Ruth-Humility and Kindness: Ruth 3

                

Naomi and Ruth find themselves in a place where they are unable to completely make it on their own; they're relying on what Ruth can harvest in Boaz's fields, but that's only a temporary solution, it won't get them through the whole year. Since Ruth is a foreigner from one of Israel's greatest enemies, many villagers will be slow to help.

Boaz notices Ruth and asks his foreman who this woman is. He’s told she’s Ruth, daughter-in-law to Naomi, a relative of his. Boaz goes to Ruth, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” Ruth’s reputation has gone before her, a reputation for kindness, hard work, and commitment to her mother-in-law.

Now Naomi re-enters the story and advises Ruth. "My daughter, I must find a home for you, where you will be well provided for. Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours. Tonight, he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. 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. 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.” Boaz is a hard-working farmer and he's sleeping in the field to protect his crops from thieves. Ruth does as Naomi tells her. She shows trust, humility, and obedience, unlike Israel during this time of the Judges.

Ruth is risking herself, putting herself in a dangerous situation; physically, emotionally and socially. Just think about it, it doesn't matter what culture or time in history, a woman dresses up in her best clothes with perfume and makeup and in the dark of the night goes to visit a man in the fields all alone, what do you think might or will happen. Ruth, a foreigner from Moab, a detested enemy of Israel is offering herself to a wealthy older man in return for protection and security.

Ruth dresses herself up prettily and puts on perfume and as darkness settles over the land, she makes her way to the field where Boaz is working. When she sees him lie down and fall asleep, she silently goes to his feet, uncovers them and lies down there. Boaz doesn't have any idea what's happening and, in the night, when something wakes him up, he's startled to find a woman at his feet. His first reaction is to ask, "Who are you?" He doesn't recognize Ruth at first. Ruth answers, "I am your servant Ruth, spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a kinsman-redeemer." Ruth uses the word "amah" which can mean "servant," but also means "slave, maid or concubine."

Ruth allows Boaz to decide how to interpret the word "amah," but she does mention at the same time that he's a kinsman-redeemer with the responsibility to protect her. By asking Boaz to spread the corner of his garment over her, Ruth is asking him for his protection. She's at the mercy of Boaz. What is Boaz going to do? If he chooses to use Ruth as a slave or concubine, she will have certain rights and protections. But might Boaz, as a righteous God-fearing man choose to treat her as a maiden and truly be her kinsman redeemer and take her as a wife and protect the family line of Naomi and Elimelek, even though, according to Deuteronomy 23, their children would not be allowed to enter the assembly of God for 10 generations? It's all in Boaz’s hands and in the middle of a field at night, Ruth will have to submit to it.

Boaz responds, "The Lord bless you, my daughter. This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor." Boaz is touched by Ruth's act of trust. Because of her character, Boaz responds positively to her request to be her and Naomi's kinsman-redeemer. But another relative has first right over Naomi's land and Ruth, but Boaz promises that if the relative refuses to be their kinsman-redeemer than he will. Boaz is willing to take on the shame of marrying Ruth, a Moabitess in order to keep her safe and provide for her. Naomi and Ruth's future is safe and secure. Boaz fills her shawl with barley and sends her home early so that Ruth's reputation isn't ruined by someone seeing them together and drawing wrong conclusions about what's happened.

Jesus is our kinsman-redeemer. We’re created in the image of God to be in relationship to him, but through sin and rebellion and a refusal to listen to God, we sold ourselves into slavery to Satan and his lies. A kinsman-redeemer is family taking care of family. We’re children of God, Jesus is our older brother, and he’s stepped in to buy us back from the sin we’ve given ourselves over to. In the time of Ruth and Boaz, Israel has drifted far from God, doing whatever each person decided was right. As you read the end of Judges, cruelty, crudeness was normal, God wasn’t central to their lives, faith was only rituals, and most people created their own truth that revolved around themselves.

As I reflect on where we’re at today, we’re travelling down that same road in our culture, where everyone does what’s right in their own eyes, often right is what pleases them and benefits them, even if it hurts or demeans others. People listen more to voices that tickle their ears and beliefs rather than digging deeper into Scripture for the way and teaching of Jesus. It's easy to treat others in negative ways, focusing on how they don't measure up. There's a casual cruelness today that comes out in gossip and snide remarks that cut into peoples' hearts and souls. If you hear enough of this from people around you, it's easy to believe you're worthless and don't belong.

Like Ruth, many people walk through their days feeling as if they don’t really belong. Having mentored people who wrestle with their identity, youth in trouble with the law, or those simply coming from the wrong side of the tracks, many feel that no one cares about them. This is why Youth Unlimited, the Broomtree, and FCSS are so important; and why the church is so important as a place of safety, hope, and belonging. Jesus understands because he experienced the same thing, rejection, aloneness, fear, and more. Boaz offers Ruth safety, protection, acceptance, hope and grace, just as Jesus does for us.

Jesus invites you to come to him when you’re tired and life is heavy. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Jesus shows you how much he loves you by being your kinsman-redeemer: paying the price of sin on the cross so that you can experience the grace of forgiveness and belonging. Being our kinsman-redeemer is more than his death on the cross, it's also about offering a life filled with emotional, relational, and spiritual health. Jesus takes our shame and guilt on himself, as Boaz took Ruth’s, in order to make us right with God our Father. Jesus sends his Spirit to the church to offer the world hope; giving people looking for a place to belong, looking for acceptance and aching to be valued, for a family who will love them and walk with them as we follow Jesus together. This leads to hearts of confession and repentance, obedience and a life of daily worship; looking always to Jesus.

We experience Jesus’ presence and health by reaching out to the people he has called his own; people he talks about in Matthew 25, "Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me;” reaching out with arms of love, safety, and protection to a hurting and broken world.

The story of Ruth ends with hope and fertility, “Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son…. Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.”

We’re here to bring the world a message of hope and grace and new cleansed lives. This is what Ruth and Naomi found in Boaz, what we find in Jesus; this is the message we bring!

 

 

Abigail—Wisdom: 1 Samuel 25

                                  

This story of David, Abigail, and Nabal feels like an interruption in the larger story of David and King Saul. This story comes between two stories of King Saul going after David and David showing King Saul mercy after having opportunities to kill the king. David’s mercy and grace in both these instances are important to remember as we reflect on our passage this morning.

The prophet Samuel has died and David is no longer able to lean on Samuel’s wisdom and guidance. David takes his 600 men and moves into the wilderness south of Jerusalem, away from the danger of King Saul. While David and his men live in the wilderness, they come across the flocks of a clansman of David called Nabal and they keep an eye over Nabal’s flocks and men, protecting them from thieves and wild animals. This is what you do for a person from your same tribe of Judah, especially when he’s as wealthy as Nabal is. There’s an unspoken relationship here of “you scratch my back and I will scratch yours.”

Now the time comes to shear the sheep, a huge task that always ends with a celebration, “David tells ten young men, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name. Say to him: ‘Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours! Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat them, and the whole time they were at Carmel nothing of theirs was missing. Ask your own servants and they will tell you. Therefore, be favorable toward my men, since we come at a festive time. Please give your servants and your son David whatever you can find for them.’”

David’s asking for Nabal to be generous to him and his men and offer them a few sheep for themselves out of gratitude for protecting Nabal’s flocks and men. Nabal nastily and rudely mocks David and his protection, refusing to offer them anything, insulting David as mere ruffian. David’s angry! He tells his men to put on their swords and he’s going to teach this miserable, mean cheapskate a lesson. Now Abigail, Nabal’s wife enters the story, the only woman in the Bible describes as being both intelligent and beautiful. One of the family servants comes to Abigail and tells her what her husband has done, insulting David after David and his men had protected them and their flocks and then asked for a gift of food to celebrate a successful shearing season. The servants realize that they’re in danger of losing their protection due to Nabal’s foolish stubbornness. The servant tells Abigail, “He is such a wicked man that no one can talk to him.”

David vows, in very crude language that our English translations translate much more politely, “May God deal with David, be it ever so severely, if by morning I leave alive one male of all who belong to him!” David’s desire for vengeance after being insulted by Nabal stands in a stark contrast to how David responds to King Saul’s attempts to kill him both just before and right after this story. We get a glimpse of David’s not so godly impulses here. Most commentaries connect David’s reaction in this story to David’s impulsive act with Bathsheba later on; neither act honoring God, both putting God’s plans at risk.

The Jewish Women Archive writes, “Abigail’s intervention prevents a bloodbath. She quickly assembles an elaborate feast, which is loaded up on donkeys and sent in advance. She then intercepts David to persuade him against fulfilling his violent oath…. Before we are struck by the full force of the oath, we anticipate its undoing.” Abigail shows up with an extra-generous gift for David and his men and she does so in a spirit of humbleness, realizing only humility will sooth David’s pride. When Abigail sees David, she quickly gets off her donkey and bows down before David. ^“Pardon your servant, my lord, and let me speak to you; hear what your servant has to say. Please pay no attention, my lord, to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name—his name means Fool, and folly goes with him. And as for me, your servant, I did not see the men my lord sent. And now, my lord, as surely as the Lord your God lives and as you live, since the Lord has kept you from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hands, may your enemies and all who are intent on harming my lord be like Nabal.”

 Before, Samuel would have been around to advise David against seeking vengeance, but now God brings Abigail, an intelligent and wise woman, to offer David godly guidance. Abigail recognizes that God has plans for David and those plans likely include the throne of Israel. If that’s the case, then a blood feud with the family of Nabal would create division in the tribe of Judah and make it difficult for David to gain the throne. Abigail goes against her husband and takes the side of David, calling David “lord” and herself his “maidservant.” She tells David that if he turns back from his vow to kill Nabal, that God will “make a lasting dynasty” of David’s family line, and “the lives of your enemies he will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling,” an echo back to David’s defeat of the giant Goliath. Abigail recognizes that David’s vow of vengeance doesn’t fit with the character the king of Israel needs to have, or the kind of character that David normally shows. We need people like Abigail in our lives, reminding us of who Jesus calls us to be as his children and followers.

David turns from his vow to kill Nabal, acknowledging Abigail’s wisdom keeping him from bloodshed and vengeance. David’s decision to follow Abigail’s advice shows his worthiness to be king over Israel, and reveals how God often uses those around us to offer us guidance in life, turning us back to his ways when we are tempted to follow the darker impulses in our hearts. James reminds in his letter that “each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed,” while Paul tells us in his first letter to the Corinthians that, ^“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”

God uses the wisdom of Abigail to keep David from seeking vengeance and remind David of his true character shaped by the mercy and grace David showed Saul. God provides us with ways to endure and get through temptation, often using wise people already in our lives, parents, mentors, friends, teachers, counsellors, and others. Jesus goes to the cross and returns to heaven in order to send us “the Holy Spirit to be with us forever, the Spirit of truth… who will teach us all things and remind us of everything Jesus told us;” as John reminds us in his Gospel. It’s important that we surround ourselves with people who continually call us to godly character, but also that we gently call each other to godly character in all the areas of our lives.

Abigail acts as a mediator between Nabal and David, even though Nabal’s unaware of it at the time. Abigail turns David’s wrath aside by bringing David an offering to soothe his wrath and anger. In this way, Abigail is a foreshadowing of Jesus, our mediator to God, going to his Father to turn God’s wrath away from us and onto himself as a sin offering, even when we’re unaware of our sin. Paul writes to Timothy, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people.” Isaac Ambrose, the English Puritan preacher, describes Jesus as our mediator, “Only Christ is that ladder between heaven and earth, the Mediator betwixt God and man; a mystery which the angels of heaven desire to pry into.” The Heidelberg Catechism reminds us in Q & A 49 that “Jesus pleads our cause in heaven in the presence of the Father.”

Abigail returns home ands finds her husband drunk from feasting. She waits until the morning to tell him what she has done and his heart turns to stone in fear and he dies ten days later, struck by the Lord. Abigail saves her household and at the same time makes an impression on David with her wisdom and courage. David takes Abigail as his wife, bringing her wisdom into his household. David’s marriage to Abigail also increases his standing in Judah, making him one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the tribe, setting him up for when God finally sets David on the throne in Jerusalem.

Abigail fades out of the Bible story, bearing David a son, standing by him at his inauguration, but we learn nothing more about this interesting woman. God places Abigail into David’s life to offer him wise guidance and to act as a mediator, pointing us to who Jesus is in our lives still today.

 

 

Rahab—On God’s Side: Joshua 2:1-24

This morning’s story is all about spies and intrigue, about a prostitute who becomes a traitor, and God using the most unlikely people to move his plan of redemption forward. Who says the Bible’s boring! Israel has been wandering through the wilderness for 40 years and it’s time for them to claim the land God has promised them. They’re no longer a gaggle of slaves trying to figure out what it means to be free; they’ve had 40 years to learn how to be God’s people through following the commandments and the way of living that God has given them. They’ve learned to trust in God, and how to be warriors able to conquer the land promised to them by God.

Joshua, before going up against Jericho, a powerful city guarding the way into the promised land, sends spies to scout out the land and the people, just like Moses did 40 years earlier. Unlike 40 years earlier, the spies come back with a positive report due to meeting with a prostitute named Rahab. Now these spies are noticed pretty quickly by people who tell the king, “Look, some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” We can ask, “Why would they go to the house of a prostitute,” since the Israelites have many laws against prostitution and purity. Yet there’s wisdom in going to Rahab’s place as she would know what many of the men in the city were thinking and what they thought of the Israelites encroaching onto their land.

The Jewish website thetorah.com reminds us, “Again and again, God chooses unlikely human instruments, either flipping systems of social power or making it supremely clear that the true power belongs to God alone, or both. To be sure, Rahab represents such marginality in several ways: She is a woman – and a single, childless woman at that. She is not part of Israel, but one of the people of a city that is about to be conquered. And finally, of course, she is a prostitute.” We wouldn’t choose a foreign prostitute to be the hero of God’s story, but God often chooses the weak, the rejected, and the undesirable to accomplish his plans, or as examples of faith, or to remind us that this is all God’s doing. Rahab’s wise to the ways of the world and yet she’s attuned to God in a way that even many of the Israelites may not have been.

After hiding the spies and sending the king’s men on a wild goose chase, Rahab shows incredible insight into what’s really going on, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed.  When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.”

Rahab recognizes that Israel’s God is giving his people the land of Canaan, and nothing that the Canaanites do can stop Israel or Israel’s God. Rahab, in her line of work, has heard what her own people are saying about the Israelite people; they’re terrified of them. This fear has been building up for years, and we know from Deuteronomy 2:25 that this is because God began working in the Canaanite’s hearts 40 years earlier, “This very day I will begin to put the terror and fear of you on all the nations under heaven. They will hear reports of you and will tremble and be in anguish because of you.”

Fear weakens people, nations, and even churches. John talks about that in his first letter, 1 John 4:18, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” When we come to that place where we finally understand the depth and power of Jesus’ love for us, a love expressed on the cross where Jesus takes away our sin by taking it on himself, we fully experience the Father’s love and our fear is driven out. The Canaanites follow gods they’ve created for themselves, and so they find themselves against God and Rahab knows that’s a losing game as she sees the fear in her own people, a fear that weakens them.

Rahab recognizes that God is the one who has protected the Israelites during the past 40 years from the kings and nations that went up against Israel. Kings like Sihon and Og found out just how powerful God is, and when they’re defeated by Israel, the Canaanite’s “hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed.” God’s been working behind the scenes for a long time now and the spies are just discovering this. The fear and trembling that lead to the Israelites doubting God 40 years before is now deep in the hearts of the Canaanites. God has turned everything upside down. God’s reminding Israel that they’re not going to conquer the land in their own strength, that the land comes from God and he’s giving it to them. They simply need to be faithful to him.

Then comes the most astonishing words from Rahab, “for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.” She acknowledges that Israel’s God is the Lord of the universe; that God is over everything, even other gods bow down to Israel’s God. This is extraordinary and completely unexpected. Rahab makes the switch in her allegiance from her people and gods to God and the people of Israel, “Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them—and that you will save us from death.” The spies agree to her request, giving her a scarlet cord to tie in her window to keep her and her family with her in her house safe. This echoes to the blood spread on the doorframes of the Israelites when the angel of death spared their lives when they left Egypt.

Rahab commits herself to Yahweh, choosing God by helping the spies escape with the knowledge they need, only asking that she and her family be spared. The unspoken request is that they will take care of her and her family by accepting them among the people of Israel despite her past. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1, “Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” 

Matthew 1 tells us that Rahab marries into the Jewish people and becomes part of the family line of Jesus through King David, “Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David.” God’s ways are definitely not our ways and he knows our hearts better than we do ourselves. God can, and often does use people we believe are unworthy and have nothing to offer us or God. We underestimate the grace of Jesus. Jesus is at work in our community, there are many who are afraid, there is so much stress in many people’s life because of inflation, we hear of the increase in domestic abuse in the past few years, and yet we have seen God has been at work in the lives of people in our community, leading to the rise of the Broomtree ministry, new programs by FCSS, new commitments by churches to reach into the community with the hope of Jesus. Jesus is working in our hearts way before we realize it, preparing us for his work here. Jesus is able to accomplish great things through our openness to the Holy Spirit and our obedience. Faith is about responding to the movement of God, Hebrews 11:31, “By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.”

Rahab chooses God and God welcomes her into his family. John tells us that all those who believe in Jesus will not perish but have eternal life; this is why he went to the cross, to wash away all our sin, to offer grace to all those who come to him to find hope, grace, and forgiveness, no matter what our past looks like. Jesus calls us to believe in him, and to repent and love God with everything we are, and to love our neighbours. We’re not saved in our own strength, but only through faith in Jesus.