LIFE ON THE ALTAR

Taken from the book, Reflections on the Book of Ruth, by A. B. Saint

Chapter 10

“And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying,
“Let her glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her not:
and let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her,
and leave them, that she may glean them, and rebuke her not.”
Ruth 2: 15-16

As time went by, Ruth continued to glean faithfully in the field belonging to Boaz. Every day would find her amongst the other gleaners with their backs bent, where stooping towards the ground they would fill their aprons or their baskets with the precious left-over grain. Unbeknown to Ruth herself, Boaz had left particular instructions with his young male servants, that as they themselves worked in the field they were to ‘accidentally on purpose’ leave handfuls of grain along her particular pathway so that following the trail she might personally scoop them up. In this way Boaz saw to it that she was always blessed with extra rations.

The bible phrases this operation as being ‘handfuls of purpose,’ today we might refer to this more as ‘handfuls on purpose.’ Ruth was never to be given the impression that she was some kind of ‘charity case,’ else that would have been embarrassing for her. It is always good I think in this ‘smash and grab world’ in which we live today, if we can, to always remember to leave something behind for someone else to gather in.

Doing the weekly shop, maybe to economise a little with our own needs which will enable us to buy one or two extra things not for ourselves but to place in the ‘poor and needy’ or ‘homeless boxes’ at the front of the supermarket for those less well-off to enjoy. Or maybe to actually buy something, even perhaps something we don’t really need from that vulnerable looking salesman paid on commission only, anxiously wanting a sale and now standing with his large suitcase of goods at our front door. Just like us he and his family need to eat too.

The important question to be asked, is whether what we leave behind will be something which is going to bring a sweet taste or a bitter taste in the mouths of those who God has placed across our path. Let us seek to give something which can be taken up and utilized and be a source of real blessing to others.

In obedience to their master, the servants of Boaz proved to be a blessing in their own workplace, which for them was the agricultural out-doors. Age has no barrier in giving, it is open to all ages, and all can be involved. Remember, although unlike Boaz we may not possess a field full, each of us can usually spare a handful. Leaving something behind does not have to wait until we are gone from this scene of time. Maybe in some cases, just a word of cheer or a word of wisdom is all that is needed to help someone following behind us along life’s road. I like Boaz, he had a heart to leave something behind did he not and the question we must ask ourselves is, what have we left, if anything, behind us today?

Just at this moment I am reflecting on an old well-known and well-loved poem which has just suddenly been brought back to mind. You may yourselves have heard it. It is called The Bridge Builder and was written by a man called W. A. Dromgoole. In a way, it paints a picture of what we have just been talking about.

An old man, going a lone highway,
Came, at the evening, cold and grey,
To a chasm, vast and deep, and wide,
Through which was flowing a sullen tide,
The old man crossed in the twilight dim.
The sullen stream had no fear for him.
But he turned, when safe on the other side,
And built a bridge to span the tide.
“Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim, near,
“You are wasting strength with building here,
Your journey will end with the ending day,
You never again must pass this way,
You have crossed the chasm, deep and wide-
Why build you the bridge at the eventide?”
The builder lifted his old grey head:
“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,
“There followeth after me this day
A youth, whose feet must pass this way.
This chasm, which has been nought to me,
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be.
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim.

Good friend, I am building the bridge for him.”

We could easily end on this beautiful note, but Chapter 3 of the book of Ruth calls us to stop and take note and heralds us to take a further look at it. Verse one reads like this: “Then Naomi her mother-in-law said unto her, My daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee?” 

The first word written in verse one of our reading begins with the word ‘Then.’ From this little word we are led to see and know and understand that something has changed, time has moved on and what has gone before is now well and truly in the past. So, what has changed? The word ‘Then’ at the beginning of this verse signifies that the business of the gathering in of the harvest in the land of Bethlehem-Judah has now come to an end. Ruth chapter 1 and verse 22, and Ruth chapter 2 and verse 23 inform us that both the barley harvest and the wheat harvest have now been gathered in, so when Naomi speaks thus to her daughter-in-law Ruth, it would seem that indeed some time has elapsed by now.

No more do we see the corn waving in the wind; the fields are now empty of their gleaners and all that is left behind within the field is only stubble. No more is heard the voice of Boaz calling out to his workers hard at work in the noonday sun. Everyone it seems has by now left the scene. Amongst those missing is the young Moabite maiden named Ruth. She has long since proved to everyone around her that she was not only committed to taking care of her mother-in-law and seeing that she arrived safely back at the place of her birth, but she was also proving to be thoroughly committed to the service required of her on a daily basis in the field during the harvest ingathering. Day after day she laboured, feeling blessed to be in the work. Ruth had the ability it seems, to see things through to the end even when things seemed to be at their worst.   

Have you ever watched a game on television where it was obvious that one of the teams was most definitely on the losing side? They were losing speed, they were losing ground and yet they just wouldn’t give up, so great was their commitment to the game. With determination they pressed on, backs bent, leaning into the wind, they kept going forward and, in the end, proved to be the winning side. Commitment and dedication are definitely hallmarks of the Christian life.

“My daughter,” says Naomi, “shall I seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee?” The busy days of harvesting had already passed, and Ruth, at home, was no longer labouring hour after hour in the open field, so what rest was Naomi speaking of here? Surely she was not speaking of the rest which follows the cessation of work, for had not the harvest been gathered in? Also, if you remember this was not the first time that she had spoken of such a thing as rest. Way back in chapter one and verse nine, before she began her own journey back home to Bethlehem-Judah, Naomi sought this same rest for both daughters in law, for both Orpah and Ruth, telling them to return to their own family homes and to seek out other husbands from their own people, husbands who would take of them as they had taken care of others, and in this she sought rest for them. What a beautiful thing to desire for them. As we have already seen and noted, at the time she spoke to these two younger women she had absolutely no idea as to her own future, never mind theirs. 

Always and without exception, whenever I pause and think of the word rest, I recall the story of a man who had just died. His name now escapes me, but even though I had never heard of him myself, he was it seems very wealthy and very famous in the eyes of the world. He appears to have accumulated all his wealth through working in the profitable American film business. It turned out that he had everything that life could offer him, and yet when it all boiled down it seemed he was actually very miserable inside and would declare to those who knew him that he had never known a day’s peace or a day’s rest in his life. In this he was not referring to the busyness of his daily working schedule, but to his having no real inner peace within.  Such is the life without Christ.

Naomi looked for better things for Ruth, she had something in view, something in mind for her. In reality she looked for a portion which would bring about a security and a contentment in her life. Naomi wanted Ruth to be settled with a husband of her own and a home of her own. She desired a permanent dwelling place for her, an inheritance in the land of Israel. As Naomi herself voiced it, she wanted ‘rest’ for her young companion.

As we take up the Word of God and read it, we will frequently find that what it has to say to us quite often means more than is initially seen, or put another way, at first meets the eye. In other words, we have to seek God during our readings and learn to hear His voice and learn to read between the lines. We cannot ever just take a cursory glance at the book because there is often a hidden meaning and always a greater depth in what it has to say to us, more than any other book which has ever been written. Laid before us are stories taken from the Hebrew language in the Old Testament and the Greek language of the New Testament. 

A point in question is with that little word ‘Rest.’ We have already concluded that it doesn’t always mean the cessation of work, it means more than this. Yet, how often have we passed a gravesite and seen those memorials set in stone guarding the bones of such and such deceased loved one? Upon them are written or inscribed the words ‘At Rest,’ as if the only way we can ever enter into such a rest is when we leave this scene of time.

We have to be careful not to miss this truth for the Bible clearly denotes that whilst here upon this earth we can now enter into such a rest and such a peace as is found in the Lord Jesus Christ, no matter the busyness of life, no matter the pressures of life, no matter the uncertainties of life, and no matter the storms and trials of life. It is a rest which is indeed entered into by faith in Christ alone. Alongside this we who know the Lord also look forward to that Coming Day when our days upon the earth have ended and we enter into that Eternal Rest with Christ promised us in the Word of God.

As the days passed, Naomi’s thoughts dwelt more and more upon the subject of Ruth’s future which she mused could very well be tied in with the man Boaz. Perhaps he would be the kinsman redeemer which Ruth so needed at that time to bring her into her own inheritance. Behind all this musing and planning, nothing should dissuade us from the realisation that Naomi’s thoughts must firstly have been centred upon Almighty God in seeking His will in this situation.

The unfolding story of the gentle romance between Ruth and Boaz was indeed a true earthly story and in the end a marriage was made between the two of them as we shall see, but the story’s hidden depths also reveal to us that it portrays Ruth’s union with Christ for she portrays those of the Gentile race being brought into the fold of God as it were in that glorious plan of redemption which just keeps on unfolding in this timely little book.

Taken from the book, Reflections on the Book of Ruth, by A. B. Saint