Introduction.
- Nine months after applying to emigrate from South Africa to come to Australia a notice from the Post
Office informed me that a registered letter from the Australian Embassy had
arrived. The contents of that letter would to a large degree determine the future
of my family. It was with a real sense of apprehension that I open the envelope
and read the letter. The news that I had been granted a permanent residence
visa was particularly good news and a great relief. There is something scary
about having to wait while other people decide your future; the sense of not
being able to influence events that affect your life is frustrating to live
with. I am sure that what I experienced was nothing compared to the feelings
and thoughts Ruth had as she waited to hear the outcome of whether she would
marry Boaz's or a closer relative under the levirate and kinsman redeemer laws.
Naomi's advice for her to sit still and
trust the Lord would have been very difficult to implement. Ruth and Naomi
would both have been anxious about the outcome as their futures depended upon
the decision made at the city gate on that day.
- As God made us responsible and accountable beings we
have an innate need to feel that we are in control of our lives. We live as
free-agents making our own decisions good and bad. The Bible tells us that God
is absolutely sovereign and in control of all things and works everything
according to the counsel of his will to accomplish his eternal purposes. For
Christians the truth that God is absolutely sovereign is a wonderful comfort particularly
at times when we feel that our lives are in the hands of others. It is
wonderful to know, understand and believe that absolutely nothing can happen to
us unless the Lord permits it. Not a single hair of your head falls to the
ground unless it is God's will and purpose. Remember the answer Jesus gave
Pontius Pilate when Pilate claimed that he had the power to crucify or release
him. Jesus told Pilate, "You could have
no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore
the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin" John 19:11. Naomi
and Ruth needed to find refuge under the wings of the Almighty as they waited
for Boaz to deal with Ruth's request. Knowing that God was sovereign they knew
that the outcome would be determined by God and not men. We need to grasp this
truth and exercise faith that allows us to respond to life according to this
truth. We need to learn to trust God for his grace. The fourth chapter of Ruth
is all about God's grace towards Ruth in the working of his glorious providence.
1. God's providence blessed Ruth in the
past.
- We need to remember that the world has always been ruled
by the providence of God, there has never been a time when God was not in
control. The Apostle Paul talking to the Athenians says, ‘And He (God) has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on
all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the
boundaries of their dwellings' Acts 17:26. God preappointed the
year, month, day, hour and second your life would begin and end and where you
would live. The truth that God's providence rules over your life from the
cradle to the grave enabled David to say, ‘Surely
goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.' God's providence had brought Ruth to Bethlehem in an amazing
way. The Lord had arranged things so that Ruth would glean in the fields of
Boaz a close relative of family she married into. The Almighty had caused Naomi
and Ruth to need the help of a kinsman-redeemer. Things do not happen by random
chance everything happens according to God's sovereign purposes. Listen to Proverbs
16:33, ‘The lot is cast into the
lap, but its every decision is
from the Lord.' A modern paraphrase would be, ‘the roulette wheel is spun, but God
determines the number.' For Naomi
and Ruth the outcome of that day depended on the Lord's purposes not the deeds
of men.
- Boaz made a promise in Ruth 3:13, ‘Stay this night, and in the morning it shall
be that if he will perform
the duty of a close relative for you-good; let him do it. But if he does not
want to perform the duty for you, then I will perform the duty for you, as the Lord lives!' Boaz ought to have added the words ‘God
willing' to this promise as he promised things that were beyond his
control. Boaz would have had a sense of assurance as the levirate and
kinsman-redeemer laws he sought to apply belonged to the house of Israel
by the providence of God. We should also note that the presence and the
function of the Elders at the gate had all come about by God's working. ‘In the Old Testament those leaders
associated with Moses in governing the nation of Israel
were called "the elders of Israel"
(Ex. 3:16; 24:1), "the
elders of the people" (Ex. 19:7), or the "seventy elders" (Ex. 24:1). Moses
called the elders together to give them instructions for the observance of the
Passover before the Exodus from Egypt.'
(New Illustrated Bible Dictionary) After the conquest every city had a
ruling body of Elders whose duties according
to the Deuteronomic legislation included presiding as judges in apprehending
murderers, (Deut 19:12)
conducting inquests (Deut 21:2) settling marriage
disputes, (Deut 22:15, 25:7)
and settling disputes over the application of the law. God's providence had
ruled that every city had a legal system that was very open and accessible to
the people. If you had a problem with your neighbour you went to the city gate
and presented your case to the Elders for judgement. Boaz did not need to hire
a lawyer and wait months for the matter to come before the court.
- God's providence had also ruled that Ruth and Naomi's
case was public knowledge. Everyone had heard of their return from Moab to Bethlehem.
Everyone knew Ruth was a Moabitess who married Mahlon. That Ruth was a virtuous
woman was common knowledge among the towns residents. That Elimelech and Namoi
owned land before they departed for Moab was part of the public record.
We need to remind ourselves that land ownership in the days of Ruth and Naomi
was very different to what it is today. Technically Elimelech could not sell
the land; he could sell the use of the land for a maximum period of fifty years
depending on the fall of the year of Jubilee. The land was given as God's
blessing to him and his family and it was to remain in the family as a
perpetual reminder of God's goodness. God by his providence has made Australia
a wonderful place to live, and ruled that we enjoy a life of peace, security,
safety and prosperity. We must never take this for granted, we need to give
praise to Christ Jesus who rules in the glory of heaven and gives us wonderful
blessings every day. Naomi and Ruth's lives had never been outside of God's
providence.
- We do need to see the bigger picture of God providential
working. Sinclair Fergusson says, ‘We must never limit the purposes of God, as though he were doing only
one thing at a time in only one person and at one place at a time - here and
now in me! Sometimes we can be deeply puzzled by the circumstances in our
lives: what is God doing? Too frequently we focus attention on ourselves as
though the answer lay within our individual lives-as if we were the central key
to interpreting the plan of God in the entire universe! God is intimately aware
of us and deeply concerned for our welfare. But his providential purposes,
which include me, do not centre on me, as though what he was doing in me could
be isolated from everything else he is doing! NO, God's purposes criss-cross
and zigzag, and cross-fertilise one believer's life with that of an unbeliever,
or one believer's experience with another believer. He is always simultaneously
and contemporaneously doing several things in several lives.'
2. God's providence was at work in the
present blessing Ruth.
- How was it that the closer relative was in Bethlehem that day? The
hand of God made it happen. Who was this closer relative? According to Ruth
4:1 in the New King James Version Boaz says, ‘Come aside my friend.' The word ‘friend' is used to translate the term ‘peloni almoni' which in English would best be translated as Mr. So and So. I guess in Australian
English Boaz would said, ‘Hey mate come
over here.' God in his wisdom ruled
that the name of this man would not appear in his Word. The discussion between
Boaz and Mr So and So took place before the elders and the public who we
present at the gate. God ruled that there would be a large number of witnesses
to this hearing and ruling of this case. The Lord took steps to make sure that
what happened was not done in secret or as a private arrangement.
- When Mr. So and So sat down he would have seen
immediately that he was engaged in a legal transaction as ten city elders were
seated and ready to listen to the discussion between him and Boaz. In Ruth
4:3-4 Boaz puts the kinsman-redeemer case to Mr. So and So. We need to
look at the facts as Mr. So and So would have understood them. There were four
basic facts; (i) Naomi the elderly widow of Elimelech a close relative has a
field to sell in order to live off the proceeds. (ii) If he redeemed the land
it would remain in the family. (iii) When Naomi died the land would be added to
his estate as Naomi had no heir. (iv) If he did not redeem the field Boaz
would. On the basis of these facts Mr. So and So saw a deal that was too good
to be true so he said, ‘I will redeem
it.' Mr So and So was probably
congratulating himself on the great deal he had got when Boaz adds one more
fact, he says, "On the day you buy the
field from the hand of Naomi, you must also buy it from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to
perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance." If Mr So and So
redeemed the land he would have to marry Ruth the Moabitess the widow of Mahlon.
This additional fact made him drop the deal as quickly as possible. This fact
in the eyes of Mr. So and So changed a once in a life-time real estate deal
into an investors nightmare. If his marriage to Ruth resulted in a child being
born, then he would never own the field and he would have to bare the cost of
caring for Naomi and Ruth. You can almost see him doing the sums in his mind as
he backs out of the deal and gives Boaz full right to redeem the land.
- We often fail to remember that God's providence is also
active in the hearts and minds of people. Joseph was imprisoned after being
falsely accused by Potiphar's wife. The treatment Joseph received in prison was
determined by the providence of God. Listen to Genesis 39:21, ‘But the Lord
was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favour in the sight of
the keeper of the prison.' Listen to
Matthew Henry's comment on this
verse, ‘God can raise up friends for his
people even where they little expect to find them, and can make them to be pitied even of those
that carry them captive'. The latter part of Matthew Henry's comment comes
from Psalm
106:46 which says, ‘He also made
them to be pitied by all those who carried them away captive.' The Israelites had rebelled against the Lord;
in judgement God delivered them into the hands of their enemy to discipline
them. Their enemies had dealt with great hatred and without pity, until God softened the hearts of these same
enemies and caused them to have pity on the Israelites. On this Calvin
says, ‘The hearts of all men are entirely
under God's control, to harden or to soften them according to his sovereign
pleasure, so, while his anger was kindled against his people, their enemies
were at the same time also inflamed with implacable resentment towards them.
But the moment his anger was appeased, the fire which issued from the furnace
of his judgment was extinguished, and the cruelty of their enemies was changed into
mercy. And that enemies, cruel and barbarous, should begin to love and pity
those whom they formerly hated, was a change so astonishing as to be
incredible, had they not, in the kind providence of God, from wolves been
transformed into lambs.' It was
God's providence that moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to end the Exile of the Israelites and
send them back to Jerusalem
to rebuild the temple of the Lord. It was the providence of God that stopped
the lions from tearing Daniel apart and eating him. God's purpose for Ruth
would be accomplished because God's providence was ruling in the hearts of Boaz
and Mr. So and So. Naomi and Ruth were never victims of circumstance, their
lives were never in the hands of men, and their lives were always in the hand
of God and his glorious providence. Ruth by God's providence did not find
favour in the eyes of Mr. So and So, but did find favour in the eyes of Boaz.
When my application to come to Australia
was successful it was because God's providence granted me favour in the eyes of
those who assessed my case. If you have been successful in acquiring a job, it
has been because God's providence caused them to look on you with favour. God's
providence is the assurance behind the comfort found in Romans 8:28,
‘And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those
who are the called according to His
purpose.'
3. God's providence was at work exposing
the true state of Mr. So and So's heart.
Mr So and So's refusal to redeem the land and be a husband
to Ruth revealed much about the true state of his heart. Three very basic
sinful problems were well entrenched in this mans life.
- He was
a very self-centred man. He evaluated whether or not he should follow the law
of God by asking himself a series of self-centred questions: ‘What is in it for
me? Will I find pleasure? What will it cost me? What difference will it make to
my life? He was very quick to protect himself and his estate and very slow to
consider the needs of his close relatives. We need to remember that even as
Christians we often follow this man's example by not giving obedience to God's
commands when we perceive that obedience will not be of personal benefit. The
sin that continues to live in each of us continually tells us to look after
number 1. Those redeemed by Christ Jesus are to be Christ-centred and not
self-centred.
- The second sinful problem that was well entrenched in Mr. So
and So was that he loved possessions.
He measured everything from the perspective of whether or not it would
adversely affect his bottom line. When he thought he would enlarge his estate
by taking care of the elderly widow Naomi he was ready and willing to redeem
the land, but the moment Ruth a younger woman was mentioned he calculated that
it would cost him more than he would gain so he refused to follow the law of
God. Jesus in Matthew 6:24 said, ‘No
one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other,
or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve
God and mammon.' (Mammon is an old English word which means riches.) Paul in 1 Timothy 6:10 says, ‘For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have
strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with
many sorrows.' Loving money is so easy in our must have everything society as it seems to offer everything that
will bring you happiness. Listen to the wisdom of J C Ryle, ‘Money is the most unsatisfying of
possessions. It takes away some of the cares, no doubt; but it brings with it
quite as many cares as it takes away. There is trouble in getting of it. There
is anxiety in the keeping of it. There is temptation in the use of it. There is
guilt in the abuse of it. There is sorrow in the loosing of it. There is
perplexity in the disposing of it. Mr. So and So cared more about his
riches than he did about close relatives who were destitute. How much did he
love money? The ritual described in Ruth 4:7-8 must be understood in the
light of Deuteronomy 25:1-10 which makes it very clear that Mr. So and
So would have suffered shame and disgrace for refusing to do the duty required
under the levirate law.
- The third sinful problem that gripped this man was that he was cold-hearted. He cared only about
himself and his possessions. He would be interested in ministering to the poor
if there was a personal payoff. Jesus condemned this cold-hearted attitude in
the parable of the Good Samaritan. A cold-hearted Christian is a contradiction;
a heart made new and indwelt by God should never be cold.
Conclusion.
The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. I
wonder how much enjoyment of God we forfeit by not living with the certain
knowledge that our lives are held in the hand of God and that his providence is
at work in every aspect of our lives. Could it be that some of our sleepless
nights simply come down to the fact that we are not totally convinced that God
by his providence is ruling over all things? May God in his grace and mercy
give us faith to be able to say; ‘the
Lord is my shepherd I have everything I need.'