This article from Vern Poythress on how to raise boys so that they become men is hugely stimulating. I’m not yet at the point where I can unequivocally agree with everything he says. The idea of getting Diggers to read streches the bounds of possibility. The thought of getting him to read Hebrew is a pipe dream! After all, where’s he going to learn it from. His old man can’t teach him that’s for sure!

Poythress’ definition of a man comes from this comment, ‘The true maturity is spiritual. It is wisdom in knowing God and his will, and being able to carry it out in your life (Prov. 1:1-7)’. The training programme is then the means, under God, by which to encourage growth in maturity. The curriculum looks like this.

1. Knowledge of the contents of the Bible.

   • Know the names of books of the Bible in order.

   • Know Bible history.

   • Read the Bible all the way through.

   • Know main themes of biblical books.

   • Understand how Biblical teaching centers on Christ.

   • Know Greek and Hebrew (amount of knowledge tailored to the child’s ability)

2. Memorization of selected verses and passages of the Bible.

3. Knowledge of the major teachings of the Bible (doctrine).

   • Memorize a children’s catechism as a summary of doctrine.

   • Be able to explain doctrines and respond to questions using one’s own words.

4. Personal piety.

   • Using devotional materials

   • Prayer diary

   • Day-long personal retreat for prayer and fasting with Daddy

   • Growth in understanding of means for overcoming sin

5. Projects of service and mercy.

   • Serving the church; serving the needy.

6. Wisdom in dealing with various spheres of life.

   • Finances: tithing, drawing up a year-long budget; checkbook balancing; investing.

   • Etiquette: table etiquette, greeting etiquette, letter etiquette, conversational etiquette, sexual etiquette.

   • Apologetics: answering questions and objections about Christian faith; understanding the Christian world view and the main competing worldviews and ideas in the United States.

   • Sexuality: knowing Christian teaching and standards for thoughts and actions. Understanding how God designed male and female bodies.

I have to say I really like it. It won’t happen but that doesn’t mean I can’t admire it. But I’d love for my boys to look like this. If they could manage it by 13 that’d be great. The fact that their Father hasn’t managed it by middle age needn’t dissuade them! But it all seems thoroughly daunting. Getting the boys to sit still for Bible story and pray for something more meaningful than ‘please can I have lots of presents for my birthday’ is something we’re still working on.

What would I add? I think Poythress is too dismissive of the idea of killing a crocodile. There’s nothing about an ability to brew your own beer, talk intelligently about sport, and avoid the social faux pas that is the unvented jacket [UVJ]. More seriously, I’d want something in there about leadership and peer pressure, how to respect and relate to women, and how to understand and evaluate contemporary culture.

But I still like it. Lots. And I wish I’d been ’subjected’ to it as a boy. 

At the close of last week’s episode, our unknown author left us on tenterhooks. The eagerly anticipated nuptials between our young Moabite widow, Ruth and the wealthy but elderly bachelor, Boaz hit an iceberg. Not literally, that’s another romantic epic. But the dark brooding presence of the nearer kinsman redeemer threatens to spoil the ‘happily ever after’ that we’ve been pining for ever since we first got embroiled in this Old Testament period drama.

For those who’ve missed episodes one, two and three, let me bring you up to speed.

In episode one Naomi wandered away from the Promised Land for Moab with a husband and two sons. She came back ten years later a destitute widow with only a foreign daughter in law for company.

In episode two we were introduced to Boaz, a close relative of Naomi’s dead husband Elimelech. He was not only kind to these two widows; he was in a position to be their kinsman redeemer.

In episode three Naomi initiated a plan that was both risky and risqué to make it unmistakably clear to Boaz that Ruth sought refuge in his arms as she had sought refuge in his God.

We left the story with Ruth and Naomi waiting for news of Boaz’s negotiations. We rejoin the action in chapter 4 with Boaz at the gathering of the town council.

1. Boaz accepted the costly redemption (1-10)

4:1 Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the redeemer, of whom Boaz had spoken, came by. So Boaz said, “Turn aside, friend; sit down here.” And he turned aside and sat down. 2 And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down. 3 Then he said to the redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. 4 So I thought I would tell you of it and say, ‘Buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people.’ If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not, tell me, that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you.” And he said, “I will redeem it.” 5 Then Boaz said, “The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.” 6 Then the redeemer said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”

7 Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging: to confirm a transaction, the one drew off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was the manner of attesting in Israel. 8 So when the redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” he drew off his sandal. 9 Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and to Mahlon. 10 Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day.”

Boaz wants resolution. He’s got himself a godly woman who’s keen for marriage and so he’s not going to hang around. But as keen as he is for resolution, there’s the small matter of the nearer redeemer. He’s not the type of man to put personal desire before personal godliness. He trusts the Lord and so He’ll do the right thing. And so, this scene opens with him sat outside the town gate waiting to resolve the impediment to his wedding plans.

In due course, the unnamed redeemer just happens to pitch up on the scene. Not that we’re surprised; we’ve grown accustomed to God’s sovereign arrangement of things in this narrative. We now take it for granted that what we call a coincidence, the Bible calls God’s anonymous activity. Boaz invites him to sit down. He has a proposition. The two potential suitors sit on the ground outside Bethlehem. One of them will walk away with Ruth’s hand in marriage. But which will it be?

Imagine our surprise therefore when they start talking business. The discussion centres on property rights. In the Law of Moses, notably Deuteronomy 25 and Leviticus 25, God had made it possible for family to buy the land of relatives who wanted to sell. Naomi had some land and she needed the money. But it’s not business they should be discussing but brides, and not just any bride but one in particular, our heroine, the wonderfully godly Ruth. But Boaz is a shrewd operator. The ownership of Naomi’s land is an attractive proposition. And the unnamed redeemer jumps at it. But then Boaz shows him the small print. It’s one of those offers where you buy a field and get a free gift, which is nice! But the free gift is a wife, which is unexpected!

To our ears the idea that a woman could be bought and sold like a piece of personal property is outrageous. But that’s not what was going on. This was not a case of people trafficking. It has to do with the Old Testament practice of ensuring that a man’s family name doesn’t die out, as (5) and (10) make clear. In the case of a man dying without children to his name, his nearest next of kin could, if he was so minded, take the dead man’s widow as his wife and provide a son. And so the privilege of owning the land came with the responsibility to perpetuate the name of the deceased owner of the land by providing an heir through his widow. 

And so, if the unnamed redeemer were to marry Ruth and produce a son then the ownership of that land would pass to Elimelech’s heir. In other words he’d buy the land, get a wife, produce a son and lose the land. Therefore what looked like a shrewd investment suddenly becomes an expensive case of charity. Naomi and Ruth would be sorted, but he’d be out of pocket. He quickly loses interest. We get the distinct impression that he’s delighted to pass on the responsibility to Boaz. He wasn’t prepared to bear the cost of redemption. It was a sacrifice too far. History doesn’t even record his name, nor should it. Motivated by self interest and personal gain, He wanted no part of providing personal care for these two vulnerable individuals. He was in the business deal for only as long as he could get something out of it. In marked contrast to Boaz, he had no real concern for the needs of his two vulnerable family members.

Therefore, it’s worth asking whether we’re any different. I’m not talking about taking the drastic step of marrying someone to sort out their personal issues, but simply whether we’re willing to accept the cost of caring for others. Within this church there are people who need our support. The Lord has brought to us and will bring to us people who are vulnerable, abandoned and in need of support. Are we willing to provide it? It’ll cost us. There’ll be nothing in it for us.

In the Away Day booklet I wrote a little piece about welcoming. One of the things I said there was that welcoming someone to church is more than saying hello near the coffee and saying hello the following week; it’s about helping newcomers get incorporated into church life. We really need people to take a lead in helping people get involved in the various social networks that exist here. I’m looking to old timers to step up to the plate, to resist the temptation to be self absorbed and to look out for others.

As the nearer kinsman redeemer exits stage left, the coast is finally clear; the marriage union that we’ve all been anticipating can take place. And yet our story doesn’t come to an end. There’s another ending that the author has in mind. God is concerned not simply to provide a redeemer for Ruth, but also for Naomi. So let’s read on.

2. Obed provided the effective redemption (11-17)

11 Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem, 12 and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young woman.” 13 So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son. 14 Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel! 15 He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.” 16 Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse. 17 And the women of the neighbourhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

Word had obviously spread because the author gives us the impression that quite a crowd gathers to witness the contract negotiations. And finally, after our three funerals we finally get the wedding we’ve been waiting for. The crowd pray for the happy couple. They ask the Lord for three things.

First, that like Leah and Rachel, whose marriages to Jacob produced the twelve tribes of Israel, Ruth might prove to be just as crucial in building up the house of Israel. This prayer is answered when a kid called David gets born a few generations later.

Secondly, they ask that the Lord might make Boaz’s family like that of Perez. I think this has to do with wishing them a long line of descendants rather than wishing upon them the shambles that marked his parents’ lives. Reading about it in Genesis 38 makes you realise that you wouldn’t want that for anyone. This prayer is answered since the list of descendants that begins the gospel of Matthew includes Obed and ends up hundreds of years later with Jesus. 

Thirdly, they ask the Lord that Boaz might become famous in Bethlehem. He’s not the most famous redeemer to come out of Bethlehem but he’s right up there in the top ten!

But the focus on the narrative is not really on Ruth and Boaz, but on their Mother in Law, Naomi. We move seamlessly from their marriage to the maternity ward. And so, the writer ends his account with a picture of domestic bliss. Grandma Naomi sits in her rocking chair with her Grandson on her knee. This baby boy is even called her son. But she’s just a little too preoccupied with this bundle of joy. And so even within their hymn of praise the women issue a mild rebuke. As understandably fixated as she was with her Grandson, she would be making a huge mistake to think that God’s kindness to her had commenced with this kid. Her foreign daughter in law was as valuable as seven sons. Ruth loved Naomi and that’s precious. But the main point in their hymn of praise is that God has come up trumps and provided her with a redeemer. God had answered the people’s prayers for Ruth’s fertility. He has given them a son. And Naomi’s redemption was guaranteed.

All Naomi’s complaints against God proved to be untrue. In chapter 1 she whinged that God had emptied out her life of all that precious. It wasn’t true. She failed to appreciate the signs of God’s kindness back then and she failed to see the kindness of God now. She was so fixated on producing an heir that she missed the kindness of God in his wonderful provision of her daughter in law. If only she lifted her eyes from her own misery to appreciate the precious jewel she had in Ruth. It just might be that some of us here are so caught up in our own misery that we’ve failed to see the silver lining in our own personal dark cloud. Perhaps we need to look around and appreciate not a daughter in law but a brother or sister in Christ. God came through for Naomi. He’s promised that He’ll come through for us. In the way that He deems best because He’s our Father.

And yet our story doesn’t come to an end. There’s another ending that the author has in mind. God is concerned not simply to provide a redeemer for Ruth and for Naomi, but also for Israel. So let’s read on.

3. David secured the future redemption (18-22)

18 Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez fathered Hezron, 19 Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amminadab, 20 Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon, 21 Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed, 22 Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David.

The author ends his book with the great king, David. He’s the ruler through whom God secured rest in His Promised Land. David gets a good press from the Bible. It doesn’t hide his indiscretions but neither does it mask his considerable contribution as Israel’s greatest king. He secured redemption for God’s people as he brought rest to the Promised Land.

Naomi’s story typified the experience of God’s people in the time of the judges. There was no king and everyone did as they saw fit. She had deserted the Promised Land, wandered away from the Lord and needed the Lord to look upon her in kindness. And the book of Ruth is an account of how in the midst of the chaotic rebellion of the period of the Judges God was ever so quietly working in sovereign kindness to bring rest to His people. The God who saved His people by signs and wonders at the Exodus is the same God who saved His people through the apparently unspectacular events of this insignificant family. Who’d have thought that through one foreign woman God would be raising up a future saviour for His people. But that’s what He did.

The God of the Bible has spent most of His existence steering clear of the spectacular and the miraculous. It’s not really His modus operandi. Instead, God is silently at work in everything moving everything towards His intended conclusion of worldwide redemption, universal rest through the ultimate redeeming king. We mustn’t make the mistake of thinking that we can only experience God’s sovereign kindness in the spectacular events of the Christian life. Praise God if and when they happen but we should be no less grateful for the silent undetected work of redemption that God is working in us in the normal events of normal life.  

Conclusion

And so by the end of the book there’s redemption for Ruth through the provision of Boaz. There’s redemption for Naomi through the provision of Obed. And there’s redemption for Israel through the provision of the great King David. And yet even now our story doesn’t come to an end. There’s another ending that the ultimate author of this book has in mind.

The New Testament says that there’s even something bigger and better in the offing; there’s a redeemer greater even than the great King David. Turn with me to Ephesians 1:7.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace

The redemption secured by David pales into insignificance when stacked up against the redemption provided by Christ. Jesus’ redemption was

Costly

Jesus was no self-obsessed, self-motivated, self-absorbed individual who was only in the whole redemption thing for as long as there was something in it for him. He willingly bore the cost of redemption when he gave himself in painful self sacrifice to secure our redemption.

Effective

His redemption provides us with the forgiveness of our trespasses. As wonderful as it is to be liberated from widowhood, or even from singleness there’s something far more important; we need to be liberated from the mess that we’ve got ourselves into through our constant trespassing of God’s righteous requirements. We constantly infringe God’s Law and so we’re like a criminal on the run waiting to be caught, tried and sentenced. We ought to be constantly looking over our shoulder wondering whether God’s going to pitch up and call us to account any moment soon. But we don’t have to be because Jesus can liberate us from the sentence we deserve.

Future

His death and resurrection are part of a piece with his current reign and his future return. At that return he will finish off the job of redemption and we will experience it in a way we’ve only begun to encounter. As good as the Christian life is in this world it’s not all that there is. There’s something even better to look forward to.

Jesus Christ alons provides the costly, effective and future redemption that we need. And so, there are two groups of people for whom this has implications.

First there are those of us who would not yet describe themselves as believers. If you’ve grasped just what’s meant by redemption in Christ then the question for you is this, ‘will you turn to him?’ He has provided a costly, effective and secure redemption from sin and all its dire consequences. And that redemption can be yours. What are you waiting for? What more could he possibly offer you to make it more worthwhile? He can deliver you from a life stained by the captivity, guilt and consequences of sin. Don’t be commitment phobic!

Secondly there are those of us who are happy to describe ourselves as believers. If you‘ve experienced the magnificence of this wonderful redemption then the question for you is ‘will you speak of him?’ We simply should not, cannot and must not keep this news to ourselves. It’s too important for that. We’ve got to have a go at showing people how amazing Jesus our redeemer really is. Even if we make a complete hash of it. Better that than silence!

Under the cover of darkness she set off for her clandestine encounter on the threshing floor. Freshly showered, sweetly smelling and sexually available; it’s no surprise to us that Ruth got her man. This is an account of how to pull. She employs methods as old as the hills. And so should we. Douse yourself in perfume, wait till he’s got his beer goggles on and then jump into bed with the unsuspecting victim.

Well that’s one take on what’s going on. But let me suggest it’s the wrong one.

Forgive me, but this is not a chapter all about how to hatch a plan and catch a man. It’s a chapter about God’s sovereign kindness. In particular it’s about how trust in God’s sovereign kindness will one day lead us to experience God’s rest.

The chapter begins and ends with that word. Although the English word ‘rest’ translates two different words in the original Hebrew, it nevertheless means the same thing.

In (1) Naomi opens the episode by stating her intention to provide ‘rest’ for Ruth. She has in mind the provision of a husband that would secure their future. And in (18) the episode closes with Naomi’s confidence that Boaz will not ‘rest’ until he’s found Ruth a husband.

In one sense the theme of rest has been a concern of the whole book. We’ve noticed before that the book opens by mentioning that these events take place in the time when the Judges ruled. It was a time when the Kingdom of God was characterised by unrest because of the anarchic disobedience of God’s people. But the book ends by taking our eyes forward to a time when the Kingdom of God experienced rest under the rule of Naomi’s great great grandson, David.

The book of Ruth tells us that God employs His sovereign rule in kindness towards His people as he brings sinners into rest.

But so what? What difference does that make to us? We don’t live in the time of the judges and we have much lower expectations for our kings! Our unknown writer wants us to know that if anyone of us here will entrust ourselves to God’s sovereign kindness we will one day experience rest in His eternal kingdom.  There’ll be other things to learn along the way but that’s the single biggest message from this chapter. The rest of God’s physical kingdom is an anticipatory illustration of the future rests that awaits God’s people beyond the grave. We have no idea what the future holds. But this much is certain, everyone here will ultimately end up in one of two conditions; we will either rest with God in heaven or we’ll experience unrest without Him in hell.

Let’s trace the unfolding events as they take place in the narrative.

In the first scene of this episode, Naomi initiates a provocative plan

1. Naomi initiates a provocative plan (1-5)

3:1 Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, should I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you? 2 Is not Boaz our relative, with whose young women you were? See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. 3 Wash therefore and anoint yourself, and put on your cloak and go down to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 But when he lies down, observe the place where he lies. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do.” 5 And she replied, “All that you say I will do.”

There’s no getting away from it, Naomi instigates a sexually provocative plan. It’s fraught with potential complications. We have a single woman in a barn full of farm labourers in good spirits. It’s hardly a recipe for success. It also makes Ruth extremely vulnerable; open to abuse at the hands of inebriated farm labourers. Her proposal is outrageously reckless. And so it’s hard not to think of Naomi as the archetypal scheming Mother in Law who ought to keep her devious meddling to herself.

And yet her actions are understandable. The harvest has come to an end and they’ve entered a season of winnowing. And nothing has happened. At the end of chapter 2 it all looked so promising. Boaz had come completely out of left field. She’d not engineered anything. And she was right to see in the provision of this man the sovereign kindness of God. God’s merciful provision in Deuteronomy 25 and Leviticus 25 made it possible for a near relative to marry and provide them with descendants. It sounds odd to our ears but such a man was known as the kinsman redeemer, because he was a near relative and because he’d rescue them from childlessness. She had every expectation that this man was the guy to rescue them from their predicament.

We were expecting wedding bells and no doubt so was she. But nothing has happened. Boaz was decidedly backward in coming forward. And so she decides to take matters into her own hands.She’s going to give him a prod.

In the second scene of this episode, Ruth offers herself in marriage

2. Ruth offers herself in marriage (6-9)

The scene shifts from the home to the threshing floor. Even the name of the location is suggestive of the possibilities that lie ahead.

6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did just as her mother-in-law had commanded her. 7 And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. Then she came softly and uncovered his feet and lay down. 8 At midnight the man was startled and turned over, and behold, a woman lay at his feet! 9 He said, “Who are you?” And she answered, “I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer.”

If we’re surprised at the brazenness of Naomi’s plan we’re staggered at Ruth’s compliance. Not only does she agree to Naomi’s plan she actually goes through with it. At a superficial level it looks as though Ruth throws herself at Boaz in an act of blatant sexual suggestiveness. But that’s not entirely fair. It’s suggestive but it’s also pure. We’re going to meet her one day and I don’t want to have to apologise for misrepresenting her.  She’s not offering her body for sex but herself for marriage.

Ruth settles near Boaz’s feet in the place of submission and pulls back the blanket. There’s nothing sleazy about this, it’s just a tactic to rouse him from his sleep. He wakes but what will he do? It’s dark and he can’t see what’s going on. He speaks and seeks the identity of his uninvited bedfellow. Ruth answers and it becomes clear that her words interpret her actions. In asking Boaz to spread his wings over her she’s deliberately picking up on his words in chapter 2 when he said that she’d sought refuge under the wings of the Lord. Her appeal is that she might find refuge in Boaz’s arms as she’s found refuge under the Lord’s wings. Her actions were an offer of marriage to one who was qualified to accept it.

In the third scene of this episode, Boaz accepts the role of redeemer

3. Boaz accepts the role of redeemer (10-18)

At this point in the narrative she’s laid her cards out on the table and she waits to see how Boaz responds. The tension is unbearable. And so, Boaz speaks.

10 And he said, “May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter. You have made this last kindness greater than the first in that you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich. 11 And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you ask, for all my fellow townsmen know that you are a worthy woman. 12 And now it is true that I am a redeemer. Yet there is a redeemer nearer than I. 13 Remain tonight, and in the morning, if he will redeem you, good; let him do it. But if he is not willing to redeem you, then, as the Lord lives, I will redeem you. Lie down until the morning.”

14 So she lay at his feet until the morning, but arose before one could recognize another. And he said, “Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.” 15 And he said, “Bring the garment you are wearing and hold it out.” So she held it, and he measured out six measures of barley and put it on her. Then she went into the city. 16 And when she came to her mother-in-law, she said, “How did you fare, my daughter?” Then she told her all that the man had done for her, 17 saying, “These six measures of barley he gave to me, for he said to me, ‘You must not go back empty-handed to your mother-in-law.’” 18 She replied, “Wait, my daughter, until you learn how the matter turns out, for the man will not rest but will settle the matter today.”

This closing scene is all about the provision of a kinsman redeemer. The episode closes with Naomi reassured that one way or another the God of sovereign kindness would provide her with the kinsman redeemer that she hoped for.

We expect it to be Boaz. He asks for God’s blessing to be upon Ruth. He praises for her unexpected kindness for choosing to throw her lot in with him rather than the more youthful alternatives that were available to her.  But we’re being lulled into a false sense of security that this is the happily ever after. But it’s not. There’s a snag. He’s not the nearest next of kin. And now we discover why he’s been so backward in coming forward. There’s another potential redeemer who threatens to derail our developing love story.

Although Boaz reassures Ruth that he will gladly accept the role of kinsman redeemer, He’s a man of honour. And he won’t break the law of God for his personal ends. And yet he reassures her that he’ll deal with the matter as soon as time will allow and sends her home with a token of his ongoing commitment to her welfare.

Conclusion

At the end of the chapter Naomi is confidently expecting the rest from the God of sovereign kindness that she anticipated at the start of the episode. But what are we to make of this? Two things; first, each of these characters represents real faith and secondly, Boaz represents the kinsman redeemer.

a. These characters model faith in God’s sovereign kindness

Naomi’s faith in God’s sovereign kindness leads her to plan. Her deep conviction that God had provided a kinsman redeemer for her did not negate her desire to do something about that. Her faith wasn’t passive pietistic fatalism that did stuff all and said whatever will be, will be. Faith like that can look like godliness, but it’s little more than lethargic inactivity. She was strategic. She planned to do something. There are times in life when it looks as though God has opened a door of opportunity for us. And we say we’re going to give it a gentle push. Naomi doesn’t so much push the door as kick it in. I think she’s great. If we’re convinced that we trust a God of sovereign kindness we can dream big dreams and make bold plans!

Ruth’s faith in God’s sovereign kindness leads her to act. What she did was both risky and risqué. She went alone. Her actions were open to being interpreted as offering illicit sexual activity in a way that verged on indecency.  She had no idea what would happen and how Boaz would respond. It was risky faith. But it wasn’t foolishness. She knew what sort of a man Boaz was and she knew that God had begun to provide for her. And so she trusted God and acted, not knowing how it would end. The Christian life doesn’t come with a roadmap; there isn’t a spiritual Tom Tom that tells us what to do next.  The Christian life comes with a book all about the God of sovereign kindness who calls us to trust him and then to act.

Boaz’s faith in God’s sovereign kindness leads him to wait. Boaz’s self restraint under such circumstances was commendable. It’s the middle of the night, he’s feeling good, she smells nice and everything’s good to go. But he’s a man of integrity. He waits because it’s the right thing to do. It’s right not to touch this woman because all sexual activity outside of marriage is inappropriate. He treats this woman with absolute purity. And that same behaviour should characterize every single bloke here. Whatever mistakes we’ve made in the past, now is the time to resolve to do things differently. We can’t change the past though it can be forgiven. But we can change the future.

But it’s also wrong because there was someone who had a prior claim on being this young woman’s redeemer. He’d love it to be him. But he has to do the right thing, wait patiently and not ignore God’s word.

And so the happy ever after that we’re so desperate to see between Ruth and Boaz will have to wait another chapter. We’d love it to be Boaz but there’s another bloke who might just ruin it. But to see how things turn out, you’ll need to come back next week!

But we’d be missing the point if we thought that this passage was all about our faith. It’s not, the Bible rarely is. It’s about God’s sovereign kindness in providing a kinsman redeemer so that Ruth would know rest.

b. Boaz models God’s kinsman redeemer

Boaz models for us God’s ultimate kinsman redeemer. We don’t need a Boaz but we do need a kinsman redeemer. We need someone like us who can rescue us. Not from singleness but from sin.

There’s a kinsman redeemer for every single one of us and He’s called Jesus Christ. He’s our kinsman; he’s one of us. He’s our redeemer; he came to rescue us. He’s been given to us through the sovereign kindness of God.  Through him each one of us can experience God’s eternal rest. His death deals with our sinfulness and the covering each one of us needs to hide our sins is available in him. We need to cast ourselves at his feet, put ourslevs at his mercy. claim the covering of his blood for our sins and receive his welcome.

Some of us here are making the mistake of obsessing so much about finding our Boaz that we’re in danger of losing sight of what Boaz represents. There’s no doubt he represents the perfect man.  But we won’t find the perfect man in church; you may already have worked that one out! We find the perfect man in Christ. He is what we need above all else. He’s the one who’ll give us a future of rest rather than a future of unrest.

Welcome back to the second instalment of the Old Testament’s very own period drama, a literary genre known by male sceptics as ‘the bonnet job’. This time we rejoin Naomi and Ruth in their rustic surroundings. We’re in the harvest fields outside Bethlehem awaiting the imminent arrival of the handsome farmer. Enter Boaz the rugged bachelor, a part tailor-made for Colin Firth. The sexual tension is palpable. But lest the manly men amongst us are tempted to mentally switch channels, let me reassure you that there is so much more to this than the love story that many find captivating.

This book, crafted by an unknown author, is a wonderful story about how a family calamity is reversed by divine intervention. The book unfolds in four episodes. In the opening scene we meet a destitute childless widow called Naomi. And in the closing scene we meet her again, but this time bouncing a baby on her knee. But were it not for the opening verse and the closing genealogy we might be forgiven for thinking that this is nothing more than a touching tale of divine kindness shown to an isolated widow.

In 1:1 the author locates the events in the time when the Judges ruled. It was a time of chaos; the Kingdom of God was in tatters because of the anarchic disobedience of God’s people.

In 4:22 the author takes our eyes away from Naomi to her great Grandson, David. He wants us to know that just as God preserved this destitute widow so He preserved His rebellious people and gave them rest through the provision of a future king.

And so we need this wonderful story not for what it teaches us about love, or for what it teaches us about personal tragedy but for what it teaches us about God. The purpose of this book is to reassure us of God’s sovereign kindness shown towards His people in preserving them for rest despite their sin.

At the end of chapter 1 we left Naomi drowning in misery but anticipating the harvest. In this episode Ruth experiences the kindness of God; expressed in three ways.

1. Ruth experienced God’s merciful providence (1-7)

2:1 Now Naomi had a relative of her husband’s, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. 2 And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favour.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.” 3 So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech. 4 And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. And he said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you!” And they answered, “The Lord bless you.” 5 Then Boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?” 6 And the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, “She is the young Moabite woman, who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. 7 She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers.’ So she came, and she has continued from early morning until now, except for a short rest.”

Before the action recommences, the writer lets us in on something forgotten by Naomi and unknown by Ruth; there’s a man who’s in a position to help. His name is Boaz.  

We discover that he’s wealthy. He owns land, lots of it and he has farm labourers, lots of them. We discover that he’s godly. He is the type of employer that greets his workers with liturgy!But most importantly we discover that he’s family. He’s related to Elimelech, Naomi’s deceased husband. And so he’s in a position to help. The story is now awash with possibilities. We now know that, but Ruth didn’t.

After this editorial interlude, the author then takes us back to a domestic scene and a brief interchange between Ruth and her Mother in Law, Naomi. Ruth initiates a plan. Presumably she was familiar with the Old Testament provision that instructed landowners to provide for the poor. God’s law, expressed in Leviticus 19:9&10 and Deuteronomy 24:19-22, stipulated that the marginalised and the immigrant should not be overlooked in benefitting from their place in the Promised Land. And so she decides to go to the fields and clear up after the harvesters.

But then a couple of things just happen to occur. Ruth just happens to choose the field belonging to Boaz. And Boaz just happens to choose that day to visit his fields. He came to see how the harvest was going but his attention was distracted elsewhere. It may have been Ruth’s industry that caught his eye, but I have my doubts. As the farm labourer reported, she was undeniably conscientious in her approach to her work. But Boaz is a bachelor and Ruth is a young single woman. You can do the maths. And so the scene is pregnant with expectation.

Though our attention is focussed on the two main actors in this unfolding drama, we must not forget that the chief protagonist lies behind the scenes and has yet to be named. His actions are concealed. But His invisible hand unmistakably guides what occurs. The events that led to Ruth and Boaz meeting are not coincidences. And the author’s understated and ambiguous ‘just happened’ makes that plain. What he hints at here will become explicit through the lips of Naomi in (20). But we must wait for that.

And so Ruth experienced God’s providence and not just His sovereignty. We all experience God’s sovereignty whether we like it or not or whether we acknowledge it or not. God’s comprehensive rule of the whole created order is an inescapable reality. It’s like gravity; we may ignore its existence but that doesn’t stop it being true. And we ignore its reality at our peril.

But God’s providence is his orderly superintendence of all events for the good of those who belong to Him. It’s the way His sovereignty works for His friends. Paul puts it this way in Romans 8, ‘And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good’.

We may not appreciate it, but God is in control of even the tiniest details of our lives. He oversees what happens so that our life turns out just how He intends. And whatever it may feel like to us, the scriptures reassure us that His intentions are good.  

Of course this opens up a discussion of how God’s decisions and our decisions relate. That’s not an issue that we can deal with in any depth this evening. And the author nowhere explains how both operate simultaneously. The Bible instead assumes and describes that God’s sovereign plan and our responsible human decisions operate in such a way that both are compatible and neither compromises the other. It’s a mystery to us how that happens, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true.

But the important point is that God had not abandoned Ruth and Naomi, He was working behind the scenes making sure that they experienced His kindness.And He’s doing the same for us, working towards a great conclusion.

2. Ruth encountered God’s gracious protection (8-13)

This is the central section in the episode. The way the dialogue has been arranged deliberately draws attention to the exchange between Boaz and Ruth. Let’s look at it.

8 Then Boaz 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. 9 Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping, and go after them. Have I not charged the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn.” 10 Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favour in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?” 11 But Boaz answered her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. 12 The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!” 13 Then she said, “I have found favour in your eyes, my lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not one of your servants.”

In Boaz’s actions we see God’s gracious protection of a widowed, impoverished foreign woman.

Boaz permits her to continue gleaning in his field. Boaz promises his personal protection.Boaz provides water for her whenever she needs it. None of these things was required. Boaz is pulling out all the stops. Though he knows otherwise, she thinks she has no claim on him. And yet he goes beyond what the law required of him. His generosity borders on extravagance. And this kindness was motivated not by duty but by compassion. We’ve gone way beyond what the law expected; we’re in the realm of grace. Boaz grounds his gracious protection in Ruth’s commitment to her Mother in Law and her God. In the decision to turn her back on Moab she became one of God’s covenant people and through Boaz God rewarded her trust. It’s not that she earned His protection; it’s just that having sought refuge under His protective wings, that’s what she received.

And Ruth cannot get her head round the fact that she has found favour in the eyes of Boaz. Twice she repeats her astonishment at his gracious protection. It was just so unexpected. Three times in this scene she draws attention to her status as an undeserving foreigner. It’s clear that she wasn’t anticipating this sort of treatment. She cannot believe that life has turned out this way.

I wonder whether we’ve lost some of that wonderment. Ruth is amazed, astonished, bewildered that the Lord should show kindness to her. We just expect it, don’t we? We take it for granted. We may have forgotten just how unusual it is for undeserving foreigners like us to get anything but judgement from the God of the Bible.

3. Ruth enjoyed God’s abundant provision (14-23)

14 And at mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine.” So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed to her roasted grain. And she ate until she was satisfied, and she had some left over. 15 When she rose to glean, Boaz instructed his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. 16 And also pull out some from the bundles for her and leave it for her to glean, and do not rebuke her.”

17 So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. 18 And she took it up and went into the city. Her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also brought out and gave her what food she had left over after being satisfied. 19 And her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean today? And where have you worked? Blessed be the man who took notice of you.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, “The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.” 20 And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!” Naomi also said to her, “The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.” 21 And Ruth the Moabite said, “Besides, he said to me, ‘You shall keep close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’” 22 And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, lest in another field you be assaulted.” 23 So she kept close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

Naomi’s reflections on the incidents in the harvest field provide us with the interpretation of what’s just happened. Greeted by her daughter in law carrying 22 litres of barley and a doggy bag containing the leftovers from lunch with Boaz, she’s roused from the self-pitying inactivity that has characterised her so far.

On receiving the news that Boaz has ridden into town she can hardly contain her excitement. She views her own situation in a completely new light. She recognises the kindness of God in the provision of food and the relative who can redeem them. She breaks into spontaneous prayer as she realises that God has not forsaken her and there’s at least one man that’s in a position to rescue them. Their situation is not hopeless. They can look forward with confidence. And it’s all because of the Lord’s kindness to her.

We must not deceive ourselves into thinking that there is any hope for the future apart from the Lord’s kindness.

The scene closes with the unresolved matter of Boaz’s obligations to Elimelech’s family hanging in the air. If we want to know what happens next, we need to come back next week!

Conclusion

Through the agency of Boaz, Ruth experienced God’s kindness through His providential ordering of life’s events, the gracious protection under the wings of God’s rule and the abundant provision guaranteed for the future.

And that experience can be ours. Just not through Boaz. He’s dead. But there is another godly man, from Bethlehem who provides redemption, to foreigners. We know him as Jesus Christ. If we want to know God’s kindness and experience at first hand his undeserved compassion we will not find it anywhere else. Did you clock Naomi’s words in (22)? It was clear that the Lord’s kindness to them was focussed through Boaz. She warns Ruth not to do anything that would jeopardise their hope for the future. Under no circumstances must she wander off into anyone else’s fields. No one else can do for us what this man can. He’s unique. The redemption that he can provide is found in no one else. Don’t stuff it up by wandering off into someone else’s fields. And there may be some of us here who need to hear the same thing.

But if we’re prepared to turn to Christ the way that Ruth turned to Boaz then salvation will be ours. For if, in this episode, Boaz is a model of Christ then Ruth is the model of a Christian. She exemplifies for us the humble dependence with which we need to approach God. She is the helpless outcast in desperate need of redemption. She must throw herself on the mercy of God. She displays none of the modern preoccupation with rights. She knows she has no rights to stand on. She’s aware that all that she has is due to the kindness of Boaz and ultimately the kindness of God. Let’s beware of expecting blessing from the hand of a God who owes us nothing.

Let’s assume for a moment that God exists. I accept that for some of us that’ll mean that we need to temporarily suspend our disbelief. But let’s assume that the Bible is right on this one. What sort of God does the Bible depict? 

Many people assume that the God of Old Testament is a nasty vindictive vicious male deity. And so the polemical atheist Richard Dawkins, in his book The God Delusion, though untypically forthright in his view, may nevertheless be typical of what many people think. He wrote,

‘The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction; jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sado-masochistic, capriciously malevolent bully’.

Though we’re unlikely to articulate Dawkins’ extreme view on the God of the Old Testament, we may entertain the nagging doubt that whereas the God of the New Testament is all sweetness and light we fear that the God of the Old Testament is anything but. And yet the depiction of God in this little book of Ruth couldn’t be further from that view. The overwhelming impression of God that we gain as we take in what happens is that He is immensely kind.  What permeates this wonderful little story of a relationship between God and one particular woman is God’s sovereign kindness.

Some of us may be familiar with this little book. It’ll only take 25 minutes to read. But I need to warn you that the name we’ve given it is misleading. It’s not really a book about Ruth at all. She’s in it and has an important part to play. But it’s not really about her. It’s about her Mother in Law. It’s about Naomi. It’s a wonderful story about how a family calamity is reversed by divine intervention. And so I guess you ought to say that really it’s a book about God.

The book unfolds in four episodes. In the opening scene we meet a destitute childless widow and in the closing scene we see her again but this time bouncing a bonny baby on her knee. But so what? We don’t need to come to church for a period drama in which hardship comes to a woman only for her to find some sort of redemption through the intervention of a noble bachelor. We could have stayed at home and watched any of one the current ‘bonnet jobs’ on the telly for that.

We need this wonderful story because of what it teaches us about God. The unknown author would have us know that what God did for this woman in taking her from personal emptiness to contented rest, He will also do for His people.

The clue to the purpose of the book lies at the beginning and the end. Were it not for the opening verse and the closing genealogy we might be forgiven for thinking that this is nothing more than a touching tale of divine kindness shown to an isolated widow.

In 1:1 the author locates the events in the time when the judges ruled. This was the period of time about 400 years after Israel had entered the land under the Joshua and before there were any kings, roughly about 1500 to 1100 BC. It was a time of chaos. We need only turn back a page to see that [Judges 21:25]. The kingdom of God was in tatters because of the anarchic disobedience of God’s people.

In 4:22 the author takes our eyes away from Naomi to her great Grandson, David. He wants us to know that just as God preserved this destitute widow so He preserved His people and gave them contented rest through the provision of a future king. And so it’s no surprise that this book is nestled between Judges which records the turmoil and 1 Samuel that records David’s ascendancy to the throne. The purpose of this book is to reassure us not only of God’s sovereign rule over His people but His sovereign kindness towards His people.

Let’s look at the first chapter.

[1] In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. [2] The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there.  [3] But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons.  [4] These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years, [5] and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.

The story opens with a dubious decision that leads to divine discipline. At one level the decision of Elimelech is perfectly understandable. Which of us wouldn’t do the same thing? There was a famine and so in Bethlehem, a name meaning ‘the house of bread’, there was anything but. The famine was probably the result of God’s judgment on his wayward people, in Old Testament times they often were. And so it may have arisen through drought or it may trace its occurrence to the marauding invaders that were God’s instruments in his discipline.

Elimelech made the decision to take his family to Moab, a foreign country about 50 miles to the south east across the Dead Sea. At that stage there was his wife, Naomi whose name means ‘pleasant’ and their two sons, Mahlon which means ‘sickly’ and Chillion which means ‘failing’. You just know that things aren’t going to turn out well for those boys!

Though the decision to seek food for his family was understandable, it was also questionable. Moab was Israel’s historic enemy. This was a nation whose king Eglon had pressed Israel into servitude for 18 years. This was a nation whose god Chemosh demanded human sacrifices. This was not the place for God’s people.  Deuteronomy 23 records an explicit prohibition in the Mosaic Law excluding Moabites from participating in the gathering of God’s people. Association with these people was something to be avoided. But these were the days when everyone did as they saw fit. And Elimelech was no different.

And so it’s ironic that the man whose name means ‘my God is King’ rejects God’s sovereign authority and heads out in defiance. It’s hard to work out whether Elimelech was turning his back on the Lord as he fled to Moab. For my money he wasn’t. It was just that he was worldly. Material comforts were too high on his list and he wasn’t prepared to suffer under the hardships of God’s rightful discipline. I bet if he could have his time again he wouldn’t make the same decision.

God was anything but King in Elimelech’s decision making process. And he paid for it. He died and though his sons took local wives they too died. And so Naomi, Orpah and Ruth shared the bitter misery of burying their husbands.

At the end of the opening scene Naomi is elderly, widowed, childless and destitute. She’s lost everything it would seem. The author accentuates her emptiness by leaving her unnamed. She is ‘the woman’. It’s as though she’s even had her identity stripped away.

[6] Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had visited his people and given them food.  [7] So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.  [8] But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me.  [9] The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!" Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept.  [10] And they said to her, "No, we will return with you to your people."  [11] But Naomi said, "Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands?  [12] Turn back, my daughters; go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, [13] would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me."  [14] Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. [15] And she said, "See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law."  [16] But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.  [17] Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you."  [18] And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.

The turning point in the story comes when, in the fields of Moab, Naomi hears news of divine grace. Back in the Promised Land, the Lord had intervened and the famine had ended. She decides to return. At one level it’s a sensible decision because this is where she belongs, but it’s also a spiritual decision; it’s a move back to the Lord. The author emphasises this through the repeated use of the word ’return’. It comes, I think, ten times. It indicates more than a change of direction; it indicates a change of heart. It’s the word that the prophets use to mean repentance. The author wants us to know that the return to her home is also a return to her God. If the journey away from Israel was a journey of rebellion then the journey away from Moab is a journey of repentance.

But it’s not a journey that Naomi will persuade her daughters in law to take with her. They’ve been through everything together but she can’t ask them to sacrifice their futures by sticking with her. She knows that she won’t be able to provide for them what they need; namely husbands. And so she encourages them to go back to their homeland.

And so the two women face a decision; they’re at a crossroads in their personal lives. The opportunity is there to go back to their people, their old customs and most significantly their old gods. It’s the familiar way, it’s the popular way but it’s not necessarily the right way. The right way is to press ahead to a new future with God and His people in His Promised Land.

Orpah counts the cost and it’s too high a price to pay. She can’t see the value of continuing with the Lord as her God and so she walks away. Not so Ruth. Her decision to go to Israel with Naomi is borne from a converted heart, perhaps through the faithful witness of her husband. This is her resolute confession that she is committed to the sovereign ruler of all.

3. Naomi expressed her bitterness (19-21)

[19] So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. And the women said, "Is this Naomi?"  [20] She said to them, "Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for (1) the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.  [21] I went away full, and (2) the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when (3) the Lord has testified against me and (4) the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?"

This opening episode ends with Naomi back in Bethlehem. There’s no doubt in her mind that her emptiness is a direct result of God’s discipline. In four different ways she expresses the same basic idea; her circumstances are the direct result of the Lord’s hand. Her longing to be called ‘Mara’, which means bitter, is not simply that she wants acknowledgement of the bitter events that have accompanied her life so far. It’s that she wants it to be known that she feels bitter about it. 

It’s clear therefore that her repentance is imperfect. She may have returned physically but she has a way to go spiritually. She couldn’t be more different to Ruth who willingly submits to God’s sovereign rule; Naomi’s submission is tinged with sullenness. But we’re all work in progress and this is not the end of the story for Naomi.

But like many who find themselves in circumstances far from their choice she exaggerates the negative state of her condition. I don’t want to pretend for a moment that she hadn’t been through hardship. But what she says simply isn’t true. She hasn’t returned home empty. She has a daughter in law who has forsaken everything and pledged her future. Ruth promises greater loyalty than we expect in marriage. Not even Naomi’s death will sever her commitment. But that seems to have passed Naomi by.

It’s a travesty that God as acted with unimaginable kindness to Naomi through the provision of Ruth but that she cannot see it. Wouldn’t it be awful if we were to make the same mistake?

Conclusion

[22] So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.

The first episode closes with a scene from Bethlehem. But paradoxically, it’s an end with a beginning. Naomi is back in the Promised Land but the barley harvest is a portent of something new on the horizon. But you’ll need to read the next post for that!

As we close it’s worth saying that there’s something to be learned from each of the major characters.

From Elimelech we learn how to be a useless bloke. Perhaps that’s overstating it! But he’s supposed to be leading his family in godliness and yet he leads them in rebellion. He’s a disgrace. He’s a useless husband and a useless father. And we need to aim higher than that. Goldy male leaders is what our families, our churches and society most deperately need so step up to the plate and make it happen.

From Ruth we learn what is to be an ideal woman. Her faith in God sees beyond the present bitter setbacks of losing a husband and father in law. She’s wonderfully free from the security and comfort of this world. She repudiates the comfortable familiarity and yet idolatry of home. She has courage to venture into the unknown and the unfamiliar travelling to a land she’s never seen and a people she’s never been part of. She expresses radical commitment to relationships with an intensity that we’d love to see replicated.

From Naomi we learn what it is to run away from the Lord and then come back home. Her journey represents the journey of rebellion that each of us has once been on or are still undertaking. It’s a journey that ends in ultimate bitterness and destitution.  But it’s a journey that can be reversed. We can do what she did and hear how good it is to be back with the Lord and His people and return. If you’ve left the Lord behind, return and do it now!

But perhaps the single most important lesson we should learn is about God. He is the unseen actor working behind the scenes to rescue Naomi from personal destitution. He is the sovereign ruler but He’s more than that. He’s unbelievably kind to us if only we’d see it. Despite the bitterness of our own personal circumstances, one look at God’s determination to bring us back to Himself expressed in the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ, should convince us beyond any reasonable doubt of His unbelievably kindness. That’s a world away from Dawkins accusation.

we had a great semon last night in Evening Church from our Assistant Minister, Pete Matthew. He’s preaching his way through the three parables in Matthew 25 in preparation for our Christianity Explored course. The first two sermons have been hugely stimulating.

Here are his really helpful points

1. Jesus has invested the gospel in us (14-18)

2. Jesus expects us to use his investment (19-23)

3. Jesus will judge those who ignore his investment (24-30)

It’s incredible that Jesus has entrusted to us responsibility for his kingdom project. In his absence Jesus expects us to use our time, ability and opportunties for the growth of the Kingdom. As Pete pointed out, notwithstanding the gift of his Spirit, that’s a risky investment. Weak and sinful as we are, Jesus has left us in charge of building the Kingdom of God and he expects us to go to work. Some might argue that there’s a wonderfully attractive recklessness to Jesus’ investment. I think it was Blackadder who said ‘I wouldn’t trust him to sit the right way on a toilet seat’. And I can’t help feeling that somewhere in the heavenly realms the thought must have crossed the minds of at least one of the supernatural beings that the same thing could be said about me! It’s true that Jesus has taken a massive punt in leaving the building project in our hands. But what an opportunity! I’d love the life that God has given me to really count for something. And it can. In partnership with Christ and with his people I can be involved in constructing something that’ll last forever.

What I don’t want to be is the last of the three servants, the one Pete spoke about in his last point. There was a man who showed by his neglect of kingdom building what he thought of the master, his investment and the whole project. Every time I hear those chilling words of judgement ‘you wicked and slothful servant’ they unsettle me. And I’m a believer! To be the worthless ’servant’ who is cast into the outer darkness where they will weep and gnash their teeth for all eternity is a frightening thought. But to hear the risen Lord Jesus, our project manager say to me ‘well done good and faithful servant’ will be out of this world!

We’re working our way through the book of Job in All Age Church this term. Sadly we can only take in the selected highlights. A wholesale exegetical immersion into all 42 chapters would probably kill the congregation and almost certainly me. As a result I’m trying to read anything that’s useful  to help me get to grips with a book that frankly scares the living daylights out of me. It’s a combination of the size and the poetry that I find overwhelming. And then there are the issues!

I spent a productive morning in Café Nerro reading Don Carson’s chapter ‘Job: Mystery and Faith’ in his book on suffering, How Long, O Lord?

He makes six observations on the first three chapters of the book.

1. There’s no denial of divine sovereignty
The account of the exchange between God and Satan in the prologue shows that the suffering inflicted upon Job came within the limitations of God’s permission. In other words the book won’t tolerate the dualism of much contemporary evangelicalism that attempts to get God off the hook by saying that suffering isn’t His will, it’s the fault of humanity or the work of Satan. Much suffering is the fault of humanity and Job’s suffering is the work of Satan but only because God has permitted these things to occur. Therefore the problem of suffering is even more acute than we may have understood. At first sight it appears to cast doubt on the goodness of God’s character.

2. There’s such a thing as innocent suffering
The emphasis in the prologue on Job’s blamelessness is meant to highlight the fact that there is such a thing as innocent suffering. Three times in these opening chapters we’re reminded that Job is ‘blameless and upright, one who feared God and who turned away from evil’. And so there is such a thing as suffering that’s not directly related to any sin. Of course there’s an indirect link between all suffering and the consequences of the fall. But that’s not the issue here. No one is arguing that this isn’t a fallen world. But just because this world is under the judgement of God doesn’t mean that there’s no such thing as innocent suffering. Job shows clearly that there is.

3. There’s no substitute for facing suffering
The degree to which we struggle with the question of innocent suffering is likely to be related to the extent of our on sufferings. We can prepare for the issue by thinking about it ahead of the game. But there’ll be a pressing poignancy about the issue of suffering when we’re in it. Carson uses the illustration of jumping into a mountain lake. We can stand on the water’s edge, know that the water is cold and mentally brace ourselves for it. But we no real idea just what it’s like until we’ve dived in, our hearts have nearly stopped and we can hardly breathe!

4. There’s no issue with Job’s speeches
It’s hard to accept given the way that Job expresses himself that God has no issue with what he said. But that’s God’s own assessment after all has been said and done (42:7). And so God permits us extraordinary liberty of expression in the midst of our personal anguish. He allows us to voice our despair, confess our loss of hope, articulate our sense of futility and express our lamentations. Job is a million miles away from the stoic British stiff upper lip with which we so often respond. Carson writes, ‘within certain boundaries … it is far better to be frank about our grief, honest with our questions, than to suppress them and wear a public front of puffy piety’.

5. There’s no way Job knew what was happening
Job hadn’t the foggiest about the incident that took place in the heavenly realms. Job went through the whole experience completely unaware that he had become the battleground for spiritual warfare. God’s intent in accepting the challenge from Satan was to show that it’s possible for someone to have faith in God without expecting swift reward. If Job had known that in advance the whole premise of Satan’s challenge would have been undermined. From Job’s perspective he endured suffering in the face of inscrutable mystery.

6. There’s something commendable about Job
Job’s laments must be placed within the right framework. He struggles to comprehend what’s happening to him. He challenges God to provide him with some satisfactory explanation. He expresses his heartfelt frustration with the way God has treated him. At no point does he deny his trust in God. Job’s struggles are the struggles of a believer. And that’s why God commends him.