For our churches midweek meeting on Wed 3rd Feb at 7:30pm via Zoom. No preparation required!
QUESTIONS:
Re-cap:
Can you briefly re-tell
the story so far?
Hosea 9:1 – To the people
of Israel: “you have been unfaithful to your God; you love the wages of a
prostitute at every threshing floor” – cf. prostitution and idolatry
What was the new issue /
problem introduced last time?
Chapter 4:
What happens the day after
the night before and why?
Do you know what the town
gate was like / what its significance was? (v1)
(What bodily postures are
mentioned in chapters 3 and 4 and why?)
What role do the elders
and witnesses (vv9-11, 3 times) play here?
V1 – “the kinsman-redeemer
he [Boaz] had mentioned came along” - another coincidence? – cf. 2:4 – “as it
turned out she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from
the clan of Elimelech”, lo and behold, it just so happened! What have we learnt
to make of co-incidences in this book?
Can you guess at why the
other kinsman redeemer is never named?
Do you find it surprising
that Naomi has a piece of land to sell (v3)? Why? What might be going on here?
Cf. 2 Kings 8:1-6 – maybe a parallel situation of a woman going away because of
a famine and returning, struggling to make use of the land which belonged to
her
How does Boaz deal with
the situation in a wise / clever way?
Do you think he is
honourable or crafty or…?
(Do you think he embodies
Matthew 10:16)
Why is the nearer kinsman
redeemer interested then not interested?
Why might the redemption
be costly? Do a cost / benefit analysis!
(What if only Naomi were
involved? But what about with Ruth? Who does the redeemer have to feed and look
after? What does he get out of it?)
How do the two potential
kinsman redeemers compare?
Remember how Orpah acted.
Do you think the other kinsman redeemer is doing similarly or is he being
especially wicked?
Can you think of times
when Christian service is costly or when faith contrasts with sight, hopeful
trust in God with apparently prudent pragmatism?
What were Rachel and Leah (the
wives of Israel / Jacob – Genesis 29ff) like? (v11)
How would they contrast
with Ruth’s present situation?
What’s the relevance of
Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah? (v12) – see Genesis 38
Is there any similarity
between Judah and Tamar and Boaz and Ruth? Any difference?
(Tamar is married to Judah’s
son Er, who the LORD puts to death. Onan, Judah’s son, failed to do his duty to
Tamar and Judah didn’t deal with it satisfactorily so she went back to her
father’s house. Later Tamar tricked Judah into fathering her child.)
Did Boaz become “famous in
Bethlehem”? How? Why?
How did he become great?
How would you describe his
greatness?
Why might Boaz and Ruth be
thought unlikely parents?
(We might think of other
unlikely births in the Bible!)
Why does marriage / a
child matter so much in the book of Ruth? How do they relate to the promises of
God?
Why is the claim in v17
that Ruth is worth more than seven sons so extraordinary in this context?
Can you spot any
similarities or differences between chapter 1 and chapter 4?
What if we called this the
book of Naomi?
Her story is emphasised at
the beginning and end of the book and at various points.
What if you re-told the
story as the story of Naomi what would it be?
In what senses might Jesus
be seen as like Boaz, or vice versa?
In what ways could Jesus
be called our kinsman / guardian redeemer?
So, sum up. How does
salvation, blessing, restoration, fullness, sweetness, transformation come
about in this book?
What is the particular
thing about Ruth which is stressed in the book? Ruth the ….. ? Why does that
matter? What would you make of that? Think of the applications / implications /
what it hints at.
What’s the climax / ending
of the book? Do you find that surprising / significant?
(How do the very first and
last verses of the book contribute to its meaning in the context of the whole
historical story of the Bible?)
What have you learnt /
been reminded of by the book of Ruth as a whole?
(What have you found
striking / interesting?)
What does it tell us about
God and his purposes?
In what ways might God be
considered the main character of this book or not?
(The only explicit actions
of God in the book are 1v6, providing food in Israel, and 4v13, enabling Ruth
to conceive)
What has God used to
achieve his purposes?
How does Christ fulfil the
book of Ruth?
How have you experienced
the loyal loving-kindness of God or of others?
How could you show this
loyal loving-kindness to others?
How would you sum up the
message of the book of Ruth in a sentence?
We have traced the theme
of emptiness and fullness in Ruth. What do these NT texts have to say about
fullness? Col 1:19; 2:9, 10; Jn 1:14, 16; 10:10
NOTES:
Chapter 4 (Christopher Ash’s
outline): Costly redemption & unfolding hope
Legal decision (vv1-11a):
Blessing comes only through costly redemption
A series of blessings
(vv11b-17):
(a) Blessings from the patriarchal on Ruth, Boaz and their
offspring – vv11-12
(b) Blessings in the intimate present - v13
(c) Blessings of hope for the future – v14ff
A pointer to the future
(vv18-21):
These blessings anticipate
a greater fullness to come in Christ
Town gate (v1) – a kind of
plaza inside the city walls where legal decisions were made, public business
was done – Gen 23:10-18; 34:20; Dt 22:24 esp. 25:7; 2 Sam 19:8; 1 Kings 22:10;
esp. 2:21; 3:2f
On levirate marriage see
Gen 38; Dt 25:5-10
In chapter 3 there was a
certain amount of lying down; now there is some sitting down to do serious
legal business
V3 – maybe Naomi wasn’t
able to work her land for some reason – had someone moved in to take it over?
V5 – acquire – really
means take under your wings of protection and provision to care for her and
look after her – Ex 15:13, 16
V7 – represents stepping
into the shoes of another?
V11 – house = family /
dynasty
V14 – cf. 1:19 for this
chorus of women, where they say “Can this be Naomi?” on her return to Bethlehem
V15 – He (the child) will “renew”
your life – lit. cause to return, an echo of the theme of chapter 1 – contrast
1v21
V15 – the only use of the
word “love” in the book – maybe surprisingly the love of Ruth for Naomi – this seems
important in the book whereas we might find it overshadowed by the love between
Ruth and Boaz
V16 the child / lad – also
in 1:5, where Naomi’s two lads died – a poignant and lovely inclusion
Ash: We might call this
whole story from first-fruits to fullness
A parent burying a child is one of the saddest things;
and the birth of a child is one of the happiest and most hopeful – from death
to life; from emptiness, devastation and despair to fullness, joy and hope.
Another inclusion – from the days of the Judges (1v1)
with their chaos to the blessings of the days of David (the very last verse)
The book of Ruth begins and ends with a flurry of
names
Chapters one and four both have a day of decision in
which one decided no and another decides yes (cf. Ruth & Orpah and the two
potential kinsman redeemers)
NIV Proclamation Bible –
one sentence summaries of each book: The Lord is committed to his people even
in the darkest days, and will preserve his plan of salvation through a godly
king [David / the Messiah], for both Jews and Gentiles. Through his kind and
surprising providence God preserves the integrity of the family of Bethlehem
from which the future king would arise. (Daniel Bock)
Covenant righteousness –
Hesed, loving kindness, covenant loyalty in the Lord (2:20) and Ruth (3:10)
Light and hope in dark
times
See NIV Proclamation Bible
for the structure of the whole book of Ruth in 5 Acts + Epilogue – each act in
a different location
Moab – crisis in the royal
line
Field in Bethlehem – a ray
of hope
Threshing floor –
complication
City Gate – solution
Home of Boaz – guarantee
Family tree (conclusion)
Ruth the only woman in the
entire Hebrew Bible explicitly called a woman of noble character (3:11), an embayment
of Prov 31!
The genealogy of Christ –
Matthew 1:5; Luke 3:31-33
Ash: in some ways we live
at the end of chapter 3 as we await the Wedding Supper of the Lamb
There are many blessings
to the Christian life, but God doesn’t promise plenty, marriage and fertility
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