Ruth 2:17-23
Ruth Meets Boaz (continue)
17 So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. 18 And she took it up and went into the city. Her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also brought out and gave her what food she had left over after being satisfied. 19 And her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean today? And where have you worked? Blessed be the man who took notice of you.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, “The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.” 20 And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!” Naomi also said to her, “The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.” 21 And Ruth the Moabite said, “Besides, he said to me, ‘You shall keep close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’” 22 And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, lest in another field you be assaulted.” 23 So she kept close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
The topic of today’s Bible Study lesson is the “progressive revelation” of Jesus Christ as presented in the Book of Ruth. For example, the Book of Ruth is actually a short story. However, we will study how God’s plan of salvation is being revealed one step at a time, till the perfect Savior, Jesus Christ, has come to present himself in atonement for mankind’s sin.
We begin with God’s plan of salvation as seen in the Old Testament. God’s word in the Old Testament is a presentation of truth that is a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ. “Foreshadowing” is a warning or a means to give an indication of a future event that will happen. In other words, the Bible is a progressive revelation of Jesus Christ, from beginning to end. This does not mean that the earlier books of the Bible were wrong in their presentation of truth. No! By no means at all! Instead, truth is added or built upon truth. Alec Motyer, former and late principal of the Trinity Theological College in the UK, said:
“Progressive revelation is not a movement from error to truth but from truth to truth, the lesser to the greater, the provisional to the permanent, the inadequate to the perfect … The old view of the Bible was essentially correct when it said that the Old Testament is Jesus foreseen, the Gospels are Jesus come, the Epistles are Jesus explained, and the Revelation is Jesus expected—one great, eternal, agelong, developing, and climactic purpose with him as its beginning, middle, and end.”
With this understanding, we pray that the Holy Spirit will open our eyes to the revealed truth of Scripture and see Jesus. There is so much beauty in the Old Testament Scriptures. A Messiah, an anointed one, is being revealed! He is Lord! As our holiday season comes upon us, imagine the excitement of young children hoping and waiting for that great day event, which is Christmas morning. In the same way, we, as readers of God’s Word, receive hints of a future event. In the Book of Ruth, we have a story of redemption, which is yet, another stepping stone of information that points and takes us to Christ as our “Kinsman Redeemer.” While we do not know what a “kinsman redeemer” is at this junction in time, thankfully, in today’s passage we will be introduced to Boaz. And in the coming days, we will get more information to fully understand what a “kinsman redeemer” is and how this reveals to us, another aspect of God’s redemptive purposes that we must treasure. I think of it this way. We are building a jigsaw puzzle; and piece by piece, we are getting closer to understanding who Jesus Christ is and why He, as a “Kinsman Redeemer” is important.
We were first introduced to Boaz by the narrator of the story in Ruth 2:1 — Boaz is a worthy man of the same clan as Elimelech, Naomi’s deceased husband. In our passage today, Ruth 2:17-23, Ruth continues to glean and gather stocks of grain in Boaz’s field with the other women. She beats the stocks. Grains fall and drop to the ground. Ruth gives her mother-in-law everything she has. When Naomi finds out that Ruth was gleaning in Boaz’s field, she says to Ruth in verse 2:20, “May he be blessed by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead! … The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.” Boaz is a close relative and a redeemer!
The Hebrew readers back in the Old Testament days, know the customs and traditions of ancient times. They understood what Naomi meant when she told Ruth that Boaz was their close relative and redeemer. Actually, we really don’t know if Ruth fully understood the true significance of this statement. She was from Moab and they just arrived in Bethlehem. However, the trip was long and dangerous for two women to travel alone. Naomi did have plenty of time to teach Ruth all things necessary about her faith in God. After all, Ruth did profess that Naomi’s God will be her God. As our story is progressing, we see Ruth gleaning grain in Boaz’s field and he is protecting her. Boaz tells Ruth to stay in his fields until the end of the harvest and no one will provoke or assault her.
In application, as we study the Bible we are progressing and growing step-by-step; not only in our knowledge of God but also in our understanding of His redemptive purpose for us. For example, the story of Ruth is more than a love story. It is a story of redemption that requires a close relative like Boaz. While we may not fully know and understand the whole story of Ruth at this particular moment in time, nor do we comprehend what is a kinsman redeemer, nevertheless, God wants us to persevere in our study with due diligence. Yes, we need to pray for enlightenment from the Holy Spirit who is teaching us through His word. With continued patience and study, God’s word will do what God has proposed. Isaiah 55:11 says, “so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”
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God of all mercy and grace, Thank You for Your revealed word in Scripture. Thank you for the Holy Spirit in my life who is convicting me of my sin and bringing me to the cross of Jesus Christ, Your Son. I confess and I am stubborn and hardheaded. Help me to understand your Words of Life. Help me to see my need for a Savior and a Savior for my needs. I worship and praise You, O Lord God Almighty. In Jesus’ Name, I pray, amen!
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I’ve Found a Friend, by James G. Small in 1866
