Ruth – Gentile Bride

THE LAW OF GLEANING

The law of glean­ing, the third of the three social laws that are promi­nently fea­tured in the book of Ruth.

God is all about the widow and the orphan — De 24:17 Thou shall not per­vert the judg­ment of the stranger, nor of the father­less; nor take a widow’s rai­ment to pledge: 17 “You shall not per­vert the jus­tice due to the sojourner or to the father­less, or take a widow’s gar­ment in pledge;  v 18 But thou shall remem­ber that thou were  a bond­man in Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee thence: there­fore I com­mand thee to do this thing.

19 “When you reap your har­vest in your field, and have for­got­ten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the sojourner, the father­less, and the widow; that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.  The whole law of Torah was to teach Israel to develop the heart of God and His Glory is man­i­fest in His mercy and His love. Over and over He stresses the law was to pro­tect the widow and orphan and the stranger. In show­ing mercy is how we show off /manifest  His Glory.

Ruth Chap­ter 1 – The famine in Moab

(Judges 21:25) In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Famine is a pic­ture of God’s judg­ment upon dis­obe­di­ence.  (Lev 26 v 17)

(Ruth 1:1) Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine .in the land. And a cer­tain man of Beth­le­hem Judah went to live in the coun­try (fields)  of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.  There he dies and leaves Naomi a widow and his sons marry two Moabite women. (Deut 7v1-4 Lists the nations they were not to marry) After 10 years they are also dead leav­ing 3 widows.

Naomi hears God has vis­ited His peo­ple – Always a pos­i­tive event (Luke 1 v 68) by pro­vid­ing bread in Beth­le­hem. Ruth 1 v 7 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return from the coun­try of Moab.  The word “arose” implies new life –and the three wid­ows start to return to Israel. It is the kind­ness of God that prompts peo­ple to “Return or Turn” a phrase asso­ci­ated with Repen­tance.  Ruth 1:8 Naomi said unto her two daughters-in-law, Go, return each to her mother’s house. Prophet­i­cally God made Israel’s land fer­tile so the woman – that peo­ple who won­dered around for 1900 years could come return.

(Ruth 1:8 KJV) And Naomi said unto her two daugh­ters in law, Go, return each to her mother’s house: the LORD deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me. Naomi states that both Ruth and Orpah have dealt kindly with “the dead” and with her.

The word for kind­ness is Chesed (or Hesed, Heb. חסד) is the Hebrew word for “lov­ing kind­ness.” It is one of the pri­mary com­mand­ments of the OT. Micah 6v8 What doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love (Chesed) mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

Ruth 1 v 11 Naomi expresses a peti­tion that the Lord grant them both to find rest in the house of their hus­band. She empha­sizes she can have no more sons for them under the Levi­rate mar­riage rules. This was the empha­sis and focus of the chi­as­tic chart of chap­ter one. With no hus­band Elimelech’s name would die with­out an heir. This is the prob­lem that the story resolves.

Orpah returned to her coun­try and she is never heard from again while Ruth ignor­ing Naomi’s 3^rd request to return. She clung pro­fess­ing she was giv­ing up all to accept Naomi’s God and her peo­ple.  A Chris­t­ian must be will­ing to take up his cross and lose his life in order to be a dis­ci­ple of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ruth 1:16 And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from fol­low­ing after thee: for whither you go, I will go; and where thou live, I will live: your peo­ple shall be my peo­ple, and your God my God:  Ruth has decided to fol­low the God of the Jews, and in the process, she will love the Jews and remain close to them. The faith­ful Chris­t­ian prays for the peace of Jerusalem and for the Jew­ish peo­ple to return to God the Father and to their Mes­siah, Jesus Christ.

The two travel back to Beth­le­hem – “House of Bread” and the res­i­dents wel­come them. Naomi’s And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara:  the hand of the Lord has been against me.   The hand of the Lord against me …is a phrase that implies plague and Mara means “Bitter.”

Their arrival is at the time of the Bar­ley Har­vest. This is around the Feast of the First Fruits (Jesus was Res­ur­rected on this day) and the next 50 days will be count­ing of the Omer up to the Feast of Pen­te­cost.  This is a har­vest sea­son first of Bar­ley and then of the Wheat harvest.