Drippings from the Honeycomb: The sweetness of God’s Word one verse at a time.

Extravagant Kindness (Ruth 2:8)

November 29, 2022 Another12 Ministries Season 2 Episode 2
Drippings from the Honeycomb: The sweetness of God’s Word one verse at a time.
Extravagant Kindness (Ruth 2:8)
Drippings from the Honeycomb
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Show Notes Transcript

Boaz showed Ruth, a widowed gentile, extravagant kindness. Ruth would have been an outcast in early Jewish society, shunned because of her ethnicity, despised for her marriage to a Jewish man, and rejected as an unsuitable marriage partner for any man in Israel. Yet, in spite of all this, Boaz showed her love, compassion, and kindness. 

Boaz is a picture of the true Kinsman Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Jesus did not despise humanity. He had compassion for the lost, showed love for the lost, and served the lost with kindness and provision. The actions of Boaz point forward to the Messiah, and through God's sovereignty, he would be included in the line of the Messiah in a beautiful display of God's love for humanity.

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Welcome to drippings from the honeycomb, the official podcast of Another 12 ministries. We are so glad that you have decided to join us as we enjoy the sweetness of God's word, one verse at a time. Welcome to episode two of our journey through the book of Ruth, looking at the Christmas story and the story of what God has done to redeem fallen mankind through the book of Ruth. What makes this even more incredible is that the story of Ruth isn't just some story that is an illustration of what God would ultimately do by sending Jesus Christ into the world to redeem sinners. The story of Ruth is a pivotal part of the history of the Messiah. And that is why it paints such an incredibly beautiful picture of God's love for fallen mankind, because it is both a picture of the coming redemption, and it is a pivotal moment in which a Jewish man will redeem a Gentile woman and through their marriage relationship, the line of the Messiah will be formed. In this episode, we're going to look at verse eight of chapter two and that says, Then Boas said to Ruth, now listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one. But keep close to my young women. Before we examine this verse more closely, we need some background story. At the end of episode one, we left Ruth and Naomi still in Moab, needing to make the journey back to Bethlehem. Naomi was trying to send both of her daughters and love back to their people. And ultimately, orca did return. She went back to her people, she went back to her home, she went back to her pagan worship, and living a life that was contrary to the commands of God, she went away from the knowledge of God. But Ruth stuck with Naomi Ruth was loyal to her and despite Naomi trying to send her back, Ruth chose life in exile, chose life as a widow chose the perils of living in a society where she was not only a widowed woman, but also a Gentile. So she was despised on two different counts. And she chose to be with her mother in law to serve her. She chose to give up the pagan religion she had grown up in and pursue relationship with the one true God. And we talked about the fact that this could only happen through the work of the Holy Spirit and Ruth's heart. In the beginning of chapter two, Ruth and Naomi arrived in Bethlehem. Now, this alone, despite the absence of the description of the journey in the scriptures, is evidence of God's favor resting on these two women. The journey from Moab to Bethlehem was not a safe road, it was not an easily traveled road. And certainly two women traveling alone on this road would have been subjected to mistreatment and even danger of death from the other travelers on this road or from thieves or robbers on this road. So God's protection is evident because they arrived back in Bethlehem, they make it back safely. It is also important to mark the sovereignty of God because they come back to Bethlehem in a time of harvest. When they arrived, the barley harvest has started. And this is significant because they could have come back to Bethlehem at any number of times. It wasn't like they could just get updates about what was going on in the town of Bethlehem. And God's sovereignty is evident here. This timing is not by chance, because it will play a pivotal role in the future of Ruth and Naomi. Not only will it be a time where they are able to access food for themselves, but the story of Ruth and Boaz will play out throughout this harvest, an opportunity for them to interact. That probably wouldn't have been available in other seasons of the year. But because Boaz was harvesting his fields, and Ruth was going to go and glean in the fields, it opened up an opportunity for this wealthy field owner to meet this humble lowly Gentile widow. It's also interesting to note that while Naomi and her family left Bethlehem in a time of famine, Naomi returns in a time of harvest, Israel has clearly gone before the Lord and repented of their sin. They have gotten right with the Lord they are worshipping the Lord and God true to his word when he made the covenant with Israel, as they came into the Promised Land has restored their fields he has brought back the rain and the famine is over. And God has brought Naomi back not to emptiness, but to harvest and this is such a beautiful picture of who God is and how he treats his children the incredible love and provision and goodness that he lavishes on his children. However, the fact still remains that Ruth and Naomi are widows, which put them in a very difficult situation at this time in Israel, without husbands to provide for them. They are essentially limited to social welfare or public charity. They don't have a lot of options for work, there are some, but they are definitely going to remain at the poverty level as long as they are unmarried. And Naomi is too old to be married. And Ruth is a Gentile. So there are distinct problems that are involved with them being married. In addition, they own no property and could not own property, since property ownership was predominantly restricted to men, not in every case, but mostly restricted to men. And so their future is very bleak, unless God intervenes in an incredibly miraculous way. But there was a system which had been put into place by God through which they could gain the necessary food that they needed to survive. And that process was called gleaning. And so with the harvest in full swing, Ruth goes out to glean barley from the fields so that they will have food to eat. Now, the process of gleaning if you're not familiar with it was picking up the leftovers of the fields. And this process was common to the Near Eastern world. But it was different in Israel, because God specifically commanded the farmers of Israel to not harvest certain portions of their field, for example, right up along the pathways, or the very corners. He also prohibited them from going back to pick up anything that fell off their wagons or their carts as they were bringing in the harvest, or any sheaves that they had forgotten. These were to be left for the poor, the needy and the stranger in the land so that there would be food for them. This was God's way of setting up a social welfare system. For those who did not have enough they would have to work for it, they would have to go into the field and glean gleaning is difficult. It is a process where you are picking up off the ground, what is leftover, you are spending a lot of time bent over or on your hands and knees. And you have to carry everything that you glean with you throughout the course of the day. In essence, this was back breaking work. And again, we see God's faithfulness to Naomi in providing for her because Naomi as an older woman would have struggled greatly with the very physically taxing process of gleaning. So having Ruth with her a younger woman able to handle the strenuous work of gleaning was a tremendous blessing from God because it meant that food would be available for Naomi without putting excess stress on her aging body. Now we see God's sovereignty throughout the scriptures. God is sovereign and that attribute cannot be hidden. It comes out all over the pages of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. But in this particular passage, the sovereignty of God is on full display. As she began her gleaning, Ruth immediately enters the field of Boaz, whether it was the first field she entered or very early on in her gleaning, it doesn't matter. The passage and Ruth seems to convey that this is either the first field she gleams in or one of the first fields she leans in, and immediately she catches the eye of the field owner and that is Boaz. He notices her he sees that she is doing the difficult work of gleaning. And so from this, he can immediately infer that she is poor, that her situation is unfavorable in some way. Certainly if she had a husband, she would not be gleaning. If she had a father, she would most likely not be cleaning. So either she is widowed, from an extremely poor family, or she has met with some other catastrophe that has left her to fend for herself. And so when he sees her gleaning in his field, he immediately inquires about who she is. He asks his servants who is this young woman and the servant of Boaz, that is in charge of those who are reaping the barley fills him in that she is a mo abiertas that she has come back with Naomi, from the country of Moab, and that she has requested permission to glean among the sheaves directly behind the Reapers. And then the steward who's in charge of the Reapers goes on to point out her diligence. She has not stopped since early morning. She has been gleaning all day in this field. Now the fact that Ruth made this request of the head of the Reapers is significant. She wanted to be directly behind the ones who were harvesting the grain. She wanted to be the first one and she wanted the best pickings of what was left over. Now you have to remember that this barley is being harvested by hand. It is being cut down as they go through the field. And so there are going to be stocks that fall they're going To the stocks that are missed, it's not like in modern days where a giant machine comes through and picks up every last stock of wheat, they were harvesting quickly, they had a limited amount of time to get this barley harvest in and into the barns. And so they were going as fast as they could. And as she followed directly behind the Reapers, there would be a much better harvest that wouldn't be picked over by anybody else that wouldn't have time to be knocked down or fall over or be taken by animals. She was after the very best part. And so she showed boldness in going forward and asking for this preferred position from the head of the reapers and clearly He grants it to her. Now when Boaz learns that she has come back with Naomi, who he knows because he is connected to that family in some capacity, he is a kinsman redeemer of that family. So he is part of Naomi's husband's family in some way, shape, or form. He immediately grants Ruth with tremendous favor. And this is where we see him say to Ruth in verse eight, do not glean in another field, but keep close to my young women. This action on the part of Boaz is a remarkably extravagant gesture of kindness. What he is saying, in essence to Ruth is, you are now under my protection, your search for food, your search is done, you're going to glean in my field, and you're not going to glean behind the Reapers anymore. You're going to glean with my female servants, I'm going to elevate you to a position of protection under my household, you're going to work alongside the people that I employ. And his kindness didn't stop there at the mealtime he actually provided Ruth with food from his own portion. And he told his male servants, don't harass her. Don't give her any problems, you leave this woman alone. And then he went beyond that and told his harvesters to intentionally drop good barley in Ruth's path to take some of the best out of the sheaves of barley and leave it for her to find he was preparing a harvest for her. So he was showing her this incredible love of providing for her needs. This is very much a picture of Jesus in his life and ministry. Bow as his treatment of Ruth is a foreshadowing of the grace that Jesus would bring with him to those who followed him during his time on Earth. It was a picture of how Jesus lovingly, gently kindly and extravagantly dropped his grace on those around him who were hurting who were in need, who had no other way of gaining any blessing outside of the extravagant grace of the master. Boaz was so generous to Ruth that he didn't even humiliate her through His provision. He didn't show her this outlandish, extravagant charity that would have been humbling to Ruth and would have elevated the visibility of her already low position in Israel. Instead, what he did is he quietly instructed those who worked for him to enrich the labor that she was already investing in gleaning. Jesus did not humiliate humans when he came, he served them. He loved them. He wept with them, he laughed with them, he ate with them. And when they had needs that they could not fulfill, he healed them. He drove out evil spirits. He touched their lives with teaching, and he called them to be part of his household. See, Boaz is an extraordinary picture of the kinsman redeemer. He is the picture of what Jesus was coming to do. He is the picture of what Jesus's purpose would be, to come to those who were lost, who were hopeless, and to provide an extravagant remedy for their situation. As you think about the birth of Jesus, during this holiday season, as you contemplate the reason for which he came, and you think about the sovereignty of God that orchestrated sending Jesus to earth to be our Redeemer, think about this story. Think about the sovereignty of God in the life of Ruth and Boaz, as he orchestrated events to bring them together and through their unlikely marriage. Initiate the line of David. Think about the hopelessness of Ruth and meditate and contemplate your own hopelessness apart from Jesus Christ, apart from a kinsman redeemer who loves you. Think about Boaz and the picture that he is of the love that Jesus has for us. Think about the way that He lavished extravagant goodness on Ruth, this widowed stranger from another country who he didn't even know. And let that remind you of the extravagant love of Jesus who went to the cross to carry your sin because He knows you because He loves you, because He created you, and because he desires a relationship with you. I hope you enjoyed this episode of drippings from the honeycomb. If you would like to learn more about another 12 ministries and the work that we are doing to train youth ministry leaders to bring the Gospel to young people, visit another twelve.org. If you would like to support our ministry, click on the Donate link in the description below.