Year 1, Day 285: Ruth 3

A Thousand-Year Foretaste of Things to Come

Okay, we’ve got some really neat stuff going on here in Ruth 3.  In my blog on the first chapter of Ruth, I mentioned how Ruth’s being a Moabite inherently brings a Gentile theme into the book.  This third chapter will give us some great foreshadowing of the Christian age under Jesus Christ.  So let’s get to the study, shall we?

Ruth and Naomi

Ruth goes back to Naomi and receives good advice about how to proceed.  Naomi introduces Ruth to the idea of the kinsman redeemer concept that is originally outlined in Leviticus 25:23-55, although this passage technically deals with lost property or redeeming slaves.  The point that Naomi and Ruth are making is that they are poor, unable to obtain what was once Ruth’s and Naomi’s husband’s claim to land, and they need help.

There are two neat points that we can take from this.  First, do you see how important it is for Ruth to have Naomi’s wisdom?  Sure, Naomi may have stumbled in the first chapter by bowing to worldly wisdom and encouraging her to go back to her Moabite people.  But here Naomi shows great insight into the customs and cultures of her people.  It is important for Ruth to have a mentor to whom she can go and receive good counsel – although not perfect counsel, since none of us can ever give perfect counsel every single time.

Humbleness 2.0

Second, do you see in Naomi’s advice that she is advocating a position of humbleness?  Naomi encourages Ruth to go to Boaz, but to not interrupt his celebration of the harvest.  She is to go and introduce herself to Boaz’s feet without fanfare.  She was to go and be honest about her agenda, listening to Boaz.  Naomi is a good mentor in being a humble presence in the world.

Obedience

So, Ruth does what Naomi says.  Can you imagine the amount of courage that this act must have taken?  I think back to those stereotypical awkward middle school dances where the boys all stand together and the girls all stand together.  They want to be together, but neither has the courage to risk rejection.  Now, I realize Boaz is well older than middle school, and Ruth is likely into her adult years as well.  But even still, can you imagine the fear of rejection that Ruth had to conquer?  She was nobody to Boaz.  In fact, she was worse than nobody.  She was someone who had already been revealed to Boaz as a person in need.  From a worldly perspective Boaz already had all the evidence he needed to reject her.

But Boaz does not reject her.  Boaz receives her – even if he is a bit startled at first.  But honestly, who wouldn’t be startled?  Can you imagine waking up to find a person of the opposite gender curled up at your feet?  But in spite of this Boaz sees Ruth’s need.  He sees her genuine commitment and loyalty.  He sees that she is a person who is not looking for a hand-out but someone who honestly wants to make a sincere commitment in the Lord.  So Boaz makes the promise to redeem her.  And we’ll have to wait for the rest of the story tomorrow.

Foretaste of the Feast to Come.

Before I go, though, I promised some really cool foreshadowing and it is now time to make good on that promise.  Let me retell Ruth 3 using generic vocabulary:

A gentile finds herself in need of help that she cannot bring about herself.  She is bathed, anointed, clothed, and finds her place at the feet of the master.  She stays with him during the night, knowing that when the day comes the time of her redemption is at hand.  In fact, when the day comes this woman knows that she will be the bride of a husband redeemer.  As a result of the fellowship with the redeemer, this woman has food to share with other people.

Now, hopefully by now you see where I am going with this.  But in case you don’t let’s take that generic framework and retell it once more.

• A lowly sinner finds himself or herself in need of redemption that he or she cannot possibly hope to bring about.  (Romans 3:23)
• This sinner finds Christ. (Romans 3:24-26) 
• In Christ the sinner finds a bathing (washing away of sins, Acts 22:14-16). 
• In Christ the sinner finds an anointing (call to be a priest of the Kingdom of Heaven, Revelation 1:5-6). 
• In Christ the sinner finds new clothing (Clothed in the righteousness of Christ, Ephesians 4:20-24; Revelation 19:7-8). 
• This sinner realizes that his or her place is at the feet of the master: Christ (Matthew 28:9-10). 
• This sinner stays with Christ while it is night, but knows that the day of the Lord is coming. (John 9:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:2). 
• The sinner knows that in Christ he or she is a part of His Church and as such is the bride of Christ (Revelation 19:7). 
• In Christ, we receive spiritual food that we are called to give to others (John 4:32; John 6:27-29; Matthew 28:18-20)

Ruth is a Gentile who finds redemption through the grace of Boaz.  In the same manner, we who are Gentiles find salvation and redemption through the grace of God in Jesus Christ.  Amen.

See, I told you that would be pretty cool!  Again we see in Ruth that although Jesus seems to be doing something “new” during his ministry and the ministry of His disciples/apostles – it really isn’t all that terribly “new” of an idea after all!

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