Bring your Best & Rest 💤

GM. This is Soul Food. We share bible knowledge like passing down a family recipe – with care, tradition, and a pinch of secret spice.

🔎🔎🔎 Here’s what we’re exploring today:

So here’s the deal, Ruth is a Moabite - a foreigner in Israel. Her life consisted of gleaning from others to owning the field all in a short period of time. Some may say “Most Valuable Gleaner”, others “Employee of the year” but I like to say “Favour of God”.

Ruth gave her best, rested, and was redeemed. Here’s how:

In Ruth 3:3, Naomi gives Ruth some instructions to follow before she meets Boaz. These are to “Wash therefore and anoint yourself, and put on your cloak and go down to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.”

So there are a few things Ruth needs to do. The first set of things are to wash, anoint, and put on her cloak. The second thing is to not make herself known to Boaz until the right time.

1. To wash represents making yourself pure and clean. Why is this important? It is a representation of righteousness. The following two things are to anoint and then to put on. First, you have to make yourself clean. No amount of anointing (perfume) or fancy clothes can cover up the person on the inside, so it is a representation to us that righteousness underpins who we are.

2. To anoint means to make yourself smell good. When someone smells good, they make the whole room smell good. When someone looks good, they only look good. But to smell good means to make the environment around you more pleasing.

3. Now, when Naomi says to put on your cloak, the Hebrew for this is to put on your best clothes. Later in the chapter, Boaz tells Ruth to spread her garment out, but we will get to this later on.

The final thing Naomi says is: do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. This shows waiting, which means Ruth had to rest. The last verse of chapter 3 is: “Just be patient, my daughter, until we hear what happens. The man won’t rest until he has settled things today.” Meaning that God will go to work until it is complete.

To finish, Boaz is referred to as the kinsman-redeemer, which is a reflection of God. Towards the end of the chapter, Boaz asks Ruth to “hold out her garment” and when Ruth does this, she lays her best down in front of Boaz. This is because Naomi told her to put on her best.

Following this, Boaz gives Ruth six ephahs of barley. Why only six? It is because that is all Ruth could hold. Boaz owns fields and fields, so he has more than six ephahs to give, but he only gives six because that is all that Ruth can receive. This is a reflection of Jesus; the supply is always greater than the demand.

🔑🔑🔑 Key takeaways:

• God’s supply is always greater than what we need or want.

• Bring your best to God. The best of your work, money, time, skill, etc.

💎💎💎 Meme of the week:

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For now, speak soon, catch you next week amigo! 🙋🏻‍♂️📬