HOW TO BE A CLOSE FRIEND IS BASED ON THE N.I.V.
BIBLE'S ACCOUNT OF THE BOOK OF RUTH. IT WAS
WRITTEN ABOUT 1200 B.C. OR 43 LIFETIMES AGO. OUR
COMMENTS ARE IN BRACKETS.
Naomi, her husband and two sons, travelled about
60 miles from Bethlehem, where there was a
famine, to Moab. Her sons married. But they and
her husband died. Hearing the famine was over,
she set out on the road home.
She advised her two daughters-in-law, Ruth and
Orpah, to return to their mothers' homes in
Moab. She said, May the Lord show kindness to
you as you have to me and may you find rest and
another husband.
She kissed them. All wept. The girls offered to
go with her. She said she was too old to have
more sons they could marry. Also, it is more
bitter for me than for you, because the Lord's
hand has gone against me. More weeping and Orpah
went back.
But not Ruth. She said:
-Where you go I'll go.
-Where you stay I'll stay.
-Your people will be my people.
-Your God will be my God.
-Where you die I'll die.
-May the Lord deal with me severely if
anything but death separates us.
So the two arrived at Bethlehem as the barley
harvest was beginning. The whole town asked, Is
this Naomi? She replied, Call me Mara because
the Almighty has:
-Made my life bitter.
-Brought me back empty.
-Afflicted me.
-Brought misfortune on me.
(Chapter 1)
Naomi had a prosperous relative named Boaz. Ruth
said to Naomi, Let me go to the fields and
gather leftover grain. Naomi agreed. Ruth,
unknowlingly, worked in one of Boaz's fields.
Arriving, he greeted the harvesters, The Lord be
with you. They replied, The Lord bless you. He
asked his foreman, Who is that young woman? He
replied, The Moabitess who returned with Naomi.
She asked to glean behind the harvesters and has
worked well.
So Boaz said to her:
-Stay with my servant girls.
-Follow along with them.
-I've told the men not to touch you.
-If thirsty, get a drink from the jars the men
filled.
She bowed and said:
-Why have I, a foreigner, found favour in your
eyes?
He said:
-Because of what you've done for your
mother-in-law.
-How you left your family and homeland for
her.
-May the Lord repay you for what you've done.
-May you be richly rewarded by the Lord the
God of Israel, under whose wings you have
come to take refuge.
She said:
-May I continue to find favour in your eyes.
-You've comforted and spoken kindly to me,
though I don't have the standing of your
servant girls.
At mealtime Boaz said:
-Come over here,
-Have some bread and dip it in the wine
vinegar.
When she sat down with the harvesters he offered
roasted grain.
She ate and kept what was left over.
Getting up to glean, Boaz ordered his men,
-Don't embarrass her.
-Leave some grain for her to gather.
-Don't rebuke her.
She gleaned 'til evening, thrashed the barley,
gathered about 22 litres and took it back to
her mother-in-law, together with the roasted
grain left over from lunch.
Naomi asked where she worked and said,Blessed be
the man who took notice of you.
So Ruth told her about Boaz.
Naomi said:
-The Lord bless him.
-He hasn't stopped being kind to the living
and the dead.
-This man is one of our kinsmen - redeemers.
Ruth said, He even said to me, stay with my
workers until they finish harvesting all my
grain.
Naomi said, It will be good for you to go with
his girls because in someone else's field you
might be harmed.
So Ruth stayed close to Boaz's servant girls
until the barley and wheat harvests were
finished. And she lived with her
mother-in-law.
(Chapter 2)
Naomi said, I'll try to find a home for you
where you'll be provided for:
-Boaz is our kinsman.
-To-night he'll be winnowing barley on the
threshing floor.
-Wash, perfume yourself and put on your best
clothes.
-Go to the threshing floor.
-Don't let him know you're there.
-When he's finished eating and drinking and
lies down,
-Note where he lies.
-Go, uncover his feet and lie down.
-He will tell you what to do.
Ruth replied, I'll do what you say and she did.
-Boaz finished eating and drinking and was in
good spirits.
-He lay at the far end of the grain pile.
-Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet
and lay down.
In the middle of the night:
-Something startled the man.
-He turned and discovered a woman lying at his
feet.
-Who are you? he asked.
She replied:
-Your servant Ruth.
-Spread the corner of your garment over me (a
request for marriage),
-Since you are my kinsman - redeemer.
(The closest male relative had the primary
responsibility to marry a widow).
He said:
-The Lord bless you my daughter.
-This kindness is greater than you showed
earlier.
-You've not run after younger men, rich or
poor.
-Don't fear.
-I'll do all you ask.
-All fellow townsmen know you're a woman of
noble character.
-I'm near of kin but there's a nearer kinsman-
redeemer.
-Stay there for the night.
-At morning if he wants to redeem, good.
-If not, as surely as the Lord lives, I'll do
it.
So she:
-Lay at his feet 'til morning.
-But got up before anyone could be recognised,
And he said:
-Don't let it be known a woman came to the
threshing floor.
-Hold out the shawl you're wearing.
-And he poured in six measures of barley.
Then he went back to town.
On returning, Naomi asked Ruth, How did it go my
daughter?
-She told her everything and showed her the
barley.
Naomi said:
-Wait and see what happens.
-The man won't rest until the matter's settled
to-day.
(Chapter 3)
Meanwhile Boaz:
-Sat at the town gate with 10 of the town
elders and said to the first-in-line
kinsman - redeemer:
-Naomi is selling the land of her dead
husband.
-I suggest you buy it but if not I will.
The man said, I'll redeem it.
Boaz continued:
-You also acquire the dead man's widow, Ruth.
In order to maintain the name of the dead
with his property.
The man replied:
-I can't do that, it would endanger my own
estate.
-You redeem it yourself,
-And made it clear by giving Boaz his sandal.
So Boaz said, You are witness that to-day I've:
-Bought from Naomi her husband's sons'
(Icilion and Mahlon) property.
-Acquired Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon's widow,
as my wife, to maintain the name of the
dead with his property.
Then the elders said:
-We are witnesses.
-May the Lord make Ruth like Rachel and Leah,
who together built up the house of Israel.
-May you have standing in Ephrathah and be
famous in Bethlehem.
-Through Ruth's offspring may your family be
like Perez whom Tamar bore to Judah.
So Boaz married Ruth and
-She bore a son.
-They named him Obed and he was
-(the father of Jesse),
-(the father of David).
-The women said to Naomi:
-PRAISE THE LORD,
-Who has not left you without a
kinsman-redeemer.
-May he be famous throughout Israel.
-He will renew and sustain your old age.
-For your daughter-in-law Ruth, who loves
you better than 7 sons, has given him
birth.
So Noami:
-Took the child.
-Laid him in her lap.
-And cared for him.
The women living there said:
-Naomi has a son.
(Chapter 4)
HERE ARE SOME MAIN POINTS FROM RUTH:
1. The Moabites were bitter enemies of Israel.
But the love and compassion of Ruth (from
whom Jesus descended) made nothing of
historical hatred.
So put God 100% in your life and see His
love overcome ALL obstacles.
2. Israel,at this time (the time of the Judges)
was in a depressing mess because of
disobedience to God. Yet, like a ray of
sunshine on a cold cheerless grey day, there
is the historical account of Ruth.
So take heart. This IS God's world. He IS
in control. Look UP to Him. Don't let a
single day be spoiled by the madness of the
people in the world. Like an eagle, soar
above, even use, the turbulence below. And
God will enable you to view things from His
perspective.
(Chapter 1)
3. Be assured, love and goodness is rewarded
sooner or later by God. But only if it's
Christlike and selfless, without thoughts of
reward.
(Chapters 2 & 4)
4. Stand before the Lord with clean hands and a
pure heart and be ready to be surprised. No
rigid orthodoxy with Him. New, different,
appropriate, unconventional, and perfect are
His ways.
(Chapter 3)
5. The Lord's ways are legal ways. (Chapter 4)
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