A LOVE STORY: THE BOOK OF RUTH

Chapter 19


RUTH IS RISEN UP

10-21-07

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[Review: an exegesis of these two verses was delivered on 10-14-07 entitled: “Ask, seek, knock, and ye shall find; eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar.” (Ruth 2:13,14)  [THE PRAYER] Then she [Ruth, now a type of newly converted Gentile believer, a type of us] said, Let me find favour in thy sight, my lord; for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken friendly unto thine [(ownership) Gentile] handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine [(ownership) Hebrew] handmaidens. [THE BLESSING] And Boaz [a type of Jesus Christ] said unto her [Boaz responded to her prayerful request to “Let me find favour” by granting Ruth’s prayer and giving her“favour” over all unsaved peoples by teaching her how to receive a revelation from God, as follows:], At mealtime [when you are hungry, in need] come thou hither [to me], and eat of the bread [of the Word of God], and dip thy morsel [(broken off) bit (piece)] in the vinegar [of the Holy Spirit, for illumination]. //// [LATER… AT MEALTIME]  And she sat beside the reapers [“in the house” Ruth 2:7, also indicating equality in status]: and he [Boaz, Jesus Christ] reached her parched corn [of the Old Testament], and she did eat, and was sufficed [satisfied, full], and left.

(Ruth 2:15)  And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men [after Ruth had left the house to glean, i.e. not in her presence or hearing], saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her not: (Ruth 2:16-18)  And let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them, that she may glean them, and rebuke her not. So she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned: and it was about an ephah of barley. And she took it up, and went into the city: and her mother in law saw what she had gleaned: and she brought forth, and gave to her that she had reserved after she was sufficed.

1.       And when she was risen up to glean” = depending upon from what point-of-view we read this phrase, it may either be a past-tense literal recounting of when Ruth stood up from her seat “beside the reapers” (v. 14) at the lunch table and went out of the house to glean in the field, or, this phrase may be meant to indicate supernatural spiritual forces at work. If we presume that the latter spiritual interpretation is the correct and intended application, we might then ask “she was risen up” by whom? Having eaten (internalized) and been refreshed (renewed, regenerated) by the living Word of God, “she was risen up,” she was elevated, she was drawn up by someone other than herself, i.e. she was inspired to glean (Heb: pick up, gather up [take to herself]) more Word of God out of the field of Boaz (Jesus Christ). Now who could have done that? In an extended sense, Ruth was feeding off of Boaz (Jesus Christ), who is that field (John 1:14); that is, Ruth was eating of the flesh of Jesus Christ who is that field.

2.       (John 6:44-51)  No man can come to me [I am that field, the Word of God made flesh], except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day [Ruth was prophetically “risen up”]. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God [Ruth had eaten of the bread of life]. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned [Gk: understood] of the Father, cometh unto me. Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

a.       (John 1:14)  And the Word [of God] was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

b.       Commentary: “and I will raise him up at the last day” = this phrase is a reference to the “first resurrection” (Rev 20:5,6) of “the dead in Christ… and we which are alive and remain” (1 Thes 4:16,17).

c.       (Isa 54:13)  And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD [now, during the Millennium, and beyond]; and great shall be the peace of thy children.

d.       Commentary: “cometh unto me” = “The sower soweth the word.” (Mark 4:14). “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.” (Luke 8:11). The parable of the seed illustrates that ultimately all men will have “heard” the Word (seed) of God. However, only in some of those men who have “heard,” will the Word (seed) of God take “root” (Mat 13:6,21; Mark 4:6,17; Luke 8:13) in their hearts, which is a metaphor employed to indicate that they have “learned” (understood) the Word, the message that they have “heard,” and that the Word (Jesus Christ, the message) has become eternally fixed in their hearts as a unified one with their person. It is the understanding men and women only, like Ruth, in whom the Word of God has taken “root,” who are drawn up unto God through the loving affinity (syn: attraction) of the internalized abiding Son (the Word: John 1:14) toward His loving Father, and the Father toward the Son.

HIS YOUNG MEN (ANGELS)

(Ruth 2:15)  And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his [a possessive pronoun indicating ownership] young men [angels], saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves [bundles], and reproach [syn: censure, reprimand, reprove, scold, rebuke] her not:

1.       sheaf, pl. sheaves =  Dict: 1. one of the bundles in which cereal plants, as wheat, rye, etc., are bound after reaping. 2. any bundle, cluster, or collection: a sheaf of papers.

2.       (Mat 13:24-30)  Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares [darnel, false grain (poison)] among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers [“the reapers are the angels” Mat 13:39], Gather [Gk: collect] ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather [Gk: assemble] the wheat into my barn.

3.       (Ruth 2:5-7)  Then said Boaz [a type of Jesus Christ] unto his servant [a type of “Michael the archangel” Jude 1:9] that was set over the reapers [“the reapers are the angels” Mat 13:39], Whose damsel is this? And the servant that was set over the reapers [the latter phrase is repeated twice for emphasis] answered and said, It is the Moabitish damsel [Gentile] that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab: And she said, I pray you, let me glean [Heb: pick up (the Word of God)] and gather [Heb: assemble (the Word into correct doctrine)] after the reapers among the sheaves [the sheaves that the reapers have separated from the field of the Word of God (“the field is the world” Mat 13:38)]: so she came, and hath continued even from the morning until now, that she tarried a little in the house.

a.       Commentary: Why are the reapers the angels? Because they are completely Holy, whereas we at present are carnal, i.e. mixed natural and spiritual, mixed soul and spirit. Therefore the angels only (at present, thank you Lord) can rightly discern between good and evil, between the wheat and the tares, which Holy attribute is something that we are being trained up to have and do (something we are becoming). On another related and quite wonderful level of understanding, the Word(s) of God (the Bible) are angels (Heb: messengers [messages]) sent by God to communicate (logos) and commune (rhema) with you. The apparently physical bodies of the angels (perhaps types or preincarnations of Jesus Christ: Josh 5:13-15 certainly is) that we have occasionally seen in the Bible are a type of the logos Word of God; that which comes forth out of the mouths of the angel bodies (containers) is the rhema Word of God.  

b.       (Heb 4:12)  For the word of God [angels] is quick [alive], and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword [i.e. supernatural], piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

c.       (Heb 5:13,14)  For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet,
and a light unto my path. (Psa 119:105)

Amen