"Evidently Ruth believed what Naomi told her about her relationship in law to Boaz. Now she proceeds to act on her faith. In this she has four instructions from Naomi:
(i.) "Wash thyself."
"That is the first. It comes to us in 2 Cor. vii. I,
"Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."
"Let us get rid of all that will hinder, and prevent us from getting the fullness of His redemption.
(ii.) "Anoint thee."
"Let the oil of the Holy Spirit be upon you. Let the Holy Spirit help you and be with you. Let Him inspire you to pray. Let the Holy Spirit draw you nearer to God,
(iii.) "Get thee down to the floor . . . and lay thee down,"
"committing yourself to Him. She had offered a request before, 'Let me glean' (ii. 7). Now she offers herself. [This will also be fulfilled historically. There is coming a night of affliction for Israel--Jer. xxx. 3-7. There will be judgment that winnows. The remnant of the Jews will experience as dark a night as the earth has ever seen. But because of the hopeless darkness they will creep to Christ's feet, and claim Him as their own Redeemer and Lord--Zech. xii. 10 to xiii.1.] Prayer is the first stage of Christian life. Then as one grows in the knowledge of Christ one wants to offer oneself. Yield yourself to Him, surrender to Him. Make your will His. No longer your will but His. 'Commit thy way unto the Lord. Trust also in Him.' Those exhortations in Psalm xxxvii. 3-7, are most appropriate at this stage. Come in lowly surrender to Him, as one who is poverty-stricken, and then wait, 'wait patiently for Him.'
"(iv.) Naomi bids Ruth not to speak to Boaz, but to wait, for
"He will tell thee what thou shalt do."
"Wait. He will speak.
"On the resurrection morning the disciples came together in the upper room. He told them that as His Father had sent Him, even so He would send them. They yielded themselves to Him to go wherever He bade them, in real surrender, and then waited until He revealed Himself. They waited for ten days, and at last the Lord spoke. There was a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind. The Holy Ghost came. The Lord spoke. Let us in the same way commit ourselves to Him at His feet, in real consecration; and wait, and He will speak.
"So to return to the Book of Ruth, at last Boaz spoke, asking:
"Who art thou?"
"I am Ruth . . . for thou art a near kinsman."
"She tells him two things. She tells him first who she is. 'I am the poor stranger, the poverty-stricken Ruth.' 'I am the one who belongs to an accursed nation.' 'I am Ruth.' Secondly, she tells him what he is to her, 'Thou art my Redeemer.' 'Thou art the one who has the right to redeem me, even out of all my poverty.' And so, because of these two facts, she prays this prayer:
"Spread therefore thy skirt over thy handmaid."
"She uses the same Hebrew as is used in Chapter ii. 2: 'Under whose wings thou art come to trust.' 'Spread thy wings over me,' she says, 'do thou take charge of me, just as a mother hen spreads its wings over its little ones, especially if there is danger near. Be thou responsible for me.'
"We are taught to pray like that in the Book of Psalms. Turn to the fifty-seventh Psalm:
"Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge."
"This might indeed have been the prayer of Ruth, or of any seeking soul. Pray in confidence, claim the power of your Redeemer, and put yourself under the shadow of His wings.
"In the ninety-first Psalm we are given the same truth:
"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty."
"That is just where Ruth wanted to come.
"He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust."
"That is the place of deepest comfort to the young birds where they feel the mother-heart and the warm mother-love. God's care and protection feels like that. Well may we pray 'O spread thy wings over me.'
"The answer of Boaz 'there is a kinsman nearer than I' must have disconcerted her and made her wonder if she had made a mistake in applying to Boaz, and whether she ought to have sought elsewhere.
"Who is the other kinsman who might redeem her, and ought to redeem her? I think it is 'our old man' (Rom. vi. 6) who, knowing the law of God, ought to have been able to redeem us from sin and to cause us to walk in the law of God. Then we should have enjoyed our inheritance, as obedient children of God. This other kinsman is a type of the old man under the law of God. But that kinsman is no good at all. He cannot bring redemption. It is a help to us to find that he cannot enable us to fulfil the will and law of God. If you look at the seventh chapter of Romans, you will see that the old man cannot obey the law of God. In the eighteenth verse:
"For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not."
"The old man is of no avail, neither has the law (i.e. the knowledge of what is right and God's will) power.
"For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us."
"This is what is meant by the other kinsman.
"But Boaz promised (verse 13) that if the first kinsman would not do his part as a redeemer, he himself would come forward and would accomplish what Ruth desired.
"I will do the part of a kinsman to thee."
"Ruth takes that promise of Boaz and rests upon it, waiting quietly at his feet until the morning. Then as she rises he gives her six measures of barley. The promise has not yet been fulfilled. But she goes away laden with blessing. Boaz gives her clean winnowed barley. What she had gleaned was barley and straw. But Boaz never gives what is valueless. He gives the purest and the finest and the best (Psalm lxxx. 16).
"If you seek the Lord earnestly, coming to His feet in prayer, you may not as yet get all you want, but you will come away from His feet laden with blessing, as Ruth did. She knew that Boaz would work out her desire, and when she gets home, Naomi confirms her confidence by saying:
"Sit still my daughter."
"In other words, she meant that Ruth need not fuss, or do anything; for if she left it to Boaz, he would do all that was necessary. Boaz had promised. Ruth had put in her claim. Now Naomi tells her to wait quietly, leaving Boaz to do all that is required.
"So we see by Chapter iii. that Faith means three things.
"At the beginning of this Chapter, Faith meant that Ruth understood her rights. So let us believe what we are shown are our rights in Christ from the Scriptures.
"Faith, in the second place, means surrender at Christ's feet and putting in our claim.
"And Faith, in the third place, means confidence that He will work. Ruth goes away resting on his promise. It is not yet fulfilled, but she knows it will be. It is all in the hand of Boaz, and he will bring it to pass; and therefore she can leave it, knowing
"The man will not be in rest, until he have finished the thing this day."
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