Ruth 2 - A Generous God

Well, I hope you are ready for a great love story to begin as we continue in the Book of Ruth, and we're in Ruth chapter two today. Yesterday, what we went over was during the time of the Judges.

There was a family, and they were from Bethlehem in Judah, a town that's not unfamiliar to us now. It was just a little place of not a ton going on back here in Israel.

But this family, there was a famine in the land, and they didn't really follow through with what God had said. And hey, when there comes times of famine or need, like call out to me, don't run off to other lands. Like, depend on God.

And they didn't do that. They went to the land of Moab. A husband, a wife, and their two boys, it was Elimelech, Naomi, and their two boys, Malon and Kilian, Sickly and Weak or Failing were the boys' names, and Elimelech and the two boys died.

But the two boys' wives, Orpah and Ruth, they said to Naomi, like, hey, we'll continue on with ya. And Naomi said, there's nothing that I can do for you guys, so go back to your own families, go back to your gods.

And Orpah went, but Ruth said, I am not leaving you. And so they made their way back to Bethlehem, and the people there were excited to see Naomi again. They hadn't seen her for about 10 years or so.

And Naomi said, don't call me Naomi anymore, a name that means pleasant, but she says my name is Mara, it is bitterness. And that's where we left off yesterday, at the beginning of the barley harvest is when Naomi and Ruth came.

And one of the things that was unique for Israel as opposed to many other nations was God had a specific care for the resident alien, for the poor, for those that were in need.

And so he had things set up in the law in Leviticus and in Deuteronomy and in Exodus that said, okay, if you've got a field that you've planted, you've got crops, here are the areas that you can't touch of your own field.

He says, because I have set this aside for those that are in need, that they would gather from those portions of land. And so that's the exact situation that Naomi and Ruth are in. And so we're gonna see that play out as we continue forward.

Chapter two and verse number one. Now Naomi had a relative on her husband's side. He was a prominent man of noble character from a limelight family.

His name was Boaz. Here a prominent man that he held great esteem in this area and with these people. This is a real standup guy.

You know, this might be a person that you look to and you go, oh man, like that's a great guy. He's got a lot of land or he's got a lot of crops. He's a good guy.

He's rich, all that kind of stuff. So he's a prominent man, but it says a prominent man of noble character. That he wasn't just a well-known guy, he was a good man.

And all of that's gonna come into play. His name was Boaz. Ruth the Moabitess asked Naomi, will you let me go into the fields and gather fallen grain behind someone with whom I find favor?

She goes, hey, I'm gonna help provide for us. Naomi answered her, go ahead, my daughter. So Ruth left and entered the field to gather grain behind the harvesters.

She happened to be in the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was from a limelight family.

What the author here is putting in is something that actually we looked at in the Book of Leviticus, the family redeemer, the kinsman redeemer who could buy the property of the, who could buy property that had gone away from a person that had fallen

on hard times, they had to sell the land, or they had to go into indentured servitude, some things like that, that a family redeemer, a kinsman redeemer, in some older translations, is the one that could buy back what had once belonged to another

person. So, those seeds are being dropped all the way through. Verse four. Later, when Boaz arrived from Bethlehem, he said to the harvesters, Yahweh be with you. Yahweh bless you, they replied.

Boaz asked his servant, who was in charge of the harvesters, whose young woman is this? The servant answered, she is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the territory of Moab.

She asked, will you let me gather fallen grain among the bundles behind the harvesters? She came and has been on her feet since early morning, except that she rested a little in the shelter. So he goes, hey, who is that girl?

Like I don't recognize her. Like she doesn't, she's not one of my servants, like not one of the people that I care for, that I house, that I feed, that I whatever. So he goes, who is this?

And he goes, man, she's a hard worker. She's been going through, she's a foreign woman. And yet she is here participating in an Israelite custom.

And she's been working hard all day. Verse number eight, then Boaz said to Ruth, listen, my daughter, this is a term of endearment of care. Maybe today, hey, hon.

Or something, this is a term of endearment. This isn't a, oh, I don't know quite how to phrase it. It sounds weird to our culture, but this is a just formal literal translation of yes, this is daughter.

So he says, listen, my daughter, don't go and gather grain in another field and don't leave this one, but stay here close to my female servants. See which field they are harvesting and follow them.

Haven't I ordered the young men not to touch you or harass you? He says, when you are thirsty, go and drink from the jars the young men have filled. Okay, couple things to look at here in verses eight and nine.

So he says, don't go to like other people's fields and gather from them. He says, you stick here with my fields and wherever my female servants, wherever they're going and picking up grain and stuff, he says, just follow wherever they're going.

And he says, basically, I've put a definite whatever on all of the harvesters and stuff, all of the harvesting guys. None of them is going to, if you will, none of them's gonna cat call you, none of them's gonna whatever.

He basically says, I put the fear of God in them, nothing's going to happen to you here. And if you're thirsty, you go get water from where my young men like, they have their jars of water that they bring over that they drink from throughout the day.

He says, you use that. So here he's caring for her. Verse 10, she fell face down, bowed to the ground and said to him, why have I found favor with you?

So that you notice me although I am a foreigner. Boaz answered her, everything you have done for your mother-in-law since your husband's death has been fully reported to me.

How you left your father and mother and your native land, you didn't, and how you came to a people you didn't previously know. May Yahweh reward you for what you have done.

And may you receive a full reward from Yahweh, God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge. Man, what an amazing couple of verses there. I want to mention it now just so I don't lose it for later.

Boaz, in this book, is a wonderful picture of Jesus for us. That we were not God's people. We were alienated from him.

We were not in covenant with him. And yet, because of Jesus, because of the kinsman redeemer, because of the family redeemer, we have been adopted. We've been brought into the family.

We have been cared for. I think in verses 8 and 9 that he's the one that says, hey, don't go gathering in the fields of other gods. He says, you can come and you can receive from my goodness, from my blessing, from my abundance.

He says, I have made it so that you can have everything that you need right here in my presence, in relationship with me. And verse number 10, where Ruth says, why have I found favor with you so that you notice me, although I am a foreigner?

That we have found grace, we have found favor with God because of Jesus, even though we were afar off, even though we were not the people of God, that God has given us his favor.

And here he says, hey, like your love for Naomi, how you left your father and mother in your native land, she, if you will, repented of following the way that everyone else was going, just following the way that would have been natural to her, and

she turned to the God of Israel. Verse 12, may Yahweh reward you for what you have done. And may you receive a full reward from Yahweh, God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge. You can come to the God of Israel.

You can come to Jesus for refuge. If sin is tearing down your life, you can come to Him. If it is sadness and grief that is destroying you, as it was Naomi, as it was Ruth, you can come to Him for refuge.

If you feel as though everyone has abandoned you, you can come to Jesus, and He will never ever turn you away. You can come under His wings for refuge.

Verse 13, my Lord, she said, I have found favor with you, for you have comforted and encouraged your servant although I am not like one of your female servants. She says, like, you're not responsible for me.

You don't house me, you don't feed me, you don't make sure that I have, you know, shoes or clothing or all that kind of stuff like you would for those that were servants in your house. She says, I'm not one of that, and yet you're caring for me.

You're saying everything that my servants have that they normally do and that takes care of them throughout the day, you get to be involved in all of that as well. And so she says, thank you. You have encouraged me.

Verse 14, at mealtime, Boaz told her, come over here and have some bread and dip it in the vinegar sauce. So she sat beside the harvesters that she's brought into this family of people that the kinsman redeemer cares for.

And he offered her roasted grain. She ate and was satisfied and had some left over. Here God is providing and her needs are met and she has even more than she could want.

Had some left over. Man, I think of Jesus that he did this when the people were in need of God's word and he fed the 4,000 and then later the 5,000. And they had everything that they needed and there was 12 basketfuls left over.

Verse 15, when she got up to gather grain, Boaz ordered his young men, let her even gather grain among the bundles. He says, not just like on the outskirts of the field, like was normal, like God had said.

He says, but I even want you to let her go right after you guys. He says, and don't humiliate her. He says, there's gonna be no trash talking, no nothing.

He says, you answer to me if you mistreat this girl. Man, I think of Jesus that he is our defender.

He's the one that has promised that when we are, when we've had injustice done to us, when there are wrongs that are done to us, when people malign us or speak evil about us, that he says, I'm the one that's going to defend you.

I'm the one that's gonna have vengeance. And here this is Boaz going, hey, I am telling you, like, this one, you are good, you are nothing but good to her. Verse 16, pull out some stocks from the bundles for her and leave them for her to gather her.

Don't rebuke her. Don't be like, hey, give us some space. He says, no, no, no, no.

Like, let her get all of the good stuff. Intentionally drop good things for her to get. Verse 17, so Ruth gathered grain in the field until evening.

She beat out what she had gathered, and it was about 26 quarts of barley. She picked up the grain and went into the town where her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She brought out what she had left over from her meal and gave it to her.

Her mother-in-law said to her, where did you gather barley today? And where did you work? May Yahweh bless the man who noticed you.

Like, that is an insane amount of food, 26 quarts of barley for just one day of work. Ruth told her mother-in-law whom she had worked with and said, the name of the man I worked with today is Boaz.

Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, may Yahweh bless him because he has not abandoned his kindness to the living or the dead. Before she said, like, God has dealt bitterly with me.

And now she's going, God, you've been good to me, both to the living and the dead, like you're still caring for Olamalek and Malone and Killian by taking care of Naomi and Ruth. Naomi continued here in verse 20, the man is a close relative.

He is one of our family redeemers. He's one of the ones that can purchase back all of the things that used to belong to Olamalek that he can pay for all of those.

Verse 21, Ruth the Moabitess said, he also told me, stay with my young men until they have finished all of my harvest.

Verse 22, so Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, Ruth, my daughter, it is good for you to work with his female servants so that nothing will happen to you in another field.

She goes, there's safety here when you are with this family redeemer, the kinsmen redeemer. Ruth stayed close to Boaz's female servants and gathered grain until the barley and the wheat harvests were finished, and she lived with her mother-in-law.

Man, I can't wait for tomorrow. Chapter three is wonderful, but what can we learn from this chapter?

Obviously, Jesus is the point of whatever passage in Scripture that we can go to, and He is so clearly seen here, that He cares for us, that He provides for our every need, that He gives us so much more than we need to just survive.

Man, I think even as I sit here in an office, that I don't have to rent, that God has provided this office.

So many of these books that you even see behind me were gifts from friends like Pastor Ron and others, Christmas gifts from dear friends that gave things to me just out of kindness and love and care for their heart.

I have a car that got arranged so that my wife and I could be able to have it, especially during a time when we weren't making as much money and could have been a great financial difficulty, and God worked in amazing ways through wonderful people.

The place where we're able to live has enough room for my family. I have a wife that is beyond my wealth. She's beyond my wildest dreams.

And two amazing kids, a church family that has been so good to me. And just God has given me so much more than I deserve. And He wants to do the same for you.

He wants to remind you of what He's done in your life, that though we were His enemies, He loved us. He died for us. He redeemed us.

He didn't just redeem us with money or with grain or barley. He redeemed us with His blood. He died for us.

He has brought us into His family. He has given us His Holy Spirit to eternally protect us. He has given us all riches in Christ Jesus in heavenly places.

He has given us the Gospel, the Ministry of Reconciliation to be able to share with others. There is no God like our God. He is so good.

He has given us everything that we need and so much more. The worst things that could ever come against us in life, the worst that we could ever experience, death, is just a gateway to see Him. What a wonderful, amazing God that we serve.

Do you know Him personally? Do you worship Him? Do you trust in Him?

Do you follow Him? Do you appreciate Him? Do you thank God for what He has given you?

From Ruth to like, we've got a good God who takes care of us. Today, will you acknowledge that? And will you appreciate what He has given?

Tomorrow, more amazing things to come. Chapter 4 is also amazing. But I'll stop for today.

Thank you for tuning in. And I hope that you would be grateful for everything that God has given you. Family, friends, possessions, your daily sustenance, and your job or the job that you used to have.

God providing for you to be in this place where you live.

That, you know, though America isn't perfect, God has made it so that you can be here where there are benefits and things, protections in place that maybe there aren't in other countries, and He cares for you in that way.

However, God kind of stirred your heart to gratitude, express that to Him. Thanks for tuning in. See you tomorrow.