Blessable

He Restores My Soul, part 2

• Ruth is a ray of sunshine in Naomi’s dark world.
• The Hebrew Bible is arranged so that Ruth comes after proverbs. So that the woman described in Proverbs 31 comes right before Ruth. And Ruth in every way embodies the Proverbs 31 woman.

I. A God of Abundance.

Look at some of the blessings God gave Ruth:

1. Unseen (Ruth 2:1-4)

• Ruth 2:1, clan is a subdivision of the tribe.
• The right of the poor to glean after the harvesters was part of the law. (Lev. 23:22)
• Look at how God works: She happens in the field of Boaz. Literally, “and her chance chanced.” (Ruth 2:3) The author is using sarcasm to scream: This isn’t an accident.

2. Unexpected (Ruth 2:5-13)

• Ruth 2:7 is a translation mystery. It gets smoothed out as something like, “She has worked all day.” It’s actually much more difficult than that!

Literally: “and she came and stood from then the morning until now.” (Translators say: Why was she standing there?) It looks like something else happened. A guess is that she came and asked permission of the supervisor to glean, but the supervisor is hesitant to give permission to a destitute Moabite woman to trace behind his harvesters. So he tells her to wait there. And there she stands. Waiting. Now he points her out to Boaz.

The rest of the verse makes no sense. “Her sitting the house a little.” Literally, “She came and stood from then the morning until now. Her sitting the house a little.”

• Boaz tells her seven things: (Ruth 2:8-9)

1. Don’t glean in another field.

2. Do not go away.

3. Stay with the servant girls.

4. Watch the field. In other words, she need not look around worried she will be harmed. Keep her eyes on her work

5. Follow the servant girls.

6. I ordered the men not to touch or harm you.

7. When thirsty, go and drink the water prepared for the servant girls.

3. Unprecedented (Ruth 2:14-16)

• He invites her to come and eat.
• Ruth 2:14, he served her roasted grain himself. The word “sabat” is used only here in the Old Testament. To “grasp” or “serve.” He took the grain himself and gave it to her.

4. Unbelievable (Ruth 2:17-22)

• She collected 3—50 pounds of barley. Enough for two women to eat for a week.
• Ruth 2:19 is funny. Naomi, “where did you glean today?” As in, who did this to you?

II. Why Ruth?

• Her question, Why me?
• His answer: Because she behaved in a way that God would bless. (Ruth 2:10-12)
• She made a blessable faith decision. (Ruth 1:13) She transferred her allegiance from Chemosh, god of the Moabites, to Yahweh, God of all the earth and creator of all that exists.
• Notice how Boaz clearly expresses that her blessings have really come from the Lord, not Him. (Ruth 2:12) He imagines Yahweh as a great bird under whose wings she has found refuge and safety.

III. A Question: Will

Want to have a great week? How about a great month, a great year, a great life, a great eternity. It all boils down to one question you need to ask about every decision you make; every relationship you have, every task you are involved in needs to center on this one single question: is that blessable?