A Marriage Made in Heaven – Part III

[This is part of the A Marriage Made In Heaven Series. Have you seen the other posts yet?]

We pick up the story of Ruth after she arrives in Bethlehem with Naomi. We established that Naomi symbolically represents the nation of Israel and Ruth is the representation of the body of believers or the church.

Now Naomi had a kinsman of her husband, a man of great wealth, of the family of Elimelech, who name was Boaz. And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after one in whose sight I may find favor.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.” So she departed and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers; and she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech. –Ruth 2:1-3.

In part I, we talked about how both Naomi and her daughter-in-law were both widowed in the land of Moab. Now that they have returned to Israel, they are in the very lowly position of having to glean in the barley fields. In other words, with no source of income which leads to no way of buying food, they are forced to gleaning at it is outlined in the Law. A careful reading of these verses demonstrates God’s divine providence. Ruth sets out for the barley fields and ends up in “the portion of the field belonging to Boaz.”

Here we finally meet Boaz, a name which means “fleetness,” which means “swift in motion.” It also is the name of a pillar erected before the temple of Solomon as described in 1 Kings 7:21. In that passage, “Boaz” means “in him is strength.” Either way, we will see all of these meanings come into play in Ruth.

The most important takeaway here is that Boaz is symbolic of Jesus. Keep this in mind as we continue through the book.

Now behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, “May the Lord be with you.” And they said to him, “May the Lord bless you.” Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?” The servant in charge of the reapers answered and said, “She is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the land of Moab. And she said, ‘Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.’ Thus she was came and has remained from the morning until now; she has been sitting in the house for a little while.” –Ruth 2:4-7.

The parallels at this early stage in the book are amazing. Boaz is from Bethlehem; Jesus was from Bethlehem. When Boaz arrives, he asks an unnamed servant who Ruth is. The servant is in charge of all the reapers. Let’s take a high-level look at this.

We said that Boaz is a type of Christ. So who is this unnamed servant? It’s the Holy Spirit. Look at what is taking place here in terms of how the body of Christ works today. If Ruth represents the Gentiles, then what we are seeing is Ruth behind part of “the harvest.” The reapers of the field (the church workers or the Body of Christ) are under the charge of this unnamed servant (the Holy Spirit).

Jesus, since His Ascension, promised to send the Holy Spirit:

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things….” –John 14:26

So in these few verses, we get a glimpse into the workings of Christ, the Holy Spirit, the church body, and the believer!

Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen carefully, my daughter. Do not go to glean in another field; furthermore, do not go on from this one, but stay here with my maids. Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them. Indeed, I have commanded the servants not to touch you. When you are thirsty, go to the water jars and drink from what the servants draw.” Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your sight that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?” Boaz answered and said to her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband has been fully reported to me, and how you left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and came to a people that you did not previously know. May the Lord reward your work, and your wages be full from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge.” –Ruth 2:8-13.

Amazing. Look at how Boaz “swiftly” takes care of Ruth’s needs. He completely takes care of her need for food and for water. Think of Jesus and the woman at the well and His offer of the water He gives (John 4:14).

Then we see an awesome parallel of Ruth’s care for Naomi (the Christian’s care for the people of Israel) and what we walked about in the post of the Church’s care for the Jews during the Tribulation. And we’re just getting started!

Ruth then stays with Boaz and his servants and they have dinner. After they finished eating, Ruth went back out to glean some more. She ends up going home to Naomi with an ephah of barley, which is approximately 20 quarts. This would feed two people for ten days!

Her mother-in-law then said to her, “Where did you glean today and where did you work? May he who took notice of you be blessed.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, “The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed of the Lord who has not withdrawn his kindness to the living and to the dead.” Again Naomi said to her, “The man is our relative, he is one of our closest relatives.” –Ruth 2:19-20.

Something very interesting takes place in these verses, symbolically. We see Naomi being introduced to Boaz through Ruth. In other words, the nation of Israel is introduced to Jesus through the Gentile church! Moreover, Naomi (Israel/the Jews) tells Ruth (the Christan Church) that Boaz (Jesus) is “one of our closest relatives!” The words “closest relative” means “kinsman-redeemer” which we talked about in Part I. Reread the passage above and then this paragraph again if you missed it. This is important.

To add another view of this, look at what God tells Moses in Exodus:

“Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.’” –Exodus 6:6 (Italics are mine.)

It’s provocative to see how Naomi is introduced to her own kinsman through Ruth, just as it is provocative to see how Israel is introduced to their own kinsman, Jesus, through the Church.

In the next post, we’ll talk about Ruth’s request of Boaz.

[This is part of the A Marriage Made In Heaven Series. Have you seen the other posts yet?]

May He Increase!