I trust that you have your Bible with you, and I'd like you to turn to the book of Ruth, please, in chapter two. Ruth, chapter two. Our thoughts now will be put into an altogether different form of gear, and we are drawing our attention now to a very homing, quiet little scene in a very rural, unsophisticated community in the Hebrew language itself. shows that the spokesman who does most of the teaching in this section, man by the name of Boaz, is very crude of speech, although God has blessed and profited him. He's a man of wealth, strength, and he is a man of unusually noble character. Chapter two of Ruth. Naomi had a kinsman of her husband, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Alimelech, and his name was Boaz. And Ruth, the Moabitist said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field and glean ears of corn after him, and whose sight I shall find great." And she said unto her, Go, my daughter. And she went and came. The implication is there was a little bit of communication or transportation back and forth. She might have been establishing where the fields were, all the fields of the outside of the city. All of the fields would be one right adjacent to another, circumcised to the city, before it would get into a province of another area, and it would be divided off by little petitions or pillars or stakes in the ground. There's no markers of any kind. She has made this trip back and forth. She has went and came and then gleaned in the fields after the reapers. Her half was to light on the part of the field belonging unto Boer, who was of the kindred of a limelette. Now the Spirit of God is immediately bringing to our attention the fact that God has controlled in this situation what seems to be happenstance to her is divine control. He has brought her into a specific spot that God has desired for her. And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said unto the reapers, The Lord be with you. And they answered him, The Lord blessed thee. Then said Boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers, Whose damsel is this? And the servants was set over the reapers, answered and said, It is a Moabite-ish damsel, and they came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab. And she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the shees. So she came and has continued even from the morning until now, as she carried a little in the house. Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter, go not to glean in another field. neither go from hence but abide here faest by my maiden. Let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after them. Have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee, and that when thou art a thirst go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn. And then she fell on her face and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes that thou should take thine knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger? And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been shown thee all that thou hast done unto thy mother-in-law since the death of thine husband, and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother and the land of thy nativity, and are come unto a people which thou knowest not heretofore. Now he issues in a modest prayer and form a little benediction, and this may well be the very key verse of this book. The Lord recompense thy work. and a full reward be given unto thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust. Then she said, Let me find favor in thy sight, my Lord, for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like unto thy handmaid. Lois said unto her, At mealtime come hither, and eat of the bread and dip thy morsel into vinegar. She sat beside the reapers and reached her parched corn, And she did eat, and was to fight, and left. When she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean even among the shees, and reproach her not. And let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them that she may glean them, and rebuke her not. So she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned. And it was about an ephah of barley. And she took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned, she brought forth, and gave to her that she had reserved after she was to fight. And her mother-in-law said unto her, Where hast thou gleaned today? And where wroughtest thou? Blessed be he that did take knowledge of thee. And she showed her mother-in-law with whom she had wrought, and said the man's name with whom I wrought today is Boaz. And Naomi said unto her daughter-in-law, Blessed be he of the Lord, who hath not left off his kindness to the living ends of the dead. And Naomi said unto her, the man near of kin unto us, one of our near-kindness. And Ruth Moabite said, He said unto me also, Thou shalt keep fast by my young men till I have ended all my harvest. Naomi said unto Ruth her daughter-in-law, It is good my daughter that thou go out with his maidens, that they meet thee not in any other field. So she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz to glean unto the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest, and dwelt with her mother-in-law. Boaz is introduced into this woman's life and raised up because he is a kinsman. He is a person that is a close relative within the family. He is going to be called a Gaul, and we're going to look at that word and its meaning. But it's the key to this book and an understanding of the book. And it introduces to us a concept of redemption. And here we find this woman coming, an undeserved Moabite. She is indeed a stranger amongst God's people, an impoverished widow, and yet she is aggressively looking to have her part to sustain herself and also her mother-in-law. Now, apart from the very simple, very basic, elementary social precept that we see here, care within the family, supportiveness, even though bereavement has come, and ongoing sustaining this, a remarkable response on the part of this man who owns the field. He shows his geniality and his thoughtfulness and care. There are lessons for all of us here, whether we are widows or whether we are bereaved or going through trial or difficulty or sense ourselves to be in need of some kind, whether we are employers who possess authority over others. whether we are individuals looking to gain kind of growth and blessing or development. There are very practical implications. This woman shows to us one side of gaining blessing from the inheritance of God. God has provided a rich blessing for his people, their inheritance, and she's come in at the barley harvest. It suggests to us a picture of those of us who really hunger for spiritual things. and it is our initiative. Ruth takes the initiative in chapter two. Naomi takes the initiative in chapter three. Boaz takes the initiative in chapter four. It is well spread out that the emphasis is not on an individual. The primary thought is God's marvelous control, bringing circumstances and persons together to give you and me a most eloquent and heart-touching picture of the heart of God in redemption. McKinzen Redeemer, the Gaul, is one that must come from the clan, come from the family, a close relative who, out of hearty willingness and affection, will be willing to make a self-sacrificial payment to bring blessing to someone else, to make a redemption, to pay off any indebtedness, and bring this person into a place of freedom and joy and blessing. Bohez is introduced to us here in a very practical and simple way. Notice in verse eight, My daughter, go not to glean in another field. Neither go from hence, but abide by your faith by my maiden. There's an immediate acceptance as soon as he hears who she is. You see, he knows that he is a close relative of a limelight, and he knows the law of God, and he knows he has a responsibility to this woman. But he reveals none of this to her. His responsibility is to Naomi. and indirectly to Ruth, and he immediately senses his obligation to the widow to provide and care for her and to do what he is able under the rules and the laws of a righteous, faithful God. He is going to implement this right behavior toward these persons, and he is going to be trustworthy and reliable in his relationship to them. He offers her gleaning in verse fifteen. Remember, the law said that she could go and get the perimeter, the leftovers, after the gleamings were picked up. But he commands his young men and said, let her glean among the sheaves. Let her come right up with the workers and take the good of the vest of the harvest. Not just the leftovers, not just the shaking of the olive tree and whatever has been left, that she can beat off or climb up or strip down. Let her come right into the harvest and get that which is good and ample to be provided for her. Verse nine, he has provided her protection. What a noble man to immediately perceive this young woman alone might be endangered by the laborers that would come into the field, presumptuous young men that might intrude upon her, and his care. I have charged the young men that they shall not touch thee. And when you are asserted, so to the vessel. I know that you are a Moabite. I know that you are a stranger. But go to the vessels and drink water there. It would be a terrible waste of time to have to go all the way into the village to a well and draw water and come all the way back. And she couldn't possibly labor out in the field under that driving heat on just such an inconvenient way without having some kind of sustenance. He is so mindful of her to encourage her. She is aggressively looking for good out of this inheritance. Her concern is for herself and for her mother-in-law. It's a very noble exercise of soul at a practical level, but it is a very good thing for you and me to get before God and our inheritance and have it drawn to our attention through careful study of the Word of God, the blessings and the enrichments that are ours through this more... ...and not just the desire to learn a doctrine, never be merely academic, but allow those doctrines and the truths to be translated into behavior and sources of blessing to share and minister to others in the body of Christ. Not to preach. We don't read the Word of God in order to preach sermons. It's a grave error for me to look at the Word of God and the sole purpose is to try to get something to teach or preach to someone else. My primary purpose when turning to the truth of God's Word is should be for the cleansing of my soul and for the awareness to use the Word of God like a two-edged sword. We never use the Word of God like a two-edged sword with others. The Word of God to be used for others is like water. It's like the balm of Gilead. It's like the precious seed. But when we need to have times before the Lord, We use it as a two-edged sword upon ourselves to see if we are resting and getting our inheritance and our rent through faith. And we use it upon ourselves like a two-edged sword to delineate that which is spiritual and solial, that which is sensual and carnal, and that which is eternal and divine. We use the word like a sword on ourselves, and that threshes. That becomes meat and food. How happily she came with a whole eba of barley. That measurement means little. But God gave an omer to a family, an omer of manna, when they went out, and that should feed them for the whole day. And one omer is ten, or one epharetta is ten omers. So in other words, what this woman came home with to her mother-in-law was enough food for the two of them for a whole week, out of one day's greening of barley, ample for a whole week, and she immediately realized there was a tremendous blessing here. And she had enough just to fight her own needs, and to give to others. Mother, it is of great importance that you learn to thrash and glean and have something for yourself. Your husband may be on the road, your husband may be a very busy man, and you are the one that's exposed to the children, and you are the one that needs the inner sustenance, and you need to have something also to share and provide for your family. And it might be that in a discreet and gracious manner, you might also be able to give something to him spiritual food. To point up and share a thought or a concept will be a nourishment. And this interplay will become natural. And that interpersonal relationship that you have in the home becomes an instinct of natural things to minister and share with others in the body. You can't force that fellowship that we were talking about yesterday afternoon about body life and a commitment to that. You can't force that under the cold mechanical routine. That has to come from yourself. and minister to others must be something that you have, that you have your ephah, you have fed yourself, you have gleaned, you have wrought, you have an exercise about eternal matters. And this woman has plunged herself into physical, disciplined work. What a blessing is pronounced upon her. Why? She takes two words out of the Hebrew language and said, I am just a serf. I am a modest slave. I am nobody in her first conversation with him. In the next chapter, when she talks with him, she takes a little higher spot and says, I am your servant. But here, this first time, she says, how can you do this to me? Why have I found such grace in your eyes? If Boaz can be used as an illustration of the one our Lord, who is going to bring such a blessed redemption and such rich inheritance to you and me, do you ever feel that? in his presence, in those quiet times of study, of reflection, when you rock in the chair and muse and meditate upon the word and allow it to have its good inner edifying effect, you begin to appropriate it and make it your own, when you in that abiding, like drawing from him the very vital sap of spiritual life in person, when you're going through those times, do you ever say, Why am I so favored? Lord, why have you enriched me in such a measure? He'll tell you why. Because you're thirsty. Because you've come to him. Because you're hungering for things spiritual and eternal. Because the infinite and eternal becomes vital and real. This woman is looking for food. And he says, It has been fully shown me. I know all about you. Truth. I know all about you. Your testimony has come before. And I know all that you have done unto your mother-in-law. since the death of your husband. You never left. You could have gone on and found someone else. But you stayed with her. You've responded to her. You've had a sense of care, whether it was out of pity or love or concern. You have left your father and mother in the land of your nativity and are come unto a people which thou knowest not heretofore. Up until now you don't know the people of God. But oh, what a blessing is going to store for you. Jehovah recompense your work. And a full reward be given unto thee by the Jehovah Elohim of Israel, the great eternal deity of all deities, who alone is able to be a covenant-keeping personal God of yours. You have come under his wings. What a blessing. That's what our Lord desired. Oh, Israel, how often I would have gathered you. Under my wings, as a hen, the little chick, And here is one from a strange place that's come and voluntarily put herself under the wings of this Jehovah Elohim, this great God. And grace has drawn us. God's grace. And his ample provision has lured us forward. And it depends entirely upon you and me how much fruit we shall bear. How much of the ephahs shall be ours. How much will be sufficient. God is waiting for that wetted appetite to thirst for things eternal. Remember what he said in the city when they were going through the performance and pouring out the water. He cried out, if any man thirsts, come unto me. He will say, he is the Spirit of God that is going to well up within us, satisfy all of our needs, and flow out from us like a river to be an inundation and blessing to others. That's exactly what this woman is going through in a very simple, modest little story form. She's illustrative of those who hunger for the blessing from God's inheritance. And she's a Moabite. I am thankful that God has shown me so early in my life by the careful teaching of Sunday school teachers that I am a sinner. And that I am a stranger and an alien to every promise of God. And it's only His grace. There's very little... opportunity for me in any way to have any kind of confidence or assurance in my own soul and any kind of, we're calling a word, self-image, because God has shown me myself. He showed me myself at Calvary. That's what he thinks of me. Our blessed Lord had to go there to be our Redeemer. But he did it out of such love, not out of a covenant obligation. But you see the tenderness and the care of Boer and his interest and his sense of responsibility to the rules of God for his personal interest in the woman. And he meets her every need above that she's anticipating. What grace and tenderness. And she gleams in the field until evening. It was hard work. And our own exercises of soul and the disciplines that we go through to be brought into a right relationship to God are sometimes hard work. But behind it all is the gracious, drawing, ample, generous provision of our God. And she brings it to her mother-in-law. And when she saw what she had gleaned, she brings it forth. She has met her own need in verse eighteen. She gave to her that she had reserved after she was to fight. And her mother-in-law says, where have you gleaned today and where did you run? My blessed is he that did take knowledge of thee and showed her mother-in-law with whom she had wrought a man's name is Boaz. Blessed be he of the Lord. Naomi has a delight. Naomi is just a treasured kind of a soul. Blessed be he of the Lord, the Lord who has not left off his kindness to the living or the dead. You see, Naomi goes immediately back to the laws and the rules of this faithful God And she knows by the name being drawn to her attention, after ten years she's forgotten about Boaz, her sorrow and her grief, and now suddenly Boaz, he's a relative. He's a kinsman. He is a near one. And her heart is just excited with the provision that God has made for her. God is going to remind her that there is a go-all living, a redeemer, a kinsman redeemer that can meet her needs. Look if you would in Leviticus chapter twenty-five. Eviticus twenty-five, in verse forty-seven, that if a sojourner or a stranger wax rich by thee, and thy brother that dwelleth by him wax poor, and sell himself unto the stranger or sojourner by thee, or to the stock of the stranger's family, after that he is sold, he may be redeemed by one of his brethren may redeem him. Either his uncle or his uncle's son may redeem him, or any that is nigh of kin unto him, of his family may redeem him. Or if he be able, he may redeem himself. You've really had a very difficult time, and you've just been impoverished, and you've had to sell yourself as a servitude to someone else. But if one can come and pay your debt, somebody can meet your debt who is a near-kindness of your clan, of your family, closely related to you, and will voluntarily come, they can make the payment, and you can be free. But it's interesting that the law is given here, but a little bit earlier, a much more important law is stated. And that is that the property may be redeemed. And for the nation of Israel, the property was more important than the person. The property comes first. Verse twenty-three says, The land shall not be sold forever, for the land is mine. Israel were tenant farmers. The land was his inheritance. The land belonged to the Lord. That was his. And Israel was brought into that place. to bear fruit and live and be a testimony for God in this world and bring forth fruit for God, and he would get from his inheritance that land and those people something for himself. He said, now that land is an important place. It's my inheritance. If your brother be waxed poor and he had sold some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that with his brother's soul. And if any man have none to redeem it and himself be able to redeem it, Let him count the years of the sale thereof and restore the overplus unto the man to whom he sold it, that he may return unto his possession. The land is mentioned first. And if a man lost his property, and it appears that a Limelech has lost his property, and he has a Boaz. And this woman, she just knows in her heart, Boaz is the man. Why, he's a mighty man of wealth. Look at the inheritance that Ruth has gotten. He is the one that's going to meet our needs. He is the one that's going to make the redemptive payment for us. That's exactly true, but he cannot do it on his own. You see, there are other laws that are necessary to be implemented, and Naomi very wisely and very discreetly is going to take the leadership and give Ruth some directives on how to bring this about in a very special way. But you and I have a Redeemer, a Redeemer who has redeemed us according to Galatians three from the curse of the law. A redeemer who from Galatians four redeems us from the entirety of the law itself. A redeemer who in Titus redeems us from the power of sin. A redeemer who, recognizing that we are flesh and blood, took a segment or a part of the same that he might redeem us from the power of the evil one, Satan himself. And according to the redemptive statement in Ephesians one and also in Hebrews chapter nine. He is a redeemer that comes in to redeem us from all evil itself. Why? Not out of obligation, but the story of Boaz and Luke tells us because he was a kinsman redeemer. He came down, and as much as you and I were flesh and blood, we had a total participation in flesh and blood. He himself took part of the same. not the sinful nature conceived by the Holy Spirit, having no connection with the Adamic flow, he took part of flesh and blood to experience the article of death out of love. He has done the drawing, he has done the appealing, he has wooed our heart, he has brought us into a relationship with himself, he has provided for us so amply and abundantly, and he is ready to make a tremendously dense attainment. But Ruth has to see. must desire it. Ruth must take the initiative. She has to need and center need and want, and yet everything has been provided and wrought by God and working behind the scenes. And there's a remarkable bringing together a human responsibility and divine sovereignty in the picture, all underlining the loving, beautiful scene of redemption, the heart of love that's caused redemption for us. But we mustn't forget the simple practical lesson of a daughter-in-law who will care for the mother-in-law. And this, of course, can be applied to each of us. But there's characteristics in this man that is very becoming. You notice how he has such a protective attitude toward Ruth. That woman is not his wife, but he is protective of her. He is thoughtful of her. He is providing for her. He is interested in her well-being and in the well-being of her senior mother-in-law, Naomi. There is something very noble and very gracious and very Christ-like about the man who sees and cares for the weaker vessel. I don't want to use that term because automatically many of us think of first Peter three, and there's the marriage tie. But I think of it as our role as headship. Headship is not husband and wife. Headship is male and female. And it's a noble role that God has rolled back upon men. The responsibility, the obligation of leadership. Headship is not giving orders. Headship is the responsibility of provision. Headship is the responsibility of tender, loving leadership. Headship is the obligation before one senior to take the welfare of those that are in a voluntary submissive role. My, it's a lovely thing for a man to come to the ripened fruition of manhood by being Christ-like. I am in hell because of the grief that touches my own soul. In the city in which I live, And in the environment in which the Lord has allowed us to seek to serve him, we have run across persons that feel free to physically abuse women. To raise a hand to do physical damage. That's not what's pictured for us in this scene. The rampant cruelty, the degenerate circumstances of the days of the judges, but God must have his Boaz. He must have his Boaz-like men, who know how to bless employees, who know how to tenderly care for the fairer sex, who know how to anticipate the weakness and frailty of young men and make provision and detain them, who know how to dip morsels and feed the needy, who know how to be those that can bless them that come under the wings of our God. God is looking for men. not grown-up boys, but men, men of godly character, men of purpose and submissiveness to the Word of God, men who, like Boaz, can have a tremendous testimony in others and are not fearful or worried, but can reward and encourage the testimony of the woman that comes. He was not intimidated by her. He was ennitched, and he said, I'm doing this because of your life and your testimony. Sometimes some men feel a little bit fearful. when they see a woman that has gifts or graces or abilities, he feels threatened in some fashion. That should not be. It should be the breads and the riches of a Boaz-like person. And that's what makes it so choice to come under the wings of our Lord, to come into that kind of a fellowship, whether it's in the home or in the local church or at a conference or wherever, when we can find such men of godliness and character and tenderness and care, You're an honor to the Lord. And it provokes blessing and excitement for others. Blessed be he of the Lord. Bless this man who has not been unkind to the living and to the dead. Wouldn't it be a delightful thing if because of your study, of your submission, of your closeness in relationship to the Lord, that the gentleness of Boaz, the Christ-likeness might come through out of our lives and the Lord's people find rich blessings, comfort, strengthening. After all, we've just been exhorted. We should be God-like, faithful, responsible, righteous, seeking the good of others and the blessing of God's people. Shall we pray? Our loving Father, we're very thankful for this little story and the reminder that come to our soul thy wonderful, gracious provision for the needy of old. We are very thankful, our loving God, that thy word is so simple and clear that we need to care for those that are less favored, that we need to be supportive and strengthening and helpful for those that are going through trial, and that one now hath blessed us with anywhere with all, spiritual or financial, that we might be generous and be a source of comfort and encouragement. O God, our Father, let some of these very simple but profoundly clear lessons become part of our lives, and that we would be more and more like thy beloved Son, and to whose image it is thy purpose to conform us, help us as we gave upon him, and glean from thy word in him and the fellowship of thy people, that we would have ample provision to meet our needs and to suffice others around us, we might be indeed a source of blessing, the blessing of the living God. This we pray in the name and for the glory of our Lord Jesus.