on Thursday evening we were considering
something of those women that ministered to the Lord Jesus
Christ spoken of in Luke chapter 8 and verses 2 and 3 and so we
went on to say something with regards to the women, the ministry
of women as these things are said before us here in Holy Scripture
and I did then make some reference to this remarkable woman of whom
we read in the book of Ruth. And so I want us to turn to this
part of Holy Scripture today and to direct your attentions
more especially to the words that we find here in chapter
2 at verse 14. The book of Ruth chapter 2 and
verse 14 and Boaz said unto her at mealtime come
thou hither and eat of the bread and dip thy morsel in the vinegar
and she sat beside the reapers and he reached her parched corn
and she did eat and was sufficed and left. In his 14 discourses
on the book of Ruth the particular Baptist minister of the 18th
century John McGowan gives four of those discourses, four out
of fourteen, to an exposition of this particular verse. Clearly
the man saw this as the most significant verse in the whole
of the book of Ruth. Of course, all of the book is
part of the book of God, all is the inspired words that that
was given by the Holy Spirit. But clearly that man saw a great
deal in this particular verse. And I want us to consider today
something of the content of this scripture that we've read as
a text. It speaks of the ministry that
Boaz is exercising at this particular juncture to Ruth, the Moabitish
damsel. Now Boaz is of course in the
line of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was the great-grandfather
of David. Remember how the book concludes,
we're told in the final verses, these are the generations of
Phares. Phares begat Hezron. Hezron begat Ram. Ram begat Amminadab. And Aminadab begat Narshan, and
Narshan begat Sammon, and Sammon begat Boaz, and Boaz begat Obed,
and Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David. He's there in the
royal line and so we find his name mentioned right at the beginning
of the New Testament Scriptures. The opening chapter of Matthew's
Gospel gives us the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
so there in verse 5 you find the name of this man Boaz. It was from Boaz that the Lord
Jesus came concerning the flesh. And not only that, but Boaz surely,
as Gadsby recognizes in the hymn that we just sang, Boaz is a
wonderful type of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the way I
want us to approach this particular verse, to see Boaz as a typical
character, Boaz setting before us something of that gracious
ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now what we have here in this
chapter is the record of the first meeting between these two,
the first occasion that Boaz meets with Ruth as she is gleaning
in his filth. And the first words that he speaks
to her are those that are recorded here at verse 8. Then Boaz said
unto Ruth, Hearest thou not my daughter? What a question is
this? Hearest thou not my daughter? He begins with this question,
the importance of hearing. And how important it is that
we are those who would hearken to the voice of the Lord Jesus
Christ as he comes and speaks to us in the Gospel. Even as
we come together today and as we come together Sabbath by Sabbath,
surely this should be our concern that we might hear. what the
Spirit is saying unto the churches these striking words then that
Boaz addresses to Ruth, Hearest thou not my daughter? Are we
those who as we come would hear that voice, the voice of our
Boaz, the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ? Remember again something
of his words that are recorded in the Gospel? Verily, verily,
I say unto you the hour cometh and now is when the dead shall
hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall
live. All those who are dead in trespasses
and sins, oh, they must hear that voice, the voice of Him
who is the eternal Son of God. It's the mark of those who are
the sheep that were given to Him in the covenant of grace
given by the Father, ordained to eternal life. He says, My
sheep, hear My voice. and I know them, and they follow
me, and I give unto them eternal life." As we come together then
how important it is that we are real hearers, true hearers of
the Word of God. The words then, the first words
that Boaz speaks, hearest thou not my daughter. We do well to remember from whence
faith cometh. Faith cometh by hearing. If we
would be those of faith we must be hearers of the Word of God. But let us come to these words
that I announced as our text in the 14th verse. And Boaz said
unto her at mealtime come thou hither and eat of the bread and
dip thy morsel in the vinegar and she sat beside the reapers
and he reached her parched corn and she did eat and was sufficed
and left and there are three things that we can consider with
regards to this provision that is such a sufficient provision
for Ruth three elements to it We have mentioned of the bread
and of the vinegar and of the parched corn. Remember what we
said at the outset how we're concerned to understand what
he said before us here in type. thinking of Boaz as a type of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now what's the significance then
of this feast that is provided for this Moabitish damsel? This woman who was not, of course,
of the tribes of Israel. She was a Gentile woman and yet
she is clearly such a remarkable person as she cleaves to Naomi. refuses to return to her own
people and to her own gods, but she identifies all together with
the children of Israel. Back in the opening chapter,
those lovely words at verse 16, "...entreat me not to leave thee,
or to return from following after thee. For whither thou goest,
I will go, and where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall
be my people." And thy God, my God, where thou diest, will I
die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me. What a solemn oath she takes
as she gives this word to her mother-in-law Naomi. The Lord
do so to me, and more also, if aught but death parts thee and
me. Here is one then, though Gentile
by birth, she is clearly of the election of grace and belongs
to the true Israel of God. And so she is fed, and fed by
Boaz. And first of all I want us to
consider the significance of the bread. Boaz is clearly a very kind and
considerate master. He was one who was there to provide
the physical needs of his servants who were working in his fields. And so we see how provision is
made for them. There's that provision of water and there's also the provision
of bread. He says to Ruth back in verse
9 Have not I charged the young
men that they shall not touch them and when they are out of
thirst go unto the vessels and drink of that which the young
men have drawn. Here he is, he comes and he visits
his labourers in the field, and he greets them, the Lord be with
you, and they answer, the Lord bless them, and he is concerned
to see that they are provided, the young men have drawn water,
there's that provision of water, and clearly in the words of the
text there's also this provision of bread at mealtime, come thou
hither and eat of the bread. All that provision that he makes,
he makes provision for those who are his servants, those who
are working on his account, laboring in his fields. And are we not
reminded here of the Lord Jesus, how Christ is that one who provides
the temporal needs of all of his people. How the Lord Jesus
is that one who is aware of what our physical needs are as well
as our spiritual needs. We see it of course in the manner
of his ministry, in the Gospels, He performs many miracles. He heals the sick. He gives sight
to the blind. He unstops deaf ears. He gives
feet to the lame. He's aware of the physical, the
temporal needs of the people. And he teaches us from whence
we are to look for every supply. Now we're to acknowledge how
God gives to his children each day their daily bread. You remember
that petition that occurs in that pattern prayer that he taught
to the disciples? We are to pray and we're to say,
give us this day our daily bread. That's how it's recorded in Matthew's
account, in the Sermon on the Mount, and then a slight difference
in the account that we have recorded in Luke 11, where rather than
this day, it says give us day by day our daily bread. There is a provision that the
Lord makes for his people for the very day. The day in which
we're living, the Lord makes provision. But not only for the
day, but he will give us day by day. Each will have that daily
portion. David can say, I have been young
and now I am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken,
or his seed begging bread. We are to acknowledge then God
as the one who supplies us with that that is necessary for our
physical existence. He makes temporal provision for
his people. He is the one in whom we live
and move and have our being. And so what are we to do? We
are to do all to His glory. Whether therefore ye eat or drink
or whatsoever ye do, says the Apostle, do all to the glory
of God. Boaz provides for his servants
and does not God. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
God. Does He not make every provision for our physical good? But then
we know that Christ also provides His children with those spiritual
blessings that are necessary for their souls' good. He ministers
grace. He ministers grace to sinners.
David can say in his 23rd Psalm, Thou preparest a
table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Isn't that what
God does for His children in this wicked world? in which there
is constant conflict with sin and with Satan, where the child
of God feels himself to be surrounded by evil on every hand, and yet
God prepares a table in the midst of all the believers' enemies. And what a table it is. It is
the table of His grace. the Lord Jesus is that one who
feeds his people and he feeds them of course with himself I
am the bread of life he says he that cometh to me shall never
hunger and he that believeth in me shall never thirst it is
Christ who is that bread and now we should be those friends
who as we come under the word of God are hungry oh what a blessing
it is when we have an appetite We know what it is when we're
afflicted in our bodies, when we're unwell, when we're struck
down with some disease or other, and our appetite is taken away
and we don't want food. It's a good thing, is it not?
In a physical sense, to have our food, to enjoy our food,
and to give thanks to God for it, but ought to be those who
have such a spiritual appetite. I find it strange that some who
profess to be believers in the Lord Jesus Christ and yet it
doesn't trouble them if they're absent from a service I'm sure
we know of some people they profess Christ's name they say they're
Christian people true believers and yet they're there maybe at
one service but they're not there at a second service they're hardly
ever there on a week evening and one can only but wonder what
spiritual appetite is there surely friends if we're those who have
an appetite We want to be under the Word of God. We want ourselves
to be fed with the good truths of the Word of God, those precious
doctrines, those great doctrines of the sovereign grace of God.
That's a blessed man. Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness, says Christ, for they shall be
fed. How the Lord is that One who
feeds His people. Man shall not live by bread alone.
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. The Lord Jesus doesn't just supply
that that is for the physical good of His children, to preserve
them in this life. He provides also that spiritual
meat. Now Boaz gives simply bread. What does he say here to Ruth? at mealtime come thou hither
and eat of the bread." There is that provision that is made.
But how different when we think of the antitype. If Boaz is the
type, Christ is the antitype. And of course the antitype is
so much greater and fuller and richer than what we see in the
type. What is the bread that Christ
gives? Why the bread, of course, is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. It's in those great I Am passages,
is it not, that we find in John's Gospel. Time and again Christ takes up
those words that God spoke to Moses at the burning bush, I
Am that I Am, and reveals something of the fullness of Jehovah. and
so he speaks of himself as the bread of life there in chapter
6 of John's gospel he says I am the living bread which came down
from heaven if any man eat of this bread he shall live forever
and the bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life
of the world. He gives himself and he gives
himself for the life of the world. Now what are we to understand
by that reference to Christ giving himself as living bread for the
life of the world? Well we can think of the word
world not only quantitatively in terms of all whoever dwells
upon the face of the earth. We can think of the word qualitatively. What does the world represent?
Well, we're told all that is in the world, all that is in
the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and
the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world. The world lies in wickedness,
it lies in the wicked one. Christ is that bread for a sinful
world, for a sinful world and the vile. The vile of this world
are welcome to partake of this bread. It's those who feel themselves
to be so unworthy, so vile, so wicked, so sinful. Look at this
woman Ruth, how she feels before Boaz as he takes account of her.
Verse 10 then, she fell on her face, 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 again in verse 13, Then she
said, Let me find favour in thy sight, my lord, for that thou
hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken friendly unto
thine handmaiden, though I be not like one of thine handmaidens
all what words are these that she speaks she feels herself
so unworthy and it's for those you see who feel themselves to
be unworthy sinners those who feel themselves to be too much
in this world too much of this world who feel themselves to
be such vile sinners it's for such as these that Christ comes
and gives himself for their life that's the world we're to think
of the wicked world. We know that all are sinners
in God's sight, but how few are sinners in their own sight, have
any sense of their sin, and yet it's for such as there is that
Christ makes this provision, this spiritual provision. He
is food to their souls. All that He did is for sinners.
He came not to call the righteous, He says, but sinners unto repentance. Near then is that provision set
before us in this text, the provision of bread. Boaz said unto her
at mealtime come thou hither and eat of the bread and dip
thy morsel in the vinegar. So in the second place let us
turn to consider the significance of this vinegar. Now, we're told,
this is what I've read, that in excessive heat, as would be
the case, as they're labouring there in the fields, vinegar
would be used to cool and to refresh. It's there to cool and
to refresh. There's refreshment then, made
for the labourers in the fields, and this provision also granted
to rules as she's gleaning amongst the fields of boas. But when we think of bread and
vinegar, we think of the bread surely as a type of the Lord
Jesus Christ, as we've seen. He declares it, I am the bread
of life. I am the living bread. Well,
what is vinegar typical of? Is it not typical of the the
sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ if the bread sets before us who
he is and the glory of his person as God manifest in the flesh
as that one who in the fullness of the time is sent into this
world as a real man who is bone of our bone and flesh of our
flesh if the bread reminds us of his person Well, the vinegar
reminds us of that work that he undertook and how that work
ultimately culminates in all the bitter sufferings that he
has to endure upon the cross. Are we not reminded here, for
example, of the betrayal that Christ endured? He says to Ruth,
as Boaz, At mealtime come thou hither, eat of the bread, and
dip thy morsel in the vinegar." Now remember the words of the
Lord Jesus amidst His disciples, amidst His apostles, when He
identifies the betrayer, when He identifies Judas Iscariot,
and the way in which the Lord does that. It's recorded in the
13th chapter of John. Verse 21, When Jesus had thus
said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. And now the disciples began to
look one at another, doubting of whom he spoke. And fearful,
he said, would it be one of them? But what does the Lord say? In
verse 26, He it is to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped
it. And when he had dipped the sop,
he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And after the
sop, Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That
thou doest do quickly. Verse 30, Then having received
the sop, We're told he went out immediately and it was night. He's identified by this sop,
this morsel that he's dipped. Probably dipped into wine there. That's how the Lord identifies,
the one who is to betray him. Doesn't this incident that we
read back in the book of Ruth remind us of Christ? and how
he was betrayed by one of the twelve that he had chosen even
Judas Iscariot but then furthermore we're also told how at the actual
crucifixion they gave the Lord Jesus vinegar to drink or they
at least offered him that vinegar when he cried out in agony because
of the intensive thirst that he was experiencing as he hung
there upon the cross. In verse 28 of John 19, Jesus,
knowing that all things were now accomplished that the Scripture
might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Ne'er there was set a vessel
full of vinegar. And they filled a sponge with
vinegar, and put it upon Hissep, and put it to his mouth. When
Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished,
and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost." There we see Christ
accomplishing the end for which he had come into the world. His
obedience unto death, even the death of the cross. And at the
end, it's that vinegar, and it speaks to us, does it not, of
the awful bitterness that he experiences as he comes to make
that great sacrifice. And so, is it not right that
we say that the vinegar well represents the sufferings of
the Lord Jesus Christ to us? How sharp and how bitter were
those sufferings that he had to endure. He had to drink a
very bitter cup and he had to drink that cup to the end, he
had to drink the dregs of that bitter cup. And we see him, in
all his agonies, wrestling with God in prayer in the Garden of
Gethsemane. If it be possible, he says, let
this cup pass from me. Three times we're told he prays
that prayer, that the cup might pass from him. But then he says
if it be not possible except I drink it, thy will be done."
Oh, He will do the will of the Father and He will drink that
cup and He will taste of the bitterness of that cup. He will
remember all the gore, all the bitterness of what is represented
in that cup. not only sufferings now at the
hands of men, but suffering, of course, at the hand of God,
that the Father is visiting upon Him, that punishment that was
the desert of His people. And He is suffering, and bleeding,
and dying, therefore, in the room and in the stead of the
sinner. He is made seen for us, says the Apostle, that his righteousness
might be made over to us in exchange. This is the glory, is it not,
of the work that Christ came to accomplish. And he remembers
it, my affliction and my misery, the whirlwood, the gall. It was
a bitter thing that Christ had to endure and it's set before
us here and of course this is that that we are to remember
Christ Himself as ordained and appointed His Holy Supper and
in the will of the Lord we will observe that ordinance of Christ
later today when we gather in the evening hour and we are to
remember all that He endured all those dreadful sufferings
that he so willingly undertook when he made himself the great
sacrifice for the sins of his people and I say friends here
what transpires as Boaz comes and speaks with Ruth and ministers
to her and so freely invites her to partake of the bread and
to take that morsel and to dip it in the vinegar it sets before
us Christ or she's to feed upon Christ, and that's what we desire
to do when we come to the Lord's Supper. We desire surely that
we might be those who are truly feeding upon Christ, not in some
carnal way. We deny of course all the awful
doctrine of the mass and the blasphemy which is that doctrine
of transubstantiation, the poor benighted Roman Catholic imagining
that in taking the wafer he is eating the actual body and blood,
the soul and divinity of Christ. We're not talking about that
manner of imagined feeding upon Christ, but we do desire that
we might truly feed upon Him as we come to observe that supper,
as we partake of that that Christ himself has appointed for us. And here we see, you see, that
the knowledge that the child of God has must be an experimental
knowledge because what we read here doesn't only represent to
us the sufferings of Christ does it not also represent to us something
of the sufferings of those who are Christ? does it not set before
us something of the portion of those who are his Christian people?
what does Boaz say to Ruth? he says, dip thy morsel dip thy
morsel in the vinegar. It's that that has been given
to her, and that morsel that she is to partake of, she also
is to dip that in the vinegar. She's going to taste something
of that bitter, that bitter that Christ tasted
in His death. Now, remember the significance
of the Passover in the Old Testament because it was, of course, at
his last Passover that we see Christ instituting his Holy Supper. as he observes that Passover
it's there that he changes it in a sense from what it was in
the Old Testament a remembrance of deliverance out of Egypt he
changes it to that that is now to the Christian a remembrance
of how Christ has delivered his people Now with regards to the
Passover, and it's a wonderful type of the Lord Jesus Christ,
He is our Paschal Lamb, even Christ. Our Passover is sacrifice
for us, says Paul. At the Passover, what was the
unleavened bread called? Well in Deuteronomy 16, we read
of it as the bread of affliction. It's spoken of there as the bread
of affliction. And this that Ruth is partaking
of is bread of affliction. It's a morsel of bread, but it
is dipped in vinegar. There's a bitterness here. And
this is true, is it not, of those who really know anything of the
Lord Jesus Christ. the real believer has more than
an intellectual knowledge and understanding of the doctrine
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The true believer is one who
has an experimental knowledge, something of that knowledge that
the apostle speaks of. What was Paul's great desire?
He says that I may know him. or that was his one desire to
know Christ that I may know him and how does he want to know
Christ? the power of his resurrection the fellowship of his sufferings
being made conformable unto his death or shall Christ my Lord suffer
and shall I repine asks good John Newton The Lord's people,
you see, must know something of those sufferings that Christ
himself had to endure. That was Paul's desire, and he's
a pattern believer, is he not? A pattern to them which should
hereafter believe. When he writes to the Philippians
here at the end of the first chapter, what does he say to
them? Unto you it is given, in the behalf of Christ, not only
to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake. having the
same conflict which she saw in me and now here to be in me. The same conflict, you see. Filling
up the measure of Christ's offerings, as it were. That was Paul's experience. That's a great verse, is it not,
there at the end of that opening chapter. What is given? What
is given on behalf of Christ's life? Faith is the gift of God. It is given on the behalf of
Christ, not only to believe on Him. All faith is the gift of
God, but also, he says, to suffer for His sake. How does God teach
His children? How does God make His children
real Christians? It is by bitterness, is it not?
There are bitter experiences, there are crossings. There are
losses that come into the experience of the people of God. It is a strange, perplexing path
that the Christian has to tread. Now he has to prove the goodness
of his God in the midst of many trials and many troubles. How David knew it, he speaks
of it many a time, does he not? In the Psalm 119, before I was
afflicted I went astray, he says. But now have I kept thy law? or beforehand I was so prone
to wandering and straying out of that straight and narrow way
but now God taught him and taught him by all those trials and troubles
and now they've come thick and fast how David after he was anointed
king finds himself having to flee from the very presence of
Saul being hunted his life continual in his hand, fearing that one
day he would perish at the hand of Saul. Again he says, it is
good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn
thy statutes. How do we learn the statutes,
the commandments of God, in afflictions? You see the morsel, the bread,
the bread of life has to be dipped in vinegar there is that that
is bitter and yet this is how God strangely sharpens the appetite
of his people is it not so? to the hungry soul every bitter
thing is sweet says the wise man or how God will make us to
see a real need of him and cause us to be those who are truly
hungering and thirsting after We see so much when we come to
consider these types in the Old Testament. I remark just now
on that that he said before us typically in the Great Passover
Feast. Again, we have those words at
the institution of it. In Exodus chapter 12 it says
they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and with
unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. They
have to partake of it, you see, with bitter herbs. And it's those
bitter herbs that make the Paschal Lamb so sweet, so sweet, in contrast
with the bitter herbs. And this is how the Lord Jesus
Christ is made sweet to his people, is it not? when we know something
of what it is to endure sufferings and trials and troubles. We follow one who is a crucified
saint, Paul again. Time and again we see it in the
epistles of Paul what this Christian life is all about. I am crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith, by the faith of Christ. That's
how he lives his life. And he has to prove it. The fellowship
of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death. There's significance then in
the various parts of that feast that Boaz is setting here before
Ruth. He speaks of the bread, he speaks
of the vinegar and then he goes on to speak also of the parched
corn. We're told she sat beside the
reapers and he reached her parched corn and she did eat and was
sufficed and left. Well the Lord willing will come
to consider that latter part of the text when we meet again
in the evening hour. The Lord be pleased then to bless
these words to us concerning Boaz and that provision that
he makes for Ruth. Boaz said unto her at mealtime,
Come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel
in the vinegar. Amen.