Piper's Notes

July 15, 1984

Bethlehem Baptist Church

John Piper, Pastor

RUTH: STRATEGIC RIGHTEOUSNESS

(Chapter 3)

Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, "My daughter, should I not seek a

home for you, that it may be well with you? 2 Now is not Boaz our kinsman, with

whose maidens you were? See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing

floor. 3 Wash therefore and anoint yourself, and put on your best clothes and go

down to the threshing floor; but do not make yourself known to the man until he

has finished eating and drinking. 4 But when he lies down, observe the place

where he lies; then, go and uncover his feet and lie down; and he will tell you

what to do." 5 And she replied, "All that you say I will do."

6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did just as her mother-in-law had

told her. 7 And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he

went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. Then she came softly, and

uncovered his feet, and lay down. 8 At midnight the man was startled, and

turned over, and behold, a woman lay at his feet! 9 He said, "Who are you?"

And she answered, "I am Ruth, your maidservant; spread your skirt over your

maidservant, for you are next of kin." 10 And he said, "May you be blessed by

the LORD, my daughter; you have made this last kindness greater than the

first, in that you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich.

11 And now, my daughter, do not fear, I will do for you all that you ask, for all

my fellow townsmen know that you are a woman of worth. 12 And now it is true

that I am a near kinsman, yet there is a kinsman nearer than I. 13 Remain this

night, and in the morning, if he will do the part of the next of kin for you, well; let

him do it; but if he is not willing to do the part of the next of kin for you, then, as

the LORD lives, I will do the part of the next of kin for you. Lie down until the

morning."

14 So she lay at his feet until the morning, but arose before one could

recognize another; and he said, "Let it not be known that the woman came to

the threshing floor." 15 And he said, "Bring the mantle you are wearing and hold

it out." So she held it, and he measured out six measures of barley, and laid it

upon her; then she went into the city. 16 And when she came to her mother-in-

law, she said, "How did you fare, my daughter?" Then she told her all that the

man had done for her, 17 saying, "These six measures of barley he gave to me,

for he said, 'You must not go back empty-handed to your mother-in-law.'" 18

She replied, "Wait, my daughter, until you learn how the matter turns out, for the

man will not rest, but will settle the matter today."

Chapter one hit us with the bitter providence of God in the life of Naomi as she left

her land, and lost her husband, her sons, and one of her daughters-in-law. But there

was sweet providence as well. The famine broke in Judah and Naomi could go

home. Ruth committed herself to care for Naomi. And all the while a kinsman

named Boaz was preserved as a husband for Ruth to raise up an heir for the family

name and property. But the chapter ends with Naomi overwhelmed with her losses:

"The Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me."

In chapter two the mercy of God breaks through bright enough for even Naomi to see

it. We meet Boaz, a man of wealth, a man of God, and a relative of Naomi's

husband. We see Ruth taking refuge under the wings of God in a foreign land and

being led mercifully by God to the field of Boaz to glean. And we see Naomi recover

from her long night of despondency as she exults in God (2:20): "The Lord's

kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!" Chapter two overflows with hope.

Boaz is a God-saturated man in his business and personal relations (vv. 4, 10-13).

Ruth is a God-dependent woman under the wings of God. Naomi is now a God-

exalting woman under the sovereignty of God. All the darkness of chapter one is

gone. God has turned her mourning into dancing. "The Almighty has dealt bitterly

with me" (1:20) has given way to "His kindness has not forsaken the living or the

dead" (2:20). The lesson of chapters one and two is surely at least this:

You fearful saints fresh courage take:

The clouds you so much dread

Are big with mercy and will break

In blessings on your head.

Seek refuge under the wings of God even when they seem to be all shadows, and at

just the right time God will let you look out from his Eagle's nest onto some

spectacular ravine.

Now for chapter three.

The phrase I want you to keep in your mind as we ponder chapter three is "strategic

righteousness."

The question which chapter three answers is, What does a God-saturated man, a

God-dependent young woman and a God-exalting older woman do when they are

filled with hope in the sovereign goodness of God? And the answer is that they

manifest a "strategic righteousness." By righteousness I mean a zeal for doing what

is good and right -- a zeal for doing what is appropriate when God is taken into

account as sovereign and merciful. By strategic I mean that there is intention,

purposefulness, planning. There is a passive righteousness which simply avoids evil

when it presents itself. But strategic righteousness takes the initiative and dreams

of how to make things right.

One of the lessons I learn from Ruth chapter three is that hope helps us

dream.

Hope helps us think up ways to do good. Hope helps us pursue our ventures with

virtue and integrity. It's hopelessness that makes people think they have to lie and

steal and seize illicit pleasures for the moment. But hope, based on the confidence

that a sovereign God is for us, gives us a thrilling impulse which I call strategic

righteousness. We see it in Naomi in 3:1-5, in Ruth in 3:6-9, and in Boaz in 3:10-15.

And the chapter closes again with Naomi full of confidence in the power and

goodness of God.

Two things stand out in Naomi's strategy in verses 1-5.

One is that she has a strategy;

and the other is what that strategy is.

The sheer fact that Naomi has a strategy teaches us something. People who feel

like victims don't make plans. As long as Naomi was oppressed; as long as she

could only say, "The Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me," she conceived no

strategy for the future. One of the terrible effects of depression is the inability to

move purposefully and hopefully into the future. Strategies of righteousness are the

overflow of hope. When Naomi awakens in 2:20 to the kindness of God, her hope

comes alive and the overflow is strategic righteousness. She is concerned about

finding Ruth a place of care and security, and she makes a plan. One of the reasons

we must help each other "hope in God" (Ps. 42:5) is that only hopeful churches plan

and strategize. Churches that feel no hope develop a maintenance mentality and

just go through the motions year in and year out. But when a church feels the

sovereign kindness of God hovering overhead and moving, hope starts to thrive and

righteousness ceases to be simply the avoidance of evil and becomes active and

strategic.

Naomi took the initiative to find a husband for Ruth. But the strategy she comes up

with is odd, to say the least. She says in verse 2 that Boaz is a kinsman. Therefore

he is the likely candidate for being Ruth's husband. That way the family name and

family inheritance will stay in the family, according to Hebrew custom. So Naomi's

aim is clear: to win for Ruth a godly husband and a secure future, and preserve the

family line. So she tells Ruth to make herself as clean and attractive as possible, go

to the threshing floor of Boaz, and after he has lain down for the evening, sneak in,

lift up his cloak and lie down at his feet. Everybody, including Ruth, must respond

by thinking, "And just where do you suppose that will lead?" To which Naomi gives

the extraordinary answer in verse 4, "He will tell you what to do."

One thing is clear here and one thing is not. It's clear that this is Naomi's way of

trying to get Boaz to marry Ruth. It is not clear why she should go about it like this.

Why not a conversation with Boaz instead of this highly suggestive and risky

midnight maneuver? Was Naomi indifferent to the possibility that Boaz might drive

Ruth away in moral indignation, or that he might give in to the temptation to have

sexual relations with her? Did Naomi want that to happen? Or was Naomi so sure of

Boaz and Ruth that she knew they would treat each other with perfect purity -- that

Boaz would be deeply moved by this outright offer of Ruth in marriage and would

avoid sexual relations until all was duly solemnized by the city elders? The author

doesn't come right out and tell us why Naomi chose this sexually tempting strategy

to win Boaz for Ruth. There will be a clue later, but for now the writer seems to want

us to feel suspense and ambiguity. Just where did Ruth lie down? The Hebrew is

just as ambiguous as the English. What would Boaz tell her to do? Whatever

Naomi's motive was, the situation is one that could lead us into a passionate and

illicit scene of sexual intercourse or into a stunning scene of purity, integrity and

self-control.

Next we see Ruth's strategic righteousness in verses 6-9.

In verse 5 she had said that she would follow all of Naomi's instructions. But Ruth

does more. Naomi had said that Boaz would tell Ruth what to do. But before that

happens, Ruth tells Boaz why she has come. She is lying at his feet under his

cloak. He awakes and says, "Who are you?" She answers with words unprompted

by Naomi, "I am Ruth, your maidservant; spread your skirt over your maidservant, for

you are next of kin." Ruth is not merely Naomi's pawn. She has gone willingly and

now she takes the initiative to make clear to Boaz why she is there. "You are next

of kin." Or literally, "You are the redeemer: the one who can redeem our inheritance

and our family name from being lost. I want you to fill that role for me. I want to be

your wife." She doesn't say it outright. In fact, she is less direct and more enticing.

She says, "Spread your skirt over me." Now whether Boaz takes this to be an offer

of outright sexual relations or something more subtle and profound will depend on

his estimate of Ruth's character. Fornication was wrong in the Old Testament (Lev.

19:29; Deut. 21:13-21) just as in the New Testament (Mt. 15:19).

There are two things, besides Ruth's character, which suggest something subtle

and profound is in fact going on here.

One is this: the only other place I could find in the Old Testament where the phrase

"spreading the skirt" occurs in relation to lovers is found in Ezekiel 16:8. God is

talking and he is describing Israel as a young maiden that he took for his wife.

"When I passed by you again and looked upon you, behold, you were at the age

for love; and I spread my skirt over you, and covered your nakedness; yea, I

plighted my troth to you and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord, and

you became mine."

If this is any indication of what Ruth wanted from Boaz the request went far beyond

sexual relations. She was saying in effect, "I would like to be the one to whom you

pledge your faithfulness and with whom you make a marriage covenant."

But I think there is more to it than that; and this is the second indication of subtlety

and depth here.

When Ruth said, "spread your skirt over me," the word for skirt is the Hebrew word

for wing (also in Ezek. 16:8). This word is used only one other place in Ruth --

namely, in the key verse from last week, 2:12, where Boaz says to Ruth, "The Lord

recompense you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord,

the God of Israel, under those wings you have come to take refuge." But what we

saw last week was that Boaz was God's agent to reward Ruth. He gave her free

access to his field, and protection from the young men and water from the well. Ruth

had said to Boaz, "Why have I found favor in your eyes?" And Boaz answered,

"Because you have come to take refuge under the wings of God."

So here's what I think is going on in chapter three.

Ruth has told Naomi about these words of Boaz. And the more they ponder them

the more they become convinced that they are laden with subtle loving intentions.

What Boaz really means is, "Because you take refuge under the wings of God you

are the kind of woman I want to cover with my wings." It is not easy for an older man

to express love to a younger woman. Boaz did it with deeds of kindness and subtle

words of admiration. He said he admired her for coming under God's wings. He

acted as though she were under his and he waited. And in the course of time Naomi

and Ruth hit upon a response just as subtle, just as profound. Ruth will come to him

in his sleep, in the grain field where he has taken her under his care, and she will

say yes. But she will say it with an action just as subtle and profound as the action

and words of Boaz. She puts herself under his wing, so to speak, and when he

wakes everything hangs on one sentence and whether Ruth has interpreted Boaz

correctly.

Imagine how fast her pulse was racing when Boaz awoke. Then the all important

words: "I am Ruth … spread your wing over your maidservant." There had to have

been an immense silence for a moment while Boaz let himself believe that this

magnificent woman had really understood -- had so profoundly and sensitively

understood. A middle-aged man in love with a young widow whom he discretely

calls "my daughter," uncertain whether her heart might be going after the younger

men, communicating the best he can that he wants to be God's wings for her. And a

young widow gradually reading between the lines and finally ready to risk an

interpretation by coming in the middle of the night to take refuge under the wing of

his garment. That's powerful stuff!! Anybody who thinks that a loose woman and a

finagling mother-in-law are at work her are on another planet. All is subtle. All is

righteous. All is strategic.

Now comes the strategic righteousness of Boaz in verses 10-15. To hear what he

says in the right way you have to remember it is midnight, they are under the stars

and he is looking down into the face of the woman he loves covered with his own

cloak.

May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter; you have made this last kindness

greater than the first, in that you have not gone after young men, whether poor or

rich. And now, my daughter, do not fear, for I will do for you all that you ask; for all

my fellow townsmen know that you are a woman of worth.

And then comes a word of magnificent righteousness and self-control. He says,

"According to custom, Ruth, there is another who has prior claim to you and I

won't be able to proceed until all things are duly settled with him."

The stars are beautiful overhead, it is midnight, he loves her, she loves him, they are

alone, she is under his cloak … and he stops it for the sake of righteousness, and

does not touch her. What a man! What a woman!

Listen, the mood of American life today is, if it feels good, do it, and to hell with your

guilt-producing, puritanical principles of chastity and faithfulness. But I say to you, if

the stars are shining in their beauty and your blood is thudding like a hammer and

you are safe in the privacy of your place, stop … for the sake of righteousness. Let

the morning dawn on your purity. Don't be like the world. Be like Boaz. Be like Ruth.

Profoundly in love. Subtle and perceptive in communication. Powerful in self-control.

Committed to righteousness.

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