RUTH
(Part Two)

As last week's lesson ended, we found our heroines, Ruth and Naomi, back in Bethlehem, where Ruth had found work gleaning in a field. She had befriended the owner, a man named Boaz, who had begun showing signs of more than casual interest in this dark Moabite beauty. Sensing this, Naomi proposed a somewhat risky and more than a bit risque plan.

“Tonight, Ruth, after the men have gone to sleep, sneak into the field and find where Boaz is lying. Pull back the covers and slide in beside him. Let's see what happens. He's related you know. And there may be a responsibility for levirate marriage here.”  Levirate marriage happened when a man died without leaving an heir. It was his brother's responsibility to marry the widow, have a child by her, and count that child as the son and heir of the one who died. If there were no brother, the nearest living relative could do it.

So Ruth went into the field and surreptitiously got under the covers with Boaz. (The Bible reads she lay at his feet. Some scholars believe feet is a euphemism for his private parts. At any rate, wherever she was lying, wasn't the implication that she was offering herself to him? What would any man think when he woke up with a woman next to him?)

Boaz was both thrilled and self-disciplined. He told Ruth he was excited that she would choose an older man like him rather than running after the younger hot-shots. “But,” saith he, “there is another guy who is a closer relation to your former husband than I. Let me see what I can do.”

So the next day, he went up to the courthouse, sorry, the town gate. Sorta like a coffee shop where all the guys hung out. Sure enough, the other relative did show up before long, and Boaz made his pitch. “I got a piece of property to sell. You interested?” “Sure...” “Not so fast. Full disclosure – to buy the property, you also gotta marry Ruth whose husband was heir to that piece of land.” “Whoa, Dude! No can do. I already got a son, and I don't want anything messing up his inheritance.” So they sealed the agreement by exchanging a shoe or two witnessed by the coffee clatch.

Note the men at the gate blessed Boaz and his upcoming marriage, as did the women of the village when their first child was born. Both blessings included a prayer for the future greatness of their son, Obed. The prayer was granted, as Obed became the grandfather of the great King David!

I'm sure you noticed the coincidences as we reviewed the story. Ruth just happened to choose Boaz's field of all those around. Boaz just happened to notice the new woman gleaning. And he just happened to respond in a positive way to Ruth's bold moves.  Both from the Bible and personal experience I have come to recognize “coincidence” as the fingerprints of the Holy Spirit. Are you alert to how God directs your life, perhaps recently, through a coincidence here and another there?

And don't miss the original theme of friendship. Ruth felt from the beginning that the relationship she had with her husband's mother was worth sustaining, even at personal sacrifice. How many people in life have you found worthy of your deep personal commitment.

Finally, note that God was working ahead of time to prepare the coming of Israel's United Kingdom. Even further, according to the genealogy in the NT, He was working on the human line of Jesus.