From:          Steve Zimmerman
To:              heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject:     A study of the book of Ruth


                          A STUDY OF THE BOOK OF RUTH

                   (http://members.aol.com/zimlechem/Ruth.html)

Background: Ruth lived out an allegory of Messiah's benefits to the
Gentiles.  Many parallels come to light if we see Naomi as
representing the Jews, Ruth representing the Gentiles, and Boaz as
representing the Messiah, the Kinsman-Redeemer who bought back the
privileges Adam--and Israel-- lost.

CHAPTER 1

1. Now it happened that, in the days when the judges ruled, there was
a famine in the land; and a man from Beyth-Lechem [House of Bread] in
the tribal lands of Yehudah went to dwell temporarily in the fields of
Moav [land of one of Lot's sons]-he, his wife, and his two sons.

2. And the man's name was Elimelech [my God is a king], his wife's
name was Naomi [pleasant], and the names of his two sons were Mahlon
[an invalid, weakling] and Kilyon [pining/failing].

3. Then Naomi's husband died, and she was left with her two sons.

4. But they took wives for themselves from the women of Moav. The name
of the one was Orpah [obstinate], and the name of the second was Ruth
[Friendship]. And they lived there about ten years.

5. Then both of them (Machlon and Kilyon) also died, so the woman was
bereaved of both her two sons as well as her husband.

6. Then she got up and, along with her daughters-in-law, returned from
the fields of Moav, because she had heard while in the fields of Moav
that YHWH had visited His people in order to give them bread.

7. So she left the place where she had been staying along with her two
daughters-in-law, and they set out on their way to return to the land
of Yehudah.

8. But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Each of you go back to
the house of her mother. May YHWH deal kindly with you, as you have
done with the dead men and with me.

9. "May YHWH grant that you find comfort, each in the household of her
husband."   And she kissed them, and they raised their voices and
wept.

10. But they replied to her, "No! We'll go back with you to your
people!"

11. But Naomi said, "Turn back, my daughters! Do I still have more
sons inside of me who can be your husbands?

12. "Turn back, my daughters!  Go, because I am too old to get married
again, and even if I thought there was still hope for me, and even if
I should be given to a husband tonight, and could still bear sons,

13. "would you wait for them to grow up? Would you really shut
yourselves off from belonging to a husband and reserve yourselves
until then? No, my daughters, because it is much more bitter for me
than for you1, because the hand of YHWH has come out against me."

14. Then they raised their voices and wept again, and Orpah kissed her
mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her tightly.

15. And Naomi said, "See, your sister-in-law has turned back to her
people and to her gods; follow your sister-in-law's example and
return, too!"

16. But Ruth said, "Don't press me to leave you, to turn back from
following you, for wherever you go, I will go; wherever you lodge, I
will lodge. Your people are now my people, and your God is my God.

17. "Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. My YHWH
do thus to me, and more so, if anything but death separate you from
me."

18. When she saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said no
more to her.

19. And both of them kept traveling until they reached Beyth-Lechem.
And when they arrived in Beyth-Lechem, the whole city was in an uproar
because of them. They said, "Is this really Naomi?"

20. But she told them, "Don't call me Naomi. Call me Mara [bitter],
because the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me.

21. "I left here full, but YHWH has brought me back empty. Why do you
call me Naomi, since YHWH has brought me low, and the Almighty has
brought calamity on me?"

22. Thus it was that Naomi returned, and her daughter-in-law Ruth, the
woman from Moav, who turned away from the fields of Moav. Now the time
when they arrived in Beyth-Lechem was at the beginning of the barley
harvest.  

     [Just after Passover, in the spring, the time grafting--see
     Romans 11:17ff--is most successful.  This is the first of two
     feasts of Firstfruits (1 Cor. 15:23).]

CHAPTER 2

1. But Naomi did have a relative through marriage, a wealthy man from
the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz [swiftness of
movement].

2. Now Ruth of Moav said to Naomi, "Please let me go out to the
countryside and glean among the grainfields after whomever will look
with favor on me."

     [She diligently made use of a privilege God had granted to the
     poor in His command that harvesters should leave the corners of
     their fields (related to a Gentile's grasping the corners of a
     Jew's garment, Matt. 9:21) ungleaned for the needy to gather,
     Lev. 19:9, 10.  As soon as she came to the God of Israel, she
     began to receive provision and protection from His Torah
     (instruction).]

And she told her, "Go ahead, my daughter."

3. So she went out and came into the field, and gleaned behind the
reapers. And it was her good fortune to "just happen" upon the part of
the field that belonged to Boaz, who was from Elimelech's family.

4. And, lo and behold, Boaz came from Beyth-Lechem and greeted his
workers: "YHWH be with you!" And they answered him, "YHWH bless you!"

5. "But", said Boaz to the young servant he had appointed to oversee
the reapers, "to whom does this young woman belong?"

6. And the young man who had been appointed overseer over the reapers
answered, "She is a young woman from Moav who came with Naomi from the
fields of Moav.

7. "And she said, 'Please let me glean, and I will gather from the
sheaves after the harvesters have finished.' So she came, and has
remained since the morning up until now, except that she sat down in
the house for a little while." [A place where Torah is studied is
called a Yeshiva--a place to sit!]

8. So Boaz said to Ruth, "Listen, my daughter, don't go to another
field to glean, do you hear? Don't leave [the protective boundaries
of] this field [Yochanan/John 15:7], but stay close to my
servant-girls.

9. "Keep your eyes on which field they reap, and follow along behind
them. Don't you understand that I've commanded the young men not to
touch you? When you get thirsty, just go to the containers [holding
the water] that the young men will draw, and drink from them!"

     [Yeshayahu/Isaiah 55:1; Matt. 17:26; 20:1-16; Yochanan/John 7:37;
     Ephesians 2:11-19]

10. Ruth fell on her face and bowed down to the ground, and asked him,
"Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should notice me, when
I am a foreigner?"

11. And Boaz answered her, "I have been told about everything that you
have done with your mother-in-law since your husband's death-how you
left your father and mother and the land of your birth, and came to
live among a people of whom you had no previous knowledge.

12. "May YHWH reward you for your deeds, and may your wages be paid
[completely, in peace] by YHWH, the God of Israel, under whose wings
you have come to find refuge!" [3:9; Psalm 91; Zech. 8:23; Mal. 4:2]

13. And she said, "Let me find favor in your eyes, my lord, because
you have brought me consolation, and because you have spoken to the
heart of your maidservant-though I am certainly not to be compared to
one of your maidservants!"

14. But Boaz said to her, "Come here at mealtimes, and you shall eat
of the bread, and dip your morsel in the vinegar." [A symbol of
friendship (Rev. 3:20)--the meaning of Ruth's name--but also a
foreshadowing of Messiah's suffering, according to Jewish sources.
Note the similarity to the moment with Yehudah/Judas at His last
Passover, Mark 14:20]  

So she sat at the side of the reapers, and he [reached over and]
served her roasted grain, and she ate it, and was satisfied, and had
some left over.

     [Notice the parallels to the feeding of the 5,000 with barley
     loaves, and the allusion of the harvest to the restoration of the
     Gentiles along with the estranged House of Israel (Gen. 48:16;
     Mat. 14:20; Yochanan/John 6:4-11).]

15. Then she rose up to glean. ["Gather up the leftovers", Yochanan
6:12]  And Boaz instructed his young servants, "Let her glean even
among the sheaves, but don't do it in a way that causes her
embarrassment;

16. but rather pull some out from the bundles on purpose, and let it
fall so she can glean it, and don't restrain her."  [Matt. 15:27]

17. So she gleaned in the field until evening, and threshed out what
she had gathered, and it came to about an eyfah [a little over a
bushel] of barley.

18. And she carried it back into the city, and showed her
mother-in-law what she had gleaned. Then she took some out and gave
her what was left over after she had eaten her fill.  

     [The benefits Messiah brings to the Gentiles brought into
     fellowship with God apart from the Torah will also spill over to
     the House fo Israel, whose assimilation with the nations gave
     those nations the opportunity to hear about God in the first
     place, cf. Rom. 11:15]

19. And her mother-in-law asked her, "Where have you gleaned today?
Wherever you worked, may whomever gave you such [clearly generous]
consideration be blessed!" So Ruth told her mother-in-law with whom
she had worked, and said, "The name of the man with whom I worked
today is Boaz."

     [As it becomes obvious from whom these engrafted Gentiles are
     receiving their spiritual bounty, Israel is meant to be provoked
     to jealousy, Rom. 11:11; Deut. 32:21]

20. Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, "May he be blessed by
YHWH, Who has not forsaken His lovingkindness to either the living or
the dead!" [Her husband would not be left without an inheritance, and
if Boaz fulfilled his obligation, not without an heir either; Matt.
23:39]  And Naomi told her, "The man is closely related to us; in
fact, he is one of those qualified to be our kinsmen-redeemer!"

[Designated by the laws of lineage as one who could purchase land an
impoverished relative had lost in order to keep it in the family, Lev.
25:25-26.  He would also marry the childless widow of one who had no
living brother, to bring him an heir, Deut. 25:5-6; Num. 27:8-11.  The
southern kingdom of Yehudah (whose punishment was for a specific
failure, Luk. 19:44) has returned to the land of its heritage, but the
northern Kingdom, which forfeited any rights by forsaking the
covenant, must have their place in God's economy bought back.  Yeshua
said He came for the "lost sheep of the House of Israel".  On a larger
scale, Adam, the legal representative of us all, forfeited the legal
right to be ruler of the earth, but Yeshua, the Second Adam and his
faithful kinsman, redeemed it.]

21. And Ruth the Moavitess said, "He also told me, 'Stay close to the
servants that are mine until they have finished reaping all of my
harvest.'"

[Throughout Scripture, harvest symbolizes both redemption and
retribution.  Yeshua offers asylum until God's wrath has passed.
During these days of grace, an arrangement is made whereby we can
benefit from association with Him while His kingdom is not yet in
place: Matt. 13:30; Yochanan 4:37ff.]

22. Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law Ruth, "It would be good for
you to go out with his maidservants, so that men will not attack you
in another field."

23. So she stayed close to the young women who gleaned for Boaz until
the end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest. [Shavuoth or
Pentecost, which foreshadows the ingathering from among all
nations--symbolized by leavened bread-- between Messiah's first and
second comings.]

But she still resided with her mother-in-law.

CHAPTER 3

1. Then her mother-in-law Naomi asked her, "My daughter, shall I not
indeed look into arranging a settlement for you?

2. "So now, isn't Boaz, with whose young women you have been, our
relative? Look here! He is winnowing barley at his threshing floor
tonight.  [Symbolizes God's separating the righteous from the wicked,
Matt. 3:12; Yirmiyahu/Jeremiah 15:7. Judgment begins with the
unleavened house of God, represented by the barley, which was cleared
away before the wheat (2:23) was threshed.]

3. "So take a [ritual] bath and anoint yourself, and put your garments
on yourself, and go down to the threshing floor. But don't let the man
take notice of you until after he has finished eating and drinking.
[The cup often symbolizes God's wrath, which Yeshua had to drink
before Gentiles were permitted to be "wed" to Him. ]

4. "But when he lies down, be sure that you pay attention to where he
lies down, then go in and uncover his feet, and lie down. And he will
tell you what you are to do."

5. And Ruth told her, "Whatever you say, I will do."

6. So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything just
like her mother-in-law had instructed her.

7. When Boaz had eaten and drunk, his heart was cheerful, and he went
to lie down at the end of the grain pile. And she sneaked in,
uncovered his feet, and lay down.

8. But in the middle of the night, the man was startled, and he turned
over to see what had awakened him, and, lo and behold, there was a
woman lying at his feet!

9. And he said, "Who are you?!" And she said, "I am your maidservant
Ruth, so spread your skirt over your maidservant [fulfill your
levirate duty], because you are [qualified to be] a kinsman-redeemer."


10. So he said, "May you be blessed by YHWH, my daughter! You have
dealt more kindly at the latter end than at the beginning, in not
going after young men, whether poor or rich.

11. "So now, my daughter, do not be afraid. All that you have
mentioned I will do for you, because all who are in the gate of my
people realize that you are a worthy woman. [Same phrase used in Prov.
31:10]

12. "Now indeed it is true that I am one qualified to be a
kinsmen-redeemer. However, there is another kinsman who is more
closely related than I. [The sin of Adam, our nearer kinsman, stands
legally in the way of God's love, but like Esau, this elder brother of
Yeshua lost his rights, so Yeshua, who, like Adam, is called God's
Son, fulfilled the covenant that Adam broke.]

13. "Stay here tonight, and in the morning it will be like this: if he
wants redeem you, fine; he can redeem you. But if he has no wish to do
so, then, as surely as YHWH lives, I will redeem you. So lie down
until morning."

14. So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone
could tell who was who. And he said, "Don't let anyone know a woman
has come to the threshing floor."

15. But he said, "Bring me the cloak that is spread over you, and hold
it out." So she held onto it, and he measured six measures of barley
into it and set it upon her, and she went into the city. [The fullness
of the Gentiles is brought in within the first six millennia; Yoch.
6:13.]

16. And she came to her mother-in-law, who then said, "Who are you, my
daughter?" And she told her all that the man had done for her.

17. And she added, "He gave me these six measures of barley,
'because', he said, 'you should not go back to your mother-in-law with
empty hands!'"

18. So she said, "Sit still, my daughter, until you find out how the
thing falls out, because the man won't rest today until he has settled
the matter!"

CHAPTER 4

1. So Boaz went up to the gate and sat there. And, lo and behold, the
near kinsman of whom Boaz had spoken passed by. So he said, "Such a
distinguished personage! Step aside for a moment and have a seat
here." So he turned aside and sat down.

2. Then Boaz gathered ten men [a minyan, or quorum needed for legal
business or public prayer; cf. Gen. 18:32; Yirmiyahu/Jeremiah 15:1;
Zech. 8:23] from the city and said, "Have a seat here." So they sat
down.

3. And he said to the near kinsman, "Naomi, who returned from the
fields of Moav, wants to sell a parcel of the land which belonged to
our brother, Elimelech.

4. "So I thought I should let you hear about it [as having the first
right], and ask you, in the presence of the elders of my people, to
buy it. If you want to redeem it, do so, but if you do not wish to
redeem it, tell me, so that I may know, because there is no one
qualified to redeem it except you-and I am next in line after you."
And he said, "I want to redeem it!"

5. But Boaz added, "Now whenever you buy the field, you will have
bought it from Ruth the Moavitess, the wife of the dead heir, in order
to raise up the name of the deceased upon his inheritance."

[Ruth would have no recourse to any inheritance should Naomi die, so
she needed a more potent guarantee than mere association.]

6. Then the near kinsman said, "I cannot redeem it for myself, because
I don't want to jeopardize my own inheritance [which would have to be
divided between his previous children and Ruth's, who would legally be
Machlon's heirs.]. You redeem for yourself what it is my right to
redeem, because I am not able to redeem it."

[Adam could not be our redeemer, as he had his own sin to pay for.
Therefore, Yeshua, who IS able to pay our debt and has an inheritance
to spare, becomes our Bridegroom as well; Ephesians 5:23]

7. Now this is what used to be done in Israel in regard to redemption
and transactions, to confirm each matter: a man would take off his
sandal and give it to his fellow citizen, and this counted as a
contract in Israel. [Compare Deut. 25:5-10]

8. So the near kinsman told Boaz, "Buy it for yourself", and took off
his sandal.

9. Then Boaz said to the elders and to all the townspeople, "You are
witnesses today that I have bought all that belonged to Elimelech, and
all that was Machlon's and Kilyon's, from the hand of Naomi.

["All authority in heaven and earth" was given to Yeshua (Matt.
28:18), who redeemed the cursed earth from Satan, who had gained it by
Adam's forfeiture.]

10. "Moreover, I have bought Ruth of Moav, the wife of Machlon, for
myself as a wife, to raise up a name for the dead man as regards his
inheritance. So the name of the dead man shall not be cut off from
among his brothers, nor from the gate [the law court, hence legal
rights] of his place.

[Once a descendant of Yaaqov was cut off from his inheritance, he
could not reclaim it in his own right.  Only an immediate relative who
had rights could open the door for his or her return.]

11. And all the people who were in the gate along with the elders
said, "We are witnesses. May YHWH make the woman who is coming into
your household like Rachel and Leah [a blessing still conferred on
Israelite daughters today as each Sabbath begins], both of whom built
the House of Israel. May you yourself also do worthily in Efrathah,
and make a name for yourself in Beyth-Lechem.

[The "name above every name" was conferred on Yeshua at Beyth-Lechem,
the town of His birth!]

12. "And may your house[hold] be like the house of Paretz, whom Thamar
bore to Yehudah, of the seed which YHWH shall give to you from this
young woman."

[A seemingly unflattering blessing, considering the circumstances of
Thamar's bearing Paretz (Gen. 38).  But, as in the case of Boaz, it
was a roundabout means by which God established the continuation of
the Messianic line, which had been threatened by Yehudah's failure to
allow his son's widow  the proper levirate redemption.  The "seed"
refers not only to the immediate redemption, but also to the
descendant of hers who would fulfill the prophecy of Genesis 3:15.]

13. So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife; when he had relations
with her, YHWH granted her conception, and she bore a son.

14. And the women said to Naomi, "Blessed be YHWH, who has not left
you this day without a redeemer! And may his name become well-known in
Israel.

15. "May he be to you a restorer of life, and a nourisher of your old
age, for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, has borne him, who is
better to you than seven sons!"

16. So Naomi took the child, and laid him on her lap, and became his
nurse.

17. And the neighbor women gave him a name, saying, "This is a
descendant born to Naomi!" So they called him Oved ["one who serves",
in the sense of spiritual worship in God's temple]. He was the father
of Yishai, the father of David.

18. Now these are the generations of Paretz:

[This discourse pattern signals the continuity of the Messianic
genealogy, which is reiterated several times throughout Genesis.
Herein also lies the key to the strange blessing in v. 12: after
Adam's fall, this word "generations" is spelled "defectively", with
one letter missing (though pronounced the same way) in every case
until this one, where the full spelling is restored.  Oved's birth
sealed the guarantee that the throne of his grandson David, and thus
Messiah's throne, would be established.  The missing letter has the
numeric value of 6, the number of man.  Through this combining of Jew
and Gentile, one new man was formed--cf. Ephesians 2:15.]

Paretz fathered Chetzron;

19. Chetzron fathered Ram, and Ram fathered Amminadav;

20. Amminadav fathered Nachshon, and Nachshon, Salmon;

21. Salmon fathered Boaz, and Boaz, Oved;

22. Oved fathered Yishai, and Yishai, [King] David.


Steve Zimmerman

***********************************************************************

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