This morning, we’re going to continue in our study in the book of Ruth.
We started a month ago as we were introduced to Elimelech and his family: his wife Naomi, and his two sons Mahlon and Chilion. Due to a large scale famine…likely caused by widespread sin during the time of the judges, this family decided to leave God’s protection and go to the land of Moab. However, instead of finding refuge, the sons married idol worshiping foreigners and eventually, all three men died.
Three weeks ago, we looked at how Ruth decided to follow God, return to Bethlehem with Naomi, and to become part of her family…going wherever she would go.
Two weeks ago, we looked at how, despite how incredibly dark the scene looked in chapter 1, God had been supernaturally working behind the scenes to orchestrate a relationship between Ruth and a kinsman redeemer, Boaz. Even though things looked impossible, the God of the impossible was indeed preparing an incredible future…not just for Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz, but eventually for King David, Jesus, and ultimately…we are the recipients of God’s grace in this story.
Today, as we look at Chapter 3, we will see an interesting love story develop.
Before we get started, I wanted to share two brief stories, and then I want to give you a chance to share your story:
In 1968, my parents and I moved from Western Illinois to Dallas, Texas where my dad entered seminary. While there, my parents got to know another student who was from the Pontiac area. That Christmas, my parents brought Keith back up to Pontiac to spend time with his parents, and his brand new baby sister, Karen.
My parents stayed good friends with Keith for the next fifteen years. Eventually, through some common friends and through our church’s summer day camp program, I was re-introduced to Karen when we were in high school. After doing the “normal” dating for about four years in high school and college, I finally asked her if she would marry me…and eventually she agreed. Of course, as we moved through those four years, we did the normal things like going out to eat, going for walks, spending time with each other, getting to know each others’ families, sharing dreams, and so on….
If I go back forty years earlier, Karen’s parents dated for a while and went out on dates and did all of those kinds of things that couples did in the early 40’s…whatever those things were…some of you remember that time frame. However, Tony and Eileen’s dating was cut short when Tony won an all expense paid trip to northern Africa and Italy…courtesy of the United States Army. In 1944, after getting injured near Rome, Tony was sent home. In September, he showed up in Pontiac, surprised Karen’s mom and told her they were getting married…in a couple days!
How about you…do you have a story about your dating/courtship/engagement/wedding? How did that work for you?
Thanks for sharing!
Today, as we continue on in this study of Ruth, we’re going to be introduced to Ruth and Boaz’s speedy dating experience. They have gotten to know each other a little bit as Ruth has been coming regularly to glean in Boaz’s fields…throughout both the barley and the wheat seasons. I would guess that when Boaz came out to inspect the fields, he probably came near lunchtime…why…so he could eat lunch with Ruth.
As children and teens, it’s common for kids to make fun of or tease people they think like each other…you know: Earl and Phyllis sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G, first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in the baby carriage. Do you remember that?
Now with adults, it’s a little more sophisticated…it’s the whispers in the cubicles about who you saw out with who last night. It’s the, “Did you see the way she looked at him when he came into the meeting?” Or, it’s the, “I think those two would make such a great couple!”
So, you can imagine over these months that people are talking about Ruth and Boaz. The gleaning girls are teasing her about how she looks at this older man. His farm hands are accusing him of robbing the cradle. You know the routine!
Of course, there’s not just the pressure from co-workers, there’s also the pressure from family! For those of you who are children (that’s all of us), did you ever hear a parent, grandparent, sibling, or other family member ask you when you were going to get engaged or married? Those of you who are parents or grandparents or siblings or other family members (again, that covers all of us), have YOU ever asked someone in your family, “Hey, you’ve been dating a year, when are you going to pull the trigger and get married?” Or, if you’re more sophisticated, how many of you have gossiped and asked another family member when they thought another member would get married????
OK…since all of us are guilty, we won’t be so judgmental as we jump into this week’s text:
Ruth 3:1 Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, should I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you? 2 Is not Boaz our relative, with whose young women you were? See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. 3 Wash therefore and anoint yourself, and put on your cloak and go down to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 But when he lies down, observe the place where he lies. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do.” 5 And she replied, “All that you say I will do.”
Naomi is working her matchmaking skills here. I keep having visions of Yente from “Fiddler on the Roof” trying to match all of Tevye’s daughters up. If you can remember all of the work she went to as a Jewish matchmaker, Naomi, the desperate Jewish widow and mother-in-law of a foreign widow is way more determined to live out the words of that chorus:
Matchmaker, Matchmaker,
Make me a match,
Find me a find,
catch me a catch
Matchmaker, Matchmaker
Look through your book,
And make me a perfect match
At any rate, Naomi tells Ruth that it’s her job to make sure that Ruth finds a good husband so that she can get settled in her life and have her own life. Of course, even as she says these words, she has already come up with a plan for Ruth to get matched!
Naomi has somehow hacked into Boaz’s calendar and found out where he’d be that particular night. She then has devised an elaborate plan to hook Ruth and Boaz up. She starts by telling Ruth to get all dressed up, put her best perfume on and go down to spy on what Boaz is doing.
Since Ruth has promised to follow Naomi no matter what, she again affirms that she will go with this matchmaking plan, and off she goes down to the threshing floor.
Ruth 3:6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did just as her mother-in-law had commanded her. 7 And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. Then she came softly and uncovered his feet and lay down. 8 At midnight the man was startled and turned over, and behold, a woman lay at his feet!
Now, to me, this sounds like a kind of strange way to let a guy know you’re interested in him! As I was looking through various commentaries this week, nobody seems to know if this was a common way to find a guy, but it isn’t really recorded in other places. Of course, while there is a common thread in how we courted and got married, each of ours was different, and somebody else might think how we did it was strange too!
As you can imagine, after waking up because his feet got cold and finding that someone is laying at his feet, he was a little confused and not quite sure what was going on:
9 He said, “Who are you?” And she answered, “I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer.” 10 And he said, “May you be blessed by the LORD, my daughter. You have made this last kindness greater than the first in that you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich.
Ruth carefully reminds Boaz of his opportunity and even his responsibility to exercise his family duty to be a redeemer for Elimelech and his family. In all of his graciousness, Boaz thanks her for not trying to get matched with someone more her own age, but that she has come to him to ask him to marry her. Boaz was a man of determination and a man who was willing to make a decision and carry it out. I wonder if all along he has been trying to figure out how to go to her and ask her to marry him, but he was too afraid or there was something else going on that kept him from seeking her out. But, maybe as she shows up, he gets excited and thinks, “YES!!!! I win!!! The cute young girl chose me instead of all of the others that she could have picked!”
Whatever his internal response, he immediately lets her know that he will work on the details in the morning. However, there is one small glitch, in the “who must sleep with a widow to have a child with her after her husband dies protocol”, there was another guy who had a few more points in the game. He had to be asked first to see if he wanted to redeem Naomi, Ruth, and all of the family’s land and property. Boaz means business and lets her know he will broker the match making process. Hopefully, the other family member wouldn’t want to fulfill his responsibility, and then Boaz can marry her!
11 And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you ask, for all my fellow townsmen know that you are a worthy woman. 12 And now it is true that I am a redeemer. Yet there is a redeemer nearer than I. 13 Remain tonight, and in the morning, if he will redeem you, good; let him do it. But if he is not willing to redeem you, then, as the LORD lives, I will redeem you. Lie down until the morning.”
Once again, Boaz watches out for Ruth. He doesn’t want her character to be questioned, so he has her stay for a couple more hours in the dark and then sends her home before anybody else can see what’s going on. Also, again, he takes incredible care of Ruth and Naomi. He had been threshing out his barley and sends a bunch home with Ruth again for the ladies to eat. The best guestimate I could get on these six measures was that it was somewhere around seventy-five pounds. So, Boaz has her hold her cloak, he fills it up with barley, and puts it on her head. Ruth takes it home and Naomi knows that her matchmaking has worked out perfectly!
Ruth 3:14 So she lay at his feet until the morning, but arose before one could recognize another. And he said, “Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.” 15 And he said, “Bring the garment you are wearing and hold it out.” So she held it, and he measured out six measures of barley and put it on her. Then she went into the city. 16 And when she came to her mother-in-law, she said, “How did you fare, my daughter?” Then she told her all that the man had done for her, 17 saying, “These six measures of barley he gave to me, for he said to me, ‘You must not go back empty-handed to your mother-in-law.’” 18 She replied, “Wait, my daughter, until you learn how the matter turns out, for the man will not rest but will settle the matter today.”
So what? Most of us here are not looking to get matched by someone else this week! We aren’t looking for someone to put a fifty pound bag of rice or dog food or water softener salt on our heads so we can carry it back to our mom.
I think there are at least four good application points for us to take with us this week:
1. There are indeed times when “mother knows best” and it’s good to listen to what she says…even if you’re an adult child.
a. That doesn’t mean that every time my mom tells me I need to do something that I do it without evaluating it, but even pushing 45, there are times that my parents have pretty good wisdom to pass on to me.
2. Men, there are times that we need to step up to the plate and do the right thing!
a. Boaz knew what the right thing was, and he was willing to adjust his schedule to make sure that everything got settled appropriately and according to the law.
b. Is there something that you know God is telling you to do, but you’re dragging your feet about doing it? Get ‘er done!
3. Women, there are times you need to let the men do what God is calling them to do!
a. Did Naomi know what needed to happen?
b. Did Ruth know what needed to happen?
c. Did Boaz know what needed to happen?
d. Naomi and Ruth brought the issue up to Boaz, and then let him take the lead to get things done. Naomi and Ruth didn’t go to the village elders themselves and complain that none of the rotten redeemers were doing their job and so somebody better get with it and force them to follow through! Rather, they approached it in an appropriate manner by quietly bringing it to Boaz in private and then letting him do the right thing.
4. We are reminded once again that God is in control and that behind the scenes:
a. He gives Naomi a workable plan to make a match between Boaz and Ruth
b. He allows the plan to work out perfectly!
c. He causes Boaz to want to obey and to marry Ruth
d. He prepares everything so that as we will see next week, that it does all work together for good!
We’re going to close with a song, “Forever” that reminds us that God is indeed in control of EVERYTHING that comes across our life. Just like the incredible love story we see here in Ruth, God’s love is more amazing as lived out in our lives!
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