Tag: Boaz

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Ruth: Life Lessons

Life is battle. And in battles, people screw up, people get hurt, but if you chose the right side, You can win. Right now I am currently praying for:

A mother-in-law and father-in-law who have battled cancer for years and still fight it everyday.

A friend who is an alcoholic but won’t admit it.

A friend in the throes of an affair.

Friends whose families have turned away from God.

and those are just a few.

And I find myself asking God like Jackson when he was two, “Why?”

I don’t know why. But, I know this, God redeems. I once was lost, but now I’m found. He can bring life from ashes. He can restore joy. He can redeem any person, any family, any situation.

Let’s recap on who these people were as individuals, and then on their life together:

R U T H

Ruth was a foreigner, a Moabitess. She was also a Gentile, a pagan from a culture of idolatry. When her mother-in-law Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem, it would have been much easier for Ruth to return to Moab, but Ruth did not choose the easy path.

-Ruth was a young widow.

-Ruth gave her heart to God

-Ruth displayed uncharacteristic love and loyalty for her mother-in-law.

-Ruth was assertive, unconventional and diligent in working the fields to provide food for Naomi and for herself, and in visiting Boaz at the threshing floor.

-Ruth displayed moral purity in her interactions with Boaz.

B O A Z

Boaz was a Jew and was known for his noble character. He was the son of Rahab, a Canaanite prostitute.

-Boaz also had a heart for God

-Boaz showed kindness, generosity, and protection in his provisions for Ruth in the field.

-Boaz displayed moral purity in his relations with Ruth.

-Boaz followed Jewish tradition in establishing himself as the “family redeemer.”

-Boaz publicly committed himself to being the “family redeemer,” which included possession of land, marrying Ruth and bearing a son.

God redeemed Ruth from her past and from her hard situation, and He allowed Boaz to redeem the family and her deceased husband’s name. And as a couple, God chose them to be direct ancestors of King David and, ultimately, of Jesus.

God specifically chose these people to establish the lineage that gave birth to Jesus. Their history as foreigners and pagans did not exclude them, and this was no oversight of God. He purposefully picked people with sordid backgrounds so that God’s work of redemption would be visible in their lives.

This whole story is a foretaste of the redemption that will come in Christ Jesus. Living on this side of the cross, we know that Jesus is the Ultimate Redeemer because He saves our sinful, lost souls. Inclusion of Boaz and ruth in the line of Jesus was intentional to show that Jesus came to save ALL people. Jewish and Gentile. You and me.

Colossians 1:13-14 says, “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

By accepting the gift of salvation we are delivered, ransomed, rescued, reborn. Trials stretch our faith and help us endure. And when we make a mess of life (which we all do), He again offers grace to reclaim, repair and purify. This is work that only God can do.

As believers, we are redeemed. Let’s thank God for His abundant grace. And let’s allow the cross to truly transform us.

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Bible Study

Ruth: God’s Happily Ever After

We have reached the end of the Book of Ruth, but instead of ending the story with Ruth living happily ever after with Boaz, we end with a genealogy. The genealogy of Ruth and Boaz’s descendants.

Ruth 4:13-22 New International Version (NIV)

Naomi Gains a Son

13 So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. 14 The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! 15 He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”

16 Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. 17 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 Genealogy of David

18 This, then, is the family line of Perez:

Perez was the father of Hezron,

19 Hezron the father of Ram,

Ram the father of Amminadab,

20 Amminadab the father of Nahshon,

Nahshon the father of Salmon,[a]

21 Salmon the father of Boaz,

Boaz the father of Obed,

22 Obed the father of Jesse,

and Jesse the father of David.

As a child I was made to memorize what we referred to as the “Begats”- Matthew 1: 1-17. I admit that most of us didn’t like Memorizing all these strange names in order. Reading the biblical genealogies was hard enough. They are filled with names we can hardly pronounce and people we have never heard of. But genealogies are important. They tie together all of the Sunday school stories and VBS lessons and show God’s plan from the beginning.

Through genealogies we see how God uses ordinary people for His extraordinary work.

As beautiful of a love story the book of Ruth is, we see that Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz are part of a much larger story: a story guided by the hand of God in order to bring about the future events that would lead to the coming of a Savior. We see Him accomplish this by using normal people, like Ruth, with common lives, like that of a field owner, in a small insignificant town called Bethlehem. God, in His sovereign wisdom, uses what we might deem as insignificant and humble to bring about the extraordinary. And what is more extraordinary than the true Kinsman Redeemer being born to the undistinguished descendants of Ruth and Boaz?!

Genealogies also show that we belong. When you study your genealogy you will quickly find out that you belong to a family and a heritage; to a certain culture and ethnicity. But for those of us whose trust is in Jesus, we have the unearned privilege of belonging to the family of God. We have been gifted with a heritage rich in grace, mercy, forgiveness, and sacrificial love.

Genealogies are important because in them we see God using imperfect people for His perfect plan. We have Jacob who was a liar and a thief, Rahab who was a former prostitute, and David who was an adulterer and murderer and yet God brought the Messiah through this line of misfits.

This should give us encouragement. There are no perfect people, and yet God uses us anyway. He uses us through our ordinary lives in order bring about His kingdom work.

Continue in your faithfulness to the calling God has for you no matter how ordinary you may feel it is. You, also, are part of a larger story. A story that involves the kingdom of God.

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Bible Study

Ruth: Creating a Legacy

As you know, My husband is my Boaz. And one of the things I just love is how Boaz is a man of his word. When Daniel and I were about to get married we discussed much of what we wanted our marriage to be like. One thing we always said and still do is, “Mean what you say and say what you mean.” This means always be a person of your word and don’t be passive aggressive or beat about the bush with something. Because of this, we have grown to trust and lean on each other more than any other relationships in our lives. Boaz also embodies this phrase. Right after Ruth heads back to Naomi with a shawl full of barley, Boaz wastes no time and travels into town, just like he said he would.

Ruth 4:1-12 New International Version (NIV)

4 Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat down there just as the guardian-redeemer he had mentioned came along. Boaz said, “Come over here, my friend, and sit down.” So he went over and sat down.

2 Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, “Sit here,” and they did so. 3 Then he said to the guardian-redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our relative Elimelek. 4 I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you[b] will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line.”

“I will redeem it,” he said.

5 Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the[c] dead man’s widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property.”

6 At this, the guardian-redeemer said, “Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it.”

7 (Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.)

8 So the guardian-redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it yourself.” And he removed his sandal.

9 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. 10 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!”

11 Then the elders and all the people at the gate said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the family of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. 12 Through the offspring the Lord gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.”

Boaz is ready to make good on his word. He will do everything in his power to bring redemption to both Ruth and Naomi’s lives. From the Scripture, we see Boaz is not only able to meet with this nearer, unnamed kinsman-redeemer, but he is also able to gather the ten elders of the town to hold this important meeting.

At first, this man seems eager to redeem Elimilek’s property. My heart screams out, “No!” Even though I know the story, I tend to get caught up in the narrative. Until he hears that Ruth a Moabite comes with the redemption.

The cost is too much.

The potential sacrifice to his own estate too high.

He is only willing to redeem that which will benefit him and carry on his name… not the name of someone else.

Should he step into this redemption kinsman-redeemer role and take on Elimilek’s land and “property,” this man would risk putting his own heritage at stake. So he counts the cost and decides to pass on the opportunity. And of course, all of us cheer with excitement for what this means for Ruth and Naomi!

Boaz steps in and makes good on his word. He accepts her, loves her, and joyfully takes on the responsibility of caring for both Ruth and Naomi. He does not worrying about Ruth’s Moabite past. Just as Jesus steps in as our Redeemer with no worries of our sinful past.

How ironic that the first kinsman-redeemer was more concerned about protecting his name and his inheritance, yet we don’t even know his name. Boaz, on the other hand, didn’t care about those matters. He chose to love, accept, and help those who didn’t have the power to help themselves, and his name has been kept through generations because of his obedience and the good he did. Boaz’s name and deeds live on through Scripture.

We all have a choice to make just as Boaz and the nearer kinsman-redeemer, the choice to live for ourselves or to live in obedience to God. We can choose to live lives that are ordinary in our own strength and what we can accomplish, or we can choose to live out God’s truth and live lives that are extraordinary because of how we allow God to work through us.

We can choose to play it safe, or we can choose to live lives in complete obedience to God. Our choices dictate the type of legacy we leave behind.

Boaz’s name is preserved in Scripture and the other man is never heard of again. What he thought he was saving, he lost. What Boaz didn’t care to save, he kept.

May we choose to be like Boaz, people who are not only willing to obey God, but have a passion for it. Be someone who is willing to redeem, love, and protect those rejected by the world. May we be people who love and care for the least in our midst. May we be people who are like Boaz. And in turn be more like Jesus.

Let’s Talk: Who has been a “Boaz” to you and what impact did this person’s kindness have on your life?

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Bible Study

Ruth: Love and Faith

We begin this week in chapter 3 and many scholars guessed that a couple of weeks have gone by between the end of chapter 2 and the beginning of chapter 3. It is harvest time in Bethlehem and Naomi decides to set Ruth up with one of the landowners named Boaz.

Naomi has always referred to Ruth as a daughter and has always showed her great love. The simple fact that Naomi addressed Ruth as “my daughter” meant that she really cared for Ruth and that she had taken it on herself to secure a good future for Ruth.

Ruth 3:1-10 New International Version (NIV)

3 One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, I must find a home[a for you, where you will be well provided for. 2 Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. 3 Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.”

5 “I will do whatever you say,” Ruth answered. 6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do.

7 When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down. 8 In the middle of the night something startled the man; he turned—and there was a woman lying at his feet!

9 “Who are you?” he asked.

“I am your servant Ruth,” she said. “Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a guardian-redeemer of our family.”

10 “The Lord bless you, my daughter,” he replied. “This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor.

Things get a little weird hear. Noami is really specific in how she is supposed to act with Boaz. First Ruth is to take a bath, put on some perfume and some fresh clothes. This seems normal. Then she is to go to his field and wait (without him knowing that she is there) for Boaz to finish eating and drinking, and then to lay down for the night. This seems a bit stalkery.   

Lastly, Ruth is to uncover his feet and lay down with him. This seems strange and somewhat inappropriate. Some believe that Naomi’s suggestion is sexual since it is believed that prostitutes would act in this way.  But this interpretation goes against what we know of both Naomi and Ruth’s character and the praise that Boaz gives Ruth for her actions later in verse 10. Instead, Ruth’s actions express a desire for protection, and the idea of marriage would have been the obvious way of receiving this protection.

Naomi’s idea certainly is a bit delicate and could result in Boaz misinterpreting what Ruth was doing. But Naomi seems very confident in the situation and in Boaz’s integrity. She believes that he will do what is right when he wakes up and finds Ruth lying at his feet.

But what can we take away from this part of the story? We have to be careful that when we are reading historical narratives, that we don’t try and force an application for every part of the story. Instead, we need to look for the themes that are found throughout the whole book.

Two of the themes we see is love and faith. Naomi’s faith in God seems to have gotten stronger since the story began, and she seems very confident in her plan for Ruth. The faith Naomi and Ruth have in the one true God has created a strong bond of love between the two of them. Naomi really wants to see Ruth taken care of and is willing to do all she can to help.

These two ladies can be great examples to us in godliness and faith. We need to do all we can to grow in our faith and in love for others who have this same faith.

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Bible Study

Ruth: Luck has Nothing to Do With It.

I used to say, “If I had no bad luck, I’d have no luck at all.” I would compare my life to others and just think that I was plagued to be unlucky. Then after years trying to run from what God wanted from me, I finally realized. There is no such thing as luck. There is God, His love, and blessings.

It wasn’t luck that brought Ruth to Boaz’s field. It wasn’t luck that he just happened to arrive back to his field from Bethlehem at the same time Ruth was there. And is sure wasn’t luck that Boaz was from the clan of Elimelek and therefore a close relative to Naomi.

It wasn’t luck. It was God.

Ruth 2:20-23 New International Version (NIV)

20 “The Lord bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers.[a]”

21 Then Ruth the Moabite said, “He even said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.’”

22 Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.”

23 So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law

I was grown with a son before I learned about God’s providence. How He goes before us to orchestrate events in our lives. He sets up things that many times we don’t even understand until years later.

Throughout the book of Ruth, we see God’s loving hand through all the details, events, and opportunities in spite of disobedience, mistakes, and sin. What I love about the book of Ruth is how God, through His amazing love, went before Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz. He wrote a beautiful story of redemption which mirrors His heart for all His children; children who at one time were like Ruth, people in need of a redeemer.

Though Elimelek and Naomi shouldn’t have moved to Moab, God in His mercy gave Naomi her daughter-in-law, Ruth. Through Naomi, Ruth turns from her past, her gods, her culture, and clings to Naomi and Naomi’s God. When Naomi and Ruth need food to survive back in Bethlehem, God provides a Redeemer in Boaz. At every turn and every crisis, we witness God’s providence, not luck, providing, tending to, and caring for Naomi and Ruth.

What God did for Ruth and Naomi, He does for us too.

You may be looking at your life right now and wondering what in the world God is up to. Or you may be crying out to God, begging Him to redeem your mistakes, your journeys to foreign lands, and missed opportunities. If so, know that you are not alone. Like a prodigal son, turn back to God. When you do, you’ll see that He is running after you with open arms.

When we look at Ruth’s life and how God worked. God is at work in your life just like He was in Ruth’s. God is up to more than what meets the eye. There are no chance meetings, no lucky opportunities. It is God, your kinsman redeemer, who is at work in your life. That doesn’t mean that the road ahead will be easy. It doesn’t mean that there won’t be construction involved, delays, or possibly detours. What it does mean is that God is orchestrating your life for a bigger purpose.

Looking back over your life, how has God been orchestrating it for a greater good?

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Ruth: God’s Hand in Our Lives

The book of Ruth is often seen as a love story. And Yes, it is that. But, it goes so much deeper that just the story of a man and a woman. As we begin chapter two, Ruth and Naomi have moved to Bethlehem and are looking for ways that they can get food.

Ruth 2:1-9 New International Version (NIV)

Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz.

2 And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.”

Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” 3 So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.

4 Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, “The Lord be with you!”

“The Lord bless you!” they answered.

5 Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?”

6 The overseer replied, “She is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. 7 She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.’ She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.”

8 So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. 9 Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”

I hope that reading the book of Ruth will touch your hearts and make you fall in love with the beautiful, provisional exchange between Ruth and the beyond merciful man of God named Boaz. I have always prayed that God would help me raise Jackson to become a man like Boaz. I was blessed and given my own Boaz, in my husband Daniel. The way this wealthy man treats his workers and then Ruth demonstrates a genuine life lived for God and others. Boaz is the God initiated positive shift in this story that born out of the deepest suffering.

As I was blessed with a Boaz and desire my son to be like him. I also aspire to have the character of Ruth. She is a model of grace, humility, tremendous work ethic, resourcefulness, and selflessness. I am motivated by her strength and inspired by her undaunted attitude. She Reminds me of the woman described in Proverbs 31. You might even want to put your hands to work for God with renewed commitment and fervor after reflecting on her life.

Or God might be telling you, you have been more of a Naomi. Who ended chapter 1 in hopeless and bitterness, but who now is beginning to see the mercy of God break through in her life after a long period of darkness. Her return to Bethlehem not only signified a return to her people, but also a return to her God. If you’ve been in a season of darkness that has left you far from God, I pray that your heart will be softened as you watch Naomi’s transformation this week.

But oh, more than anything, please don’t miss our great God in the details.

It’s not a coincidence that Naomi returned Bethlehem.

It’s God that lead them there.

It’s not a coincidence that Ruth “happened to come”to a certain field.

It’s God who placed Ruth in Boaz’s field

It’s not a coincidence that Boaz had leftover harvest to glean in his fields.

It’s God who has a heart for the poor and the widow – Leviticus 19:9-10; James 1:27

God’s intention isn’t for us to simply focus on the love story of Ruth and Boaz, or admirable human strength, resilience, or effort. Throughout Scripture, God longs for us to see Him as the loving God whose hands direct our lives.

Now it’s your turn. Where have you seen God go before YOU?

Seek Him in your suffering, don’t miss His whisperings in the waiting, and look for His provision as you unpack His faithfulness in each new day.

And then don’t forget to speak of His glory and goodness to those He has put in your path! .