The Inspiration Birthed by Total Commitment!
Sunday, July 17, 2005
“The inspiration birthed by total commitment!”
Ruth 4
11 Then the elders and all those at the gate said, “We are witnesses. May the LORD make thewomanwho is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house 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.”
14 The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel!” Ruth 4:11, 12 & 14 NIV
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The book of Ruth is a story of hope for the sorrowful and discouraged. It’s a story about the sovereignty of God; a demonstration that though we don’t always see His hand, God is no less at work in our lives.
At first, the main characterappears to beNaomi, the wife ofElimelech and the mother of Mahlon and Chilion. They had moved to Moab to escape a famine in Bethlehem. At some point Elimelech dies, leaving Naomi as a widow. Her boys each marryMoabite women. Mahlon marries Ruth and Chilion marries Orpah.Before either of these couples can have children, the husbands die, leaving Naomi with two widows, both potentially under her care.
Things are looking quite dismalfor Naomiin her foreign home in Moab. She hears that the famine in Bethlehem is over and determines to return home. Her daughter’s-in-law both say they will join her in her journey back to Bethlehem, but only Ruth resists all of Naomi’sattempts to send them back to Moab.
I believe that insistence by Ruth to stay with Naomi is the turning point of this story.That action by Ruth became the defining moment of her life. From then until the last three paragraphs of this story, Ruth is the central figure. And from what we are able to observe, it was Ruth’scommitment to faithfulnessto her mother-in-law that opened the flood gates of blessings on Naomi, Ruth and on the entire world.
By the time we reach chapter 4, the story has progressed to where Boaz has expressed exceeding delight that Ruth would be interested in himbeing her kinsman-redeemerandhusband. Only one person stands in the way of Boaz taking Ruth as his wife. There is a relative that is closer to Mahlon, Ruth’s deceased husband, than he. This nearer relative must be given the first opportunity to redeem Ruth.
That’s where we pick up the story.
Ruth 4:1-22 (NIV)
4 Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat there. When the kinsman-redeemer he had mentioned came along, Boaz said, “Come over here, my friend, and sit down.” So he went over and sat down.
Now, the town gate is where business transactions normally took place. It’s where the elders of the city hung out, so to speak. If you were looking for someone, especially someone of importance in the town, the town gate would be the place to go. So, for Boaz to run into the nearer kinsman-redeemer at the town gate was, in my opinion, a very reasonable and probable happening.
Conveniently, the authorities of the town were right there and could easily be summonsed to be witnesses to their business transaction.
2 Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, “Sit here,” and they did so. 3 Then he said to the kinsman-redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our brother Elimelech. 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 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.
Do you think Boaz was surprised by the response of the kinsman-redeemer? And, what about his strategy? Did Boaz withhold the information about Ruth until after the nearer kinsman-redeemer responded to the easy part? I don’t know the protocol for a transaction like this. So my questions here are, really, mere speculations.
Admittedly, there is a bit of drama here, though. Boaz would really, really like to have Ruth as his wife. And he goes into this transaction with that as his objective. The acquisition of Naomi’s land seems secondary to him. His heart is set on Ruth. But he has to make sure his heart does not get ahead of doing the right thing.
It is just the opposite for the closest kinsman-redeemer. It’s the landthatattracts him the most to this deal. In the first round of deliberations, it appears that only Naomi’s land is on the table; thus accounting for hisinitial favorable response.
Whether it was intentional or not to leave out the negotiation stopper until the second round, we can only speculate. But getting safely to first base is no assurance you’ll make it to second.
5 Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi and from Ruth the Moabitess, you acquire the dead man’s widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property.”
6 At this, the kinsman-redeemer said, “Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it.”
Can you hear the sigh of relief coming from Boaz? He had given a legitimate opportunity for another to take what he wantedmost. He seemed willing to trust God for the right outcome, even if it meant that he would not get what he wanted.
But now the only obstacle to Boaz taking Ruth to be his wife has been removed. The transaction can continue, but this time with Boaz as the purchaser of the property and the new husband of Ruth.
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 kinsman-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 Elimelech, Kilion and Mahlon. 10 I have also acquired Ruth the Moabitess, 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 the town records. Today you are witnesses!”
What is lacking in ceremony is made up for by the unique story line, the drama, the subtleties of their romance and the sovereign hand of God.
Boaz goes to the town gate the morning after Ruth offers herself to him as his wife to negotiate a deal where he had a reasonable chance to become Ruth’s husband. The drama is in the fact that the negotiations could have gone the other way. But it didn’t. And Ruth’s faithfulness to Naomi is blessed with the fine reward of gaining Boaz as her husband.
Nothing that I can see in the story tells of the formality of a wedding ceremony. We can only assume that one occurred. Whether before the wedding or during or possibly after, we do have recorded the blessings on the couple by the elders of the town.
Notice the three blessings by the elders at the gate: one for Ruth, one for Boaz and one for their family.
11 Then the elders and all those 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 house 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.”
The first blessing: May the LORD make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel.
The elders expressed their desire that Ruth, the new wife, would be a fruitful mother who not only would bear Boaz children, but would nurture them to be followers of the Lord. Just as Rachel and Leah, the wives of Jacob, bore him 12 sons who became known as the 12 tribes of Israel, accounting for a great multiplication of the children of Israel, these elders expressed their hope that Ruth would also be fruitfuland thus keep expanding the family tree.
The second blessing: May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem.
Here the elders expressed their desire that Boaz, the new husband, would gain standing or a position of authority in Ephrathah, which is the clan of David of the tribe of Judah. Along with their desire that he gain standing they expressed their hope that he would be famous.
This is prophetic. It’s as though God were speaking through the elders as they were blessing this couple. For surely Boaz has become famous and they did give birth to a son that kept the lineage heading on to the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
The third blessing: Through the offspring the LORD gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.”
Judah was one of the twelve sons of Jacob, in whose line will come David and Jesus, the Messiah. Perez was the son born to Judah through Tamar. She was Judah’s daughter-in-law who’s first husband died before she could bear a child.
As we have seen with the role of a kinsman-redeemer in Ruth’s live, the levirate custom was for the next brother to marry his brother’s widow if she had not born any children. Judah presented Tamar with his second son, but he also died before Tamar bore a child. At this point, Judah refused to give her his third son.
Through deception, Tamar plays the role of a prostitute and becomes pregnant by Judah. Ironically, it is through this lineage that our Lord was born. Tamar gave birth to twins, one of them Perez, the line in which are Boaz and Ruth.
Possibly the elders were thinking of what Tamar and Ruth had in common, both being involved inlevirate marriages. Then to think how great blessings yet came through Tamar in spite of her sin and deception that surrounded the birth of Perez, they had confidence that surely God would bless Ruth and Boaz for their righteousness and virtuous behavior.
13 So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. Then he went to her, and the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.
The elders gave three blessings to the couple. One to Ruth; one to Boaz; and one to their family. Now, when we come to verse 14, it is the women of the town that praise God and bless Naomi, the Ruth’s mother-in-law.
14 The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-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.”
These women somehow understood the despair that had once been Naomi’s. Now they were blessing her with the promise that Boaz would renew her life and sustain her in her old age. Plus, they again affirmed and commended Ruth as being better than seven sons. What a high compliment to Ruth! What a blessing to Naomi!
16 Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap 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 family tree of our Lord Jesus Christ is being built right here.
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, 21 Salmon the father of Boaz, Boaz the father of Obed, 22 Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David.
God in His sovereignty accomplishes His purposes, sometimes in spite of us, and often through our disobedience. Yet, God is very pleased when He can show Himself strong on behalf of the obedient, the faithful, the sacrificial. Such is the story of Ruth.
My closing remarks from our study in Ruth take us back to what I consider to be the pivotal act in the entire book; the act that determined destiny, if you would; the act that defined Ruth from that moment on for the rest of her life.
The pivotal moment in the entire book of Ruth is Ruth’s commitment to Naomi.
What was that commitment? The 15th verse of chapter 1:
1:15“Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”
1:16But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your Godmy God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.” 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
Let’s think about this commitment. Whatever it was, we know that it opened the flood gates of blessings on Naomi and Ruth. Her commitment and her faithfulness to her commitmentwere nothing short of startling. Ruth became the talk of the town in Bethlehem. The men were talking about her. They were talking about her noble character. It’s as though they had never met a woman like her before.
Boaz said,
Ruth 3:11 (NIV)
11 And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All my fellow townsmen know that you are a woman of noble character.
Even among the God-fearing Jews, Ruth is a stand out.
When the women of Bethlehem speak their blessing on Naomi, they too, affirm that Ruth has been the topic of conversation many a time. Where do you find a woman of such high caliber? She was the ultimate servant. Not afraid of hard work. She was respectful, kind and loving. I believe there is adequate evidence to show that she was intelligent and wise.
Listen again to what the womensaid of Ruth to her mother-in-law:
4:15 . . . For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”
Ruth opened the flood gates of blessings on her mother-in-law, on Boaz, even on herself and on the community in which she lived, all because of her noble character. It wasn’t her outward beauty – that’s never mentioned once in the story that I recall. It was all about her faithfulness to her sacrificial commitment to her mother-in-law.
Remember, Orpah had the same opportunity to make the same commitment. Rather, she chose to go back to the people and gods of Moab. For her, the sacrifice was too great to hang with Naomi on her trip to Bethlehem. Besides, Naomi wasn’t offering anything very desirable. She was a bitter woman. She was a project, needing lots of tender, loving care to bring her out of her despair.
So what sacrifices, if any, did Ruth make in order to commit herself to Naomi, her mother-in-law?
1. She gave up the security and familiarity of her homeland. She was going to a place unknown to her.
2. She gave up an easier path in life, at least initially. Going to Bethlehem was not a safe journey for two women, nor was there any certainty that things would be easier there than just to stay put in Moab.
3. She gave up her flexibility and her being able to keep all her options open. Ruth made a vow to Naomi only to be broken by death. That didn’t leave her an out when things got really tough.
Ruth’s commitment is significant. It was a great sacrifice and it led to great blessings.
So, what does any of this have to do with us today?
First of all, are the words commitment and sacrifice becoming archaic words in our active vocabulary. Arewe simply too afraid of what we might lose out in were we to make such a radical commitment as Ruth did.
Second, does commitment feeltoo much like legalism?Since wecertainlydon’t want to have anything to do with legalism, do we shy away from commitment because we smell legalism just around the corner?