The lutheransermons's Podcast

Study of Galatians Part 2 - Galatians 1:1-9

This letter begins in the normal way for a letter in ancient times. The author - in this case, Paul - identifies himself first (Galatians 1:1), and then identifies the people to whom this letter is addressed: “To the churches of Galatia” (Galatians 1:2). (Remember that letters were normally written on a parchment scroll, which was rolled down from the top to the bottom. It made sense to indicate the author and the recipients at the very beginning, so that people could quickly tell to whom the letter was addressed.) In Biblical letters, there was usually also a brief blessing from God and word of encouragement and praise of the Lord (Galatians 1:3-5).

In this case, Paul also adds in verse 1 that he is an apostle (someone “sent out” on a mission from God) and tells briefly how he became an apostle. He does this and will write much more about being an apostle as the letter goes on. Last week, in the introduction, we heard that he and Barnabas had established Christian churches in the Roman province of Galatia. Then, false teachers came after he had left and challenged the validity of Paul as an apostle and the truth of the good news, the Gospel of Christ that he brought.

Paul wrote this letter, then, to defend himself and his message, but especially to correct the bad teachings that the Galatians had heard and to get them back on track with the truth in Christ and how one can actually be saved. He began by saying that he was an apostle - “not from men or through man,” but “through Jesus Christ” Himself “and God the Father,” who has all power and “raised Jesus from the dead” (Galatians 1:1). God had made him an apostle and he simply shared God’s message; and Paul also wrote with the support of “all the brothers” in the Christian faith “who were with him,” and taught the ideas of all true believers, and not his own ideas (Galatians 1:2).

Paul then gave a prayer of blessing to the Galatian believers, but in the process reminded them very simply from where and how these blessings came. Paul wished first for the Galatians: “Grace to you.” “Grace” means a “gift,” undeserved and unearned, that simply comes from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, out of love and mercy and concern for people.

Paul also prayed for the gift of “peace” for these Galatians. In the Bible, “peace” does not mean absence of war and conflict for people, but well-being when we are at peace with God and have His care and help because of what He has done for us (Galatians 1:3). What has God done for us? Again, Paul put it very simply. God the Father sent His Son, “the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age.”

Every part of the Son’s name is important. The Son is “Lord.” This is a key Old Testament name for God (Deuteronomy 6:4, Philippians 2:5-11). The Son is God. He has the power to “deliver us from the evil of sin and Satan and death. He is also “Jesus.” The name “Jesus” means “Savior” (Matthew 1:21). He gave His life for us on the cross “for our sins” - to pay the penalty for them all and forgive them all. The Son is also “the Christ.” He is the One promised from God, the One “anointed” by God the Father to do all this saving work for us (Mark 8:27-31). This was all “according to the will of our God and Father” (Galatians 1:4). This was His plan to rescue us and forgive us, even though we are sinners in “this present evil age” (1 John 5:19-20, Hebrews 10:10-14, Hebrews 2:14-15).

Clearly, then, Paul was saying as he began this letter, that “grace and peace” came to our world and to us simply by God’s saving plan, brought to us through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We sinful humans contribute nothing to our salvation by our own work or efforts or keeping of God’s Law (Ephesians 2:8-9). It is all God’s doing, in Christ.

That is why Paul ended his opening prayer and blessing with these words: to God “be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” We can take no credit or glory for ourselves (Galatians 1:5). (The word “Amen” means “truly” or “this is most certainly true.” We can count on what God says and His promises, always.) We say “Amen” by faith in what God has already said and done for us, especially in Christ.

That is why Paul spoke so strongly, then, in Galatians 1:6-9. Paul was “astonished” that the Galatian Christians had been accepting the teaching of the false teachers, the “Judaizers," as they were sometimes called. These false teachers were saying that Paul had misled the Galatians and that what Jesus had done and accomplished was not enough. They said the Galatians also needed to do additional things truly to be acceptable to God and to be saved. Paul insisted that this idea was a “distortion of the Gospel of Christ.” It was actually “deserting the Lord” and His saving plan in Jesus and “turning to a different Gospel” (Galatians 1:6-7).

Paul went on to say twice in the strongest possible language that anyone who said something different from what he had already preached to them should be cursed and condemned.(Galatians 1:8-9). Trusting in God’s completed plan of rescue in Jesus alone was enough. Adding to Jesus’ work and saying that we must also do additional things ourselves for genuine salvation was “contrary” to the truth of the Gospel and would put put us back under a terrible curse.

Paul went on to say that even if someone claiming to be an “angel” came and said something different, don’t believe that person. Paul even went so far as to say that even if he came back later and preached a different, contrary Gospel, they should not believe him. He had already preached the truth of God’s plan and message in Christ and that is what they must continue to follow, no matter what. This is the message of God the Father and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the leading and guiding of God the Holy Spirit, as well.

The rest of this letter is largely a continuation of this basic message. We will hear more about Paul’s defense of his “apostolic” ministry, about the wrong ideas being taught by the false teachers, and about why what Paul was saying is still so important for us today. There are plenty of ways still today where people distort who Jesus was and what He did for us and want to add more things that we must do to have salvation. May the Lord bless us, as we continue this study, and help us to listen closely to His Word.

Sermon for Trinity Sunday - June 12, 2022

Sermon for Trinity Sunday, based on:

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31

Acts 2:14a, 22-36          

John 8:48-59

Sermon originally delivered May 26, 2013

Preparing for Worship - June 12, 2022

This Sunday is know as Holy Trinity Sunday, with a focus on the nature of God, revealed in the Bible as the One True Triune God.

The Psalm is Psalm 8. David praises the Name of the Lord, who is the Creator of the universe and all things and cares about even us ordinary human beings. God cares about us especially in sending His own Son, who was made a true man, “a little lower than the heavenly beings” and suffered and died for us. Hebrews 2:5-9 quotes this passage about Jesus and that He has now been restored to “glory and honor,” and God has now “put all things under His feet” as our risen, victorious Savior. See also Ephesians 1:22. Jesus also quotes this psalm about Himself when children were singing His praises in the temple (Matthew 21:16).

The Old Testament reading is from Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-36, where the Wisdom of God cries out to “the children of man” - a Wisdom that is pictured as a living Being, together with the Lord before anything in the universe was created and “beside Him, like a Master Workman,” in the creation of all things. “Whoever finds Him and listens to Him finds life.” This fits well with what is said about God the Son, “the Power of God and the Wisdom of God," “the Word made flesh," in the New Testament and what he has done for us. (See John 1:1-3, 1 Corinthians 1:24,30, and Colossians 2:3, for example.) Be aware that there have been false teachers like Arius in the past, and groups like Jehovah’s Witnesses in the present, who have used this passage to try to say that Jesus was just a created being with some godly power, but not true God, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Their ideas are false, according to the whole witness of the Scriptures and a careful reading of this passage.

The Gospel lesson is John 8:48-59. Some Jewish people were calling Jesus a “Samaritan with a demon.” Jesus said that He was honoring His Father and doing His will, and twice He said, “If anyone keeps My Word, he will never see death.” Those challenging Jesus asked if he thought he was greater than Abraham, who died. Jesus then used the special name of God in the Old Testament, “I am Who I am” (see Exodus 3:14), and said, “Before Abraham was, I am,” claiming that He had always existed as the one true God, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, from all eternity, long before Abraham or anyone or anything else. Earlier He had said twice, “I am He,” in John 8:24 and 28, making the same claim for Himself, as one with the Father. (See Isaiah 43:10-13, for example.) The Jewish opponents then thought Jesus was speaking blasphemy and tried to kill Him - which they eventually were able to do.

The Epistle lesson, Acts 2:14a, 22-36, is a continuation from last week, with more of the sermon Peter preached on Pentecost. Peter proclaimed that Jesus, God’s Son, was killed on the cross, but was raised from the dead on the third day. Peter gave his own eyewitness testimony to this fact, along with Scriptures that predicted this, from Psalm  16:8-11 and Psalm 110:1. (Psalm 110:1 is quoted 15 times in the New Testament, affirming that Jesus was the Son of David and yet David’s Lord, as God the Son, who rose from the dead and is at the “right hand of the Father” with authority over all.) Notice also how Jesus and the Father and the Holy Spirit are all described as being at work for us in v.31-33, and yet there is no other God but one (1 Corinthians 8:4). (That is the unexplainable mystery of the Trinity - three Divine Persons, yet only One True God, as described in the Scriptures.) Jesus is both Lord and God, and the Christ, the promised one who is our Savior.

There is one more note for St. James members. St. James will use Genesis 3:1-15 as the Old Testament lesson, as part of a special 10 week series they are beginning, telling the basic story of God’s saving work. God’s Son had to come and be the Savior of the world, because Genesis 3 describes the fall into sin (Adam and Eve wanting to be god-like and do what they wanted to do and rebelling against God’s will, which we still do, too, at times) and the need to overcome sin and defeat the power of the devil. Genesis 3:15 predicts the suffering and death Jesus would go through, and yet that He would rise again and ultimately “crush Satan and his power” for us.

Study of Galatians Part 1 - Introduction

Even though Jesus clearly said that the Good News of His saving work, the Gospel, was to go to all people (see, for example, Matthew 28:19-20 and Mark 16:15 and Acts 1:8) the early Christians were slow to carry out His command. Peter preached already on Pentecost, 10 days after Jesus ascended into heaven, that God’s promises in Jesus were for those in Jerusalem and their children “and for all who are far off.” Those promises included bringing people to repentance and forgiveness and baptism and faith, through the power of the Holy Spirit. (See Acts 2:38-39, and Acts 5:29-32, for example.)

However, it was not until Acts 8, with persecution coming, that many Christians scattered, leaving Jerusalem, and some began to reach out to people of Samaria and to an Ethiopian man. (See Acts 8:1, 12-14, 27-38.) Even Peter himself struggled to reach out to non-Jews until God convinced him, with words and visions, to go and meet with and teach a Roman centurion, Cornelius, and his family and friends. (See Acts 10. In Acts 10:28, we hear that this was the first time that Peter had even gone to the home of a non-Jew of another nation.)

There were many rules for the Jewish people, some from the Old Testament and many more made up by Jewish authorities themselves, that kept Jews and non-Jews apart. How were Jews and others who became believers in Jesus going to respond to all these Jewish rules and expectations?

We hear in Acts 11:1-3 that Peter was strongly criticized for even associating with non-Jews. Instead of rejoicing that some of these Gentiles (non-Jews) had received the Word of God and had come to faith in Jesus, the critics were condemning Peter and others. Peter had to defend himself and explain that the Holy Spirit had sent him and others to these Gentiles, and the Holy Spirit had brought even non-Jews to the same faith and blessings of God. See especially Peter’s Words and the response of the people in Acts 11:11-18.

The tensions continued, though, especially about how “Jewish” new Christians needed to be, especially with regard to these Jewish rules and regulations. Acts 11:19 tells us that some still wanted to share the Good News of Jesus with “no one except Jews.” Others shared about Jesus with everyone they could, though, and more people came to faith, especially in the Syrian city of Antioch. These tensions were not directly dealt with until the Council of Jerusalem, a meeting of early Christian leaders, in Acts 15.

While all this was going on, there was a strongly anti-Christian Jewish leader, by the name of Saul, who was a well-trained Pharisee and felt it was his duty to round up Christians and put them in prison. He even helped put at least one Christian, Stephen, to death. (See Acts 7:54-8:3, 9:1-2.) The Risen and Ascended Lord Jesus had other plans for Saul, though.

Jesus appeared to him as he was traveling to Damascus, Syria, and turned his life around and brought him to faith and baptism and called him especially to to be a witness for Him to Gentiles (non-Jews). You can read about this is Acts 9:1-30. Saul quickly began to speak positively about Jesus as the promised Savior, but was in danger because of doing so, and was sent off to his home city of Tarsus, in the Roman province of Cilicia.

We’ll hear later of how he spent a number of years learning more about the Christian faith and about prophecies about Jesus in the Old Testament and receiving revelations directly from Jesus. Then he was brought to Antioch to help teach new believers and then was sent off with Barnabas on his first missionary journey, preaching the Good News of Jesus in areas that included the Roman province of Galatia. (See Acts 11:25-26, 13:2-14:28.)

Churches were established there, which included Jews and Gentiles. Tensions continued about how Jewish the Gentiles believers needed to be,  though, and Saul, who was now called Paul, attended the Jerusalem Council, in Acts 15. Peter and other leaders clearly said everyone simply needed to “hear the Words of the Gospel and believe.” God would “cleanse their hearts by faith.” And Peter said, “We believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will."

The Lord led the Council to say that was enough. All people were to avoid wrongdoing like “sexual immorality” and avoid a few things that would be really offensive to Jews. Otherwise, Peter said, “Why are (some of) you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear.” Peter wanted no other burdens placed upon people who were saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus. (See all of Acts 15, but especially v. 4-11.)

Paul returned to Antioch and then went off on a second missionary journey (Acts 15:35, 40-41, and the chapters following). Unfortunately, some of “party of the Pharisees” continued to insist “It is necessary to circumcise (the Gentiles) and to order them to keep the law of Moses” (Acts 15:5). Some them actually traveled then to the churches in Galatia and stirred up trouble against Paul and his teachings and terribly confused the churches.

Dr. Martin Franzmann says that their attack was three-pronged: (a) an attack on Paul as an apostle, (b) an attack on the Gospel of Paul as omitting essential demands of God, and (c) an attack which pointed up the moral dangers that would result from a proclamation of salvation by mere faith in an absolutely free and forgiving grace of God. When he heard of it, Paul could not go to Galatia at that time, but wrote what was likely his very first missionary letter, the Letter to the Galatians, in 48-49 AD or a little later, to refute the false teachings and emphasize once again that salvation is by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

That is what we will be looking at as we study Galatians. We will see that we are facing the same challenges and dangers from some in our own day and need to stand firm in what God teaches us through Paul. May the Lord richly bless our study together in the weeks ahead.

Sermon for Pentecost Sunday - June 5, 2022

Sermon for Pentecost Sunday, based on:

Genesis 11:1-9

Acts 2:1-21

John 14:23-31

Sermon originally delivered May 19, 2013

Preparing for Worship - June 5, 2022

This Sunday is the Day of Pentecost. Pentecost means “fiftieth” - the fiftieth day after the Jewish Passover. It was also known as the “Feast of Weeks” and the end of the grain harvest that followed Passover. Jewish pilgrims from all over the world returned to Jerusalem for this time of thanksgiving to God for His goodness in His creation. For Christians, it was about 50 days after Easter - a perfect time for the Holy Spirit to come with power to work through the early Christians to share the Good News of Jesus, the Risen Savior, with the many Jews gathered there.

It was a reversal of what had happened in the Old Testament Lesson, Genesis 11:1-9. Sin was clearly still in the generations of people after the Great Flood. God told them to scatter and fill the earth (Genesis 9:1), but they wanted to stick together and make a name for themselves and build a great tower to reach up to God, as if they were gods themselves, doing what they wanted to do. Instead, God confused them and their one language into many and caused them to scatter all over the earth, divided from one another.

Psalm 143 is the psalm for this Sunday and is one of the penitential psalms. David knows that he, too, is a sinner, like everyone else, and confesses to God, “No one living is righteous before You.” He prays that God will not judge him, as he deserves, but give him steadfast love. He thirsts for God’s mercy and for God’s good Spirit to lead and guide him. He feels that his own spirit is failing, yet he still says to God, “In You I trust” and knows that God can forgive him and bring him out of his troubles.

In the Gospel lesson, John 14:23-31, we hear Jesus speaking of the importance of hearing and trusting the Word of God. He will be leaving and returning to His Father (at His ascension into heaven), but He and the Father will send the Helper, the Holy Spirit,
who will “bring to remembrance all that He had taught them” and teach them even more. It is through the Holy Spirit that they were able to preach and teach so powerfully at Pentecost and afterwards and could write exactly what God wanted in the Holy Scriptures, so that even today we can believe the truth of God’s Word and have peace in Christ, even with all the troubles of this world.

The Epistle Lesson, from Acts 2:1-21, describes the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, with wind and fire, and enabling the believers suddenly to “speak in tongues,” in languages that they had never known before, in order to communicate the message of the Risen Lord and Savior Jesus to many people that day. This was in fulfillment of a prophecy from Joel, in the Old Testament, so that many “could call upon the name of the Lord and be saved.” The joy was not in the diversity of the people from many nations, but in the unity they found in faith in Jesus and in baptism through the Holy Spirit working through the Word of God (see verses 36-41, after our text).

Bible Study - Book of Ruth Part 5 - Ruth 4:11-12, 17-22

Last week we heard the good news of the marriage of Boaz and Ruth and the restoration of their land in Israel to the family of Naomi and Elimelech. From this marriage, in a few generations, came David, King of Israel. We want to look at other people mentioned at the end of this story and the genealogy given here and how this all relates to the coming of our Lord Jesus, many centuries later.

We began with Ruth 4:11, where the elders and people at the gate of Bethlehem asked God’s blessings upon Boaz and Ruth, and that Ruth would be “like Rachel and Leah” of old, in “building up the house of Israel,” with children as heirs. Last week we heard that Jacob, who cheated his brother, was also cheated and tricked into marrying Leah instead of Rachel, the wife he wanted. Jacob then ended up marrying Rachel, as well, having two wives.

This was very much against the will of God, who had set up marriage as between one man and one woman in a lifelong commitment (Genesis 2:18-24). We see, however, that after the fall into sin in Genesis 3, already in Genesis 4:19,23-24, a man had taken two wives for himself. This happened with too many people, including Jacob. Whenever such things happened, the Scriptures also described much trouble. Read Genesis 29:30-30:13. Leah and Rachel could not get along and created problems for Jacob with much jealousy and hatred. They compounded the problems by offering their servant girls to Jacob to have more children by them. There were 12 sons of Jacob, but a very troubled family, as well. This was a very messy, sinful situation. God did not approve, but He still worked through all this, through very weak, sinful people, to continue His line of promise for the future.

There are other stories like this in the Old Testament, which are not even appropriate to teach children, in all the details we hear. Remember though, that these are “descriptions” of sinful people, as we are, too, at times, but are not “prescriptions” of how we ought to live or what is OK for us to do. (Here is where people like Joseph Smith and some Mormons went very wrong and approved of and practiced polygamy and wrote this approval and many other wrong things into their new “scriptures.”)

Go back to Ruth 4:12, where the people of Bethlehem wished also that Boaz and Ruth’s “house would be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.” This is another earlier messy, sinful story, which you can read about in Genesis 38. This probably is mentioned because Tamar was a widowed non-Jewish woman in a situation similar to that of Ruth, and yet Tamar was in the line of promise for the coming King David and our Savior Jesus, too. (See Genesis 49:8-10, where there is a prophecy that a kingly ruler would come from the line of Judah - a reference to King David and later on to Jesus, the King of Kings and “Lion of the tribe of Judah” (Revelation 5:5).)

Go now to Genesis 38. We don’t have time to go through this story in detail, but note that Judah had two wives also, again in violation of God’s will. And again, there was only trouble. Tamar was chosen as the wife of one of Judah’s sons, Er. Er was very wicked and was put to death, and Tamar was left as a widow. This was another sort of “kinsman-redeemer” situation, where family could help provide an heir for Tamar, but everyone refused to do so. Tamar was so desperate that she pretended to be a prostitute and had a child by her father-in-law, Judah himself. It is another terrible story with so many wrong things going on, and Judah finally had to admit, “Tamar is more righteous than I” (Genesis 38:26).

The child born to Tamar is identified in v.29 as Perez, and Perez is listed first in the genealogy of David in Ruth 4:18 -22. Once again, this story is a description of sinful people doing much wrong in their lives, and not a prescription of what anyone should be doing. Some died in their wickedness, as we heard of Er. But God in His mercy also kept His promises and worked through this sinful mess to bring eventually King David and the “Son of David,” our Lord Jesus.

Some of the Lutheran commentators also note that the listing of the genealogy in Ruth 4:18-22 includes two groups of 5 descendants. Perez to Nahshon belong to the 430 years of the time the descendants of Jacob were in Egypt. Salmon to David belong to the 476 years between the exodus from Egypt to Israel and on to the death of David. In other words, this is likely not a complete genealogy and not everyone is listed, as happens at times in other Biblical genealogies. The number 10, though, was a number of completeness, and shows that God knew exactly what He was doing, working out His perfect saving plan through very imperfect people, over long periods of time.

This is also an indication that we do not need to rely on genealogies to figure out just when the earth was created, as Bishop Ussher and others have tried to do. We do believe what Genesis says about God as Creator of the universe and this earth and the first people in just six days. We do not believe in evolution from nothing to man over billions of years. This is clearly a very young earth, but we do not need to figure out exactly how old it is.

We turn now to the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1:1-17. We don’t have time to go through this in detail, either, but notice again the symmetrical form of the genealogy, three sets of 14 generations, showing God’s perfect and merciful carrying out of His plan of salvation, from Abraham to Jesus, even through messy and confusing and sinful stories of God’s Old Testament people.

Matthew followed the listing in Ruth of the generations there (with not everyone seemingly included). Matthew does mention several women, too, though women were usually left out of Jewish genealogies. The women listed were not the famous women like Sarah and Rachel. Three of the four were not even Jewish, and all had bad reputations, other than Ruth, the faithful Moabite wife of Boaz and daughter-in-law of Naomi.

“The ancestry of Christ tells the story of Israel’s failures and of God’s mercy for both Jews and Gentiles,” Dr. Franzmann says, and the coming of Jesus to do His saving work for all. This gives hope for all people in Christ Jesus. He came to bring forgiveness and salvation to sinners - which we all are. Read, for example, what Paul said in 1 Timothy 1:12-16. He considered himself the “chief” - the “worst of sinners" - and if God could have mercy on him, God could have mercy on anyone. How comforting that is for us all, in our own struggles.

One last thought. Dr. Franzmann points out that if you count the list of names in the third list of generations, coming right up to Jesus, there are only 13 generations listed, not the usual 14. Franzmann says, “Perhaps Matthew is hinting that there is still one generation to come - the generation of the church,” all those who have come to believe in and trust in Jesus as Savior, including you and me, who are simply waiting for Jesus to return one day and take us also to eternal life, along with others we can tell about Jesus our Lord. It is His perfect life and death for our sins and resurrection from the dead which gives us this hope and confidence and mission in life.

Sermon for the 7th Sunday of Easter - May 29, 2022

Sermon for the 7th Sunday of Easter, based on:

Acts 1:12-26 

Revelation 22:1-20

John 17:20-26  

Sermon originally delivered May 12, 2013

Preparing for Worship - May 29, 2022

The Scriptures this Sunday speak of the unity that is ours as we are connected to the Lord and His Word. The Psalm is Psalm 133, a psalm of David that people sang together as they went up to Jerusalem for festivals and worship of their Lord together in unity. The blessings of the Lord are pictured by the anointing oil poured on Aaron, so that he could bring these blessings to people, and by the dew that came down from Mt. Hermon and watered the land of Israel (an image that predicts in Zechariah 8:11-13, God’s saving work in Christ, so that His people can then be a blessing to others).

In the Gospel lesson, John 17:20-26, Jesus prays that His disciples would remain unified in Him and His Word and share that Word with others, so that others too might believe. This is a prayer also for us, who have become united in Christ and with one another through faith in His Word and the anointing power of baptism. (See also 1 Corinthians 12:13 and Galatians 3:26-27.) Jesus also prays that we stay in faith and become “perfectly one” as we worship Him one day in the glory and perfection of heaven.

We have another picture of that heavenly home given by revelation to John in the Second Lesson, Revelation 22:1-6, (7-11), 12-20. All believers will have the tree of life and the water of life, in the presence of the Lord God and Jesus, the Lamb, Who rescued us all. We will have the Light and Truth of the Lord with us forever. In the meantime, while still on earth, we are called to “Come” and be strengthened by God’s grace and receive the free gifts of God, given to us without price, through the “trustworthy and true” Words of Scripture.

The First Lesson, from Acts 1:12-26, shows the early believers, gathered together and asking the Lord to guide them in choosing a disciple to replace Judas. He must be a man who had seen the ministry of Jesus and was a witness to His resurrection and would help them share the Good News of the Savior, from Pentecost (celebrated next Sunday) and beyond. Matthias was the person the Lord led them to choose.

Bible Study - Book of Ruth Part 4 - Ruth 4:1-11, 13-16

Last week we heard that Naomi told Ruth how to let Boaz, the man who had helped Ruth so much, know in a very unusual way that she would be willing to marry him, as her “kinsman-redeemer.” Boaz understood what Ruth was telling him and was interested also in marrying Ruth. Boaz was a man, though, who was very moral and wanted to follow God’s Old Testament laws and customs. He knew that there was another relative who should have first choice before him in being the redeemer and marrying Ruth.

Just as Naomi had expected, the very next day, Boaz went to the gate of the town of Bethlehem. This was the place where people went to talk and carry out business and transactions and make important decisions in a public way. (See Deuteronomy25:7.) Boaz first found his relative who should have first choice in being the kinsman-redeemer for the family of Naomi and Ruth. Boaz also asked 10 elders of the town to be witnesses to what would be discussed. For matters to be legally binding, there needed to be a large number of witnesses like this. (In fact, a synagogue, a worship center for Jews, could not be organized and hold worship without at least 10 such men present.) (Ruth 4:1-2)

Right away, Boaz explained to his relative that he had first right to be a “redeemer” and buy the parcel of land that Naomi was selling (or maybe had already sold - the scholars don’t seem to agree on this). Naomi could have needed to sell the land earlier to have some money on which she and Ruth could survive. Either way, the relative had the right to buy this land and bring it back into the family, if he chose and settled any debts, etc. See Leviticus 25:25-28, again. Only a male relative could do this, though.

Boaz also explained that he himself did not have the right to be the redeemer unless his relative chose not to do his part, as he should (Ruth 4:3-4). The relative said “I will do it,” presumably because he had the money and could gain more property for the clan of Judah and himself.

Boaz then also reminded the relative that there was another responsibility if he redeemed the land. He would also have to marry Ruth the Moabite. (The Hebrew is a bit confusing, simply saying that the relative would also “have also to buy it from Ruth,” and thus take responsibility for her, as well.) The relative decided that he could not marry Ruth, because that might in some way “impair” his own inheritance and put more burdens on him and his family. That meant he could not redeem the land for Naomi and Ruth. The relative thus passed on the choice and responsibility to Boaz (Ruth 4:5-6).

Ruth 4:7-8 also tells of a “custom in former times” by which such a decision was demonstrated in a symbolic way, too. The person refusing the opportunity to “redeem” property would take off his sandal. (This was something done in Israel and other places at the time. Some think it expressed the idea that you could walk freely with your sandals on land that you owned. On other land you could not walk so freely and might be trespassing and get in trouble if you walked there.)

For an example of this, with some variation, see Deuteronomy 25:5-10. The Deuteronomy passages refers to the rejection of buying the property and rejection of the marriage, which went together. and were supposed to be done. Maybe that is why the rejected widow “spit in the face” of one refusing to do this duty. (Remember also that this story of Naomi and Ruth and Boaz actually happened during the later period of the Judges, though it was likely not written down until later, during the time of King David, when some of these customs had been forgotten or ignored.)

Then, Ruth 4:9-10 tells us that Boaz said right away that he would be the needed “kinsman-redeemer” and buy the property back for Naomi and Ruth and marry Ruth and keep the family name of Elimelech going for them. He asked the elders who were present to be witnesses to his promise and to the fact that all was done rightly and properly. The elders agreed and asked the Lord to bless this decision and marriage. (We will talk more about Ruth 4:11-12 and the verses that follow next week. Clearly the Lord blessed all this. Boaz and Ruth were married and had a child, Obed. Obed was their child, but it was such a joy for Naomi, after all her emptiness, that it was almost as if the child were hers, an heir at last!) (Ruth 4:16-17).

One more comment. Boaz said in Ruth 4:9-10 that he had bought the family property and he had “bought” Ruth for his wife. In ancient times, there often was a “bride price.” Money or goods or something was given to the bride’s parents, in exchange for the privilege of marrying the woman. (See, for example, the story of Jacob going to Laban in Genesis 28-29. Jacob wanted to marry Laban’s daughter, Rachel, and agreed to work 7 years for Laban as the “bride price” for marrying Rachel. As Jacob had tricked and cheated his brother, Esau, Laban also cheated Jacob and married off his daughter Leah to Jacob instead. Jacob had to work 7 more years to get the bride he really wanted. We will talk more about this story and other, next week, as they relate to the end of the Book of Ruth.)

In the case of Boaz, there was no “bride price” other than buying and reclaiming the property for Naomi and Ruth, but Boaz was very willing to do this because he really wanted to marry Ruth and genuinely loved and cared for her. (If you read through the Book of Judges, you will see many low, dark times, when people resisted God’s will and did “what was in their own eyes” instead of following God and His will (Judges 2:16, 6:1, 13:1, 21:25).

The story of Boaz and Ruth was a bright spot of genuine love and honoring of the Lord in those dark days. May we, as believers, seek to be “bright, shining lights” for our Lord and His ways and will, especially in Christ, in the dark days we sometimes live in today, too. See Philippians 2:14-16.