THE BOOK OF RUTH, PARTS 15
AND 16
By Dr. Stephen Jones
Blog Post Date: 6-29-2019
THE BOOK OF RUTH, PART 15,
PROPHETIC MEASURES
The
ephah of barley that Ruth gleaned from Boaz’ field represented a Pentecostal
measure of the Holy Spirit. An ephah is ten omers (Exodus16:36)
but only a tenth of a homer (Ezekiel
45:11). Ezekiel 45:10-12 prophesies that the Kingdom of God will
have just weights and measures.
The
prophet was referring to the law in Deuteronomy
25:13-16. In verse 15, the Hebrew word translated “measure” is ephah,
which the translators of the Greek Septuagint rendered as metron. The
same is true in Ezekiel 45:11, where again the Greek word metron was
established by the rabbis as the equivalent of ephah.
Measuring Truth and the Holy
Spirit
Thus,
John the Baptist testified of the Messiah in John 3:34,
34 For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the
Spirit without measure [metron].
In
other words, according to John, the Messiah’s word of truth was to be anointed
by the Spirit “without measure.” While many may speak the words of God,
they, like Paul, “prophesy in part” (1
Corinthians 13:9), because they yet “see in a mirror dimly” (1
Corinthians 13:12). Their words are not necessarily incorrect, but rather
their words set forth incomplete truth.
He
implies that the Messiah’s portion of the Spirit was to be greater than an
ephah. There are three measures of the Holy Spirit. We are given the first
measure (omer) of the Spirit through Passover when we are begotten by
the Spirit. We are given a second measure (ephah) of the Spirit through
Pentecost, when we receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The final measure (homer)
is given through Tabernacles, when we receive the Holy Spirit without measure.
Because
all three measures are established biblically, everyone receives a just reward
in his or her measure of the Spirit, for each is given according to the
progression from conception to birth. Those who are content with a smaller
measure of the Spirit in their spiritual life are not defrauded by receiving
only an omer or an ephah of the Spirit. An ephah is ten omers, but a homer is
100 omers. The number 100 signifies fullness or completeness.
Many
evangelical and fundamentalist believers are resistant even to an ephah
(Pentecostal portion), being content with an omer. Pentecostals rejoiced to see
an ephah measured out to them, but many have no vision of Tabernacles. When the
revelation of the feast of Tabernacles was given to the Church in the Latter
Rain movement (1948-1952), most of the Pentecostal denominations rejected it
and thereby blinded themselves to the revelation of Tabernacles.
The Requirement for
Spiritual Maturity
Eventually,
in order to come fully into the image of Christ, all must progress to the full
measure of the Spirit, if only in the coming age. The Great White Throne
judgment will reveal to all the true nature of God, along with His plan to save
all mankind, for at that time every knee will bow and every tongue will confess
(exomologeo, “profess”) Him as their Lord (Philippians
2:10, 11). The Greek word means “to acknowledge openly and
joyfully.”
In
another place, Paul says in Romans 14:11
that “every tongue will give praise to God,” which is the equivalent of
declaring Him to be Lord to the glory of God the Father (Philippians
2:11).
Their
profession of faith will grant “justification of life to all men” (Romans 5:18).
Their praise and confession of Jesus as Lord will be made by the power of the
Holy Spirit, for 1 Corinthians 12:3 tells us that “no one can say, ‘Jesus
is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.” Hence, not only will all men be
justified, but all will also be filled with the Spirit. They will receive two
measures of the Holy Spirit at that time—the measure of Passover and the
measure of Pentecost.
However,
even this is not the final measure of the Spirit, for they must yet learn the
discipline of the “fiery law” (Deuteronomy
33:2 KJV) by which they may come to a place of spiritual maturity. Hence,
during that age of divine judgment, the “fiery law” will ingrain their
revelation into their lives through practical discipline as they live under the
authority of the overcomers who rule and reign with Christ.
In
my view that final age will last 42,000 years, or another six great “weeks” of
history. Time will end only at the end of 49,000 years, when the Creation
Jubilee is declared at the start of the fiftieth millennium. At that time, the
“grape harvest” of creation will be fully trodden out and will receive the
third and final measure of the Spirit, so that God can be “all in all” (1
Corinthians 15:28).
Ruth’s Measure
When
Ruth brought an ephah of barley back to Naomi, on account of the generosity of
Boaz, she was prophesying (inadvertently, no doubt) of a Pentecostal portion of
the Spirit. This being the time of barley harvest (Ruth 2:23),
her gleanings were gathered during the time that the people were counting the
omer for the 50 days leading to Pentecost. Her ephah measured a greater portion
than the average Judahite in Bethlehem was then measuring and counting. Yet the
omer and the ephah were but differing measures.
Her
measure during this time was ten times that of the others who were counting a
mere omer. Even so, she still did not have the full measure (homer), which
would signify the feast of Tabernacles and the fullness of the Spirit. Her
story gives us a progression of events leading to the birth of her son, Obed,
which properly overlays with the birthing of the sons of God on the first day
of Tabernacles in prophecy. That event is reserved for a last page of her
story.
When
we understand how the law of weights and measures have prophetic applications,
we are able to see how this small detail adds to our understanding of the
overall divine plan.
THE BOOK OF RUTH, PART 16,
THE BLESSING OF GOD
19 Her
mother-in-law then said to her, “Where did you glean today and where did you
work? May he who took notice of you be blessed.” So she told her mother-in-law
with whom she had worked and said, “The name of the man with whom I worked
today is Boaz.” 20 And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be
blessed of the Lord who has not withdrawn his kindness to the living and to the
dead.” Again Naomi said to her, “The man is our relative, he is one of our
closest relatives.”
It
appears that Boaz himself did not tell Ruth of his close relationship with
Naomi’s family. He obviously knew who Ruth was, but Ruth did not know who Boaz
was. Ruth had been led by the Spirit to Boaz’ field, where “she happened to come” (Ruth
2:3).
Blessing and Cursing
It
was customary to bless those who had shown kindness or integrity toward others.
The word “blessed” is from the Hebrew word baraq,
which literally means “to bend the knee.” Strangely enough, baraq is also translated “curse” in
Job
2:5, where Satan speaks to God about Job:
5
However, put forth Thy hand, now, and touch his bone and his flesh; he will
curse
[baraq] Thee to Thy face.
Again,
we read in Job
2:9,
9 Then
his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse [baraq] God and
die!”
The
usual word for “curse” is arar,
as we see in the story of Balaam in Numbers
22:12,
12 And God
said to Balaam, “Do not go with them; you shall not curse [arar] the people; for they are blessed
[baraq].
Apparently,
baraq, “to bow the knee,” has to do
with submitting to another’s blessing or curse, depending on the situation. The
implication is that the blessing may also be turned into a curse or a curse
turned into a blessing, according to the will of the one speaking it. Perhaps
this is similar to the greeting shalom,
“peace,” where this blessing may also be revoked (Matthew
10:13).
Curses
do affect those people, as we see from Scripture, particularly when the curse
is pronounced on account of some sin. The divine court backs such curses until
or unless the cursed ones repent and reverse its cause. When Noah cursed Canaan
in Genesis
9:25, he and his descendants, the Canaanites, came under a long-term curse
that finally resulted in their expulsion from their land in the time of Joshua.
Joshua led Israel into the land to displace the Canaanites 828 years (2 x 414)
after Noah’s curse. This is according to the factor of Cursed Time, which runs
in cycles of 414 days or years.
See
chapter 4 of my
book, Secrets of Time.
Balaam
was unable to curse Israel, because they were blessed. In other words, the
divine court would not ratify a curse on Israel nor put them on Cursed Time,
because they had done nothing worthy of such a curse. Only later do we find a
different situation. For example, when Saul consulted the witch of Endor (1
Samuel 28:7), he put the monarchy of Israel under Cursed Time, and 414
years later the result was that King Jehoiachin was deported and put into a
Babylonian dungeon (2 Kings 24:12).
See
chapter 6 of my book, Secrets of Time.
Men
and nations are not placed under Cursed Time for every type of sin, but some
are serious enough to warrant it. Most of the time, it has to do with claiming
a calling that belongs to someone else, or, conversely, by refusing one’s
calling. Regardless of the causes, repentance is always the solution, and the
period of Cursed Time is actually God’s grace period giving them time to
repent.
If
they repent by the deadline, they begin to transition into Blessed Time, which
is characterized by the number 490. Often this means a 76-day cycle for
individuals and a 76-year cycle for nations. In this way, the curse is turned
into a blessing, because the time spent under Cursed Time turns out to be a
learning experience through divine discipline. The execution of divine judgment
is thus avoided, and the person or nation grows in spiritual maturity.
We
see multiple examples of this in Scripture and in long-term history. I have
also experienced this in my own personal life in short-term 414-day cycles.
(See The Wars of the Lord.) Fortunately, in my own life
I was able to repent and lived to tell about it, whereas I have observed others
who have died in their unrepentance. Yet I must stress again that not every
time of trouble is the result of being on Cursed Time. Such times appear to be
fairly unusual and are limited to certain types of sin, most often related to
one’s calling.
The Importance of Blessing
In
daily life it is wise to treat others with kindness, respect, and love, as Boaz
treated Ruth and Naomi. As a result, he received their blessing and the
approval of God Himself. Blessings are not just nice words to make people feel
good. Blessings are actually backed up by the law of God and are therefore a
form of appealing to the divine court in a positive sense. Too often we think
of the divine court merely in terms of filing complaints in hopes of obtaining
justice, but the great Judge of the Universe loves to hear cases of blessing as
well.
Most
people bless certain ones through “normal” prayer before the throne of grace (Hebrews
4:16) without realizing that this throne is in a court of law. There are
three main courts of law in Scripture, though some subdivide those courts
further according to various issues. Yet our main point here is to show that
the divine court can be used to appeal for blessing as well as to appeal for
justice which may result in the curse of the law upon the one who has sinned.
So
we see this in Naomi’s blessing upon Boaz for his kindness.
The Relative
When
Naomi told Ruth that Boaz was one of her closest relatives, we are given a
detail that will soon be vital to the rest of the story. As we will see
shortly, near kinsmen had certain rights and responsibilities in the law which
mere friends did not have. All of this
relates directly to the principles of sonship and the laws of inheritance,
which speak directly into the idea of the manifestation of the sons of God in
the New Testament.
As
we will see, Boaz was not Naomi’s nearest kinsman, as defined by law. There was
one other who was responsible to marry Ruth and to raise up an inheritor of
Elimelech’s estate in Bethlehem. Boaz could not bypass him without violating
the law, and so we find that this nearer kinsman had to be given the first
opportunity to marry Ruth. In all of this, Boaz complied with the law’s
requirements, knowing (I believe) that if it were truly God’s will that he
should marry Ruth, there were would be a way to do so without violating the
right of the other kinsman.
Boaz’ Protection
Ruth
2:21-23 says,
21 Then
Ruth the Moabitess said, “Furthermore, he [Boaz] said to me, ‘You should stay close to my
servants until they have finished all my harvest.’” 22 And Naomi
said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out
with his maids, lest others fall upon you in another field.” 23 So
she stayed close by the maids of Boaz in order to glean until the end of the
barley harvest and the wheat harvest. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
Boaz
was not legally responsible for Ruth’s protection, but he took upon himself
that responsibility out of kindness and benevolence. He recognized a broader
law of love which was fundamental to the law itself (Deuteronomy
6:5; Matthew
22:37). We are told little about the moral character of the men in
Bethlehem, but Boaz was concerned that some might take advantage of beautiful
foreigners who lacked protective coverings.
Under
normal circumstances, every Israelite family had a head of the family whose
duty it was to protect the family. This was the “avenger of blood,” better
translated kinsman redeemer,
who represented the members of his family in court at the gate of a walled
city. Yet there were always a few who had no such covering to protect them, and
there were always some who sought to take advantage of such unprotected people.
Those
who had no protective covering, such as widows, orphans, and foreigners, were
covered by God Himself. So we read in Exodus 22:21-23,
21 And you
shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the
land of Egypt. 22 You shall not afflict any widow or orphan.
23 If you afflict him at all, and if he does cry out to Me, I will
surely hear his cry; and My anger will be kindled, and I will kill you with the
sword; and your wives will become widows and your children fatherless.
Hence,
no one is truly without a covering, but many who have no earthly covering may
not realize that God takes personal responsibility for their protection. When
unjustly treated, they have recourse to the divine court, where they may appeal
to God Himself. God says that in such cases, “I will surely hear his cry.”
This
principle also applied to David, who prayed in Psalm
27:9, 10,
9 Do not
hide Thy face from me, do not turn Thy servant away in anger; Thou hast been my
help; do not abandon me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation! 10
For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me
up.
David
was not a literal orphan, but when he was considered an outlaw during the reign
of Saul, his parents were probably forced to renounce him and were unable to
protect him without endangering their inheritance in Bethlehem. For this
reason, David appealed to God Himself to be His covering, and we know that the
law honored his appeal.
It
is the same today. There are some who insist that all believers must be under
the covering of some established church or leader and that if they fail to do
so, they are outside of the will of God. But, like Saul, the church itself has
created many orphans through their oppressive laws (traditions of men). They
have no right to turn around and blame the orphans for not returning to their
oppressors to receive more beatings. Even David himself had to flee for his
life from Saul’s spear, thus becoming a virtual orphan.
The
point is that God Himself becomes their kinsman redeemer, as the law tells us.
It is not a sin to be an orphan. In fact, we find in many cases that being
orphaned by the church is often a sign that God is with them in a greater way
than those who have an earthly covering.
Naomi
was a widow, and Ruth was both a widow and a foreigner. They were therefore
under God’s direct protective covering. The story of Ruth shows how God took an
active interest in their lives to protect and guide them to a blessed
conclusion.
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