A Marriage Made in Heaven – Part IV
Posted By Joe on February 4, 2009
- A Marriage Made in Heaven – Part I
- A Marriage Made in Heaven – Part II
- A Marriage Made in Heaven – Part III
- A Marriage Made in Heaven – Part IV
- A Marriage Made in Heaven – Part V
Update 09/22/2009: Welcome new visitors! I would be blessed if you could post a comment letting me know how you arrived here! May God bless you today. --Joe.
Like Naomi, we were introduced to Boaz in our last post. Now that Naomi has learned of Boaz, as a good mother-in-law, she seeks to provide protection for young Ruth.
Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, "My daughter, shall I not seek security for you, that it may be well with you? Now is not Boaz our kinsman, with whose maids you were? Behold, he winnows barley at the threshing floor tonight. Wash yourself therefore, and anoint yourself and put on your best clothes, and go down to the threshing floor; but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. It shall be when he lies down, that you shall notice the place where he lies, and you shall go and uncover his feet and lie down; then he will tell you what you shall do." She said to her, "All that you say I will do." --Ruth 3:1-5.
Still not convinced that Boaz is a type of Christ in Ruth? Look at how Naomi says that Boaz will be winnowing "at the threshing floor tonight." Now look at what John the Baptist says of Jesus in Matthew:
"His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." --Matthew 3:12.
Do you see the parallels?
To us, it may seem a little strange, the instructions Naomi gives to Ruth. What she is telling her, is to clean up, put on a little perfumed oil, but just hang around until Boaz has dinner and some wine and lays down to go to sleep. Naomi tells Ruth to "uncover his feet," which basically means to remove his outer garment so that as the night cools, he'll get cold and wake up. None of this should be misconstrued to be sexual in nature. That is not the intent nor the meaning of the passage.
So she went down to the threshing floor and did according to all that her mother-in-law had commanded her. When Boaz had eaten and drunk and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain; and she came secretly, and uncovered his feet and lay down. It happened in the middle of the night that the man was startled and bent forward; and behold, a woman was lying at his feet. He said, "Who are you?" And she answered, "I am Ruth your maid. So spread your covering over your maid, for you are a close relative." --Ruth 3:6-9.
The intent of Naomi (and Ruth) is to seek levirate marriage for Ruth. Ruth is acting in accordance with the law by being the active party in seeking it out. We see this in Ruth's answer to Boaz in the verse above. By saying to Boaz "spread your covering over your maid," Ruth is asking him to pledge that he would marry her. The reason? He is "a close relative." Ruth was letting Boaz know that night that she wanted to have Boaz as her kinsman-redeemer.
The he said, "May you be blessed of the Lord, my daughter. You have shown your last kindness to be better than the first by not going after young men, whether poor or rich. Now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you whatever you ask, for all my people in the city know that you are a woman of excellence. Now it is true I am a close relative; however, there is a relative closer than I. Remain this night, and when morning comes, if he will redeem you, good; let him redeem you. But if he does not wish to redeem you, then I will redeem you, as the Lord lives. Lie down until morning." --Ruth 3-10-13.
From these verses we also learn a few things. Boaz tells Ruth that she has shown kindness to him for "not going after young men." Obviously there was an age gap between them. Based on this, you may think the Jesus parallel goes out the window. Not so! Remember that up to this point, we have never seen Boaz be anything but a gentleman. Never once did he force himself on Ruth. Instead, he made himself available and let Ruth decide for herself. Isn't this what Jesus does for everyone? He does not force anyone to love Him nor serve Him. He simply knocks at your door and waits for you to answer! (Revelation 3:20).
Also, Boaz isn't outwardly attractive. Ruth does not seek out Boaz because he is pleasant to the eyes. Again, this parallels what was said of Messiah (Jesus):
He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. --Isaiah 53:2b
Although Boaz is a kinsman to her father-in-law, Elimelech, Boaz--ever the gentlemen--tells Ruth that there is a kinsman closer than he. Boaz does not wish to cut corners and just take Ruth when, by law, there is one closer to her. In the final installment, we'll see how this all turns out.
May He Increase!
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[...] – Part IIA Marriage Made in Heaven – Part IIIA Marriage Made in Heaven – Part IA Marriage Made in Heaven – Part IVA Marriage Made in Heaven – Part VThe widow Ruth, a Moabite and a foreigner in Israel, has [...]
Great info, thanks for the post!