8. The Choice of Boaz

The Choice of Boaz

"And it came to pass at midnight, that the man was afraid, and turned himself: and, behold, a woman lay at his feet. And he said, Who art thou? And she answered, I am Ruth thine handmaid: spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid; for thou art a near kinsman. And he said, Blessed be thou of the Lord, my daughter: for thou hast showed more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, inasmuch as thou followedst not young men whether poor or rich. And now, my daughter, fear not; I will do to thee all that thou requirest: for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman. And now it is true that I am thy near kinsman: howbeit there is a kinsman nearer than I. Tarry this night, and it shall be in the morning, that if he will perform unto thee the part of a kinsman, well let him do the kinsman’s part: but if he will not do the part of a kinsman to thee, then will I do the part of a kinsman to thee, as the Lord liveth: lie down until the morning. And she lay at his feet until the morning: and she rose up before one could know another. And he said, Let it not be known that a woman came into the floor. Also he said, Bring the vail that thou hast upon thee, and hold it. And when she held it, he measured six measures of barley, and laid it on her: and she went into the city. And when she came to her mother in law, she said, Who art thou, my daughter? And she told her all that the man had done to her. And she said, These six measures of barley gave he me; for he said to me, Go not empty unto thy mother in law. Then said she, Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall: for the man will not be in rest, until he have finished the thing this day. Then went Boaz up to the gate and sat him down there: and, behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spake came by; unto whom he said, Ho, such a one turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside, and sat down. And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit ye down here. And they sat down. And he said unto the kinsman, Naomi, that is come again out of the country of Moab, selleth a parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech’s: And I thought to advertise thee, saying, Buy it before the inhabitants, and before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it: but if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know: for there is none to redeem it beside thee; and I am after thee. And he said, I will redeem it. Then said Boaz, What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance. And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance: redeem thou my right to thyself; for I cannot redeem it. Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things; a man plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbour: and this was a testimony in Israel. Therefore the kinsman said unto Boaz, Buy it for thee. So he drew off his shoe. And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all the people, Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, of the hand of Naomi. Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: ye are witnesses this day. And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. The Lord make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem: and let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman." (Ruth 3:8-18; Ruth 4:1-12)

Now we come to chapter 3, and here it is Boaz who made a decision. He was not like the sons of Elimelech who made a wrong decision, he made a right decision, and well he knew it. This decision was not a calculated risk, this was a very wise and shrewd decision, he knew what he was doing, he knew that Ruth was a woman of worth, a woman of sterling quality, a woman fit to be his wife, and so he made his decision. This is a very good position for a brother and a sister, as we said at the beginning and we will say it again, being guided by the Lord, helped by the Lord in prayer, and waiting to make these right decisions because they have to do with a lifetime in the ordinary course of affairs. Your whole Christian testimony is at stake, in some sense if you make a wrong decision, but, oh how thankful we are, that Boaz made this right decision. Little did he know the full consequences of the decision that he made.

There was another who had a prior claim. This other man said, ’Yes, I want the belongings, I want the possessions that belong to the husband of Naomi but I am not prepared to sacrifice my good name and my inheritance for a Moabitess, No, I do not want her as my wife’. He had the prior claim. Well, we know the story well, that Boaz said he was prepared to marry Ruth, and he did. That we read at the end of chapter 4.

I want to draw your attention to Naomi’s words to Ruth, "the man will not be in rest, until he has finished the thing this day" (3:18). Here was a man whose mind was made up, he knew before the Lord what he was doing, and he was not going to allow anything to turn him aside from his purpose because he knew that what he was doing was pleasing to the Lord. He knew perfectly well from what was told him that this woman was a godly woman, she was no longer a Moabitess, she was now under the shelter of the wings of the Lord Almighty of Israel. She was entitled to her place in the nation. Do not let anyone think that this story is one that we could use as out authority to marry somebody who is unconverted, and then the thing will turn out all right, you can rest assured that this is certainly not in the story. When Ruth said, "thy God [shall be] my God" she ceased to be a Moabitess, she was there in the nation of Israel, and privileged to have her place, and a fit wife for this godly man in Israel. Note what Naomi says about him, ’He is a man of purpose, he is a man of energy, he is a man of initiative, and he will not stop until the whole thing is completed’. When I say that, I can assure you dear brethren, that I am humbled. How often the Lord raises exercises within us, here is something that can be done for the Lord’s name and for the Lord’s people, and we think about it, and the more we think about it the more we see that, yes, it is something that can be done, but it never is done. We were reminded of Reuben in Deborah’s song, there was great resolve of heart, but nothing was done (Judges 5:15-16). Here was a man of energy, a man of initiative, a man who would move on until he completed his purpose. I believe we need young men and women, and old men and women too, brothers and sisters alike, who have this definite purpose, this initiative, this energy to do things that help forward the testimony of our God because they are all links in a chain. Naomi’s decision, Boaz’s decision and Ruth’s decision, they were all links in the one chain moving towards one end, the purpose of God being completed. How wonderful then, dear brethren, if we are all persons of decision and purpose of heart, and we are all moving together under the guidance of God and are all subject to His word, that God’s purpose might be fulfilled in us. A very wonderful desire, and as you say it here on the platform, or you listen to it, it sounds very good, does it not? It is very idealistic. But then you put it into practice and you find it is not so easy, there are difficulties, there are problems, there are challenges, and that is how we give up. Men of purpose, men of initiative, do not give up, they keep going on. This is what Boaz did, he went straight to the man concerned and put the matter before him, ’Will you do this, or will you not?’ He says, ’No, I am not going to do this’. ’Right,’ Boaz says, ’I will do it’, and so he gets Ruth for his wife.