Introduction.

1. Jerry Bridges in his book ‘Trusting God even when life hurts' makes the point that it is easier to obey God than it is to trust God for grace and mercy during troubled times. It is relatively easy to understand the Scriptural arguments setting out the trustworthiness of God. Our glorious Lord always deals with his people according to the covenants he made with them. God is our God and we are his people through the New Covenant, sealed by the blood of Jesus Christ and the Lord will honour that covenant fully. God has revealed himself in his Word as One who is: Omnipotent, Omniscient, Immutable and Faithful. (i.) Omnipotent: By his sovereign power and authority he is able to bring whatever pleases him to pass. Almighty God will never, and can never make a promise or commitment that is beyond his ability to fulfil or honour. (ii.) Omniscient: As God knows all things concerning the past, present, and the future no circumstance will ever be able to frustrate his undertakings. (iii.) Immutable: God is the same ­yesterday, today and forever, he does not change, therefore he will never break his word or renege on a promise. (iv.) Faithful: our God is a God of truth, nothing false features in his character or ways. It is impossible for God to use deceit as it would violate his very being. God has revealed himself as totally trustworthy. As God's servants you and I are called to live day by day by faith, trusting the Lord to fulfil every promise and commitment he has made to his people.
   
   
2. The history of Israel in Scripture makes it very clear that being faithful to God was not a strong characteristic of the Lord's people. God's people had a tendency to be unfaithful and often turned away from the Lord to follow false gods. The history of the Church in the New Testament reveals that this tendency continued to plague the Lord's people. The letters to the 7 churches in Revelation 2 and 3 uncover the tendency to leave their first love, compromise with the world, follow corrupt and sinful ways, become lukewarm to their salvation, tolerate heretics, and promote false faith. We need to remember that this turning away from the Saviour took place about 60 or 70 years after the death of Christ. It is very comforting to know that even though the Church may be unfaithful the Lord will never, never be unfaithful. Our God is faithful and absolutely trustworthy.
   
   
3. Naomi and Ruth needed to trust the Lord to meet their needs. If Ruth needed a husband then she and Naomi needed to trust God to meet that need. Naomi took on the task of finding Ruth a husband, but in order to accomplish her goal she needed to overcome 6 obstacles. The six obstacles were (i.) Ruth was a Moabitess. (ii.) Ruth's marriage to Mahlon was illegal. (iii.) Ruth was destitute. (iv) Ruth had bound herself to Naomi and would not be separated from her mother in-law. (v.) Boaz had not pursued his relationship with Ruth. (vi.) Naomi's status among the Lord's people was that of a sinner. Overcoming these six obstacles made Naomi's task very difficult and complex. If she was to overcome these obstacles she needed to trust the Lord for grace and mercy. Scripture tells us how Satan works therefore we can be sure that the devil would have tempted Naomi to trust herself and use her own wisdom to secure a husband for Ruth. It was yielding to the temptation to trust himself rather than God that persuaded Elimelech to leave Bethlehem and settle in Moab. The same temptation came when finding wives for Mahlon and Chilion became an issue. Trusting herself rather than trusting God was a pattern of life that Naomi had followed for many years. Would she take matters into her own hands or would she trust God and do things his way? Naomi's plan to get Boaz to marry Ruth is given to us in Ruth 3:2-4.

Making plans and trusting God.

1. Listen to Naomi's plan according to the NLT: ‘Boaz is a close relative of ours, and he's been very kind by letting you gather grain with his workers. Tonight he will be winnowing barley at the threshing floor. Now do as I tell you-take a bath and put on perfume and dress in your nicest clothes. Then go to the threshing floor, but don't let Boaz see you until he has finished his meal. Be sure to notice where he lies down; then go and uncover his feet and lie down there. He will tell you what to do." Does it sound like a plan that involves seduction? Is Naomi telling Ruth to use sinful means to obtain a goal that is good? Does the end justify the means? Had Naomi looked at the six obstacles and decided that she would not trust God and do things his way, but rather trust herself and take things into her own hands? The plain reading of the text seems to suggest that this is the case. We know that desperate people in desperate times do desperate things; this is true of believers and unbelievers. When Abraham and Sarah grew impatient and decided that God could not be trusted to honour his promise that Abraham would be the Father of many nations, they took things into their own hands and through sinful means Ishmael was born to Hagar. (Genesis 16) Is Naomi's plan for Boaz and Ruth to have a sexual encounter and then in order for Boaz to keep his integrity be obligated to marry Ruth?
   
   
2. We find no help in going back to the original Hebrew text to see if the words used have been incorrectly dealt with as the Hebrew is very ambiguous. Commenting on the text Iain Duguid says, ‘Naomi's instructions to Ruth are extremely ambiguous, and even more so in the Hebrew original, where virtually every word in verse 4 is capable of more than one sense.' Matthew Henry says, ‘The course she took in order to her daughter's preferment was very extraordinary and looks suspicious. If there was any thing improper in it, the fault must lie upon Naomi, who put her daughter upon it, and who knew, or should know, the laws and usages of Israel better than Ruth.' The text itself does not give us any insight into thinking that Naomi's plan did not include seduction. We need to look elsewhere for an answer.
   
   
3. Can Hebrew customs or culture help us understand Naomi's plan in any other way? In Naomi's plan there is some custom, but not enough to dismiss the matter of seduction. There are some who say that the uncovering of Boaz feet was a way for a woman to propose to a man. It was culturally incorrect and seen as shameful for a woman to propose to a man. Even if we accept the uncovering of Boaz feet as a cultural form of proposal it does not deal with the aspects of Ruth getting washed, perfumed and dressed in her best dress and secretly under the shroud of darkness lying down at Boaz feet. Tradition and custom do not really help us to see Naomi's plan in any other light than a plan of seduction.
   
   
4. Can the Mosaic Law help us understand Naomi's plan in a better light? When Naomi says, ‘Now Boaz...is he not our relative' could she possibly be thinking about Boaz honouring the levirate law or acting as a kinsman-redeemer? Under the Old Covenant, if a close family member became needy another member of the family was expected to volunteer to help. The one helping the needy relative became his redeemer. The redeemer aspect of the Lord's relationship with his people is stated in Exodus 6:6-8, ‘Therefore say to the children of Israel: ‘I am the Lord; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. I will take you as My people, and  I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God who brings you out  from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as a heritage: I am the Lord.' God's covenant people were to be imitators of God and therefore strongly expected to act on behalf of the needy in their family. As God helped them in their need, so they should help each other in times of need. In the light of this obligation on the covenant people of God it is very likely that Naomi put a great deal of emphasis on the fact that Boaz was a close relative. Therefore we need to look at the question of the relative redeemer and the levirate law.
   
   
1. Did Naomi's plan have an appeal to the laws concerning the kinsman-redeemer?  The Law concerning the kinsman-redeemer is found in Leviticus 25:23-55. We need to remember that this was a covenantal and not a secular society therefore attitudes towards family and land ownership were different. Listen to Sinclair Ferguson, ‘If a family member found himself in such a debt that he sold himself into slavery, his kinsman-redeemer would pay to redeem him. If a family property was mortgaged in one way or another, the kinsman-redeemer would regain it for the family (Leviticus 25:33-55). Underlying this was the fact that family members were God's servants, not any man's (v 55): and family land was God's land, given in trust (v.23). The blessing of God under the old covenant was integrally related to the land that God had parcelled out for his people. It was written in the law that family land should remain within the family in perpetuity as a symbol of God's blessing.' The law did place an obligation on Boaz as a close relative to help relieve the destitution of Naomi and Ruth by providing for them, but this would not have obligated Boaz to marry Ruth. As Elimelech would have owned a parcel of land, there was place for a kinsman-redeemer to secure that land for Naomi. Naomi and Ruth were certainly in need of a kinsman-redeemer.
   
   
2. Did Naomi's plan have an appeal to the levirate law found in Deuteronomy 25:5-10? Under this law the brother of a deceased husband was to marry his widow, if she were childless, in order to provide an heir, who would continue the dead husbands name in Israel. If Naomi was appealing to this law we accept then that the law was applied to brother in-laws and also other male relatives. In Ruth 4:10 Boaz makes it clear to the Elders of Bethlehem that he was taking Ruth to be his wife under this law. The response of the Elders in Ruth 4:12 indicates that they accepted the marriage between Boaz and Ruth as an application of this law. We need to accept that Naomi had this law in mind regarding the proposal of marriage between Boaz and Ruth.
   
   
5. Having established that Naomi would have had recourse to the law regarding the kinsman-redeemer and levirate laws we need to consider whether or not these factors featured in her plan. Naomi introduces the fact that Boaz is a relative, but then does not really build on that fact, nor does she brief Ruth about the law and its application. How could God's way include Ruth perfuming herself, putting on her most attractive clothes, going down to the threshing floor in the middle of the night, lying down at the feet of a man who was not her husband, and then waiting to see how things progress? How are we to understand Naomi's plan?
   
   
6. The obligations of the 9^th commandment require us to protect the good name of others and we need to think the best of Naomi rather than the worst. Can we think of Naomi's plan in a way that does not make it a calculated plan of seduction? She also knew that Ruth was a virtuous woman and therefore would not resort to seductive tactics to secure Boaz as a husband. Naomi would have known that Boaz was a godly man who most likely valued pleasing God far more than indulging in a night of passion. Taking these factors into account it is important to notice that according to Naomi's plan, Ruth was not to do anything when Boaz realises her presence, but wait for his instructions (Ruth 3:4). Naomi expected and trusted Boaz to tell Ruth to do what would be pleasing and acceptable to God. Boaz had a reputation as a man who could be trusted. With this in mind we need look at Naomi's instructions to Ruth to wash, put on perfume and get dressed in her best, not to present herself to Boaz as a sultry woman, but as a bride. As Cooke says, ‘Ruth was to prepare herself as a bride prepares for marriage.' We need to think of Ruth being dressed as a bride rather than a tart, in order to convey to Boaz the fact that she desired to be his wife and expected him to act as her close relative under the levirate law. Lying down at his feet or next to him was saying to Boaz, ‘This is where I want to be every night next to you as your wife.' Waiting for Boaz to tell her what to do would show Boaz that she would be a submissive wife. Why go alone in the middle of the night and do it secretly? I think that there would be two reasons for this approach, (i.) Ruth could hardly go up to Boaz in the field and say, ‘Marry me!' Such a thing was unthinkable in Jewish society. (ii.) If Boaz rejected Ruth's proposal of marriage no one except Ruth, Boaz and Naomi would know. The gossips of Bethlehem would have had a field day had they got hold of the details of what took place on that night. By going at night would stop this from becoming public knowledge. The uncovering of the feet was according to some the traditional way a woman proposed to a man. Everything Naomi told Ruth to do conveyed in visual form the message that Ruth wanted Boaz to marry her. Boaz would have needed to be blind and exceedingly dull not to have got Ruth's message. I believe that Naomi's plan ought to be understood in these terms and that there was nothing sleazy or seductive about it.
   
   

The text is ambiguous enough for Naomi's plan to be seen either as sexual seduction or as a visual demonstration of Ruth's desire to marry Boaz. There are five reasons why I believe the latter rather than the former to be true.


1. We live in an age with very poor moral standards particularly concerning sex, but even today a plan of sexual seduction would be seen as wrong. In the days of Naomi and Ruth it would have been seen as a most despicable thing to do.
   
   
2. Naomi would have known that the cultural stereotyping of Moabite woman was that they used sexual seduction to achieve their goals. If Naomi's plan included sexual seduction it put Ruth at risk of being despised and rejected by the Lord's people. Naomi loved Ruth and would not have put her at risk in this way.
   
   
3. The plan of seduction would involve adultery or fornication. The Scripture condemns any and all sexual encounters outside of the marriage bond. Those guilty of the sin of adultery or fornication were usually stoned to death. Naomi knew this and loved Ruth too much to put her life at risk.
   
   
4. If Naomi's plan was to have Ruth seduce Boaz then not only is she spiritually backslidden, but she is also morally bankrupt and a promoter of sinfulness. Is this the kind of plan a woman restored by God's grace would advocate? It is very hard to imagine that a sensible Christian woman would give a babe in Christ this kind of counsel.
   
   
5. Ruth was a virtuous woman who loved the Lord and desired to please him. That a Christian woman of such character, conviction, devotion and commitment would agree to a plan that was obviously and blatantly offensive in the eyes of God is inconceivable. I believe we would do Ruth a great injustice, if we thought she would agree to a plan that involved sexual seduction. I do not think Ruth slept a wink that night but nervously waited for Boaz to realise that she was present. Naomi's plan was to communicate to Boaz visually that Ruth desired to marry him. The instructions Naomi gave to Ruth never mentioned anything about what she should say to Boaz. Note Ruth's words to Boaz recorded in Ruth 3:9, ‘I am Ruth, your maidservant. Take your maidservant under your wing, for you are a close relative.' Ruth identified herself and immediately asked Boaz in the traditional way to marry her and added that it would be under the levirate law. Ruth used the very terms that men used for proposing marriage to women. Ruth does not give Boaz time to think about why she was there, she tells him immediately. It is as if Ruth is eager to tell him, ‘I am not here to seduce you, but to ask you to marry me.' Ruth's action strongly suggests that Naomi never incorporated seduction in her plan.
   
   
7. Naomi made the plan and Ruth accepted the plan, but both needed to trust the Lord. Having dealt with the ambiguity of the plan and the disastrous consequences that would follow if the plan was misunderstood Naomi and Ruth needed to trust the Lord to lead and guide them and to work in Boaz's heart. They needed to trust the Lord to protect the reputations of both Ruth and Boaz by not allowing the outworking of this plan to be discovered. Ruth needed to trust the Lord to be with her and give her courage as she followed the plan through. I have no doubt that these women prayed together before Ruth set off to the threshing floor. When we need to make plans in difficult and testing time the promise in Psalm 50:15 needs to comfort us. ‘Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.' There are three things in this promise that we need to store in our hearts and minds.
   
   
   1. To make a plan without prayer is to get off on the wrong foot. As a person saved by Jesus, seeking God in prayer must always be your first course of action in making plans.
      
   2. The Lord will deliver you according to his wisdom, in his timing, and by his ways, which may be very different to what you expect. A plan that is not formulated without a strong desire to submit to the Lord's will is a bad plan.
   3. The goal of your plan must always be to glorify God. We need to have glorifying God as a deliberate policy and diligently seek to implement it. Trust God to give you the grace and the wisdom to glorify him in your plans. Trust God and seek his counsel from his Word to guide you in your plans.

Conclusion.