Yesterday’s declaration (blog) spoke to possible thoughts
Ruth may have had which seem natural.
Even though she loved Naomi and went along with her, she was still a
human being with thoughts, desires and will of her own. However, that doesn’t mean that she didn’t
have an opinion, she just chose to listen to what she believed was good sound
advice. In fact it appears she mastered
pressing mute on the Self-Talk committee, PP club (aka Pity Party) and the
ShaCudWa organization (shudda, cudda, wudda).
We hear very little from Miss Ruth, but she’s got enough swag to fill an
auditorium.
In my sanctified imagination Boaz on the other hand is “wiggin”
everybody out. The whole house is in an
uproar with him moving from one task before completing the first, making
statements that are either incomplete or don’t make sense (and then looking at
his servants if they’re slow) and giving ridiculous orders. For example: he never takes a hot bath with
his favorite scented oils this early in the morning during harvesting season because
he’s at the threshing floor all day and night until the work is completed; he’s
changed his business robes six times already; ordered scented oils massaged in
his skin when he already took a bath with scented oils; he always eats
breakfast but today he has no appetite.
Finally Zorah (his long time servant and head of business affairs)
pulled him into the kitchen, looked him in the eyes and said: “What on heavens
is wrong with you!!! You’re confusing
everybody, barking orders and running around here like a young school boy with
a crush!!!” and then it hit her when Boaz turned beet red and she said: “It’s
that Moabite woman, Naomi’s pretty little daughter-in-law. Did she submit to you last night at the
threshing floor?” He tried to deny it
but he had never been able to lie to his ZeeZee, especially now since he turned
an even deeper shade of red. Tears
welled up in Zorah’s eyes as she opened her arms while he simultaneously fell
into her full bosom and wept as they both cried. He didn’t sob he just released calm tears of
relief which were almost as soothing as the herbal balms ZeeZee had applied to
his many scrapes as a child. He was in
love and there was no denying it. She
allowed him to cry as long as he needed while she stroked the back of his head
and sang softly in his ear which allowed him to release all of the years of disappointment
that she had watched him experience over the years. His behavior made complete sense now as
chaotic as it was because it was very similar to her sons when they first fell
in love and almost drove everybody crazy until they finally got married. She told him to return to his bed chambers
while she tended to the rest of the things that needed to be done. He was going to need all of his wits today at
the counsel to stake claim on his new bride to be. And that’s where we will pick up the story at
Ruth chapter 4 starting at verse 6.
Idoncare felt it would be too much of a risk to take on the
responsibility of Naomi and fathering children with Ruth so he freely gave up
his right as the first family redeemer to Boaz. As was the custom of that day, to make the
contract legal and binding Idoncare took off his sandal and gave it to Boaz
solidifying the transaction in front of the ten elders that witnessed the
entire business deal. Boaz then
addressed the town and stated for clarification: “You
are witnesses today that I have bought from Naomi everything that belonged to
Elimelech and Kilion and Mahlon, including responsibility for Ruth the
foreigner, the widow of Mahlon—I’ll take her as my wife and keep the name of
the deceased alive along with his inheritance. The memory and reputation of the
deceased is not going to disappear out of this family or from his hometown. To
all this you are witnesses this very day.
All the people in the town square that day, backing up the elders, said:
“Yes, we are witnesses. May God make this woman who is coming into
your household like Rachel and Leah, the two women who built the family of
Israel. May God make you a pillar in Ephrathah and famous in
Bethlehem! With the children God gives you from this young woman, may
your family rival the family of Perez, the son Tamar bore to Judah.” Ruth
4:9-12. (The Message).”
After receiving the blessing of the townspeople Boaz quickly
mounted his horse and bounced! Like,
all they could see was a cloud of dust, which is somewhat strange for Boaz who
is an amazing networker, very hospitable and quite the professional. He is usually the last to leave any of their
local functions as he is always seeing to the needs of others. When he got past the city limits he pulled
his faithful stallion to a halt, dismounted and fell to his knees as he
worshipped Jehovah-Jireh for answering his prayer for a successful meeting. After he worshipped, he gathered 12 stones
and created a memorial just off the side of the road so that he could remember
this day every time he entered the City.
He got back on his horse and headed straight for his wife to be.
Ruth was creating a dress design when she heard the knock at
the door. Naomi came to the room
Naomi started crying, their housemates started crying, Boaz
was crying, the dog was howling, everybody was in tears, but they were tears of
joy. Boaz wanted to get married the next
day but the women managed to talk him into waiting until they could plan an
appropriate wedding. He finally
consented but insisted they be married within four weeks no exceptions, he gave
her enough money to get things started and told her to let him know when she
needed more. Four weeks later to the day
they were married, Ruth conceived on their wedding night and nine months latter
they had a beautiful baby boy. They
named him Obed which means servant, worshipper.
Everyone made a huge fuss over this beautiful little bundle of joy but
no one loved him more than his grandmother Naomi. She made such a fuss over him that the women
started calling him "Naomi's baby boy". While they gathered at Obed's "welcome
to the world" celebration the women blessed Naomi as follows: “Blessed
be GOD! He didn’t leave you without family to carry on your life. May this baby
grow up to be famous in Israel! He’ll make you young again! He’ll take care of
you in old age. And this daughter-in-law who has brought him into the world and
loves you so much, why, she’s worth more to you than seven sons!” (Ruth 4:14-15
MSG).
The women's prophecy came true because Obed was the father
of Jesse, the father of David who became the King of Israel, hand selected by
God. He too was a worshipper after God's
own heart.
God used what most people would have described as an
insignificant foreigner to produce royalty and one of the wisest men in all of
the world, King Solomon who was the son of King David. God isn't looking for superstars who are all
degreed or pedigreed up who come from old money, new money or young money. He's just looking for ordinary people like
you and I to accomplish his will. He's
gotta use people so why not let him use you and enjoy the benefits that come
along with it.
In His New Excellence,
Tania Not Tanya
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