Shall we turn now to the Book of
Ruth?
As we were studying the Book of Judges
last week, we pointed out that at the
end of chapter 16, the end of the
story of Samson, you actually came to the
end of the history part of the Book
of Judges.
What followed in chapter 17 and on to
the end were a couple of incidents or
scenes that took place during the time of
the judges, just to show that it was
a time of spiritual confusion and moral decay
as far as the nation was concerned.
When the Danites moved their area of inheritance,
a portion of them went on up to
the northern part of the land, how that
they captured this young priest and how he
had these teraphims and so forth, these little
images that had been made and just, it
was just a time of spiritual confusion.
And then it was a time of moral
decay as we saw the conditions of the
Benjamites and the sodomy that was beginning to
be practiced by the men of Gibeah and
its consequences.
Now, that gives you one side of what
was happening.
There is another story that took place in
the Book of Ruth opens, now it came
to pass, in the days when the judges
ruled.
And so, the story of Ruth, again, is
sort of an appendix to the Book of
Judges in that this story fits back into
the period when the judges were ruling over
Israel.
Now, it was a time of spiritual confusion,
it was a time of apostasy, a time
of moral declension, but yet in the midst
of it all, God was working out His
plan in those hearts and lives that were
open to Him.
And this is always true, though you may
look at an overall condition of a nation
or a people and say, boy, they're really
in a mess, yet God is always working
out His plan in the hearts and in
the lives of those that are open unto
Him.
And so, here God was working in the
period of moral declension, in this period of
confusion, yet God was working in a very
special way and the Book of Ruth gives
us the insight into the work of God.
Now, quite often when we live in a
corrupted society such as we live today, and
wherein our whole educational philosophy, they teach that
the mores of a society determine what is
right and wrong conduct.
And thus, having established that as a sociological
fact, as we look around and see the
mores, we say, well, everybody's doing it and
that becomes the criteria, it must be right.
It is interesting that the Bible declares that
in the beginning God created the heavens and
the earth.
Now, that is the biblical account of creation.
You have in the educational circles today the
humanistic philosophy that is actually prevailing within our
educational system.
And the humanistic philosophy, rather than saying that
God created man, declares that man created God
for his own convenience, because he needed something
to believe in.
He needed to have some kind of a
guide for moral conduct and all, and so
man created God.
And that actually man's moral conduct is determined
by the mores of his society.
The Bible declares in the beginning God created
man, and the moral conduct were standards that
were established by God, which are absolutes.
Humanism, God created, or man created God for
his own convenience, and man establishes his own
standards, his own mores, and thus they are
relative to the situations.
Now, living, and all of you have in
some degree been affected by the humanistic philosophy
that prevails in every level of our society
today.
The danger is falling into that trap of
thinking, well, everybody is doing it, I'm weird
or out of step because I'm not following
along with the same pattern of the world
in which I live.
And to be accepted, I must join the
crowd.
And after all, if everybody's doing it, it
must be all right.
False.
That is the philosophy of humanism expressed in
its existentialism.
Not so.
God has established standards.
Man is always trying to get a little
twist on the standard that God has established.
But what if this, and what if that,
and trying to make it relate to a
special case that God has established, the standards
by which we are to live.
God created man and established the moral standards
for that man.
So, God is always working.
And in this confused, corrupted society in which
we live, God still desires to work in
the hearts and the lives of those that
are open to the work of God.
Oh, God help me that my heart might
be open unto God so that He can
work in my life in the midst of
this corrupted society.
Now, the Bible foresaw the corruption in which
you are living today.
The Bible very aptly expressed sort of the
scientific attitudes of uniformitarianism that have prevailed, that
have set the stage for the evolutionary thesis,
which has, of course, set the stage for
the whole humanism because God is no longer
needed.
Man evolved from the protozoa and the whole
thing is tied together.
And Peter said, in the last days there
will be scoffers that will come saying, where
is the promise of the Father?
That is, of the coming again of Jesus
Christ.
Where is the Lord?
He hasn't come.
Since our fathers have fallen asleep, all things
continue as they were from the beginning.
I defy you to find me a better
definition of uniformitarianism.
All things have continued as they were from
the beginning.
That is exactly what the dogma or the
theory of uniformitarianism declares.
All of the phenomena that has ever existed
in the creation and the evolving of man
into his present state can be observed in
the world today.
There have been no catastrophes and so forth.
No dramatic changes.
And it is interesting that Peter foresaw this
scientific theory before it was ever propounded and
he actually gave the greatest flaw within it.
For this they were willingly ignorant, that God
destroyed the world that was with a flood.
They closed their eyes to that.
The fact of the universal flood, which is
by far a better explanation of the geological
column and of the geology itself than is
this theory of evolution.
The geological column does not prove at all
the theory of evolution.
In fact, it raises great questions in regards
to the theory of evolution because within the
geological column there is a total absence of
any transitional forms.
And if the transitional forms took place over
millions of years of evolving, surely we would
have fossils that would show the transitional forms.
So absent is the fossil record of transitional
forms that it has led one of the
professors at Stanford to come up with the
magic bird kind of a theory, whereas a
snake one time laid an egg and a
bird flew out.
It's the hopeful monster theory.
And he had to come up with that
because of the absence of transitional forms in
the geological column rather than there being gradual
changes.
They're now saying suddenly in the Cambrian state
there appeared multitudes of many faceted animals in
highly developed forms.
Remarkable.
Hocus pocus dominocus.
So it's a thing that we are in
this society of which the Bible said perilous
times would come.
Men would be lovers of pleasure more than
lovers of God.
They would be fierce.
They'd be incontinent, which speaks of this sexual
freedom that people are advocating today and goes
on to describe our modern day society.
Jesus in referring to these things said because
the iniquity of the earth is going to
abound, the love of many is going to
wax cold.
But in the midst of this crooked and
perverse world, God is still working in the
hearts and lives of those that are open
and surrendered unto Him.
So in the period of Judges, a time
much as today when the gays were parading
and declaring their normalcy and desiring to actually
propagate their own thing there in Gibeah and
were publicly parading their perverse style of life.
God was working in the hearts and lives
of those that were open to God.
Now, the book of Ruth is another insight
that shows us how God can work and
does work His purposes on the earth even
under adverse circumstances.
So it came to pass when the Judges
ruled that there was a family in the
land, a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, and
he went to sojourn in the country of
Moab with his wife and his two sons.
And this man was a lima, or he
was a limalack, and the name of his
wife was Naomi, and the name of his
sons were Malon and Chilion.
And he was an Ephratite.
Now, Ephratite or Ephra was the area, the
general area in which Bethlehem was situated, like
Santa Ana is situated in Orange County.
Bethlehem was situated in the area called Ephra,
so he was an Ephratite, like you might
be called an Orange Countian because you live
in Orange County.
Now, the names are always interesting because the
names are oftentimes significant to the story.
They named their children and every name had
a meaning.
Now, they say that names have meanings today.
And you can look back to the meaning
of your names in some of the dictionaries,
what your name actually means.
The name limalack means my God is king,
beautiful name.
The name Naomi means pleasantness, a very beautiful
name indeed.
But the name Malon means sickly, and the
name Chilion means pining.
Now, often the children were named after circumstances
of their birth.
When Esau was born, he was all covered
with hair, and so they called him Harry.
The word Esau means hairy, and he's just
a hairy little kid, so it's a good
name.
When his brother was born, his twin brother,
he reached out and grabbed hold of Harry's
heel.
And so they said, look at that, he's
a heel catcher, and they called him Yaakov,
heel catcher.
So, they were named after circumstances of their
birth.
Probably when Malon was born, perhaps he was
premature.
Maybe it was touch and go for a
while, he just didn't look well.
They said, oh, he's sickly, he's Malon.
So, he picked up the name Malon, sickly.
Later, when his brother was born, he didn't
look much better, so they called him pining,
sickly and pining.
No wonder they died young, they were sickly
and pining.
So, in the land of Bethlehem, there was
a famine, there was a drought, which does
take place periodically over there.
Last year, they had a drought.
They heard that there was good land over
in Moab, and so, Elimelech decided to sell
out, and with his wife and two sons,
move over to Moab.
Which is the high plateau country across the
Great Rift, the Jordan River, the Dead Sea,
over on the other side, the high plateau
country, which is very fertile area.
So, they moved over to Moab, and while
they were there, Elimelech died.
And so, the boys married girls from Moab.
The one married a girl by the name
of Orpah, the other married a girl by
the name of Ruth.
And it came to pass, in time, that
both of the boys also died without having
any children.
And so, Naomi said to the two daughters
-in-law, go back and return to your
families, to your mother's house, and may the
Lord deal kindly with you, even as you
have dealt with the dead and with me.
So, during this period of family tragedy, these
two girls actually showed a real depth of
character.
They were very kind to Naomi, and the
comforting of Naomi.
They took their tragedy very well.
And so, Naomi is wishing them that they
also might receive the same degree of kindness
that they have displayed unto her.
And the Lord grants that you find rest,
each of you, in the house of her
husband.
So, may you both find some good boys
and get married.
May you have a happy married life.
May you find someone else.
And may you live at rest in the
house of your husband.
So, she's just encouraging the girls, hey girls,
you know, you're better off here.
You're better off with your families.
And you're better off just getting married here
with someone else.
And so, the two girls went with their
father for a while on the way back.
And so, they wept and all.
And then Naomi said to them again, look
girls, I am really too old to have
any more sons.
And even if I had a hope of
having sons, let's say that I was married
now and became pregnant tomorrow.
Would you want to wait until my sons
grew up old enough to get married?
I don't want to wait for…
and anyhow, it's not going to happen.
So, you just go ahead and return home
and get, you know, your husbands and get
married.
And so, Orpah fell on her neck and
kissed her and bid her farewell and returned
to her mother's house.
But Ruth then uttered these beautiful words, entreat
me not to leave thee or to forsake
thee or to return from following after thee.
Because where you will go or where you
go, I will go.
Where you lodge, I will lodge.
Your people will be my people.
Your God will be my God.
And God forbid, if anything but death should
separate between us.
And so, the devotion of Ruth to her
mother-in-law, look, I'll go with you.
Don't ask me to leave you or to
forsake you or to return back to my
family.
For wherever you go, evidently there was a
beautiful bond that was created between daughter-in
-law and mother-in-law.
Very beautiful bond.
Wherever you go, I will go.
Wherever you lodge, I will lodge.
Your people will be my people.
Your God will be my God.
And God forbid, if anything but death should
separate us.
And so, they came back into the land.
When she saw that she was steadfastly minded
to go with her, then she left speaking
unto her.
And the two went till they came to
Bethlehem.
Now, when they arrived in Bethlehem, the people
said, Oh, Naomi has returned.
And she said, Don't call me Naomi.
Now, let's put it in their language.
They said, Oh, pleasantness has returned.
She said, Don't call me pleasant.
Call me bitter.
For the Lord has dealt bitterly with me.
Mara, bitter.
Don't call me pleasant.
Call me bitter.
The Lord has dealt bitterly with me.
Now, it is interesting that she sort of
blames the tragedy on God.
The Lord has dealt bitterly with me.
There seems to be a natural inclination for
us to blame God for our tragedies and
especially for death.
When Jesus arrived in Bethany at the time
of the death of Lazarus, he had been
very sick.
His sister sent the urgent message down to
the Jordan where Jesus was staying.
Come quickly, the one you love is sick.
And Jesus tarried there at the Jordan for
two days and then headed off for Bethany.
Now, for a message to get from Bethany
to Jordan took two days.
Jesus stayed there an extra two days and
it took him two days to get back
to Bethany.
So, in the meantime, six days had transpired
from the time the message went out.
Your friend is very sick.
The one you love is very sick.
And it was six days later that Jesus
was arriving in Bethany and the girls knew
that it was too late.
And they knew that it was actually later
than it should be.
He could have arrived earlier.
They were aware that he was delaying.
They didn't know why.
And Martha came out to meet him and
in an accusing way said, Lord, if you
would only have been here, my brother would
not have died.
Lord, where were you when we needed you?
Lord, why didn't you come quicker?
We told you to come quickly, the one
you love is sick.
Lord, what took you so long?
Why didn't you respond, Lord?
And really, the idea is she was blaming
the death of her brother on the Lord.
Lord, you could have averted this.
Now, we know that that is true.
We know that God does hold life in
his hands.
We know that God is able to sustain
life.
We know that God is able to restore
life.
We know that the days of man are
appointed of God.
And thus, there is this inclination to blame
God for death.
And in a sense, that is right.
But in another sense, we only feel
bitterness because we have a totally wrong concept
of death as it being the end.
Oh, he had his whole life in front
of him.
Everything going for him.
Oh, what a shame.
I heard this so much when my younger
brother was killed.
Handsome, good-looking, big guy.
Just had everything going for him.
Good sense of business and was making investments
and just everything falling in the line.
Bought an airplane so he could get back
and forth between his business better.
Crashed in his airplane.
Oh, what a shame.
Whole life in front of him.
What a shame.
Yeah, what a shame.
He got there before I did.
By the time I arrive, he's going to
know every nook and cranny.
It's going to take me a while to
catch up.
You know, he's with the Lord.
What's so bad about that?
He's there in God's kingdom.
What's so sad?
The sad part is that I miss him.
The sad part that I miss all the
fun we used to have together.
He was an exciting person and he used
to always be doing, you know, crazy things
and exciting things.
And I miss that.
I sorrow because what I have lost.
But I don't sorrow for him.
I'm jealous of him being with the Lord.
How glorious.
Not having to hassle with gas lines, with
bills, and all of the kind of things
that we have to experience.
How wonderful.
But I'll catch up with him one of
these days.
But we have the wrong attitude, you see,
concerning death.
We look at this life as though, oh,
it is so precious.
It's so wonderful.
Hang on to it.
That's because of the uncertainty of that life
that he has promised to us.
Our lapses of faith.
Don't call me pleasant.
Call me bitter.
That's sad.
It's sad whenever you become bitter over any
experience of life because bitterness only hurts you.
We are warned to be careful of any
root of bitterness within our lives because of
the effect that it can have on your
total life.
The bitter roots can bring forth bitter fruit
in your life.
And we must guard against bitterness.
And bitterness is an attitude that I choose
because of the circumstances that I face.
I don't have to become bitter.
I choose to become bitter.
For there are other people who go through
the exact similar circumstances and they become better
people because they learn to commit and trust
in God all the more.
They say, well, it's all in the Lord's
hands and I belong to the Lord.
And God has just given me strength and
God has given me the capacities and all.
And they become actually better people.
Some of the greatest people I know are
people who have suffered incessantly through life.
And through the suffering, there has been a
depth of character developed that is unparalleled by
others who have never experienced suffering or sorrow.
Out of suffering, out of sorrow, the roots
can go deep into God and the life
can become beautiful and strong and powerful.
Powerful.
Or you can root into bitterness and your
life becomes bitter and tight and tense.
It's tragic when a person gives himself over
to bitterness.
It's all in how you look at the
situation.
I can look at it and I can
become bitter and say, if God loved me,
then why did He allow that to happen
to me?
And my life becomes tense and I become
tight and my blood vessels begin to constrict
and there's not a real flowing anymore and
my whole life is so tense and I
begin to actually get the effects of it
physically.
Or I can say, well, the Lord has
given, the Lord has taken away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
All things work together for good and God
has a plan and He loves me and
I know that He's watching over me and
whatever it is, God's working out a plan
in my life.
Praise the Lord.
God, You know that I need to have
this worked out.
You're just seeking to conform me into Your
image.
Have Your perfect work within my life, God,
and I can become a better person and
an open person and filled with God's love
and I can flow out the beautiful fruits
of love and faith and hope to others.
Naomi, for the moment, was responding in the
wrong way.
Don't call me pleasant.
Call me bitter.
Oh, sad.
That's sad.
When you've allowed the circumstances of your life
to jaundice your feelings and you turn bitter
against God and bitter against the circumstances of
life.
Naomi thought it was all over.
She thought that was the end of the
road.
She didn't know the plan that God was
working out.
She said, I went away full and the
Lord hath brought me home again empty.
Why do you call me pleasant?
Seeing the Lord has testified against me and
the Almighty has afflicted me.
So, Naomi returned and Ruth the Moabitess, her
daughter-in-law with her.
They came out of the country of Moab.
They came to Bethlehem at the beginning of
the barley harvest.
Now, Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's,
a mighty man of wealth in the family
of Elimelech.
His name was Boaz.
So, Elimelech had, and in the fourth chapter,
Boaz calls him our brother Elimelech.
So, a relation, perhaps a full brother, perhaps
a half-brother, who became a very wealthy
man, a mighty man of wealth.
And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, let
me now go to the field and glean
the ears of corn after
him in whose sight I shall find grace.
And she said unto her, go, my daughter.
Now, in the law, God made a provision
for the poor people.
There were welfare laws in those days.
I think they are far superior to the
welfare laws today.
It wasn't just a give-me or give
-out dole to people, but the law declared
that when you had fields, you could only
harvest your fields once.
You couldn't go back through to pick the
second time.
You had one shot at your harvest.
You went through once, that was it.
Nor did you pick the second time.
You didn't pick up anything off the ground,
so that the poor of the land could
come into your fields after your harvesters had
gone through.
And whatever wasn't ripe when they had gone
through, whatever was there, was free for the
poor people.
And thus, they could always go into the
fields and they could come in after your
harvesters.
They could pick up any vegetables or any
of the fruits or whatever that remained after
your first once harvest through the thing.
Then, the rest was left for the poor.
And thus, were the poor of the land
taken care of.
It was a very excellent welfare law.
The poor of the land were taken care
adequately by this law.
If you wanted to eat, there was always
food.
You could always go out into the field
and gather it after the harvesters.
And so, Ruth said to Naomi, I'm going
to go out and glean in the fields
after the harvesters.
And it says, and it was her hap,
or we would say today, it so happened
that she was in the part of the
field that belonged unto Boaz, who was of
the family of Elimelech.
It so happened.
No, that's not so.
Nothing just so happens.
When we relate a thing, we say, well,
you know, it was the strangest coincidence.
But really, when you're God's child and God's
hand is on your life, there aren't really
coincidences.
God's hand is in all of these things.
Now, when God guides our lives, somehow we've
got a mental concept that in order for
God to guide me, there's got to be
some kind of a mystical, spooky kind of
a aura, you know, where you almost go
into a semi-trance and a fog begins
to sort of come around you.
And you hear a voice in the echo
chamber.
And it says, go left, you know.
You know, and you expect God to lead
you in some kind of a mystical way.
When in reality, God leads you in such
natural ways, you say, well, it just happened
that I was there at that moment, you
know.
For the last few weeks, my wife has
been asking me concerning a doctor that was
with us in Israel last year who helped
her when she broke her arm.
She said, I'm so concerned about him.
I wonder if everything is all right.
I haven't heard.
We send them a Christmas card and we
haven't heard.
I wonder, oh, I wonder how he's doing.
Have you seen?
No, I haven't seen him.
I wonder how they're doing.
And she's been on to me for this
for a few weeks.
Well, my son's church, the ladies were having
a retreat up at Idlewild last weekend.
Not this, but the previous.
And so Kay went up to teach the
ladies.
And because the dust was getting to her,
she decided not to eat lunch there in
the camp, but to go into a little
restaurant called the Bread Basket.
So as she was in there eating lunch,
who should come in?
But the doctor's wife, who was passing by
and decided, oh, I want to get one
of the specialties of the bakery shop there.
And so she just on impulse ran in
to get something out of the bakery.
It just so happened.
You see?
No, those things don't happen.
God is leading.
God is guiding.
And God puts these things together.
But it happens so naturally that you don't
recognize it's God doing it.
God leads us in very natural ways.
It comes as a thought.
It comes as an impulse.
It comes as an idea or it comes
as an inspiration.
Oh, I'm hungry for a tamale.
Gotta have a tamale, you know.
Well, where should we go?
Well, let's go there.
And God is actually putting together circumstances.
You get there and there's the plan of
God unfolding.
He's been guiding and it so happened.
But no, it doesn't so happen.
God's hand is there leading and guiding.
For the steps of a righteous man are
ordered of the Lord and he delights in
his way.
And if you will, in all your ways,
just acknowledge him, he will direct your path.
Now, looking at it from our side, we
say, and it so happened that she came
into the field of Boaz.
But in reality, God was holding her by
the hand and directing her to that field.
As she was going out wondering, where in
the world am I going to glean?
You know, oh my, this is all new.
I don't know anybody around here.
Oh, there's some gals out there.
I'll follow them.
God was just leading all the way along.
It's neat the way the Lord does lead
our lives.
It's glorious the way God directs our paths
as we just yield ourselves to him.
Before I get out of bed in the
morning, I say, Lord, today is yours.
My life is yours.
Now you just leave me, Lord, whatever you
have for me.
Direct my life today, Lord.
I don't have any hard, fast plans that
can't be broken, Lord.
You just bring into my path whatever you
want.
I want to be open to you today.
And it's always exciting because you never know
just what God has in mind for you
each day as he puts the circumstances together.
And we look at it and say, man,
that was the most amazing coincidence I've ever
seen.
You know, not really.
God was bringing the ends together all the
way along.
And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and he
said to the reapers, the Lord be with
you.
And they answered him, the Lord bless thee.
Now Boaz does show many characteristics of a
fine, outstanding, godly man.
Just remember, it's a time of spiritual declension
and apostasy, the period of the judges.
But here is a man who is walking
with God, who comes out and greets his
servants by saying, the Lord be with you.
And evidently there's a good management relationship here
with servants and they say, and the Lord
bless thee.
We'll see other indications of this man's spiritual
nature.
Then said Boaz unto his servant that was
over the reapers, where did this chick come
from?
That's a modern translation.
And the servant that was over the reapers
answered and said, it is the Moabite that
came back with Naomi out of the country
of Moab.
And she said, I beg you or pray
you, let me glean and gather after the
reapers among the sheaves.
And she came and has continued even from
morning till now.
She only tarried just for a little time
in the house.
Then said Boaz unto Ruth, listen, my daughter,
don't glean in any other fields, neither go
from here, but abide here fast by my
maidens and let your eyes be on the
field that they reap and follow after them.
For I have charged the young men that
they shall not touch thee.
And when you're thirsty, you can go to
the vessels and drink of the water that
the young men have drawn.
And she fell on her face and bowed
herself to the ground and said unto him,
why have I found grace in thine eyes
that you should take knowledge of me seeing
I'm a stranger?
And Boaz answered and said unto her, it
has been fully shown to me all that
you have done unto your mother-in-law
since the death of your husband and how
you have left your father and mother in
the land of your nativity and are coming
to a people which you did not know
before this.
The Lord recompense thy work and a full
reward be given to thee of the Lord
God of Israel under whose wings thou art
come to trust.
So here's a beautiful scene.
They're meeting.
He speaks to Ruth and he said, you
know, just stay in the fields of my
maidens, follow with them.
Don't go to any other fields.
And when you get thirsty, you can drink
from the containers that the young men have
drawn.
And she's amazed by the kindness.
She knows she's a stranger here.
She said, you know, how come you're treating
me so kindly?
I'm a stranger.
And he said, I've heard all about you.
I've heard about your kindness to Naomi.
And I've heard about your decision really to
come into a new land and under the
shelter of Jehovah.
And so his beautiful words may Jehovah recompense
thy work.
May the Lord just reward your decisions and
a full reward be given to you from
Jehovah, the God of Israel under whose wings
you have come to trust.
The people there were very close to nature.
They were very earthy people.
And thus they, they pictured God in earthy
pictures.
And one of the pictures that they had
of God was that loving, protecting concern over
his children.
As a mother hen has that loving, protective
concern over her little chicks so that when
danger threatens, the little chicks run under the
mother who ruffles out her feathers and covers
them and stands there to protect them against
danger.
This is one of the pictures of God
in the Old Testament.
Under his wings shalt thou trust.
And this picture of a mother hen brooding
and protecting and covering with her wings, with
her feathers, her little brood.
It's a very earthy kind of a thing.
And if you haven't been around a farm
or chickens, you don't understand it fully.
Fortunately, when I was a kid, even growing
up here in California, we were country enough
around here that we still had chickens on
the backyard.
But may the Lord reward you under whose
wings, the God of Israel under whose wings
you have come to trust.
Trusting in God now, looking to him.
Then she said, let me find favor in
thy sight, my Lord, for you have comforted
me and you have spoken friendly unto your
handmaid, though I am not like one of
your own handmaidens.
And Boaz said to her, at mealtime, you
can come here and eat of the bread
and dip your morsel in the vinegar.
And she sat beside the reapers and he
reached her parched corn and she did eat
and was sufficed and left.
And so Boaz is showing a definite interest
in her, reaching over and getting some parched
corn for her, inviting her to eat and
showing the protection.
And when she was risen up to glean,
Boaz commanded his young men saying, now you
let her glean even among the sheaves.
Don't reproach her.
Now, if she happens to wander over into
the area where you haven't been yet, don't
yell at her, let her go.
And then every once in a while, just
let a handful drop on purpose for her.
So Ruth gleaned that day and she came
up with about a bushel of barley so
that when she got back to Naomi, Naomi
said, where in the world were you gleaning
today?
The Lord be gracious unto that man.
Wow.
And Ruth said, well, I happened to be
in the field of a man whose name
was Boaz.
And Naomi said unto her, blessed is he
of the Lord who has not left off
his kindness to the living and to the
dead.
And Naomi said to her, the man is
near of kin to us.
He is one of our next Goels, kinsmen
redeemers.
This man is a family member.
He is a Goel.
He's a kinsman redeemer to us.
One of the next of kinsmen redeemers.
And Ruth, the Moabitess said, he said unto
me also, you shall stay fast by my
young men until they have ended all my
harvest.
And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in
-law, it is good, my daughter, that you
do not go out with his maidens and
that they do not, that you do not
go out with his maidens and that they
do not meet you in any other field.
So she kept fast by the maidens of
Boaz to glean unto the end of the
barley harvest and of the wheat harvest.
And she stayed there with her mother-in
-law.
Then Naomi, her mother-in-law, said unto
her, my daughter, shall I not seek rest
for thee that it may be well with
thee?
And now is not Boaz of our family
with whose maidens you have been working?
Behold, he winnows the barley tonight in the
threshing floor.
So watch yourself, put on your perfume and
your beautiful gown and get down to the
threshing floor, but don't let them see you
until they have finished eating and drinking.
And it shall be when he lies down
to sleep that you mark carefully where he's
lying and then go in and uncover his
feet and lay down there and he will
tell you what you're to do.
And she said unto her, all that you
say to me, I will do.
So she went down to the floor and
she did according to all that her mother
-in-law had instructed her.
And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, his
heart was merry and he went to lie
down at the end of the heap of
corn.
And she came very quietly and uncovered his
feet and laid down.
Now about midnight, he woke up and was
afraid.
As he was rolling over, he became aware
of a fact that a woman was lying
there at his feet.
And he said, who are you?
And she answered, I'm Ruth, your handmaid.
Spread therefore thy blanket or covering over thine
handmaid, for thou art a near kinsman.
Now under the law, because God sought to
preserve families, if a man married a wife
and died before they had any children, then
it was his brother's obligation to take that
woman as his wife, so that the first
son that was born would be named after
the dead brother, so that the family's name
would continue in Israel.
In the book of Genesis, about the 38th
chapter or so, we find that Judah had
a son who took a gal as his
wife and he died without having any children.
Tamar was the name of the wife.
And so the second son took her and
he died without having any children.
And Judah was afraid to give the third
son.
And so he said, well, he's too young
to get married.
Wait for him.
And then long after the guy was old
enough to get married, Judah hadn't really come
through with the third son.
And so Tamar took things into her own
hands.
But it's a case where this law was
being enacted and Judah was in the wrong
for withholding this son.
It was just the law to keep the
family name alive.
Now, because Elimelech had died and his two
sons had died, the family name was about
to die out.
So she is actually asking Boaz to take
the part of the Goel, the kinsman redeemer,
and to have a son by her that
could be named after the family of Elimelech
so that that name would not die as
a family in Israel.
Actually is what she was asking.
Cover me with this covering of the family,
because you are a Goel, you are the
kinsman redeemer.
And he said to Ruth, Blessed be thou
of the Lord, my daughter, for you have
shown more kindness in the latter end than
at the beginning, inasmuch as you followed not
the young men, whether they were poor or
rich.
Now, Boaz was probably an older man.
He was very flattered that this younger girl,
rather than following after these young guys, would
ask him to fulfill this kinsman relationship, this
Goel kinsman redeemer relationship.
Again, notice his is blessed be thou of
the Lord.
He shows all the way through good, godly
characteristics.
And he said, Now my daughter, fear not,
for I will do unto you all that
you require.
For all the city and my people know
that you are a virtuous woman.
Ruth's reputation had gotten around.
She is a virtuous girl.
Her taking care of her mother-in-law,
her whole attitude of really worshipping and serving
God, word had gotten around concerning Ruth.
She's a virtuous girl.
And he said, I will do all that
the law requires and what you're requiring.
Don't be afraid.
I'm going to do it.
But it is true that I am a
near kinsman.
I'm close family relative.
However, there is a kinsman that is closer
than I am.
Now you, Terry, tonight and in the morning,
if he will not perform unto thee the
part of a kinsman, fine.
Or if he will perform unto you the
part of the kinsman, fine, let him perform
unto thee.
But if he will not do the part
of a kinsman to thee, then will I
do the part of a kinsman to thee
as the Lord liveth, lie down until morning.
Now, not always would they fulfill this part.
Sometimes they didn't like the gal.
Your brother married sort of a, you know,
right?
And he died and didn't have any children.
And you say, hey, no way.
I don't want her.
And so you'd take off your shoe and
hand it to her like, hey, you're a
dirty shoe as far as I'm concerned.
And you're giving up your right.
I don't want to marry you.
I don't want to have anything to do
with you.
And she then would spit in your face
and you would be called the man from
whom the shoe was loosed in Israel.
You were considered sort of a dirty dog
kind of a guy because you didn't fulfill
the family obligations, no family loyalty.
So that was the little ritual.
And that oftentimes happened.
A fella didn't want to carry through, hey,
I don't want to marry her.
I don't want the obligations to her.
You know, not interested.
And so he'd take off his shoe and
hand it to her.
So he said to Ruth, don't worry, I
will do it.
But the hitch is there's another fellow who
is actually closer of kin and he has
the right first to be the kinsman.
And if he is fine, but if he
doesn't, then I will be the kinsman unto
thee.
I will raise up a child and I
will take you as my wife and I
will fulfill this obligation.
So don't worry, one way or the other,
it's going to be taken care of.
And so he said, lie down till the
morning.
And so she laid his feet until morning
and she rose up before anyone could know
each other.
In other words, it was still so dark
you couldn't recognize anybody.
And he said, don't let it be known
that a woman was in the floor, the
threshing floor tonight.
And so he said, bring me the veil
that you have on you and hold it.
And she held it.
And he measured out six measures of barley
and laid it on her.
And she went into the city.
And when she came to her mother-in
-law, it was still dark.
And so Naomi said, who is it?
And she said, who art thou?
My daughter.
And so Ruth told her all that Boaz
had said and done.
And she said, these six measures of barley
he gave to me, for he said to
me, don't go empty to your mother-in
-law.
Then Naomi said, she's a wise old gal,
she's been around.
She said, sit still my daughter until you
know how the matter will fall.
For this man is not going to rest
until he's gotten everything taken care of.
And so when Boaz rose up, he went
to the gate of the city.
He sat down there and behold, the kinsmen
of which he was speaking came by.
And he said, ho, such a one, turn
aside and sit down here.
And so he turned aside and sat down.
And he took ten men of the elders
of the city and he said, sit down
here.
And so they sat down and he said
to the kinsmen, Naomi that is come again
out of the country of Moab is selling
a parcel of land, which was our brother
Elimelech.
And I thought to let you know saying,
buy it before the inhabitants and the elders
of the people.
And if you will redeem it, then redeem
it.
But if you will not redeem it, then
tell me that I may know for there
is none to redeem it beside thee.
And I am after thee.
And he said, I will redeem it.
Now, another Jewish law declared that whenever you
sold a parcel of land, there was always
a revisionary clause where you had the right
to buy the land back again within a
specified period of time.
Usually they would write up the deed in
a scroll and then they would seal the
scroll.
And in that specified period of time, when
the right of redemption had come and the
revisionary clause, then you could bring the title
deed and you could break the seals and
you could with the elders of the city
they're present.
And you would show that you had the
right and the ability to buy the field
back.
You could always buy back your property.
The revision clause was in every sale, the
right of buying it back.
Now, under the Jewish law, if you were
not able because you were too poor to
buy the land back when the time of
redemption had come, then one of your family
members, your next of kin could step in
and buy it in order that it remained
in the family because God wanted to preserve
the family inheritances in Israel.
So, the next of kin could come in
and take your part or your place in
the purchasing or the repurchasing of the land.
So, when Naomi and Elimelech had moved to
Moab, they had sold their parcel and according
to the revisionary clause, the time was up
and now it was again coming on the
block, the time to redeem it.
So, he said, you know, Naomi is getting
ready to sell this parcel.
She can't redeem it.
The right of redemption is yours and if
you're going to redeem it, then redeem it.
If not, there's no one except me after
you.
And so, what do you want to do?
And the fellow says, well, I'll redeem it.
And so, Boaz said unto him, in the
day that you buy the field from the
hand of Naomi, you must also buy it
from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the
dead, to raise up the name of the
dead upon his inheritance.
In other words, you're going to have to
take Ruth as a wife and have a
son in order that the name of the
inheritance might continue.
And the fellow says, oh man, that would
mess up my own inheritance.
In other words, he's already married and he
already had children lined up for the inheritance.
He said, man, my wife wouldn't go for
that.
We can't handle that one.
He said to Boaz, why don't you redeem
it?
And so, Boaz was very happy about that
turn of events.
And so, the kinsman said, I cannot redeem
it for myself lest I mess up my
own inheritance.
You redeem it.
Take the right to thyself for I cannot
redeem it.
Now, there was a custom in the former
times.
Now, this custom died out.
However, it is interesting.
There was a lady recently in Israel who
tried to get her brother-in-law to
enact this old law because her husband died.
And so, she tried to get him to
marry her and all to fulfill the ancient
law and all.
And he refused to do it.
And so, she insisted that he take off.
She sued him over the thing and take
off his shoes so she could spit in
his face and all.
And so, they did go through this ceremony
of recent vintage in Israel.
But actually, it was a custom that died
out in time.
But it is saying in the older days,
they did have this custom.
So, the book of Ruth was written at
some later date.
And so, he's recording.
Now, this was the manner in the former
times in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing.
For to confirm all things, a man had
to take off his shoe and give it
to his neighbor.
And this was the testimony in Israel.
So, the fellow took off his shoe and
handed it to Boaz.
Therefore, the kinsman said to Boaz, buy it
for thee.
So, he drew off his shoe.
And Boaz said to the elders and to
the people, you are witnesses this day that
I have bought all that was Elimelech's and
all that was Chileon's and Melon's of the
hand of Naomi.
Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Melon,
have I purchased to be my wife to
raise up the name of the dead upon
his inheritance that the name of the dead
is not cut off from among his brethren
and the gate of his place.
You are witnesses this day.
So, I have purchased the whole thing, all
that belong to Naomi and to Elimelech and
to Melon and Chileon.
And I have purchased Ruth to be my
wife.
Now, here is an interesting case where because
of his love for Ruth, he bought the
field in order that he might obtain the
bride.
His primary interest was not the field at
all.
He was a very mighty man of wealth.
He didn't need any more fields, but he
bought the field in order to obtain the
bride.
And in that, he becomes a very beautiful
picture of Jesus Christ who bought the world
in order that he might purchase his bride,
the church, out of the world.
Not interested necessarily in the planet Earth as
such, but interested and in love with his
bride, Jesus purchased the world in order to
take his treasure.
So, in the kingdom parables, the kingdom of
heaven is likened to a man going through
a field, discovering a treasure, who for the
joy thereof immediately goes out and sells all
that he has in order that he might
buy the field and obtain the treasure.
So, Jesus, seeing the treasure, his church, his
bride within the world, bought the whole world
in order to take his bride out of
it.
A beautiful, beautiful sort of a parallel here
with Boaz and Ruth and Jesus and the
church.
And all the people that were in the
gate and the elders said, we are the
witnesses, and the Lord make the woman that
has come unto thine house like Rachel and
Leah, which too did build the house of
Israel.
And do thou worthily in Euphrates and be
famous in Bethlehem.
And let thy house be like the house
of Phares, whom Tamar bear unto Judah of
the seed, which the Lord shall give thee
of this young woman.
Now, it is interesting that they speak of
Judah and Tamar and Phares, because here is
where this whole thing, this particular law, I
mentioned earlier that one of Judah's sons married
Tamar, he died without having any children.
Judah gave the other son, he died without
having any children.
Judah then was reluctant to give his third
son, wait until he grows up, he's too
young.
And after a period of waiting and all,
Judah hadn't come through with the third son.
So, as I said, Tamar took things in
her own hands.
What she did is she put on the
clothes of a prostitute.
And she went out and sat there at
a place in the path where Judah was
walking by.
And Judah, she was all veiled, had the
garb of a prostitute on, he thought she
was a prostitute.
And he said, he propositioned her.
And she said, well, what will you pay
me?
And he said, well, I'll give you a
little goat out of the flocks.
And she said, well, how do I know
you'll come through with it?
And he said, well, I'll give you my
ring as a pledge.
So, he came in unto Tamar, had relations
with her, and gave her his ring as
a pledge that he would send back a
goat to her.
That was what he propositioned for.
So, Tamar took off the clothes of a
prostitute, went back home, was pregnant.
And he sent, Judah sent his servant back
to get his ring back with a young
little goat.
And the guy came and he looked and
there was no prostitute sitting there at this
area where Judah said she, you know, was.
And so, he said to the guys around
there, where's the prostitute usually hangs out here?
There's no prostitute hangs out here.
So, he came back to Judah, he said,
hey, I couldn't find any.
And the fellow said there's no prostitute hangs
out around there.
So, Judah said, oh, well, let it go.
Then word came to Judah, your daughter-in
-law Tamar is pregnant.
So, bring her forth, we'll stone her.
And so, she came forth and she held
out the ring and she said by the
man who owns this ring, am I pregnant?
Now, you see, it was the obligation of
a kinsman to raise up a child for
the dead sons.
Judah was trapped by the young gal into
doing it.
And he acknowledged that she was, you know,
you're more righteous than I am.
I was really withholding, you're more righteous than
I am.
And the son that was born was called
Perez.
And he became a part of the line
of the genealogy of Jesus Christ.
And so, he was also of the line
of Elimelech.
Coming on down, he was one of the
ancestors of Elimelech.
And so, the people said, here's a similar
situation, an older man fulfilling the kinsman part,
raising up a son and may the Lord
bless you and may she be like Tamar
who bore Perez.
May you have a son and may there
be a progeny that comes forth, a blessed
progeny that comes forth from this relationship.
And so, the people in their congratulations to
him go back into his own ancestry to
a somewhat similar situation, at least the situation
where the kinsman raised up the family name
for those who had died.
And so, let your house be like the
house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah
of the seed which the Lord shall give
thee of this young woman.
So, Boaz took Ruth and she was his
wife.
And when he went in unto her, the
Lord gave her conception.
She bore a son and the woman said
to Naomi, blessed be Jehovah, which has not
left thee this day without a kinsman, that
his name may be famous in Israel.
And he shall be unto thee a restorer
of thy life and a nourisher of thine
old age for thy daughter-in-law which
loves thee, which is better to thee than
seven sons hath borne him.
So, Naomi who said, call me bitter, is
now experiencing really the blessings and the joy
of a grandson, knowing now that the family's
name is not going to die.
And they're saying, may he be a blessing
unto you and so forth and a nourisher
of your old age.
And Naomi took the child and laid it
in her bosom and became a nurse unto
it.
And actually, she wet nursed then her little
grandson, which was a very common thing in
those days.
And the women, her neighbors, gave it a
name saying, there is a son born to
Naomi.
And they called his name Obed, which means
worshiper.
And he is the father of Jesse, who
is the father of David.
So, the grandfather of David, who became king
of Israel, this is the parentage and all.
Now, these are the generations of pharaohs.
He begat Hezron, Hezron begat Ram, Ram begat
Abinadab, Abinadab begat Nashon, Nashon begat Salmon, Salmon
begat Boaz, Boaz begat Obed, Obed begat Jesse,
Jesse begat David.
So, ten generations are listed from pharaohs unto
David.
So, we have the background of the genealogy
of David, which also becomes the background of
the genealogy of Jesus Christ.
For Christ came through the genealogy of David,
which came through the genealogy of Pharaohs, who
was born of Tamar by Judah in this
unsavory kind of a situation.
And here you have Amoabitess, who were cursed
by God as far as the children of
Israel were concerned, who could not come into
the house of God to the tenth generation.
And here happens to be ten generations listed
to David.
And so, you have the line of Christ,
so that no matter what your background, you
can always identify with Him.
You say, well, my relatives weren't the, you
know, nicest people in the block.
Well, neither were his.
And thus, each man can identify with Jesus
Christ in a unique and special way.
Even as Boaz was the kinsman-redeemer, fulfilled
the law, redeemed the property in order to
get the bride, so Jesus Christ is our
kinsman-redeemer.
He became a man in order that He
might be next of kin to man in
order that He could redeem man.
It was necessary for Him in order to
be the kinsman-redeemer, the goel, to become
a man.
That was an essential.
That is why the Incarnation, so that as
a man, He could be a kinsman-redeemer
to redeem man, because the earth had been
sold by Adam to Satan.
Now the whole deal has been wrapped up
in a scroll, and it's sealed with seven
seals.
Satan now rules the world.
It's his.
It belongs to him.
He took it from Adam, or Adam actually
sold out to Satan.
Jesus came to redeem the world back to
God, to pay the price of the redemption,
which was His own blood, His death.
Now in Hebrews, it says, and God has
put all things in subjection unto Him, Jesus
Christ, but we do not yet see all
things in subjection unto Him.
We don't see the whole thing yet established
as it's going to be, the kingdom age.
But we see Jesus, who was made a
little Lord in the angels in order that
He might suffer death, crowned with glory and
honor, waiting really for that day in which
the earth is to be redeemed back to
God.
Now there is a period of time in
the history of Israel when Saul was king
over Israel, and because of his disobedience to
God, God said to Samuel, go down to
the house of Jesse and anoint one of
his sons to be the king.
And so Samuel came down to the house
of Jesse, and the first son, Eliab, came
in, good-looking, big, strong guy, and Samuel
said, wow, what a good-looking…
surely this is the one God wants.
And the Lord said, hey, no, no.
You look on the outward appearance, but I
look on the heart.
And so one by one, Jesse paraded his
sons through, and the Lord didn't bear witness
to any of them.
And finally, Samuel said, is that all the
boys you've got?
I've got one more, but he's just a
kid.
He's out there watching the sheave.
I didn't figure he was of any account.
Well, bring him in.
And went out and whistled.
David came running in, sweaty and dirty, and
the Lord said to Samuel, that's the one.
Samuel took this cruise of oil and poured
it over David's head, and this little kid
standing there with oil running down him, and
he didn't know what was going on, you
know.
But God anointed him king over Israel.
Now what happened?
Did Saul suddenly abdicate the throne, and David
sitting on?
Oh, no, no, no.
Saul now began to try to destroy David.
He attempted to kill him.
He attempted to drive him, and ultimately drove
him out of the country.
For Saul was trying to hang on to
that which was no longer rightfully his.
And he was doing his best by fighting
force to hold on to that which didn't
belong to him anymore.
Now we have a sequel to that.
The world in technically belongs to Jesus.
He redeemed it.
He paid the price.
And yet, we do not yet see all
things in subjection unto him.
Satan is still hanging on, doing his best
by force to drive Jesus out.
To hang on to that which is no
longer rightfully his.
To hold by force that which is no
longer rightfully his.
But the day is coming, as is recorded
in the fifth chapter of the book of
Revelation, when this scroll with the seven seals
will be brought forth.
And the angel will declare who is worthy
to take this scroll and to loose the
seals.
And Jesus will step forth as a lamb
that hath been slain.
He'll take this scroll out of the right
hand of God.
As the church sings his praises, worthy is
the lamb to take the scroll and to
loose the seals.
For he was slain and has redeemed us
by his blood.
This word redemption again.
He's redeemed us by his blood out of
all of the nations, tribes, tongues and people.
And hath made us unto our God, kings
and priests.
And we shall reign with him upon the
earth.
And then as you go through the book
of Revelation, you see him beginning to break
the seals.
And in the 10th chapter, he comes back
upon the earth, sets one foot upon the
earth, one upon the sea, holds up the
scroll that is now open, the title deed
showing his rights.
As they declare the kingdoms of this world
have now become the kingdoms of our Lord.
And he begins his reign.
There shall be no longer a delay.
And he begins his reign over the earth.
He takes that which is rightfully his, lays
claim to it and establishes God's kingdom upon
the earth.
And so here you have in the history
of Israel and actually in the history of
the genealogy of Jesus Christ, a little foreshadowing
of the future when Jesus comes as king
of kings and Lord of lords to take
that which is rightfully his.
But the whole transaction as Boaz had the
elders of the city there and they went
through this whole thing.
So the 24 elders gathered in heaven around
the throne as this legal transaction takes place.
And of course, we will be gathered there
too, because we got to sing this song
because only we can sing it as this
whole thing is consummated there in heaven.
Oh, I can hardly wait.
You know, Satan is at his day.
You look at the world today and you
see the results of rebellion against God.
Oh, Lord, thy kingdom come, thy will be
done in earth as it is in heaven.
So we pray.
Father, we thank you for the hope of
thy soon coming kingdom, thy return for your
church and our being gathered together with thee
around the throne of God.
When you take that authority and dominion that
is rightfully yours because you died, your blood
was shed for our redemption, Lord.
Give us that strength that we need, that
guidance that we need, that wisdom that we
need in the meantime as we, Lord, seek
to represent you and your kingdom in this
foreign territory.
In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.