GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
RUTH 3:9-13
9 He said, “Who are you?” She answered, “It’s me, Ruth, your servant. Spread your cloak over your servant, for you are a kinsman-redeemer.”
Boaz woke up (older men often wake up several time each night) and found a woman sleeping at his feet. Now was her moment—the moment she had prepared for. Ruth has thought about this. She was bold, but she didn’t take anything for granted. She said, “It’s me. It’s Ruth,” and she added, “your servant.” She does not use the word shiphcha “maid-servant,” but a synonym, amah, which is the word for “servant” in Genesis 21:12 where it also refers to a concubine (Hagar). Was Ruth using an ambiguous word to very carefully show that she wanted to be more than a servant? We shouldn’t spend any time wondering whether she was offering merely to be his concubine. She was clearly proposing to be his wife. She shows this by asking him his spread his cloak over her in protection, possession, and responsibility. By calling him her kinsman-redeemer, she invoking the redeemer’s responsibility to marry her and to beget children with her.
10 He said, “The LORD bless you, my daughter. You have shown more kindness now than previously! You have not gone after younger men, rich or poor.
What Boaz is saying is that Ruth could have had the pick of the lot. She was the most eligible bachelorette in Bethlehem. But she wanted to marry him! Boaz was moved, and he was especially struck by Ruth’s kindness. The earlier kindness Ruth showed was what he spoke of when she and Boaz first met: she stayed with her mother-in-law after they were both widowed, and moved to a strange country. At that time, Boaz told her that she had come to take refuge under God’s wings (2:12). Now we see that God would provide for Ruth by placing her under the protective wings of Boaz.
Boaz also notices that Ruth did not make her choice according to economic safety. “You have not gone after younger men, rich or poor.” He was touched, and I think he was falling in love.
But their garden of blossoming love had a stump to be pulled, first. Boaz doesn’t ignore it. He tells her about it right up front:
11 Now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you everything you ask. Everyone I know in the village knows that you are a woman with a noble character.
Ruth’s great-great-grandson, Solomon, devoted almost an entire chapter of the Bible to describing a woman of noble character. That chapter (Proverbs 31) is a detailed description of a good wife. More important than the specific details is the attitude of the noble woman’s heart. This attitude is clear and obvious in Ruth. She believed in and loved her Lord. She loved her husband and she would love their children. She would do everything she could for them. She would protect them, watch out for them, and look to their future. She was wise and faithful and hard-working. She was the ideal wife, “a helper suitable for him” (Genesis 2:18).
12 It’s true that I am a near kinsman; however there is one who is nearer than me. 13 Stay here tonight, and in the morning, if he wants to be your kinsman-redeemer, then that is good. Let him redeem.
Boaz was not the only man who had the right to be the kinsman-redeemer for both Ruth and the estate of her late husband. One man was an even closer relative, which meant that although Boaz and Ruth seemed to be falling in love, Boaz might not be able to marry her. But Boaz was willing to abide by the other man’s right to marry her. It was not just that the other man had a choice; he had a God-given right, and Boaz was willing to submit to God’s law, even if it meant breaking his own heart.
God wants us to live in peace, even when we do not get our heart’s desire. You see, Boaz knew that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him. Even when we pray for something and it doesn’t go our way, it isn’t that God hasn’t answered us. It’s just that sometimes God says No. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to us that we don’t always know what is best, or that we sometimes want things which really aren’t the best for us, or for the good of the kingdom of God.
But if he will not be your kinsman-redeemer, then as surely as the LORD lives, O will redeem you myself. Lie down until the morning.”
Boaz also makes a promise to Ruth by taking an oath. He doesn’t do it rashly. Boaz was not a rash man, and he and Ruth had gotten to know one another quite well. On top of this, he knew Ruth’s quality (he called her a woman of noble character) and knew she would make an excellent wife. He knew that if God blessed them with children, she would be a great mother. Boaz’ oath is similar to the vows a man and woman say to one another when they marry today, although he and Ruth were not formally married yet. What happened here on the threshing floor was more like an engagement, yet it was stronger and more binding. The promise had been made. Even though they had not yet made their marriage known in public, the promise made here would be binding if nothing legal (such as the other kinsman-redeemer’s claim) stood in their way. This was the stage Joseph and Mary were at in the New Testament when they learned that Mary was pregnant by the Holy Spirit and was carrying Jesus.
Boaz also says “as surely as the LORD lives.” The Bible clearly teaches that God is living. He isn’t simply a force in the universe, or the collective idea of ‘divine’ or ‘good’ in the minds of people. God actually exists as a being. He is also a being without beginning or end: he is eternal. This is a comfort for us, because it means that God in his eternal, almighty power was able to do for us what we could never do for ourselves: he became human, suffered and died to pay for your sins and mine, and rose again to proclaim his victory over sin, death and the power of the devil. We are forgiven, and we are saved. Your place in heaven is assured by your Redeemer, Jesus.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: http://www.wlchapel.org/worship/daily-devotion/
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota