Ruth, Who Laid Aside Her Own Righteousness

1Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, shall I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you? 2Now isn’t Boaz our kinsman, with whose maidens you were? Behold, he will be winnowing barley tonight on the threshing floor. 3Therefore wash yourself, anoint yourself, get dressed, and go down to the threshing floor, but don’t make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. 4It shall be, when he lies down, that you shall note the place where he is lying. Then you shall go in, uncover his feet, and lay down. Then he will tell you what to do.” 5She said to her, “All that you say, I will do.” 6She went down to the threshing floor, and did everything that her mother-in-law told her.

People gain a great deal from working life in society. When someone stops taking part in working life, for whatever reason, they are not only left out of the world but are likely to suffer many disadvantages because of it. In our country too, many people are being urged to take early retirement because of the recession, and many families are suffering from unemployment. Every time word of their suffering comes out, the government racks its brains to come up with measures, but it seems that helping them is never easy.

So you must build up your skills so that you are not pushed out of the world. Only if you have the abilities the world needs can you keep your life going and also carry out God’s work. The world is a place for making profit, so it never treats capable people carelessly; but the moment it thinks someone is of no use, it throws them away at once. So it is like a battlefield where people live always on edge.

That is why you must be wise as serpents and not be deceived by the world. Wisdom is using the world rather than trusting a world of darkness. Do not fall for a world that lures you as if it will give you a great deal. First you must have a heart resolved to devote yourself as an instrument for expanding the kingdom of God.

What you must remember is this: the world has no peace to begin with, so it cannot give eternal rest. If you live in the world with a clear knowledge of the kingdom of God and of Satan’s world, then no matter how the world applauds and builds sandcastles for you, you will not be shaken.

Ruth 3:1

1Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, shall I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you?

Look at verse 1. Naomi already knew that the world was like this, so she set out to seek rest for Ruth. Ruth could not live by begging in the world, so Naomi wanted to help her live in peace, safe from the world’s attacks. The way she chose was to have Ruth become Boaz’s wife.

Naomi taught Ruth to wash herself, anoint herself, get dressed and go down to the threshing floor, to wait until the man had finished eating and drinking, and then, when he lay down, to go in under his covers and lie down. Then, she said, Boaz would tell her what to do next. Ruth found her mother-in-law’s words bewildering, but she answered that she would obey and do all that Naomi said.

Here we notice that Naomi is acting strangely. As a way of trying to get her daughter-in-law remarried to another man, her method is not right. For a mother-in-law to tell her widowed daughter-in-law to go at night, and to a man she hardly knows at that, lift his covers, get in and lie down, is not right. And it is stranger still that Ruth, who is recognized as a worthy woman, answered so very easily that she would do it. Naomi and Ruth act as though all this were perfectly natural, and we find them strange because their behavior departs from the common sense of the people of the world.

Even in our own country, in the past, people were reluctant for a widowed daughter-in-law even to come face to face with a man from outside the family, so they had her stay in a separate wing of the house. Seen from that point of view, what Naomi and Ruth did is not ordinary. But in that different age, women had to bear sons. A woman who could not bear a son met great misfortune, as if she had no worth at all.

In Israel too, there had to be an heir to carry on the inheritance allotted to one’s tribe. Ruth answered that she would lie at Boaz’s feet so that he would become the near kinsman, and she did everything her mother-in-law told her. Of course, people who do not understand spiritually might say that Ruth acted like a prostitute.

But the Bible has no intention of going out of its way to persuade a world that does not understand everything that happens within God’s promise. Instead, it says firmly that a righteousness that cannot save souls is in the end human righteousness, and that a human righteousness that does not obey the Word is not true righteousness. Whatever decision is made and whatever direction is set, if it is not for the saving of souls, it is all merely human righteousness, however wise the method may be.

Look at this event within God’s purpose. Then you see how much pain Ruth endured, laying herself aside in order to live according to God’s will. Ruth believed that becoming one of God’s people and providing an heir for a family was righteousness, and Naomi too believed that carrying on the line of the dead Elimelech and his son, to keep the inheritance going, was true righteousness.

There is a similar event in the Bible.

In Genesis, Judah’s daughter-in-law Tamar bears children to her father-in-law Judah. Tamar married Er, the eldest son in a family where her father-in-law Judah had three sons and no daughters, and became the eldest daughter-in-law. But sadly her husband died young. When her husband Er died young, she married her brother-in-law Onan under the law of levirate marriage. But Onan did not want to give his children to his brother, and because of his sin in preventing a pregnancy, Onan died too. In the age of the patriarchs in the Old Testament, carrying on the family line was this important.

For God formed a nation through Jacob, and as they carried on their line, the offspring of the woman promised in Genesis 3:15, who would overpower Satan, would be born. Carrying on the line mattered more than life itself to Israel, and it was a vital matter in accomplishing the work of salvation. That is why Tamar and Ruth are doing things that you today cannot understand.

When Tamar’s husband Er and then Onan too had died, Judah, to protect his youngest son Shelah, told Tamar to go and stay at her father’s house. There at her father’s house, Tamar was waiting for the right time to carry on the family line.

Genesis 49:10

10The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs. To him will the obedience of the peoples be.

This blessing of Jacob for Judah came much later than the event of Judah and Tamar we are looking at now. But Tamar, as Judah’s daughter-in-law, held that it was her duty to bear children and carry on the family line. Just then Tamar heard that her father-in-law Judah was going up from Adullam to Timnah to shear his sheep. Seeing it as a good chance to provide an heir, she disguised herself as a prostitute and met Judah. Judah saw Tamar by the road, took her for a prostitute, and turned aside to her. This event may be confusing, since it does not fit our Korean sensibilities, but I hope you will look at Tamar here as a woman doing her best in her own way, because conceiving a child and carrying on the inheritance was her duty.

The Bible records even an event as shameful as this, and it puts Tamar into the genealogy of Christ, the descendant of David. In doing so it is saying that the Bible is entirely true, and that, from the standpoint of salvation history, the Messiah who was to come is one who, rising above ethics, has the right to cover every sin.

Judah went on living and forgot about this meeting. Then three months later he heard a rumor that his daughter-in-law was pregnant. His daughter-in-law was supposed to wait quietly until her brother-in-law Shelah grew up, and now she was pregnant. The news was a great shock to Judah. Thinking that Tamar had betrayed his family and damaged his honor, Judah ordered that she be brought out and burned. As she was being dragged out, Tamar showed the signet, the cord and the staff Judah had given her, and let it be known that Judah was the child’s father. Judah realized that the things were his own. Saying that she was more righteous than he was, Judah admitted that the whole fault was his, because he had not given her Shelah.

Judah made a wrong judgment and a wrong decision, but that does not make it right for Tamar to have thought of disguising herself as a prostitute to carry on the family line. If she had served God a little more closely, she would have waited patiently for God’s guidance and his work. But because Judah did not live a life that set an example, Tamar did not know the right way, and she ended up committing a great sin.

Yet God gave Tamar, who had sinned unwittingly, the chance to repent deeply and live a life born anew, and he gave her two sons, Perez and Zerah. Through that same event, Judah realized how fallen and sinful a place he, one of God’s people, had been in, and he took it as a chance to return to serving the holy God. And through Perez, whom Tamar bore, God gave the Savior. By this event, God lifted it up into an event that reveals the mercy and amazing love with which he saves all humankind on this earth.

You see, it was because of Tamar’s sacrifice and Ruth’s devotion that the family line of Jesus continued down the generations, and that the long-awaited Messiah was born. Only by following Naomi and Ruth in the spiritual context I have laid out so far can you understand the strange behavior of Ruth, a widow, who washes, anoints herself to make herself ready, and goes in under Boaz’s covers to lie down.

God too gave the precious blood of Jesus in order to give eternal rest to us sinners. As the people of the world see it, could they understand a message saying that only by being washed in the blood of that man, rejected by the world and dead on a cross, can a person be saved?

They killed him themselves, and they made him carry a cross as proof that he was the worst of criminals. No explanation would ever make them understand the claim that only by being washed in that prisoner’s blood can one gain eternal life. Yet ironically, because this alone is the true way and the way of life, believers have received the Lord by faith and are enjoying eternal rest. Whether the world believes it or not, it is actually happening.

Naomi is a woman of spiritual power. She knew that only Boaz could redeem the inheritance she had lost, and Ruth obeyed because she knew her mother-in-law’s faith. The rest Naomi wanted to give Ruth was not the comfort of the world but the peace one truly enjoys after fulfilling the duty of carrying on a broken line.

The rest God wants to give believers is not worldly comfort but eternal life, received and enjoyed after fulfilling the duty of bearing the fruit of Christ. What God wanted to give was not worldly comfort and plenty, but eternal peace, as those who had lost their lives gain new life through Christ.

Ruth knew that Boaz was the man who had been prepared. She also had Naomi’s earnest urging, but she knew that without her own devotion this would not come about. That day she made everything ready, went to Boaz’s threshing floor, and hid where no one would see her until the feast was over. How many thoughts must have gone through Ruth’s mind before she went in under Boaz’s covers? But she knew which choice was right, so when Boaz lay down, she lay down at his feet. Looking at the situation, Ruth must have made a hard decision, but Boaz too must have been badly startled when a strange woman suddenly slipped under his covers. When Boaz asked who she was, Ruth begged him to spread the corner of his garment over his servant and become the near kinsman who would redeem their inheritance.

Here I tried to put myself in Ruth’s place. For however well she understood her mother-in-law’s intent, if she was a worthy woman, I can understand how hard it must have been to do such a thing. For a worthy woman to get under the covers of a man she does not know, in order to carry on her husband’s inheritance, takes very great courage. It would also be a painful act, one she could not have done without laying herself aside entirely. If Boaz refused her, she could be stoned in front of many people, and she may have wept a great deal, torn and afraid of that. But this alone was the way to do her duty, the only way to recover the family’s inheritance, so she obeyed, feeling as though she were going to her death.

When I counsel believers, I often see this heart of Ruth’s in them. I see some who cannot fully give up the world and are torn between God and the world, and I see others in a precarious place, who say they have taken hold of God while their feet are still in the world. They know they must live according to God’s will, but in fear and trembling they cannot find the courage, and they are torn.

But when I see Ruth now living boldly according to God’s will, I suppose she too came through many hard and painful crises by faith. Believers too, as they come through one crisis after another by faith, may come to live the spiritual life with ease, as Ruth did. Ruth obeyed blindly the words of the mother who had made her one of God’s people, and that obedience became the blessing of becoming an ancestor of Jesus.

If showing God your faith is the way of blessing, then I want you, too, to show God an obedience to his will so blind it seems foolish. You may not be able to understand God’s will right now, and it may seem that you cannot see the path, as in a forest. But just as you see the path only by pushing through the undergrowth, you will soon come to know God’s will. To keep from straying from the path taught by the God who loves you and by those who have gone ahead of you in the spirit, you need blind obedience.

Ruth 3:10

10He said, “You are blessed by Yahweh, my daughter. You have shown more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, because you didn’t follow young men, whether poor or rich.

Boaz knew that, though he was old, Ruth had chosen him not because she needed a husband, as people of the world do, but because she was striving to recover God’s inheritance. So rather than seeing Ruth as a woman, he recognized God’s work and acknowledged her as one of God’s people, striving to live by faith.

Now Ruth, recognized as a worthy woman, will be protected under Boaz’s wings. And Naomi will pray to the very end, until all of this is accomplished. In the same way, the Holy Spirit works for us without rest and prays that believers may stand beautifully as the bride of Jesus at the last day. On the day when believers enjoy rest under Christ’s wings through the work of the Holy Spirit, God will receive great glory through Christ.

Revelation 19:7-8

7Let us rejoice and be exceedingly glad, and let us give the glory to him. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready.” 8It was given to her that she would array herself in bright, pure, fine linen: for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

The pure fine linen worn by believers, who become the bride of the Lamb, is the righteous acts they have shown by faith in the world. The righteous acts God approves are not human morality but a life lived for the truth, as Ruth lived.

The righteous acts of believers bear fruit. When believers live to accomplish God’s good will by the word of truth, the fruit of reward forms naturally. And if they know that they are sinners and live a life of dying together with Jesus on his cross in order to cast off the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, they will be able through that to reveal God’s glory.

1 John 1:9

9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9 means that we must repent of sin and keep away from it. Do not be like foolish people who sin and then repent. Instead, I hope you will train yourselves to think first in the Lord and to put good judgment into action, so that you always live a holy life.

Ruth 3:18

18Then she said, “Wait, my daughter, until you know what will happen; for the man will not rest until he has settled this today.”

Look at verse 18. Naomi told Ruth that she had now done everything she had to do and that they should wait, saying that Boaz would surely not rest until he had settled this. Interestingly, Boaz was eagerly looking for a way to help Ruth recover the inheritance, even though he had nothing to gain from it. This is the blessing of God. Because God is blessing Ruth, Boaz is looking for a way to help her without even realizing it.

Once Ruth laid aside human righteousness, the matter of the family line and of recovering the inheritance was no longer her problem; it became the problem of Boaz, who had the power to deal with it. From now on her mother-in-law will pray as if her life depended on it, and Boaz will do his very best to solve her problem.

This is the blessing you who believe have received from God, the secret the world does not know. If you stay under Christ’s wings as God’s word says, none of the problems you meet in the world are your problems. For the Holy Spirit works directly and without rest so that you, who are enjoying peace under Christ’s wings, can enjoy even more rest. Now all Ruth has to do is enjoy the grace of Boaz recovering her inheritance and carrying on her line.

The name ‘Boaz’ is the same as the name of one of the two pillars Solomon set up at the temple. That is, it means ‘in him is power.’ So this means that although Ruth did the good deed of showing whole faith, the power to make that faith into faith lay with Boaz. In the same way, the faith believers have becomes whole faith only when the Lord’s power is with them.

I hope you, too, will realize that the ability and faith you have now come from the grace of God, the sacrifice of Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit, and that you will live a humble life of faith. Just as Ruth received amazing blessing when she obeyed the Word, when you live a life of obeying the Word with all your might, God will lead you on the way of blessing, where he has prepared everything. I hope that you, too, like Ruth, will live by faith for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and give a beautiful testimony.