Shame To Hope God Of Rescue - Ruth2:1-23

inside a man of of standing from the clan of Elimelech whose name was Boaz 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 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 Elimelech. Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters

the Lord be with you the Lord bless you they answered. Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters

who does that young woman belong to? The overseer replied she is the Moabite who came back from

Moab with Naomi. 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. 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. 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. At this she bowed down with her face to the

ground. She asked him why have you why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me a foreigner?

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 the 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. May I continue to find favor in your

eyes my Lord she said you have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant though I do not have

the standing of one of your servants. At mealtime Boaz said to her come over here have some bread and

dip it in the wine vinegar. When she sat down with the harvesters he offered her some roasted grain.

She ate all she wanted and had some left over. As she got up to glean Boaz gave orders to his men

let her gather among the sheaves and don't reprimand her. Even pull out some stalks for her

from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up and don't rebuke her. Gary thank you.

Let's pray before we open God's word together. Father God we thank you for your word to us this

morning. We thank you for this book of Ruth that you have left for us to to open up and that inside

its pages Lord that we would learn from you and we would learn about you. Help us as we we look this

morning to be changed by your word in Jesus name. Amen.

So if you've been here the last few weeks we've been we've been on a journey. We've been on a journey

with Ruth. We've been on a journey with Naomi. Last week we left them at the side of the road. They'd just

come from Bethlehem and or they'd just come to Bethlehem from Moab and we remember that Moab is

is a place that isn't isn't liked by God. It is seen as one of God's enemies and so the idea of going

to Moab is bad. The idea of coming back from Moab is extremely shameful. Coming back from Moab as a

widow and coming back from Moab without your children and then bringing you know Johnny Foreigner

along with you. This isn't going to to look good in Bethlehem. It is it's scandalous and so what are

we going to find? We find Ruth actually. We looked at in home groups if you have the time I do encourage

you to come along to home groups. They're a great place. They're they're a lot more relaxed. There's

less people. There's more tea and coffee and we can get together and we can you know we can chat about

life. Chat about things and also chat about God's word and that's an aside. It was free. Nobody asked

me to say that but yeah home groups are good and and so Ruth is the one who's encouraging Naomi. She's

saying Naomi I'm coming with you. I want your God to be my God. She's saying that's it. I'm all in. I'm

with you and they arrive at harvest time. She's the one that seems to be encouraging Naomi at this point.

If she grew up when I did in in the 80s she probably would have flicked on to her cd player because we

didn't have iPods in those days and she might have sang this song. She might have said you know when

your day is long and the night the night is yours alone and when you're sure you've had enough of

this life well you know just hang on. Don't just don't let yourself go because everybody cries

and everybody hurts sometime and the chorus of that song goes on and it's it's an encouragement

to hold on. To hold on. You see we live in a broken world that can change in a moment.

In the blink of an eye somebody goes shopping in Douglas and comes back and their car's on fire.

That was only a couple of weeks ago. Tragedy can strike at any moment at any place and none of us

have any control over what's going to happen. And whether it's a fire in a shopping mall or whether

it's the death of a loved one. We live in a broken and a fallen world and so Ruth is there and they're

alone. They're back in Bethlehem. And Ruth's saying hold on. There's hope.

But is Ruth correct? Is you know REM are they correct? What is their hope to hold on to you or hold on for?

Can we actually find hope in this broken world?

And if so where can we get it from? Who provides the hope for us?

And so we look again at the text in verse 3. Verse 1 to 3. Let's look at that together.

And so it tells us in verse 1 that Naomi has a relative. We have a new character comes into the story.

He's announced as this man Boaz. He's a man of standing. He's strong. If you're interested,

I was alerted to the fact that Downton the movie is out. So whoever the character is in Downton,

you know the strong, handsome, silent hero. This is Boaz here in this story. He's the Mr.

Darcy of the Pride and Prejudice. This is Boaz. He's the strong,

man of upright character with influence. And we're introduced to him. And not only that,

we're told a few more details that he's from Elimelech's clan. So he is related. And we know

his name. We know he's Boaz. And that's it. But it can do and raise a few questions for us.

Who is Boaz? What will happen? Ruth has pledged her life to God and to follow Naomi.

But what about God's people? Who will she meet? Who will she find? Are they going to like her?

Will they accept her? She's given her life to the God of Israel and to Naomi, but she has no hope

that as a foreigner that she's going to be accepted by this new people. What kind of people does she

expect to find? And will the God that she's put her trust in, will he live up to his reputation?

And will his people reflect his character? So we're going to find that out in this chapter. It's

exciting. I think it's exciting. And poor Ruth, she doesn't ever lose this tag of being the Moabite,

does she? Verse 2 says,

And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, Let me go into the fields and pick leftover grain behind anyone in

whose eyes I find favor. And Naomi said to her, Go ahead, my daughter. And so she went out, she entered

a field, and she began to glean behind the harvesters. And as it turned out, she was working in a field

belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelech. And so the background to these three

verses, I believe, is that Ruth has a hope in God's word. If you want to take a note down, if you want to

go to Deuteronomy 24, and you can read through verses 17 to 22, we won't go through. But there is

the law about gleaning. And so what is the law about gleaning? Well, in short, it's this. If you have a

harvest field, don't pick every grain of corn. Leave some. And who are we going to leave it for? Well, we're

going to leave it for the widows. We're going to leave it for the foreigners. And we're going to leave it

for the poor and the orphan to come along and so that they can pick it after you. And one of the

memories of this is because you were foreigners, you were slaves in Egypt, and you were mistreated,

but you're not going to, this nation, this godly nation isn't going to be like Egypt. And so God's

making provision for the poor and for the widow in this law of gleaning. And that's what's behind

these three verses here. In fact, that's what's behind this chapter. This command of God and the law

in Deuteronomy chapter 24. And so I'm assuming that in some cases, Naomi has told Ruth this,

Deuteronomy 24 · chapter mention

and she's worked it out, that actually the word of God says that I should be able to go to a field,

I should be able to turn up, and I should be allowed to gather corn so that we can survive.

And so off Naomi goes. So she has these three ideas. She says that she's going to be able to get

provision. She's going to be able to hopefully find favor and grace in the people of Israel. In fact,

she's looking for an individual that's going to be gracious and give her favor, and that she's going

to find acceptance. And she expects those things from the people of God. And so my question to us

this morning is, what do people expect of us? You know, when they hear about the Bible, they hear

about Christians, and they hear about Christians who are meant to love one another and love their

neighbors, when they meet us. Do we live up to the billing? Do we reflect the love and the character

of God that we know? It's a challenge to us. It's a big challenge. But this is what Ruth expects to find.

And so we have to say, does she get it? Does she find that? Because we have to remember that the context

of the whole book of Ruth is taking place in the time of Judges, when everybody was doing their own

thing. Is she going to find people that actually are living God's standard? They're living God's way at a time

when most people are doing their own thing. And just there in verse 2, she wants to go to the fields.

She wants to pick up leftover grain. And in verse 3, it tells us she goes out, and as it turned out,

she ends up in Boaz's field. Isn't that good? We've heard about this man, Boaz. He's of normal

character. So what's he going to do? How's he going to influence this story? Is he going to help

Naomi and Ruth? We don't know. But Jesus commands that we would love one another. He commands that

we would love our neighbor as herself. And this is what she expects in the law. This is what she expects

from this new community that she's given up everything to be a part of.

What's she going to discover?

So let's look at verse 4. This is where it gets exciting. And if you're into your romantic dramas,

it starts to hot up a bit.

Just then, Boaz arrived from Bethlehem, and he greeted his harvesters, and he says,

The Lord be with you. And the Lord bless you, they answered.

Boaz is a good boss. He comes, and we know he's a godly man, and he greets them with a greeting.

He's saying, God be with you. It's a nice greeting. It's a nice way to introduce Boaz to us.

And then Boaz, he asked his harvesters.

He's seen something that's different in his field.

There's all of his normal workers, and there's the ladies and the men,

and he spots something different, and he calls over his charged hand,

and he says,

Who's that girl?

Who's she?

She catches his eye.

But what he actually says is,

Who does that woman belong to?

Who owns that woman?

Who is that woman's protector?

Who is she?

Whose daughter is she?

Who is her husband?

Who's her protector?

Where does she come from?

And we get the answer, and the overseer, he replies,

Well, she's the Moabite that came back from Moab.

As if Moabite didn't tell him exactly where she came from.

He has to emphasize the fact that she's not from around here.

And she said,

Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves,

behind the harvesters,

and she came into the field,

and has remained here from morning till now,

except for a short rest in the shelter.

And really what she's saying is,

Well, that's the foreigner that came back from Moab.

She's the odd one out among here,

but she's been here all morning,

and she's a really hard worker.

She hasn't really taken a lot of time to rest.

And so he is, in one sense,

he's impressed by her dedication,

but he's still not sure about whether or not

he should accept her or not.

He still sees her as an outsider.

And so this is then magical.

This is a big old moment.

What is Boaz going to do?

Is he going to tell her to,

you know,

What are you doing?

Get away?

You're a foreigner.

You're a Moabite.

I don't want you in my field.

Clear off.

Is that his response?

And in verse 8,

it says,

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.

Watch the field where the men are harvesting

and follow along after the women.

And I have told the men,

Do not lay a hand on you.

And whenever you are thirsty,

go and get a drink from the water jars

that the men have filled.

See, she had heard God's word

and it told her about a God of refuge.

And so she's receiving all of these things

all at once throughout this chapter

as we read through it,

as you look through it,

as you go home.

She's given protection.

She's given kindness.

And she's given grace.

Boaz doesn't throw her out.

Boaz embraces her.

In fact, Boaz says to all the young men,

because she's vulnerable

and she's not belonging to anybody,

he says,

Hands off.

She's under my protection.

Anybody touches Ruth

answers to me.

He's laying down the law.

He's saying no.

And then he's saying to Ruth,

he's saying,

You know,

if you're thirsty,

you can go and get water.

He's not treating her like

someone who's poor.

He's bringing her in

and treating her,

I suppose,

you could say,

like a hired worker.

Only there's no benefit to Boaz

because anything she gets,

she takes away.

And so he's treating her

with real kindness,

real grace,

and real protection.

And these are the things

that Ruth thought she would find

in the people of God.

And so this is Ruth's response.

She can't believe it.

She thought,

you know,

if we get a few stalks of corn

and make a wee bit of flour

and get home

and me and Naomi can eat,

well,

surely that would be great kindness.

But Boaz goes way beyond

her expectations

and at this,

it says in verse 10

that she bowed her face

to the ground

and she asked him,

Why have I found

such favor in your eyes

that you notice me,

a foreigner?

It's even how

Ruth sees herself.

Ruth sees herself

as the outcast,

as someone who's

outside the community.

She's doing this

because she has a belief,

but she still feels

like an outsider.

And this is wonderful.

These words,

verse 11,

Boaz replied,

I've been told

all about

what you have done

for your mother-in-law.

Obviously,

gossip worked quite well

3,000 years ago,

just as it does today.

Since the death

of your husband,

how you left your father

and mother

and your homeland

and you came to live

with a people

that you did not know before.

Boaz has been told,

we don't know how he knows,

we're assuming it's

Naomi has leaked out

the information,

but he knows about her

commitment,

not only to Naomi,

not only to coming

to the land of Israel

and to Bethlehem,

but her commitment

to the God of Israel.

And he understands

exactly what it is

that she's given up.

And we know that

by the introduction

of those words

that you have left

your father and mother.

You had protection,

you had security,

you had somewhere

to belong

and you have come

to somewhere

that you don't belong.

And not only that,

he actually gets

why she's done it.

He knows why

and we learn that

in verse 12.

And this is the

outstanding verse

if you can have

a better verse

in a chapter,

this is it.

And these words

are wonderful.

He says,

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.

Say, how smart is Boaz?

Boaz realizes

that yes,

you're here

with Naomi.

Yes, you've left

your father and your mother.

But as we learned

and we looked

a little bit deeper

on Home Group

on Wednesday night,

Ruth's commitment

was to Yahweh.

She was rejecting

the gods

of the Moabites

and she wanted

to know

the God

of the Israelites.

She wanted to know

who this God was

and she wanted

to align herself

with him

and she wanted

to take refuge

in the wings

of God.

and this is

a wonderful picture.

It's a picture

of a bird

protecting its chicks

by surrounding

the chicks

with its wings

protecting it

from harm

from the elements

nestled cozy

in all those feathers.

It's a nice and cute

little bird.

Fragile

little bird.

And Boaz

is saying

God's going

to bless you

for what you've done.

You've come here

to take refuge

and I believe

that God's going

to give you

refuge.

And so we find

that all of the

despair of the

previous chapter

is renewed

and that there is

hope.

Hope

in this refuge.

And so the

narrative continues

and Ruth

continues

and she comes

back and she

says may I

continue to find

favor in your

eyes my lord.

She said you

have put me at

ease by speaking

kindly to your

servant though I

do not have the

standing of one

of your servants.

He's being so

kind.

He's going

the extra mile.

He is going

beyond what's

expected and Ruth

is blown away.

And it doesn't

stop there.

You go on

verse 14.

It's dinner time.

What's going to

happen?

She's been working

out all day.

And so I think

this is even more

remarkable because

I don't know this

it's not in the

text but I reckon

all the workers

on their own

you know as they

do in the boss

he has his

special little bit

of food.

And he comes

to eat beside

the boss

is it you

know the

supervisor

the manager

no he calls

over

Ruth the

Moabite

the foreigner

and he calls

her over to

his table

in verse 14

at mealtime

Boaz said to

her come over

here have

some bed

and dip it

in the wine

vinegar.

I remember

many years

ago when I

was a little

bit younger

and I

hadn't a clue

you were going

out to dinner

parties and

things like

that and

you experience

new foods.

I can remember

the first time

someone says

well do you

know you want

some balsamic

vinegar and

bread.

Like what?

Bread?

Balsamic

vinegar?

Uncouth you

know.

No idea.

The idea

that you can

dip bread

and put

balsamic

vinegar in it

with a wee

bit of oil

and it's

tasty.

So that's

what they're

doing here.

They're coming

over in the

text and

they're having

a little bit

of wine

vinegar and

bread.

And when

she sat

down with

the harvesters

he offered

her some

roasted grain

and she

had all that

she wanted

and she had

some left

over.

We follow

on there

in verse

15 and

as she

got up

to glean

Boaz

gave orders

to his

men.

Do you

know what?

He almost

takes the

shackles off

and he more

or less

says look

just let

her take

the combine

harvester

there and

just give

her the

whole field.

He gives

her open

season.

He basically

says as

much as

that girl

can carry

let her

have it.

In fact

you see

when you're

cutting

down the

big heads

of grain

just drop

a couple

and say

look here

there you

go.

And when

she's doing

it make

sure you

treat her

kindly.

Don't ever

dare rebuke

her.

Let her

do and let

her have as

much as she

wants.

He's gone

from let her

work and let

her follow

and he's

realizing he

wants to be

God to

this girl in

the sense that

he wants to

fulfill what he

believes about

her.

He wants to

bless her

because he

really truly

believes that

God this is

the thing that

he should do

because he

wants to

bless her

because she's

come back

to find a

God of

refuge and

he's trying to

be that

refuge for

her.

And so

it goes on

and she

works all

day and

she works

hard and

she works

all day and

she gathers

up a lot

of stuff.

And also

she has

enough lunch

that she

takes some

home to

Naomi.

Naomi

it says

there in

verse 17

so Ruth

gleaned in

the field

until evening

and then

she had

threshed

the barley

she had

gathered it

and it

amounted to

about an

ephah.

And you're

all saying

what's an

ephah?

And I'm

saying I

don't know.

But I'm

told it's

about 22

liters.

And so

I reckon

that not

only that

that's quite

heavy so

it tells me

that this

girl Ruth

must have

been a

fit girl.

She was

a bit

strong to

carry 22

liters around.

22 liters

of milk

I don't

think I

could carry

that very

far.

But she's

going back

home.

She's

going to

Naomi.

Naomi's

been away

worrying all

day.

Where's

Naomi got

to?

Where's

Ruth got

to?

You know

you think

of the

dangers.

Boaz has

had to tell

his workers

you know

you've

got to

leave that

girl alone.

So the

vulnerability

of Ruth

is very

real and

so Naomi

is she

worrying?

Is she

fretting?

What's

going to

happen?

What is

she going

to see?

You could

almost imagine

her sitting

waiting out

looking over

the horizon

waiting for

Ruth to

return.

And we

see that

in verse

18 she

carried it

back to

town and

her mother-in-law

saw how much

she had

gathered.

Ruth also

brought out

and gave

her what

she had

left over

and after

she had

eaten

enough.

And then

here's the

big question

over dinner.

And her

mother-in-law

asked her

where did

you clean

today?

Where'd

you get

everything?

And it

was a

follow-up

question.

Where did

you work?

Blessed is

the man who

took notice

of you.

And so

then Ruth

told her

mother-in-law

all about

the one

whose place

she had

been

working.

And the

name of

the man

who worked

there today

was Boaz.

You can

almost,

you know,

the anticipation

of Naomi.

22 liters

of flour

and wheat

and this

roasted grain

and,

you know,

who took

notice of

you?

Who caught

your eye

today?

Who was

good to

you?

Where did

you get

such kindness

and such

grace?

Naomi

didn't

expect it.

Ruth

didn't

expect it.

Do we

expect it?

What do

you expect

when you

pray and

you come

to church

and do

you have

high

expectations

of a

loving God

who wants

to bless

us?

It's not

a prosperity

idea of

blessing,

but the

heart that

God wants

us to

come to

him because

he cares

for us.

And so

Naomi's

thrilled,

obviously,

and she

says,

the Lord

bless him.

Bless the

man who

took notice

of you.

Oops.

And so

we have

this little

dialogue

between

Naomi

and Ruth.

And then

some little

detail comes

out.

When she

finds out

that it's

Boaz,

she uses

this term.

She says,

oh,

that's

great.

He is

one of

our,

the old

word is

kinsman

redeemer.

Or the

NIV here

says guardian

redeemer.

And everybody's

going,

what's that?

Is that a

Marvel movie?

A guardian

redeemer.

And so

again for

that,

I haven't

got the

reference,

and we'll

go into

that a

little bit

more probably

next week.

But a

guardian

redeemer was

this.

If you were

in trouble

and you

were a

family member,

the law

said that

your closest

living relative

had the

right to

come and

buy you

out of

slavery or

pay your

debt and

bring you

back into

your inheritance

so that you

wouldn't lose

the inheritance

that God

had given

the children

of Israel.

And so

Naomi's

saying,

this is

great,

you've

gone to

Boaz,

and you

know what?

He could

possibly

redeem us,

he could

get us

out of

the situation

that we're

in.

He could

help us.

He could

care for

us,

he could

bring us

in.

And so

now the

scheming

wheels of

Naomi start

to work.

We see

that next

week,

how she

tries to

work it

out,

and she's

thinking,

there could

be a future

here.

Everything

that I

thought was

bleak,

she's now

suddenly

full.

Her stomach

is full,

her cupboard

is full,

and now

she's

thinking that

the future

is full.

The

emptiness

of chapter

one is

wiped away

in one

day.

And so

for the

next few

days she

works out

a strategy

of survival.

She says,

Boaz says

here,

read the

text,

Lord bless

him,

Naomi said

to her

daughter-in-law.

He has

not stopped

showing his

kindness to

the living

and the

dead.

And she

added,

that man

is our

close

relative.

He is

one of

our

guardian

redeemers.

Then

Ruth the

Moabite

said,

he even

said to

me,

stay with

my

workers

until

they

finish

harvesting

all

my

grain.

And

Naomi

said to

Ruth,

her daughter-in-law,

it would 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.

So Ruth

stayed close

to the

women of

Boaz to

glean until

the barley

and wheat

harvest were

finished,

and she

lived with

her mother-in-law.

So she's

got a job.

She has

somewhere that

she can go

every day,

and she can

continue to

keep the

cupboard

full.

And there's

the hope

that Boaz

could be

the man,

Boaz

could be

the

redeemer.

See,

we all

need a

redeemer.

Could

Boaz

be the

redeemer

for

Naomi

and

Ruth?

The

gospel

tells us

that we

need a

redeemer.

We've been

singing this

morning about

the great

redemption.

We're going

to celebrate

the Lord's

Supper.

And what

do we need

redeemed

from?

The

Bible

tells us

that we

are lost

in our

sin,

that we

need

forgiven.

Ephesians

1 says

in verse

6,

to the

praise of

his

glorious

grace,

which he

has freely

given us

in the

one he

loves,

that is

Christ.

In him

we have

redemption

through his

blood,

the forgiveness

of sins

in accordance

with the

riches

of God's

grace.

You see,

Boaz is a

picture of

Christ.

Boaz is

the picture

of our

protector.

Boaz is

the picture

of our

provider.

In the

Old Testament,

this little

book is

showing us

something about

our Lord and

Savior.

He's the

person that

when we

come into

his field,

he makes

sure that

we're protected

and that

there's water

for us to

drink and

that there's

roast his

grain for

us to

eat.

And that

no harm

will come

to us.

And he

did that

by being

able to

buy us

back by

going to

Calvary.

If you

don't know

Jesus this

morning,

if you've

never heard

the gospel,

you can see

it here in

the book of

Ruth.

That's what

Christ did

for you.

He accepted

the foreigner

into his

land.

And in

fact,

all of us

really were

foreigners.

We were

far away

from God.

We were

far away

from the

grace of

God and

it is

only through

Christ that

we have

been brought

near,

brought into

his nation.

We were

thinking also

on Wednesday

night about

that great

verse in

1 Peter.

It says that

we are a

holy nation.

That what we

have become

by coming to

know Christ.

And so we

need a

redeemer.

My question

is, do you

know that you

need a

redeemer?

The idea of

you get those

little coupons

and you can

go in and you

can get one

pound off your

shopping, you

redeem the

coupon.

Well, this

is way

better than

getting one

pound off

your shopping.

Christ has

died to pay

for our

sins so

that we

might know

him, that

we might be

forgiven, that

eternally when

he returns or

when we die,

that we get to

be in his

field forever.

We get to

be in his

field under

his protection,

under his

provision for

all eternity.

We're going

to stand, we're

going to sing

a song, before

that I'm going

to pray.

Let's pray

together.

Heavenly Father,

we thank you

for the

glorious truth

that we find

here in

church.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.