"A Future and A Hope"

9.30am Sunday 20 December 2009

Matthew 1:5b-6a; Ruth 1:1-19a; 3:1-11a; 4:13, 17b TNIV

 

This morning we come to the third woman mentioned in Matthew's account of the lineage of Jesus, the daughter-in-law of Rahab whom we considered two weeks ago, a woman by the name of Ruth. Her name means 'vision of beauty' and although no reference is made anywhere of her physical beauty, she certainly had an inner beauty that shines through all she said and did. We read part of her story from the book that bears her name. It is a beautiful story in its own right, but within it as we will see lies a message that rightly deserves the title, "A future and A Hope.'

 

We know from the opening verse, where it says, "In the days that the judges ruled...," and from the fact that it follows on immediately after the book of Judges, that the events it records took place during the time when Judges ruled Israel. In fact Ruth may have been part of the Book of Judges to begin with. In its four chapters we find all the marks of a good story. It begins with hard times in Israel as famine ravaged the land, causing Elimelek to take his wife and two sons to live in the country of Moab. This move is quickly followed by tragedy when Elimelech dies. Naomi's two sons marry Moabite women which may have been a source of grievance to her, and approximately ten years later tragedy strikes again when both of her sons die. In the space of five verses we have a family reduced to three widows, which according to those times left them in a very vulnerable state.

 

In contrast to this the story has a happy ending with the celebration of a good harvest, the marriage of Ruth to Boaz, and the birth of a son who not only carries on Naomi's husband's family name, but who also becomes the grandfather of King David, and later still the ancester of the Messiah. It is an amazing turn of events, initiated by God. In 1:6 it reads, "...the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing them with food...," which causes Naomi to return to Bethlehem with Ruth accompanying her; and then in 4:13 when it says after Ruth's marriage to Boaz, "...the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son,"[1] after having been childless during the ten years of her marriage to Mahlon. When God steps into the picture the impossible happens. As such it is an appropriate story for this fourth Sunday in Advent when the theme for today is 'JOY,' albeit for Ruth and Naomi, a joy born out of times of deep sorrow.

 

There is a touch of irony in the story in that Elimelech and his family leave Bethlehem which means 'house of bread' to look for a better life in a foreign land, and eventually find happiness when Naomi returns with Ruth to the place she left.

 

What can we learn from this story of love and devotion that can inspire us as we journey toward Christmas 2009.

 

Note first the re-occuring theme that we identified in the stories of Tamar and Rahab, namely, God's concern for the vulnerable and marginalised of society. Tamar, as a widow was placed in a very precarious position in her day. Having been widowed twice to two brothers would have placed a stigma on her name to start with, to the extent that there was little likelihood of her ever marrying and having children of her own. And yet through her own unorthodox initiative she was enabled to have children who would not only carry on Judah's family name and care for her when she was old, but also through whom Israel's Messiah would trace his lineage. Rahab likewise, as a prostitute, would have lived on the margins of society of her day. Her profession was tolerated but despised, and she would likely have been ostracised by her people. But God had a place for her, too, in his plan to redeem the world. Honouring her courage and trust in God when she hid the Israelite spies and ensured they escaped to safety, she won a place among the Bible's heroes of faith. There will be many more surprises in heaven as we discover other unlikely persons numbered among God's own.

 

Ruth, like Tamar and Rahab, was a foreigner to God's promises to Israel. As a woman of Moab, in choosing to go with Naomi she would have been ostracised by those in her adopted country. Although the Law demanded that the Israelites show kindness to foreigners, the Moabites were one nation that the Lord said his people were to treat as enemies because they had deceived them into sexual immorality when Balaam tried to curse them.[2] No matter how hard Ruth tried, nothing could alter the fact that she was not 'one of them.' It was a particularly courageous act to stay with an older woman, and more so that she was her mother-in-law, as daughters-in-law and mothers-in-law do not always get on well together, and also to embrace the faith of the family she married into. But like Rahab, God honoured her stand, and is a reminder to us that God's kindness embraces all humankind. He does not have favourites and does not show partiality.[3]

 

Note the words that Ruth uses to declare her determination to accompany Naomi back to Bethlehem. "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 God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me."[4] These words are often read at weddings to signify the depth of commitment a couple make to each other. Some people have a problem with using these words in that way as they were spoken by a daughter-in-law to her mother-in-law, but they do catch the significance of the words in the marriage service when it says, "till death do us part." For Ruth her commitment to Naomi went even beyond death. Ruth forsakes her country and kindred to start a new life among Naomi's people. There will be no turning back, not even when Naomi dies, for she wants to be buried where Naomi is buried. The most significant part of what she says is her declaration of faith in Naomi's God. She is committing her life not only to Naomi, but also to the God of Israel. Obviously they must have spoken about these things, and what Ruth had learned through her marriage to Mahlon and thus becoming part of Naomi's family led her to forsake her own gods and make this radical commitment. She determined from that time onward to identify herself with Israel's God and Israel's people. We must never underestimate the power of the witness of godly family living in commending the gospel to others.

 

Word of Ruth's commitment to Naomi and to the God of Israel soon becomes known in Bethlehem. Boaz mentions it in his first meeting with Ruth after she came to pick up the left-over grain in his harvest field. Note his words to her on that occasion. "I've been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before." Many of you have done this and know that it is not an easy transition to make, particularly at the start. You will be able to identify with what Ruth must have experienced in those early days back in Bethlehem. Everything was strange and unfamiliar apart from Naomi herself. Then note the blessing Boaz pronounces on Ruth: "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."[5] It is a beautiful image that Boaz uses to describe what Ruth had done. She had placed herself under the Lord's protection and Boaz blesses her for that. Psalm 91 speaks of the blessings that come from doing this: "Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty... He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge... If you say, 'The Lord is my refuge,' and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways..."[6] God, who is "able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine...,"[7] abundantly provides for and protects those who entrust themselves to his care as Ruth did. Would Ruth have ever imagined when she made the decision to go with Naomi and worship her God and live among her people that she would marry and that her son, Obed, would be the grandfather of Israel's most famous King, David, and included in the ancestral line of Israel's Messiah? God will provide for you and protect you when you commit yourself to his care. You can count on it. But there are those who choose not to, among them many of God's chosen people. We know this from when Jesus expressed his sorrow that the city of David, Jerusalem, refused to receive him as their king. He uses the same image as Boaz when he said: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing."[8] God never forces his kindness on people. It is always there, constant, waiting patiently for his wayward children to respond, "...not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."[9]

 

This is the first thing we can learn from the beautiful story - God will bless, provide and protect you when you place yourself in his care. The second very important image that this book uses and which secures its place in salvation history is the image of the 'kinsman redeemer.' We find this in Chapter three when following the instructions of her mother-in-law Naomi, Ruth goes to the threshing floor after the harvest celebrations are over and the men are sleeping, and lies at the feet of Boaz. When boaz stirs in the middle of the night he is startled to discover a woman lying there! The Hebrew said he 'trembled.' When he recovers from his shock and asks who it is, Ruth replies: "I am your servant Ruth. Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a family guardian."[10] Here we find two features of the laws and life of ancient Israel which are strange to us in Western society. The first we saw in the story of Tamar on the first Sunday of Advent where the 'brother-in-law' of a childless widow agrees to marry her so that the name of the dead brother can be perpetuated through the children of his wife's second marriage. It is the brother-in-law fulfilling a family duty as next of kin. In this story Boaz does this for Mahlon, Naomi's dead son.

 

The second practice relates to the word translated here "family guardian." It is the Hebrew word 'goel' which can be translated "next of kin," and means "the one with the right to redeem." In Hebrew society there existed a strong sense of family responsibility. Family members were to care for and protect each other, and in certain circumstances to act as a 'redeemer' when a family member was in need. In Leviticus 25 we see an example of the instructions for situations in which the 'goel' was to act on behalf of the family. This had to do with redeeming property that had been sold thus preventing its loss to the family. The 'goel' was also to redeem a family member who because of hardship had been forced to sell himself as a slave. One of the 'goel's' most solemn responsibilities was that of avenging the murder of a kinsman. Further, the 'goel' acted as a trustee when restitution payments were due for a wrong caused by the actions of one of his kinsman.

 

The special emphasis of this role for Israel reflected the special covenant relationship that existed between God and his people. In a number of places in the Old Testament we see the Lord acting as 'kinsman redeemer' for Israel. For example when God called Moses to tell Pharoah to let his people go, He told Moses to say to his people, "I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you (that is, act as your 'goel') with an outstretched arm and mighty acts of judgment."[11] The same was true when they were in exile in Babylon. Through Isaiah chapters 40-55 and in Jeremiah we see this same message coming through his prophets words bringing hope to his despondent and discouraged people. Jeremiah speaking of Israel's God proclaims, "Yet their Redeemer is strong; the Lord Almighty is his name. He will vigorously defend their cause..."[12] God stands by the oppressed and the poor.

 

However this redemption does not come cheap. There is a price tag to it. This word carries within it the sense of payment, sometimes the payment of a ransom. For example Isaiah 52:10 - "The Lord will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all nations..." - and then what follows in Isaiah 53 implies that the redemption of God's people is costly. Again in Isaiah 43 this cost is highlighted: "For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead. Since you are precious and honoured in my sight, and because I love you, I will give the nations in exchange for you, and peoples in exchange for your life."[13] Ruth's redemption by Boaz is also costly. It was a personal sacrifice on his behalf to carry out his duty as her 'goel.' In thinking of this term we need to hold two things together, both the relationship aspect of redeeming and its cost. Redemption comes at a price.

 

But then think of the blessing it brought Ruth. When she came to Bethlehem with Naomi her future prospects were grim, but because Boaz was willing to fulfil his responsibility as 'kinsman redeemer' she now had a future and a hope. Ruth's situation is exactly the same as ours. This is what Paul meant when he wrote in Ephesians 2: "...remember at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship of Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ."[14] One of the purposes of this little book in our Bibles is to expound the meaning of redemption. In the actions of Boaz we see foreshadowed the saving work of Jesus Christ. A new family has been created by the intervention of our Kinsman Redeemer. We are adopted into God's family and therefore are 'children of God.' As Paul continues in Ephesians 2: "Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household... And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit."[15] Jesus Christ is our 'goel', like Boaz was for Ruth. We are related to him thourgh creation and through his baptism when he identified himself with sinful humanity, and is able and willing to redeem us with his own life blood. As we rejoice in what Boaz did for Ruth, so we can rejoice in God's provision in Christ for our redemption and including us within his new creation. Like Ruth after her marriage to Boaz, we now belong! We have a future and a hope!

 

There is a beautiful anticipation of what Jesus would do for us in Ruth's words to Boaz, "...spread the corner of your garment over me," for when we receive him into our lives we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ,[16] and brought into right standing with God.

 

When Ruth put her trust in the living God, she received a future and a hope far more wonderful than she have ever thought possible; and so too do you and I when we put our trust in Jesus Christ, a descendant of Ruth's and this world's Saviour!