Ruth: A Story of Us

You know, when God gave us the Bible, His Word, He gave us, as it says in 2 Timothy 3, it says it's profitable for doctrine, for correction, for reproof, for instruction, and righteousness. It's His Word, and it's complete, and He used a lot of different methods in order to teach us. We have some chapters that are admonitions and corrective chapters in the Bible. We have poems that David wrote, and the books of the wisdom that Solomon wrote, and Ecclesiastes, and Proverbs.

And there are stories that God used. There's many stories in the Old Testament that are inspiring to us and that we learn lessons from. Jesus Christ spoke in parables, and there's something for everyone in the Bible. It's not just something all the way through.

And there's some books in the Bible that are very nice stories when you read through them, and we don't often turn to some of those smaller books like Lamentations, Song of Solomon, Ruth, Esther. They're there, and they're very good stories, and they're very informative, and they do give some of the history of Israel. And there are messages in those books beyond just the story that is there. And the Jews, if you look and see what they do with those little books, some of them they read at Holy Day times.

For instance, at the Passover, the Jews, you know, if you look online, it says they read the Song of Solomon. I think it's better known as the Song of Songs.

They read that at Passover time. They see a message in that for Passover for them, so they read that book, and they talk about it. At Purim, they read the book of Esther. It's obvious why that book would be read at Purim.

And at the time of Pentecost, they read the book of Ruth. Ruth is a nice little story there. It's a story that has really all the meloments in it. It's, you know, I remember years ago when I was growing up at the church at the time. It was in the Chicago area at that time. We had a movie night, and the movie that was shown was the story of Ruth.

And it had a lot of filler. It was a two-hour movie, very well done. You know, it stuck pretty closely to the Bible, but of course, you had the, you know, director's interpretation of some things and everything. But it was a story that pretty much flowed, you know, to follow from the Bible. But the story of Ruth is a beautiful story. It has some heartbreak in it when you look at the beginning of it, but it has a happy ending in the end. And throughout it, you can see God working with Ruth and Naomi and Boaz, the primary characters in the book. And when we look at the book of Ruth, from a story standpoint, we can learn a lot from it.

But we can also look at the book of Ruth and look at it as a Pentecost story, because one of the reasons that the Jews read it at Pentecost time is because of the message that it gives. It gives to them and a message to us. So let's look at the book of Ruth today. Let's go back to Ruth 1 and see the primary reason that the Jews would look at this book during this time that we're in.

Of course, just six weeks ago was the wave sheep offering, that in ancient Israel was the time that they offered the first of the first fruits to God to be accepted. And then after that offering, that wave sheep offering was accepted by God, the spring harvest could begin, the barley harvest. Here in Ruth 1, verse 22, we see the setting of this book that's there. It says, Naomi, she returned to Israel to Bethlehem, and Ruth the Moabites, her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab.

And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest. And so here after the wave sheep offering, Ruth and Naomi come from the foreign land that they were in back to Israel. And the events that unfold during that time of Ruth here happened during the time that we're in right now.

But Ruth and Naomi, the story is quite interesting. Let's go back and read some of the verses here at the beginning of Ruth. And I'm sure you remember the story of it, but just to recall some of the details that are in there, let's pick it up in verse 3.

Ruth, the first chapter, says, "'Alimalek was Naomi's husband. Alimalek, Naomi's husband, died. So he had a happy family that had moved from Bethlehem over into the land of Moab. There was a famine in the land, and so they moved out of Israel over to Moab. Moab made a life there, but Alimalek, the husband, died. Alimalek, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left and her two sons. And those sons took wives of the women of Moab." Now, you remember from a sermon that we just heard a few weeks ago, you know, God said, don't take women of those tribes, marry within your, marry within your tribes.

But here we have two sons of Israel, and they took wives from the area of Moab. There was, you know, don't know if there were other Israelites living there or not, but they took wives of the women of Moab, and the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other was Ruth. And they dwelt there about 10 years. So they were married, married about 10 years, and then both Malin and Chillian, the two sons, died.

So in a short span of time, Ruth lost her husband. She lost her two sons, and no children were born to either of those sons. So the women survived her two sons and her husband, and she arose with her daughters in law that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had visited his people by giving them bread.

So here she is in a foreign land. She's lost her family. Her husband is gone. Her son is gone. Sons are gone. God has relieved the famine in Israel, and she's ready to go back. There's nothing left for her in Moab. And so what does she do when she's empty now? She's going to go back to the homeland that she was in.

In verse 7 it says, Therefore she went out from the place, and her two daughters-in-law with her, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. So they were going back home, and they only said to her two daughters-in-law, Go, return each to your mother's house. The eternal deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me.

And the Lord grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband. So she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept, a parting. Kind of say that here's a close-knit family. We have two wives from Moab, two of Moabite women, who have become part of the family of Olimolek and Ruth. Apparently, they have grasped and assimilated into the lifestyle of Naomi and Olimolek, because here they are weeping after what they've been through with two sons dying, and with a father dying.

Ruth and Naomi, Ruth and Orpah, could well have just said, Well, this life is over. It's time to leave Naomi behind, go back to our old lives, and take it up from there. This just wasn't meant to be.

And so they said to her, and so she kissed them, and that's what she would expect that they would do. They would just stay home, because she's going back home. And they said to her, Shirley, we will return with you to your people. Well, we're going to stay with you, Naomi.

Now, that tells us something about the family of Olimolek and Naomi. We have two foreign women who have been married into the family, and after 10 years with them, when it's time to leave, it's more than emotion that they want to stay with Naomi. They saw something, I believe, in that family that caught their attention. Here is a family that was living a different way of life than they had grown up with. Here is a family worshiping a God that was different than the God that they grew up with. Here is a family, in spite of the fact that they were in a foreign land who was still worshiping that God, doing the things the way that God instructed them to do, even though they were out of the land of Judah and Bethlehem for years, they were still adhering to the things that that God said, and as Orpah and Ruth lived in that family, they could sense there was something different. What they had, what they had, they liked. So when it came time to leave, and they had every reason to just go back to their old lives, what they told Naomi was, we're going to go with you.

We're going to go with you. We'll leave Moab behind. We'll leave our past lives behind. We've already left them behind. They weren't pining for the old ways of worshiping the old gods, doing things the way they used to. They liked, they liked the life that they had. And in verse 11, Naomi tries to encourage him, no, no, no. You know, there's nothing left. God has taken everything for me. Naomi said, turn back my daughters. Why will you go with me? Are there still sons in my womb that they may be your husbands? Turn back. Go, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, if I should have a husband tonight and should bear sons, would you wait for them until they were grown? Would you restrain yourselves from having husbands? No, no, it grieves me very much for your sakes that the hand of the eternal has gone out against me. Really, there's nothing here, Orphan Ruth. God has taken everything from me. Go back. Go back to your life. Find husbands in the land that you came from. Make lives for yourself and don't cling to me.

And then they lifted up their voices and they wept again. But this time, Orphan kissed her mother-in-law. She listened that time. She had seen the light. She had seen the way of life, but as Naomi encouraged her to go back and as she weighed things, she thought, well, I am going to go back to the way of life that I had before. I apparently have no other choice.

What we had for those 10 years with this close-knit family that worshipped another God than I grew up with, that lived in a different way, it was good, but that time is over. I'll go back.

But the other daughter-in-law, Ruth, didn't see it that way at all. Ruth had no intention of going back. Ruth had every intention of staying with Naomi, of living the life that she had come to understand and know. It was far better than anything she had experienced before. So she says very famous verses here that everyone has heard and one of the key points of Ruth here.

Naomi said to her, Ruth clung to her, and she said, look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people, to her gods. She's going back to those things. Ruth, do the same thing that Ruth said.

Don't entreat me to leave you. Don't entreat me to turn back from following after you, for wherever you go, I will go. And wherever you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people and your God my God. Where you die, I will die. And there I will be buried. The eternal do so to me and more also, if anything but death, parts you and me. So we have in Ruth quite a picture, quite a picture of a determined young lady who has seen and tasted the way of life of the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. She's experienced it. She's seen firsthand the family living it. She's appreciated it, and she knows it's the absolute truth, and she's willing to forsake everything that she grew up with. Going to another land, leaving everything behind. Nothing was going to stand between her and clinging to this way of life that she had with Naomi, who was a remaining member of that family. And so when we look at Ruth's determination, we can appreciate what she has done, but it also is a picture of what you and I have done. We went through the same process that Ruth went through. At some point in our lives, God called us out of a world. He opened our eyes to a way of life that we didn't know before.

He opened our eyes to who God is, the true God. He opened our eyes to the truth. And as we understand it, and as we apply it in our lives, if we are really doing it with our heart, mind, and soul, we see the beauty in that way of life. And we understand the will of God. We understand the plan of God. We understand His presence in our life. We understand the joy. We understand the purpose. We understand everything in life that's going on. And the idea of ever going back to the way things were before should be just so foreign to us. We can't do it. How could we throw away everything that God has opened our eyes to? Ruth couldn't. Ruth couldn't. She saw the light.

And, you know, she saw the light because a limilec and Naomi and Malin and Chillian, they lived that way of life. It wasn't just words that they would repeat. It wasn't just knowledge that they had. What she saw playing out firsthand is a family that lived that way of life.

And, you know, as we look at the New Testament, as we even look forward to Pentecost next week and some of the things that happened in the church, it can bring things to mind. You know, in Acts 2, you don't have to turn there. You know the verses very well. But in verses 47, after the Spirit comes upon the church and Paul, or not Paul, but Peter and James and John, they go out preaching boldly the Word of God. And it says that 3,000 souls were added to the church in those days baptized. And at the end of that chapter, too, it says the people were in one accord. They were in one place. They continued in the Apostles' Doctrine. They continued in the Apostles' Fellowship.

Now, what happened? When people saw that church, when people saw that group of people, they said there's something different about them. There's something different about them. We want that.

We want that. And that's something different than we can find in any of the synagogues that they were visiting or any of the other places that they might have been. That's something that has to be of God. And Ruth saw that. You know, Matthew 5, 16 says, let your light so shine before men.

The limalec and Naomi, they let their light shine. Those two young ladies, those two young ladies saw the light. One, unfortunately, decided, well, you know what, it makes sense to just go back to the way I was before. And so as God calls us, just like He was opening Orphas and Ruth's mind, you know, some will continue with God and be like Ruth and say, you know what, you're my God for life. I forsake everything that went before me. I'll even forsake my family. I'll even forsake my friends. I'll forsake my life. Just as Jesus Christ tells us in Matthew 10, are we willing to forsake everything to follow Him? Ruth was, or if it wasn't.

And so today, as we look at the church and who God calls and who He opens their minds, whose minds He opens, some say, yes, I will follow. And I will forsake others, forsake my entire life, just as we learned during the days of Unleavened Bread. I will leave it behind because I see the light. I've tasted of the goodness of God, as Peter says in 1 Peter 2. And I don't want to go back. The taste of the world, the taste of my past life is nothing compared to the taste I have now. Some follow, and others go back. And it's sad when they go back.

But we've all experienced, we've all had people with us who are here for a time, and then something comes up and they decide I'd rather go back to where I was before. It's just too hard or too difficult and I can't let my mind go that way. But Ruth, Ruth is the example for us. It's a tremendous example in this story, a tremendous example in picture and symbol, I believe, of what the Christians in the New Testament should be like, willing to leave life behind. And as we read through the book of Ruth and remember the story that's going on here, because it's the literal story. I mean, it happens exactly the way it's written here. It does have symbolism for us as we enter into the Pentecost season, or as we're in the period here between the wave sheep offering time and the day of Pentecost. And so Ruth, Ruth tells Naomi, no, I'm staying with you. I forsake my entire past life. And in verse 18, when Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her.

Okay, Ruth, then that's what it needs to be, and that's where we'll need, that's where you will be. And she lets her come along with her.

And then the story begins to unfold as they go back to Bethlehem. And Ruth is now in a foreign land. Naomi comes back, back home. Let me, as you know, before we go into chapter two, because the way the book of Ruth is laid out in the chapters, we find a new person kind of introduced in each chapter. In the first chapter here, we learn about Ruth. In the second chapter, we're going to learn a little bit about Boaz, one of the three main characters in the book. And in the third chapter, we're going to learn something about Naomi that we don't know already. But let's look at the names of some of the key people here.

Alimelech, who, you know, ruled his family well. You know, when he moved to Moab, he didn't assimilate the ways of the Moabites. He kept his family focused on God and living the way of God. He was the spiritual leader in that family, and he apparently did it well. Because Naomi, we will see, adhered closely to what God said. And we see that Ruth and the sons did, and Ruth and Orpah, followed along as well. Alimelech, it's always interesting when you read, you know, about what the names mean, and you look up in the concorances, but Alimelech literally means, My God is King. You know, in the Bible, we read, you know, we read about what those names mean. And people back whenever did name their children was something that would give them the focus of what they should be. Alimelech's parents, you know, chose the name Alimelech, My God is King.

And Alimelech lived his life that way, apparently. God was King. He was paramount. The Moabite traditions, the Moabite bosses, the Moabite way of life, wasn't going to be King in his life. God was King. You know, even, even, you know, I don't think we do that so much in America anymore, but I remember growing up, you know, we would even talk about what names mean. And people, I think, would spend a little more time on, what does a name mean? You know, what does it mean if I name my son this? What does that mean? And what does it mean if I name my daughter this?

And sometimes when we learn what our names mean, it can help us to live up to that name.

Alimelech, you know, if he knew what his name meant, which I'm sure he did, My God is King.

And so we, you know, when we read in the Bible, you know, of these things, we can see that the people who were named those things lived up to those things. Naomi, Naomi means literally my delight, and Ruth literally means friendship. And as we see their lives play out, we see that that's exactly what they did, and they have it. There's a picture of what they became and what they are in these stories. But let's move on to chapter 2. We have Naomi and Ruth now in Bethlehem in the land of Judah. Ruth has left everything behind. She and Naomi are a family now that is moving to a land familiar with to Naomi, but not at all familiar to Ruth, except that she knows the way of life that should be being lived in Judah because she's lived it for 10 years. So in chapter 2, let's begin in verse 2 because chapter verse 1 there is kind of an inset verse that we'll come back to here in a moment. So when they come over there, they're poor. They don't have anything, you know? So it says in verse 2, Ruthamoe of Ida said to Naomi, Please let me go to the field, and glean heads of grain after him, in whose sight I may find favor. We need food. I don't know. I don't know what to do. We're going to have to go glean in the fields. It is the time of the barley harvest, the way she is offering his past. This is the time of the spring harvest. Let me go, Naomi, and do this. Naomi said to her, Go, my daughter. Now, it's interesting that Ruth is going to go glean during this time. You know, as we read the Pentecost instructions, you keep your finger there in Ruth, but let's go back to Leviticus. Leviticus 23. God is talking about the days of unleavened bread. You'll remember that after the seventh day of unleavened bread, he speaks about the wave sheaf offering in Leviticus 23, from verses 10 all the way down to verse 16. He talks about the wave sheaf offering. They had fulfilled that in that time that they were doing. They had completed the wave sheaf offering, and they were counting 50, just as we're counting 50 toward the day of Pentecost. Day 50 being next week on the day of Pentecost. Down as we go through, God is talking about how they will observe the day of Pentecost. We'll talk more about that on the day of Pentecost with the two loaves and everything. But if you go down to verse 22, there's a verse that's in there that has to do with this time that we're in, that God put in those Holy-Doe times. And he says in verse 22, when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning from your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger. And he accentuates that by saying, I am the Lord your God. So he's saying, okay, you've done the wave sheaf offering, it's time for the harvest to begin.

When you go out and you begin gathering that harvest, don't take it all for yourselves. You keep in mind, you keep in mind the stranger and the poor in your area, you make sure that you're mindful of them. You make sure there's something left behind because you have a responsibility to more than yourself and your family. You have a responsibility to others as well. And the land of Israel and the land of Judah and the lands living, the people living under God's law, looking out for other people. And there's that one verse that's there. That's there's that one verse, but God accentuates it. I am the Lord your God. Do this. And so when we're reading in Ruth, and we see that during this time between the wave sheaf offering and the day of Pentecost, as the barley harvest is being harvested, Boaz, who owns the field, we'll see in a minute that she's at, and Ruth knows it's time to glean. It's time to glean. Are they fulfilling that part of the Holy Day message that God gave them that they would have had recorded in the Torah that they would have had available at that time? And we find they are doing that. They have done the wave sheaf offering. The barley harvest is being harvested. And as Ruth goes out to glean, she happens, as it says in verse 3. If we go back to the book of Ruth, she goes out. And in verse 2, verse 3, it says, Ruth left. She went out and she gleaned in the field after the reapers. And she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to this man Boaz, who was of the family of Alimdolak.

Now, was that just coincidence that she just happened to show up in the field of Boaz?

Now, Boaz was doing what he was supposed to be doing. He was following those commands exactly. His workers were out in force reaping the harvest, but they were leaving behind. They were following that part of God's law, same part that we should be. When we're gathering in and we're doing things and we're thinking about ourselves, God intended and always intended we would have an eye out for others as well, and not just ourselves. And the application of that verse still is there today.

But she just happens. You know, things just don't happen. I learn more and more in our lives. When things happen in our lives, there's a reason for them. God just doesn't happen, or things just don't happen, and God has no control. He's working with each and every one of us. He knows exactly what's going on in our lives. He will put us in situations. He will put us in with people.

There's a reason that God does this, and Ruth just didn't happen. God led her to a field that she didn't even know where she was going, but it turned out to be exactly, exactly where she needed to be. And here's this man Boaz that, you know, happens, just happens to be, A, as we read in verse 1, a relative of Naomi's. Just happens to be a relative of Naomi's, a man of great wealth.

He's got a big farm. He's got a big field. He's reaping. He's got a lot of money.

And he's a selfish man, apparently, as we'll see, because we see that as we go through it, he's there. He's more than willing to help, and there's plenty of people that are leaning in his fields.

He's a man of great wealth, it says in verse 1 of the family of Olimilek. His name was Boaz.

So we go down to verse 4. Now behold Boaz, this man who we learn a lot about in chapter 2, behold Boaz came from Bethlehem, a city that we're all familiar with here in this story, but also in the New Testament. Now behold Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, The Lord be with you. And they answered him, The Lord bless you. And Boaz said to his servant, who was in charge of the reapers, Whose young woman is this? Ruth caught his eye.

She was someone new. He was familiar with the people that were leaning in his field, the people that were there in his bailiwick, if you will, in his territory. Here's a new lady.

Who is she? And they answer. So the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered and said, It's the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. And she said, Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves. So she came and has continued from morning until now, though she did rest a little in the house. We allowed her to come in because she's there. She asked to glean. That's what we do. That's what we have. And that's who she is, Boaz. Now the Bible gives us abbreviated parts of the story, right? So, you know, they're filling, you know, as later on, you know, Boaz tells Ruth, I know all about you. My servants have told me all about you. And you know, what I've heard is good. What I've heard about you. But then Boaz goes out to meet Ruth. And it says abruptly here in verse eight, Boaz said to Ruth, and he starts giving her instructions. You will listen, my daughter, won't you? You've come from Moab. You forsaken everything of your life before. What I've heard of you is very good. You've dedicated your life to God. You've dedicated your life to be with Naomi. You've pledged that you will be with her till death. Everything I hear about you is good, and you are fulfilling everything that you've said. I like what I see, and I see that you're a committed young woman. But he says to her, you won't listen, or you will listen, my daughter, won't you? And then he gives her six instructions as you read these next verses. He says, don't go to Glean in another field, nor go from here.

That's one. Ruth, you found your home. Ruth, when you come to Glean, you stay here in this field. Don't go looking in another field. You don't have to go anywhere else. What you've been looking for, God led you here. You stay here in this field. You don't have to look anywhere else.

He says, don't go from here. Stay close by my young women. You stay here with the family that God has led you to. Ruth, you stay here with my young women. You stay part of this group.

And then he says in verse 9, let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them. You keep your eyes where they're looking, and you follow them.

They know what they're doing. They've been here before. They know how to Glean. They know who I am. They know. He doesn't tell them that, but she will learn, I'm a good master. I follow God.

You keep your eyes on the field which they reap, and you go after them. You stay with them.

Don't be going someplace else. Haven't I commanded, he says, the young men not to touch you?

You might be worried, Ruth, that these young men are going to attack you.

Probably an attractive young woman. You may be worried for your safety. Boaz says, you don't worry about it. Here in my field, you're safe. Here when you stay in this field, in Glean, you don't have to worry about it. I've commanded my young men, they won't touch you.

Here you're safe, Ruth. Here you're protected, and I can see that you will be protected.

And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.

You'll be hungry and taking care of those needs by the gleaning that you will take from here.

I'll protect you. You stay here where you've been led to. And when you're thirsty, there's water here.

You don't have to go searching anywhere else because everything you need, Ruth, is right here in this field. In this field, under my command, under my authority.

First in, she's in awe. She bows down and she listens to what Boaz has to say.

And she follows it. Now, if we look at Ruth, we've already said, Ruth can be an example of you and me. A Christian who leaves our past lives behind follows God.

When he calls us, what does he do with us? Does he leave us out there on our own forever?

No, he puts us in a body. When we repent and when we make the commitment to follow God, we're baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and he puts us in a body.

And what would Jesus Christ have us do? Keep looking? Have our eyes searching everywhere else? When we find the truth, when we find the place that God wants us to be, do we stay there or do we keep looking? Or does Jesus Christ say, everything you need is right here? Everything you need, Jesus Christ would say, is right here under my command. We can go back to Matthew 6. You know the verses in chapter 6. He says, you don't have to worry about what you're going to eat. You don't have to worry about what you're going to wear. I'll provide it for you. Seek first the kingdom. You keep your eyes on this field. You keep your eyes looking straight ahead, and everything you need in that regard, I'll provide. It's almost like he's saying the same words Boaz said. Breathe, Ruth, everything you need is here. What does Christ say in John 7, 37? We read it at least once every year at the Feast of Tabernacles. When Jesus Christ stood up on that day, that last day of the feast, that great day of the feast, he said, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. If you're hungry, if you're thirsty, it's right here.

Don't go elsewhere. Don't go looking for it. It's right here. You don't have to go any place else.

It's right here where God has given us to be. Let's go back to Psalm, or forward to Psalms.

Psalm 34. David records similar words about our life. When God calls us into his field, that he provides everything for us. In Psalm 34, in verse 8, it reminds us of the story of Ruth. Psalm 34, verse 8, O taste, and see that the Lord is good. Ruth tasted. She saw that God is good.

Blessed is the man who trusts in him, who believes what he says. I'll provide everything for you.

It's all here. Just keep in the field that I have called you to. Psalm 39. Verse 9, O fear the Lord, you his saints. That you and I, those who have been called, those who have chosen and determined to follow him. O fear the Lord, you his saints. There is no want to those who fear him. Boaz told Ruth, Trust me, follow these things I say, Ruth, and you won't want for anything. I'll provide what you need. The young lions lack and suffer hunger, but those who seek the eternal shall not lack any good thing. Let's go forward to Psalm 91. A Psalm I know that most of you, or a lot of you, take comfort in. Let's just read through some of the verses that are in there.

And see the parallel to what Boaz is telling Ruth, who has come out of the world, who God has placed under Boaz's care, as he led her there. Psalm 91, he who dwells in the secret place of the Most High, he who dwells in the place that God puts him, he who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide into the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Eternal, he is my refuge, he is my fortress, my God. In him I will trust. Surely he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you shall take refuge. His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror of innate nights, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near you.

Only with your eyes shall you look and see the reward of the wicked. Because you have made the Eternal, who is my refuge, even the Most High, since you've made him your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling, for she shall give his Angel's charge over you to keep you in all your ways. Let's drop down to verse 14. Because the Saint, the Christian, because he has set his love upon me, therefore I will deliver him, God says, I will set him on high because he has known my name. He'll call upon me and I will answer him. As Ruth lived her life, as she found herself in the field of Boaz, and as he started telling her what to do, she didn't recoil. She listened to him. She trusted him. She stayed there with Boaz.

At some level, Ruth knew God had led her to him.

And he was going to, as her master, as the owner of that field, see that she had everything that she needed. She was going to have food, water, protection. She didn't have to look anywhere else, and he already knew that she had forsaken all else to be there. She had left her past life behind just as you and I and New Testament Christians do to dwell in the field where God leads us to learn to trust in him for everything. Literally everything.

So let's go back to Ruth. We see this man Boaz, and he is apparently a righteous man, a kind man. He sees, and as he understands that he's down in verse 11 of chapter 2, you know, Ruth says, what is it about me? She's very humble. What do you see in me, Boaz? Why have I found favor in your eyes? And he says to her, it's been fully reported to me all that you've done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you've left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people that you didn't know before. But now you're part of the people. We didn't know you before. Now you're part of us. First Peter 2.9, we weren't the people before, but we are a people now. But here's Boaz. He's a wealthy man, and as you look at the man, the name Boaz, it literally means, in him, in him is strength.

In him is strength. Ruth felt the strength of Boaz. He didn't nince his words. He made promises to her, and then without qualification, Ruth, you stay here, and I'll see you have everything you need.

Ruth, you follow what I say, I'll see that you have everything that you need.

So we have in a story, we have Ruth, who can be a type of us, if we look at it. And we have Boaz, when we look at his name and what he does, and the orders that he says, and the fact that he provides everything for her, who can be seen as a type of Jesus Christ. In him is strength.

Now, Philippians 4, verse 13, it says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

So we begin to see a picture of ourselves in this story, a literal story here of Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz, but a picture of us being called out of the world, finding ourselves in Jesus Christ's field, learning to trust him and knowing that he is our strength, and that we say in his refuge, and as we learn to do what he says and follow his instructions, he'll provide everything that we need, physical and spiritual. This story is physical, but for us, it's physical and spiritual, everything we need, he promises. Without qualification, he won't change his mind.

Boaz didn't change his mind. If Ruth decided, you know what, I kind of want to look and see that in another field here. There's another man over here. I'd kind of like to see what he's doing.

Wouldn't be Boaz who changed his mind. It would have been Ruth. When God puts us someplace, he doesn't change his mind. His will is that we will be in his kingdom, that we will receive eternal life. It's only us that can mess things up. It's only Ruth who can mess things up.

But to her credit, she didn't. Let's go down to verse 14.

See a few more things here as we look at Boaz and the interesting relationship that develops between Boaz and Ruth. In verse 13, Ruth says to him, Let me find favor in your sight, my Lord, for you have comforted me. You have comforted me. We find comfort in God, and you have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your maidservants. I'm different. I'm a foreigner.

That you've taken me in. That you're providing for me. There was no partiality in Boaz. He could have said, What is this Moabite woman doing in my field? He looked at her character. He looked at what she had done. You know, there's no partiality in Jesus Christ. Anyone that comes to him, he will work with. In the New Testament, we learn, as we learn here with Ruth, who is a Moabite in the land of Judah, salvation is open to all who will follow God and yield themselves to Him.

In verse 14, interesting verse, Now Boaz said to her at meal time, so here they are now having a meal together, Come here, and eat of the bread, and dip your piece of bread into vinegar.

Now that should remind us a little bit of the Passover time when Christ was with the apostles, and there they were, breaking bread together. He was spending the time with them. And here's Ruth and Boaz. Don't know how long they've met, but here they are sharing a meal that says, Eat that bread, dip your piece of bread into vinegar. As though she sat beside the reapers, and he passed parched grain to her, she ate and was satisfied and cut some back. When she rose up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean, even among the sheaves. Don't reproach her. Give her what she needs.

He was pouring out his blessings on Ruth. As you read through those verses, the same thing that God says of us, when we yield to Him, when we follow Him with heart, mind, and soul, when we pay attention, He'll pour out His blessings on us. It doesn't mean that life is going to be without some problems along the way. And there's going to be something here, and Ruth and Boaz's life as the story progresses, it could cause them some angst.

We'll see how they deal with that. But here we have Boaz pouring out even more blessings on them. And as we come to the end of chapter 2, Ruth goes home, and she's got a lot. She's got a lot of barley that she's gleaned that day. So, Naomi is impressed when she sees where she comes home. In verse 19, her mother-in-law said to her, Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the one who took notice of you. So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, The man's name with whom I work today is Boaz. And she said, Is Boaz? I'm sure Naomi looked up. I'm sure those eyebrows like, You found your way into Boaz's field? And this is what he has done? He's given you all this? Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, Blessed be he of the Lord, who has not forsaken his kindness to the living and the dead. And Naomi said to her, This man is a relative of ours, one of our close relatives. Verse 22, she said to Ruth, It's good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women.

You stay in that field. You stay with this man. And it's good that people do not meet you in any other field. You stay where God has put you. Naomi knows God's way. She didn't know. She knew it wasn't just coincidence that Ruth found her way into Boaz's field. And so, Ruth listened to Boaz, and Ruth listened to Naomi. So she stayed close by the young women of Boaz to glean until the end of barley harvest and weaves harvest. And she dwelt with her mother-in-law. And then in chapter 3, well, let's drop down to verse 2. Let's keep the focus on Boaz here for a moment.

In verse 2, you know, we'll learn a little bit more about Naomi here in chapter 3. But in verse 2, it says, now, Boaz, as Naomi is speaking now, Boaz, whose young women you were with, isn't he our relative? You know, there's something here, Ruth. Now, Ruth knew the way of God. She knew, and it tasted of the goodness, she wanted to stay there. She may not have known everything in all the intricacies of the law of God. Just like you and I when we're called, we don't know all the intricacies, but as we learn them, we assimilate them. We accumulate them into our lives. We practice them. We learn them, and we make the changes in our lives as we go. Go see, whose young women were with this? Isn't he our relative? In fact, he's winnowing barley tonight at the crushing floor. And then Naomi gives her, we'll come back to this in a little bit, he gives her, she gives her some instructions that may look a little forward to us, and Ruth may have thought the same thing. But it's interesting that that word winnowing is there in verse 2.

Winnowing isn't a word. We have any idea really what it is today. And when you look up winnowing and the concordance, and you see where does winnowing show up, it's interesting, it's interesting that the word does show up in the New Testament in Luke 3. Let's go to Luke.

Winnowing, I looked it up, it says, it's the cleaning of the grain by taking the thrust drain and throwing it up into the wind, which blows away the chaff while allowing the grain to fall back where it can be gathered. We don't, we don't do the barley harvest today, but apparently that was the way you separated the wheat from the chaff back then. And the people who read these would read that story back then would know exactly what Boaz was doing. But in Luke 3, we find John the Baptist using the same word. In verse 16 of John, or Luke 3, John answers, saying all, I and he's baptized you with water, but one mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I'm not worthy to loose. He'll baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. We know exactly who he's talking about. His winnowing fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor and gather the wheat into his barn. But the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.

Christ is coming. Christ is coming, and his winnowing fan is in his hand.

He will be separating. He's the one who will separate the wheat from the chaff.

The wheat will be preserved. The chaff will be burned with fire. So, as we look at Boaz and what he's doing, and the story as it flows there, and we see who he is, not saying he is Jesus Christ, but a symbol of that, because he's doing the same thing Jesus Christ is going to do during the time of harvest. His winnowing fan is in hand, and he'll be separating the wheat from chaff. That's his job. Apparently, it was Boaz's job. He didn't have the young men doing that, all the workers of the field. It was Boaz who was doing that, interestingly enough. It would seem, speaking humanly, that that would be a worker's job, but Boaz was doing it, just like Jesus Christ will do it. Well, let's go back to Ruth 3 here.

So, we see Boaz here, and we see our lives. We see what Jesus Christ is doing. We see the plan of God in the church today, and Christians and what Jesus Christ will do. As we see this story, a literal story, can also be a picture of what God is doing with us today. We have in chapter 3, Naomi, giving some instructions to Ruth now. Chapter 3, verse 1 says, Naomi, her mother-in-law said to her, my daughter, shall I not seek security for you, that it may be well with you. Let me tell you some things, Ruth. Let's drop down to verse 3. And then she gives her some instructions. She goes, Ruth, wash yourself, anoint yourself, put on your best garment, and go down to the threshing floor, but don't make yourself known to the man until he's finished eating and drinking. And it will be when he lies down that you will notice the place where he lies, and you shall go in. Uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what you should do. Now, we could read those verses and say, well, that seems a little forward. And Ruth could have said, what? You want me to go to this man and just lay down at his feet and cover my... lay down at his feet, and he's gonna... he's gonna wake up and say, who's this? And tell me what to do? I would... you know, maybe he's gonna tell me, go away and don't ever come back, Ruth, right? Because it seems a little forward in our way of thinking.

But Naomi knows the law of God. Naomi knows the words of God, and what she's telling Ruth to do is the way you work with a close relative when you have been widowed and you have no children, and she's telling Ruth what to do. Ruth isn't aware of this, but Ruth trusts Naomi. She's seen her in action. She follows what she has seen. She's lived with her for years. She saw how the family was... how the family was raised. She doesn't know this, but notice what it says in verse 5. Look at her attitude. And Ruth said to Naomi, all that you say to me, I will do. It may not make sense to me. It may not be the way I would do it, but I'm going to do exactly what you told me to do, Naomi, exactly the way you told me to do.

And in verse 6, it says, she did there, she went down, and she did all according to all that her mother-in-law instructed her to do. And things came to pass exactly the way Naomi said she would, Boaz 8. He drank, he fell asleep, and in verse 9 it happened at midnight that the man was startled and turned himself, and there was a woman lying at his feet. And he said, who are you?

Who are you? So she answered, I'm Ruth, your maidservant. Take your maidservant under your wing, for you are a close relative. Now, since the King James, the new King James, say close relative, when you look up close relative and look at some of the newer translations, what close relative should be translated as, you have the right to redeem. You have the right to resume. Boaz, I'm Ruth, you're a close relative. You have the right to redeem. Now, the Young's literal translation, which is literal word from word from the Hebrew, does use the word redeem there. Some of the newer translations does use the word redeem. Now, when we hear the word redeem, someone should come to mind. Who is it that is our redeemer? Ruth tells Boaz, you have the right to redeem. I'm doing the things that I've been told to do. And Boaz, who had to be a little bit startled when he woke up and saw Ruth laying there, he doesn't get mad. He doesn't fly off the handle. He realizes she's doing exactly what the law of God says to do.

Blessed are you of the Eternal, my daughter, for you have shown more kindness at the end than at the beginning, and that you didn't go after young men, whether poor or rich.

That's an interesting thing for him to say. You've shown more kindness to me now, or more kindness now, than you did at the beginning. What was the kindness that she showed at the beginning that caught Boaz's attention? She stayed with Naomi. She forsook all of her past life. She forsook family, friends, Moabite tradition, Moabite nation.

She left it all behind to follow Naomi and the way of life that Naomi and Alimelech had demonstrated to her. Your family will be my family. Your God will be my God. Where you go, I go, and I will be with you until the day I die. And Boaz says, that impressed me, Ruth. I saw your commitments, but now you've done even more than that. You have followed to the letter exactly what you should have done. You did it exactly the way the Bible and the law said. You followed it explicitly, and I get it. I'm a close relative. I know what my responsibility is.

Now, you read some of the commentaries, and it's interesting that he says here, you know, you've shown more kindness to me. You get what your responsibility is. You see that I'm your Redeemer. And, Ruth, you could have gone after younger men. You know, it tells us that Boaz was some older, and the commentaries are all over the place on that. Some say Boaz at this time was 80. Well, actually, the Jews say Boaz was 80, and Ruth was 40. No one knows. All we know is that Ruth, that Boaz was older than Ruth. Then he said, you could have gone after younger men.

You know, you didn't have to follow that. You could have found someone else that you find it preferred, but you know what? You followed the way of God. You came to me, and you're doing what God said to do. You've been loyal to God, just like you were loyal to Naomi. And so he says, I'm going to do for you, Ruth. I'm going to respond in kind to what you do. Verse 11, and now I'm a daughter. Don't fear. I will do for you all that you request, for all the people of my town know that you are a virtuous woman. Everything you ask, Ruth, you've shown your hand. You've shown your loyalty. You've shown your commitment to God. And everything you ask, I'll do. The people of the town, they know.

You're a Moabiteus, but you're a virtuous woman. You live up to the standards. You're living the life. What you learn, you do. And you trust implicitly. Now, when we read those words, when we read the words that Boaz said to Ruth, what are the words that Jesus Christ says to us?

John 14. John 14. Words that Jesus Christ said that night of Passover before he was arrested and crucified. John 14 and verse 12. John 14 verse 12. Most assuredly, he says to his disciples, then his disciples, you and me now, and everyone who follows him, most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also. And greater works than these he will do because I go to my Father. And whatever you ask in my name, I will do.

That the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I'll do it.

If you believe in me, if you love me, he says, keep my commandments. Do things the way I say. Commit yourself wholly to me. Don't be looking at other fields. Don't go looking for other bread. Don't look for other places. Stick with me, Jesus Christ says to us. If you love me, keep my commandments. And whatever you ask, if you believe me, and I see in your heart that you are committed to my plan, committed to what I want for you, committed to what I have called you to, whatever you ask, I'll give. The very same words that Boaz said to Ruth. And as we're here on the doors of Pentecost, and picturing the time when Jesus Christ, or God the Father, sent the Holy Spirit to his people, that we may follow him, that we may yield to him with all our heart, mind, and soul, that we may learn and carefully and diligently keep his law and apply it into our lives more and more each year, more and more as we understand.

Following it exactly and not looking to our own understanding, not looking to our own ideas, but just trusting in him, he would say the same thing to us.

So Naomi, all of a sudden, has become a teacher. She always was a teacher. She set a perfect example. She was a witness of God's way of life. Ruth foreselled call to find her or to follow her. And now Naomi is instructing her in the way of God. Just as when we are called, choose to follow God, bury ourselves, and take up the commission he gives us and follow him, he instructs us. So, as had some instructions for Naomi, I mean for Ruth, she followed him. Naomi had some instructions for Ruth. She followed them. We have God's Word. We read in the Word. God opens our minds to see who we are, what we need to do. We follow it. But he also instructs through his church, through his body, doesn't he? You can read Ephesians 4. You know what it says in Ephesians 4?

How God has structured his calling. He gives some evangelists, pastors, teachers, for the edifying and the building up of the body of Christ. Pay attention to him. Be a part of the family.

Follow him and follow the instructions. And the Church of God should give the instructions of the way we should go, that you and I should go. The doctrine should be set.

We should know the way of God. We should follow the way of God. We should apply it intimately and exactly into our lives.

We should not forsake what God has put us in and the field he has put us in.

Ruth didn't.

Ruth didn't. And he blessed her for that. And so he says, you know what, Ruth? I'm going to do it. I'm going to redeem you. I will be your Redeemer. But there's a twist to the story as you read on here. There's another man who's a closer relative than Boaz to Ruth. So there's a little bit of tension here because Ruth knows what she wants. Boaz knows what he's going to do. But he says, Ruth, we've got this other man who really has the right to redeem you before me.

Now, at that point in time, Boaz and Ruth, they could have gotten all panicky and they could have gotten it. No, I want to be the one to redeem you. Ruth says, no, I want you to redeem me.

They could have got all panicky and they could have devised schemes and thought, you know, this is what we'll do. We'll take matters into our own hands because, you know what, it has to be you and me. That has to be what God intended. And so we have to do it, and we have to find a way around us. How are we going to deal with this other man who has a claim to it? And so, when they come back, and Ruth comes back to Naomi in chapter 3, verse 18, Boaz sends her home with a lot of grain. And in verse 18, Naomi tells her, when she realizes, oh, wow, there's this thing we didn't expect. We didn't expect this other man could come in between the two of you. Naomi says, sit still, my daughter. Don't panic.

Don't devise schemes. Don't take matters into your own hands and say, whoops, going to have to help God out in this one, because even though we think that it's his will, even though he promises these things, I have to do it my way. It doesn't look like it's going to happen that way. We can't have this man coming in and interfering with what the plan is. Naomi wisely tells her, sit still. Sit still, my daughter, until you know how the matter will turn out.

Because I know Boaz. I know Boaz, and I believe that all things work together for good to those who love him, for the man will not rest until he has concluded the matter this day. So Boaz is in the same place he goes, and he follows the law implicitly when you read through chapter four.

He makes it known, hey, you got a right to redeem the land from Naomi, and when you redeem the land, that Ruth is part of the package. They have no idea how it's going to turn out. The man could say, I want Ruth, and I want the land.

They don't panic. I didn't give you Psalm 37, but write down in your own Psalm 37, because David tells us why. He tells us, you know, when you are faced with a trial, when things don't go exactly the way you think, what will we do? We wait for God.

Over and over in that chapter, he says, you wait for God, the same thing that Naomi told Ruth.

And you know what? The man considered it, but the man said, I don't want to redeem.

I don't want to redeem the land. I don't want to redeem Ruth. Though as you can have her.

They didn't have to devise their own plan. They didn't have to stop out on things. They just needed to follow God and to be loyal to Him, and He worked the matter out.

And so it's a lesson for us.

Christ says, whatever you ask in my name, I'll do. Wait for me.

Naomi said it to Ruth. We should say it to each other. Let God do it.

Let His will be done. We pray it every day.

Ruth sat back, and it all turned out the way they should. So here in the Pentecost times, we have Ruth and Boaz being put together by God, and there's a marriage that develops between a Moabite woman who has forsaken all and a man of Israel, a man of Judah.

And it's a beautiful marriage that God orchestrated.

That both parties were obeying God explicitly and were loyal to Him.

Because you and I sit here today as we commit to God. As He's committed to us and He's made His covenant with us, that's not going to change. He will always be there. As we commit to Him more and more, what is the end result for us?

There's a marriage in mind, isn't there? There's a marriage in mind between Jesus Christ and the first fruits of the spring harvest that He is working with now.

It's a beautiful thing that God has called us to. The story of Ruth is a beautiful story.

The days of unleavened bread and the Pentecost and Pentecost and what God is working out in His plan that He opens our minds to is a beautiful and should be inspiring and encouraging story.

What God wants. He wants to marry His bride. He wants you and me to be there.

You know, from this marriage, as you read down through the end of chapter 4, from this marriage came King David.

An Israelite and a Moabite, who would ever guess, right?

But from this marriage came King David, the one King that God said, He's a man after my own heart.

From the marriage that God wants for you and me, He wants to say, and He gives us the tools.

Your men and women, a bride after my own heart, and I will spend eternity with you.

As we look forward in just one week to the day of Pentecost and all that it means, and our lives as we live them every day, you know we can learn from Ruth and me. We all pray that we will be like Ruth, that we will follow God implicitly and yield our lives totally and fully to Him.