One day Ruth's mother-in-law Naomi said to her,...
"Go down to the threshing floor...
When he lies down, note the place where he is lying.
Then go and uncover his feet and lie down."
Ruth 3:1, 3~4
Uncover his feet and lie down. What was Naomi thinking?
Naomi was thinking about the law of the kinsman-redeemer. If man died without children, his property was transferred to his brother. If the deceased husband had no brother, his nearest male relative was to provide for the widow.
But this was an audacious move. Boaz was under no obligation to marry Ruth. He was a relative, not a brother. Besides, she was a foreigner. He was a prominent landowner. She was destitute alien.
He was a local power broker. She, unknown. He, well known.
"will you cover us?" Ruth asked him, and Boaz smiled.
Ruth's story is ours. We, too, are poor - spiritually, for sure; monetarily, perhaps. We wear robes of death. She buried her husband; we've buried our dream, desires, and aspiration. Like the mother with lupus or the businessman in the unemployment line, we're out of options. But our Boaz has taken note of us. Christ, our Redeemer,
"Will you cover us?" we asked him, and Grace smiled.
Max Lucado の God with You Every Day より
ルツ記をこのように解説されたのは、はじめてです。
なんで、姑ナオミは、ルツにそんなことを命じたのだろう、って思わないのが不思議、あまりも唐突で、大胆、いえ、ちょっと頭がおかしんじゃないの？と思われかねない行動です。
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| 記事とは関係ないけど このヒトこのでっかいハンバーガーひとりで食べちゃった |
もちろんボアズはびっくりしたけど、でも、微笑んだ。
聖書には微笑んだとは書いていないけど、ボアズの発言は、微笑む以外の表情ではできなかったと思う。
それはつまり、10節「娘さん。主があなたを祝福されるように。あなたの後からの真実は、先の真実にまさっています。」11節「さあ、娘さん。恐れてはいけません。あなたの望むことはみな、してあげましょう。」と。
そして、我らがイエスもこのボアズなのだと、マックスは言う。
そして、私たちはルツなのだと。
私は、全く異論はありません。