James 2:5-7 – “Seeing”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁵Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen for Himself the very poor ones to the world [to be] rich ones in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to ones loving Him? ⁶But you, you have dishonored the very poor one. Are not the rich ones oppressing you and they, they are dragging you into court? ⁷They, are not they blaspheming the beautiful Name, the one by which you [are] called ones?

Verse 5 brings us particularly back to 1:9-11 and the subject of rich and poor. Even back there, the problem was that “things are not as they appear.” We were told that the poor man should make much of his high position, while the rich man should make much of his low position, both of which fly completely contrary to our natural thinking. He just accosted us for being judges with evil thoughts, which I considered in my last post as being a problem of spiritual myopia – judging by appearances rather than seeing the world through God’s eyes.

One of the things Jesus reproved the Laodiceans for was “You do not realize you are blind” (Rev 3:17). He of course often, quoting from the Old Testament, reproved the Pharisees and the Jewish people for this very problem, “Blind guides! … You will be ever seeing but never perceiving … This people have closed their eyes … Do you have eyes but fail to see?” We can lament the Jewish people’s blindness but, alas, this passage in James would call each of us to examine our own hearts.

With the unjust usher, we conclude that the rich man is “better” than the poor man, seeing the “gold rings” and the “magnificent robe,” and comparing them to the “filthy garments.” But things are not as they appear. James calls us to see with God’s eyes, not ours. What does God see? He sees the poor as most often those 1. Whom God has chosen for Himself, 2. Who are rich in faith, 3. Who are heirs of the Kingdom, and 4. Who are “those loving Him.” The man with the gold rings and magnificent clothes is most often one oppressing others, dragging people into court, and blaspheming the Lord.

Because we don’t “see” what God sees, we end up honoring the man who blasphemes God and dishonoring the one who was “rich in faith.” Yikes! And in church at that!!

I guess what my own heart is marveling over is our need to see with God’s eyes, no matter what we’re doing. Because of our lustful hearts, we are easily moved to value the worthless and despise the best. Wealth, beauty, position, power all easily incline themselves to the spirit of this world. But that same spirit is at enmity with God! Here is one of those places where we need to learn to “look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (II Cor 4:18).

We need so much to see with God’s eyes, not ours. That is another way of seeing the unjust usher’s problem – he is trying to do God’s work without God’s eyes. Even involved in a church ministry, this man ends up honoring those God dishonors and dishonoring those God honors! And that all because he’s seeing the world through the eyes of his own twisted heart, rather than letting Jesus give him spiritual eyes to see what really matters.

I can’t be too hard on the man because I know him too well. I fear too, too much of my life I’ve been seeing with my eyes, not God’s. I’ve tried to do His work without His eyes.

I want to ponder more this whole matter of rich/poor but for now I just want to acknowledge that I think this is the most important point to take from this passage – to see with God’s eyes. I have been sincerely trying to learn to stay “God-connected” in everything I do. This is just one more way of seeing the task – keeping His values in front of me so I see things His way.

God deliver us from our awful blindness. Help us to know Your heart, to see our world and especially the people in it through Your eyes.

Reminds me of poor blind Bartimaeus, sitting by the road, crying, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus asked him, “What do you want Me to do for you?” The blind man replied, “Rabbi, I want to see.”

Rabbi, I want to see.

James 2:1-4 – “Deeper”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹My brothers, do not with favoritisms have the faith of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. ²For if a man having rings of gold on his fingers should come into your synagogue in a magnificent robe and a very poor one should also come in a filthy robe ³and you should look upon the one wearing the magnificent robe and say, “You sit here excellently,” and say to the very poor one, “You stand there or sit under my footstool,” ⁴are you not distinguishing among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

Okay, I have noted that this entire passage is set in the contrast to the glory of Christ and also that we should remember that whatever is said is part of James’ larger admonition to “keep ourselves unspotted by the world.”  So now I want to ponder what it is he’s saying.

The problem before us is presented as being a “respecter of persons” or “playing favorites” or “showing partialities.” As I noted before, such behavior is completely logically inconsistent with an awareness of the glory of Christ. The illustration we’re given is the unjust usher who gives a good seat to the rich man then makes the poor man sit on the floor. We’re told that doing so makes us “judges with evil thoughts.”

So what exactly is the problem here? First of all, I think we need to ponder what it is not. It is clearly not a problem that we should never show respect to people or “make distinctions” based on their position or statures of any kind. In the larger picture of life, that is exactly something we should do!

“Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the king” (I Peter 2:17).

“Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor” (Romans 13:7).

“Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the Lord” (Lev. 19:32).

“Each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband” (Eph 5:33).

Clearly, the problem with being a “respecter of persons” is not a problem of showing respect to persons! And it is not a problem of “making distinctions.” That is exactly what wisdom allows us to do. Jesus Himself warned us not “to cast our pearls before swine,” which admonition presumes we figure out who the swine are! Clearly in the passages above, we do distinguish who is the king, who are the elderly, who is our spouse, and we are to “show proper respect to everyone.”

So what is the problem then? I would suggest we find it in the words, “Are you not become judges with evil thoughts?” The whole point of a judge has always been to make distinctions, to sort out who is and who isn’t, who’s right and who’s wrong, and then to render judgments based on those distinctions. When does he become an evil judge? When he makes decisions not properly based on those distinctions. If a judge rules in a man’s favor simply because he’s rich, we say that is unfair. It’s wrong. If another judge rules in favor of a poor man simply out of sympathy for his poverty, that is equally wrong. If a boss grants special favors to a girl in the office just because she’s pretty, we all know that’s wrong. If someone votes for a man simply because he’s handsome, we’re all disgusted. If a City awards a contract to a company just because they’re their buddies, we call that corrupt.

But what do every one of these examples have in common? In every case, we’re making distinctions, making decisions based on something other than the pertinent facts. If the rich man is guilty, he should be convicted. If the pretty girl doesn’t work hard, she has no right to favors. If the man is a crook, no one should vote for him even if he looks like Cary Grant. And contracts should be awarded to people who really do good work. In every case, the “judge” is basing their decision on “evil thoughts,” on standards that are not appropriate.

Such is the case in James’ example. The usher makes decisions on where to seat people totally on their outward appearance. I will take this one step further and note that these thoughts are not just inappropriate, they’re evil. God doesn’t just call them inappropriate. He calls them evil. Back in Lev 19:15, the Lord told us, “Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.” And Jesus admonished us, “Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly” (John 7:24).

Why do we do this? Why are we humans so prone to “judge by mere appearances?” Once again, I think we have to go deep. “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, … All these evil things come from within” (Mark 7:21-23). The problem goes back to the lust of our flesh, the lust of our eyes and the pride of life – our love of pleasures, possessions, and applause. Peter told us God gave us His great and precious promises “that we may escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (II Peter 1:4). When we don’t allow the Lord to guide our hearts, we surrender ourselves to be controlled by our twisted “wanter.” We’re drawn to that which appeals to us, perhaps not even realizing our “wanter” is broken. Even when it values good things, it will value them for the wrong reasons. And the end result will be poor judgment. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jer 17:9).

We could just read all of this legalistically and say, “Oh. Favoritism is bad. I shouldn’t do it.” I would suggest it would help us far more to say to ourselves, if I catch myself playing favorites, showing partiality, making unjust judgments, it reveals the truth that I am not allowing the Lord to control my heart. Again, His Word is given in part specifically to help me “escape the corruption that is in the world through lust.” If I’m not escaping, I’m not letting the Word, His Spirit guide my heart. And I can say on my own, “That’s bad!” I don’t want to be living by my broken wanter. I want the Lord to guide my heart so I live a life of love and walk according to truth. An instance of “favoritism” alerts me I need to draw back to the Lord, cry out for His help, and by His Spirit, rise above who I am.

Such is what the Lord has shown me so far in James 2. As I said when I started on this passage, I’ve always found it “boring” because it seemed so petty and obvious. As always studying the Bible, when I slow down to study, what I find is that it all goes way, way deeper than I could have realized. I also find it way more helpful than I could have realized. A cursory reading simply gives a rule, “Don’t play favorites.” But the truth of the passage is way more helpful than that. It’s giving me one more way to “guard my heart,” one more red flag to help me see when I’ve gotten off track.

I love the Word. “And when you know the truth, the truth shall make you free. … For the Word of God is alive and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, … and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart!”

James 2:1-4 – “Frying Fish”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹My brothers, do not with favoritisms have the faith of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. ²For if a man having rings of gold on his fingers should come into your synagogue in a magnificent robe and a very poor one should also come in a filthy robe ³and you should look upon the one wearing the magnificent robe and say, “You sit here excellently,” and say to the very poor one, “You stand there or sit under my footstool,” ⁴are you not distinguishing among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

It’s interesting to me, again, that James launches this discussion in view of the glory of Christ. And right beside it, another thing I think worthy of exegetical note is that this discussion follows immediately after his admonition that we should concern ourselves with true religion and “keep ourselves unspotted by the world” (1:27).

If you heard that admonition from a pulpit, “Keep yourself unspotted by the world!” what would you immediately think of? Would you immediately say, “Oh my, I really need to watch that I’m not playing favorites with people!” Would your mind immediately go to the glory of Christ and how that affects your attitudes toward other people?

Yeah, me neither. It is so easy to take “unspotted by the world” and run with the million petty rules we’ve erected in our hearts and called them “religion.” “I don’t smoke and I don’t chew and I don’t run with girls that do.” But the two great commands are to love God and love people. I would suggest when we hear “unspotted by the world,” that is where our minds should go first – am I loving God (seeing my world in the glory of Christ) and loving people? To be “spotted by the world” isn’t first a problem of whether I “break the rules.” It is in whatever way allowing the lust of my flesh, or the lust of my eyes, or my love of applause draw my gaze away from Christ and move me to do anything less than love the people God puts around me.

It never ceases to amaze me how seeing the world through God’s eyes means dealing with issues so much deeper, so much more profound, and so much more significant than what my fallen heart naturally wants to be concerned with. It is so much easier to make up our own rules and concern ourselves with issues like how many times a week I go to church, whether or not I drink alcohol or use tobacco, which Bible translation I carry, which political issue I’m fussing about this week, etc. Those all so easily become issues of monumental importance while the Lord sits on His throne off to the side and says, “That’s all well and good, but do you love Me? Do you love people?”

I would suggest that one thing this passage should teach us, if we have eyes to see it, is that the Lord has far bigger fish to fry than we naturally think. I think this passage itself should teach us we need His eyes to see what is important in this world, that we need Him to lift up our eyes and see the real issues, that without Him, we are doomed to spend our hearts gathering straws in a life surrounded with gold. May the glory of Christ and living His love to people be the gold we prize.

James 2:1-4 – “Glorious”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹My brothers, do not with favoritisms have the faith of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. ²For if a man having rings of gold on his fingers should come into your synagogue in a magnificent robe and a very poor one should also come in a filthy robe ³and you should look upon the one wearing the magnificent robe and say, “You sit here excellently,” and say to the very poor one, “You stand there or sit under my footstool,” ⁴are you not distinguishing among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

Well, I’m back. Took a break for a while to do some OT study in the book of Ruth. Will study a chapter or two of James and then go back to Ruth, Lord willing. Studying the Bible is like buying several hundred acres of land to mine for gold, then discovering it doesn’t matter where you dig – there’s gold everywhere!

God’s Word utterly amazes me. For nearly 35 years, I have been reading it from cover to cover and studying one book or passage after another. There isn’t a nook or cranny anywhere with which I’m not familiar. Yet when I slow down to study any particular book or passage, the Lord just floors me with truths that rock my world. He promised that when I knew the truth, the truth would set me free. And so it does. Week after week after week He shows me truth that explains life, why things are the way they are, what is truly good and best. Again and again, His truth dispels some aspect of the fog of confusion I live in and reveals to me my petty selfishnesses that ruin my life. But He doesn’t do any of it in a way that like “beats me down.” It’s always in a way that totally lifts me up. He’s so awesome.

“More about Jesus would I know,
More of His grace to others show;
More of His saving fullness see,
More of His love who died for me.

More, more about Jesus,
More, more about Jesus …”

Such is the case before me. This is another passage that I would have said is not one of my “favorites.” It’s James 2 and the whole thing about being “respecters of persons.” I don’t know why but way down deep in my heart I always found the passage kind of boring. It’s the story of the usher who’s impressed with the rich man and gives him a good seat, then despises the poor man and makes him sit on the floor. I don’t know if it’s the pettiness that bothered me or maybe it’s just so obviously wrong, it didn’t even seem to need explaining? I don’t know. But, here I sit, again, having been studying down through verse 4 for a couple of weeks, and I’m just floored. What a treasure chest – of course! I will try to enumerate some of the treasures I’ve found.

The greatest treasure of all, of course, is Jesus Himself, and we meet Him right away in verse 1. Even the Greek itself is a little unusual and causes one to pause and ponder. It calls Him “our Lord Jesus Christ” then adds something like “of the glory” or simply “the Glory” or perhaps “the glorious One.” So it might be translated, “our Lord Jesus Christ of the glory,” or “our Lord Jesus Christ, the Glory,” or perhaps “our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious One.” I chose to translate it, “our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.” That is the point, I think, however one translates it – He is glorious!

But then note what the Lord has done here. He sets this glorious Christ in direct contrast to the problem of favoritism. “Have not the faith of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with favoritism.” His point is that, in the light of the glory of Christ, it doesn’t even make sense to be playing favorites with people. In the light of His face we are all in the same boat. “There is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Like the old saying, “The ground is level at the foot of the Cross.” Rich and poor meet alike at the foot of His Cross. But then it isn’t even just in our sinfulness that we are all the same in His eyes. We all have been made in the image of God. In the light of His glory all human beings have dignity and deserve to be treated with respect. All believers are counted His children, all are loved.

In the light of His glory, who could say to a poor man, “You sit here on the floor?” It just doesn’t make sense.

For myself, I would suggest that therein lies our problem: “In the light of His glory.” What that means is that we must be seeing the world “in the light of His glory.” It is a choice we must make to be living in His presence, aware of His presence, aware of that glory, seeing the world through His eyes. It is a choice we must make. And for me it is something I easily forget. When we are not living in the light of His face, we are left to measure others by whatever standards our minds may concoct, and those fabricated standards invariably lead us into a very faulty view of others. We are then too much like our father the devil, murderers from the beginning, and too prone to value our world through the lens of the lust of our flesh, the lust of our eyes, and our love of applause. That is precisely why we would offer the rich man “the best seat” and make the poor man sit on the floor – without the glory of Christ, we live driven by our lusts, by what appeals to our twisted desires.

The only escape – and a glorious one at that – is to live in the light of that Glory.

I am finding in my life that “doing right” is not so much something I must focus on any more. Instead, I must stay “God-connected,” I must “practice His presence,” and constantly strive to see the world through His eyes as I live in His presence. If I can keep myself mentally in His presence, then I find the “doing right” is much easier, much more natural, and hopefully I can practice it in ways that bring Him glory, whether I realize it or not.

Back to verse 1, I think that is exactly James’ point, that favoritism is simply and logically inconsistent with having the faith of our glorious Lord Jesus. It is quite possible to be a person of faith and yet live inconsistently. But the answer, I would suggest, is not so much to say to ourselves, “I must quit playing favorites,” but rather, “I must live more in the awareness of the glory of Christ.”

Isn’t it interesting that here in one simple little verse James would remind us that the foundation of true religion is “the faith of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ” – that to be enamored with Jesus is the foundation of true religion?

“Let us run with endurance

the race that is marked out for us,

having our gaze fixed upon

Jesus,

the Author and Finisher of our faith, …”

(Heb 12:1,2).

Ruth 2:17-23 – “Jesus”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁷And she gleaned in the field until the evening and she threshed [that] which she had gleaned and it was about an ephah of barley. ¹⁸And she carried and she came [to] the city and her mother-in-law saw [that] which she had gathered and she brought out and she gave to her [that] which she had spared from her fullness. ¹⁹And her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean (intensively) today and, oh, please, [where] did you work? Blessed be the one noticing you.” And she made known to her mother-in-law whom she had worked with and she said, “The name of the man with whom I worked today [is] Boaz.” ²⁰And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “Blessed be he by the LORD, who has not left his kindness to the living and to the dead” and Naomi said to her, “The man [is] near to us. He [is] [one of] our kinsman-redeemers.” ²¹And Ruth the Moabitess also said, “He said to me, ‘Stay near my young men until they finish the all of my harvest.’” ²²And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “[It is] good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women and not will they (masc. pl.) hurt you in the field of another. ²³And she clung to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the harvest of the barley and the harvest of the wheat and she dwelt with her mother-in-law.

Just a few random observations, then I’m going back to my James study for a while.

As I have studied chapter 2, I’ve been very pleased to meet this man Boaz who is so much like Jesus. Of course he typifies Jesus as the kinsman-redeemer of the story. But it goes far deeper than that – he actually is a man like Jesus! One of the ways I see this is in how he protects Ruth. Notice, in v5, Boaz asked, “Whose young woman is that?” In their culture every woman would (or should) have a man who protected her, whether it was her father, her husband, a brother, or her master. Boaz is probably immediately wondering that very thought – who protects this girl? When he’s told she is Ruth, Naomi’s daughter-in-law, he immediately would have realized how vulnerable she was. He addresses her as “my daughter” and then make provisions for her care and safety. He perhaps sympathetically knew there was no one else.

Think how encouraging it would have been for Ruth to have “a man of standing” publically address her as “my daughter.” Everyone else standing around heard that. Word travels fast in small towns. The instant the words left his mouth, everyone would have known that this young woman Ruth has somehow come within the protective reach of Boaz. He of course leaves nothing to chance and tells them all to “leave her alone,” but I suspect that only reinforced what everyone already knew: Mess with this Ruth and you’ll have Boaz to deal with! Even in her humility, Ruth would have known this was true the minute he addressed her as “my daughter.”  

What a wonderful blessing for Ruth, to suddenly no longer be this unprotected young foreign widow. Now someone (a man of standing) has stepped forward to be her protector. A sweet, godly girl suddenly finds herself drawn under the protective embrace of a good, godly man.

Another random observation – see how Ruth exemplifies a Proverbs 31 woman. She
“looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness… she gets up while it is still dark and provides food for her family … she sets about her work vigorously.” Ruth will make a good wife for Boaz because she’s first of all simply a good person. That shows particularly in the fact that she is a hard worker. This hard working young woman, who will scrounge in a field all day just for a single meal for her and Naomi, will work just as hard to take care of a husband and family. We can’t emphasize too much how important it is to be a hard worker. I would suggest that is something faith should produce in anyone who truly believes.

One of the things that attracted me to my wife was that I could see she was a very hard worker. And I’ve certainly not been disappointed. That same hard work has meant endless blessings for me for a lifetime. There’s never anything I think she “should have done” that doesn’t get done anyway, because she just simply “looks well to the ways of her household.” She simply is a good woman. I’ve also been very proud of my children. I knew early they would all do fine because they weren’t afraid of work. I remember seeing them as little tikes standing on a chair by the sink doing dishes and just knowing in my heart, “They’ll do okay.” Daniel’s track coach pulled me aside one day and told me how much he admired his “work ethic.” He said, “Just when you think Daniel’s got to be finished, he’ll run another lap just as hard.” Ruthie finished the top girl in her class in school and Esther has always been a girl who puts her mind to a job and then nothing stops her.

Just like Ruth, when a young person is obviously a hard worker, you know they’ll “do okay.”

One last thought – observe how Naomi responds when Ruth gets home. As I said in my posts regarding chapter 1, I completely disagree with the nearly unanimous opinion that Naomi was a bitter old woman. I believe she was a very sweet, godly woman who got run over by a freight train of overwhelming trials. Like Job and Jeremiah (in Lamentations) and like David in Psalms 88, she is a fragile human being who takes a while to recover after their entire beings get crushed. Back in 1:8,9 Naomi is thanking her daughter-in-laws and praying God’s blessings on them. Even when she sounds bitter in 1:11-13 and 20-21, notice that to her everything in life has to do with God. Like Job, she may be misinterpreting what the Lord is up to (and again, remember this woman buried her husband and her only two boys), but at least she sees everything as having to do with the Lord.

So now notice how she responds to Ruth. She asks her, “Where did you glean today?” and immediately adds, “Blessed be the man who took notice of you!” The first thought in her mind is to wish blessing on someone. That is not a bitter, angry woman. A bitter mind might have thought even an ephah not enough, or griped that now, when night has already fallen, they still have yet to prepare a meal. She could have immediately suspected Ruth of using some less than honorable means of acquiring so much. There are so many ways a bitter, angry person might have (and would have) responded. Yet Naomi’s immediate response is to wish blessings on people.

And when Ruth tells her it was Boaz, what does she say? “The Lord bless him!” Naomi is a woman who, in spite of her own very deep sorrows, still wishes only kindness and blessings on people around her. Think about it – in Boaz we see the kindness of Jesus in His strength, in Ruth we see the kindness of Jesus in His humility, while in Naomi we see that same kindness of Jesus which He shared even as He Himself suffered on the Cross. “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me,” He cried, then said to the thief beside Him, “Today you shall be with me in Paradise” and prayed, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” I would suggest that our misunderstanding of Naomi is actually a result of our own immaturity, not hers. We know little of her kind of faith and perhaps few of us have ever been clobbered as hard as she was. I suspect it is the old proverbial case of a bunch of spiritual pygmies hacking on the ankles of a giant. Like Job’s miserable comforters, we, in our own immaturity, can’t comprehend a relationship with God so deep it allows us to be completely (and feebly) human.

Ah, what a treasure, this book of Ruth. I feel so blessed to have spent the last few weeks with such sweet, godly people as Boaz, Naomi, and our Ruth. What particularly warms my heart is that I feel like I’ve been not so much with them but with Jesus! What a blessing that people of real faith turn into people who remind us of Jesus! That’s how it should be, yes? As we bask in the wonder of His grace and nurse on the bounties of His kindnesses, as we behold His gentle face in our hearts, He makes us just like Him! Would that were true of all of us!

Lord help us all, whether it be in times of our strength or of our humility or even of our own deepest trials, may the world around us see Jesus.

“But thanks be to God,

who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ

and through us spreads everywhere

the fragrance of the knowledge of Him”

(II Cor 2:14).

Ruth 2:17-23 – “A Day”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁷And she gleaned in the field until the evening and she threshed [that] which she had gleaned and it was about an ephah of barley. ¹⁸And she carried and she came [to] the city and her mother-in-law saw [that] which she had gathered and she brought out and she gave to her [that] which she had spared from her fullness. ¹⁹And her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean (intensively) today and, oh, please, [where] did you work? Blessed be the one noticing you.” And she made known to her mother-in-law whom she had worked with and she said, “The name of the man with whom I worked today [is] Boaz.” ²⁰And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “Blessed be he by the LORD, who has not left his kindness to the living and to the dead” and Naomi said to her, “The man [is] near to us. He [is] [one of] our kinsman-redeemers.” ²¹And Ruth the Moabitess also said, “He said to me, ‘Stay near my young men until they finish the all of my harvest.’” ²²And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “[It is] good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women and not will they (masc. pl.) hurt you in the field of another. ²³And she clung to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the harvest of the barley and the harvest of the wheat and she dwelt with her mother-in-law.

There is something I have wanted to post ever since I started chapter 2 and now seems an appropriate point to interject it. I suppose as I type someone could consider this negative, but I don’t intend it that way at all.

What is amazing to me is to realize the significance of this specific day in the life of Naomi and particularly for Ruth. I will focus on Ruth to try to communicate my point. Basically for Ruth life has been a series of disappointments and heartaches. If I’m not reading too much into the text, I suspect, as I’ve related earlier, that Ruth was particularly drawn to Mahlon and his family because she saw the real love they had for each other. Ruth grew up in a culture where parents sacrificed their children and I suspect that fact alone made them a culture where you couldn’t trust anyone, not even your own mother. Ruth married into this unusual family, then before they could even have children, her husband is dead. For whatever reason, she couldn’t or didn’t want to go home. She took up with Naomi but eventually their money ran out and all Naomi could do was go back to Israel. Ruth had to make the painful choice to leave everything she knew and go with Naomi to a place where she would be not only a widow but a foreign one at that. There would be no one in Israel that cared if she lived or died. They arrived in Israel and they were so destitute Ruth had to resort to going out and gleaning behind the harvesters. That would have been about a half a step above begging. And Ruth would know she had no protector – that being a woman and a foreigner she could be very rudely treated.

So here she is. She made this choice to embrace the God of Israel, moved there with Naomi, and basically nothing has changed. She gets up one morning, a destitute widow, probably hungry, and with no choice but to basically go out begging, hoping perhaps to return home in the evening with enough food for a single meal for her and Naomi. Then she could get up early the next morning and do it again. As she arose and headed out that morning, for all she knew nothing would ever change. Life has been very hard. Other than faith, she had no observable hope that anything would ever change.

But today is a very special day for Ruth. Little did she know that it was “over.” Today everything will change. Today she will meet Boaz. Today she will enjoy a kindness beyond her wildest expectations. Today she will bring home not just a single meal but five days’ worth and a plan in place to end up with a six months’ supply! The events of this day will set in motion her marriage to this wealthy man Boaz, the birth of a son, and Ruth’s inclusion in the very lineage of the Messiah. Little did she know that this day would be the day when everything changes.

Job had a similar experience. He fell into his trials, lost his family, his wealth, and finally his health. Everything went badly wrong and then things just drug on and on and on in this black seemingly hopeless world. But there was a day, one day when he woke up like any other day not realizing that today it would be “over.” His time of trouble came to a very clear end and the Bible says, “After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before…After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. And so Job died, an old man and full of years” (42:10,16,17). There was an “end” to his trials. There was a day when everything changed.

Here’s my suggestion: First of all, we all have our trials and troubles and in this world we always will. Hebrews 12:7,8 says, “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all.” So trials and troubles in and of themselves are just part of life. However, like Ruth and Job, there may be extended periods of very painful trial that seem endless. We may find ourselves going through months or even years when “nothing goes right.”

In this kind of world David said, “I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord” (Ps 27:13,14). Notice he says, “In the land of the living.” “I will see the goodness of the Lord, … in the land of the living.” He means in this world. He says he is sure no matter how black things seem, he is confident somehow, in this world, he will yet see the goodness of the Lord – he will see a day when the darkness ends and the Lord’s light shines on him again, just like it did for Job and Ruth.

I don’t know if this is a common experience for all believers, but it certainly happened in my life. My wife and I went through a period of darkness that lingered seriously for ten years. It finally got to the point where we told each other, “This is it. We either trust God or we don’t.” We resolved that even if nothing ever changed, we would never stop trusting Him. We knew that, worst case, one day we would die and then it would all be over.

But David’s words, “in the land of the living” kept coming back to my mind. Could I believe I would see the goodness of the Lord “in the land of the living?” I had no doubt that death would usher me into paradise, but could I say I was confident there would be a day, a turning-point while I yet lived in this world?

We read in Hebrews 11:12-40 about some who “through faith conquered kingdoms” but others who “wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute and afflicted.” These words suggest to me that apparently there are people who suffer prolonged affliction in this world and their only release is death itself. That is a possibility and I concluded that I cannot (at least at this time) say with confidence that “I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” It might go on until I die.

But … knowing the Lord and knowing how kind He is, I concluded that the most likely scenario would be an end to the troubles. Yes, He might sometimes, in His wisdom, let someone suffer right through death’s door, but I doubt that is His normal plan. Similarly, He does allow that some people never marry, never have children, but that isn’t the “norm.” He is a God of blessings and his modus operandi is to bless His children. He lovingly allows trials because we need them but behind it all is His great big fatherly heart of love.

So, in my own life, I surmised that, most likely, someday it would end. Like Job, one day I would wake up and that day it would be “over.” That day would be a turning point. That day the darkness would end and from then on everything would be different. On the other hand, I would just get up every day, trust the Lord He knows what He’s doing, do whatever I believed was good and right for me to do today, and by His grace keep it up until I died, if that was His plan.

And that day did come. The phone rang and nothing has been the same since. That awful darkness is gone. Every day it seems He has gone ahead and cooked up such blessings we can’t comprehend it all. We still have trials and troubles. My back and legs ache almost unbearably. Money is still always an issue.  There are constantly problems that have to be dealt with. But this is totally different. It’s clear that the overall context of our life now is blessings “exceedingly abundantly above anything we could have asked or thought.” The troubles now are just sort of the spice that keeps life interesting, rather than a cold suffocating endless darkness.

I am suggesting this is exactly what happened to Ruth. I saw it before in Job. Then I saw it my own life. And now I believe I see it in Ruth. Part of the Lord’s plan for her life was this period of endless darkness. Even while she trusted Him, she didn’t necessarily get to see the benefit of that faith. And she seems to have resolved to go on trusting Him and just being who she was supposed to be, even if that meant something a half step above begging. But, while the Lord may need to allow this for a person’s eternal good, it isn’t His normal plan to let it go on forever. He just enjoys blessing too much. And so there was a day when it all ended for Ruth, a day when a man said to her, “Listen, my daughter …”, a day when suddenly the sun broke through the clouds and things were never the same.

It happened in Job’s life, it happened in mine, and it happened to Ruth.

The conclusion of it all for me is that I will say with confidence, “I will yet see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” … and if not, then may He grant me the grace to say and keep on saying, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.”

“Wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord” (Psalm 27:14).

We never know what a day will bring.

Ruth 2:17-23 – “My Daughter”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁷And she gleaned in the field until the evening and she threshed [that] which she had gleaned and it was about an ephah of barley. ¹⁸And she carried and she came [to] the city and her mother-in-law saw [that] which she had gathered and she brought out and she gave to her [that] which she had spared from her fullness. ¹⁹And her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean (intensively) today and, oh, please, [where] did you work? Blessed be the one noticing you.” And she made known to her mother-in-law whom she had worked with and she said, “The name of the man with whom I worked today [is] Boaz.” ²⁰And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “Blessed be he by the LORD, who has not left his kindness to the living and to the dead” and Naomi said to her, “The man [is] near to us. He [is] [one of] our kinsman-redeemers.” ²¹And Ruth the Moabitess also said, “He said to me, ‘Stay near my young men until they finish the all of my harvest.’” ²²And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “[It is] good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women and not will they (masc. pl.) hurt you in the field of another. ²³And she clung to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the harvest of the barley and the harvest of the wheat and she dwelt with her mother-in-law.

The jewels just keep coming. Verse 17 tells us much. Ruth gleaned “until the evening.” In Hebrew the word for “evening” refers to dusk or sundown. So Ruth apparently worked from sunrise to sunset, probably on the order of a 12-hour day. This would not have been unusual in that culture but still, Ruth did it and she did it willingly. It’s hard to imagine working stooped over for 12 straight hours in the hot sun, especially knowing that you’ll get up tomorrow (early) and do it again. But that’s our Ruth.

When she threshed it, she found she had gathered about an ephah. In Exodus 16, the Israelites were to gather one omer of manna for each person per day. At the end of that chapter we’re told an omer was one-tenth of an ephah. So an ephah was enough food for one person for ten days, or (in Ruth’s case) two people for five days. It was suggested that gleaning after the harvesters usually only would have provided enough for Ruth and Naomi for a single day. For her to get five days was bounteous.

For whatever it’s worth, it has been suggested that “five” is the number of grace in the Bible. I don’t know if that is true but I will start watching. Interesting that it occurs here. Someone noted that David put five stones in his bag, knowing he’d probably only have time to sling one. Why? If it is true that the Jews regarded five as the number of grace, it might make sense. Will keep watching. Our Lord does all things “decently and in order.” I’m never surprised to find that order showing up in a myriad of different ways.

Note again that Ruth carried her ephah back to the city. An ephah is estimated to be just less than a bushel. A bushel of barley weighs 48 pounds. Ruth’s load probably weighed about 40 pounds. Sometime pick up a five-gallon jug of water – that’s about 40 pounds. I’m a man and I wouldn’t want to have carry 40 pounds very far. Then what did this young woman have to carry it in? The load would be heavy even in a nice modern backpack, designed to distribute the weight on one’s shoulders. But Ruth had no such contrivance. She may not have even had a basket, not having expected to get any more grain than she could have carried in a fold of her shawl. Regardless, it would have been heavy. And she had to carry it after having worked all day in the hot sun to begin with. Once again, that’s our Ruth.

Then we find, she is not only a hard worker, she is also surprisingly unselfish. She actually kept her roasted grain from lunch and brought it back to Naomi. Think about that. After working all day, she had to be famished. And there was that roasted grain all ready to eat. The barley would have to be prepared in some way, even after she got home. No one would fault her if she had gone ahead and eaten the remaining roasted grain herself. She’s worked all day. She deserves it. And she’s bringing home a week’s worth of food, for crying out loud! What more could anyone ask? Yet our tired hungry girl kept her “doggie-bag” from lunch and brought it home and gave it to Naomi. She just proves that “kindness brooks no rules.” She just is kind because she’s got a heart full of love. That’s our Ruth!

Well does Naomi call Ruth “my daughter” in verses 2 and 22. Interesting that Boaz calls her, “my daughter” too in verse 8. I find myself having the same feelings as I read about Ruth. Anyone would be honored to have her for a daughter. I’ve noticed the same feelings at work as I’ve grown old enough to be the young women’s father. When I observe one who is consistently a hard worker and a pleasant person, I have to remind myself, “She’s not my daughter. She is a co-worker.” I’m not at all surprised that these two “older” people (Naomi and Boaz) address Ruth as “my daughter.” My own daughters are both hard workers who have always made me proud, but I have to say, I would love to add this Ruth to my family (I already have a Ruthie! Ruth 1 and Ruth 2, I guess!).

Again a couple of “for whatever it’s worth’s” – Ruth is called “my daughter” 3x in this chapter. Interesting that 3 is definitely God’s number. I wonder if, even as I notice that, the Lord doesn’t have a little twinkle in His eye. “Ah, you caught that,” He says. “Yes. She’s my daughter too!”

Finally notice that Ruth kept up this routine until the end of not only the barley harvest but the wheat harvest as well. It is reported that the barley harvest began about the time of Feast of Passover, while the wheat harvest ended with the Feast of First-fruits, some seven weeks later. If Ruth gathered an ephah a day, working six days a week for the seven weeks, she would have gathered enough grain for her and Naomi to last over six months!

But then think about that too – that she probably not only gleaned from sunrise to sunset on this one hot day. She probably did it all day, every day (except Sabbaths) for seven weeks straight. That is one very, very hard worker.

That’s our Ruth. I’m very proud of you, my daughter.

Ruth 2:8-16 – “Heart People”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁸And Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter; do not go to glean in another field, and also do not leave from this, and remain here with my young women. ⁹Your eyes in the field which they (masc., plural) reap, and go after them (fem., plural). I have commanded the young men not to touch you, and you are thirsty and go to the vessels and drink from which the young men draw water. ¹⁰And she fell upon her face and bowed herself down [to] the ground and she said to him, “Why have I found grace in your eyes to notice me and me [being] a foreigner?” ¹¹And Boaz answered and he said to her, “It has surely been told to me all which you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband and you left your father and mother and the land of your birth and you went to a people which you did not know in the past up to now. ¹²May the LORD reward (intensively) your conduct and may your wages be complete from the LORD, the God of Israel, which you have come to seek refuge under His wings.” ¹³And she said, “I have found grace in your eyes because my lord has comforted me and because you have spoken upon heart of your maidservant and I, I am not like one of your maidservants.” ¹⁴And Boaz said to her at the time of the meal, “Draw near here and eat from the bread and dip your morsel in the vinegar and sit at the side of the reapers and he held out to her roasted grain and she ate and she was satisfied and she had spare. ¹⁵And she arose to glean and Boaz commanded his young men saying, “Even between the sheaves she may glean and do not humiliate her ¹⁶and also you shall surely draw out to her from the bundles and you will leave and she will glean and do not rebuke her.”

There is one last thought I’d like to record before I leave this beautiful passage. This is one of the places in the Old Testament where we need to observe the effects of real faith. What I mean is that in the Old Testament, the people were “under the law.” At Mount Sinai, the Israelites had said, “All that the Lord commands us, we will do.” He responded, “Oh that they had such a heart in them” but they did not, so He gave them the Law. Since their heart wasn’t “in it” He gave them an extensive catalog of rules to keep. We know from the New Testament, the real purpose of those rules was to show them they didn’t keep them, yea couldn’t keep them, and to lead them to the Savior.

Another problem they had in the OT was that they were not indwelt by the Holy Spirit. He was there to help them but did not take up residence in their hearts like He does for us. The downside of all of this is that it would have been much more difficult for them to grow spiritually than it is for us. We have the Spirit living in us so that we can actually be free from law, free to in fact have “such a heart in us,” to actually embrace not just God’s “rules” but His heart. In this church age, we should be ashamed that we do so little with the treasures of grace we’ve been afforded. But, that said, what is amazing is that there were people in the OT who did “get it right,” people who did rise above “the rules” and, with what help the Spirit offered, did manage to become “heart” people. There are a number of people in the OT whose faith somehow helped them to so know God that they did become “heart” people, people who even challenge us who live in the NT. My point is that is what real faith always does – it makes us “heart people.”

David was one of those people. The Psalms are not the works of a man busying himself about “keeping the rules.” They are the celebrations of a man who truly knew God and lived in His presence. We could speak of Moses, of Abraham, of Daniel, and so many others. But today I want to consider Boaz and Ruth.

Notice how both Ruth and Boaz live out their faith in ways that go far beyond anything the law could (or even can) prescribe. Boaz was required to leave the corners of his field and to allow the poor to glean in the fields behind his harvesters. To simply allow Ruth to do so “fulfilled” the law. But Boaz isn’t about “keeping the rules.” His heart is in it. He has embraced God’s goals, God’s heart which produced the “rule” to begin with. He went far beyond anything the law could have required and not only “allows” Ruth to glean, but addresses her as “my daughter” and encourages her to stay with his servant girls and commands the young men to leave her alone. He provides her with water and then with his own hand provides her with roasted grain – and that so much that Ruth can’t eat it all. Ruth responds to it all in a gracious humility that simply cannot be prescribed. She isn’t just “acting” humble because somehow she’s supposed to. She has a humble heart. And she isn’t there working because she “has to” but because her heart is willing and she loves her mother-in-law. This is precisely what is supposed to happen for us NT believers. The fruit of the Spirit is supposed to be love and joy and peace – qualities which God Himself says, “Against such things there is no law.” Ruth and Boaz would be exemplary NT believers, heart-people. What is amazing and instructive is that they embraced all of this living “under the law.” But that is my point, I guess ... that this is exactly what faith will always produce, in any age or place.

From another perspective, think about it this way – for the Jewish people, the Pharisees always represented the “truly” religious. And what were they? Heartless, wicked men who whitewashed the outside of their tombs while their hearts went on rotten. They not only minded the 618 laws God gave them, they made up thousands more. Like pretty much everyone yet today, “religion” for them was about prodigious efforts “to keep the rules.” And what did that produce? Men who were, just like today, self-righteous, proud, mean-spirited, petty buffoons. Though they appeared to be “religious” the fact is they missed the point of it all. It didn’t change their hearts.

But was that the effect of living “under the law?” I answer “No!” the same then as now. It wasn’t that, in the OT, the best you could hope for were Pharisees. They were in fact the people who missed the whole point of faith! Boaz and Ruth were examples of people who had real faith even under the law. For Boaz and Ruth, real faith was about knowing God, it was about being like Him. It was about being changed into people of love and humility and genuine strength – “heart” people. And that has always been the point of faith … and always will be.

Unfortunately, even now, in the Church age,  in the age of the indwelling Holy Spirit, I would suggest that few people who would call themselves religious actually become “heart” people. Few really become people like Boaz and Ruth. We’re all too easily content to add a few “rules” to our lives (to make us look and feel “religious”) but then just go on living lives that really show little of Jesus.

Ruth beautifully says to Boaz, “You have spoken upon heart of your maidservant.” What she said obviously doesn’t translate well into English, but we get the point. What went on between them was between two “heart” people.

Lord help the rest of us to “get it right.” May we never be content to “keep the rules,” no matter how impressive they may seem and no matter how much others may approve of such a “faith.” May we ever be people whose hearts are Yours. Make us kind, humble, faithful people like Boaz and Ruth – and Jesus. Heart people.

My son, give Me your heart.

Above all else, guard your heart,

for out of it are the issues of life.

Ruth 2:8-16 – “Wise Kindness”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁸And Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter; do not go to glean in another field, and also do not leave from this, and remain here with my young women. ⁹Your eyes in the field which they (masc., plural) reap, and go after them (fem., plural). I have commanded the young men not to touch you, and you are thirsty and go to the vessels and drink from which the young men draw water. ¹⁰And she fell upon her face and bowed herself down [to] the ground and she said to him, “Why have I found grace in your eyes to notice me and me [being] a foreigner?” ¹¹And Boaz answered and he said to her, “It has surely been told to me all which you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband and you left your father and mother and the land of your birth and you went to a people which you did not know in the past up to now. ¹²May the LORD reward (intensively) your conduct and may your wages be complete from the LORD, the God of Israel, which you have come to seek refuge under His wings.” ¹³And she said, “I have found grace in your eyes because my lord has comforted me and because you have spoken upon heart of your maidservant and I, I am not like one of your maidservants.” ¹⁴And Boaz said to her at the time of the meal, “Draw near here and eat from the bread and dip your morsel in the vinegar and sit at the side of the reapers and he held out to her roasted grain and she ate and she was satisfied and she had spare. ¹⁵And she arose to glean and Boaz commanded his young men saying, “Even between the sheaves she may glean and do not humiliate her ¹⁶and also you shall surely draw out to her from the bundles and you will leave and she will glean and do not rebuke her.”

This passage is a goldmine rich beyond imagination! As I ponder over it, it seems a bottomless well of blessings.

Boaz is a very kind man. When he sees this young woman’s virtues, he is moved to shower her with kindnesses and encouragement. That in itself is profoundly instructive. May we be ever ready to minister a cup of cold water to any one in need, be they righteous or wicked, friend or enemy; but, on the other hand, may we, like Boaz, let our eyes ever be open for those who bear their poverties in virtue. Though we live under the duress of our own many poverties, yet may we do all in our power to encourage true virtue wherever we see it.  As it seemed for Ruth, this world can be an ice-house. May we, like Boaz, be ready to do what we can to bring a ray of sunshine into that cold world. The Lord’s March sun melts the snow and ice of winter and urges the plants to sprout and flower. When we find a person of virtue, though they be a poor, widowed foreigner, may our hearts be moved to shine some sunshine in their world and know full well, it will sprout flowers!

All that said, however, what is truly amazing me at this moment is how wise Boaz is in his kindness. I have been marveling over this for several days, and then I ran across the following quote from Lyman Abbott, D. D. which expresses so well exactly what I was seeing:

“You will see, in the first place, that Boaz does not give her the wheat. Generous as he is, she earns what she gets. He does not send her back home and send the young men with sheaves after her; he lets her work for what she receives. To give something for nothing is always a dangerous piece of business. Sometimes we must do it, it is true, but it is not the ideal kind of benevolence. If you desire to do something for the poor that will endure, let them do something to earn that which they receive from you. …Boaz thus allows her to earn what she receives, so that she is no pauper, no beggar, has no self-respect taken away from her … In our benevolence let us maintain the self-respect of those we aid; let us not make paupers of them; and strive how we can do the most good with the least possible display. That is not the ordinary rule, but it is a good one.

But this story of the benevolence of Boaz is also a parable. It indicates the way in which God does His good works among men. Did you ever think how true it is that God also maintains our self-respect when He gives to us--how very little He gives unless we do something to get the gift? When we pray for bread for our need, He does not give us the bread; He gives us a piece of land, and a plough, and a hoe, and we must sweat for the bread. … The world is full of wisdom, full of the resources out of which wisdom is gathered; but we must gather it; we cannot get our wisdom ready-made. It is not handed to us. And this is equally true in the spiritual realm. God no more hands the bread of life ready-made than He hands the material bread ready-made. … The world is full of God’s gifts. He only waits for us with pick and axe and hoe, with sweat of brain and sweat of body, to find a way to realise them.”

Lyman hits upon the very truth I was noticing. Boaz had it within his power (and wealth) to simply “fix” Ruth’s problem. He could have just said, “Here’s a bag of gold. Take care of yourself and Naomi.” But he didn’t. His giving provided Ruth with the opportunity to provide for herself and Naomi in her virtue.

And as Lyman points out, Boaz’s actions are not just some notable human qualities. They are godliness! … or should I say, God-likeness? God Himself doesn’t just hand out blessings. He proffers his kindnesses in wisdom. He would set us in a Garden of Eden, then charge us to “keep it and to till it!”

What an example to ponder, both in the workings of God and as illustrated in the life of this godly man!

Herein, of course, we see the great failure and foolishness of our American welfare system – a system that gives but in its giving only further impoverishes its people. Millions of immigrants poured into this country for centuries looking not for a handout but rather for an opportunity. We were never known as the “Land of Handouts” but as the “Land of Opportunity.” Virtuous people are happy, yea they expect to earn their own bread. They just often lack the opportunity. I’ve marveled for years at how Paul told Timothy to “honor those widows who are widows indeed” (I Tim 5:3ff). What he was talking about was supporting them, providing them with money or food or whatever they needed. But he said to do it only for those “well known for their good deeds.” In other words, those who’d earned it! It wasn’t a handout. It was an honor. To do that is not only a blessing to the woman herself but also a great blessing to those who can help, giving them the opportunity to say “Thank you” for so much blessing received. Sometimes what is needed is a little bag of gold, or a few sheaves of barley. But it needs to be given in ways that honor people and allow them to further express their virtuousness! It is so sad that in America, once the Land of Opportunity, we’ve now created what has been called a “Welfare Sub-Culture” – an entire culture of people who are in reality slaves to the whims of the government.

But, all of that aside, I want the Lord to make these truths from Ruth sink deeply into my own heart. I hope I can be a kind person. That I should be is and has been very clear to me from the Scriptures. But may I also be wise in my kindness. I feel I have very little to give, yet, whatever it may be, great or small, may my giving only serve to honor those I would help.