WAYS IN WHICH BOAZ FORESHADOWS JESUS

• Ruth Meets Boaz in the Grain Field
• Ways in which Boaz foreshadows Jesus through His character.
  • • Jesus beckons us before we come to Him.
    • Jesus will not force Himself on us.
    • Jesus is gracious and merciful.
• Key takeaway.

Today, I want us to look at how Boaz foreshadows Jesus. In the story of Ruth in the Bible, we can see a resemblance between Boaz and Jesus. And we can all agree that we do have a Ruth moment too. This is when we hit rock bottom and can’t seem to figure our way out.

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The back story in Ruth chapter 1 was that Naomi and her family had left Bethlehem because there was famine and settled in Moab. And while in Moab, Naomi’s husband dies, followed by her two sons. These two sons marry and, unfortunately, die before having children. Naomi then moves back home and sends her daughters-in-law back to their parent’s homes. Orpah accepts’, but Ruth stubbornly refuses and so she follows Ruth to her mother-in-law’s home country.

Now, in Ruth chapter 2, we see Naomi and Ruth both settled in Bethlehem and adjusting to their new normal. Ruth then realizes that she should look for a way to feed her and Naomi and pick up the pieces. So she goes looking for work and she ends up in Boaz’s field. Boaz notices that there is a new person in the field and inquires about her. He is told who Ruth is and the focus of the ones telling him the story was her background and lineage. Basically, they focused on all the things that disqualified her from having Boaz inquire about her.

But Boaz does not care about her background and her shortcomings. Instead, Boaz instructs the male servants not to bother her, and the female ones to leave her more grain than they normally would. He also tells them to allow her to drink from the water jars and for them not to disturb her. Then Boaz asks her to eat with him at his table. And last, he told her not to go anywhere else. Talk about favor. Isn’t it amazing?

Ruth Meets Boaz in the Grain Field

2 Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz.

² And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.” Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” ³ So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek. ⁴ Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, “The Lord be with you!” “The Lord bless you!” they answered.

⁵ Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?” ⁶ The overseer replied, “She is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. ⁷ She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.’ She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.”

⁸ So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. ⁹ Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”

¹⁰ At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?” ¹¹ Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. ¹² May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

¹³ “May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servants.” ¹⁴ At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.” When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. ¹⁵ As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her. ¹⁶ Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.”

¹⁷ So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah. ¹⁸ She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.

¹⁹ Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!” Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said. ²⁰ “The Lord bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers.”

²¹ Then Ruth the Moabite said, “He even said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.’” ²² Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.” ²³ So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

Ways in which Boaz foreshadows Jesus through His character.

Jesus beckons us before we come to Him.

Before Ruth knew who Boaz was, Boaz knew her already. He even went to the extent of protecting her before she even knew of Him. Jesus knew you and I before our parents conceived us. And He called us to be His before we knew of Him. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us, so He basically paid the price for our sins before we could even accept Him. Boaz favored Ruth and was gracious to her. Through Jesus, God has poured His grace out to us. The same way Boaz did not shun Ruth because she was a foreigner is the same way Jesus will not admonish us when we run to Him.

Jesus will not force Himself on us.

Although Boaz knew all the good things Ruth had done to Naomi, he did not go looking for her. Rather, he gave her the space to make the first step, but once she did, he went over and above by providing her with a permanent job that was safe and also giving her a sense of belonging. She no longer felt like a foreigner because he treated her the same way he treated the rest. The same hedge of protection he had given other women working in the field, he gave her as well. Jesus is a gentleman and although He will pursue you, He will not force Himself on you. You have to run to Him for you to access all that He has for you. Ruth received extra grain because she was in the field.

Let me ask you this: are you abiding in Jesus? You can only experience the fullness of who He is in Him. So let me ask you this, have you resolved to go to the Feld? Jesus does not care about your past, He knows all about it. He is more concerned about you and the future He has for you because He wants to redeem you.

There is protection, provision, and identity change to be experienced IN him. He wants to give you an identity and a sense of belonging. You have a need and Jesus wants to fulfill it. But for Him to do it, He wants you to come to Him and let Him be the one to answer it for you. You obviously have come to the end of yourself, but He has not run out of solutions. He is the solution. Let Jesus in, go and glean from Him and He will fill you up spiritually so that you will be a blessing to others, too.

Ruth positioned herself in the right place and although at the time she did not know it, she came to realize it later. Are you positioned in the right place where you can receive your miracle? The man who had been paralyzed for 38 years was rightly positioned so that when Jesus came by, he could receive his healing. Jesus has something great for you. He has a future for you that is filled with hope despite the many setbacks, losses, and disappointments. He wants you to experience it all, He is the redeemer and restorer and this is not just for others but for you and me too. Will we position ourselves to receive the fullness of who Jesus is?

Jesus is gracious and merciful.

Boaz was not ashamed to favor Ruth and be gracious to her. He gave her the same privileges, if not more, as the other workers, yet that was her first day. First off, this is just like Jesus. When you receive Him as your Lord and Saviour, you have the same access to His favor as those that have been Christians for years. He will never discriminate because it is not about our works or our righteousness, but our faith in Him. Stop condemning yourself, thinking that you have to earn God’s grace, yet He has freely given to all who believe in Jesus.

Ruth did not have the right qualifications to warrant favor from Boaz, yet she got it anyway. Jesus does not need you to be perfect for you to receive His grace. In fact, His grace is the one that will lead you to repentance and also lead you to live a holy life. Jesus is not waiting for you to perform so that He can bless you. He will do it anyway. His word tells us He gives rain to the unbelievers and believers alike. Obviously, some benefits come with obedience and holiness. He is full of Mercy and wants to show that to you and help you in your journey, restore you, give you beauty for ashes and garments of joy for mourning.

Key takeaway.

For us to receive the favor and fullness of who Jesus is, we have to position ourselves by first acknowledging Him as our Saviour and Lord. Then we have to realize that we can do nothing on our own and so run to Him for help. In Him, we will find the solutions to the problems we have and also help solve others we did not even know we had. Ruth thought all she needed was food, she did not know that she also needed a sense of identity and protection. Jesus knows all that we need because He knows us more than we know ourselves.

Jesus came so that we can receive salvation. Salvation in Greek is translated as Sozo, which not only means to be saved. But also healed and delivered as well. When we come to Jesus, we are not just receiving eternal life but also deliverance from the power of death and healing of our minds, soul, and body. Jesus does not want to limit His fullness in your life, but you can limit Him. To what extent of His fullness do you want? Boaz protected Ruth as long as she stayed in his field. You will receive wholeness as long as you abide in Jesus.

Jesus does not care about our past sins and mistakes. He wants to transform us and as long as we come to Him and give Him our yes. He will change and renew us to where other people will run to Him, too. Everything that Jesus does for us is so that God can receive glory and point people back to Him. Will you allow Jesus to transform you so that others can come back to Him? It is time to experience Jesus as the one who transforms.

In the darkness, we were waiting, without hope and light. Until from heaven You came running, there was mercy in Your eyes. To reveal the kingdom coming and to reconcile the lost, You did not despise the cross. Even in Your suffering, You saw to the other side. By your blood and in Your name, In Your freedom, we are free. For the love of Jesus Christ, who has resurrected us.

KING OF KINGS- HILLSONG