Sermon 69 - Ruth 4
Whenever I am at a party, or an event, or any large gathering involving multiple rooms, I always wonder why human beings are so attracted to doorways. We always stand in the doorway. Maybe it's because of our FOMO: fear of missing out. We can't decide which room we want to be in, so we stand in the doorway, so that we can look this way, or that, and see whether something more interesting is happening in the other room.
Okay, you say, interesting, but what does this have to do with Ruth? Well, Boaz, as was indicated in the last sermon, immediately sets out to ensure that Ruth is married, and that it is done properly. So he goes to the city gate. Apparently, we are just as enamored of gateways, as we are with doorways. So, if you want to find the important people of the city, you go to the city gate. There the important people of the city are sitting around, wondering when somebody is going to get around to inventing coffee.
Boaz finds the guy who has the better claim than he does in the guardian redeemer scheme of things. He also finds ten of the leading citizens of the city. For some reason, even this early, Jews have decided to do things by tens. You have ten people for a jury, you have ten people to make an important decision, you have ten people on the city council, for all we know. And for an important issue such as property rights, you have to have ten witnesses.
It's interesting the different emphasis, or importance, that different cultures place on witnesses. In our society, we tend to say that a witness is pretty important. In court, witness testimony is supposedly the most important testimony of all the other types of evidence. From studies both in law and in psychology I can tell you that witness testimony is really shaky. But, we seem to assert that witnesses are important.
Actually, we don't. Not, that is, in comparison to other cultures. The Nuu-chah-nulth First Nation, or language group, that is prevalent here in Port Alberni, have a very high regard for witnesses. In any important event, or meeting, the First Nation will actually hire (possibly for a token payment, but hire), witnesses to the event. They have the responsibility for remembering, and possibly later reporting, on what happened. If there are no witnesses, it didn't happen.
The Jewish culture of 1500 BC was definitely similar. We see this even in the language. There is the commandment that we tend to read as, don't lie. But the actual meaning is much closer to the King James version: thou shalt not bear false witness. This refers to witness testimony in court. You are not to give incorrect witness testimony. It has a much more legalistic, and much stronger, emphasis then we tend to think of it as.
So, Boaz gets witnesses. This makes things official. This makes things real.
And he lays it all out to the other guardian redeemer. You have the right to buy the plot of land that belonged to our relative, Elimelek. Do you want to buy it? If you don't buy it, says Boaz, I will. The other guardian redeemer says that he will. Boaz brings up the point that, as soon as he buys that plot of land, he has to marry Ruth, so as to perpetuate the family line of the relative, Elimelek. The other guardian redeemer changes his mind. Given that he is perpetuating Elimelek's family line, that might jeopardize his own legacy. You do it, he says. And Boaz does. He legalizes it, in the presence of witnesses, making everybody sure of what he has done, what he intends, and that this is all right and proper.
I really feel for Boaz, at this point. Boaz is getting married late in life. I married Gloria rather late in life. Boaz does not know what he is getting into. He thinks he knows, but he really doesn't. I know this, because I thought I knew what I was getting into when I got married, and I very definitely didn't. Marriage is hard work. Your life changes, a lot. In a sense, there is a kind of grieving that goes on, when you get married, that is oddly similar to the kind of grieving that you go through when your spouse dies. Now, an awful lot of the changes that go on, when you get married, are good. As a matter of fact, fantastically good. And no, I'm not just talking about the obvious. I would never have published, all the books that I published, if I had not married Gloria. When I married Gloria, I had no idea that this would be one of the results. So, I know, for an absolute fact, that Boaz has no idea how his life is going to change.
For one thing, his mother-in-law is moving in with them. I'm pretty certain that that's how it worked in this culture. We really aren't told too much about what happens at this point, other than that a child is born, and that, eventually, Boaz and Ruth become David's great-grandparents. I would really love to believe that they all lived happily ever after. There isn't any thing to say that that didn't happen, but there isn't anything specific to say that it did. I hope it did. I see this as a terrific love story, and I'd really hate to think that it wasn't. After all, we know that Boaz is a really decent guy, and we know that Ruth was terrifically committed to her mother-in-law. They are both really good people, and so, it pretty much stands to reason that they will have a good marriage. Possibly even a great marriage. Everybody seems to see this as a good thing, particularly around the birth of the son, Obed. Everybody showers blessings on them, and even Tamar (remember Tamar?) gets a mention, again.
Ruth series
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