For the last two Sundays, we have been in the book of Ruth, and today we will finish the story, found in chapters three and four.  There are different types of literature found in the Bible, and the book of Ruth is history—it records an actual event.  But it is so beautifully written that we also need to enjoy it as a piece of great writing. 

          As you recall, the book begins with the story of Naomi, a woman who went with her husband and two sons to live in Moab, because there was a famine in their home, Bethlehem.  While they were there, Naomi’s husband died. Her sons married Moabite women, and after some time, they also died, leaving Naomi alone in a foreign country. 

          When Naomi heard that the famine had ended, she decided to return to Bethlehem.  One of her two daughters-in-law, Ruth, went with her.  Ruth’s promise to Naomi is the most quoted statement in the book:  "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me."

          When Naomi and Ruth finally arrive in Bethlehem, Naomi has become very bitter over all of her losses, and she tells her old family and friends, “Don’t call me Naomi; call me Bitter—Mara.”  And she lashes out at God, because she believes God has brought all this misfortune upon her.

          Although Naomi and Ruth are destitute, Ruth goes out and gleans behind the harvesters, gathering grain.  As she is working, Ruth meets Boaz, the wealthy landowner in whose field she is gleaning.  Boaz is a relative of Naomi, and he is very kind to Ruth.  In chapter three, it becomes apparent that Naomi has been doing some thinking while Ruth has been out working, and she has a plan.

Ruth 3:

 ¹ One day Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, "My daughter, should I not try to find a home for you, where you will be well provided for? ² Is not Boaz, with whose servant girls you have been, a kinsman of ours? Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. ³ Wash and perfume yourself, and put on your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don't let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. ⁴ When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do."

 ⁵ "I will do whatever you say," Ruth answered. ⁶ So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do.

          Now, I don’t know about you, but this is not the sort of advice I would give my daughter.  It seems risky, to say the least.  What if Boaz takes advantage of her?  What if Boaz thinks she is a wanton woman, and throws her out?  What if someone else sees her and her reputation in the town is destroyed?

          Well, here’s what happened.

 ⁷ When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down. ⁸ In the middle of the night something startled the man, and he turned and discovered a woman lying at his feet.

 ⁹ "Who are you?" he asked.
      "I am your servant Ruth," she said. "Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a kinsman-redeemer."

          There is probably more to Ruth’s statement than we at first might see.  This story was originally written in Hebrew, and in the Hebrew the word Ruth uses for garment also means wing.  In chapter two, when Ruth had a conversation with Boaz, he praised her for caring for Naomi, and said, “May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge."  Now, Ruth is, in effect, asking for more.  As Boaz has given her this blessing that says she is seeking refuge under God’s wings, now Ruth is asking this man to take her under his wings as well.

          And how does Boaz respond? 

 ¹⁰ "The LORD bless you, my daughter," he replied. "This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor.

          There is an implication that Ruth is rather young and beautiful, and that Boaz, even though he is wealthy, thinks of himself as older and not particularly attractive to Ruth.  Naomi, of course, would have understood all of this.  She knows the character of Ruth and the character of Boaz, so even though her methods seem rather unusual, she apparently knew what she was doing.  Here’s what Boaz said.   

¹¹ And now, my daughter, don't be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All my fellow townsmen know that you are a woman of noble character. ¹² Although it is true that I am near of kin, there is a kinsman-redeemer nearer than I. ¹³ Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to redeem, good; let him redeem. But if he is not willing, as surely as the LORD lives I will do it. Lie here until morning."

 ¹⁴ So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be recognized; and he said, "Don't let it be known that a woman came to the threshing floor."

 ¹⁵ He also said, "Bring me the shawl you are wearing and hold it out." When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and put it on her. Then he went back to town.

 ¹⁶ When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, "How did it go, my daughter?"
      Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her ¹⁷ and added, "He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, 'Don't go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.' "

 ¹⁸ Then Naomi said, "Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today."

          In order to understand what happens next, it helps to know how legal matters were handled.  The town leaders—the elders—would sit at the city gate.  If someone had a dispute or a legal matter, they would come and sit with the elders and discuss the matter. 

          It also helps to understand the concept of a kinsman-redeemer.  As a wife, Ruth would be considered the property of her husband.  If  her husband died, his brother would have the right and responsibility of taking her as his wife.  This seems a little strange to us.  It is easier to understand if you realize that women at that time had far less control over their own lives than they do today.  If a woman became a widow, she might have nowhere to go, no one to care for her, and no way of making a living.  So the purpose of this law is to protect her. But in the case of Naomi and Ruth, there is a problem.  Apparently Elimilech does not have a brother, and both of her sons died, so there is no brother to act as kinsman-redeemer for Ruth.

          There is also a law concerning property that will help us understand what Boaz is about to do.  Leviticus 25:25 says “If anyone of your kin falls into difficulty and sells a piece of property, then the next of kin shall come and redeem what the relative has sold.”  Apparently when the famine came, Naomi’s husband sold his property.  The law provides for a family member to repurchase his land, keeping the property in the family.  In Naomi’s case, no one has stepped forward to do this.  The person who will be referred to as the kinsman-redeemer is Naomi’s closest relative, and Boaz would be next in line. 

          No doubt, Boaz has given this situation some thought.  Since he is not the brother and another man is the nearest relative, he has not done anything.  Also, this case is somewhat different because Ruth is a foreigner—a Moabite.  So here’s how Boaz handles this situation.

 ¹ Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat there. When the kinsman-redeemer he had mentioned came along, Boaz said, "Come over here, my friend, and sit down." So he went over and sat down.

 ² Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, "Sit here," and they did so. ³ Then he said to the kinsman-redeemer, "Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our brother Elimelech. ⁴ I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line."
      "I will redeem it," he said.

 ⁵ Then Boaz said, "On the day you buy the land from Naomi and from Ruth the Moabitess, you acquire the dead man's widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property."

 ⁶ At this, the kinsman-redeemer said, "Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it."

 ⁷ (Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.)

 ⁸ So the kinsman-redeemer said to Boaz, "Buy it yourself." And he removed his sandal.

 ⁹ Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, "Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Kilion and Mahlon. ¹⁰ I have also acquired Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon's widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from the town records. Today you are witnesses!"

          Boaz is not only paying the debt owed on the property, but he is promising that if Ruth has a son, the property will be his inheritance—a generous offer.  The elders at the gate approve this decision, and give a wedding blessing.

 ¹¹ Then the elders and all those at the gate said, "We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. ¹² Through the offspring the LORD gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah."

 ¹³ So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. Then he went to her, and the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.

          Now, remember the women of Bethlehem in the first chapter, who were speechless in the face of Naomi’s bitterness?  Now, they speak:

¹⁴ The women said to Naomi: "Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! ¹⁵ He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth."

 ¹⁶ Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him. ¹⁷ The women living there said, "Naomi has a son." And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

          Then, the book tacks on a short genealogy to tell us what happened to that baby:

 ¹⁸ This, then, is the family line of Perez:
       Perez was the father of Hezron,

 ¹⁹ Hezron the father of Ram,
       Ram the father of Amminadab,

 ²⁰ Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
       Nahshon the father of Salmon, 

 ²¹ Salmon the father of Boaz,
       Boaz the father of Obed,

 ²² Obed the father of Jesse,
       and Jesse the father of David.

          This is significant for several reasons.  This foreign woman becomes the great grandmother of King David.  Even more important, Ruth is named in the genealogy of Jesus, in the first chapter of Matthew.  It is extremely unusual for a genealogy from this time period to mention any women, but Matthew names four:  Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba.  Although no one knows exactly why Matthew did this, it seems that Matthew understood that something very different was happening with the birth of Jesus.  The old order was changing.  Women were treated much differently by Jesus.  Although the writer of Ruth could not have known this, the story of Ruth—an outsider who becomes an insider—foreshadows the coming of Jesus.

          Another way the book of Ruth points to Jesus is in the story of Boaz, the kinsman-redeemer.  That’s because Jesus came to redeem us.  He paid the price for us in his death and resurrection.  Like Boaz, who paid the price for Ruth, who by her status as a foreigner was unworthy, Jesus paid the price for us, who are certainly unworthy of what he did for us.

          And of course, there is Naomi—no longer needing to call herself bitter and empty.  Now, as the women of Bethlehem say, Naomi has a son.  Once, she was empty, but now her arms are full, as she cradles her new grandson.  It’s a happy ending.

Prayer:

Lord, we thank you that you are a God of hope.  When our lives seem bitter and empty, remind us that we haven’t seen the end yet.  May we be people of compassion and honor, like Boaz was.  May we be people of faithfulness and worthiness, like Ruth was.  Lead us and guide us in your ways.  We thank you that in whatever circumstances life brings our way, you are always there with us.    Amen