Sermon for Sunday, June 11th, 2023 at First Presbyterian Church at Unionville, NY (BPC)
Old Testament reading:
[Deu 25:5-10 ESV] 5 “If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. 6 And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.
7 And if the man does not wish to take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall go up to the gate to the elders and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to perpetuate his brother’s name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’ 8 Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him, and if he persists, saying, ‘I do not wish to take her,’ 9 then his brother’s wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face. And she shall answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’ 10 And the name of his house shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal pulled off.’
New Testament reading:
[Eph 1:3-10 ESV] 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
Gospel reading:
[Luk 21:25-28 ESV] 25 “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, 26 people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
Sermon Text: [Rth 3:1-18 ESV] 1 Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, should I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you? 2 Is not Boaz our relative, with whose young women you were? See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. 3 Wash therefore and anoint yourself, and put on your cloak and go down to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 But when he lies down, observe the place where he lies. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do.” 5 And she replied, “All that you say I will do.” 6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did just as her mother-in-law had commanded her. 7 And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. Then she came softly and uncovered his feet and lay down. 8 At midnight the man was startled and turned over, and behold, a woman lay at his feet! 9 He said, “Who are you?” And she answered, “I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer.” 10 And he said, “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 young men, whether poor or rich. 11 And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you ask, for all my fellow townsmen know that you are a worthy woman. 12 And now it is true that I am a redeemer. Yet there is a redeemer nearer than I. 13 Remain tonight, and in the morning, if he will redeem you, good; let him do it. But if he is not willing to redeem you, then, as the LORD lives, I will redeem you. Lie down until the morning.” 14 So she lay at his feet until the morning, but arose before one could recognize another. And he said, “Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.” 15 And he said, “Bring the garment you are wearing and hold it out.” So she held it, and he measured out six measures of barley and put it on her. Then she went into the city. 16 And when she came to her mother-in-law, she said, “How did you fare, my daughter?” Then she told her all that the man had done for her, 17 saying, “These six measures of barley he gave to me, for he said to me, ‘You must not go back empty-handed to your mother-in-law.'” 18 She replied, “Wait, my daughter, until you learn how the matter turns out, for the man will not rest but will settle the matter today.”
Introduction
People come up with some pretty wild ideas when it comes to marriage proposals.
It is not all that uncommon for someone to put “Will You Marry Me?” on a billboard or even on the jumbotron at a sports stadium.
Others are more creative.
One man brought his fiancee-to-be to an aquarium where he had hired scuba divers to present a large “Will You Marry Me?” sign from behind the glass.
Another had a trained hunting eagle swoop down delivering a ring.
But I’ve never heard of anything so unusual as Ruth’s proposal to Boaz. Not only is it a woman proposing to a man (which is unusual in our culture), but she does so by sneaking into his room and sleeping at his feet (and Scaring him half to death?). Continuing our alliterative theme through the Book of Ruth, today we’ll look at Rest and a Redeemer in Ruth. Well, Boaz was resting until Ruth showed up. And I doubt Ruth rested much at all! And then she asks him to be her redeemer.
WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? Isn’t this strange.
The late Gordon Keddie says this chapter is weird, or at least, “weird to us.”
But with some additional understanding of the cultural setting, we can remove the weirdness.
There are two Old Testament ideas that come into play in this marriage proposal. They are the idea of the “Redemption of Land” and the “Levirate Marriage.” Putting them together we can understand better what a Kinsman-Redeemer is.
I. Land Redemption
In Israel, the land was distributed among the tribes and clans and families. And it was to remain distributed. So, when a person was obliged to sell his land on account of poverty, it was the obligation of the nearest relative to buy the land, to redeem it. If the land was not redeemed, and had to be sold to someone outside of the family, the land would fully revert back to the original owner (or his family) upon the Jubilee year, the 50th year. In the meanwhile the new “owner” would only really own the rights to the produce of the land.
[Lev 25:23-28 ESV] 23 “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me. 24 And in all the country you possess, you shall allow a redemption of the land. 25 “If your brother becomes poor and sells part of his property, then his nearest redeemer shall come and redeem what his brother has sold. 26 If a man has no one to redeem it and then himself becomes prosperous and finds sufficient means to redeem it, 27 let him calculate the years since he sold it and pay back the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and then return to his property. 28 But if he does not have sufficient means to recover it, then what he sold shall remain in the hand of the buyer until the year of jubilee. In the jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his property.
II. Levirate Marriage
In addition to Land Redemption there is the idea of Levirate Marriage. This is the idea of the “brother-in-law marriage.” When a man dies without children, it was the duty of his brother to marry the widow that they might have children and keep alive the deceased man’s name. The son would then inherit his deceased uncle’s property.
[Deu 25:5-10 ESV] 5 “If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. 6 And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.
7 And if the man does not wish to take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall go up to the gate to the elders and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to perpetuate his brother’s name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’ 8 Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him, and if he persists, saying, ‘I do not wish to take her,’ 9 then his brother’s wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face. And she shall answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’ 10 And the name of his house shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal pulled off.’
These two ideas then are put together and the kinsman-redeemer is to buy the land and marry the widow.
Keil and Delitzsch say “These two institutions are not connected together in Mosaic law; nevertheless it was a very natural thing to place the Levirate duty in connection with the right of redemption.”
III. Kinsman-Redeemer
So when Ruth asks Boaz to be her redeemer, she is following the law of God set out for them.
Even more, Ruth provides us with a good example of obedience. She is “honoring her mother” in asking Boaz to marry her. Naomi plays the role of something like a matchmaker in this story. Even if she didn’t know exactly that Boaz would meet Ruth in the field, Naomi did bring Ruth back to the area of Bethlehem Ephrathah so that a close relative could be Ruth’s kinsman-redeemer. And it is Naomi who said,
“Is not Boaz our relative, with whose young women you were? See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. 3 Wash therefore and anoint yourself, and put on your cloak and go down to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 But when he lies down, observe the place where he lies. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do.”
And Ruth obeyed, saying, “All that you say I will do.” And she followed through. Obeidence is BOTH agreement in words and agreement in deeds. It is not honoring to mother and father if you only SAY you will obey but don’t follow through. Nor is it obedient if you stubbornly say you will not do something, but later decide to do it. Obedience is both verbal and actual.
Now Boaz does not take any offense at the way the marriage proposal has come to him. Perhaps he sees in it Ruth’s godly character. But he is also impressed that Ruth has asked him (who is probably an older man) and not gone after younger men.
And look at Boaz’s character here. He wants to protect Ruth. Even though she shows up to his bed in the middle of the night and proposes marriage, he wants to make sure no one gets the wrong idea. And, since he is not the nearest of relation, he wants to make sure that Ruth’s image is not tarnished for that nearest kin. Before they can marry, they’ll have to ask the nearest kin first if he is desirous of marriage with Ruth. Then seeing that he is not, Boaz and Ruth are to be married.
So Boaz is the kinsman-redeemer. Buying back the land once owned by Elimelech and marrying Ruth, much to Naomi’s satisfaction.
Before they get married — and as Boaz sends Ruth on her way — he sends her away with grain. Another blessing to Naomi. There is some dispute here about how much barley Boaz gave to Ruth. The text says “six measures.” Later writings of Jewish Rabbis said it was “six seahs” which apparently would have been something like 180 lbs. This is thought to be comically wrong, as it would be quite the feat for a woman (or nearly any man) to carry such a load for any distance. Then also, the 6 measure are said to be carried in her garment, and that would be quite a garment if it could fit 180 lbs of barley in it.
And isn’t the story about REST?
Chapter 3 started off with Naomi saying “My daughter, should I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you?” Ruth has been working away hard in the field, but even more than the physical hardship, there is the land of protection, lack of land, lack of a husband and a family. But now God has sent a redeemer in Boaz.
So we have in Ruth a story of a wealthy groom taking a poor desperate ruined widow to be his bride.
[REPEAT: a story of a wealthy groom taking a poor desperate ruined widow to be his bride.]
Does this sound familiar? Does this bring anything to your mind?
It is our story too. For each of us was in desperate straights, but have a redeemer in Jesus Christ who gives us rest.
Ruth was redeemed of Boaz, we are redeemed of Christ, the greater Boaz.
IV. Redeemed of Christ
We have not achieved Christ, we have been redeemed.
But first, we must realize how bad our situation is.
As Ruth was without a physical home, we are just travelers here, heaven is our home.
Though Ruth was poor, we have a moral poverty.
But it is worse. Ruth had at lest the wherewithal to look for redemption.
We, as sinners, we were not even looking for redemption. God needed to intervene.
Not only were we not looking for redemption, we positively opposed it.
So I need to tell a story to add to this point. And it might take a little explaining. Opposing redemption.
You all know that in our modern world there are scammers. Phone scams, email scams, bank scams etc. Well, fortunately there are anti-scammers as well. People who go after scammers, waste their time on the phone, deleter the files on their computers, and turn them in to authorities. Well, there is a particular anti-scammer who has quite an elaborate setup. He’ll use a voicechanger to make his voice sound like that of a little old lady. And he’s created a fake bank account and fake websites to trick the scammers. So he calls up the scammers and pretends to fall into their trap. And – you should be aware of this – scammers typically ask for gift cards. They want you to go to Target or some other store, buy gift cards, and send them the codes. They then go online and REDEEM the money for themselves, entering in the code. OK, this anti-scammer follows along with the whole routine, pretending to buy cards. And then, having wasted hours of their time, he’ll have them watch as he goes online and redeems the cards himself. The scammer, say NO, DO NOT REDEEM, as they want the money themselves. But pretending to be clueless, he’ll say, “Its not problem, I’m glad to do it for you. It says right here on the card how to redeem the money.” And as he goes about redeeming card after card, $500 after $500 (none of it for real by the way), the scammer in India gets more and more irate yelling at the top of his lungs “DO NOT REDEEM.”
Well, that where sinners are. Not only ignoring God, but thumbing their nose at him and screaming “DO NOT REDEEM.”
The sinner greatly fears that his beloved sins will be taken away from him.
But we NEED a redeemer!
And the Lord provides. Jesus Christ intervenes for his people. He redeems them from a life of sin.
As Boaz is the kinsman-redeemer of Ruth, his bride, so Christ is the redeemer of the church, his bride.
Christ was also a close relative. That might sound like a strange thing to say. Well, for one, he was a human being. But also, he even called his disciples “brothers.”
[Jhn 20:16-18 ESV] 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”–and that he had said these things to her.
Even, he says this,
[Mat 12:48-50 ESV] 48 But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49 And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
So Christ is kin. Physically, because all are from Adam, and spiritual with all who does the will of God.
And having been redeemed, the church has rest. Ruth says to Boaz “Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer.” Christ, our greater Boaz and our only hope spread his robes of righteousness over us, forgiving our sins and giving us rest. His is a promise of rest, telling us “do not fear, trust in the Lord.”
In Christ, Hebrews 9:12 even tells us, we have “an eternal redemption.” And in him we have eternal rest.
[Eph 1:7 ESV] 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
[Gal 3:13 ESV] 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us–for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”–
Praise the Lord for the redemption we have in Jesus Christ.