Latest / Scripture Central / Reading Your Life Backwards | Ruth; 1 Samuel 1-7 | Come Follow Me 2026 | John Hilton III | June 1-7

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Reading Your Life Backwards | Ruth; 1 Samuel 1-7 | Come Follow Me 2026 | John Hilton III | June 1-7 · Scripture Central

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God is on the move in mysterious ways, and what often seems like
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chance is God's divine design in our lives.
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When it feels like there's a set back in your life, it could be
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that He's preparing you for the future.
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So if your life is dark now, hold on, your story is not yet
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finished. Do we trust in God, or do we
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just do what is right in our own eyes?
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He writes better endings than we ever could.
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Today we're going to look at the beginning of First Samuel and
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the book of Ruth. So if you think about the big
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picture of where we are in the Old Testament, these chapters
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are going to take us from the time period of the judges to
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just before Saul is to be called as the first king of the United
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Israel. Now a couple of little details.
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What we have today as First and Second Samuel was originally one
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book known as Samuel, but for convenience and scroll length,
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they divided it into two books. Another thing to consider is
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that the books of Samuel and Ruth, as well as other books
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like Kings and Chronicles, they're written by anonymous
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authors. Often we read the Book of Mormon
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and we're familiar with Nephi or Mormon interjecting as the
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narrator, talking about what they're doing.
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But in Ruth and Samuel we see anonymous narrator, so they're
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not talking to us directly. Chronologically speaking, the
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book of Ruth appears before the book of First Samuel.
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But if it's OK with you, we're going to start with the chapters
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in First Samuel and then we'll end today in the book of Ruth.
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So First Samuel comes during the time period of the judges.
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And there's a woman who's weeping.
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Her name is Hannah, and she's weeping because she can't have
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children. We read her husband Elkanah
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would say to her, Hannah, why are you weeping?
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Why don't you eat? Why are you downhearted?
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Don't I mean more to you than ten sons?
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I love Elkanah's perspective. I'm a husband.
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I'm like, yeah, don't you think I'm great?
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I'm a you got a husband. This is amazing, but
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unfortunately Elkanah was not as good to Hannah as all these
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sons. She wanted a child.
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Now some people in Hannah's position would say God's not
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answering my prayers so I'm just going to stop praying.
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Not Hannah. She doesn't give up on God.
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Instead of turning away from him, she continues to trust in
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Him. She went to the Tabernacle to
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offer a special prayer and the priest Eli was there.
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We read in her deep anguish and a pray to the Lord, weeping
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bitterly. And she made a vow saying, Lord
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Almighty, if you will only look on your servants misery and
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Remember Me and not forget your servant, but give her a son,
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then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life,
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and no razor will ever be used on his head.
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Eli the priest saw Hannah's mouth moving but he didn't hear
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her words so he thought that she was drunk.
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He said how long are you going to stay drunk, Put away your
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wine. And Hannah protested not so I
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have not been drinking wine. I was pouring out my soul to the
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Lord. I'm sure Eli was embarrassed
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because he falsely accused Hannah and he then said go in
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peace and made the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of
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him. Shortly thereafter, Hannah gave
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birth to a baby boy and out of this birth comes one of the most
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beautiful prayers in all of Scripture.
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In fact, Hannah offers a prayer so powerful that 1000 years
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later Mary, the mother of Jesus, will echo it in the Magnificat.
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Consider some of the similarities in these two
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prayers of women who experienced miraculous births.
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Both women rejoice in God. Hannah says my heart rejoices in
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the Lord. Mary says my spirit rejoices in
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God. Both Hannah and Mary proclaim
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God's reversals. Hannah says the Lord humbles and
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exalts. He raises the poor from the dust
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and seats them with Princess. Mary says the Lord has brought
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down rulers, but lifted up the humble.
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He is filled the hungry with good things.
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They both declare God's holiness.
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Hannah says there is no one holy like the Lord, and Mary says the
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Mighty One has done great things.
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For me, Holy is His name. And I love how both Hannah and
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Mary praise God before the full story of their sons is even
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known. It's a reminder for us that we
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can praise God even if we can't yet see the ending.
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Now there are lots of similarities between these two
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prayers. The parallels are so clear that
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we can even see Hannah as a forerunner to Mary.
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And you might want to take some time to carefully study First
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Samuel chapter 2 and Luke 1 and look at these two powerful
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prayers from Hannah and Mary. And the parallels don't stop
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with them as mothers. They also go to the sons.
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Consider Samuel and Jesus. We read.
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Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the
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Lord and with the people. This reminds us of Luke chapter
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2, verse 52. Jesus increased in wisdom and
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stature and favor with God and man.
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Samuel would go on to anoint Israel's first kings, and Jesus
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would go on to be the true anointed one, the very king of
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kings. Well, Hannah was true to her
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word. If you remember, she had
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promised that if she was blessed with a son, she would devote him
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to the Lord. So after Samuel was weaned,
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Hannah brought him to Eli and he began to live there with the
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priest. It's tender to see how much
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Hannah loved Samuel. She would come visit every year
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and make him close. Eli prayed that Hannah would
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have more children. And we read the Lord was
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gracious to Hannah. She gave birth to three sons and
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two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew
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up in the presence of the Lord. As I read Hannah's story,
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there's one line that especially stands out to me.
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Hannah says for this child I prayed.
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And we've seen this pattern in Scripture.
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Abraham and Sarah prayed for a child.
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Rebecca and Isaac prayed for children.
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It was the same way for Rachel. Do you remember at one point she
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cried out to Jacob saying, give me children or I'll die.
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In the ancient world, having children was one of the deepest
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desires of the human heart. But in the modern world, it
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seems like things are a little different.
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As you know, in more than half the countries of the world, the
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birth rate is less than the replacement rate.
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The brutal reality is that today many people don't want children.
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When I was younger, I often heard people talk about the
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importance of getting married and having children.
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I haven't done any statistical analysis of this, but it seems
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to me like we'd hear about it less today than we did 20 or 30
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years ago. I'm not sure all the reasons for
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that. Maybe we don't want to put
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pressure on young couples, or we're worried about hurting the
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feelings of those who long for children but aren't able to have
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them. At the same time, I love what a
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Catholic scholar recently taught as a visiting guest at Brigham
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Young University. She said we must announce and
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give witness to the central biblical tenet that the child is
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most desirable, the child is most lovable, and that the child
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bears the image and likeness of the most High God.
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President Oaks has also taught this truth.
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He said it is vital that Latter Day Saints do not lose their
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understanding of the purpose of marriage and the value of
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children. That is the future for which we
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strive. Now, I admit there's lots of
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young couples who worry about having children.
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They wonder if they can afford to have children.
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President Nelson knows what that feels like.
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He said seven of our ten children arrived before we could
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really afford them. It's inspirational to see how
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President Nelson move forward with faith and trusted that the
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Lord would provide. And so when we see Hannah
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pouring out her heart to God pleading for a child, it reminds
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us of how God sees children. As one author wrote, motherhood
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is not a hobby, it is a calling. You do not collect children
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because you find them cuter than stamps.
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It's not something you do if you can squeeze the time in.
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It's what God gave you time for. So consider these two questions.
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First, how is our culture's view of children and family shaped
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the way we think about having children?
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And 2nd, whether or not you're a parent, what are some ways you
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can receive children, either your own or others, as gifts
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from God rather than interruptions?
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My daughter has three kids and whenever they need something,
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she is just right there for them.
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Even if I'm talking to her on the phone, she will take care of
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them, you know, and have me wait, which I really appreciate.
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And the kids totally respect her, and she respects them as
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people, not as little kids, you know?
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Now that could not be easy for your daughter, So what do you
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think gives her the strength and the ability to do that?
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She knows of their worth, that they're children of God, and it
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is a calling to her, not a hobby.
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Thank you. I think as I look at my children
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having their children, it is a different environment that
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they're raising them in. And lots of times our society
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does not value the use of that time.
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And so I feel like it's partly my responsibility to at least
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acknowledge what they're doing and to help them feel like they
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are contributing to the Kingdom of God and to society just by
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raising their children. Hey man, I think it's so
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important for all of us to affirm the incredible value of
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being a mother or a father. O as we're talking about this
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important topic, I know some of you might be thinking to
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yourself. I really wish I could dig deeper
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into this. Wish granted.
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I've linked to lots of great resources on the course website
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and I recommend studying them further.
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For Hannah, her treasure child Samuel, would eventually grow up
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to become the spiritual leader of all of Israel.
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But before that happens, I want to look at a story that takes
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place sometime in the childhood or teenage years of Samuel.
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This story takes place before Samuel is the spiritual leader
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of Israel. At one point in time, Israel
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went out to fight the Philistines and they were
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defeated in the battle. The Israelites then had the idea
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to bring the Ark of the Covenant into battle, battle with them.
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Unfortunately, the priests weren't righteous.
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This was more of like a, hey, the ark's a good luck charm.
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So let's see what happens when we bring it into battle.
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So God didn't honor them. The Israelites again lost to the
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Philistines in battle. And this time the Philistines
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were able to capture the Ark of the Covenant.
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So they think they've got this awesome trophy.
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They take it back to one of their principal cities and put
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it into the temple of their God, Dagon.
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We read when the people of Ashtod rose early the next day,
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there was Dagon fallen on his face on the ground before the
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Ark of the Lord. So can you picture it?
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Their idols gone. So he's kind of bowing down to
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the Ark of the Covenant. And the people in this temple of
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Dagon, they're like, oh, that's kind of weird when they set
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their idol back up. Well, the following morning when
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they rose, there was Dagan again, fallen with his face on
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the ground before the Ark of the Lord.
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His head and hands had been broken off and we're lying on
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the threshold. Only his body remained.
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It's a clear message about who the true God is.
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And the people of the city, they were beginning to be afflicted
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with boils and rats. So they think this ark is bad
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news. They send it to another city.
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That city starts to get infested.
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So they send it to 1/3 Philistine city and when it
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arrives at the third city, the people say they have brought the
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ark of the God of Israel around to us to kill us and our people.
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None of the Philistines wanted to host the ark, so they devised
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a plan. They weren't 100% sure.
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Is it the ark that's causing all these problems or is it just a
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coincidence? So they had two cows, female
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cows, who had just given birth. They had never driven a wagon
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before. So they hitch up these cows to a
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little wagon and they put the Ark of the Covenant in the wagon
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and they pin up the calves, the newborn calves of these mother
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cows. You would think that the cows
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would want to stay close to their babies, and that's what
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the experiment is all about. But sure enough, as soon as
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they're hitched up, the 2 cows start heading off straight
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towards the nearest town of Israel, showing the Philistines
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that the Ark of the Covenant really wanted to get back to the
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Israelites. It's a reminder to us that God
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is able to do his own work and fight his own battles.
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Now 20 years later there were still conflicts with the
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Philistines and by this time Samuel was the spiritual leader
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of the Israelites. He called all the Israelites
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together and he told them, if you are returning to the Lord
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with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods
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and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve Him only, and He
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will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.
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So the people confessed their sins and Samuel offered a
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sacrifice and prayed for the people.
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We read When the Philistines attacked, the Lord thundered
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with loud Thunder against the Philistines and threw them into
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such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites.
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And to remind the Israelites of this victory, Samuel set up a
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memorial stone. He named it Ebenezer, saying,
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thus far has the Lord helped us? Now I only know of two
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Ebenezers, Ebenezer Scrooge, which the story has nothing to
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do with. And the lines from the hymn,
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Come thou fount of every blessing.
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You probably remember it here. I raise my Ebenezer, hit her by
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thy help I'm come. The SIM is actually referring
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back to this experience in First Samuel.
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In Ebenezer is a reminder. In my home I have some objects
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on display that remind me of times when God has fought the
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battles for me, and they give me courage to move forward in
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difficult times. Think about your life.
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Do you have an Ebenezer? In some ways, this is similar to
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what we talked about in Deuteronomy, visual reminders of
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God's power in our lives. And Ebenezer might be a specific
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type of this visual reminder where it tells you about a story
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where God has fought your battles and gives you the
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strength to know he'll keep fighting for you in the future.
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We have 4 beautiful artistic paper cuttings of four temples.
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The four temple districts we have lived in through our
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marriage. A little over 56 years ago when
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we were married, we lived in Wisconsin, which at the time was
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in the Salt Lake City Temple district because there were no
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temples east of the Rocky Mountains.
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So we made the two day travel to come to Salt Lake and be married
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and sealed in the temple. Then four years later we were
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blessed to have the Washington DC temple dedicated and we were
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only 17 1/2 hours away from it. We were thrilled and several
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years later the Chicago Temple was built and dedicated and we
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were only two hours away. And now here we live 5 minutes
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away from the Mount Timpanogos Temple.
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So we have been blessed. And as we walk through our
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house, we see the various temples in the various rooms and
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that is our Ebenezer. It's.
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Beautiful. Thank you.
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The Ebenezer that I have in my home is by every door and every
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entry. I have a little heart that hangs
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by the door. To me.
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It reminds me to have a light heart and to understand the
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heart of my Savior. I've had trials in my life that
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have caused me to have a heavy heart, but I see those hearts
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every time I come and go, and there's just a joy.
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I've placed a joy in that Ebenezer for me.
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Thank you. Now there's lots more with
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Samuel's story, and we're going to pick it up in our next class.
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But for now, let's go back to the book of Ruth.
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A generation or two before the story of Hannah.
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We see the story of Ruth and the book of Ruth begins with this
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line. Now it came to pass in the days
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when the judges ruled. So chronologically speaking,
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Ruth is taking place sometime in the book of Judges.
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And as you remember, in the book of Judges, we see the repeated
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refrain that all the people did what was right in their own
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eyes. It's the saddest verse in the
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Bible. So Ruth opens up in a time of
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chaos when people just do whatever they want.
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But the Book of Ruth is going to show us that even in times of
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great wickedness, good things can happen.
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And God is still on the move. I recently came across a six
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part sermon series on the Book of Ruth taught by Pastor Craig
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Greschel. It's filled with great insights
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and I've linked to it on the course website if you want to
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dig a lot deeper. And I'll be drawing heavily on
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this series in our discussion today.
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So the Book of Ruth begins like this.
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In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the
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land. So a man from Bethlehem and
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Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a
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while in the country of Moab. The man's name was Alamalek, his
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wife's name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Malan
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and Killian. So let's look for a moment at
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the names of the members of this family and their meaning.
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Alamalek means My God is king. What a great name.
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The name Naomi means sweet or pleasant.
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Now the boys names are not so nice.
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Malon means sickly and Killian means frail or we might say
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tired. So the boys names are sick and
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tired. You thought you had a bad name
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right now, Elimelech, whose name means my God is king.
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He's worried about a famine in the land, so he decides to move
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his family from Bethlehem to Moab.
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To get from Bethlehem to Moab, you go north around the Dead
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Sea, cross the Jordan River. It's about a 50 mile journey,
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takes a few days. Physically speaking, it's not
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that dangerous. But spiritually speaking, this
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might not be the smartest journey to take.
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You might remember that God had warned the Israelites not to
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mingle with the Moabites. These were the people who had
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hired Balaam to prophecy against the Israelites.
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It was the Moabites who had tempted the Israelites to start
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worshipping idols. So moving to Brab wasn't just a
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choice about geography. It has spiritual implications.
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As Craig Gresham phrases it, Alimalex name means my God is
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king. Yet he wasn't living like God
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was his king. Instead, he was doing what was
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right in his own eyes. I'm sure he had good reasons.
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I'm sure he was thinking something like, you know,
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there's a famine here in Bethlehem.
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If we go to Moab, the economy will be better.
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I can find work. But sometimes we have to stop
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and ask ourselves, when push comes to shove, do we trust in
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God or do we just do what is right in our own eyes?
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I want you to try a little experiment with me.
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I want you to take this sentence and see if you can construct
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your own sentence that follows this pattern.
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My God is king, so I want to blank, but blank.
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Do I trust God or do I move to Moab?
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Let me give you some examples. A person might say my God is my
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king, so I'm going to live with integrity.
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But then tax season hits. Do I trust God or do I move to
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Moab? Or you say my God is my king so
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I'll guard my eyes and my thoughts.
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You swear off certain late night habits but then you start to get
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lonely or stressed. Do you trust God or do you move
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to Moab? A person says my God is my king
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so I want to honor him in my relationships.
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I will only marry within the covenant but then someone really
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cute comes along but they can't take you to the temple.
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Do you trust God or do you move to Moab?
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Think about it, if God is the king of your life, why would you
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choose to build your future and raise your kids with someone who
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doesn't see him as king? So you try it.
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My God is my king, so I want to blank but blank.
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Do I trust God or do I move to Moab?
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My God is my king so I want to pay my tight things forever but
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my husband is now with our job and we are having a hard
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situation to make the payments of the of my house.
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Do I trust God or move to Moab? Beautiful.
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My God is king, so I want to please him, but life comes in
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the middle. Do I trust God or move to move?
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Thank you. My God is king so I want to
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attend the temple more regularly, but my golf game is
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suffering and I think I better do that more often than going to
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the temple. So do I trust God or move to
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Moab? Thank you.
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My God is Kane so I want to sacrifice everything I need to
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for my kids but I'm so tired and I don't know what to do and I
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feel powerless. Do I trust God or move to Moab?
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And that last one's a great example because sometimes it's
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complicated, right? Sometimes you, you need to care
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for yourself. You can sometimes the the
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righteous thing trusting God could be to trust God to say,
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someone else is going to watch my kids for a little while.
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I'm going to call the ministering sisters and I'm
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going to take a nap. And sometimes we have to gird up
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our loins and just do the hard thing.
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I think we all have our own Moab.
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It's the tempting place we want to run to when life gets hard.
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But each of us ultimately just has to ask ourselves, is God
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really my king? Or will I just do whatever seems
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right in my own eyes? So what happens to Alameluk's
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family? They moved to Moab and we read
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now Alameluk Naomi's husband died and she was left with her
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two sons. They married Moabite women, one
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named Orpa and the other Ruth, after they had lived there about
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10 years. Both Malan and Killian also
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died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.
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So the place where they went to survive became the place where
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Naomi lost her husband and both her sons.
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So now it's just Naomi and her two daughters in law.
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And she knows that there's no real future for her in Moab, so
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she decides to return to Bethlehem.
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It's not going to be easy for her daughters in law to be
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foreigners in Bethlehem. So she says, just leave me, go
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back. You guys can find new husbands,
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have a great life here in Moab. Just start over.
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That's what Orpa does. But Ruth stays with Naomi.
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It's probably the most famous passage in the book of Ruth.
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Ruth says, don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from
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you. Where you go, I will go.
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Where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people.
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And your God, my God, Where you die, I will die.
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And there I will be buried. So Ruth and Naomi, they turned
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their back on Moab and they start going to Bethlehem.
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In a way, it's a picture of repentance.
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Repentance is turning your back on Moab and turning towards
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Bethlehem. And what we're going to see in
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the story of Ruth and Naomi is this one decision, one choice
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you make on one day to turn away from Moab can change the entire
22:17
world. It's leaving the wrong place so
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you can go to the right one, we read.
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So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem.
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When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred
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because of them, and the women exclaimed, Can this be Naomi?
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Remember, Naomi's been gone for 10 years and you remember.
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What does Naomi's name mean? It's sweet, but she turns it
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around. She says, don't call me Naomi,
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don't call me sweet, call me Mara, which means bitter because
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the Almighty has made my life very bitter.
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I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty.
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Can you feel what Naomi's feeling right now?
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Maybe some of us have felt that bitterness in our own lives.
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Maybe some of us have felt, call me Mara, my life is bitter.
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This is where Naomi is in Chapter 1.
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Now turn the page. It's chapter 2.
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Ruth and Naomi need food, and it's the beginning of the barley
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harvest season. And so Ruth the Moabite said to
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Naomi, let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain
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behind. Anyone in whose eyes I find
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favor. You might remember that gleaning
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was a practice that God had commanded.
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So farmers are told to leave the extra food at the edges of their
23:29
fields so that the poor people can come and have a source of
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food. Ruth and Naomi, they are the
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poor people. So Naomi said to her, go ahead.
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My daughter Ruth went out and entered a field and began to
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glean behind the harvesters. We read.
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As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to
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Boaz, who was from the clan of Alemolac.
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Now, I hide that phrase, as it turned out, because in the book
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of Ruth you don't see dramatic miracles.
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There's no parting of the Red Sea.
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You don't see manna fall down from heaven, but the phrase, as
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it turned out, reminds us that God is on the move in mysterious
24:08
ways, and what often seems like chance is God's divine design in
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our lives. You might remember that we
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talked about this back in the book of Genesis with the story
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of Joseph in Egypt. As it turned out, Joseph was
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sold to an Egyptian official, which led to him being put in
24:25
prison, which led to him becoming second in command to
24:27
Pharaoh. As it turned out, baby Moses is
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on an arc, going down, floating down the river, and he just so
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happens to be found by Pharaoh's daughter.
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These are all examples of God's Providence, his arranging
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circumstances in the small details of our lives.
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We don't just see this in scriptures.
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Secular people have noticed this as well.
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For example, Steve Jobs said you can't connect the dots looking
24:51
forward, you can Only Connect them looking backwards.
24:54
So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in
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your future. You might remember many years
25:01
ago, President Dieter F Ukdorf told the story of how he was a
25:04
laundry delivery boy. He hated riding his bike up and
25:08
down hills. He could feel his lungs burning
25:10
as he had to deliver the laundry.
25:11
Later in life, he wanted to become a pilot, and when he
25:14
underwent some medical tests, doctors found that he had a lung
25:18
problem that could have prevented him from becoming a
25:21
pilot. But all that exercise he did as
25:23
a laundry boy had strengthened his lungs and healed the
25:27
disease. So, as it turned out, the very
25:30
job that President Uchtdorf disliked prepared him for the
25:33
future that God had planned. I want you to start thinking
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about your own life and your own stories of divine design.
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Back when we were talking about the story of Joseph, I shared a
25:43
little bit of my story of how I had felt this deep desire to
25:47
write a question and answer book for teenagers, but it kept
25:51
getting rejected by all the different LDS publishers.
25:54
My biggest hope was that it could be published with Deseret
25:57
Book. But at the time I was living in
25:59
a very small farm town in Eastern Oregon, far away from
26:03
Salt Lake City. I had no connections to the
26:05
people of Deseret Book, but as it turned out, my seminary
26:09
student in this small farm town went to college and as it turned
26:14
out, her roommates dad was the person responsible for acquiring
26:17
new manuscripts for Deseret Book.
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My student told her roommates dad about me and as it turned
26:22
out a few months later I was speaking Utah and he came to
26:25
hear me speak and he said, wow, I really like what you said, we
26:28
should publish something. And I said, well I've actually
26:30
sent you lots of things and you've rejected them all.
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No, just kidding. I actually didn't say that.
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I said you're right, we should publish something.
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That sounds great. And I was able to publish a few
26:39
things with Deseret Book, but not the question and answer book
26:41
that I had felt so strongly about.
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But then, as it turned out, in 2006, I was assigned to speak at
26:47
a session of EFY, the same one that Anthony Sweat was assigned
26:50
to speak at. We struck up a friendship and
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one thing led to another. And all of a sudden, I can see
26:54
God's Providence in my life as this question answer book series
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that I'd felt prompted about as a young person start to come to
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fruition. So how about you?
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How have you seen God's Providence, His divine design in
27:08
your life? When I was 20 years old and
27:12
about to enter my junior year at BYU, I'd had a boyfriend who was
27:17
from Norway and not a member of the church, and he wanted me to
27:21
move to Norway and travel around with him.
27:24
And I was kind of tempted, actually, to take my tuition
27:28
money, buy a plane ticket. I thought my parents would just
27:31
die, but I'll get a job, and I'll repay them, and they'll be
27:35
OK. But as it turned out, one day I
27:38
was walking on campus. I hadn't registered yet.
27:41
I hadn't moved into my apartment.
27:43
And I ran into this guy's friend who said, oh, did you hear what
27:48
happened to Dog? His name was Dog.
27:50
I said, no. He said, well, he got drafted
27:52
into the Norwegian Marines. For 18 months he's stationed at
27:56
a ski resort in northern Norway. And that was it.
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So I went and paid my money and went back to school and then my
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husband to be came home from his mission six months later.
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As it turned out, thank you. Well, scripture is just full of
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these, as it turned out, moments and our lives are as well.
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And I just testified that when it feels like there's a set back
28:19
in your life, it could be that he's preparing you for the
28:22
future. Now, I just want to take a
28:24
moment and acknowledge that we have a virtual audience that's
28:26
bigger than just our classroom here.
28:28
So for those of you who are part of our virtual audience, we hope
28:31
that you'll also participate. Type in the comments.
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This isn't just about this specific question.
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We'd love to hear your story with Divine Design in God's
28:38
Providence, but also feel free to always share, make your
28:42
comments, tell your experiences because this class is for all of
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us to learn and grow together. Now Ruth begins gleaning in the
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fields we read. Just then, it's another
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coincidence Boaz arrived from Bethlehem.
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He notices Ruth and learns who she is.
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So Boaz says to Ruth, don't go and glean in another field and
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don't go away from here. Stay here with the women who
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work for me. Watch the field where the men
29:09
are harvesting and follow along after the women.
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I have told the men not to lay a hand on you.
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It's kind of settled. But in this verse, we get a hint
29:17
about Ruth's precarious situation.
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She's an immigrant. She's vulnerable.
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She's living on the margins of society.
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So this is a huge blessing to her.
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Ruth says to Boaz, Why have I found such favor in your eyes
29:29
that you notice me a foreigner? Boaz says.
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I've been told all about what you have done for your
29:34
mother-in-law since the death of your husband, how you left your
29:38
father and mother in your homeland and came to live with
29:41
the people you did not know before.
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So because of Boaz's generosity, Ruth is able to collect this
29:46
huge harvest. And when she gets home, Naomi is
29:49
astonished. She says, where did you glean
29:51
today? Where did you work?
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Blessed be the man who took notice of you.
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Ruth says the name of the man I worked with today is Boaz.
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Now it seems like that name didn't mean a lot to Ruth, but
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it means something to Naomi. She says the Lord bless him, He
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has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the
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dead. That man is our close relative.
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He is one of our guardian redeemers.
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So the Hebrew phrase goel, that's translated here as
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guardian Redeemer or kinsman Redeemer in some versions is a
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really important phrase. A goel is someone who can help
30:26
you when you desperately need help.
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Maybe you've fallen into slavery because of poverty or you have
30:31
to sell your family inheritance. The goel, the guardian Redeemer,
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would step in to assist. So when Naomi says that man's
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one of our guardian redeemers, it's not just that Boaz is a
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nice guy. He's someone who's legally
30:45
positioned to save their family from utter collapse.
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So Naomi comes up with a plan. She tells Ruth tonight Boaz will
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be winnowing barley on the threshing floor.
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Wash, put on perfume and get dressed in your best clothes.
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Then go down to the threshing floor.
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But don't let him know you are there until he is finished
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eating and drinking. When he lies down, note the
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place where he's lying. Then go and uncover his feet and
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lie down. He will tell you what to do.
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Now remember, the Bible is being descriptive, not prescriptive.
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So if you're getting ready for a date, sure, it's good to take a
31:20
bath, put on some perfume, wear your best clothes.
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Maybe don't uncover your dates feet.
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That could be a little strange. In fact, a lot of people wonder
31:28
what's going on here, and we don't really know for sure.
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Scholars have come up with different theories.
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Some people believe that Ruth simply uncovers Boaz's feet so
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that he'll wake up from the cold and she can have a conversation
31:38
with him. Others think that what Ruth will
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say to Boaz is in essence, proposing marriage to him, so
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it's this opportunity for her to go make a direct contact.
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Others think that there are sexual overtones to the scene.
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We don't know for sure what Ruth meant by this action, but we do
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know that Ruth and Boaz are both virtuous people.
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So Ruth puts the plan into effect and in the middle of the
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night tonight Boaz wakes up and he startled to see somebody at
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his feet. He says who are you?
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Ruth says I am your servant. Ruth spread the corner of your
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garment over me since you are a guardian, Redeemer of our
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family. It's clear that Ruth is asking
32:15
Boaz to help her and Naomi. Boaz gets it.
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He says don't be afraid, I will do for you all you ask.
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All the people in my town know that you are a woman of noble
32:25
character. Although it is true that I am
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the guardian Redeemer of our family, there is another who is
32:32
more closely related than I, So there's sort of a hierarchy in
32:35
terms of who would get to redeem a struggling relative.
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We know from the text that Boaz is part of the extended family
32:42
of Alan Milek, but we don't know exactly how they're related.
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And it looks like there's one relative who's more closely
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related to Naomi and Ruth than Boaz is.
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So Boaz continues news. Stay here for the night, and in
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the morning, if he wants to do his duty as your guardian
32:57
Redeemer, good, let him redeem you.
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But if he is not willing, as surely as the Lord lives, I will
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do it. So Ruth leaves early the next
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morning, and Boaz comes down to the town gate, the place where
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all the legal matters are settled and as it turns out,
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more divine Providence. The other closer relative just
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happens to be walking by. Boaz says to him, Naomi is
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selling the piece of land that belonged to our relative
33:23
Alamelak. If you will redeem it, do so.
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But if you will not, tell me, for no one has the right to do
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it except you, and I am next in line.
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At first the man is eager. He says I will redeem it.
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He think he's going to get some land at a cheap price.
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It appears from the text that Naomi has had to sell her land
33:39
because they're so poor. So the goal of the Guardian
33:42
Redeemer is going to be to keep this land in the family.
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But then Boa says there is a catch.
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On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the
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Moabite, the dead man's widow, in order to maintain the name of
33:54
the dead with his property. Suddenly, the other Guardian
33:58
Redeemer backs away. He says, then I can't redeem it
34:01
because I might endanger my own estate.
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In other words, he's worried that if he marries Ruth and has
34:07
a child with her, that could dilute the inheritance that he
34:10
wants to leave to his other children.
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So he tells Boaz, buy it yourself.
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And that's just what Boaz does. He becomes the guardian
34:18
Redeemer, the goel. And you've already seen the
34:21
connection to Jesus Christ. He's the true Goel, the one who
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rescues you when you can't rescue yourself.
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He's the Redeemer who enters into our trouble and redeems us.
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Now, Boaz is not the only type of Christ in the story.
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Ruth also points to the Savior. Listen to how Timothy Keller
34:41
puts it. He said Ruth left her father's
34:43
house. Ruth left her own country.
34:45
She came down. She became an outsider.
34:48
She became a suffering servant. She said I will become poor so
34:52
that through my poverty Naomi might become rich.
34:56
Ruth points to the one who left his father's throne, emptied
35:00
himself, died for us, left the ultimate riches to take on the
35:04
ultimate poverty. When you see that and that
35:07
thrills you and that fills you up and that changes you, then
35:10
you can start living like Ruth. Part of the beauty of the story
35:15
of Ruth and Boaz is that Jesus Christ literally comes from
35:19
their family line. Ruth is the great grandmother of
35:22
David and Matthew. Chapter 1 highlights that Ruth
35:25
and Boaz are both ancestors of Jesus Christ.
35:28
For me, one of the greatest parts of Ruth's redemption story
35:32
is to see how her redemption flows into Naomi's life.
35:35
Do you remember what Naomi said? Call me Mara because the
35:39
Almighty has made my life very bitter.
35:42
That was back in Chapter 1, but now in Chapter 4, everything has
35:46
changed for Naomi. The women of the town gather
35:49
around her. They say praise be to the Lord,
35:51
who this day has not left you without a guardian Redeemer.
35:55
He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age.
36:00
Naomi, who had once come back empty, now holds a grandson in
36:06
her arms. Think of Naomi back in Chapter
36:09
1. Her husband had died.
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Her sons had died. It seemed like she had nothing
36:13
left to live for. Her life was so dark, so bitter.
36:17
Maybe some of us today are living in Chapter 1.
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But remember, your story is not yet finished.
36:24
Chapter 4 is coming. Hannah could not see the beauty
36:28
of Samuel's future when she was weeping in the temple, and Naomi
36:32
couldn't imagine holding a grandson when she renamed
36:34
herself Mara. They could only see God's hands
36:38
clearly when they read their lives backwards.
36:41
So if your life is dark now, hold on.
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The true go. Well, Jesus Christ, He's already
36:46
at work in ways you cannot see. He is preparing your chapter 4
36:50
even while you're still standing in chapter 1.
36:52
And I testify He writes better endings than we ever could.