(Audio and Text Available)
Title: A Great Twist
Intro:
Books/Shows/Movies/Stories with Great Twists, lets get some examples
(The Usual Suspects, The Sixth Sense, Empire Strikes Back)
“Do not let it be known…”
Boaz is making this command to his servants…why?
- To protect her honor
- v.11 “Do not fear” from last week’s message)
- To keep his servants from idle gossip
- Exodus 23:1 “Do not spread false reports. Do not help a guilty person by being a malicious witness.”
- James 4:11 “Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it.”
“Bring the shawl…”
Boaz then measures out six ephahs of barely and “laid it on her.”
Anyone (without looking at cheater notes) know how much six ephahs is?
30 gallons.
Now, to me, this makes this scene quite funny. She is literally dragging 30 gallons of barley with her back into the city and Naomi says, “Is that you, my daughter?”
Does anyone here this morning have a different translation for the question that Naomi asks her in verse 16?
Naomi’s Question:
J.I. Packer: “The same Hebrew words are translated “Who are you?” in v.9 Here the question seems to mean “How did it go with you?”
Can you imagine Ruth’s response? (Show picture)
It went GREAT! Thanks for asking!
The Point of the Matter/The Great Twist
Now, I’m going to ask you to put your thinking caps on for a moment. Most of the people in this room have been with us as we’ve been working through Ruth for the last seven months.
Look very closely at Ruth’s explanation for WHY she came back with so much Barley.
“Do not go empty-handed to your mother-in-law.”
We might be tempted to just say, “Oh that Boaz! Once again, he is being so very generous to Ruth and Naomi. He is such a high man of character. I’m pretty sure he really likes Ruth and hopes he can eventually be the one to marry and redeem her.”
And none of that would be wrong…but it would miss the incredibly clever thing that our sovereign God is doing here.
Hints:
- It involves Naomi more than Ruth
- It has to do with Naomi’s requested name change back in chapter one…anyone got it?
Ruth 1:20-21
But she said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?”
“I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty…”
(Show picture again)
I can imagine Ruth saying to Naomi: My dearest mother in law…we are many things this day, but we are not empty.
(Story of girl who lost her mother while at Kamp… “My heart is broken…but God is big.”
Naomi is not Mara…she is Naomi. Because God is big. Let us never forget that.
Pray/QA