Ruth - Chapter 3

delightful little book of Ruth and we're sort of taking our time going through it very I'd still casually it's the kind of study though that you may find many opportunities were you being familiar with the book can just take it on when you've got maybe an hour with a group you can really go through it in much less time than we're taking getting the highlights and so I want to highlight you don't have to spend the time we're doing here but we are in Chapter three of the four chapter book The Book of Ruth occurring in the days of the judges a dark time spiritually for Israel but here we have right in the middle of this a little gem it's almost like a bright star on a dark night sky so to speak the ultimate love story ultimate at the literary level but also at the personal and prophetic levels and that's one of the most significant books for the church if you're going to talk about the church as it's uniquely revealed in the New Testament that was given to Paul and to reveal in Ephesians three he makes that point it almost sounds like a contradiction to say there's a book in the Old Testament dealing with something that wasn't revealed in the Old Testament but that's really what we've got here interesting left with this that because it'll it'll unveil for us the role of what we call a go L a kinsman redeemer and I often point out it's really a an essential prerequisite to study the book of Revelation when you get to chapter five you really won't understand Revelation chapter five unless you've got a grasp of what's going on here so the last verse of last time session had to do with how she kept fast by the made you know the Ruth was gleaning and Boaz's fields she kept fast by the other maidens of Boaz to glean unto the end of the barley harvest and of the wheat harvest this is a period of time we're dealing with here and dwelt with her mother-in-law now it's interesting that this book is associated with the harvest because of these references chapter closes with the reference to the harvest and so barley harvest is time of Passover it's a spring feast the wheat harvest is about two months later actually 50 days after the feast of firstfruits and so I should say after Shabbat really and so this is the time by the way when in the Jewish community to this day this is the time that this book would be read would be the congregational reading as we would call it and one of the things we tried to lay out it's a piece of background that I think you'll find useful as you study the Bible in general is their agricultural calendar on our Gregorian calendar the spring would be March April time period on the Jewish calendar it's the first of the sun at that time also called a beep and even the earlier days and the farming calendar this is the time of the latter rain the earlier rains being in the fall the latter rain strange enough being the spring with many people get confused by that this is the barley harvest the flax harvest and the special days of course are the Passover day is Passover itself Nevaeh Nisan 14 which rushes in the seven-day feast of unleavened bread and right in the middle of all of that we have the feast of firstfruits which is the Sunday following the Shabbat after an Passover Passover can be any day of the week depending what year it is because on the 14th but the the Shabbat after that whatever it is that that Shabbat the next morning which is what we would call Sunday morning is the feast of firstfruits and that's those three feasts are associated collectively called Passover in the New Testament but we need furring to that that season but the next month April May is er on the on the Jewish calendar and that's when the dry season begins and the following month May June is the month of Sivan and that's when the early figs ripen and that's when vine that grape vines are to be attended and the special days there are the successive on which usually is there's some rabbinical debate they they they'll treat the Feast of sharona's at 6 Sivan that's technically not quite correct here's one of those strange places where the Samaritans cling to the biblical definition and they're the right ones and the Jewish tradition is a little different but it's 50 days after firstfruits in any case and so uh and we talked about that the next month would be June July which is the month of Thomas which is the wheat harvest in contrast the barley harvest and that's when the first ripe grapes occur in the summer and without refrigeration of course following this month you really just have sour grape juice which we encounter in this story interestingly enough and or you have wine if it's fermented and in that way so that's the natural way of preserving it but Gregorian calendar July August we have that is the Jewish calendar up and it's the grape harvest at this time but the special days are not actually a holiday but a days a day you should know the ninth of AAB seam is a day of great morning because throughout their history some of the greatest I should say the most negative milestones of the history always seem to occur on the ninth of all that construct the destruction of the temple on two occasions and also the crystal knocked in the Nazis it was always the ninth of AAB it's it's a you can almost regard it more almost as a superstition but they they that's a time of mourning for them and also highlight the fact that the grape harvest without refrigeration you won't get grape juice in the spring so I mentioned that because there's lots of foolishness promoted about that subject but moving on August September's in the fall a little is that a month and dates and summer figs are ripe at that time and you finally get to September October now we're in the seventh month of the year called history it's the first month first month of their civil calendar the genesis calendar tissue is the first month but after Exodus tissue is the seventh month and so the farming account this is when you have the early rains it sounds strange to us because it's the early rains at the end of the year but just get used to from a seasonal point of view that's waiters and we have of course the fall feasts here and history Feast of Trumpets which Co is coincidental with the feat Rosh Hashanah which is a civil New Year and then we have ten days later Yom Kippur the Day of Atonement the National Atonement and then that's followed five days later by Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles so that's a quick snapshot so we have in Chapter one we had the days of the judges ruled we introduced all this famine drives the family to Moab a limo lek who's going to be a key name in this chapter because he was the the what the husband of Naomi he dies but it says his relationship in terms of relatives it's going to be very important in this in the next chapter of course there's Naomi and they had two sons Mullen and Killian both died but after taking wives in in Moab and of course naomi deters their daughters-in-law from following or by yields finally and does returned to her people but Ruth clings to Naomi and becomes the obviously the key personage in this interesting drama here and so there's another piece of background though that before we get into chapter three I'd like to take a moment to deal with some background we all need to really understand the New Testament in general not just the events of chapter three and that has to do with the role of hymns you and I when we encounter someone in uniform say on an airplane or in public we find his stripes usually are on his sleeve you think of a naval officer or an admiral what have you in the military that sometimes have it on the shoulder somewhere on the collar fine but in in the ancient times where their garments were of a simpler design the key part of the dot of a person's garments was the hem and it has its very special significance the the hem the border the fringe the bottom edge which usually embodied some medication of rank within the society if they were very very high in the society it had a very specific ornamentation on the hymn and so it often would reflect their genealogy on the hymn the border of the fringe the bottom edge of a skirt or a train now in ancient Mesopotamia not just among the Jews and the ancient tribes to cut off to him was a expression meaning to strip one of their personality or of their authority of their standing in the society that was a way that would denote them being defrocked as we might say see a husband could divorce his wife by cutting off the hem of her rope that was a symbolic way of cutting that off noblemen would authenticate his name on a clay tablet by pressing a portion of his him in the clay which would designate his family from the embroidery and so forth those are that was the culture you need to understand that to grasp some further use of this when David discovers he is in a cave that Saul chose to spend the night in he takes advantage of that not by killing Saul but by cutting off the hem of his coke as the next day when they're out there in the valley David comes out on the top and proves that he could have killed Saul and and shows that he has to him and Saleh shook of course because he realized that it was clear that Dave had been in that cave where they were hiding and and so forth and David later repents of that because he feels he was even off base by cutting off just the hem of Saul's garment you know he didn't kill him he feels he shouldn't have even done that that's all for Samuel 24 but that takes meaning if you understand that the hem is is a measure of his authority the fringes on Levitical garments are dealt with all through the Torah in terms of being a symbol of someone being of the tribe of Levi thus having certain special privileges now it's interesting when you get to Ezekiel 16 and also 39 God speaks of his covenant with Israel he says I will spread my skirt over you now me something strange to our ears but what God is he's using it obviously in a metaphorical sense that he's spreading his skirt over Israel he's protecting them by marrying them in effect creating a covenant relationship but again it's it's the metaphor is I spread my skirt over you that's God's Way of expressing his covering his protection another way to say something under his wings thou shalt trust now we usually use that term to mean like like a hen protect protecting your chicks the word wings and the word skirt are essentially similar if the skirt is the wings of the garment is the idea the corner of a garment and we're going to come and come to that in this story the Lord's him the Lord Jesus Christ his hem is sought for healing in Matthew 14 and Mark 6 and Luke 8 in fact those stories those narratives are particularly provocative you remember the woman that had the issue of blood and and she is in the crowd which tells you she's not Jewish if she had an issue of blood she wouldn't be allowed in the crowd she would be separate no she's a Gentile interestingly enough and she knows that she feels that if she can just get there and touch the hem of His garment she'll be she spent 12 years with doctors and got nowhere but she was convinced that if she could just touch the hem of His garment she he would be healed you all know the story now that story is very familiar except we discover in mark 9 and Matthew 5 where that's both recorded there's a that's Co he is on his way to resurrect G iris his daughter and you and mark makes the curious point that how old was the Jarvis's daughter 12 years old now that the Holy Spirit is linking that event together somehow because they both have an initiation in the sense 12 years ago but Jesus on his way to heat to resurrect a Jewish daughter when this Gentile woman gets healed by touching as him so there's much more to that story than is generally perceived in it's simple telling but the point is the Gentile woman is viewed by some typos logically you know as a macro code in the sense as a type of the church that he's called to resurrect the Jewish daughter but incidental so to speak to that mission he heals a Gentile there's more to it that typologically there Joseph's coat that we see Nino's talk so much about it was a seamless road we often say very active area gated the word is not sure what they means we even think was of many colors that's the way it's usually presented in most studies in Genesis but there's some ribbon there's some scholastic ambiguity as to what that term really meant some feel it was just simply seamless that's exactly what it was a type if you will of the robe that Jesus had which was seamless that was very prized as Jesus was because they wouldn't tear it down there at the bottom of the cross is he looking down they would he cast they divided there's other stuff but they cast lots for the scene was row of why see there's over a hundred ways if you study the book of Genesis there's over a hundred specific details of the life of Joseph that seemed to echo in advance issues of Jesus Christ in a typological sense and those are detailed for you in our commentaries of either Acts Genesis or Joshua we act I think was arthur w pink that really takes the trouble of listing literally a hundred little and we include that in our notes there now Jesus coat was seamless and that's why the that's why they damp they wouldn't divide it they gambled for it at the foot of the cross right the temple veil was torn symbolizing the end of man as High Priest Jesus hem was not torn because he is our high priest forever small comment they a view by many I share it with you the laws of Asian Israel with the hems thing is a little bit of background but we've also been talking as we go the law of gleaning we went through all of that in preparation for chapter two then the law of levirate marriage that's what we're going to focus on here in chapter three the law of redemption impacts us we're going to take that up in more detail in chapter four but the law of levirate marriage we the word levere is latin for a husband's brother that's where it's got enough to do with Levites many people misspell or get confused no the laverre means the husband's brother and it's a the law of a a widow whose husbands died being able to claim his brother in order to perpetuate the the inheritance for the family is what's involved here so it dealt with a situation where he had a widow with no issue in other words there hadn't been a teacher if they're men children that there is issue from the husband to Garriott's there's no issue oh it was the husband passed without children she'd go to the next of kin whatever that might be typically it's intended to be a brother put a claim on him to take her to wife to raise up children okay that's called a lever right marriage it comes up many ways and it's going to be lurking behind the scenes here in the events of chapter three and let's just read a little bit from Deuteronomy 25 starting about verse five we'll go through five from five through 10 if brethren dwell together and one of them die and have no child the wife of the dead shall not marry without outside the tribe unto a stranger her husband's brother shall go in unto her and take her to him to wife to perform the duty of a husband's brother unto her and it shall be that the firstborn which she Bharath shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead that his name be not put out of his this was their way of perpetuating the property within the tribe so it would continue because they didn't sell it fee simple they sold it in the foot way in a way that you and I would call a lease but moving on and if the man liked not to take his brother's wife in other words he didn't have to he might choose not to for a number of reasons then let his brother's wife go up to the gate unto the elders remember the gate was like the town hall that was like what we call City Hall anyway let his brother's wife go up to the gate up to the elders and say my husband's brother refuses to raise up his brother a name in Israel he will not perform the duty of my husband's brother then the elders of his City shall call him speak unto him and if he stand to it and say I like not to take her then shall his brother's wife come unto him in the presence of the elders and loose his shoe from off his foot and spit in his face and chose answer and say so shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother's house and his name shall be called in Israel the house of him that hath his shoe loosed okay so being a mister barefoot in that culture was not a good thing okay now what now this idea of spitting in his face apparently was part that sort of dropped away as the years went by because we're going to encounter a situation like this where the shoe is yielded as its way of passing that opportunity if you will and obviously there's maybe some sort of stigma still associated with it but there's gonna be a very interesting distinction we're going to observe when we get to chapter 4 and I hope I remember to point out to you if not call my attention to it because there's a subtlety that I don't want you to miss when we get to that part in chapter 4 but the law of levirate marriage okay he had to meet three conditions to make it work he had to be a near kinsman couldn't be just some neat guy down the street he had to be able to do this that may involve some some qualifications and finally he had to be willing he didn't have to do it they may have wanted him to do it but he had the choice of passing and there's another implication here that he if he did do it he had to assume all the obligations involved that's in effect a fourth issue but any case he'd show if he chose not to he had to give her issue a symbol of shame and he hid because he had failed to do the kinsman part there was an opportunist a responsibility to the family that he failed to step up to as the point so that's the picture okay we're in the Book of Ruth chapter one was Lords the loves revolt resolved where Ruth makes this remarkable cleaving to Naomi chapter two is loves response that was the gleaning that we looked to last time and then we have loves requests and we're gonna get into that in this chapter in this very peculiar and widely misunderstood threshing-floor scene and finally love's reward the big climax chapter for the redemption of both the land and the bride that were going to accounts there that we were we did chapter two last time we're gonna focus our attention in our time here on chapter three okay chapter three verse one then they owe me her mother-in-law said unto her very much she had just come home from leaning and all that the senator my daughter shall I not seek rest for thee that it may be well with thee she's a good Jewish mother and she's been concerned for Ruth roots been gracious to commit her life to join Naomi Naomi's been how can she repay her there is a scheme unfolding here like a good Jewish mother you know okay so seek a rest for thee now the word there is menorca which it's a it can refer to a state of rest or condition of rest but in this context it refers to a condition of rest of security to be attained through marriage the primary goal of a young girl was to get the protect and covering of a marriage and so here she is she's a widow Ruth is and so is Naomi they're both destitute in effect but there is an opportunity here that might well unfold for Ruth's benefit and she's been praying because back in chapter one she was she was praying that they would they would find a rest so okay so she they always faced with three issues here how could the name of her dead husband Elimelech be maintained through the tribes of Israel since both her sons were now dead it's a limb elects kinship that's critical here by the way to understand and what steps should be taken to protect her inheritance which is a whole nother issue which illumina had left in her trust and how could she provide rest and security for our faithful daughter-in-law that's a that's a third of three things okay see a marriage between Ruth and Boaz would solve all three problems or it could if it's handled right this meant that Naomi could renounce her claim to Boaz as the close relative and give it to root the younger widow that's that's a point that's overlooked by many analysts but move on here so she's continuing at verse two this is the only reasoning about here and now is not Boaz of our kindred with whose maidens that was behold he winter with barley tonight in the threshing floor there's a big event tonight we need to understand the peculiar role of what's called a threshing floor and basically it was typically a spot on a Saddleback it isn't necessary at the top of mountain it's where there's a Saddleback where there's a prevailing wind and in the in in that wind they take advantage of it - very peculiar way because they're harvesting grain and they're preparing it for market and so the threshing floor is a large flat parcel of ground where there was a prevailing wind and that wind usually came up in the late afternoon and evening and the grain and when the grain had been ground they would throw the grain up in the air and the wind would cause the grain to fall a little bit downwind and the chaff further in other words the wind would the heavy stuff the good stuff would fall nearby and the lighter stuff would fall further down if you did this right skillfully you end up with two piles the nearer pile is the good stuff the stuff you're going to bag and and take the market if you will the lighter stuff they typically would burn they use it for fodder for animals or they typically would burn it to get to avoid vermin and all that sort of thing so if you end up with two piles they're close to one for market the other one would typically bur burn this trash and these crashing floors are usually pretty prominent places david purchased a threshing floor of Araunah which later became the site of the temple that's a very famous key piece and once you notice it's not at the peak of a hill you start at the base of Mount Moriah it's about six hundred meters above sea level you get to about six forty one is there's a saddle back that's where the temple is that's not the peak the peak is seven hundred and seventy seven meters a little further to the north place called Golgotha later on but any case so the thrashing for scene the harvest is not simply a place of work it's also a time for celebration because what they did at the end of the the day the the afternoon would be spent thrashing the grain and at night they have a party and and the owners and the seniors would sleep right around the grain to prevent it from being stolen and but it was after a lot of drinking and celebrating and that was the way they capped the evening so that's the picture you need to have here so Naomi is advising Ruth here she says - Ruth wash thyself therefore and anoint thee and put my arraignment upon thee and get thee down to the floor but make not thy self known unto the man until he shall have gone exhume a have done eating and drinking okay now there are four steps suggested here and I generally have not tried to sermonize and every little subtlety that we go here but most commentators this won't take a point that these four steps are critical for all of us to take so we'll talk a little bit about that Norman tells Ruth to wash thy self anoint thee put on my raiment and get thee down to the floor for steps step one and this is similar language to by the way that was given to Bathsheba in second samuel 11 the first step is to wash thy self okay you and I if we're going to come to Christ we're told that it's not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to His mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost that's titus 3:5 it's one of the primary salvation passages used by most evangelists that the washing of regeneration and it's not talking about baptism the way the Baptist would like to say is is talking about something very very then maybe together but the point is it's a very the washing of regeneration so that's the reason the Lord said what he did to Nicky Nicodemus remember that in John 3 you may think you're a fine religious man but and you are but you need what a bath spiritual bath you need the washing of regeneration that's in effect what's being communicated there and he said Lord said in Nicodemus ye must be born again John 3:7 that's a similar kind of inference that we get here with knowing tongues you've been working your heart out the field washed yourself therefore that's the first step to pay the second step see and Naomi tells Ruth is to anoint thy self and you know existing John in his epistle says that you have an unction that is an anointing from the Holy One and you know all things see one of these you and I don't get anywhere without the Holy Spirit and that's what the anointing here is speaking toward metaphorically the Spirit of God is the only one who can teach us all truth all of us need the teaching of the Spirit of God so we need to be born again but we also need the teaching of the word the supernatural aspect of the the Word of God that's the only way in the world we can ever understand the Word of God is the Spirit of God needs to teach us so that's why you always want to pray for an anointing when you enter the Word of God whether it's by yourself or in a teaching the anointing is crucial that northings crucial that's one of the most neglected facts today how many much teaching is done without the anointing the Holy Spirit and we should pray intensely pray about that Paul says and for Corinthians 2:9 but as it is written eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither has entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him but God hath revealed unto them revealed them unto us how by his spirit if you have an insight in the word that came by the Spirit of God and the very next verse he continues the whole idea here because the Spirit of God is able to teach us he's able to lead us and guide us into all truth and it's important of the Spirit of God as your teacher not chuck Missler not XYZ know the Holy Spirit he's the key part of the whole process here and that's why the next verse Paul contains us but God hath revealed them to us by spirit for the spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God that's the only way you really find what's going on it's not intellectual process it's a supernatural process so that's all suggested here by the the second step anointing thyself and it's mentioned again in John 2:27 but the first job to do is reserved but the anointing which he have received of him abideth in you and you need not that any man teach you but as the same anointing teaches you of all things in his truth and is no lie and even as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him again the whole idea that's not a man teaching you it's the Holy Spirit and this doesn't mean by the way you dispense with human learning or human teachers they can be a means to an end the Holy Spirit can use these things you and I today are the beneficiaries of that which has been bequeathed to us by godly men of the past whom the Spirit of God has taught and so that we should be grateful for that where it occurs anyway this is Ruth's second step it's so important she was to wash herself and then anoint herself and we're speaking metaphorically much broaden more broadly and then the third step put thy raiment upon the stranger but we need to understand here the Hebrew word is similar there she's poor obviously that in fact destitute so she probably didn't have a best dress for special occasions but this may simply mean exchange her clothes of mourning as in widowhood which is what she was probably wearing which is gleaning that changed your morning for widow to her regular clothes rather than this position-specific clothes identifying her at her widowhood and there's an analogy er between second Samuel 12 which also includes bathing perfume in a similar dress David completed his mourning period for his son there and it might imply that Ruth was still wearing this that the term Simla implies that she may be wearing the garments of her widowhood and that's what naomi is telling her to shed it also may simply refer to the outer garment or cape since the word is in this singular and that way that it might imply that was a cape to protect her from the children I would also allow her to remain anonymous in some of the events that we're gonna see here so that's the flavor of all of that how do we apply that to us spiritually well when you and I come to Christ and accept him as Savior we are told that he becomes our righteousness we're clothed in his righteousness it's actually spoken of as a robe of righteousness in Romans chapter 3 even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe for there is no difference and Paul speaks of it as a garment that comes down over the sinner covering him so that God sees us in Christ and His righteousness becomes our righteousness we stand complete in him in Ephesians 1:6 where accepted in the beloved God looks at us and sees His Son Jesus Christ so in that sense we're closed with him now there's an interesting scholastic issue here that the Bride of Christ is arraigned in her raiment in revelation 19 and the around that becomes some very interesting doctor issues we'll defer to another time but this is the robe of righteousness of righteousness of Jesus Christ we should put that we we should be that should be our habit if you will Linda and if all this time she'd been wearing the clothes of widowhood morning that might explain why Boaz hadn't moved a quarter we get the impression that they had an eye for each other right from we've talked about that well for he would not impose himself on her as long as she was still in a time of mourning that sort of hands-off kind of thing so that's that may be another aspect of what's going on here and as apparel is in Ezekiel 16 which deals with the bride preparing for a wedding speaking of Israel in terms of of the Lord so Naomi then told her the actions the only coaches her and what she is to do on this particular night at the threshing floor okay in fact he he tells her she tells her to stake her claim to watch self-anointed and put on her right the proper garment and then in effect state your claim now there you stake your claim an interesting question have you staked your claim with your kinsman redeemer it's interesting no matter how much Boaz loved her it was her move interesting I'll leave that with you to come all over consider get to verse four and it shall be me only says it shall be when he lieth down that thou shalt mark the place where he shall lie and thou shalt go in and uncover his feet and lay thee down and he will tell thee what thou shalt do Wow now we're gonna enter into an episode here that is widely misunderstood by the uninformed so let's keep her got a caution flag flying here so he's gonna lie down and she's gonna watch where he's sleeping from the crowd and so forth and when things all settle down everybody asleep she's gonna slip in uncover his feet and lay down and you know he says he'll tell you what to do lady down the Hebrew word actually is the place where his feet are his head would be towards the grain his feet would be in the in the direction of servants and so forth she's lie down on his feet while uncovering him she was to take the servants position in which the servant lies diagonally at his master's feet the position was a lowly one it represented Ruth as a petitioner in effect that's the posture we're dealing with here in the only canoes and she said under her own and Ruth's response the only says all that thou sayest unto me I will do and she went down unto the floor and did according to all that her mother-in-law made her we're together so far okay verse 7 and when boa said eaten and drunk and his heart was merry he went to lie down at the end of the heap of corn or grain actually and she came softly and uncovered his feet and laid her down now see Boaz would lie down by one heap of his grain and the servants would be scattered in other areas of his property guarding the heaps of grain there thus affording a certain measure privacy for Boaz and Ruth in effect the heaps of the winter grain would be at the edge of the threshing floor for the center was reserved for the flashing itself be at the edge of the floor with his pile and separate from the others would provide a further measure of privacy let's go in verse 8 verse 9 is the big one but verse 8 now it came to pass at midnight that the man was afraid and he turned himself and behold a woman lay at his feet hmm he turned himself the verb here is Lavasa which is the cause of stem means to grasp to twist graft return grasp with the twisting motion it's used that way in Samson and judges 16 from the Semitic cognates it would also it could also mean to turn over to feel or to grope about perhaps groping for his mantel his feet getting cold probably right okay so he turn himself finds a woman there verse 9 widely misunderstood and he said who art thou it's dark right she answered and said I am Ruth thine handmaid spread therefore thy skirt over thy handmaid for thou art a near kinsman now the average person reading this story that would sound an awful lot like some kind of illicit proposition something inappropriate here no it's worse than that she's not asking for a sexual interlude she's asking for something far more profound and he knows that okay Ruth says Here I am Ruth thigh handmaid and she uses the word Amma which where in which he's presenting herself as one who is eligible for marriage not a handmaid like the usual servants okay so spread therefore thy skirt the kunafa the wing the extremity the edge the border the corner of the shorter skirt the corner of a garment the hem the border of the fringe bottom edge of a skirt or train that's extracting it from the Hebrew lexicons this refers to the corner of the garment and refers to the fact that a man spreads this over his wife as well as himself and it's so designated in the in Deuteronomy 22 and 27 and else or so this is this whole idea of the authority of the hem that we're dealing with here okay and you don't understand this see and our culture would sound like she's propositioning him much more going on here she's making a claim on him to put her to wife because he is obligated it would seem under the law of the lever right marriage that's the claim she's making except a little more complicated than that because he's really the kinsman redeemer of Elimelech not Kelly on his the machlin hid her her dead husband so no matter how much Boaz loved who's Ruth he had to await her move and I think that's itself provocative you see you and I are in the same position early boy says who art thou he said I'm Ruth a handmade spread there for us I screwed over him in for thou art a near kinsman that's the key phrase here that he's a kinsman C by invoking the term would go L the kinsman redeemer that custom on her own initiative she's subordinating her own happiness to her family duty of providing Naomi with the hair because he's the kinsman of a little egg alright many people missed that point by the way for you are near kinsman she seems to depart here from Naomi specific instructions and she had something of her own and this is significant since again it shows Ruth's devotion of Naomi Naomi only wanted to obtain a husband for Ruth fine fine deal a concern of an older widow for a younger way to throughout the book but by invoking the go L the kinsman redeemer custom on her own initiative Ruth subordinated her own happiness to her family duty of providing Naomi with an heir getting the Omi's see that suddenly makes this a property issue a property issue we're gonna be interesting the law of redemption when we get the chapter 4 because there's more it's not just Boaz is not just getting a bride he is also redeeming the land - Naomi see before it's all over verse 10 and he said bless and he you know he's speaking to her he said blessed be thou of the Lord my daughter there's obviously an age difference between them that's partly reflected here for thou has shown more kindness in the latter end than in the beginning in as much as I'll follow us not young men whether poor or rich they she was Susan eligible young girl here not young men to see the young men would not have been golem or gold some way we'd say it but the plur only like he would be gold even for that would have only benefited Ruth and not Naomi she's can she considered her own happiness as secondary to taking care of her mother-in-law that's a a subtlety here that is provocative possibility and now my daughter fear not this is boy as talking Nomad out fear not I will do thee all of our requires for all the city of my people death know that thou art a virtuous woman this is a this whole thing is on high moral ground he's not expressing any lust for a young girl here and she's not you know idea this if it's a whole different plane here taken for granted by both sides okay now comes the plot problem now it is true that I am thy near kinsman howbeit there is a kinsman nearer than I whoops suddenly a dark see in any piece of literature the plot is a problem in a solution this is in a sense everything else up till now has been the set up yes he's the kinsman boy is all set up for a big deal except there's somebody in the way you know the way to get this across maybe you can all guess have you might have your favorites as if you're going to who would you cast and the role of Ruth obviously a very attractive young gal the Boaz character is probably a Charlton Heston equivalent or maybe you know Harrison Ford he's obviously the terror of the piece and now we have Danny Davina introduced here okay you follow what I'm saying here certainly they've got a near kinsman and you you have to figure out who would you cast there because this is this is is this is a cloud on the proceedings if you will okay so a kinsman nearer than I and so so there's someone closer that has a first right okay and Boaz is not going to take advantage he's going to do this properly out of the Mosaic law the duty fell upon that closest male relative unless he waived his right of priority that's what we've got to set up for chapter four okay this might also explain why another reason why he didn't he didn't make it move earlier in any case so he gives some instructions here says Terry this night I shall be in the morning that if he will perform unto thee the part of a kinsman well let him do the kinsman's part we're not rooting for that option are we okay do I'm moving on then he continues but if he will not do the part of a kinsman to thee then I will do the part of a kinsman to thee as the Lord liveth lie down until the morning interesting so he's he he's gonna yield if that guy will do his do it then he'll pass but if not you'll take it on any interesting thing here Terry this night the word the Hebrew word is by the use of this verb all ambiguity is removed concerning the sexual implication between the do because the normal Hebrew word who would wish shakhov which would have sexual connotations this one has definitely not so in the subtlety of the Hebrew cognates this is this maintains what we've been understanding an elevated point of thing tarry here and be in the morning at if people perform any fine and so forth see if they were they were in the crucible of crumped ation if they really felt about each other as we assume they did this was a highly tempting situation privacy at night for what-have-you but the plan is spelled out next and it's beginning shall be in the morning though as promised to resolve the issue on the very next day and I'll not be allowed to linger indefinitely any longer the whole issue would be settled within a day and so he also says here as the Lord liveth so he puts himself under oath that Jordy Vevey lives then came his final instructions lie down until the morning and she laid his feet until the morning and she rose up before one could know another in other words it's morning but it's still dark Twilight's just beginning and so she and he said let it not be known that a woman came under the floor he put that word out that the knot did not just he doesn't want to start any rumors that would cloud anyone's reputations here he also said bring the veil or apron if you will that thou hast upon me and hold it and when she held it he measured six measures of barley and laid it on her and she went to the city no we're not sure what a measure is by the way there's all kinds of conjectures some of the Rabbinical conjectures are obviously nonsense because she wouldn't been able to carry six measures in ur apron so that's the measures but the apparently are six distinctive measures somehow and most people miss the point here because this is a code we'll discover he measured six measures of barley it's a code for her a Moabite us know for a good Jewish mother this will commit something to her six measures of barley are a code and Boas gave it for Naomi not Ruth she's to take it back to Ruth is the point with me so far I'll prove this to you a couple more verses here verse eighteen will highlight this what she came to her mother-in-law she said that Naomi says who arced out my daughter and she told her all that the man had done to her and she said these six measures of barley gave him me for he said to me go not empty unto thy mother-in-law the six measures are for Naomi is that's because Naomi is hungry no it's a code as you'll see in a minute these six measures of barley he gave me and he said to me go not empty-handed unto thy mother in law so verse 17 accomplishes two things the verse provides the transition for roots exit from the story from now on it's going to be all Boaz and from this point on Ruth plays a passive role okay it puts Boaz UM's Naomi on center stage since from this point on they are the active players in the story this is missed by many but I want you to get the full picture here as we get set up for chapter 4 last verse here then said she that's Naomi saying to meet Ruth then said she sit still my daughter until they know how the matter will fall for the man will not be in rest until he have finished the thing this day how does she know that from the six measures of meal how long did take God to create the earth ask any good Jew he measured he did it in six days and on the seventh he rested okay so he gives her six measures no he said it's on the seventh he's gonna rest he will not rest until it's resolved that's way that's what that really basically means so he gives six measures Naomi she understands is what he's saying that he won't rest until the matter is resolved and so that sets us up he will not be in rest that sets up chapter four of course chapter three summary the situation by the end of this chapter is that Naomi's prayer of chapter 1 is about to be answered Ruth will find manoa arrest in marriage but far more than that's coming here the famine will no longer be a factor since Boaz's gift assured the woman of plenty to eat that's the second issue Ruth no longer identifies herself with her lower status but her own name she says I am Ruth she says to Naomi she's no longer simply the Moabite Asst all the way up till now again and again and again she's the Moabite US no now now I am Ruth so we'll see what that all means so we want to understand the law of redemption she's invoked the go L thing Israel belongs to God when josh brainard the land was granted to the twelve tribes that land was to stay within the tribe you could sell your land but that's really the use of the land not the land itself it's what we would consider a lease he sold all the rights for a certain period of time in the year of Jubilee every 50 years land was supposed to return to the original owners so when you sold your land the deed would provide and include rules for the Redemption by a relative the law required a procedure so if your next of kin would show up there was a procedure we could repurchase it back if you will it's called redeeming the land Jeremiah there's an example of this in Jeremiah 25 they're about to go into captivity and it's obviously the captivity it was going to be seventy years longer and Jeremiah's already a mature person so he knew he would not return from that Jeremiah was instructed to go buy a land just before going into captivity which he does and after captivity you have to understand what would happen Jeremiah's descendants will come back his buying the land was a testimony they would eventually return and his descendants would come extract the deed perform what was written on the outside to unroll it and take claim of the land he bought that's the way it worked that title deed was a scroll on the back of which would be the details for its Redemption that's exactly what we find going on and we're in Revelation chapter 5 a scroll Whitten written within and on the backside the rough side didn't or me didn't write on the backside this whole concept becomes important when you in Revelation chapter 5 when you get the scroll written with in on the backside sealed with seven seals and so on so in our next session I want you to review the law of redemption it's in Leviticus 25 starts in verse 23 for a few verses and then pick it up again verses 47 to 55 you want to skim through that and and understand as best you can the law of redemption because it's going to it's going to implications that will surprise you when we get into chapter 4 and then of course I want you to read the final concluding chapter and let me just promise you there are some very unusual surprises in store that that will go on from there so let's stand for a closing word of Prayer

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Length: 49min 26sec (2966 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 18 2020