“Seek and Ye Shall Find”

And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz. Boaz...: Gr. Booz And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, Go, my daughter. And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech. ...: Heb, happe happened ...: Called Booz hap...: Heb. hap happened And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The LORD be with you. And they answered him, The LORD bless thee. Then said Boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers, Whose damsel is this? And the servant that was set over the reapers answered and said, It is the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab: And she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves: so she came, and hath continued even from the morning until now, that she tarried a little in the house. Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens: Let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after them: have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? and when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn. Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger? And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the death of thine husband: and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore. The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust. - Ruth 2:1-12

    "And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz. And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, Go, my daughter. And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech. And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The LORD be with you. And they answered him, The LORD bless thee. Then said Boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers, Whose damsel is this? And the servant that was set over the reapers answered and said, It is the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab: And she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves: so she came, and hath continued even from the morning until now, that she tarried a little in the house. Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens: Let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after them: have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? and when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn. Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger? And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been showed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the death of thine husband: and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore. The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust."

    Here are three facts revealed in Holy Scripture that need to be written upon our hearts by the finger of God. Our puny brains may not be able to sort out the details. We may not b able to see the consistency of these facts. They may even appear to be contradictory. Yet, these three facts are plainly revealed in the Word of God. Faith bows to the Word and receives these things for what they are, the very truth of God.

    1. God almighty saves whom he will (Rom. 9:15, 16, 18). He chose some and passed by others. He sent his Son to redeem some, but not others. Christ makes intercession for some, but not others. He sends his word to some, but not others. The Holy Spirit regenerates and calls some, but not others. All whom the Father chose, the Son redeemed, and the Spirit calls shall be saved, all of them and no one else, no matter what. “Salvation is of the Lord!” Yet, our great, sovereign God has ordained the use of certain means, and will not save any sinner apart from the means he has appointed. God will not alter his purpose at all. If Nineveh is to be saved, Jonah (and no one else) must go to Nineveh, because God has determined to save Nineveh through the preaching of Jonah. God knows how to take care of the details. Ask Jonah.

    2. You and I are responsible for those immortal souls placed by God under our influence (Ezek. 33:7-9). Men and women are saved or lost as a direct result of our actions (Ezek. 3:17-19; 1 Tim. 4:16). God’s purpose can never be altered or frustrated. What he has purposed he will do. Neither Lucifer, nor you, nor I can overrule him (Isa. 14:24, 26, 27). Yet, as Satan is responsible for the angels he led to destruction, though not one elect angel fell, so we are responsible for those who are under our influence, though none of God’s elect shall by any possibility perish.

    3. Every person is responsible for his own soul. If you seek the Lord, you will find him. He promises you will (Jer. 29:12-13). If you refuse to seek him, you will perish forever in hell. If you trust Christ, you shall be saved. If you believe not on the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall be damned. Your faith will not add to the number of God’s elect. Neither will your unbelief alter the purpose of the Almighty (Rom. 3:3-4). If you are saved, it will be because God chose you, redeemed you, and called you. If you die in your sins, it will be because you refused to walk in the light God gave you, you refused to hearken to the Word of God, you refused to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Your willful unbelief, not the purpose of God, shall be the cause of your everlasting condemnation (John 3:36; Pro. 1:23-33).

    In Ruth 2:1-12, Ruth is set before us as a picture of a sinner seeking the Lord. This is the promise of God to sinners. “Seek and ye shall find.” I know that no one will ever seek the Lord who is not first sought out by the Lord. Our seeking him is the proof that we are sought of him. Yet, it is everyone’s responsibility to seek him. As Ruth sought barley in the fields of Boaz, so needy sinners seek the Bread of Life in the Book of God and in the House of God.

    RUTH’S ONLY HOPE WAS A NEAR KINSMAN.

    Verse 1 "And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz." Everything in the Book of Ruth is about the kinsman. He is really the center of attention. The commentaries, for the most part, miss the point of the book. They talk about Ruth. But Ruth talked about this kinsman. Her kinsman, Boaz, is a type and picture of our great kinsman, the Lord Jesus Christ.

    The kinsman, according to God’s Holy Law, had the right to redeem (Lev. 25:25). He was kinsman. He was, as is seen this and the next chapters, willing to redeem. And Boaz, Ruth’s near kinsman was able to redeem her. This man, Boaz, as we have seen, was a beautiful type and picture of our Lord Jesus Christ, our kinsman Redeemer. He was a man; and the Son of God became a man that he might redeem and save his people (Gal. 4:4-6; Heb. 2:10-18). He was a man of great wealth; and Christ our Savior has all that is needed to redeem and save his people. He is of great wealth, indeed (Col. 2:10). He has perfect righteousness and complete, perfect, blood atonement; and they are of infinite worth and merit before God. This man’s name also points to Christ. Boaz means “Strength.” The Son of God, our Kinsman Redeemer, not only has all that is necessary to ransom our souls, he has the power to save (John 17:2; Heb. 7:25).

    BEING HUMBLED BY THE HAND

    OF GOD, RUTH KNEW HER NEED OF GRACE.

    Verse 2 "And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, Go, my daughter." Before God saves he slays. Before he exalts he abases. Before he heals he wounds. He never lifts sinners up until he brings them down. Ruth had resolved that she would be found among the children of God. She would not go back to Moab. But if she lived in Bethlehem, she would have to do so as a poor beggar living upon the grace of another. This she was willing to do (Psa. 110:3). Grace chose her. Grace created a need. Grace met her need. That is always God’s method of grace.

    DIVINE PROVIDENCE BROUGHT RUTH

    TO THE PLACE WHERE SHE WOULD MEET BOAZ.

    Verse 3 "And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech." Though it made no difference to Ruth which field she gleaned in, “her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz.”

    She had not planned it. In so far as she was concerned, this was purely accidental. But “her hap” was by the arrangement of providence. “Her hap” determined her marriage to Boaz, her wealth, her everlasting happiness, and her position in the genealogy of Christ. “Her hap” also brought about the incarnation of her Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.! The Son of God must come into the world as a descendent of Boaz and Ruth. God purposed it from eternity. Yet, Boaz and Ruth would never have wed had she not gleaned in his field. This was no accident. “Her hap” was God’s purpose. Let us ever adore our heavenly Father’s wise providence. Let us regard nothing as insignificant. Let us look for and follow the direction of God in the daily affairs of your life, trusting his will and bowing to it in all things (Pro. 3:5-6).

    BOAZ SPOKE ABOUT RUTH AND FOR RUTH

    IN HER HEARING BEFORE HE SPOKE TO HER.

    Verses 4-7 "And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The LORD be with you. And they answered him, The LORD bless thee. Then said Boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers, Whose damsel is this? And the servant that was set over the reapers answered and said, It is the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab: And she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves: so she came, and hath continued even from the morning until now, that she tarried a little in the house.”

    In these verses, the conversation is all about Ruth. It appears not to be so much for Boaz to get information about her as for her to get information about him. We get a hint of this in verse 8, where Boaz says to Ruth, “Hearest thou not, my daughter,” implying that all he had said was for her benefit. Even so, the Lord Jesus often speaks about and for his elect through the preaching of the gospel before he speaks directly to them by the effectual call of his Spirit. Several things here are highly significant.

    Boaz and his reapers appear to be one (v. 4), as our Lord Jesus says he and his reapers are one (Matt. 10:40). Those who serve him have his authority.

    2. Ruth wisely followed the reapers through the field (v. 3). There was no other way for her to get the bread she needed. God’s servants are his angels, sent into his field to gather his wheat into his barn (Matt. 13:30). They are his reapers. They search the field of Holy Scripture and gather from the Word of Life bread for his children.

    Boaz appeared in his field - “Behold, Boaz came!” What a blessing for Ruth! When a seeking sinner earnestly follows his reapers through the field of Holy Scripture, the Master is sure to meet him and bless him with that grace which fills his heart and flows through his lips.

    Boaz and his workers talked to one another about Ruth. The Lord God and his servants talk to one another about his people, too. The reapers talked to Boaz about Ruth. They told him who she was - A Moabitess, where she came from - Moab, and what she had done (v. 7). That is the way faithful, gospel preachers talk to God about the people for whom they labor.

    Then Boaz told his servants what to do for Ruth. He told them to do nothing which might harm her, or hinder her (v. 9) and to provide for her need (v. 16). He commanded them to leave “handfuls of purpose for her.” Even so, the Lord God commands his servants, in preaching the gospel, to give out his Word like handfuls of purpose for his elect (Isa. 40:10-11). Gospel preachers are to drop handfuls of gospel promises, gospel doctrines, and of grace, handfuls of the person and work of Christ (Eph. 1:1-14, 15-23; 2:1-10; 3:8). Preaching the gospel is not telling sinners what they must do, or what God wants to do. To preach the gospel is to tell people what God has done for sinners in Christ.

    BOAZ SPOKE DIRECTLY TO RUTH

    ABOUT WHAT HE HAD SAID AND DONE.

    Verses 8-9 "Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens: Let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after them: have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? and when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn."

    Boaz assured the Moabitess of his gracious intentions., telling her to look to him for everything, telling her to simply trust him. He told her she had come to the right place and not to go anywhere else, and gave her license to drink freely at his fountain, to drink of the water drawn by his servants (Rev. 22:16-17). He assured her of his protection, telling her that none of the men would touch her, rebuke her, reproach her, or shame her (vv. 9, 15, 16). He even courted her. Singling her out, Boaz drew Ruth’s heart to him and let her know that his heart was toward her (v. 14). What a blessed picture this is of the way the Lord Jesus Christ deals with chosen, redeemed sinners, when he sends forth his Spirit at the appointed time of love to call them by his grace and make them willing in the day of his power (Ps. 65:4; 110:3)

    RUTH WAS ASTONISHED AND UTTERLY

    OVERWHELMED BY BOAZ’S GOODNESS.

    Boaz’s goodness did not make Ruth arrogant and presumptuous. It had just the opposite effect. It humbled her. Look at verse 10. “She fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground.” Ruth was completely overwhelmed by a sense of Boaz’s goodness and her own unworthiness of that goodness. Even so, when a weary, sinful, heavy-laden soul sees the exceeding riches of God’s grace in Christ, self bows to the ground (Isa. 6:1-5; Acts 9:1-9). It is not the wrath of God that leads to repentance, but the goodness of God (Rom. 2:4). The hammer of the law breaks up the icy, hard, fallow ground of our hearts;. but it is the grace of God that melts our hearts before him! (Zech. 12:10).

    Bowing in utter humiliation before this great kinsman’s goodness, Ruth said, “Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?” She knew she was a stranger, a Gentile, without any covenant promise, without any rights, without any merit, without anything to plead before him except her need and his greatness. That is the way needy sinners respond to the exceeding richness and fulness of God’s grace in Christ. The first response of the renewed heart to the grace of God is to ask, “Why me?” (2 Sam. 7:18; 9:8). Gracious souls are always astonished by grace (1 John 3;1). There is but one answer to the question - Why? Why was I chosen? Why was I redeemed? Why was I called? God answers plainly. “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious!” He says, “Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee."

    BOAZ ASSURED RUTH OF HIS INTEREST IN HER.

    Verses 11-12 "And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been showed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the death of thine husband: and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore. The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust."

    Ruth sure enough was interested in Boaz; but that gave her no comfort. She needed to know if this man was interested in her. It is one things for me to be interested in Christ, but is Christ interested in me? That is the matter of real concern. Boaz assured Ruth of two things. In verse 11, he assured her of his knowledge of and interest in her. In verse 12, he assured her of God’s faithfulness to sinners who trust him.

    Notice the wording of that clause in verse 12 describing Ruth’s faith - “Under whose wings thou art come to trust.” This is an allusion here to the wings of the cherubim overshadowing the mercy-seat? In other words, whether Boaz intended it to be so or not, the Holy Spirit is here telling us that faith in God is trusting that One whose blood atonement was represented in the blood sprinkled on the mercy-seat. It is there and only there, in Christ the Lamb of God, that God meets with sinners in mercy (Ex. 25:22).

    “So she gleaned” (v. 17). She got bread, mercy, grace and life. Then she got a husband. Then she got an inheritance - His inheritance. Then she got great honor - His honor. So shall it be for all who take refuge in Christ, for all who come to trust under the wings of the Almighty (Heb. 4:16).