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May 14, 2017 |
| Ruth and the Redeemer | ||
In this lesson we'll look at the story of Ruth but the focus will be on a specific aspect - what is going on between Boaz and Ruth at the threshing floor.
We'll start this study of the Book of Ruth in an odd place - the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy.
If a fellow countryman of yours becomes so poor he has to sell part of his property, then his nearest kinsman is to come and buy back what his relative has sold. (Leviticus 25:25)
If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband's brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. 6 The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel. (Deuteronomy 25:5)
These verses will come into play as we go along the story of Ruth, which we'll start right from the beginning.
Now it came about in the days when the judges governed, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons. (Ruth 1:1)
There is a famine in Israel and a man named Elimelech is unable to survive it. He and his family move to the land of Moab, to the east of Israel. It appears they just abandon the land they own. They probably couldn't sell it because the famine had made it worthless.
It's important to understand who Moab was and how Israel viewed the Moabites. Moab was the son of one of Lot's daughters. After the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and others in the area are destroyed (Genesis 19), Lot and his two daughters head for the mountains and spend some time in a cave.
Lot's daughters believe the whole earth has been destroyed and they are the only survivors of their people. They are determined to continue their family line so they get their father drunk and take advantage of him. The son of one of them is Moab, which means "from father", which would be similar to us naming a baby "Incest."
Moab becomes the father of a great people. Hundreds of years later, when Moses is bringing the Israelites out of Egypt. As their wilderness wanderings are almost over and they are about to enter the promised land, they enter the land of Moab. The king there, Balak, hires a prophet, Balaam, to curse them but he will not. Instead he shows the king how to deceive the Israelites into idolatry and thus cause God to curse them (Numbers 25). As a result God commands that they are not to have anything to do with the Moabites ever again.
No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of the Lord; none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall ever enter the assembly of the Lord, 4 because they did not meet you with food and water on the way when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you. […] 6 You shall never seek their peace or their prosperity all your days. (Deuteronomy 23:3-6)
In the same way that we say "good morning" or "hello", Jews would say "Shaloam" which is a wish for peace. The last verse here says the Jews are not to even say that to the Moabites. So the Moabites never felt welcome in Israel.
Returning to Ruth finally, we see that Elimelech probably shouldn't have settled in Moab. We know what happened; his two sons married Moabites, which they definitely should not have done.
In any case, Elimelech and his two sons die while there. Elimelech's wife, Naomi, decides to return to Israel. There is nothing left for her in Moab and she has heard the famine is over in Israel. At first the daughters-in-law want to come with her.
But Naomi said, "Return, my daughters. Why should you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? 12 Return, my daughters! Go, for I am too old to have a husband. If I said I have hope, if I should even have a husband tonight and also bear sons, 13 would you therefore wait until they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters; for it is harder for me than for you, for the hand of the Lord has gone forth against me." (Ruth 1:11-13)
Naomi is referring to the verses from Deuteronomy above, that the brothers would be obligated to marry the wife of their dead brother and name the first son after him. Keep this in mind; it's going to come up again.
Despite the words of Naomi, one of the daughters-in-law, Ruth, decides that she will go with Naomi any way. Her words are important, "Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God". She is committing to becoming a Jew. In doing this she would become a new person, no longer a Moabitess. Yet the people would continue to see her as a Moabitess.
Naomi and Ruth do not have much to look forward to in Israel. Without husbands it will be a tough life. Naomi returns to Bethlehem where she still knows people she hopes can help her.
Now Naomi had a kinsman of her husband, a man of great wealth, of the family of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. (Ruth 2:1)
Being a kinsman and having wealth made him a kinsman-redeemer. He was to use his wealth to perform duties such as:
Boaz is the 7th generation descendent from Perez, the son of Tamar and Judah, one of the sons of Jacob. Judah had arranged a marriage between his first son, Er, and Tamar (Genesis 38). After they were married, Er became evil and God killed him. Tamar expected the oldest brother to fulfill his duty of bringing a son for his brother but he would not and God killed him as well.
Judah then became negligent in fulfilling his duty and Tamar became impatient. She tricked him to get what she wanted and became pregnant by him.
Ruth and Boaz had one thing in common before they even knew each other. They were both the children (in the lineage) of women who tricked men to get the children they wanted. This will come up again at the threshing floor.
To get food Ruth goes out to glean grain from the fields as it was harvest time. In that time the harvest was done in three steps, reaping, gleaning, and threshing. The reapers swung sharp curved knives to cut down the grain. The gleaners scooped up the grain stalks into bundles. The threshers would pick up the bundles, take them to a threshing floor, pound the grain and winnow it to separate the grain from the chaff.
God had instructed farmers not to glean to the edge of their fields so that some grain would be left for the poor. They would follow behind the owner's gleaners and pickup whatever was left behind. This is what Ruth was intending to do. Doing so, however, made a social statement, "I'm poor." Gleaning required humility. Naomi owned land but she had no way to work it.
Although God had commanded farmers to allow the poor to glean, some did not. Therefore Ruth says she hopes to find an owner "in whose sight I may find favor." This may not have been entirely their fault. The gleaners would sometimes glean from the owner's bundles and sometimes fight among themselves for the grain.
She "happens" to find a field owned by Boaz. He notices her as a fresh face among the gleaners and asks about her. The manager describes her as the Moabitess from Moab who came back with Naomi. He also says she has been working hard with only a short break.
Boaz recognizes the sacrifices Ruth has made for Naomi, the wife of his dead brother. He treats her well and instructs the harvesters to leave grain behind for her. He wishes this blessing upon her "May the Lord reward your work, and your wages be full from the Lord, the God of Israel." Yet it seems he hasn't recognized his obligation toward her as kinsmen-redeemer.
Ruth plans to glean from Boaz's fields through the barley harvest in the spring and the wheat harvest in the fall.
Naomi thinks Boaz isn't recognizing his obligation here. She says, in essence, "apparently I need to act to get the security you need Ruth." She instructs Ruth on what to do. Ruth gets cleaned up, dressed up, and probably smelling good (the Hebrew isn't clear here). She hides herself until he goes to sleep at the threshing floor, then uncovers his feet and lays beside him at his feet.
Unlike Tamar and the daughters of Lot before her, the intent here is not to trick Boaz to get what she feels is deserved. This is simply an effort to make clear to Boaz that Ruth cares about him and has a desire to be with him and that he has a duty toward her. His legs are uncovered so he will wake up and find her beside him.
As the night air cools, his feet begin to be cold and he shivers and kicks his feet around to cover them up again. In the process he discovers someone is with him. Ruth asks that he cover her. Some English translations make it sound like Boaz has a blanket covering him. From the Hebrew though it seems like it is a cloak he is wearing. Ruth reassures him it's OK by saying he is a kinsmen-redeemer. This indicates they are family, not strangers in the night, and also brings up his obligation to her.
Boaz understands. He blesses her because she has chosen him instead of chasing after men her own age. He says, though, that there is another kinsmen-redeemer who is a closer relative and therefore the obligation is his. He says he will sort it out in the morning.
So it appears that Naomi was not aware that there was a kinsmen-redeemer who was a nearer relative to her. She is after Boaz to step into that role but the other kinsmen-redeemer could have bought the land and Ruth. This probably explains why Boaz hasn't stepped into the kinsmen-redeemer role as Naomi expected.
Why doesn't Naomi know there was another kinsmen-redeemer who was closer to her? The most likely possibility is that some kinsmen-redeemers were not as wealthy as others and therefore couldn't handle the larger situations. The words of the other kinsmen-redeemer hint at this when he says "I cannot redeem it for myself, because I would jeopardize my own inheritance." This indicates he isn't independently wealthy but dependent on an inheritance for a significant part of his wealth.
Perhaps Naomi did know of him but believed he wouldn't be able to handle it. Boaz knows this man is closer and is acting as kinsmen-redeemer where he can and therefore he has first right.
This raises a question. If there are two brothers who are kinsmen-redeemers which one is closer? The Bible doesn't resolve this so there must have been some local rule. Certainly both of the kinsman-redeemers here agree that Boaz does not have first right. Remember that it's also possible that Boaz was a brother from another mother.
Boaz tells Ruth to stay with him for the night and she spends the night at his feet. Early in the morning, before it is light enough to recognize anyone, Ruth leaves. It is important to Boaz that no one know she was there. It would be a scandal and people would talk.
The next morning Boaz went to the gate of the city, which acts as the courthouse for the city. It's the place where legal matters are settled and contracts are made.
He speaks with the other kinsmen-redeemer about Naomi's property, saying that she must sell some of it to get some money to live on. Boaz says, as kinsmen-redeemer, it is the other redeemers duty to buy the land instead of letting it be sold to someone outside the family. At first he agrees to buy but when Boaz explains that Ruth, the Moabitess, comes with the land he says he cannot do it.
Boaz therefore buys the land and also Ruth, to be his wife. Ruth becomes pregnant and the story of Ruth ends with a genealogy. Ruth, the Moabitess, was the great grandmother of King David. Hundreds of years later one of the descendants of David would be Jesus, who would be the redeemer of the world.
We've seen some things in this story that speak to Ruth's character.
In Boaz we see a good man who allowed the poor to glean from his land. He didn't take advantage of Ruth at the threshing floor. He also worked through the proper chanels to secure Naomi's land and Ruth.
We also saw that wealth carries with it the responsibility to help others