Introduction.
- The supreme goal of every believer according to the scriptures is to
glorify God and enjoy him forever. Boaz was a man who lived everyday with this
goal firmly rooted in his heart and mind, and this therefore greatly influenced
his inner and outer life. In Proverbs 3:3-4 Solomon gives us the
biblical description of a godly man, he says, ‘Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around your neck, write
them on the tablet of your heart, and so find favour and ??high esteem in the
sight of God and man.' A godly man's life is marked by covenant loyalty and
faithfulness. Boaz was committed to pleasing the Lord especially in the small
matters of life. Boaz was a God-centred man and this God-centeredness caused
him to love God and filled him with a deep desire for others to enjoy God and
his blessings as he did.
- This godliness reveals itself in his attitude towards his workers.
Rather than being consumed with the harvest, he is concerned that they should
recognise God's blessing. Listen to the exchange between Boaz and his workers
in Ruth
2:4, "The Lord be with you!" And they answered him, "The Lord bless you!" This greeting in
some ways is superfluous to the story, but vital for assessing the character of
Boaz. The purpose of this greeting is to tell us that Boaz honoured the Lord in
his daily work and was respected and loved by his workers.
- Boaz's godliness shines through brightly in his dealings with Ruth.
Following the law of the Lord he deals with her in a manner that is full of
grace, respect and understanding. Boaz took time to think about Ruth and her
needs, - spiritual, emotional and physical. The tenderness of calling Ruth ‘my daughter' could well have been the
first words of kindness and acceptance she had experienced in a long while.
When a man of position and importance refers to you as my daughter, two expectations are raised; (i) that he would provide
and (ii) that he would protect. Both of these expectations are more than fulfilled
by Boaz. A godly man always has an impact on the lives of others as he is the salt of the earth and the light of
the world (Matthew 5:13-15). He
was doing what Jesus instructed all believers to do in Matthew 5:16, ‘Let your light so shine before men, ?that
they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.'Ruth 2:13-23 and take note of the
impact a godly man had on Ruth and Naomi. Boaz's
good works were done for God's glory and not to feed his pride. As a Christian
it is God's will for you to be godly and to do good works so that others might
glorify God. Today we will look at
1. The words of
the godly are full of comfort. Ruth 2:13
- According to
Ruth the words and deeds of Boaz had greatly comforted her. In order for Ruth to have found comfort from Boaz's words and deeds meant that she was in a
condition where she needed to be comforted. We can only imagine how difficult
Ruth's life was being a widow in a strange land knowing only her mother-in-law
who was bitter about her past. She was among strangers who preferred to call
her the Moabitess rather than Ruth,
because they had not accepted her as one of them. Ruth carried the burden of
grief and sorrow from the past and was living in poverty. She was a woman who
needed comfort. The English word comfort is
made up of the Latin words com which
means with and fortis which means to strengthen.
If you are a comforter you come alongside a person who is in need and you
give them strength by actively helping them. In John 16:7 the Holy Spirit
is called the ‘parakletos' which John Wycliffe
translated as Comforter. The Holy
Spirit comforts us by filling us with the strength of the Lord than enables us
to courageously face the circumstances of life and be more than conquerors. To
give comfort is much more than simply supporting another person, it is becoming
involved in the person's plight in order to strengthen them.
- The aspect of
greatest importance in the concept of comfort
is that it means becoming actively involved in strengthening another
person. Paul spells out the concept in 2 Corinthians 1:4 where he says, ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of
mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we
may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with
which we ourselves are comforted by God.' Christians receive comfort from
the God of all comfort, and are meant
to comfort others by sharing with
them the comfort they get from the
Lord. Christians ought to be wonderful comforters because they know the God of
all comfort personally. Unbelievers do not have the privilege of receiving comfort, i.e. God with us to strengthen us; therefore
we should encourage them to seek the God of all comfort. The emphasis in the
word comfort is on being actively
involved and doing something to assist the person in need, which prompted
translators to change from translating ‘paraketos'
from Comforter to Helper. A comforter gives themselves to help the person in need.
- Ruth says to Boaz,
"Let me find favour in your sight, my
lord; for you have comforted me, and have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your
maidservants." The word kindly conveys
gentleness, thoughtfulness, tenderness and politeness and the way all people
who are godly ought to speak, but that's not the emphasis in the Hebrew word.
The Literal
Translation says, ‘Let me find
grace in your eyes, my lord because you have comforted me, and because you have
spoken to the heart of your handmaid.' Notice Ruth says Boaz has spoken to her heart. In her heart Ruth knew and
understood that Boaz's concern for her well-being was genuine and that he meant
everything that he said. Boaz did not trot out a whole list of pious platitudes
and clichés. A platitude is a statement
with no meaning,
presented as if it was significant. Ruth knew that Boaz would help her. James
2:15-16 gives us an example of those who are full of clichés and
platitudes, ‘?If a brother or sister is naked and
destitute of daily food,? and ?one of you says to them, "?Depart in
peace, be warmed and filled,?" but you do not give them the things which are
needed for the body, what does it
profit?" This person would have been more honest if they had simply said, ‘I am not willing to help you.' Boaz
spoke in a way that touched and moved Ruth's heart; it gave her reason to hope.
?
- The words of the godly should always be full of hope. The
importance of real hope is greatly overlooked in the age in which we live.
People without hope are in a thoroughly miserable position as they have no
expectations and are usually deeply depressed. Paul says in 1
Corinthians 13:13, ‘And now abide
faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. Love is the greatest,
for when faith turns to sight and hopes blends with realization, only love
remains. Hope in the Bible is always confident and a well placed expectation.
Biblical hope is nothing like the hope we express when we cautiously say, ‘I hope so.' The godly are full of hope
because the LORD is in control of all the affairs of life and all things are
possible with God. When Boaz said, ‘The Lord repay your work, and a full reward
be given you by the Lord God of
Israel, ??under whose wings you have come for refuge?' he encouraged Ruth
to hope in God, to look to the Lord with confident expectation.
- A comforter is one who gives encouragement. When the
Lord gave Joshua the task of leading the Israelites into the Promised Land he
said, ‘Be strong and of good courage; do
not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord
your God is with you wherever
you go.?' Notice, the Lord tells Joshua to be courageous and then tells him to draw his courage from the fact that
the Almighty will always be with him. Because the Lord is present with us we
have the courage to face the future and whatever that brings. Boaz's words
urged Ruth to face the future with courage because the Lord was her refuge. Courage
requires strength, not strength in oneself, but the strength that comes from
the Lord. Ruth needed courage for there were many things about her life that
could easily fill her with fear and uncertainty and, she needed to have her
anxiety relieved and her fear allayed in order to regain her emotional
strength. According to the online
dictionary the word comforted means
‘a condition of feeling pleasurable ease,
well-being and contentment. Boaz's words touched her heart and encouraged
her to look to the Lord for grace and refuge from the great storm enveloping
her life. The way you speak to others should be full of comfort, if you know
and love Christ. Boaz would never know how much his words moved the heart of
Ruth.
2.
The words of a godly man are accompanied by action. Ruth 2:14-16
- Boaz' speech was godly and his actions fully confirmed
his godliness. His covenantal loyalty and faithfulness are very evident in the
action he takes to protect and provide for Ruth. The instinct to protect and provide is a fatherly role which ought
to be prominent in godly men and which they should willingly extend to widows
and orphans. James 2:15-17 not only rebukes those given to clichés and pious
platitudes, but also provides a test for a living faith. Listen to what James
says, ?‘If a brother or sister is naked
and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be
warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for
the body, what does it profit?
Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.' If you have
true faith your good works will confirm the reality of such faith. You can have
good works without faith, but you cannot have faith without good works. Paul in
Ephesians
2:10 says, ‘For we are ??His
(God's) workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand that we should walk in them.' Part of our service to Christ is
doing the good works God has scheduled for us to do. Boaz was a man of faith
and his good works confirmed the reality of that faith in the Lord.
- We need to look at how Boaz provided for Ruth. In Ruth 2:14 Boaz invites Ruth to
partake in the lunch that he has provided for his workers. The lunch was bread
which was dipped into olive oil and wine vinegar. The lunch Boaz provided
included roast grain which testifies to the bumper harvest season enjoyed by
the Lord's people around Bethlehem.
This was probably the best meal Ruth had had for a long time. It is important
to notice that she ate her fill and had some left over. There can be no doubt
that Ruth put the left over lunch into a ‘doggy-bag'
and took it home for Naomi. Ruth gleaned the whole day and because the reapers
deliberately left some barley behind she gathered up an ephah of barley to take home to Naomi. After a full days work Ruth
carried the ephah of barley home. To
carry an ephah which is equal to
about 15 kg means Ruth was a woman of physical strength and stamina. I guess in
the days of the judges this was how the women did their weight training.
- Naomi's response to Ruth's return was astonishment and
amazement. Listen to Naomi's response according to the New Living Translation, "So much!" Naomi exclaimed. "Where did you
gather all this grain today? Where did you work? May the Lord bless the one who helped you!"
Naomi is flabbergasted and greatly excited by the amount of food Ruth had
gathered. Her excitement is not surprising as Ruth brought home the equivalent
of two weeks food for the average worker. Ruth went out empty handed, but came
back full. For the first time we hear Naomi give thanks to the Lord and ask
God's blessing upon the man who showed grace towards Ruth. Boaz let his light so shine before Naomi that she
saw his good works and glorified her heavenly Father.' When Ruth tells
Naomi that it was Boaz' field and that he had shown her great kindness, Naomi
says, "May he be blessed by the LORD, who
is ever merciful to the living and to the dead," Naomi exclaimed to her
daughter-in-law; and she continued, "He is a relative of ours, one of our next of
kin." NAV. Listen to Iain
Duguid's comments on this verse, ‘All
of a sudden, faced with the mound of food that Ruth had brought home, the
practical evidence of God's goodness to her, Naomi's attitude began to change.
First, her heart began to soften towards God. She cried out, "The LORD bless
him! He has not stopped showing kindness to the living" ... "Suddenly, Naomi was
beginning to see that the Lord was not out to get her. In fact he was still
able and willing to smile upon her, to show her covenantal faithfulness in
spite of her history of rebellion. Ruth's one-day outing, in which she went out
empty and came back full because the Lord went ahead of her, persuaded Naomi
that perhaps she had been too quick with her bitterness. The Lord was able and
willing to supply her physical needs after all. God in his mercy used Boaz's
good deeds to stir the heart of Naomi to think about her walk with the Lord.
Boaz would not have known his actions would have had this impact on a
backslider who was filled with bitterness.
- Listen to Sinclair Ferguson's comment, ‘Chapter 1 ended with Naomi's confession
that she had left ‘full' but has returned to the land of promise ‘empty' she
was emptied because of sin. God had substantially emptied her of her spirit of
self-reliance. His purpose was that she might be filled with the provision
hidden within the divine plan.' The sovereign hand of God working out his
purpose in the lives of Naomi, Ruth and Boaz is beginning to shine more and
more clearly in the story of Ruth. We are not able to see the fullness of God's
work in and through his people, we only see the tip of the ice-berg, the
greater part of God's work is unseen. Boaz spoke and acted as one who loves the
Lord should, God took his words and used his deeds to kindle hope and
strengthen faith in Naomi and Ruth. Boaz would never know or be able to measure
the great impact his life had on others. As Christians we need to realise that
our lives are instruments in the hand of God and he uses them to have a great
impact on others. Strive to have words and deeds that glorify God.
- We also need to consider how Boaz took steps to protect Ruth. From Ruth 2:9, 15 and 22
we learn that it was common knowledge that widows gleaning in the fields
were vulnerable and often physically attacked. In Boaz' day it was not unusual
for young widows to suffer sexual assault, nor was it unusual for young woman
to use sex as the means of manipulating morally weak men into caring for them.
These attitudes are not foreign to us as they are very evident in the society
in which we live. This behaviour is evil in the eyes of the Lord. Boaz loved
the Lord and therefore he did two things:
- He gave
Ruth permission to glean in his fields and to stay close to his maidservants.
Ruth was not to make herself vulnerable by being isolated in the field. Ruth
was to work among his young women and enjoy the same safety as they did.
- He
also gave the instruction that his young men (probably casual workers) were not
to touch her. The foreman would have understood that he was to ensure Ruth's
safety. Naomi encouraged Ruth to accept Boaz's instruction as the danger was
real. Boaz's good deeds promoted righteousness, by not giving evil men and
woman the opportunity to do their works of evil. Once more Boaz would never
know the impact of his action on the lives of others.
3.
The words and deeds of a godly man cause others to rejoice in the LORD. Ruth 2:17,20,
Would anyone doubt that Naomi and Ruth rejoiced that night? I
would suggest that Naomi and Ruth shared a happiness that had been absent from
their lives for a very long time. Perhaps it had been months since the two
laughed together and felt secure and thankful. Were Naomi and Ruth rejoicing in
their circumstances or were they rejoicing in the Lord? I believe that it was a
bit of both. It is wonderful to see Naomi rejoice and recognise the actions of
God's loving hand as it signals the beginning of a real change taking place in her
heart. The Lord had begun the process of filling Naomi's heart with new joy by
getting her to shift her focus onto himself. God had used the godly words and
actions of Boaz as a catalyst to prompt Naomi's rejoicing in the Lord. It is
wonderful to see God ruling over the affairs of men and using his servants to
do such an important and profound work. Boaz ministered to Naomi and Ruth in a
most wonderful way, by simply living a godly life.
Conclusion.
As those saved by God's great grace through Jesus Christ
there are two things which we must never think. (i) Never think that what you
say and do are not important. You have no idea of their importance as you do
not know how the Lord will use your words and deeds to accomplish his purposes.
(ii) Never think that God is not active. God is always at work in all things
for the good of those who love him. There is a much bigger picture than what
you see; you only ever see the tip of the ice-berg. Don't live by sight, but
live by faith in the Sovereign Lord Jesus. Sight focuses on circumstances,
faith focuses on the Lord. A godly life always has a wonderful impact on
others.