Title: That Person is Our Relatives
Ruth 2:20-23
Naomi said to her mother-in-law, "Blessed be the LORD. He never ceases to show favor to the living and the dead." Naomi said to her again, "This man is a close relative of us, and one of those who will take away our inheritance." Ruth the Moabite woman said to me, "He said to me again, 'Stay close to my boys until I have finished my harvest.'" Naomi said to her mother-in-law Ruth, "My daughter, it is better for you to go out with the girls and not meet with anyone in the other fields." So Ruth stayed near the girls of Boaz, gleaning until the barley and wheat harvests were over, and she dwelt with her mother-in-law.
Note: After hearing about Ruth's story throughout the day, Naomi blessed Boaz.
"Blessed be the Lord to him."
May God's wonderful blessings be with you all this morning. When Naomi heard that her mother-in-law Ruth had gleaned so much gleaning from Boaz's field, she said, "May the Lord's blessings be upon Boaz."
Boaz was a blessed man. He was a person who had the vessel to receive God's blessings with him. Psalm 1 also says, "Blessed are the..." First, it describes the person who can receive the blessing, and then explains what the blessing will be. But, rather than becoming a person who can be blessed, we think about the blessings we will receive. “Lord, give me this, and give me that.” However, if you become a person who will receive blessings before that, your blessings will naturally follow. Blessed people must come first.
An explanation of why Boaz deserves Jehovah's blessing follows.
“He does not cease to be gracious to the living and to the dead.”
Who survived? Naomi and Ruth. The dead were Naomi's husband Elimelech and Ruth's husband Marlon. It means that they, too, will rejoice together when they see such a situation in the kingdom of heaven.
But would Naomi really be overjoyed when she saw only the one ear of barley that Ruth had picked up? It will not. The answer comes right after that.
"Then he said to him, "This man is a close relative of us, and he is one of those who will take over our inheritance."
"Ruth! That man named Boaz is our kin." And it explains in more detail. That man is a relative of ours, so to speak, "He is one of those who will take over our inheritance."
What would you call a company at that time? Nowadays, when we talk about companies, there are factories and companies, but back then, companies were land. land.
Leviticus 25:25, "If your brother is poor and has sold some of his inheritance, his relatives will come and destroy what his people sold."
Breaking up corporations is one of the institutions that existed in Israel. Some of the land was sold because a child was ill, for example, for medicine or treatment, or because he needed a dowry to get his children married, or because he had no choice but to do so. Then, it is a family law in which a close relative who can afford it later comes and buys the land back to the person who bought it. By doing so, we helped each other live and helped each other live.
It's not that easy to buy back what you sold and give it back. So I thought of this job as a great privilege that you can only do once in a lifetime. At that time, people considered it a wonderful blessing from God to give up an inheritance for the sake of poor relatives. What a blessing it is to be able to help a relative. You can't do that twice in a lifetime. It will appear later in Ruth chapter 4, but if you can do it at least once, all the people of that time did it with joy.
In addition, there is a symbolic meaning to the breaking up of this company. According to the Bible, what does Jehovah say is an inheritance? child.
Psalm 127:3, "Children are an inheritance from the LORD, and the fruit of the womb is his reward."
In other words, Boaz does not just buy the land and give it back, but he is a person who can succeed Elimelech's inheritance, which was cut off because of no children. So Naomi hinted to Ruth that Boaz had the potential to be Ruth's good husband. That person is said to be one of the people who will continue the business that has been cut off by close relatives. Ruth's meeting with Boaz is an opportunity to succeed the broken inheritance.
When Ruth hears Naomi's thrilling story, she sees what her mother-in-law Naomi likes and brings her another piece of good news.
2:21, "And Ruth the Moabite woman said, "He said to me again, 'Stay close to my boys until my harvest is finished.'"
As you can see, Ruth is not called Ruth the Ephrathite of Bethlehem, but a Moabite woman. If Ruth were a Bethlehem Ephrathian woman, it would be nothing special. But Ruth was not a Bethlehemite, but a Gentile, a Moabite woman. Nevertheless, it would be impossible for Boaz to grant Ruth such a wonderful grace without the providence of God. To emphasize it, "Ruth the Moabitess said," It emphasizes that Ruth's identity is a Gentile woman.
“Until I finish my harvest,” he said. What is the harvest? Verse 23 does not refer only to the barley harvest.
2:23, "So Ruth stayed close to the girls of Boaz, gleaning until the barley and wheat harvests were over."
As soon as the barley harvest is over, the wheat is harvested. The barley harvest takes place around April to May, and the wheat harvest occurs in May and June. So how many months in total? It takes about three months to catch.
In verse 17, how much barley did Ruth glean in the field in one day? It was an Eva. One Eva said that at that time, it was the wage of a senior man working for about a week. If you picked up an ephah of barley in a day, how much would it be if you picked it up three months in a row? Now, we don't have to worry about food anymore until the next year's harvest. How grateful are you?
And not just that. After being together for three months, Boaz and Ruth can meet face to face on a regular basis. How do you know what will happen in those three months? Will something good happen? Let's look forward to it.
“I said, ‘Stay close to my boys until my harvest is over.’”
The word boys in this verse is translated as boys in Korean, but it means workers. The workers are both male and female. Men do the cutting and the women bind the cut. So, "Keep close to my boys" means that Boaz will treat Ruth as if he were one of his servants. He was treated not as a mere gleaner, but as a worker under the responsibility of Boaz. In other words, Boaz means "I will protect you".
Hearing this, Naomi exhorts her son-in-law Ruth.
2:22, "Naomi said to her daughter-in-law Ruth, "My daughter, go out with the girls and do not meet with anyone in any other field."
Naomi said to Ruth, "My daughter!" "Listen to what I counsel you." "You go out with those girls." Whom did Boaz tell you to stay close to? It was boys. But Naomi deliberately changed them to girls. He said, "Do not meet people in other fields." "Don't meet other people, you have to take care of yourself," he says. What does it mean to stop dating men and take care of yourself? Boaz could become Ruth's husband, so he had to dress up right.
What did Ruth say when she heard Naomi's counsel? "Mother, let's sell our worries. My life is mine. She eats the food I give her, and don't interfere with my life." Did I say that? no. Ruth obeyed her mother-in-law Naomi.
There is nothing wrong with listening to what adults say. We need to listen to the words of wisdom that come from that deep life experience. So the church told us to obey the elders. The wisdom of older people is experiential, derived from long experience. You must be a person who respects the elders and always obeys the rules of the session.
2:23, "So Ruth was near the girls of Boaz."
Ruth obeyed Naomi's words. This is the beauty of Ruth. Not with young men, but with girls.
After the words, “I glean until the harvest of the barley and the harvest of the wheat are finished,” comes a very important statement. What is the conclusion?
“She lived with her mother-in-law.”
Things got better, but Naomi and Ruth's relationship didn't change. Ruth's attitude toward Naomi has not changed in the slightest.
1:16-17, Ruth said, "Do not compel me to leave my mother and not follow you and return. Wherever you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. God will be my God, and where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried.
Ruth had already promised Naomi that she would never leave her single mother and be with her. That dedication, that promise, was kept. He did not abandon his mother just because things got better, but said, “I lived with her mother-in-law. Ruth continued her single-minded devotion to Naomi.
So should our devotion to the Lord. Just as Jesus is with us and loves us no matter how hard or happy we are, we should love the Lord even more and dedicate ourselves to the Lord in good times and happy times, difficult times and peaceful times. In the name of Jesus, I pray that all the saints, including myself, will have the beautiful faith of single-mindedness to love the Savior Jesus more even when we are alive or when we die.