A Redemption Plan
Preached by Jason Abbott
May 5, 2013
Ruth 3:1-18
1 One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, I must find a home for you, where you will be well provided for. 2 Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. 3 Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.”
5 “I will do whatever you say,” Ruth answered. 6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do.
7 When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down. 8 In the middle of the night something startled the man; he turned—and there was a woman lying at his feet!
9 “Who are you?” he asked.
“I am your servant Ruth,” she said. “Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a guardian-redeemer of our family.”
10 “The Lord bless you, my daughter,” he replied. “This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. 11 And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character. 12 Although it is true that I am a guardian-redeemer of our family, there is another who is more closely related than I. 13 Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to do his duty as your guardian-redeemer, good; let him redeem you. But if he is not willing, as surely as the Lord lives I will do it. Lie here until morning.”
14 So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be recognized; and he said, “No one must know that a woman came to the threshing floor.”
15 He also said, “Bring me the shawl you are wearing and hold it out.” When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and placed the bundle on her. Then he went back to town.
16 When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, “How did it go, my daughter?”
Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her 17 and added, “He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, ‘Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’”
18 Then Naomi said, “Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today.”
Introduction: Sadie Hawkins Day
In the classic hillbilly comic strip Li’l Abner, there’s a character Sadie Hawkins, the “homeliest gal in all them hills”. As Sadie grows older, she also grows more and more desperate to find a husband. Her father grows more and more desperate to find her a husband too as he imagines Sadie living at home for the rest of his life.
Eventually, her pa comes up with a solution. He declares a town-wide celebration and calls it Sadie Hawkins Day. On this day, there will be a footrace. All the eligible bachelors will start when Sadie’s pa fires his gun the first time then Sadie will start when he fires his gun the second time. When Sadie catches one of the bachelors, he has to marry her. Problem solved!
Maybe Li’l Abner’s creator, Al Capp, got the idea for his comic from chapter three of Ruth. Perhaps, Ruth is the genesis of our Sadie Hawkins Day celebrations. Yet, no matter if this is the case or not, here in Ruth we have a much more romantic version of a woman catching a man. Here we have no homely gal and no unwilling bachelor. Instead, we find an alluring Ruth (following Naomi’s well-conceived plan) and initiating a marriage proposal to a very willing Boaz.
1. Naomi is aggressive and patient (vv. 1-5, 16-18).
Naomi is aggressive (vv. 1-5).
Her plan is an incredibly aggressive plan. It’s built upon a faithful hunch that Boaz’s generous actions toward Ruth signify a “favorable disposition on his part…and possibly a willingness to do the kinsman’s part.”1 In short, she is betting on Boaz’s kindness and faithfulness. She is wagering that Boaz will redeem the bloodline of his deceased relative by marrying Ruth and having children with her.2
If Naomi is wrong, this could be a potentially disastrous gamble for her and for Ruth. Things for them have been going well in Israel. They have found food and a providing protector in Boaz. Ruth is gaining respect and a faithful reputation among Bethlehem’s population. Naomi’s plan puts all these things at risk.
If Boaz misunderstands Ruth’s intentions here (e.g. seeing her advances as those of a sexually loose woman), she might offend and lose this generous provider. Furthermore, suppose Boaz rightly understands Ruth’s intentions and accepts her, if she’s seen by a townsperson at the threshing floor all night long with Boaz, her social standing and reputation would likely be permanently decimated by small town gossip.
Naomi’s plan is an aggressive and dangerous one! The reader would have felt this tension. They would have asked: Will Boaz accept Ruth? Will someone see them meeting? Will Yahweh bless this plan?
Sometimes we must, in faith and dependence on God, act aggressively like Naomi and Ruth do here. In fact, this is often the case in a fallen world. We must step out into the unknown and pray that God will bless our endeavors.
Let me illustrate what I mean. My parents, as I grew up, watched me date a number of young ladies most of whom they weren’t all that excited about. Then, while I was in graduate school, I began to date Natalie. They were excited about her. So they prayed that I wouldn’t screw things up.
As graduation approached, Natalie was planning to go overseas on mission, and I was about to begin a teaching career in Missouri. We decided that we would communicate during that time and continue to “long-distance” date. My dad wasn’t too thrilled with this plan; he could see all the potential difficulties; he could see that I was about to screw things up.
So one day he sat me down. He asked me if I loved Natalie, and I said, “yes.” He asked me if I had thought about proposing to her, and I said, “yes.” He asked me why I hadn’t, and I said, “I don’t have money for a ring.” At this point, my dad told me that I needed to be more aggressive and that, he thought, I needed to propose now and that he would be willing to buy the ring and that I could pay him back later. Within one week, I had a ring; within another two, I had a fiancé.
Yet if it hadn’t been for my father’s faithfully aggressive planning, I’m not sure how things would have turned out. I followed his advice in faith, and God blessed me beyond what I could have imagined. My parents’ aggressive plan (and God’s grace) made certain I didn’t screw things up!
So Naomi, like my father, constructs a wisely aggressive plan here, and Ruth faithfully follows it. Yet, Naomi isn’t merely an aggressive planner.
Naomi is patient (vv. 16-18).
Ruth comes back to Naomi after meeting with Boaz and tells her what happened. Then, Naomi responds with a second round of advice:
“Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today” (v. 18).
What happened to be aggressive? What happened to courageous planning? Well, the time for executing daring plans is over now. Now it is time to wait; now it is time to rest while Boaz does his part. One commentator explains it this way:
As the farmer awaits the product of faithful sowing, so Ruth was to await the harvest of her effort. 3
We too must learn to practice such balance. Often we either overdo or underdo in our Christian lives. We aggressively act too much, or we wait and rest too much. We either imagine that success is all up to us, or we imagine that our efforts have no part to play in the economy of God.
Are you an over-doer? Do you rush into things thinking you know best? Often, over-doers tend to jump into things without pausing to think biblically about them and without praying about them.
Are you an under-doer? Do you perpetually wait for a Damascus Road experience from God before acting? Typically under-doers never have enough of a sign from God or a biblical mandate to move.
Naomi, to her credit, acts decisively here—understanding that it is well within God’s laws to expect Boaz to redeem Ruth. At the same time, she has sense enough to encourage Ruth to rest and wait on the redemption process—knowing that they must now trust faithfully in Boaz and, ultimately, in Yahweh for success. Naomi’s approach is balanced—she does and also depends on God to do. We too must strive for such balance!
Well how did Naomi’s aggressive plan turn out? We already know don’t we.
2. Ruth is bold and Boaz is flattered (vv. 7-15).
Boaz promises to redeem Ruth, but there is an unexpected hurdle that pops up isn’t there. Look at Boaz’s response to Ruth’s request:
I will do for you all you ask. All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character. Although it is true that I am a guardian-redeemer of our family, there is another who is more closely related than I. Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to do his duty as your guardian-redeemer, good; let him redeem you. But if he is not willing, as surely as the Lord lives I will do it (vv. 11-13).
There is another kinsman redeemer! The narrative conflict rises! Will we get our romantic satisfaction here and see these two noble characters married? The narrator expertly denies us too much comfort, and—in doing so—raises our estimation of both Boaz and Ruth. Truly these are a righteous pair! Why do I say this? How do we know they are righteous?
Many commentators argue that Ruth and Boaz have sex in this passage, but I want to argue this is almost certainly not the case. Instead of a couple who subverts the order of God’s commands for marriage generally and kinsman redemption specifically, we see that Boaz—despite any temptation to the contrary—will do things by the book. So he tells Ruth that tomorrow he will find out if the guardian-redeemer who is closest to Naomi and Ruth will take Ruth for his wife. Only if he does not will Boaz take Ruth for his wife.
In terms of the narrative, this righteous action only heightens our longing for this couple to be together. They are perfect for one another!
Let me highlight one practical note before moving on to the final point of the sermon. We live in a society where one’s sexual freedom is valued above most other things. Sexual freedom is one of the great idols of our time. Many would think Boaz and Ruth silly for not taking advantage of an opportunity to enjoy a secret one night stand!
However, honoring God’s plan for sexuality doesn’t rob people of the joys of sex but instead values them as the precious gift that they are. By obeying God in this, we do not cheapen our sexual pleasure (as making it into some merely instinctive, primal desire does), rather, by honoring God in this, we treasure our sexual pleasure (as a beautiful and satisfying way in which we image—male and female—the union of our Triune God).
3. God teaches us that not any kinsman redeemer will do.
When we find out that there is another possible kinsman redeemer, we are naturally disturbed. We don’t want just any kinsman redeemer for Ruth; we want Boaz! We want the generous and gracious kinsman redeemer. We want the honorable and righteous kinsman redeemer. We want the redeemer that is gentle and loving and relational toward Ruth, and, at the same time, we want the redeemer who won’t selfishly ignore God’s will and God’s laws in the process!
This is the kind of redeemer we want for Ruth and—if we’re honest—this is the kind of redeemer we want for us. Boaz gives us a glimpse of the Redeemer we all ultimately need. We must have a perfectly righteous Redeemer; we must have a Redeemer who intimately identifies with us and loves us. We must have Jesus!
1 F.B. Huey Jr., Ruth, , 535.
2 See Edward Bagby Pollard’s entry: “Kinsman”, The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, 1810.
3 Robert L. Hubbard Jr., The Book of Ruth, , 227.
