's got to do her ninja sneaking back thing.

Only he makes it a bit hard for her because he also said, bring me your shawl which you're wearing. And when she did say verse 15, this is hilarious. He poured six measures of barley and placed them on a bundle on her. Six measures. We're not quite sure how much that is.

Probably between 40 and 70 kilogrammes of grain. So he's like, no one's got to know that you've come here. But whilst you're sneaking back, ninja style, can you do so carrying 40 to 70 kilogrammes of grain with you? It's pretty beautiful. But what's he doing?

He's blessing her. He's saying, I want to blessed bless you.

And she gets back and she tells Naomi all that's happened. And of course, there's that question. What's going to happen? Will this other redeemer, will he redeem? Will the Boaz and Ruth thing work out?

We have to wait for next week to see that.

But what does this mean for us? What does it mean for us when Christianity feels risky?

Well, I think Ruth here takes risks, in part because she knows the character of the man. She knows that he's been praying for her. She's seen his faithfulness to God and to her in the past. Last week, we saw how Boaz is a picture of a greater redeemer, somebody else who will come and buy us back at a price. Do you ever think how risky that was for him?

There is Jesus. And just imagine, in the garden of Gethsemane, there he is, and he's thinking about what the future is going to look like. And he could say, look, this could end up with my reputation being besmirched. The sinless one is going to become sin for you. It will do.

Boaz might risk his reputation. Jesus did risk his reputation. Boaz might risk his money. What does Jesus do, the one who has every spiritual blessing? He has it, and he gives it up in order that he can give it to us.

Boaz gives Ruth a blessing at the end of this, which is 70 kilogrammes of grain at the outside estimate. Jesus gives us every spiritual blessing. But what's more, Ruth points us to Jesus as well. Ruth, because of her love for Naomi, that she risks being beaten up or worse in order to get to the grain floor. She risks her reputation.

But do you know what Jesus does in his faithfulness for us? He is beaten up. He is given up his life. Both Boaz and Ruth risk their reputation with other people, the relational dynamic that they might have if people find out about this. Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane looks at you and me, and he says, I will drink a cup.

That means I say to my father, why have you forsaken me?

You see, for Jesus, the risks were real, and he took them. Now, for Boaz, he gets Ruth, who is this incredibly godly and wise and lovely woman for Jesus. He does that even as he looks at his own disciples, and they can't stay awake to support him in prayer. He does that even as he looks at us, knowing that we will forget and betray him again and again and again. That's the kind of God who calls us to risky obedience.

I've got a friend called Phil. He's a champion weightlifter. He's incredible. And one of the things he talks about is when he became a Christian, it was a bit like saying to Jesus, here are the keys to my car, you drive my car. And he was saying that felt really risky because that meant that Jesus would call him to do things with his money and his time and his lifestyle and his drinking habits and his idolization of world weightlifting that he didn't want to do.

And he said it felt very risky giving the keys to Jesus.

But he also said, who would there be better to give the keys to than somebody who has redeemed me at such a cost? Somebody who is faithful to me even when I am unfaithful to him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much that you are a God who is faithful to us even when we are unfaithful. Help us.

I pray when life feels risky, when doing what you call us to do feels scary, to remember the one who is calling us, to remember your faithful love to us and help us to do that. I pray for Jesus glory and in his name. Amen. Our next song is a song that we thought about a couple of weeks ago, sovereign over us. It speaks of God's hand over our life.