Controversial Passage: Did RUTH Do Something INAPPROPRIATE to BOAZ?

did Ruth and Boaz do something really inappropriate ever since I was in seminary I heard stories about this incident between Ruth and Boaz what I always thought was an innocent story about a man redeeming this woman and her mother-in-law was apparently really scandalous and possibly sinful but is it are there Hebrew idioms here that prove that Ruth and Boaz were doing something more than what we think they were doing something that we would never approve of today well if you're hoping to find those answers and if you want to understand what's really happening in the Book of Ruth then join me for this episode of beyond the words now before we start if you're interested in learning more insights that will help you to understand the Bible more clearly and see it with an entirely new set of eyes then make sure to click on this link above and in the description below where you can download a free book that I wrote called 10 words that will change the way you read the Bible it's a quick but powerful read that will teach you a whole lot in just a short period of time just like this video speaking of let's Dive In now before we can understand this questionable moment between Ruth and Boaz we first have to understand why they end up here in the first place because if we don't understand that then we are almost certain to view this moment incorrectly and out of context one of the things we should always do before we try to understand a passage of scripture is ask ourselves what came before this right we always need to look back before we look forward because often this completely changes how we understand a passage and that's definitely the case here so in order to understand why Ruth is with Boaz in this moment we have to understand how she got here you see the Book of Ruth Begins by telling the story of a man named elimelech and his wife Naomi scripture says and it happened in the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land and a man from Bethlehem of Judah went to reside in the countryside of Moab he and his wife and his two sons now this opening verse really sets the tone for everything that we're about to see in this book it's full of details that will help us to understand everything that's about to happen first it tells us when these events are happening right this all takes place during the time of the judges so this gives us a context for where this Falls within the overall biblical story and you'll see why that's relevant in a moment then it gives us the Catalyst for the story that's about to unfold right there's a famine in the land now when it says the land it's talking about the promised land Canaan what we tend to call Israel and this famine that they mentioned must be pretty significant and widespread because it causes Israelite people living in Bethlehem to travel to Moab and this stands out for two reasons first when you're in Israel you can see Moab from across the Dead Sea and it's not really the most fertile looking place in the area I mean even if it was different back then there's still much more fertile places within Israel that they could have gone to but they don't which says that those places are also facing famine but then another big reason that it's significant that they go to Moab is because the Israelites and the moabites really don't get along their history is complicated you see the moabites are distant relatives of the Israelites but their origin is rather shady and in case you're not familiar with Israelite history let me recap it for you the Israelite people God's people descend from a man named Abraham and Abraham had a nephew named lot who you might remember is prominent in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah well lot is the father of Moab the father of the moabites right there's only one problem though with this Moab is the son of lot and lot's oldest daughter and this puts a stain on the moabite people and what we find is that as time goes on the relationship between the Israelites and the moabites isn't one of family it's often one of enemies the moabites waged war against the Hebrews while the Hebrews were traveling through the Wilderness waiting to enter the holy land they hired a diviner to pronounce a curse upon them the moabite king eglon oppressed the Israelites During the period of the judges and as we just learned a moment ago the Book of Ruth takes place during the period of the judges so the animosity between these groups is not too distant which is significant in this story you see when this man from Bethlehem moves to Moab he takes his wife Naomi and their two sons and while they're there his sons marry women from Moab one named orpah and the other is named Ruth but then tragedy strikes within a 10-year period the father and both sons all die leaving the women in a very terrible position you see the Book of Ruth takes place in a patriarchal society this means that the man is the head of the household and the provider and protector of the family women really had little way to survive without a male to protect and provide for them and for Ruth orpa and Naomi this becomes a huge problem if the sons had lived they could rely upon them but there are no men left in this family and this puts them in a very vulnerable position they're immediately on the Bottom Rung of the social ladder and it leads them both to make a really difficult and amazing decision Naomi begins to head back to Bethlehem to be with her people and she tells Ruth and orpa to do the same right she tells them to go back to their families that they might again find husbands and that's exactly what orpa does but not Ruth Ruth decides to stay with Naomi and this is an amazing decision because remember Ruth is a moabite while there might be peace between her people and the Israelites now not too long ago there was war and she's no longer married to an Israelite man she has no bonds to this community in fact there's a good chance that she will be an outcast if she goes with Naomi moabites were prohibited from worshiping in the assembly because of their past treatment of the Israelites and yet knowing this Ruth chooses to remain with Naomi anyways she gives up what is surely a better life protection from her family the possibility of a husband and she decides to stay with this old woman in this situation with little prospects for anything better than a life of destitution and I love how she declares this decision right it really may be one of the most beautiful lines in all of the Bible who says do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you for where you go I will go and where you Lodge I will Lodge your people will be my people and your God will be my God where you die I will die and there I will be buried she's willing to give up everything her people every hope of a future in order to stay by the side of this woman that she loves to make sure that she doesn't have to suffer alone she's taking a huge leap of faith here the good news is that Naomi has a plan see Ruth chapter 2 verses 1 and 2 say now Naomi had a relative on her husband's side a man of standing from the clan of elimelech whose name was Boaz and Ruth the moabite said to Naomi let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone whose eyes I find favor now it's hard to see this on the surface but in these two lines both Ruth and Naomi are assuming some really big things are going to happen and let's look at what Naomi does first verse 1 introduces a man named Boaz Boaz is a relative of a limelect Naomi's husband and the way that the story is set up we get the impression that Naomi is intentionally heading toward the land of Boaz that she hopes to cross paths with him and Naomi has good reason for this you see in Jewish culture there's something called The Leverage marriage provision now now pay attention because this is going to be an important factor in what happens later The Leverage marriage provision is a provision in the biblical law where If a married man dies and had no children it was expected that his brother would marry his widow to preserve his brother's line and then their first son would carry on the name of the deceased husband now if the second brother died then the next youngest brother would be expected to marry this woman and so on and so forth down the line and in some cases where there were no brothers to marry this woman a more distant relative could assume this responsibility and the reason for all of this is because it kept everything within the family or Clan by the woman marrying someone in the family it made sure that any property and inheritance remained in the family that the wife wasn't abandoned and that the deceased husband's name lived on well this is what Naomi is hoping Boaz will do she's hoping that if she and Ruth can get near Boaz he might take on this responsibility that he will provide for them and continue the line of Naomi's son but there's also something else really interesting that Ruth and Naomi are expecting in this moment it comes in verse two when Ruth says that she should go to the fields and pick up leftover grain they're expecting to be fed you see there was another provision in the Bible from Deuteronomy that was set up for moments like this in Deuteronomy 24 it says when you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a Sheaf do not go back to get it leave it for the Foreigner the fatherless and the Widow so that the Lord your God May bless you in all the work of your hands in other words when you're harvesting leave some behind for those who have nothing people like foreigners and widows and guess what Ruth and Naomi are a foreigner a moabite and their widows right they're expecting that they will be provided for in this state and here's what's even more amazing not only does that happen but when Boaz sees them he does even more than that right he promises Ruth's protection while she's in his field he tells her not only to glean from the leftover grain in the field but to pick from the sheaves themselves he even invites her to this dinner where she can have her fill of all the food that she wants and in the end not only is Ruth safe from any abuse of of men who might want to attack her in this vulnerable state not only is she welcomed into this land where she's a foreigner because remember she's a moabite right she's part of the people who are enemies of the Israelites but in the end because of boaz's generosity she and Naomi are able to collect an IFA of grain which is about 30 pounds right enough to last them for weeks this is an amazing abundance of generosity and what we start to realize is that the scene is set for Ruth and Naomi to make their move Boaz will be their redeemer and he seems ready to embrace this role right he already admires Ruth's honor and character and so Naomi concocts a plan and here's where things get really interesting Naomi says tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor wash put on perfume and get dressed in your best clothes then go down to the threshing floor but don't let him know that you are there until he has finished eating and drinking when he lies down note the place where he's lying then go and uncover his feet and lie down he will tell you what to do now all of this might sound like an innocent fairy tale on the surface there's a lot going on underneath right first there's the preparation of Ruth right people would wash and anoint when preparing for something significant and special so perhaps Ruth was changing from widow's garments to regular garments to show that she was ready for marriage which makes sense because what she does next makes it very clear that she is ready for marriage it says that Ruth lies down and uncovers his feet and all of this language here is filled with euphemisms uncovering feet and lying down are words that are regularly used to refer to intimate moments throughout scripture now when I began to study this passage I searched and searched for the Disney version of this story right thinking that maybe people had tried to make this story seem way racier than it was But ultimately I had to admit that it was a greater leap to deny the suggestive language than it is to accept it here's the thing though this story isn't trying to make Ruth and Boaz look bad right there's no suggestion of sin here it feels scandalous for us and it definitely would have caught the attention of the original readers but in order to understand this moment we have to understand the context of everything right this is why we recapped the story because remember Ruth has no mail in her life no one to protect her no one to be responsible for her I mean it's not like she has a father or a brother to offer a marriage proposal to Boaz none of that is possible so Naomi decides to play matchmaker and present a very obvious marriage proposal when Ruth lies next to Boaz she's making it very clear that she is willing to be his wife and she's inviting him to accept or reject this offer and look at how Boaz responds it says and he said who are you and she said I am Ruth your servant spread your garment over your servant because you are a redeemer and he said you are blessed by Yahweh now this verse really clarifies everything happening in this chapter Boaz suddenly wakes up and realizes that someone's lying next to him and he asks who it is not because he doesn't know Ruth but because it's the middle of the night right and he can't make out her face and so Ruth then identifies herself and invites him to accept her but notice what she calls him she refers to him as a redeemer right this is a reference to the leverage marriage system this is why I told you to pay attention to this earlier when Ruth lies next to Boaz she's making it clear to Boaz that she wants him to be her husband her protector her Redeemer to assume this role in her life and Boaz is flattered right he's already shown that he admires her for choosing to stay with Naomi now he admires her for choosing him for not choosing some younger man outside of their family to pursue Ruth is giving Boaz the honor of fulfilling the leverage marriage responsibility but this moment also shows him something about Ruth by asking Boaz to do this she's protecting Naomi right since he will Embrace her as family and is preserving Naomi's husband's line since he's fulfilling the leverage marriage responsibility which is why Boaz replies all the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character Ruth's reputation is increasing through everything she does her Fidelity to Naomi her pursuit of Boaz and there's a reason for this because this whole story is actually about something bigger you see the Book of Ruth doesn't end like your traditional romantic comedy I mean it's got all the makings of great rom-com right the woman in distress the gentleman hero there's even a Twist where Boaz realizes he's not the first in line to marry Ruth and another man steps in but none of this is the real purpose of the Book of Ruth because the Book of Ruth doesn't end with the story of Ruth and Boaz The Book of Ruth ends like this Boaz was the father of Obed Obed the father of Jesse and Jesse the father of David in other words the author of Ruth wants to make sure that you leave this story knowing that Ruth is actually the great grandmother King David but it gets better right because if you look at Matthew's gospel you see that in the very first chapter it says this and Boaz became the father of Obed by Ruth and Obed became the father of Jesse and Jesse became the father of David the king and mathon became the father of Jacob and Jacob became the father of Joseph the husband of Mary by whom was born Jesus who is called the Christ in other words Ruth is the great great really great grandmother of Jesus and suddenly it becomes clear that this story is about something much bigger than an ancient love story right it's not focused on moments of Scandal this story Changed History because of this story Israel receives its greatest King through this story we see a connection to our Savior his father his story right out of this story comes prophecy out of this story comes hope through this story we see the connection to our own salvation right not just in the lineage but in the actions because just as Ruth never abandons Naomi Jesus never abandons us just as Boaz redeems Ruth Jesus redeems us right all of this points to that it points to us and in the end you realize that what seemed like a really great story what seemed like a scandalous moment is all about something so much more I mean this is the power of what happens when you look beyond the words to the deeper meaning of scripture when you take into account the language the context and the history it changes everything in fact if you'd like to hear more about this make sure to download the free book 10 words that will change the way you read the Bible you can click on the link up here or in the description below and if you'd like to check out more beyond the words videos click this link right here thank you so much for watching have a great week and God bless

Channel: Brandon Robbins

Views: 160,520

Keywords: ruth, book of ruth, ruth and boaz, ruth and boaz controversy, ruth and boaz story, ruth and boaz marriage, ruth beth moore, ruth bible study, beyond the words, the chosen, mary magdalene, mary magdalene the chosen

Id: 5-qMLUd6G1c

Length: 18min 15sec (1095 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 02 2022