Ruth 4:13-15. Marriage and children are a gift from God.

Class Outline:

Friday, July 6

RUT 4:11 And all the people who were in the court, and the elders, said, "We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, both of whom built the house of Israel; and may you achieve wealth in Ephrathah and become famous in Bethlehem.

 

RUT 4:12 Moreover, may your house be like the house of Perez whom Tamar bore to Judah, through the offspring which the Lord shall give you by this young woman."

 

RUT 4:13 So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife, and he went in to her. And the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.

 

It only took about six weeks, but God has completely transformed Ruth’s title.

 

God changes Ruth’s status:

2:10 - (nochriyah) foreigner

2:13 - (shipah) beneath a lower servant

3:9 - (amah) maidservant

4:13 - (iishah) wife.

 

“He went into her” is a common Hebrew idiom for entering the bridal chamber. The rabbis actually state that Boaz died on their wedding night, which has no validity.

 

According to Rabbinical law certain formalities were requisite to make a betrothal legally valid. These consisted either in handing to a woman, directly or through messengers, a piece of money, however small, or else a letter, provided it were in each case expressly stated before witnesses, that the man thereby intended to espouse the woman as his wife.

 

In Boaz’s case, he openly stated his intention in front of the town’s group of elders. 

 

The marriage followed after an interval. Then there was a marriage feast.

 

In Judaea there were two groomsmen or “friends of the bridegroom” - one for the groom, and one for the bride.

 

Groomsmen acted as intermediaries between the groom and the bride, they offered gifts, waited upon them, and were the guarantors of the bride’s virgin chastity.

 

Paul takes the role of a groomsman in:

 

2CO 11:2 For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.

 

2CO 11:3 But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

 

The groom is Christ and the bride the Corinthian church.

 

Continuing in ancient rabbinical commentary, a benediction was made by the groomsman. The bride was handed over to her husband (Tobit 7:13) and the pair were led to the bridal chamber and the bridal bed. The bride went with her hair loosed, which was not normal in other times. It was customary for her head and hair to be covered.

 

The marriage feast could last several hours or several days, depending upon the wealth of the families.

 

Keep in mind that these are customs recorded and commented on by the rabbis, and are not found in scripture.

 

Ruth is changed from the lowest rung of society to the highest. She is inserted into the line of Christ. It all happened in about six weeks.

 

God will change all of us if we allow Him to. Not all of us will experience the drastic change that Ruth did and if we do it may not be completed in six short weeks.

 

Ruth wanted to worship and follow God, which she would have continued to do even if Boaz did not redeem her.

 

God is certainly in the business of changing people. Unfortunately, not all will accept it.

 

Also notice that God enabled her to conceive. Is there any conception that God has not enabled?

 

This must be remembered by married couples who are desiring children. A lot of pain and aguish are wasted by couples desiring to get pregnant. Sometimes it breaks up marriages. It should not be this way. When married couples can rest upon the Lord in the matter of conception of children, then they can have prosperous marriages despite the waiting and anticipation.

 

Children are a gift from the Lord. Each one needs to be diligently trained by their parents in the ways of the Lord.

 

PSA 127:1 Unless the Lord builds the house,

They labor in vain who build it;

Unless the Lord guards the city,

The watchman keeps awake in vain.

 

PSA 127:2 It is vain for you to rise up early,

To retire late,

To eat the bread of painful labors;

For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.

 

In contrast, the excellent woman rose up early and retired late to eat the bread of fruitful labors. Men are just as energetic and motivated to gain that which is painful.

 

PSA 127:3 Behold, children are a gift of the Lord;

The fruit of the womb is a reward.

 

PSA 127:4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,

So are the children of one's youth.

 

PSA 127:5 How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them;

They shall not be ashamed,

When they speak with their enemies in the gate.

 

The gate is the place of justice. The idea is that the man’s good sons are his defense against his accusers rather than being a shame to him and joining his accusers.

 

PSA 139:13 For Thou didst form my inward parts;

Thou didst weave me in my mother's womb.

 

PSA 139:14 I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Wonderful are Thy works,

And my soul knows it very well.

 

PSA 139:15 My frame was not hidden from Thee,

When I was made in secret,

And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth.

 

The womb is depicted as the depths of the earth as Adam was formed from the dust of the earth, and in essence, all children are viewed as being formed by God in the womb.

 

PSA 139:16 Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance;

And in Thy book they were all written,

The days that were ordained for me,

When as yet there was not one of them.

 

Every life that comes into this world is seen as being precious in the eyes of God.

 

Children must be instructed and disciplined by their parents.

 

DEU 6:6 And these words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart;

 

DEU 6:7 and you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.

 

DEU 6:8 And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.

 

DEU 6:9 And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

 

Psa 78 is a history of Israel from Moses and the Exodus, through the Judges, and up to the monarchy of David. The children, the generation coming who might neglect history, are exhorted to cling to God more faithfully than their rebellious forefathers.

 

Psa 78 shows us that children need to be taught history so that they know the consequences of its mistakes.

 

Satan knows this and has successfully removed it from public schools. Parents cannot be too busy to teach their children. Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it. In our study of the Judges, we saw each generation of Israel repeat the same errors and sins against God.

 

This psalm is a warning and a reminder.

 

PSA 78:1 Listen, O my people, to my instruction;

Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

 

PSA 78:2 I will open my mouth in a parable;

I will utter dark sayings of old,

 

Verse 2 is quoted by Matthew as prophetic concerning the Messiah’s use of parables.

 

MAT 13:34-35

All these things Jesus spoke to the multitudes in parables, and He did not speak to them without a parable, so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying,

 

"I will open My mouth in parables;

I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world."

 

Asaph is not using parables like our Lord but is recounting the history of the people. Yet, history can be like a parable. The NT says that the history of Israel is preserved for us so that we will not crave the things that they did, namely idolatry.

 

Our Lord’s parables were stories that had a hidden meaning. History is also a story that has a hidden meaning. History is more than a set of facts and dates. It is a lesson concerning mankind and his appetites and God and His grace. The ones who don’t learn from history neglect that hidden meaning.

 

The meaning of the parable was not hidden completely, it was just hidden from plain view. Anyone could ascertain the meaning if they wanted to. All they had to do was ask. They had to desire to know the meaning. The ones who didn’t learn from the Lord’s parables didn’t ask Him the meaning. When His disciples asked Jesus of the meaning, they were told.  

 

We should lead our children to ask questions, to be inquisitive and yearn to find the hidden meaning.

 

PSA 78:3 Which we have heard and known,

And our fathers have told us.

 

PSA 78:4 We will not conceal them from their children,

But tell to the generation to come the praises of the Lord,

And His strength and His wondrous works that He has done.

 

PSA 78:5 For He established a testimony in Jacob,

And appointed a law in Israel,

Which He commanded our fathers,

That they should teach them to their children,

 

PSA 78:6 That the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born,

That they may arise and tell them to their children,

 

PSA 78:7 That they should put their confidence in God,

And not forget the works of God,

But keep His commandments,

 

PSA 78:8 And not be like their fathers,

A stubborn and rebellious generation,

A generation that did not prepare its heart,

And whose spirit was not faithful to God.

 

PRO 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go,

Even when he is old he will not depart from it.

 

The impact of parents upon children is great in both the positive and negative ways. As a high school teacher, I had both regular classes, which were made up of average students, and honors classes, which were made up of exceptional students. The parent-teacher night at my school was organized so that the parents went to their children’s classrooms and the teacher would speak to all of them at once. The regular classes usually had a handful of parents in them. The honors classes were always jam packed. The parents of the honors students were very involved in their child’s education.

 

PRO 22:15 Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child;

The rod of discipline will remove it far from him.

 

PRO 1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;

Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

 

PRO 1:8 Hear, my son, your father's instruction,

And do not forsake your mother's teaching;

 

PRO 1:9 Indeed, they are a graceful wreath to your head,

And ornaments about your neck.

 

Tragic things have happened to some children. And if we haven’t experienced tragedy as children, growing up has its own difficulties.

 

Every child has a guardian angel.

 

MAT 18:6 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you, that their angels in heaven continually behold the face of My Father who is in heaven.”

 

RUT 4:13 So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife, and he went in to her. And the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.

 

RUT 4:14 Then the women said to Naomi, "Blessed is the Lord who has not left you without a redeemer [goel] today, and may his name become famous in Israel.

 

RUT 4:15 May he also be to you a restorer of life and a sustainer of your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him."

 

The redeemer is now the child Obed because someday he will be the one to redeem all of Naomi’s possessions.