Ruth: 3:1; God is intimately involved in our lives, whether humble of arrogant.

Ruth: 3:1; God is intimately involved in our lives, whether humble of arrogant.

 

We are currently looking at the mystery of how God guides and influences man for His own good pleasure without tampering with their free-will and self-determination.

 

LUK 12:1 He began saying to His disciples first of all, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

 

LUK 12:2 "But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.

 

LUK 12:3 "Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.

 

LUK 12:4 "And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.

 

LUK 12:5 "But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who after He has killed has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!

 

The believer should learn to fear not walking in the manner of his calling, for if he doesn’t, he would be an uncaring steward, forgetting what he has been delivered from. Having fear of God does not mean being afraid of God. Fear in the essence of respect. If there were a word in our language that combined both fear and respect then that would be it.

 

Get a son to understand what evil and death he has been delivered from and also get him to understand what goodness is his potential life, and he will walk in the way of righteousness with vigor, and freely.

 

Threaten him with death and he will do it, but only for the reason of preserving his life and not for the good that he in fact is in Christ. Some don’t threaten loss of salvation, but rather try to instill fear by causing the believer to question if he ever really did believe. This is softer, but it has the same result of sinful fear rather than joyous fear. They say to the struggling Christian, “Maybe you only had a head faith instead of a heart faith,” or, “Maybe you didn’t really believe.” This is just a softer way of holding your salvation off of that cliff that leads all the way down to the bottomless pit of hell. A person is saved because of the work of Christ. Period. He believes in Jesus Christ as his Savior because of the death that He died on Calvary for the judgement of all sin.

 

2PE 1:1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:

 

2PE 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;

 

2PE 1:3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

 

2PE 1:4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

 

2PE 1:5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge;

 

2PE 1:6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness;

 

2PE 1:7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.

 

“applying” and “supply” are both aorist actives, i.e. up to us to do. And yet, God is also working.

 

2PE 1:8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

2PE 1:9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.

 

Forgotten his purification/fear of the Lord

 

LUK 12:4-5

“And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who after He has killed has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!”

 

Isn’t it interesting that fear of God could come from forgiveness of God? What would our lives look like if we knew that we could not be forgiven? What would our view of life and our worldview be if we knew that we were going to be judged for our sins at the end of it all? It would be more than awful.

 

It is monumental that we are forgiven and it is more than monumental to know what God had to do to accomplish our forgiveness.

 

What we have escaped from should instill in us a righteous fear of God. The infinite power of God makes us tremble, and what He used it to do makes us love Him.  

 

Arrogance can invade the heart of the child of God and cause him to forget his fear; to forget his purification from his former sins.

 

Whenever the fear of God comes up, I always like to spend a few moments attempting to explain it, which isn’t the easiest of things to explain in the Christian life. It is a fear of Him, but as His adult child, not being afraid of Him. Some simply use the word respect, which is part of it, but I don’t think it is strong enough. The Greek word is phobos and its meaning is clear.

 

2CO 7:1

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

 

It would probably take pages of writing to explain, but I think, only a short time in our minds to understand. Can we comprehend a fear of the Lord that is not afraid of the Lord? Can we comprehend a fear of God that is accompanied by perfect peace and fellowship with Him? When we know Him, this isn’t hard to do.  This emphasizes the importance of coming to know Him.

 

2PE 1:8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

2PE 1:9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.

 

2PE 1:10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent [spoudazo = to make every effort] to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;

 

2PE 1:11 for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.

 

A note on vv. 10-11. It would be odd considering the NT’s message of salvation by grace and not by works if it was up to each of us to establish the fact that we are saved by doing works. I must admit that the majority of commentators take verse 10 in just this way. We are to do works for we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for the purpose of good works. That is not the question. The issue we face in this passage is if we are dependent upon good works to confirm our salvation. There are many who teach this currently.

 

The problem is the uncertainty. If I were dependent on good works to prove my salvation, I would never really know I was saved until death. If it were up to me performing the list of qualities in vv. 5-7 to become certain that I am a child of God, I would naturally ask, “How much of it, to what degree, do my actions in these things need to outweigh my sins, how would I know that my act of moral excellence was genuine? Maybe I would be fooling myself.”

 

In light of the NT, I cannot see it this way. None of us could know that we are saved 100%. If we look at the original we can see another possible interpretation (not translation, for the translation is fine).  

 

Make every effort to make for yourself [middle voice] your election “certain” [bebaios - firm, steadfast, secure]. Could it be that Peter is entreating us to make our election firm in our lives?

 

I’m not trying to play roughshod with the original language. I don’t know enough Greek to change anything here. From what I have read in the commentaries and lexicons, it is well translated. But the translation of bebaios, which I have taken from Vine’s, Kittle, and Thayer, which all agree, may mean that something is certain in your mind as well as firm in your mind.

 

In other words, and this fits the whole of God’s grace and promises, that we would walk in the manner worthy of our calling (EPH 4:1), not to prove to ourselves that we are saved, but to make our calling so firm in our minds that we will only see IT as the way of our lives.

 

Make every effort to establish your election as a son of God the firm foundation of your life. To make it the bedrock of your existence.

 

You can be a believer, firmly in Christ, firmly on the foundation that is Christ, and not make Christ the foundation of your experience. A Christian may try to make the world the foundation of his experience (Corinth) or the Law (Galatia), but that doesn’t change the fact that he is a son of God forever saved, as is clear in both Corinthians and Galatians.

 

And this fits with verse 11 that our reward would be abundant. Does it make sense that those who prove to themselves that they are saved are the ones who have abundant rewards?

 

Again, we are discovering God’s intimacy with the lives of all people, and especially His own.

 

LUK 12:1 He began saying to His disciples first of all, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

 

LUK 12:2 "But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.

 

LUK 12:3 "Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.

 

LUK 12:4 "And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.

 

LUK 12:5 "But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who after He has killed has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!

 

LUK 12:6 "Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? And yet not one of them is forgotten before God.

 

LUK 12:7 "Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are of more value than many sparrows.

 

There many mysteries to the way in which God sovereign will co-exists with man’s free-will. Some prideful men have tried to describe it as if they alone have heard of it from God. Unless it is revealed in the scripture, God’s sole vehicle of revelation, divine revelation cannot be known by the mind of man. And, manipulating scripture in order to get a desired outcome doesn’t count.

 

Naomi has been faced with the issue of sustaining her land and perpetuating her family. It must also be that she cares for the future of her wonderful daughter-in-law Ruth. While these issues plague her mind, Ruth faithfully returns home every evening with an abundance of grain and left-over food for Naomi.

 

We all go through periods where things are plaguing our minds. The periods arise, fall away, and always return. The Lord knows them all intimately.

 

Php 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!

 

Php 4:5 Let your forbearing spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.

 

Php 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

 

Php 4:7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

 

We must remember that the Lord will deliver us. So, while our minds may be plagued and pressured, we don’t despair as is written in 2CO 4:8, “perplexed but not despairing.”

 

By trusting in the Lord’s deliverance we don’t allow fear to creep up in our minds.

 

PSA 94:17 If the Lord had not been my help,

My soul would soon have dwelt in the abode of silence.

 

PSA 94:18 If I should say, "My foot has slipped,"

Thy lovingkindness, O Lord, will hold me up.

 

PSA 94:19 When my anxious thoughts multiply within me,

Thy consolations delight my soul.

 

PSA 94:20 Can a throne of destruction be allied with Thee,

One which devises mischief by decree?

 

PSA 94:21 They band themselves together against the life of the righteous,

And condemn the innocent to death.

 

PSA 94:22 But the Lord has been my stronghold,

And my God the rock of my refuge.

 

PSA 94:23 And He has brought back their wickedness upon them,

And will destroy them in their evil;

The Lord our God will destroy them.

 

The comfort is that God has known and knows everything we get anxious about, what burdens us, what plagues us. God knows these things intimately, and whether He allows them to remain to test and teach us, or He allows them to remain so that we can reveal Him to others, or that He is revealing Himself to others and our situation is a part of that, we know that He is going to deliver us.

 

Those who know that God is going to deliver are the ones who have perseverance and patience.

 

We would have to admit that Ruth would have related the day’s events to her, that Boaz did such and such and said so and so, etc. Certainly, Ruth could not but be impressed with a man like Boaz, strong, wise, powerful, and full of faith and love and joy. How could she not admire him? Had she ever seen a man like this?

 

God brought home the witness of Ruth and Boaz to Naomi every evening for about 30 days. How long did it take for her to get the hint?

 

One might think that God put the idea in Naomi’s head, and He certainly did, but likely not physically planting it on her neurons. Ruth arrives home with abundant blessing and open admiration of Boaz for months, and then Naomi gets it! Finally, the light of the possibility of God’s deliverance shines upon Naomi’s soul and she thinks to herself, “I have a good idea!” Might it be that whenever we have a really good idea, that God manipulated our circumstances for a long period of time in order to implant that idea upon our brains, after overcoming the barrier of our incredibly thick skulls? - and we likely take the credit for it.

 

RUT 3:1Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, "My daughter, shall I not seek security for you, that it may be well with you?

 

Naomi is faced with three issues:

1) Maintain the family name, 2) Protect her land, 3) Provide security for Ruth. Marriage to Boaz solves all three.

 

It should be understood that by the words that Naomi uses, she seems only interested in the third issue and not in the first two. This speaks of her character.

 

Now technically, under the law of levirate (from Latin levir = brother-in-law) marriage as found in Deu 25, it should be Naomi who is redeemed by Boaz, if he chooses, because she is the closer relative. Ruth doesn’t really fit into the levirate marriage bond, but Naomi is going to pass this claim on to Ruth. We will look into the details of this in the Mosaic Law coming up.

 

RUT 3:2 "And now is not Boaz our kinsman, with whose maids you were? Behold, he winnows barley at the threshing floor tonight.

Naomi does not use the Hebrew word indicating kinsman-redeemer. She uses the word that only speaks of a relative. It does not seem to be her intent to have Boaz redeem her land. She only desires a husband for Ruth. However, Ruth will address Boaz with the word for kinsman-redeemer, outside of Naomi’s instruction, and we will see the significance of this.

 

Threshing floor.

 

A threshing floor was a flat, hard area, usually the bedrock on a slightly raised hill or platform. The grain was beaten out of the stalks with instruments, such as a toothed sledge, or trodden over by an animal such as an ox. This was followed by winnowing, which involved throwing the grain into the air with a fork or a shovel and allowing the wind to carry the chaff away. In Israel, the westerly winds come n the late afternoon and continue until sunset. The grain was then removed from the threshing floor and placed in heaps, either to be sold or carried manually on carts for storage in the granary. The straw became fodder for the animals and the chaff for fuel. Threshing times were times of festivity and rejoicing since it marked the climax of the harvest season.

 

The joy of threshing is used by God through the prophet Isaiah to communicate hope to Israel, who had been severely judged for her unbelief and sins.

 

Isaiah chapter 40 is where the message of judgment upon Israel, Isa 1-39, changes to a message of hope. Unfortunately, Israel does not heed the message, either before the exile or after it, but that doesn’t mean that God isn’t going to fulfill the covenant promise. The Son of David will come and He will establish justice and peace, and He will build a New Jerusalem.

 

ISA 41:10 'Do not fear, for I am with you;

Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,

Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.'

 

ISA 41:11 "Behold, all those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored; Those who contend with you will be as nothing, and will perish.

 

ISA 41:12 "You will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not find them, Those who war with you will be as nothing, and non-existent.

 

ISA 41:13 "For I am the Lord your God, who upholds your right hand, Who says to you, 'Do not fear, I will help you.'

 

ISA 41:14 "Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel;

I will help you," declares the Lord, "and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.

 

ISA 41:15 "Behold, I have made you a new, sharp threshing sledge with double edges; You will thresh the mountains, and pulverize them, And will make the hills like chaff.

 

ISA 41:16 "You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away, And the storm will scatter them;

But you will rejoice in the Lord,

You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.

 

To all of those, who by faith will enter His kingdom, they will continually have the joy of threshing.

 

RUT 3:1 Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, "My daughter, shall I not seek security for you, that it may be well with you?

 

RUT 3:2 "And now is not Boaz our kinsman, with whose maids you were? Behold, he winnows barley at the threshing floor tonight.

 

Naomi does not use the word for kinsman redeemer, but she uses the same word as the author in RUT 2:1, which only refers to a relative.

 

However, in 2:20, she uses the term for kinsman-redeemer.

 

Ruth 2:20 And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, "May he be blessed of the Lord who has not withdrawn his kindness to the living and to the dead." Again Naomi said to her, "The man is our relative, he is one of our closest relatives."

 

Boaz

Author: relative.

Naomi: kinsman at first, then relative.

Ruth shows bravery; appeals to Boaz as kinsman. 

 

The author describes Boaz as a relative. Naomi first describes him as a kinsman, but when she gives instructions to Ruth, she only uses the word for relative. Ruth will appeal to him with the word for kinsman.

 

Yet, it becomes significant that when giving Ruth instructions for proposing marriage, Naomi only uses the word for relative, however, when Ruth speaks to Boaz, she is going to call him a gaal, a kinsman-redeemer.

 

RUT 3:3 Wash yourself therefore, and anoint yourself and put on your best clothes, and go down to the threshing floor; but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.

 

Ruth is to beautify herself to make herself look as attractive as possible. She would take a bath and then anoint herself, which was usually done with perfumed olive oil. She was to put on her best clothes, but being poor, she wouldn’t have had very nice clothes. This may also mean that she was still wearing the mourning clothes of widowhood, and that she was going to put on regular clothes.

 

Naomi’s plan is well thought out. Boaz would be sleeping at the threshing floor. He would sleep there with some of his men in order to protect the piles of grain from robbers. Ruth was to wait until he had eaten and drunk, and during that time she was to remain anonymous. This, by the way, in no way implies that Boaz would get drunk. It simply means that he would have a full stomach and some wine coursing through his veins and he would become sleepy after a full day’s hard work.

 

It would make sense that Ruth would not be recognizable. If she had been wearing mourning clothes continually before this and had been working hard in the fields from morning until evening, she would have had that sort of air about her. But this night she is clean and primped and wearing regular clothes. She was to take steps to remain incognito, and with the business of the work and the preparation of the meal and the festivity, coupled with her unusual appearance, it would not have been difficult.

 

RUT 3:4 And it shall be when he lies down, that you shall notice the place where he lies, and you shall go and uncover his feet and lie down; then he will tell you what you shall do."

 

RUT 3:5 And she said to her, "All that you say I will do."

 

Once Boaz had lied down and fallen into a deep sleep, Ruth was to go from blending in to action. She was to uncover his lower limbs by laying back the edge of the large mantle in which he slept. In guarding the grain, Boaz would be sleeping on the threshing floor and would have covered himself with his cloak against the cool of the night. Ruth was to uncover his feet so that he would awaken when his legs got cold enough. This would happen at a time in the night when all others were asleep.

 

In LEV 18:6-20, uncovering nakedness does imply sexual union, but there is no reason to interpret it here in that way. If something like that had happened, it would ruin the entire book. It has no place in it, neither in the character of Ruth or Boaz that we have seen. They both would have deserved death. And if Ruth had done anything like implying sexuality, he would have rebuked her, but he rather commends her. This is simply a gesture or a symbolic act.

 

Ruth’s uncovering the feet of Boaz and lying down at his feet is simply a symbolic act, meaning that she was requesting Boaz to fulfill the duty of kinsman-redeemer and marry her.

 

She had already described herself to Boaz as less than the lowest servant, and now, after Boaz awoke deep in the night from his cold feet, he would find Ruth lying diagonally at his feet, which was the position of a servant to a master. Such a position is a lowly one.

 

Once discovered in this position, she was not to say a word. She was to await further instructions from Boaz.

 

The plan worked. Ruth and Boaz would not speak of such an important thing as kinsman-redeemer until they were totally alone and the only ones awake.

 

In view of the time, there is nothing immoral going on. Boaz shows absolutely no shock or offense at her actions, but instead saw it as further evidence of her virtue.

 

So, the question begs, why would Naomi concoct such a plan? Could Naomi, as destitute as she was, confront Boaz openly and ask him to redeem Ruth? For a man of honor like Boaz, this would have been out of line, and so Naomi was aware that open confrontation was out of line. The barley harvest was over and Naomi knew that the window of opportunity was closing, and she devised a shrewd plan.

 

Boaz once commended Ruth for taking refuge under the wings of the God of Israel. On the threshing floor, she put herself under his wing.

 

God is here working through the righteous acts of His saints. Their good decisions enable God’s providence to work in a righteous way. God can bless them in the way that pleases Him because they wait on Him.

 

Good decisions in accordance with God’s commands enable God to walk with us and not in opposition to us. Simply, we will get farther along the journey of life and righteousness.

 

Ruth’s humility and actions in goodness allow God to move her along the path of blessing. God is not rewarding us as payment for what we do. Our capacity to learn and grow are enabling Him to teach us more and take us farther. If we are obstinate, prideful, and self-seeking, then we allow God to only oppose our way and correct us with discipline, which He will do faithfully. How much easier it is to instruct a humble child than an obstinate one.