Five Chosen In A Line Unbroken –
Part 4 continued from…
https://www.minimannamoments.com/five-chosen-in-a-line-unbroken-part-4/
In Bethlehem, Ruth looked after her aging mother-in-law Naomi, as if she were her own mother; and to keep them from going hungry, Ruth gleans grain in the field of Naomi’s relative, Boaz.
Boaz בעז
Meaning:
In Strength, By Strength
From the prefix ב – be, in,
and
the verb עזז – ‘azaz,
to be strong, powerful or strong.
Boaz = fleetness.
Strong’s Hebrew: 1162.
בֹּ֫עַז
Boaz — quickness.
Here while gleaning in the fields of Bethlehem, Ruth meets Boaz.
He was a wealthy Bethlehemite,
a rich land-owner
and kinsman to Elimelech the husband of Naomi.
Ruth 2:3 says that
‘as it happened’
Ruth went to the field of Naomi’s rich relative, Boaz.
This phrase
as it happened
is often used in the Bible to suggest that God is setting the scene for something significant.
It also implied, with a touch of Jewish humour, that Naomi and the people of Bethlehem saw a good match for Ruth and edged her into meeting Boaz. (Matchmaking!)
Naomi knew that Ruth was beautiful and respected, Boaz was the ideal choice. He was available, childless, well respected and rich. and she knew that a rich husband for Ruth would solve all their problems.
He was also a relative of Naomi’s through her husband’s family, (see Leviticus 19:9-10). so he had a legal obligation to help Naomi and to redeem the estates of her deceased husband Mahlon. (Ruth 4:1)
Boaz was second in line to the position of go’el in Naomi’s, and therefore Ruth’s, family.
In English, the word go’el
is often translated as ‘nearest kin’,
but in ancient Judah it meant much more than that.
A go’el was a close male relative with the duty of looking after a family when the male head of the family was absent.
In earlier times, the go’el of the family was expected to marry the widow of an Israelite man if she wished it
Deuteronomy 25.
Ruth, who may not have understood the formalities of Israelite law,
called Boaz – go’el =
Kinsman Redeemer.
It seems to have been love at first sight for him, and he ordered his workers to treat Ruth well when she worked in his fields. picking up leftover grain
Ruth 2:1-23
He went to great lengths to get extra grain for Ruth, to protect her from young men who might harass her, and to see that she was properly fed.
‘At mealtime Boaz said to her “Come here, and eat
at some of this bread, and dip your morsel in the sour wine”.
So she sat beside the reapers, and he heaped up for her some parched grain. She ate until she was satisfied, and she had some left over.’
Naomi saw immediately what had happened, and encouraged Ruth to keep on working in Boaz’s fields. who has heard about her kindness to Naomi.
Ruth 2:11,12
Boaz replied, “I have been made fully aware of all you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, how you left your father and mother and the land of your birth, and how you came to a people you did not know before. May the LORD repay your work, and may you receive a rich reward from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have taken refuge.”
Following Naomi’s guidance, Ruth visits Boaz at night.
When Boaz finally lay down and is
fast asleep after winnowing barley on the threshing floor,
she approached
and lay down at his feet.
Someone always slept there at night until the grain was removed, to guard against thieves.
Ruth 3:1-18
‘When Boaz had eaten and drunk, and he was in a contented mood, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. Then she came stealthily and uncovered his feet, and lay down.’
The threshing floor is the same that David bought from and it became the site of the Temple!
It is Mount Moriah the scene of many meetings and sacrifices.
The Threshing floor and
the significance of threshing:
The context of King David’s initiative to purchase that threshing floor was the need to stop the Angel of Death, who was exacting the punishment for sin.
2 Samuel 24:15-16
As believers this connection makes sense – it’s the place of God’s victory over sin and where the power of spiritual death was stopped.
King David purchases the threshing floor of
Araunah the Jebusite
and, according to one classic rabbinic opinion,
the entire city of Yerushalayim /Jerusalem.
That threshing floor,
the place where he intends to offer sacrifices,
is now called the
Har HaBayit –
Temple Mount in Yerushalayim/Jerusalem.
Araunah in Hebrew: אֲרַוְנָה
’Ǎrawnāh was a Jebusite mentioned in 2 Samuel,
who owned the threshing floor on Mount Moriah
which David purchased and
used as the site for assembling an altar to God.
1 Chronicles, a later text, renders his name as
Ornan – in Hebrew: אָרְנָן ’Ārənān.
David built an altar on Ornan’s – Araunah’s threshing-floor
2 Samuel 24:18-24 1 Chronicles 21:18-27,
which later became the site of the Temple.
2 Chronicles 3:1.
David probably chose this place for his altar because it was elevated, and the ground was already level and prepared by the rolling action from all the threshing activity.
It is very significant that the threshing floor of Araunah was on
Mount Moriah–the Temple Mount–
where the temple was built because it was
where Messiah was also threshed/beaten for us:
2 Chronicles 3.1
Then Solomon began to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David. It was on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, the place provided by David.
The angel of Adonai
was then by the threshing floor
of Araunah the Jebusite.”
2 Samuel 24:15-16
So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 50 shekels of silver. Then David built there an altar to Adonai , and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings.
A threshing floor like that sold by Araunah, would have been a large, open, elevated area to facilitate threshing and winnowing.
A threshing floor was a large, open, hard surface, so threshing floors were often located on hilltops. After bundles of stalks were laid on the surface of the floor, oxen were repeatedly led over the piles until the dried plants were broken up. Then it was thrown up in the air to separate and remove the chaff as the wind blew upon it.
More details at:
https://www.minimannamoments.com/why-a-threshing-floor/
He awakes to find Ruth at his feet.
Why did Ruth do this? Her action would seem strange unless you knew that in ancient times ‘foot’ was a euphemism for the male reproduction, as ‘sandal’ was for the female.
Threshing floors at harvest time were often the scene of intimate misconduct but not in Ruths case. Lying beside Boaz, Ruth suggested that he, as the go-el of Naomi’s family, should ‘cover her with his blanket’, a euphemism for marriage, And this would no doubt have been his prayer shawl which even in present day is used as a canopy over a couple getting married.
It is also a reference to the healing in His wings of Isaiah of the future Messiah and the place of safety under those wings which is the name given to the corners of the Tallit/Prayer shawl
Click links below for more on the Tallit Prayer Shawl.
https://www.minimannamoments.com/life-on-the-fringe/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/knot-just-another-string-theory/
Ruth had the right to demand marriage of the go-el of her family. Following Jewish customs, Ruth lets Boaz know he is a kinsman-redeemer and that she is eligible to marry him –
Ruth 3:1-18.
Yeshua/Jesus is our Go’el and He says the same to each of us today and we can put our name in here ……… I will redeem you!
So…
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you [g’al’tika];
I have called you by name; you are Mine!
Isaiah 43:1-3a
Boaz happily agreed, but pointed out to her that there was another man who had that right, a closer relative even than himself.
Boaz promises to act as kinsman-redeemer for her if the one closer male relative will surrender his right to the position.
Ruth stayed beside Boaz until morning, leaving before first light to return to Naomi.
Boaz had to give him the option first, before he could marry Ruth. He was careful to do everything correctly, so that there could be no question about the legality of the marriage.
Ruth 4:1-12
To fulfill the laws of inheritance, another kinsman – who is more closely related to Ruth than Boaz – is given the option of buying the land, but he cannot afford it. So Boaz buys the land from Naomi and then marries Ruth in order to keep the ownership of the land within Elimelech’s family.
Boaz negotiates with the other man and obtains the right to redeem Ruth and Naomi.
Kindness and loyalty permeated Ruth’s character. Further, she was a woman of integrity, maintaining high morals in her dealings with Boaz.
As a relative, Boaz agrees to help Ruth and Naomi by buying a plot of land which belonged to Naomi’s husband Elimelech.
Leviticus 25:25.
Naturally as people in small towns usually are, the people in Bethlehem were well aware of what was happening. When Boaz went next morning to the meeting place at the gate of the town, he was met almost immediately by the official go-el of Naomi’s family – and probably by a good many interested onlookers as well.
Some complicated negotiation went on regarding a small parcel of land that Naomi either owned outright or had put up for sale at some previous time, but this was just a formality.
Ruth 4:9-10
Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon. I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown. Today you are witnesses!”
‘So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When they came together, the Lord made her conceive, and she bore a son.
Then the women said to Naomi “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without next of kin. May his name be renowned in Israel! He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourishment for your old age. For your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has borne him”.
Then Naomi took the child and laid him in her bosom, and became his nurse.’ Ruth 4:1-22
Boaz marries Ruth;
together they care for Naomi.
Ruth and Boaz have a son Obed,
He becomes the father of Jesse,
the father of King David.
In due course, Bethlehem becomes the ‘City of David’.
Book of Ruth 4:16-17
Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
The women of Bethlehem exalted Ruth as the loving daughter-in-law who meant more to Naomi than seven sons, the ideal number.
Ruth 4:15.
Although people from Moab were often hated by the Jews, God selected Ruth to be a direct ancestor of Jesus Christ/Yeshua HaMashiach.
The book of Ruth is a beautiful illustration of God’s impartiality and faithfulness to those who are true to Him.
She had little idea that her decision would affect the future of multiplied millions and
that a sequence of God ordained events that had been unfolding 1000’s of years before, were dependent on her choice!
Gods’ promise of a Savior in Genesis, through the promise to Abraham, that all families would be blessed through him and his offspring – encompassed her, a foreigner, a widow, a Moabite, a gentile, heathen, goyim…
She would have had no idea at that point that her choices and subsequent actions would lead her into a country where she would meet a relative of Naomi named Boaz.
This man would become her
kinsman redeemer
according to Israelite law and would
restore the lost heritage.
Just as we saw in the story of Tamar.
The truth is that her great grandson would become the king of Israel; and David was called the man after Gods own heart and was the royal line that eventually brought forth the long awaited and long promised Messiah. (The phrase man after Gods own heart was due to his repentant attitude.)
Remember that Boaz is Rahabs son
and his great grandmother was Tamar!
As we have seen, Ruth was a Moabitess and her ancestors were called Moabites because Moab was the incestuous son of Lot and one of his daughters after the destruction of Sodom and Gororrah. See charts…
Ruth and Boaz become the parents of Obed, the grandparents of Jesse and the great-grandparents of David, the king of Israel, and finally the ancestors of Jesus/Yeshua the Nazarene.
Matthew 1:5
Ruth is spelled Ρουθ, Rhouth in Greek.
Strictly speaking, therefore, Yeshua/Jesus
was not only a son-by-law of Joseph,
he was also a son-by-law of Mahlon and not of Boaz.
It is interesting that the word love never appears in the book of Ruth, even though it is story full of love. The love is recorded in the words and action, rather than being cited as an emotion or feeling. Love is action its doing and being. God is a God of love and of unconditional love, not the same kind as our feelings and emotions dictate to our flesh life.
Its this unconditional love that God extended to all the heathens, gentiles and Goyim when He sent His Son Jesus/Yeshua to show by action the ultimate act of love; by dying in our place, by sacrificing His life on our behalf… how many individuals do we know today that would lay down their own lives for another, for us; and would we do that for someone else?
Its always a good time to reassess what Jesus/Yeshua did for us to remember where we came from,
where our Moab was;
and where we are today….
grafted in by grace and mercy, forgiven, redeemed, sanctified, justified, by His precious Blood that continually cries Mercy from that kapporet in heaven mercy seat –
the throne of grace in Hebrews 9:23–26
Hebrew כפורת , Kaporet, meaning atonement seat.
What manner of love is this??…
it’s beyond our comprehension –
how marvelous – how wonderful
is our Saviors love for us.
the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 1 John 3.
Lets return to our first love and ask Him to renew the joy of our salvation and strengthen our resolve like Ruth; to follow Jesus/Yeshua, the One we love above all else. To make Him the focus of our life and the director of our future.
Let our steps along the WAY to the house of Bread – Beth lechem – be guided by the One who was The Bread from Heaven and whose life began in that very town; fulfilling the words of the prophets so many millennia ago.
In an age when childbearing was seen as the highest honor for women, Ruth played a key role in the coming of the promised Messiah. Ruth, being one of Messiahs’ Gentile ancestors, showed that Yeshua/Jesus came to save all people whosoever will.
Ruth’s life seemed to be a series of timely happenstances/ coincidences, but her story is really about the perfect plan and providence of God. In His loving way, He orchestrated natural circumstances toward the birth of David, then from David to the birth of Yeshua/Jesus. In the natural course of events, it took centuries to put in place, and the result was God’s plan of salvation for the world.
Ruth and Naomi were rare female heroines at a time when women were often consigned to a secondary role and status. To survive as outsiders, they had to remain true to themselves and their God.
The main themes of Ruth’s story?
Friendship: Ruth was poor and a foreigner, but she listened to the advice of an older, wiser woman. In turn, Naomi was rewarded by Ruth’s unfaltering loyalty.
The message?
Courage and loyalty – triumph over misfortune.
Family: The story of Ruth celebrates the family and the way it continues through many generations. Ruth, a childless widow at the beginning of the story, became the great-grandmother of Israel’s great king, David.
God’s plan: The story of Naomi’s family and the way it endured is a universal theme. Even Ruth, a foreigner from the despised Moabites, could move God’s plan towards fulfillment.
Faithfulness
kindness
honor
and
redemption
are key themes of this book.
We see Ruth’s faithfulness to Naomi,
Boaz’s faithfulness to Ruth,
and everyone’s faithfulness to God.
In return, God rewards them with great blessings.
These characters’ faithfulness led to
kindness toward each other.
Kindness is an outpouring of love.
Everyone in this book showed the type of selfless love toward others that God expects from His followers.
By this all people will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another.
Romans 5:8
There is a great sense of honor that is also highlighted as Ruth was a hardworking, morally chaste woman. Boaz treated her with respect while fulfilling his lawful responsibility showing examples of obeying God’s laws.
She was also a hard worker in the fields, gleaning leftover grain for Naomi and herself.
Finally, Ruth’s deep love for Naomi was rewarded when Boaz married Ruth and gave her love and security.
Book of Ruth 2:11-12
Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband–how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” (NIV)
A sense of safekeeping is emphasized too.
Ruth took care of Naomi, Naomi took care of Ruth, then Boaz took care of both women, and God took care of all of them, blessing Ruth and Boaz with a child they named Obed, who became the grandfather of David.
From David’s line came Jesus /Yeshua of Nazareth, Savior of the world.
Finally, redemption is the underlying theme.
As Boaz, the kinsman-redeemer, saves Ruth and Naomi from a hopeless situation, he illustrates how Yeshua/Jesus redeems our lives.
Some thought provoking facts:
Ruth worked in the field belonging to her relative Boaz and ultimately became his wife.
The reputed site of this field –
the Field of Ruth –
can still be seen at
Beit Sahur
Village of the shepherds
near Bethlehem!
Where the lambs were raised for the sacrifices!
For more on the shepherds field links below
https://www.minimannamoments.com/a-lambs-tale-and-a-mysterious-tower/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/because-he-came/
Bethlehem is also the site of the tomb of Rachel, the wife of Jacob, who had died here about six hundred years earlier, in c.1690 BC.
Rachel’s tomb can still be visited today, on the main road leading from Jerusalem to Bethlehem.
Almost a thousand years after the death of Rachel
Genesis 35:16-20,
the prophet Micah, writing between 747BC and 722BC, declared,
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are too small to be among the army groups from Judah, from you will come one who will rule Israel for me”
Micah 5:2.
This prophesy was fulfilled seven hundred years later when Yeshua/Jesus – a descendent of Isaac, Jacob and Judah, and of Ruth and Boaz – was born at Bethlehem in Judaea
Matthew 1:2 & 5 and Genesis 49:10.
The kinsman redeemer it’s a story again of salvation
Yeshua/Jesus is our kinsman redeemer.
Yeshua/Jesus said
Follow Me…
Ruth said
wherever you go I will follow you.
For Ruth, it led to her salvation…
we must be ready,
willing and
available
to follow Him
wherever He goes;
and Ruth was loving not her life unto death,
she said, where you die I will die.
She had to follow up her words with actions
and was faithful to do so.
Can we say the same?
Ruth’s words are so remarkable that they are still echoing today through several thousand years and for good reason.
They indicate a love so faithful and strong that she would stay with Naomi always and that only death would separate them. She was prepared to leave everything behind abandoning her old life in every aspect.
Jesus/Yeshua said He called us friends and yet He requires that we leave all behind to follow Him.
And again I say unto you, my friends, for from henceforth I shall call you friends, it is expedient that I give unto you this commandment, that ye become even as my friends in days when I was with them, traveling to preach the gospel in my power; John 15:15.
When we are called, He also equips or qualifies us: it has a twofold meaning; one, that He has given us giftings to match our callings and second, He establishes and strengthens us.
Romans 8:30; Ex.4:10-11; Hebrews 13:21.
By bringing tests and trials into our lives that qualifies us to become what He has destined for us. Ruth once more encourages us that whatever our background,
wherever we have come from,
and whatever we have done
there will be a situation or a person
that points us to Yeshua/Jesus,
which in turn leads us to salvation.
It is our choice to accept the gift of all gifts;
but like Ruth
we too will have to leave the past behind,
take up new family,
new land,
and become the bride of the heavenly bridegroom –
our kinsman redeemer..
Ruth was one of five in a line unbroken
as she would not let Naomi go without her…
let’s hold onto Yeshua/Jesus
with even greater hope and love in our hearts .
Do not fear,
for I have redeemed you [g’al’tika];
I have called you by name;
you are Mine!
We would still be spiritually destitute, heathen, gentile, goyim, dead in our sins, poor in spirit and without hope…without Messiah….
BUT now…
Ephesians 2:12 -14, 18-19.
Ruths decision for the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob/Israel led her to being grafted into the family of God. The second of the gentiles incorporated into the line of the Tribe of Judah.
When we decide for the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob/Israel, we too are grafted in and through Yeshua/Jesus the Messiah/Yeshua HaMashiach. We are saved by Him our Kinsman Redeemer; Who cared enough to make sure the gentiles are included in His plan of the ages.
Let’s not simply discard the monumental actions of Ruth
because her descendent was and is
our Savior, Lord and soon returning king.
Ruth was indeed one of five,
another brave woman sealed into
the line unbroken
another story connected to the
House of Bread
and of Him, who when we eat of,
we will never hunger again for
He is the Bread of Life!