The Boaz Prayer: Ruth: Romance, Redemption and Restoration

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Stay here tonight, and in the morning I will talk to him. If he is willing to redeem you, very well. Let him marry you. But if he is not willing, then as surely as the Lord lives, I will redeem you myself! Now lie down here until morning. And with the land I have acquired Ruth, the Moabite widow of Mahlon, to be my wife. This way she can have a son to carry on the family name of her dead husband and to inherit the family property here in his hometown. You are all witnesses today. Every man woman, and child in this world has been redeemed already by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He has bought back all the fallen estate of the sons of Adam—whoever they might be—Mahlon and Chilion and Elimelech. But because Orpah turned and went back to her own people and to her own gods, she is never heard from again—she has no part in the inheritance. When he slept with her, the Lord enabled her to become pregnant, and she gave birth to a son. This is the ministry of Jesus Christ, our restorer of life: Now let us imagine that Ruth a woman who had found favor in Boaz, and she became wealthy with Boaz.

Boaz says to her. Here his wife whom he had redeemed out of bondage and slavery as a foreigner and taken into his house was saying to him,. Christ is the one risen from the dead, the restorer of life, the one of wealth and strength, who has given us all our estate. I have given you everything I have. You own the whole estate right along with me.

All that I have is yours.

Why do you go out to glean? Why do you keep coming to me and asking for the thing that you already have? Why do you ask for health and strength and grace and joy and peace? I have given you all this.

All that I am is all that you need. Why keep begging for that which you already have? Ruth, the Romance of Redemption Tags: God , Jesus , redemption , romance , Ruth Categories: When he finished, they were unanimous in their praise. The book of Ruth is certainly a literary masterpiece. It is a beautiful story of a romance. I wonder how it would be featured in some of our romance magazines today. The book begins with an introduction of the characters. They were … from Bethlehem in the land of Judah… Then Elimelech died, and Naomi was left with her two sons.

God has hidden away great truths in these names. The story of Ruth begins with a man whose name was Elimelech. The God of the Bible is the God who is, the God who exists. The Bible starts with the fact of God.

“At His Feet”

People are built to recognize the existence of God. Light from God is streaming to us from all around. But there is more: The God who exists and created the universe has made himself completely available to humans. God is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him! This was exactly the relationship into which Jesus Christ came.

All dominion was given to Him. He sought his own pleasure before he sought his own God. This is the spirit of the age and has been through the centuries. And so in the marriage of Elimelech to Naomi we have a picture of the fall of human kind. Now this couple had two children whose names were Mahlon and Chilion.

How would you like to go visit this home and ask about the boys… Mahlon and Chilion? Little Chilion is nothing but skin and bones wasting away.

When these boys grew older they went into the country of Moab. While they were there the boys married girls who were Moabites. Their names were Ruth and Orpah. Then we read of the generations of Adam. Adam had a son whose name was Seth. Seth had a son whose name was Enos. Enos had a son. He died — and he died, and he died, and he died. All down through that chapter the bell of death rings out again and again. Here in the land of Moab these three men died and left behind three heartbroken, lonely widows. Now the heart of the story really begins with these three widows in the land of Moab.

We read that Naomi decided to return to her home in Bethlehem in Judah. Both of these girls made a promise to accompany her back into the land. As they started out along the road and got further from Moab, Orpah kept dropping behind.

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So Naomi kissed Orpah good-bye and sent her back. But one of them is a superficial commitment. Such people are emotionally stirred for the moment. It is not a true life and death commitment. Orpah, comes to the place where, as she says. It was only a superficial change that had occurred; Moab was still in her heart. The only thing left to them was to take the place of destitution and bankruptcy. But Ruth looks for grace, favor! And because she looked, she found it.

If you seek for grace, you will find it. It was divine appointment! When Nicodemus came at night, he just happened to find the Lord Jesus still up. Ruth was gleaning in the field and Boaz saw her. So she took advantage of this, and she had come already to trust in this God of Israel - and isn't it beautiful to see that she knew Him as a God who was concerned about the widow and the orphan? It's interesting to note, and we saw last night how bitter Naomi had become - when she arrived back in Bethlehem she said, 'Call me not Naomi', which means 'pleasant one', 'but call me Mara', 'bitter'.

But it was not Naomi's bitterness that turned the circumstances around for her family, it was Ruth's faithfulness, in the midst of very difficult circumstances, to believe in God's word against all the odds. So she went out to glean in the field these bundles that ought to be left for her. Oh, there's a lesson in that, isn't there? Because there's many a time, as the saying goes, that we cannot trace the way that the Lord is leading us - but when we cannot trace the way, we can trust the heart that plans.

It's a hard lesson to learn, isn't it? But it's vital, because so easily we can turn bitter, and bitterness will never change our circumstances - but faithfulness will. We see what happened: Now, it says it was 'hap', or 'it happened to be' - but this was far from chance. I think I mentioned yesterday morning those famous verses in Proverbs 3: In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths'.

She had acknowledged Him, she had acknowledged His word, and in faith she was going into the fields to gather grain - and God led her, think of it, to the very field to come face-to-face with the very man, the one man God had chosen to redeem her and her family, and eventually to marry her. It was Proverbs When you trust in the Lord's word, and you venture your all upon it, God guides you.

I wonder do you believe in the providence of God? It's a wonderful thing to be able to say: The Lord led Ruth to Boaz - whose name, incidentally, means 'In him is strength'. He was the wealthy relative of her dead father-in-law, Elimelech - and she couldn't have known that, and yet God brought their paths together. There are three pictures I want to bring to your attention tonight from our portion. Ruth, the gleaner in the field of Boaz.

Ruth, at the feet of Boaz. Let's look at the first: Ruth, a gleaner in the field of Boaz. In verse 5 of chapter 2 we read: Now, you've got to understand that there was a big difference in these days between a reaper and a gleaner. A reaper was an employee, it was a proper occupation, and you got a wage from the farmer for doing it - but a gleaner was just one of the poor folk that had come along to gather up these pieces of barley and sheaves that were left for social welfare, effectively.

Now what Ruth was doing here was: She was taking the position of being poor, it was the low place. Do you know what she was saying? You remember Naomi had told her and her sister, Orpah, to go back to Moab, and to go back to her father's house - and maybe she would have a husband and well-being there. So, here she is in this field, and in verse 8 we read: Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens'. Ruth esteemed it better to be one of the poor gleaners in this man's field, because of who his God was, than to go home to Moab and be a reaper, earn a living.

Do we believe that? The Psalmist said in Psalm It seems strange in today's day and age, but you see that's the way the child of God is meant to be:. I'd rather be led by His nail-pierced hand'. Oh, maybe we believe it, do we live like it? Or do we envy the world? Well, Ruth here had gone so far in her young faith, and she had took the lowly place. Now, we believe that grace is unmerited favour, don't we?

We believe, and it's often said, that God sees nothing in us to be gracious toward us. Now that's true in one sense - there are no merits in our lives as sinners, that we can in any way qualify for God's grace - but there is one thing that needs to be in each of our hearts: We need to see our need! If there's a qualification for a sinner to be saved, and to experience the grace of God, it is to put themselves in the lowly place as a sinner.

It was only when Ruth took that place that she got grace. That's what God said: He resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. You see, grace is undeserved, but grace does not allow humility to go unnoticed. Ruth took the lowly place, and we're going to see tonight the gracious riches that were lavished upon her - unexpected blessings that she knew she didn't deserve, all because Boaz took notice of her and gave her so many unusual favours! Now in these days, as I've said, reapers and gleaners were different.

Gleaners were only really tolerated by farmers, they certainly were not welcomed - they put up with them because God's law said they had to! But here we see Boaz welcoming her, this is unusual. You go to the vessels that the reapers drink of, and you drink of their drink'.

In verse 14 we see that he invited her to the table where the rest of them were dining to dip her bread into vinegar, and she sat with them, and he reached over parched corn to her, and he gave her so much at that meal time that she was able to go home with enough for Naomi! Now why was it? Well, she asked that question in verse In verse 11 it says: Boaz knew all about Ruth before Ruth knew anything about him. You see the parallel, don't you? But come further with me, before we tease it out in more detail. We've got to realise that in every circumstance, and this is no exception, with every privilege comes responsibility.

In verse 8 Boaz said, 'Now look, I'm going to allow you to glean here' - and oh, how much more in superabundance Boaz allowed her, but he says 'Don't go to any other field, stay in my field'. Then when, eventually, Ruth gets home, Naomi gives her the same counsel. In verse 22, 'Naomi said unto Ruth her daughter in law, It is good, my daughter, that thou go out with his maidens, that they meet thee not in any other field'. The sentiment was, 'How inappropriate it would be, Ruth, if - after Boaz's kindness to you - having received such abundance in Boaz's field, that these other maidens or some other people should find you in another field hoping for anything more'.

You see, it would be tantamount to saying Boaz had not done enough for her. Now, you know what worldliness is. It's when, perhaps, it's not the attractiveness of the world that draws the child of God away - we saw this, I think, yesterday morning - but the lack of satisfaction that we don't find in Bethlehem, the house of bread.

The word of God becomes dry to us, prayer life is empty, our service becomes a chore. In the barrenness of Bethlehem we become dissatisfied with the things of God and the Christ of God, and we feel we need more. So we go into the world - that's how it happens. Not because the world has it all, but because we have ceased to be satisfied with the all-in-all. With every privilege there is responsibility, and if you're saved today you've got to realise that there is a responsibility.

The blessings that Christ has given to you, you've got to respond to them. In Romans 2 and verse 4 Paul said: It's a deficiency in your understanding of it that is the problem, we've got to get that message across! When we get to grips with who He is, and His goodness toward us, and what He wants to give us and do for us in a day that is yet to come - it will drive us again and again to the foot of the cross in repentance! I wonder are you deficient in the knowledge of Christ?

Are you deficient in the experience of Christ? Now here's a question that all of us have to answer, and Naomi asked it of Ruth in verse Where are you gleaning? In the fields of the world? Are you trying to satisfy yourself with worldly things? They mightn't be inherently sinful things, but are you feeding on them at the expense of the things of God and Christ? As the hymn says: Ruth became a gleaner in Boaz's field, and she was told: Here's the second picture I want you to see: Now again you've got to understand some of the Old Testament background to this story of redemption.

In Leviticus 25 we read about the near-kinsman. We read there, read it when you get home, that the near-kinsman had the right to redeem, for his brother or for a member of this family - a relative - his estate which had been lost. It could have been lost for several reasons. Now when we come to Deuteronomy 25, we see there that that near-kinsman also had a responsibility if his brother died - he was responsible to take the widow of his brother, in order to raise up seed in his brother's name, and that seed would eventually inherit his brother's lands.

It was called 'the law of the levirate marriage', and 'levir' in Latin means 'a husband's brother' - so you can see the connection.

The Boaz Prayer : Ruth: Romance, Redemption and Restoration by Tai A. Adeboboye (2012, Paperback)

But this teaching on the levirate marriage, it is the heart of the doctrine of redemption in the whole of the Bible! It's not in the New Testament now, the heart of it is found in the book of Ruth and in the Old Testament law, Leviticus 25 in Deuteronomy It's the law of the go'el, that's the Hebrew word for 'kinsman'. This law of the go'el said that the next of kin had the right to redeem.

Now to be qualified as a go'el, kinsman redeemer, you had to possess three qualities. Now here they are: What I mean by that is, you had to be a near-kinsman. That might sound like a truism, but you've got to understand that there's two different Hebrew words here that are often translated in English 'kinsman'. One of them simply means 'relative', and the other means 'go'el'. To be a kinsman redeemer, a go'el, you had to be a relative - and it was only the relative who had a right to redeem. Let me show you what I mean, chapter 2 verse And Naomi said unto her, The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen'.

Now if you have an Authorised Version, in the margin you will see there's a marginal rendering here of that last statement: There are different words used there: Now if the Lord Jesus Christ is to redeem on the behalf of sinners, you and me, and indeed to help failing and struggling saints, He has to acquire the right to do so. The only way He can do that is to become a Kinsman with us - that means, become our Brother. Now the incarnation that we celebrate at Christmas time, when God the Son clothed Himself in human flesh and became man in every sense, that is when the Lord Jesus Christ became our Kinsman.

Now with that Old Testament knowledge from Leviticus, Deuteronomy and Ruth, if we turn to Hebrews for a moment - chapter 2 - it takes a new light. I believe it's given deeper meaning to us, true meaning, when we read in Hebrews 2 verse In other words, we were enslaved to the wages of sin that is death - that was the penalty and the judgement - and verse Enslaved to death, spiritual death, physical death - how did He do it?

Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren', His brothers, 'that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted'. You see the Lord Jesus taking upon Himself human flesh made us His brethren in humanity, and He had to partake of human flesh if He was to become our near-Kinsman. Now this is a sweet truth, and I don't have time to expound it all - but it was Michael Bruce in the 18th century who did it very well in the words of his hymn:.

Our Fellow Sufferer now retains A fellow feeling of our pains, And still remembers in the skies His tears, His agonies, and cries. In every pang that rends the heart The Man of Sorrows has a part. He sympathizes with our grief And to the sufferer sends relief'. That's why He can be a High Priest who understands what we're going through, because in His incarnation - becoming flesh - He was made our near-Kinsman. But can I tell you something?

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That was not enough to redeem us, because the Redeemer had to be more than a near-Kinsman, he had to be the nearest Kinsman. Though, when our Lord was incarnated, He was made in the likeness of men - Romans says He was made in the likeness of sinful men. He lived in a fallen world, and yet all of that was not enough to redeem us, to become our nearest Kinsman He had to be made sin! Oh, it's wonderful, this is deep truth. Trumbull, a minister, was preaching to inmates in a prison on one occasion, and he said in his discourse to them that the only difference between he, a minister, and the inmates in front of him was the grace of God.

After that one of the inmates found that a bit hard to swallow, and he sent him a letter, and he said: The prisoner received a reply from Trumbull, and it went like this: Now grasp that, the import of it: We have a near-Kinsman, we have a nearest Kinsman in the Lord Jesus, who took our human flesh upon Him apart from sin, and died for our sin - was made our sin - and that's meant to make a difference to us down here on Earth!

I say it reverently: The near-kinsman had to have the right to redeem, our Lord Jesus has that now - but a second qualification was: Now, I think I touched on it yesterday, that the near-kinsman had to have the financial means to take on another family. If he already had his own, maybe he was struggling, and therefore he couldn't afford it. We know obviously, don't we, that our Living God - His hand is not short that it cannot save, and indeed in Isaiah 50 the Lord said: In Jeremiah 50 it says of Israel: Jehovah would be their Go'el, their Kinsman Redeemer.

The go'el had to have the right to redeem, the power to redeem, and thirdly: This is the most important of all, because a man could be eligible to do the job - he might have the right, he might be a relative, and he might have the ability to do it, he might be wealthy enough and have the power - but he may not be willing! Now we're not going to spend time on this tonight, but we've already read in chapter 3 that there was another man who was nearer to Elimelech's family than Boaz was.

Whilst - we'll spend a bit of time maybe on it tomorrow night - he was willing to redeem the land that was Elimelech's, he wasn't willing to take on another wife. He didn't want to raise a seed to Mahlon, Ruth's deceased husband. Here Boaz is the one who is eligible, able, and most importantly: Now why was that? Why was he willing and the other boy wasn't? Well, ultimately, I believe it was because Boaz, that mature man, had lost his heart to young Ruth.

Our Lord is eligible to redeem, He has the power to redeem, but isn't it wonderful that He is willing to redeem for the same reason that Boaz was - now you grasp this: Is that not precious? That Man of Calvary' - this is our response, as it ought to be - 'Has won my heart from me, And died to set me free, Blest Man of Calvary!

Ruth, a gleaner in the field of Boaz - and God guided her to the right field, and to the right face, a kinsman redeemer.

Now come with me to the third picture that I want to leave with you in closing tonight. In chapter 3 Ruth moves from being in the field, to being at the feet of Boaz. Now in verse 3 of chapter 3, look down at it with me, Naomi gives Ruth this instruction - she knows now that she has met this man, and she has rejoiced because God has guided Ruth to the kinsman redeemer. She is now forgoing any rights that she has, Naomi, she's maybe too old anyway; and she is giving all this privilege to Ruth, and she's getting her prepared. And it shall be, when he lieth down, that thou shalt mark the place where he shall lie'.

Ruth is instructed by Naomi: Now in these days they would lay down at night with the winnowed barley, in order to prevent it being stolen - they were guarding it. So Ruth was watching to see where he would make his bed that night. Naomi told her to go down to his feet and draw his garment over herself. Now that seems a bit odd - and in verse 4, let me just read this, we see that these are the words Naomi spoke: Now Ruth's response is remarkable because, just the way you don't understand what's going on here, she didn't, she was a Gentile. Naomi had to explain this to her, this was Jewish custom, it wasn't her way.

Yet, even though she doesn't know the full import of it all, look at her response in verses 5 and 6, she said: And she went down unto the floor, and did according to all that her mother in law bade her'. She listened, and she was obedient - and listen, there's a lesson: In verse 7 Boaz ate and drank, his heart was merry, and he lay down at the end of the heap of corn, 'and she came softly, and uncovered his feet, and laid her down'.

When he was asleep, she crept in and - as Naomi had instructed - she uncovered the clothes that covered his feet, and lay down there. Now why did she do that? Well, probably the reason was to ensure that Boaz eventually awakened. By uncovering his feet, he would do it slowly, but he would do it naturally - he wouldn't be startled. He would waken up in the middle of the night, his feet being cold - as often happens some of us - and he would be asking himself what was going on.

We find here that at midnight, verse 8, he awoke 'and turned himself: Look what he says to her: Now please, when we read this in the 21st-century, when everything has been sexualised beyond recognition - don't think that there's anything improper in this whole escapade here. You see, there was a custom to spread a skirt over another - a man would do this as a symbolic act of claiming a woman to be his wife. There was nothing sordid in it at all. What we see here is not strange in this custom, but I'll tell you what is strange: Ruth is asking Boaz to put his skirt over her, to claim her as his bride - we would say that's like the woman proposing to the man!

Now it's not impossible, but it's not usually the done thing! Now we might think, 'Well, Ruth must be being a bit forward here' - if it was not for the fact that Ruth gives her reason for her request, at the end of verse 9: Now that changed everything, because she had a claim on this man, and the claim was according to the word of God.

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