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Episodes
Monday Aug 12, 2024
Monday Aug 12, 2024
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Monday Jul 29, 2024
Monday Jul 22, 2024
Monday Jul 22, 2024
The Filling Station
When I was around four years old, my aunt borrowed my dad’s work truck, probably to carry a load of tomatoes to market. If you’ve never had a freshly-picked southwest Arkansas-grown Bradley tomato, you don’t know what you’re missing.
My Aunt Frances took me along, and she pulled into a filling station to get gas. For those of you too young to know what a filling station is, it’s a lot like a gas station, but there’s someone there to pump the gas, often dressed in a uniform. He checked the tire pressure and cleaned the windshield while the gas pumped. Eventually, they called that “Full service.” Back then, it was the only kind of service.
The attendant asked my Aunt Frances what kind of gas she wanted. My aunt wasn’t sure what Dad used, so she asked me, “Hollisa, what kind of gas does your daddy put in this truck?”
Happy to have the right answer to a very adult question, I replied, “He gets Fillerupregular.”
Nowadays, I suppose it’s even more important to select the right kind of fuel for different kinds of engines.
In the Kingdom of Heaven, often disputes arise about grace vs works because we are pouring the wrong kind of fuel. The fuel is wrong because the question is wrong. The question is wrong because of a misunderstanding of the fundamentals of salvation, grace, obedience, and holiness. Like my four-year-old understanding of gasoline, often we simply parrot what we’ve heard someone say, someone older or wiser than we. We memorize the answer before we understand the words.
There is a reason two cheruvim guard the entrance to the Garden. Death cannot dwell there. Sin falls under the legal purview of death. Rebellion and transgression sins transfer a person under the custody of death. To allow a sinner to enter the holier spaces of the Presence is to consign them to the custody of death. It’s like trying to drop a quarter into the slot only big enough for a dime. The way to the most powerful dwelling of the Divine Presence grows narrower as we walk with Adonai.
Salvation begins the walk, but sanctification is a lifelong process of letting the Ruach HaKodesh shape us and strip away impairments that might delay our ability to stand and serve in holier places of the Presence. Adonai does not want us foolishly scampering into a holier place than that for which our obedience has prepared us. Just as there is glory to glory, life to life, growth to growth, so there are different kinds of “death.” Death is a matter of separation.
The Mishkan drew levels of holiness in the Camp of Israel. The pattern of the kohanim illustrates how a nation of priests should approach the holy spaces of ministry in holy garments so that they are not cut off...
- You shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty. You shall speak to all the skillful persons whom I have endowed with the spirit of wisdom, that they make Aaron’s garments to consecrate him, that he may minister as priest to Me. These are the garments which they shall make:..(Ex 28:2-4) ... “They shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they enter the tent of meeting, or when they approach the altar to minister in the holy place, so that they do not incur guilt and die.” (v. 43)
Even the Kohen HaGadol could die from his service!
It doesn't mean he wasn't saved from the second death, but that he couldn't fit into that holy space in disobedience.
Rashi comments to the passage above:
- “When they enter the Tent of Meeting...and die.” See that you have learned from this verse that a Kohen who performs the service lacking any of the Kohen’s garments in subject to death.” This is a death “at the hands of Heaven,” not execution by the courts.
It may or may not have an immediate visible effect to the natural eye.
Rashi to Ex 28:41
- “With them you shall dress Aaron your brother and his sons with him; you shall anoint them [with anointing oil], and you shall fill their hand, and you shall sanctify them, and they shall be Kohanim...” “Any filling of the hands in Scripture is an expression of inauguration when one enters upon a matter to be acknowledge as holding it from that day on that is called filling of the hands...filling the hands connotes taking full possession of something, e.g., a position of authority.”
Even though Aaron’s sons Nadav and Avihu had died in a holier place of the Presence than their obedience and level of consecration permitted, nevertheless, Aaron was required to stay in the Mishkan because the anointing oil was upon him. The authority and responsbility had been poured into his hands.
As Kohen HaGadol, his consecration had prepared him for the realm of holiness, the incense service, for which his sons had not yet been authorized. Obedience and consecration fills our hands with the authority of the Holy One to serve in the holier places, and unlike the rest of Israel, Aaron was limited in how he could grieve. The anointing prepares us for the suffering we will do in order to “fit” in those holier places of the Presence.
How does this enrich our understanding of Boaz’ statement to Ruth not to appear before Naomi “empty-handed” in the House of Bread, Beit Lechem?
Filling our hands with offerings when we approach the holy places such as Mishkan, Mikdash, or even our local congregation, is an affirmation of our position as a Kingdom of Priests willing to serve in the holier spaces. Juxtaposed with these extensive explanations of the Kohen HaGadol’s garments in Exodus 28 is a comprehensive list of oil-infused matzah “lechem,” “challot,” and “rakik” in Exodus 29:2-3.
Ruth was engaging in an act of consecration on the threshing floor of Beit Lechem. Boaz acknowledged her clean garments, her anointing, her request for a holier place of the Presence of Adonai. A marriage should create a holy place for the family to thrive in the service of Adonai. Most likely, Boaz had been longing for this moment of pouring into her hands this promise of a closer place in his home, extending his authority into her hands to minister on his behalf, encouraging Naomi of restoration.
This should inspire us to never have a garment lacking as we await the Bridegroom. Let us never lack for oil to anoint our gifts of “poor man’s bread” or for oil of anointing on our heads and hands as royal priests of the Kingdom. As we grow in obedience, we will grow in respect to our salvation and step into the holier places attained only through service and suffering for the sake of the Word.
What if we despair of family or friends who don’t seem to be preparing to stand in the holier places of the Presence?
- “Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.” (Ro 14:4)
While it is important to pray for the unsaved, yes, often the saved are not interested in dwelling in holier places in eternity. Maybe they are so consumed with their own interests that we doubt their salvation. The good news is that there are many realms of holiness, just like the Israelite camp. Although many servants may not be able to stand in the Temple, there are less holy spaces that they can be made to stand where the brightness of the Divine Presence will not bring about the second death.
Yeshua taught in Luke 14:7-11 that we shouldn’t make assumptions about one another’s “place” in the Kingdom, but to remain humble servants:
- And He began speaking a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how they had been picking out the places of honor at the table, saying to them, “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place. But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
If we strive to obey the Word, let it not be in order to gain a reward of a higher position over others, but for the intimacy of holier places to serve and linger near the “livelier” realms of holiness.
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Monday Jul 15, 2024
Monday Jul 15, 2024
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Sunday Jul 07, 2024
Sunday Jul 07, 2024
A Tried Bride |
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In Creation Gospel Workbook Five Volume Four (Bamidbar), students are challenged with the following exercise:
Draw a circle on a sheet of paper, but don’t close it. Inside write all the gifts, abilities, and characteristics that you KNOW are completely you. Don’t write what you’d like to be or do, but what you already know describes you. Let the circle sit for a few days or even weeks. Add or remove as necessary. It is okay to consult close friends or family who know you well. When you’re satisfied that what’s inside that circle describes what can be definitively known about you, close the circle.
This simple exercise helps us to explain the problem in the Torah portion Korach this week:
The leading administrators from the tribes of Reuven and Levi became jealous and bitter against Moses and Aaron. They are influencers of their generation. Moses reminds them that they were each given important leadership roles and service in the Body of the their future Messiah, but for some reason they became angry with Adonai; however, Moses and Aaron were the physical scapegoats for their jealousy. Moses wants to know why they were picking on Aaron. Who was he but an assigned agent of the Holy One? Authority comes from Heaven, not personal ambition or the ability to influence people.
Aaron was a man walking in obedience to his gifts and calling; he was walking in the Way. When a disciple walks in The Way of obedience to Adonai, then he walks in a power of the Ruach HaKodesh that threatens the satan. Aaron was walking in the power of THE NAME. He was operating to the best of his ability in the gifts and abilities he’d been given to intercede for Israel. We saw his Divine gift early in the story when he met Moses and willingly interceded as a speaker for Moses when Moses was still struggling to walk in his own gift of administration...which he'd learned early in the house of Pharaoh, then abandoned for a time while he learned shepherding in the wilderness.
The simple circle warmup exercise above was taken from a rabbi who was teaching on confusion and doubt. It is better to inventory one’s strengths and weaknesses early in a journey than to leave the path littered with ill-fitting armor and unrealistic dreams. In this context, the exercise points out where Korach and his assembly, and we as well, covet and enter spaces and places not apportioned by HaShem.
Once the circle is closed, spend all your effort developing what’s inside it, never what is outside it. This is your portion. If something else will be added later, it will grow from what is inside the circle, not what is outside.
The warmup exercise of drawing the circle is a way of helping disciples avoid doubt and confusion as to their roles in the Body of Messiah, families, work, etc. Every disciple must build the “name” or reputation and deeds uniquely apportioned to him in this world. The writer of Proverbs acknowledges that a Godly balance is desired in the portion:
The Father knows how to apportion His gifts to His children. He supplies food and water inside the circle, like the Garden of Eden. The difficulty for most of us is that we don’t want to close the circle. We want to keep our options open so we can be or have more or be responsible for less.
This brings us back to Shavuot and the story of Boaz and Ruth. Once Boaz realizes who Ruth is, he doesn’t react exactly as we’d expect him to. Yes, he invites her to his table, makes sure she gleans more with less effort, and she’s protected in his field. What he doesn’t do is lavish gifts or an all-expenses paid new home and car. Or donkey. He doesn’t woo her with expensive gifts. If he is such a close relative, and we know that from the first time he laid eyes on her he was attracted, why not roll out the red carpet?
Even as she sweats to glean in his field, Boaz and the whole city know this about Ruth's name, her reputation:
Boaz wants to see if she would be content with her portion. Having been Divinely guided to his field, would she be content in it and grow into maturity with him, or would she seek a faster way to the top outside his authority? Would she follow the reaping crowd to new fields? This was the testing of the future bride as the testing of the Bride in the wilderness.
Korach and the other leaders had the potential to build within their assigned positions. Had they applied the energy of coveting Aaron and Moses’ positions into developing their own, imagine what a blessing they would have been to Israel. They failed the test of the Tenth Word:
Boaz tried Ruth to see if she had any residue of covetousness, a rebellion against her portion. And then, Boaz demonstrates he also follows the principle of authority by refusing to “steal” Ruth from a man who had a stronger legal claim to her and the property:
And Ruth waited for the result. Boaz would do what she couldn't. Yes, working within one’s circle takes longer, but the result is less confusion and doubt in the Body and Bride of Messiah.
Today we struggle with so many people who are adept with technology beyond their sense of responsibility to the Body of Messiah. They are called “influencers,” and they love to gather a crowd. Because the goal is to influence and gather, not to build and gather, they daily subvert the work of local congregations.
Those congregations provide face-to-face opportunities to explore the Word, an opportunity to follow the model of Yeshua by physically attending a congregation each Shabbat, and by gathering at the feasts. The local leadership knows the sheep by name and reputation: when they hurt, when they need help, and when they triumph.
They are not driven by a single doctrine, which often contributes to feelings of self-righteousness among those crowded around the influencer. The local pastor or rabbi wants to build and feed the flock on healthy fields and pastures where they can grow within the circle of their portion on a balanced diet, not the Sugar-Pops of the latest "wow."
Influencers gobble up “likes” and statements of affirmation. Some of them even thrive on negative feedback…I suppose they think negative attention is better than no attention. Attention is their food, a feeling of power. This is covetousness, not of a good gift, but often in order to steal the attention of the flock and plant “grumbles.” Coveting a good thing is a good thing, but not to the point we “steal” from someone else’s place in the Body:
Yes, desire the greater gifts, but allow them to grow out of the circle of gifts Adonai has placed within us. A greater gift must stand the test of the wilderness.
Influencers know how to gather a crowd, but the question is whose authority will they trample and steal to achieve their goals? How many flocks will they scatter?
The attention-gobblers might take a lesson from Korach and his band. The average Israelite may be left standing in doubt, but the Ruach HaKodesh is not confused. The single-doctrine attention-gobblers might even pull people with completely different agendas into the same demonstration or challenge to authority, but Korach's family and the Reubenites, if successful in their power play, would have soon turned on each other. In the end, they both thought they deserved the authority. They certainly wouldn't have shared it as they demanded Moses and Aaron do!
The Boaz and Ruth example shows us the discipline of hard work and patience that establishes a spiritual legacy passed on to children. We can be gobbled up by the wilderness, or we can diligently serve the community in the wilderness so that we become a community in the Land of Promise.
A tried Bride.
Circle closed.
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Sunday Jun 23, 2024
Sunday Jun 23, 2024
A Wedding of WordsPart Two |
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Recap: Each year, it is traditional to read the scroll of Ruth at Shavuot. We might say the three scrolls of Ruth, Esther, and Song of Songs are the Bridal Scrolls of return from exile.
What happened to Israel in leaving Egypt at Pesach is what happened to Ruth in leaving Moab and arriving at the House of Bread (Beit Lechem) at Pesach. The Israelites left Egypt as strangers there before she became a Bride, and Ruth left Moab to become a stranger inside the gate of Judah before she became part of the Bride.
Israel and Ruth moved to holier places in their journeys.
The setting of Ruth’s story is Beit Lechem, the House of Bread, where Judah was recovering from the famine. The wilderness also was a place of miraculous, Heavenly Bread and Living Water. A place of covering, anointing, preparation, and clean clothes for a nation of priests. The wilderness was where the Bride was purified with the Torah as she walked as she walked after her Bridegroom, picking up what He dropped for her each morning.
Let’s see if there are wilderness template parallels in the story of Ruth:
If what happened to Israel in the wilderness at Mount Sinai happened to Ruth, then we should be able to find the Ten Words at work in the Megillat Ruth. Last week, we found the first four commandments. This week, we'll find the remaining six:
Fifth Commandment (Ex 20:12)
Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord God gives you.
Ruth honors her father and mother in a way that many have had to when their parents were idolators and habitual sinners...she doesn't do what they would want, but what her mother "in Torah" would want. Her disobedience to her parents to honor her Heavenly Father is the only way to honor her earthly parents.
Enjoying "long days on the earth" is a kind of security that is thought to allude to eternal security in the Kingdom of Heaven.
In Ruth, the Moses role and priesthood role along with “young men” shifts to Naomi as the friend/mediator between bride and bridegroom, and the young women (na’arot) are emphasized instead of young men (na’arim). Boaz tells Ruth to follow his young women. This shift in emphasis honors the “mother” [in law]. Whereas Moses instructs Israel what to do, Naomi instructs Ruth, who obeys her in all.
Naomi's instructions to Ruth to wash herself and her garments and anoint herself echo Moses instructions to the Israelites to prepare to meet the Bridegroom:
Ruth's obedience also echoes the Israelites':
Sixth Commandment (Ex 20:13)
You shall not murder.
Seventh Commandment (Ex 20:13)
You shall not commit adultery.
Ruth is recognized for her clean conduct:
Ruth does nothing but request redemption and marriage from Boaz, and Boaz in turn protects her reputation by sending her away before she can be seen so that there will not even be an appearance of evil. Boaz makes sure her reputation is not murdered by evil talk. Even before he knows her intentions, Boaz takes steps to protect her reputation and purity:
Boaz even acknowledges that Ruth has pursued a husband for the sake of sanctifying the Name of the Holy One, not simply to have a young handsome husband or a rich one:
Seventh Commandment (Ex 20:13)
You shall not commit adultery.
Going after men opens the door to sexual immorality, akin to idolatry. Let the righteous man notice a young woman’s dedication to the Word first.
Eighth Commandment (Exodus 20:13) You shall not steal [a person].
Ninth Commandment (Exodus 20:13) You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Tenth Commandment (Exodus 20:14) You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, nor his wife, his man-servant, his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is your neighbor’s [in order to steal it].
Boaz acknowledges that there is another who is legally entitled to redeem Ruth and her deceased husband's property. Rather than make the transaction secretly because he loves Ruth, Boaz takes it to the proper court to make the transaction. He refuses to steal her from one who might take up the claim. He testifies to the truth both to Ruth and before the court.
Ruth is also an honest worker.
Even though Torah gives the poor the right to glean, in her modesty and humility, Ruth asks permission.
And thus, both the Israelites and Ruth married their bridegrooms and Bridegroom, making a covenant of wedding Words, 'til death do us part.
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Sunday Jun 16, 2024
Sunday Jun 16, 2024
A Wedding of Words
Ruth's One-Way Flight
Each year, it is traditional to read the scroll of Ruth at Shavuot. We might say the three scrolls of Ruth, Esther, and Song of Songs are the Bridal Scrolls of return from exile.
There are many wonderful ideas about why Ruth commemmorates the giving of the Torah in addition to the story's setting, the time between the first fruits of the barley harvest at Pesach and the wheat harvest at Shavuot.
Sometimes the simplest answer is the most memorable. What happened to Israel in leaving Egypt at Pesach is what happened to Ruth in leaving Moab and arriving at the House of Bread (Beit Lechem) at Pesach. The Israelites left Egypt as strangers there before she became a Bride, and Ruth left Moab to become a stranger in Judah before she became part of the Bride.
The clue is in the wings that carried the Israelites and Ruth to their destinations, the wildernes and the Promised Land. In Hebrew, "wing" is kanaf (כָּנָף). And why were they carried their places? To engage in a covenant of the Ten Words:
- “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings (כָּנָף), and brought you to Myself.” (Ex 19:4)
- “May the LORD reward your work, and your wages be full from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings (כָּנָף) you have come to seek refuge.” (Ruth 2:12)
- He said, “Who are you?” And she answered, “I am Ruth your maid. So spread your covering (כָּנָף) over your maid, for you are a close relative.” (Ruth 3:9)
Were Israel and Ruth flown to a place of refuge, or were they moved to holier places in their journeys?
Yes.
- “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘In those days ten men from all the nations will grasp the garment (כָּנָף) of a Jew, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”’” (Zec 8:23)
The setting of Ruth’s story is Beit Lechem, the House of Bread, where Judah was recovering from the famine. The wilderness also was a place of miraculous, Heavenly Bread and Living Water. A place of covering, anointing, preparation, and clean clothes for a nation of priests. The wilderness was where the Bride was purified with the Torah as she walked as she walked after her Bridegroom, picking up what He dropped for her each morning.
Let’s see if there are wilderness template parallels in the story of Ruth:
- The Ten Words to the Bride
- at Shavuot, Mount Sinai,
- Via Moshe, Friend of the Bridegroom
- become Ten Witnesses to the Bride’s purity and offspring.
Think of the Ten Words (Commandments) as Ten Witnesses, the observable grace of the Bride in preparing for her Bridegroom according to their everlasting agreement. Ruth's character exhibited this grace in the Word, witnessed by ten elders of Beit Lechem:
- ...for all my people in the city know that you are a woman of excellence. (3:11) He took ten men of the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down. (Ru 4:2)
- Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses today...(v. 9)
- All the people who were in the court, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, both of whom built the house of Israel; and may you achieve wealth in Ephrathah and become famous in Bethlehem. Moreover, may your house be like the house of Perez whom Tamar bore to Judah, through the offspring which the LORD will give you by this young woman.” (v. 11-12)
Numerous times in Deuteronomy Moses called heaven and earth as well as the Israelites to be witnesses "today" of the importance of obeying the Words of the covenant. Ruth's obedience to the Ten Words had risen to such heights that she broke the "Moabite barrier," a passage in the Torah forbidding marriage to a Moabite, for they were stingy and inhospitable to their kin, Israel, as they passed in the wilderness.
Ruth, however, was the exact opposite: hospitable, obedient, humble, and loyal to her words of fialty to Naomi, Judah, Israel, and the Elohim of Israel. Because of this repentance, a new understanding of the commandment against Moabites was found, just as Moses found a new understanding of the laws of inheritance through the five daughters of Tzelofechad. Now the judges realized that the prohibition was against marrying male Moabites, for the wording, when examined closely, suggested the injunction was against the males, not females [who had put away idols].
If what happened to Israel in the wilderness at Mount Sinai happened to Ruth, then we should be able to find the Ten Words at work in the Megillat Ruth. We'll start this week with the first four commandments of the Ten Words, then continue next week, b'azrat HaShem.
First Commandment (Ex 20:2)
I am the Lord Your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Second Commandment (Ex 20:3-6)
You shall have no other gods beside Me. You shall not make for yourself any graven image, nor any manner of likeness, of any thing that is heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
- Then she said, “Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the LORD do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me.” (Ru 1:15-17)
While Orphah returned to the house of her people's idols, Ruth firmly declares she is entering the "lodge" of Naomi to become one of her people worshiping their Elohim...'til death do they part.
You shall have no other gods beside Me.
Part of acknowledging only one Elohim is to eat only His food, only His Word, His manna. A phrase sometimes appears in Scripture: "which your fathers did not know," indicating a new thing, sometimes good, sometimes bad, such as Daniel 11:38 describing strange gods previously unknown.
- “He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.” (Dt 8:3)
In Beit Lechem, the House of Bread, Naomi continues to mentor Ruth in the precepts of the Torah which her fathers did not know because they served other gods. As Ruth sustains Naomi with physical bread, Naomi teaches her the manna-bread she will need to remain "long" in the Land. Boaz, too, instructs Ruth on how to remain safe gathering the Bread of the Word and where to drink safe water in his field. He acknowledges her allegiance has changed from the gods of her father's house to embrace a people and Elohim she did not previously know:
- Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen carefully, my daughter. Do not go to glean in another field; furthermore, do not go on from this one, but stay here with my maids. Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them. Indeed, I have commanded the servants not to touch you. When you are thirsty, go to the water jars and drink from what the servants draw.” Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your sight that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?” Boaz replied to her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband has been fully reported to me, and how you left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and came to a people that you did not previously know. (Ru 2:8-11)
Third Commandment (Ex 20:7)
You shall not take the name of the Lord Your God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes His name in vain.
When an Israelite takes an oath in the Name of YHVH, it should be performed and true in every way. Ruth swears to remain loyal to Naomi and the Elohim of Israel until death, and Boaz swears to take Ruth as his wife:
- “Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the LORD do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me.” (Ru 1:17)
- Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses today that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and Mahlon. Moreover, I have acquired Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, to be my wife in order to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance, so that the name of the deceased will not be cut off from his brothers or from the court of his birth place; you are witnesses today.” All the people who were in the court, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. (Ru 4:9-11)
Fourth Commandment
Remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a Sabbath unto the Lord Your God, in it you shall not do any manner of work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your man-servant, nor your maid-servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger that is within your gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested on the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy.
In trying to send Orpah and Ruth back to Moab, Naomi uses the term "rest" to describe what they will find with their husbands. In the case of Ruth, the words turn out to be prophecy of Ruth's shabbat rest under Boaz' wing, in his house as well as in the House of Adonai:
- And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May the LORD deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me. May the LORD grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband.” (Ru 1: 8-9)
The commandment requires even the stranger within the gates of Israel to rest on Shabbat as well. Boaz treats her well even though she is a stranger, teaching later generations that an obedient stranger at the gate is a stranger on the way in to clinging to the Covenant of Ten Words, not on the way out. She should be treated well since the sign of her faithfulness to the Elohim of Israel will also be the Shabbat like the native-born:
- Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your sight that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?” (2:10)
The next "rest" passage alludes to a Shabbat Shabbaton, or High Sabbath of the feasts via its number and grain symbolism:
- So she held it, and he measured six measures of barley and laid it on her. Then she went into the city. When she came to her mother-in-law, she said, “How did it go, my daughter?” And she told her all that the man had done for her. She said, “These six measures of barley he gave to me, for he said, ‘Do not go to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’” Then she said, “Wait, my daughter, until you know how the matter turns out; for the man will not rest until he has settled it today.” (Ru 3:15-18)
Six can represent the six days of work. Boaz sends the six measures to Naomi, knowing she'll understand his intent to bring rest to Ruth. Naomi in turn assures Ruth that "the man will not rest until he has settled it today." Boaz is taking the sixth day as a "preparation day" to settle the matter in court so that they can rest on the seventh in unity.
Remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy.
I am the Lord Your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
The First Fruits of the barley is a reminder that Israel was brought out of the house of bondage. For Ruth, too, Boaz measures six measures of barley to signal that she has left Moab and the house of bondage to idols, and her journey to "Sinai" has occurred at the same season at the Israelites' journey:
- First fruits of Barley: “You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. And none shall appear before Me empty-handed. (Ex 23:15)
- So she held it, and he measured six measures of barley and laid it on her. Then she went into the city. When she came to her mother-in-law, she said, “How did it go, my daughter?” And she told her all that the man had done for her. She said, “These six measures of barley he gave to me, for he said, ‘Do not go to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’” Then she said, “Wait, my daughter, until you know how the matter turns out; for the man will not rest until he has settled it today.” (Ru 3:15-18)
In the two passages above, the term "do not go empty-handed" appears in reference to the barley feast. Something interesting is happening here!
Naomi is like Moses and the priesthood, friends of the Bridegroom, “matchmaking.” Moses led the people to the mountain to meet the Bridegroom at Sinai, and the priesthood drew the Israelites close to the Presence of the Bridegroom through the Temple services...a Temple that Ruth's offspring would fund, plan, and build!
Using a female in the role of matchmaker or friend of the Bridegroom is another symbolic layer: righteous women in Scripture often represent the work of the Ruach HaKodesh working in the lives of men and Israel, such as Rachel and Leah "building" the house of Israel. Both advised Jacob to return to the Promised Land and to leave the exile of living with idol-worshipping Laban.
Boaz' reasoning that Ruth should not return to Naomi empty-handed is also a subtle reference to the way he perceives Ruth's status has changed. She is now a Hebrew, not a Moabite as his servant erroneously told him. This precept applies uniquely to a Hebrew servant set free from bondage, not a foreigner:
- “When you set him free, you shall not send him away empty-handed. (Dt 15:13)
And this refers to an offering brought by males to the Temple:
- “Three times in a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread and at the Feast of Weeks and at the Feast of Booths, and they shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed. (Dt 16:16)
Ruth is being inducted into the Covenant People Israel, welcomed under the wing of Boaz just as Israel was taken to the wilderness on eagles' wings. Like Israel, she was saved from the house of bondage. Acting on that salvation, she begins learning the Torah, doing works of kindness, obeying the Ruach HaKodesh as symbolized by Naomi, which brings her to the holier places of Boaz' House of Bread. Not to be saved, but to reach for a holier space of intimacy. She was already saved. Now she would have offspring to dwell in those holier places of the Covenant.
She asks Boaz, ““Why have I found favor in your sight that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?” (Ru 2:10)
He noticed her modesty, her obedience, her loyalty, her willingness to pursue the Covenant. In Acts Chapter Two, a similar group of proselytes of the gate also gathered at Shavuot and witnessed to the Ruach HaKodesh, the Friend of the Bridegroom. On that Shabbat Shabbaton, the former strangers to the Feast of Shavuot were assured they were no longer strangers to the Covenant of Ten Words: “For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” (Ac 2:39)
They were called, like Ruth, to the feast. “At mealtime Boaz said to her, ‘Come here...’” (Ru 2:14)
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