Nov 3 2019 Ruth - Boaz and Ruth - Finding Value in Diversity - Stopping the Power of Identifying by Identity

Ruth 2:1 Now Naomi had a kinsman on her husband's side, a prominent rich man, of the family of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. 2 And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, "Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain, behind someone in whose sight I may find favor." She said to her, "Go, my daughter."

In chapter 2, we are introduced to our second hero of the story – and that is Boaz – I think it is obvious, by the way he is introduced, that he is going to play an important role! But we have already been introduced to the first hero - Ruth – but the ones this story was written to would not recognize that – and we might have tended to think of her as the Sleeping Beauty who needs a Prince – and here comes Boaz to rescue her! But if that is your view, you don’t understand the heroism of Ruth on her own. To commit to go with Naomi took incredible courage – leaving every prospect and entering the land of those who hate her – and she is doing it boldly. They are desperate – I’m going to go do something, Naomi says – we are going to get food. Ruth has all the qualities we and ancient Israel would admire. The problem, for ancient Israel, is that they are wrapped up in the wrong package – that of a Moabite woman. That would have been hard to take – how could a Moabite woman exhibit all the qualities we should exhibit?

3 So she went. She came and gleaned in the field behind the reapers.

They did not have welfare – but the poor would follow the reapers and were allowed to pick up what fell on the ground.

As it happened, she came to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech. 4 Just then Boaz came from Bethlehem. He said to the reapers, "The LORD be with you." They answered, "The LORD bless you."

This little phrase – as it happened – and – just then, Boaz- If we were translating it to our vernacular – by coincidence, it just so happened….

But the story is putting a question to us – think about this as you go through the story – is this chance or luck? Or are we looking at the hidden hand of God.

5 Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, "To whom does this young woman belong?" 6 The servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, "She is the Moabite who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. 7 She said, 'Please, let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the reapers.' So she came, and she has been on her feet from early this morning until now, without resting even for a moment."

Boaz is the ultimate insider. He is an important person in the community, and he is RICH! Ruth is the ultimate outsider – and what is going to happen – they are going to come together and transform the community – we could say that they are going to save Israel, both literally and figuratively.

Seven times in the book, she is called a Moabite. They don’t want anyone to miss her identity. Humans – we use identity and category to put people in their place! This is going to cut to the heart of those who do that. The identity that they are assigning to Ruth is of a Moabite – bad and immoral – but her character is the opposite in every way.

When Jesus was ministering in the gospel, some Gentile will come with faith – and Jesus says – I have never seen anything like this in Israel – the person who is not supposed to be this way is in every way – and sometimes those who are supposed to be are not!

Read Luke 4 sometime – were there not any Jewish widows? Why did Elijah go to the foreigner? Why did Elijah heal the Assyrian? And they wanted to murder him.

And Boaz and Ruth are going to change the attitudes of the community.

8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, "Now listen, my daughter,

Boaz takes her from a foreigner to a family member.

do not go to glean in another field or leave this one but keep close to my young women.

Naomi said – go home – you don’t belong here, but Boaz says:

Stay with me – don’t leave, you belong here…

9 Keep your eyes on the field that is being reaped, and follow behind them. I have ordered the young men not to bother (harm) you.

Not only has he welcomed her into his family – but she has come into his protection and provision.

If you get thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn."

We don’t understand their culture – but what he is offering is AMAZING! The Bible Project guys talk about a betrothal pattern or motif.

This begins with Isaac – They don’t want him to marry a foreigner, so he goes to another land – a well – and a woman shows up – and there is Rebekah – and she draws water, and she marries Isaac. And then they have two sons – and Rebekah doesn’t want Jacob to marry a foreigner – so he goes to a land and gets water from a well -and there is Rachel. Jacob actually gets two wives out of it, but that’s another story.

Moses – grew up as a foreigner – and comes to a land and they can’t get into the well – and Moses takes a wife from there.

10 Then she fell prostrate, with her face to the ground, and said to him, "Why have I found favor in your sight, that you should take notice of me, when I am a foreigner?"

This is a negative connotation of the term foreigner. There are two types – people who aren’t citizens but work side by side – and we have a positive view of that. But this term, foreigner – is someone who is not supposed to be there – someone who is not wanted. That is how she is describing herself.

The Book of Ruth – to bring this into our thinking – is describing and addressing what we would call identity politics at its worst – polarization – not political, but by race and identity.

• Israel Moab (1:1) Adversarial/Separation

• Men Women (1:2-5) Death/Life

• Naomi Ruth/Orpah Israelite/Moabite

(My God Your God)

• Naomi Mara (1:20) Pleasant/Bitter

• Ruth Narrator (1:22) Adversarial/Separation

• Boaz Ruth (2: 1-11) Welcome/Acceptance

Total contrast – and here is the closing point – both Boaz and Ruth have a God-given vision and clarity about the calling and purpose of Israel that no one else has.

They understood that when God called Abraham – I am blessing you so that you might be a blessing to all the ethnics, races, divisions of the world.

And what they demonstrate – the concept of identity can and must be changed, overcome, and set aside. They are denying the ultimate power that identity identifying can have to keep people in their place.