Ruth Explained

And Boaz steps up and says, I'll do it. I'll marry this woman. And to me, you know what that shows? It shows a great picture of how Jesus, the ultimate bridegroom is willing to marry those who have a tainted past and those who are Gentiles. The church today is largely the Gentile nations around the world that have embraced the gospel, and it's a great picture of where we're at today. The church doesn't deserve to be in covenant with the bridegroom, Jesus the Messiah, but the Messiah in his grace and love takes us anyway for himself. That's what Boaz does with Ruth.

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Welcome to the You Can Learn the Bible Podcast where we summarize complete Bible books in single episodes. I am Bodie Quirk from YouCanLearntheBible.com here with Joey Rozek, Lead Pastor of Living Springs Fellowship in New Jersey. Now Joey, you are a pastor, but we have been podcast co-host partners for 13 episodes, like how has this journey been for you so far?

Yeah, well, as a Pastor we've been juggling a lot together while I'm doing full-time ministry on the East Coast. You're building this whole Bible Academy online on the West Coast, and, I gotta tell you, I've really enjoyed doing this podcast with you. Anytime I get a chance to talk about the Bible and to be able to do it with somebody who equally has the same passion for the word of God, and, and, brings out the insights that you're bringing out, Bodie, and together playing off of each other, we're allowing people to kind of get two different brothers from two different perspectives sharing about the richness of Scripture, which I'll just add this, all of Scripture is God breathed, and when you really dive into the Scriptures, it takes your breath away.

You know, it takes your breath away. It allows, it allows the, the inspired word of God replaces bad thoughts, bad motives, and bad habits and there's so much beauty in every book of the Bible, so I'm loving it, Bodie, I'm hoping you're loving it as much as I am.

I am, this has been a real joy. I, it's, it's caused me to learn new things I've had to, get some new tools in my tool belt as far as editing and doing this, but this has been such a joy and I think the reason, what makes it so joyful is when people respond back to us and say, you showed me something, you unlocked something, and now I get the book, better, and that's what our goal is today.

So we're on episode 14, which is Ruth Explained, so we are going through our seven part framework to explain each and every book. Again, one book of the Bible per episode. Some books are longer, some books are shorter, our framework are these seven things.

We want you to know the essentials of the book. So today's the book of Ruth. We want you to know the essentials that where it falls on the storyline, some of the major themes and ideas, the structure of the book, but all really to point what we learn about God and how it can apply to our lives here today, and we like to throw in some of our favorite things, as well.

So our usual reminder is you can watch on YouTube, you can listen on uh, your podcast app, but nonetheless, we are gonna explain the Book of Ruth in a single episode today,

and Joey, I'm gonna let you start. What do we need to know first? Let's start with number one of our framework, the essentials. What do we need to know first to study the book of Ruth?

Well, Ruth is a book that follows the whole story of Israel with their judges.

So we're still in the judges' era, you know, in the days when the judges were ruling. That's really important to know. Obviously it's the first book in the Bible with a female name. So, Ruth is given to us in Hebrew, probably from a Moabite modification. The Hebrew word "Ruat" is a word that means association or friendship, and so, what we're really seeing is how God takes a Moabite Gentile woman and includes her in the redemptive story of God.

As we're gonna see in this story, she joins with, the Hebrew people, the Jewish people, through a marriage, and we're gonna talk all about that, and, I think a couple other things that are just the essentials when you approach the book of Ruth is, it takes place between 1190 and 11, , 1050 BC. It is not only in the days of judges, but it is a redemptive historical book, possibly written by Samuel, although once again, we're not sure of the author, and it shows Jewish and Gentile connections.

A Moabite woman, joining with a aged and wealthy man of Judah, and we're gonna see God's providential hand in the way that every event is orchestrated by God for his purposes. So it's gonna be a great book. Four chapters, but so much to glean from in this book.

Right, yeah, and it's, it is a cool book cuz it's for really believers, this is such an encouragement cuz it shows us so much about the heart and character of God, which we will get to.

So, yeah, again, so the important, things that the author wants us to get really fall at the very beginning and at the very end.

So Joey kind of is starting to get us oriented with this book as like you said, it's a short book and it really focuses on characters, more than any other book that we have seen, in this way. But Who are these characters and where do they fall on the storyline? That's our question number two.

So where does Ruth fit in the story of the Bible?

Well, we've already talked about that we're in the period of the judges, which if you're paying attention, judges, is not Israel's best period, it's a very dark period as we talked through in our last episode. But, another important thing is where it ends, it connects us to David. So it begins when the judges ruled, but it points forward to David, which means that it was written at the time of David, or afterwards, so we're really talking about David's great grandparents here, right? So we're gonna meet a man named Boaz. Boaz's son is Obed, whose son is Jesse, whose son is David.

So here, you look at this particular image right here, this is an image from the Bible timeline from accordance where we can see the life of Ruth, and we look forward to the life of David. Now, this episode's not gonna be about David, but the author wants us to connect to that when we, and we're gonna talk more about that with the themes and ideas. But Joey, anything else you wanna say about where it falls on the storyline before we move into those themes and ideas, which is our part three.

Yeah, because we're dealing with the story of the judges, we're talking about a idolatrous time, we're talking about a time where there's a lot of inner turmoil among God's people. And this story in the Book of Ruth is so applicable for all of our lives because we all have a story that's unfolding and many of our stories have tragedy.

Many of our stories have a situation, a context that drives us either to our knees, back to God, or to do our own will. And I love how the opening of Ruth really shows us which path are you gonna take? Right. Which path are you gonna take? You're gonna live for yourself and just let your life become bitter where you're all focused on I the I and the bitter, or are you gonna let your life be better by literally turning to the Lord and his people and the covenant relationship with Him so that's where we're at right now.

Right, yeah, and the first verse of Ruth gives us an important context that we're gonna now use as a transition into the major themes of Ruth, and Ruth 1:1 says, "in the days when the judges ruled, so that's important detail number one. But the second important detail, which is gonna set our story up, is there was a famine in the land". So that's how the book starts. The book ends with a genealogy that ends with the name David. We'll get to that at the end of the episode, but those are the bookends for our episode.

So Joey, let's talk about themes and ideas. Of all the Bible books, all of them have important themes and ideas, but I think Ruth has some that we really need to make sure that we don't miss. Would you introduce us to some of Ruth's key, most important themes before we start unpacking the structure of the book?

Well, I think like all of the Bible and of course all of our lives, we know that a lot of things have to be worked together for good after hardship happens and brokenness, you know, the Bible begins with everything being good, remember? And then there was a fall in the Garden of Eden, and as a result, we see that so many consequences followed.

Well, the Book of Ruth begins with a famine, and it's got three deaths. We know that Naomi lost her husband and two sons, and then of course, despair follows and, and we all can relate to despair, right Bodie? We all know what it's like to lose heart on things. So what we see in the Book of Ruth though, are these beautiful key themes from that context.

So we have a Gentiles conversion, praise God that people get converted through these times. We see that Ruth's gonna be our gentile convert to Yahweh. We're gonna see a beautiful redemptive story that involves gracious, sacrificial love. And, as that love is being demonstrated, God's sovereign hand is over the whole thing, and what we start to see is every event is ordered by God and eventually a gentile is embraced in Israel through a marriage by a kinsman redeemer.

That's gonna be a key word we're gonna be talking about in this story of Ruth, a kinsman redeemer That's revealed to us in the picture of Boaz, and, later on, of course, pointing us to Jesus because David gets introduced into this book, which of course also points us to Jesus. So Ruth is a book that shows us tragedy and then triumph out of tragedy, and then of course, a redemptive story of love during a time of great loss, and it all points us to Jesus. So those are gonna be some of the key themes in the story of Ruth.

Yes. And remember, we are used to words like Jew and Gentile, but these are racially charged words, meaning that we're gonna take someone who is outside of God's covenant community at this time and see how God not only brings them into the community, but how it literally connects to King David Israel's greatest King, and later, of course, the arrival of Jesus of Nazareth.

This is such an important book for understanding the full redemptive story, so thank you. We're gonna now. See, we like introducing these themes upfront, cuz now we get to see the themes in action and that's what we're gonna do next.

So the structure of the book of Ruth, Ruth is super simple to break down. There's four chapters. Each chapter is its own piece of our structure. So we're gonna go through chapters 1, 2, 3, and four, and we're gonna talk about what does it teach us about God? What does it offer our Christian life?

So let's introduce the structure of the book of Ruth. Okay. So in chapter one, we basically have Naomi's loss, despair and bitterness. That's gonna be kind of the main theme of chapter one. Chapter two is going to be Boaz', kindness and protection. Chapter three is Ruth's proposition to Boaz, and chapter four is where Boaz marries Ruth, and Naomi's joy is restored. So there is a very much a chiasm happening here, there's a bookend, right? You have, you start with Naomi's bitterness and sadness, and you end with her joy restored. So Joey, we get to now walk from the despair to the joy through these four chapters. Let's start with chapter one. What are the most important things that happen in chapter one?

Well, it starts off with a famine, and this is not surprising because in the Book of Genesis, we see there was a famine in the land, and God orchestrated that beautiful plan, of course, remember the story of Joseph back in Genesis.

Yes,

He was raised up and his dream was fulfilled to deliver Israel. Now remember, God's heart is for deliverance. God's heart is for people to be saved and to be redeemed. But what we have in chapter one, Bodie, is loss. We start off with this death of Naomi's husband, and we see his name was Elimelech, and Elimelech was the father that had two sons with his wife, Naomi, and those names were Mahlon and Chilion, and these two sons and the father all die respectively.

And so you have first, Naomi becoming a widow, and then you see that her two sons die, and so she's left with two daughters in-law, and the story takes this beautiful turn, Bodie, because those two daughters represent two paths in life.

As I said before, one daughter's gonna go to live for what is best for her to kind of return, to stay in her land of Moab, and hopefully see where her life might lead from there, but, then comes this incredible sacrificial moment when Naomi says, don't call me Naomi, but call me, mara, because I'm just a bitter woman now, which again, parallels the children of Israel, when they left Egypt, they came to the bitter waters and it was this Mara moment for Israel as a nation.

Well, here you have a another Mara moment, this bitter moment, but Ruth showing her willingness to kind of be like a judge or deliver again, but in an kind of, in an unknown way, she rises up and says, I'm not leaving you. She clings to Naomi and she says in these beautiful verses here in chapter one, maybe we can put those verses up.

Oh yeah,

says in verse 16.

She says these words, but Ruth said, do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you for where you go. I will go where you lodge. I will lodge your people shall be my people, and your God, my God, 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. And then when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said, no more.

She said, no more. But here's what's great, the story of Ruth will say a lot, and the redemption that takes place and the future glory and blessing that follows this decision shows us how important sacrifice can be.

So I think that's what's so beautiful about chapter one. We have a gentile converting to the Jewish faith, and it's a beautiful picture, like we saw with Rahab in the story of Joshua, here we have it again in the story of Ruth. So beautiful

There is a lot. Well, even the very first thing that happens, remember there's a famine in Judah, which is their home area. In We see the Messianic line, Naomi is from Bethlehem. And so the name Bethlehem means house of bread, but there isn't any bread. Now, what's interesting, Joey, I'm gonna put a map up here.

What's interesting is that she leaves, she doesn't go to another tribe of Israel, they go to a foreign land. So you talked about God's sovereignly orchestrating events, that's what we see here. There's a famine. There's no food, so they have to leave their land, like you mentioned earlier with Joseph, and that's where her husband Elimelech dies.

Her son's marry Moabite woman, foreign women, and then their sons dying and she's left with Orpah and Ruth. Orpah then ends up going back and now you have a daughter-in-law and a mother-in-law, and now they're gonna return back because now again she hears that there's food back in Bethlehem again.

But, don't miss what's at stake. She has no way to pass on her family line. She has no husband, she has no sons. All she has is this daughter-in-law who is displaying faithful, covenant love. So now they are in Moab and Ruth says, I am going where you are going, and I am inheriting your covenant lineage and leaving mine behind.

And so chapter one ends with their return back to Bethlehem. Anything else, Joey? There's always more we could say, oh, that we don't wanna miss from chapter one.

Well, it's inferred, although not directly stated, that obviously the faith of Naomi had captured the heart of Ruth, because what the Bible doesn't tell us is why Ruth makes this decision, but what I would just wanna point out is that Naomi clearly had modeled for her daughter-in-law over the years, a beautiful faith in God that even at the lowest moment when Naomi says, look, I don't have any more sons.

I can't

give

a great point.

Right. She still

basically looks at her and says, I'm not looking at what you can give me right now. You've already shown me something that I'm just interested in pursuing and following, and she follows after her mother-in-law and, and I think, for all of us who are believers listening to this right now, do we attract people like that?

Do we cause people to say, Hey, look at the God that I'm serving and look at even in a time of loss and when everything is at its lowest point. I hope that our faith still stands to such a degree that others will start to draw, be drawn to that, and the sincerity of Naomi, and perhaps I will even add the beauty of Ruth.

She really looks like that virtuous woman as talked about in Proverbs 31:10, who can find a virtuous wife? Well, there's a lot of virtue being shown by this Moabite woman, and she's drawn to the faith of her mother-in-law. So I think it's just good to see you as a context,

Yeah. There's so much you can draw, but at the end of chapter one, Naomi is destitute. She is so despairing, like she has no hope. She tries to get rid of Ruth and because she's like, I have nothing left. Yeah. What's that?

She loses her faith at this point, in a sense. Right.

in a sense,

she's really,

she has

really at a low point.

Exactly, she has the covenant heritage, but Ruth is the one who displays the covenant loyalty. And so that I think sets us up now for chapter two because in chapter two we meet another really important character. And one of the themes we mentioned earlier was gracious, selfless love, and one of the things we wanna make sure you don't miss is that every character in this story is acting out of somebody else's best interest. They all care about themselves, second.

Then we're gonna meet one of the primary characters now in chapter two, a gentleman named Boaz. So chapter two, that the theme of chapter two is Boaz's Kindness and protection. Why? Well, Boaz is a relative of Naomi and he allows this foreign woman, so what happens is Ruth and Naomi return from Moab back to Judah, where she has land.

Remember her husband, Elimelech, has a plot of land, but they don't have any sons and she doesn't have a husband. She doesn't have a way to extend or continue her family line. But she says, Hey, I've got a relative Boaz. So Ruth goes to work immediately. She doesn't sit aside, she wants to do whatever she can, so she goes and works in, Boaz's fields and some beautiful stuff happens in the midst of chapter two. Joey, let's unpack chapter two. What happens in Ruth chapter two?

Well, yeah, I'll pick it up right where we see Ruth going to the field where Boaz has his reapers, and I always wanna point out that the first words that are given by Boaz in this story is found in verse four, where he looks at the reapers and says the Lord be with you.

Mm-hmm.

They all say the Lord bless you. What we learn about Boaz is he cultivated God's grace in the labor, and work of harvest among his workers. I. His workers loved working for Boaz. You could see it and feel it in the story, and Boaz is exuding a joy and a blessing. He's boss that everybody should wanna work for when he's actually wanting to impart blessing and favor and the people are responding back with the Lord, bless you.

But what also is interesting is how observant Boaz is. Boaz notices when somebody knew is on his field. Boaz begins, To recognize whose young woman is this in verse five. And the servant actually has done his homework to report back to his boss and says, this is a young, Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab.

Now, once that's spoken, a woman from Moab, you would expect rejection, you would expect an immediate, get this woman off my field mentality, but not Boaz

Nope.

Boaz shows the heart of God, who is for all people, and we see that Boaz is a beautiful, Christ-like figure here because he welcomes this woman into his field and he says, stay close. You see words like, stay close, he tells Ruth, you will listen, my daughter, will you not do not glean in any other field, nor go from here, but stay close by my young woman and let your eyes be on the field, which they reap and go after them.

Have I not commanded the young men, not even to touch you. How about that? He says in verse nine. I'm gonna put a protection over you that no one harms you and no one pursues you in the wrong way. We're gonna treat you honorably, and that is a beautiful picture of our Lord, isn't it Bodie, who welcomes all, no matter how much dirt or filth or background or failures we may have, we see the Lord is willing to let us come to him and repent so that we might become a new creation in him. And that's what we start seeing from Boaz right from the beginning.

Oh, it's so beautiful, and the reason why is he hears that Ruth forsook her Moabite heritage in order so that Naomi would not be left alone, and he saw that as such amazing, gracious love that he then responds with amazing, gracious love. He brings her into his fields, and then he gives food for Ruth to bring back and make sure Naomi's cared for.

And I remember I got to meet, I got to meet Josh McDowell at a seminar once here in Southern California, and he was talking about love, and I'll never forget, he says, could you give me a definition of what love is? And he asked the room and people kind of struggled. And he says, love is to provide and to protect, that's what it means to love.

And we see that that's what God the Father has done for us. But we see the fatherly heart of God in Boaz, who's much older than Ruth, sees her, doesn't think about his needs at all. He says, I want to provide for her and I want to protect her because of her connection to Naomi, which is back to a connection, to Elimelech, his kinsman.

But the heart is that we see people living out the life of covenant love naturally. They're not being forced. This is how David's ancestors behaved. They take care of one another and God is in the midst doing sovereign work to connect all of this.

So much beautiful stuff happened. So at the end of chapter two, Naomi is brought back in. Ruth has now has a job and she's protected. What else, Joey do we need to not miss from chapter two?

Yeah, I, I just gotta bring this out in chapter two because I want everyone who's listening to this to get excited to read through the Book of Ruth and read all the verses and the details. But let me just say this, I. Boaz's name in Hebrew means in strength.

This is a man who carries strength with him. He lives in Bethlehem, which means House of Bread, as you've already pointed out, Bodie, and you know like in, Psalm 91 where it says, he who dwells in the secret place of the most High shall abide in of the shadow of the Almighty, and it talks about how we'll take shelter under his wings.

He uses this terminology that the psalmist, David will later write about, and this is so beautiful, is it says in Ruth chapter two, verse 12, the Lord repay your work, to Ruth because he heard how she chose to stay with Naomi and all that she did for her.

And then he says, I want you to stay with me. I'm gonna give you a full reward that'll be given to you by the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge. Isn't that beautiful? Like these terminology, and then it says that Boaz says to her at mealtime, verse 14, come here and eat of the bread and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar. So many Christocentric patterns, right? That we're seeing that Boaz is giving us a beautiful picture of Jesus over and over and over again. That's what I love.

So chapter two ends with Ruth now being treated not like a foreigner, but like family who is protected and provided for so much that he gives her food to take back to Naomi with a report, that now guess what? There's somebody here who may be able to help our situation.

So, because Naomi and Ruth have thought about not their own self-interest, but the self-interest of others. It is now circling back to them, and so we end chapter two, she comes back to Naomi and says, guess what? You're not gonna believe what happened, and now we come to chapter three because we still don't have the root problem solved.

The root problem is that Naomi's family line is still in jeopardy. It will end if she has no heir. So what happens now? Now we have chapter three. So again, just to review, chapter one is Naomi's lost despair and bitterness. Chapter two is Boaz's Kindness and Protection. And now we're at chapter three, Ruth's Proposition to Boaz.

So Joey, what is the next move now, now that she comes back to Naomi and gives her this report, another really important key piece of information and an action is required. Next, walk us into chapter three and why it's so pivotal.

So chapter three is the pivotal chapter here, because here we're beginning to see. That there's a whole context now of what's happening that the Jewish people have a clear understanding of, but some of us who don't know the nuances of the law and may not understand the kinsman redeemer idea, may not fully grasp, so let me explain this.

The opening verse of chapter three has Naomi saying to Ruth, my daughter, shall I not seek security for you? That it may be well with you. Now, what does she mean by seek security? Well, under the law of Israel, among situations where there's loss of family members or deaths, there is this idea of what's called the "goelle", the kinsman redeemer.

This "goelle", that's the Hebrew word for it has to do with somebody who will be willing, and it has to be a willful thing, that you begin to, whoever's the oldest and closest, or the closest kin, the closest family member that could take on, if it's a marriage, you gotta buy the woman in marriage, so to speak. If it's for inheritance purposes, and buying property, you would start to take care of the property that is currently without ownership, a close relative would make sure that there's an inheritance, being preserved for that family, Uh, who suffered loss.

Now, you can read about this in Numbers 35, where you hear about, the closest kin of a dead relative and the response that was needed. You can read about it in Leviticus 25 in verse 25, where it talks about the buying back of land, and you could also read about it in Deuteronomy 25, verse five through 10 about the marriage that's needed for a childless widow, which is exactly what we're dealing with, in this situation.

So you have all of this Jewish context and laws that are in the backdrop of the story of the kinsman redeemer, the "goelle", and what's so beautiful is Naomi's aware of it.

Yes.

Ruth is kind of just learning about it, she needs Naomi's help here. And so, um, I don't know if you've ever heard it said this way, Bodie, but I'll put it like this, where Ruth was first distraught, she then now is being sought after by her mother-in-law, who is now teaching her, so she's now taught, and pretty soon in this next chapter, she's gonna be bought. So she goes from being distraught to being sought after, to being taught to, to being bought in a marriage covenant. And what's so beautiful in the story is that Boaz and Ruth are both willing partners in this whole covenental transaction, that's what's beautiful.

Oh, it's beautiful. Yep. So what happens is basically Naomi says, Hey, here's what you should do. Go and at night, lay at Boaz's feet and uncover his feet so that when he wakes up, he will see you there, and at that point you present to him the offer of, will you be our kinsman redeemer, essentially, which means, will you marry me and therefore inherit the land, and therefore, restore Naomi's family line.

So a lot is at stake at this moment because if Boaz says no, what is plan B? They don't have one, right? There is another one who's actually in line before Boaz that we'll see in chapter four, but that's essentially what we see in chapter three.

She says, go when he is laying down after had a hard day of work, you know, he's laying down and present and see if he's willing. That's the key linchpin. If he's not willing. What happens next? But what happens, Joey? So she goes in, she lays down and Boaz's response is basically, he wakes up and he is like, who is this? And then in Ruth three,

Verse nine it says, who are you?

She says, I'm Ruth. She says, spread your wings over your servant for your redeemer. Verse 10, don't miss this. 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 younger men, whether rich or poor. You're asking me not because of what you need, but because of what Naomi and her family line needs, and that selfless motive is what wins his heart.

Here he says, and now daughter, do not fear. I will do all that you ask for all my fellow townsmen know that you are, as Joey mentioned, a Proverbs 31 woman and so he agrees to it, and that's where chapter three ends, which sets up the cool events that happen in chapter four. Joey, what did I leave out in chapter three before we move into chapter four?

Well, I think you covered that so well, and really showed us the details of how everything unfolded. Perhaps it might be just interesting to think about is this took courage for Ruth to go at night and to do what she did, because as you said, Bodie, if he doesn't accept this, she's actually putting herself in a very compromising position.

In fact, I love the fact that Boaz even protects her, in that regard and make sure that no one sees her so that nobody thinks the wrong thoughts. You know, in a world where so many people have evil motives and they pursue people for their own selfish gain, none of this is selfish. You have to realize, this is a incredible act of love on Ruth's part, to be showing that she's willing to come and join with this older man that she's a beautiful woman, I'm sure, and many of the young men would probably very much desire her.

But she's choosing a godly man. She's not choosing what many people of the world choose, you know, tall, dark, and handsome or lots of money and status. You know, let's be honest, okay, this man was wealthy, but he was older, and so she may think like, gosh, I could become a widow again. I'm marrying not a young man, but an older man.

But there's something so beautiful here because this is for the protection of her own name of her own family of Naomi, and Boaz realizes this, and so he responds. In fact, I'll even just point this out. The word "goelle", which is this word for the kinsman redeemer, is mentioned seven times in this chapter, whereas in the previous chapter, the word field, was mentioned seven times, and so there's something of completion happening here. This is a beautiful, complete picture of God's love displayed and demonstrated between two willing parties, willing to see redemption take place for the betterment of all. That's what's beautiful.

Oh, there's so much oh, and again, Ruth has left her entire life. If she doesn't find a new life or a new lineage here, she basically has the same despair that Naomi started with. So everybody has so much at stake. And so they're willing to walk in righteousness, but they're also willing to walk in faith, which is such an important lesson for us.

We need to do both. If we wanna walk in righteousness, there is action, that we need to be living out and walking in faith as well and really watching God, as we talked about, who sovereignly orchestrated these events. Friend, is still sovereignly orchestrating the lives of those events who trust him as well, which is you and me.

Okay, Joey. It's the morning time. Chapter four. He protects her honor. He makes sure nobody sees her. He agrees to do this and he doesn't put it off for two months either. He literally says, today we are gonna make sure this happens. So it shows Boaz's virtue and character.

Chapter four. Boaz, this is the theme now, Boaz marries, Ruth, and Naomi's Joy is restored, but that's the end, that's the goal. What happens here in chapter four this next morning? Walk us into chapter four now, knowing everything that has come and everything that's at stake with this proposal, this proposition in chapter three.

Well, when we come to chapter four, we see that the event takes place first at the gate. The gate of the city was where a lot of the elders would convene. This is where they would often greet new people coming into the city. This is where a lot of important decisions were made. This is where the seat of judgment would

Right. This is like

And so what. It's a legal setting. In fact, what a lot of the listeners may not know is that in Jewish understanding, you needed 10 men for a legally binding situation like this to take place, and this actually will be the same number that carries on during the time of exile. Where it takes 10 Jewish males to have a synagogue.

And a synagogue was never commanded by God, but it was another way of sort of gathering together and assembling together when there was no temple, um, that they needed 10 Jewish males to make a synagogue. Well, here you have 10 Jewish males, the elders of the city that are going to be witnesses. Witnesses of what? Of an agreement that is consistent with the law of the goelle, of the kinsman redeemer.

So as he gathers the men together, he explains the situation. In verse four, he informs them about a willingness to buy back on behalf of Naomi's family. This woman, this Moabite woman, which, which, let me say this, Bodie, when we say a Moabite woman, we're not even just talking about, another Gentile, but the Moabites came into being when Lot's oldest daughter had sexual relations with him, and this is where the union of sin took place to produce the Moabites.

And so you have this really bad history with the Moabites. In fact, in numbers 25 verse one, the Israelites are even coerced into sexual sin with the Moabites. And so there's this long, bad history of sexual immorality connected with the Moabites. And then all of a sudden now you're gonna have a Jewish man who's honorable and virtuous saying, I'm willing to marry her, but, there's one problem, there's a closer relative.

And so we discover that when the closer relative realizes this, he at first seems to show that he's willing to marry, um, or not marry, but willing to do the buying of the property if it's just a business transaction. But then when he finds out that it's a marriage proposal,

he's like, oh, no,

whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

I'm not marrying this Moabite woman, not for me.

And Boaz steps up and says, I'll do it. I'll marry this woman. And to me, you know what that shows? It shows a great picture of how Jesus, the ultimate bridegroom is willing to marry those who have a tainted past and those who are Gentiles. The church today is largely the Gentile nations around the world that have embraced the gospel, and it's a great picture of where we're at today. The church doesn't deserve to be in covenant with the bridegroom, Jesus the Messiah, but the Messiah in his grace and love takes us anyway for himself. That's what Boaz does with Ruth.

Isn't that

Yeah. Oh, it's awesome, and those who display the covenant loyal love of Ruth are essentially, Ruth is displaying New Testament covenant faith that we put in Christ. We don't have anything to offer Jesus. He has everything to offer us. It is only in union with Christ that we gain the blessings and the benefits of that.

So, basically you have this town council, right? There's this first in line. He declines. Boaz steps up, and we have this, explanation here. We know that this is a different time because it says in Ruth, chapter four, seven, and nine, and it talks back about how this was basically publicly endorsed.

Now this was the custom and former time. This is Ruth four verse. 7, 7, 8, and nine. There was a custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging to confirm a transaction. The one drew off his sandal. Now imagine if this happened now, it's not now, it's way back then. Right. But it's the same goal.

This is just what assured

We have to use shoes

legal. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. We have to bring out your shoe and wave it in the courtroom. No, it says he drew off one of his sandals and he gave it to the other. This was the manner of attesting in Israel. So when the redeemer said to Boaz, this is the guy who turned it down, the first in line, buy it for yourself. He's basically saying, no, I don't want it. Now that I know the terms include a Moabite wife.

He takes off his sandal. Boaz says to the elders and all the people you are witnesses to 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. So Boaz now is the new owner of Elimelech's inheritance. The kinsman redeemer has stepped in. So now what happens, Joey? If we go back to our structure here,

as we wrap up the Book of Ruth, we know that now the next natural thing is marriage. Boaz marries Ruth, and in doing so, restores Naomi's family line and the end of the book of Ruth goes very quickly, right? They get married, they have a son, they name him Obed. And essentially what happens is the despair and the loss that Naomi experienced when the book started has now been converted into inexpressible joy because her family has been restored and God used a daughter-in-law from a foreign nation to do it.

This book is a goldmine of treasure and beauty. What else from chapter four do we wanna make sure we don't miss as we wrap up our episode?

Well, because of the faith that was demonstrated here by both Ruth and Boaz, their marriage is not only a foreshadowing of Christ and the church, it is also a picture of the blessing that was promised to Abraham from the very beginning. Where through the seed, through the seed, all the nations of the earth will be blessed.

Now, you know what's interesting, Bodie, is that after this marriage union is publicly announced and the transaction is completed, it says in Ruth four 11 and all the people who are at the gate and the elders said, we are witnesses. The Lord make the woman who is coming to your house like Rachel and Leah. What?

These are the women of the tribes. This is the mothers of the tribes and they're saying, let this woman who's coming to your house be like them, the two who built the house of Israel, and be famous in Bethlehem. Now that is the same location. Where Jesus will later be born.

And what's interesting is it's not just that Jesus will have the same birth place, Jesus will have the same birth lineage. This is the beginning of the lineage because we haven't mentioned this yet. I don't know directly, but Boaz is from the tribe of Judah. Yuda praise. This is the Messianic tribe. And so this marriage is something ordained by God from heaven. This is the providence of God. This is the beautiful unity of God, and this is where we look to Jesus. All of this is gonna point us to Jesus. Now, you can't get to Jesus until you first establish. The line of David, right, Bodie?

Tell us what happens after they get married. We see a union, and the union, Bodie is between not just Ruth and Boaz as a married couple, but their son begins a new progression in the Messianic line.

It says this, if we read Ruth chapter four, verses 18 to 22, it says, now these are the generations of Perez. Perez Fathered Hezron, Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered, Abinidab, Abinidab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon, Salmon fathered, Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed and Obed fathered, Jesse and Jesse fathered David.

So David is three generations after the birth of the firstborn son, that comes forth from this union of marriage. How awesome is that Bodie. So Jesus will become the root and offspring of David, and David will be the king of Israel. That, of course we know was a man after God's own heart. And that so much of the next book is gonna focus on

Yep. Yeah. David is literally the last word of the book of Ruth, and that is by design because Jesus calls himself the son of David in literally connecting his lineage back here, so friends don't miss that if it were not for the covenant loyal faith of a foreign woman, we would not have arrived at Israel's greatest king.

But because of God's providence, cuz of God's sovereignty, because of their selfless love for the other before themself, we have not only Israel's greatest king, but we also have our king of kings in Jesus.

So, so much more we could say. Joey, any final question as we, as we wrap up that we haven't said, what do you personally love about Ruth? I actually want to go first on this one and, and one of the things that I love and I want to hear your answer and you can have the last word. In Matthew chapter one, we have Jesus' genealogy, which is a genealogy is always meant to connect dots.

Now we as New Testament readers kind of sometimes skip over them cause we don't understand what was at stake, but, what's so cool in Jesus genealogy in Matthew, Matthew one, five and Salman, the father of Boaz by Rahab, which is one Gentile woman mentioned in Jesus genealogy and Boaz, the father of Obed by Ruth. So you have these two foreign women mentioned in the genealogy of the great King of Kings who came through Obed who came through Jesse, who came through David. See, all this is now pointing to David, but I love how universal and how available God's love is for anybody, whether you're part of God's covenant people or not. What are some of your favorite things as we wrap up our episode?

Yeah, I love that point too, Bodie, that would've been one of mine as well, is how this fits into the story of the genealogy of Jesus, and perhaps, I'll just take it one step further after you get through Matthew chapter one, we discover that in Luke's rendering of connectivity story, you know what's interesting is that at the birth of Jesus, we learn about an old man

Uhhuh.

We learn about a widow, Anna, and we see there was a widow and an old man that was converging in the life of Jesus. In the story of Ruth, we have an old man, which is Boaz, and we have a widow, which is Ruth, converging for the birth of what will eventually produce Jesus. So these are the kinds of amazing things that the Bible carries with it.

It's so many divine connections and intersections and all of it is pointing to Jesus. The volume of the book is written of him. And so, I just love the story of Ruth. I love its redemptive place in the history of the Jewish people. I love its connection, of a Moabite woman with a very prominent Jewish man.

But I, think the love and grace and mercy of God is so beautifully demonstrated in the characters of this story, and again, even if we're in the most tragic times of our life, even if you've lost so much, like in the story of Job, In the end, it can turn out so wonderfully. God can restore your losses. You can end up with greater blessing because weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

Amen.

That's what I

Amen. Friends, we hope that this episode, episode 13, Ruth Explained as we've walked through our seven park framework, has not only equipped you to read the book, but inspired you to pursue God through his Word more. So we have been so blessed to have unpacked this incredible short but packed book together.

And now Joey, we ended with a really important name, didn't we? The name David, and that is not by accident

in episode 14. We are going to now, begin to turn a page into a very important section of Israel's history as we look at the book of First Samuel. So episode 14 is going to be First Samuel explained.

We're gonna apply our same seven part framework to that episode and I am so looking forward to that.

Couple reminders as we close, Joey, I'm gonna let you have the last word. First, if you are able to leave a a review, if you're willing to do that, that is such a helpful thing for us to know what lands with people, whether in your podcast app or on YouTube. If you've done that, thank you so much. We have received those and have been blessed and encouraged by them.

If you would like to download the timeline that we have been using, again, that is available at youCanLearntheBible.com/timeline, but ultimately, we want you to have the beauty and truth of Scripture come alive for you. Joey, what do we have to look forward to in episode 15 as we look at First Samuel Explained.

Well, we are gonna enter into a wonderful narrative of the story of David. David has so many aspects to his life that we can glean application from, and we're really gonna see so much about how God views the heart of a man and not just the stature of a man. Man looks on the outward, but God looks at the heart, so on behalf of Bodie and I, we wanna say God bless you and keep you and make his face to shine upon you. Until next time, remember, You Can Learn the Bible.

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