Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] And good morning, everybody.
[00:00:03] Thank you for the greeting. It's good to be with you. If you're a guest with us, welcome. We are in a series through the Book of Ruth. This is week number three. So I'm going to recap for you chapters one and two briefly, and then we're going to dive into Ruth, chapter three. So if you got a text with you, you can sure open with me if you'd like.
[00:00:22] The Book of Ruth is set in the time of the Judges. The time of the Judges is one of the worst times in human history. Extremely rebellious and dysfunctional. People turn from God, and as a result, there is a famine in the land. The land is specifically Bethlehem of Judah. A man there, in the midst of famine, when he's triggered, supposed to repent and turn back to God, actually does worse. He moves to Billings, Missoula.
[00:00:57] He moves to a town called Moab. Moab was an enemy of Judah, of Israel.
[00:01:04] He takes his wife and his two kids and they go to Moab. This is a statement of rebellion against God. And so almost immediately, we are to perceive judgment. This man, his name is Elimelech. His name means my God is king. He doesn't act like my God is king. And so under judgment, he dies. He leaves a wife named Naomi, whose name means pleasant or sweet. They have two sons, Mahlon and Kilion. And Mahlon and Kilion mean basically sick and dying. But they marry Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. Ruth's name means friendship. Orpah's name means neck.
[00:01:46] A couple about a decade later, sick and dying, Mahlon and Kilian, they also die. So we've now got three widows, and they are in a terrible place. They are in Moab. But word comes to Moab, though, that there is some fullness in the land. In other words, that there is the famine is being lifted. That means God's blessing is returning. And so Naomi decides, I'm going to head back to Bethlehem about 60 miles, and I'm bringing Orpah and Ruth with me.
[00:02:18] The famine is being lifted. So there is crops and there is grain in the land. And in that chapter one, we start to see a theme developing around emptiness and fullness. And Naomi even says, like, I was full and now I'm empty. But they want to go back to a land of fullness. That is the literary theme. We also get introduced to a very important Hebrew word that is chesed. I'll not say every time today, but it is hesed. And this is a word that is Very, very rich in meaning about God's covenant keeping love, his loyal love, his mercy and so on.
[00:02:57] As they go back into Bethlehem, Orpah stays home. It's Ruth and Naomi. They are widows and they are vulnerable. And Naomi begins to glean. Gleaning was a social program that literally became a law where the farmer will leave the edges of his field so that the poor can have the dignity of doing some work and getting some food. And so they'll work the edges of the field. This is what Ruth is doing. And it turns out that she's at the field of a guy named Boaz. Boaz name means strength. He's a man of stature. And so it turns out that Boaz is a family redeemer. Sometimes we use the term kinsman redeemer. It means that he has responsibility to the clan that he is a part of and he would be an advocate for, for instance, Naomi and Ruth. So God is working behind the scenes. He's doing it for Naomi and for Ruth and for Boaz.
[00:03:52] But then we talked about this little phrase last week. The companion of Providence is what?
[00:03:59] Patience.
[00:04:01] God's Providence, his general care for us, his very specific love for us, is God working out his plan in our lives. But it requires patience on our part for God to continue to work out the things that he is doing. And so at the end of chapter two, it just says, and she lived with her mother in law, meaning she has this great interaction with Boaz. And then everything just kind of goes silent and they're just going on. And it looked like there was this neat thing with Boaz, but it doesn't seem to be progressing in any way.
[00:04:35] And then we talked last week at the very end about the very beginning of chapter three, which says, one day, meaning in the providence of God and His care for us, he is working things out. And in his timing, a one day is going to come. And guess what? We are now at that. One day, Chapter three, verse one. One day Naomi, Ruth's mother in law, said to her, my daughter, should I not try to find a home for you where you will be well provided for again?
[00:05:07] Foreign, childless, barren widow, often seen as cursed. They are not going to be well provided for. Not to mention that Ruth is from Moab, which is an enemy country.
[00:05:18] So Ruth is on the margins and so is Naomi. Naomi's so upset about being on the margins that she's changed her name from Naomi Pleasant to Mara Bitterness. And Naomi is now coming out of her depression long enough to see that Ruth is in trouble. And so Naomi is motivated to try to find rest and protection for Ruth, especially because Naomi is emotionally and physically and spiritually empty and she just wants to die. And she is going to die one day, and then what's going to happen to Ruth? So she is concerned. Verse two is not Boaz, with whose servant girls you have been a kinsman of ours. Isn't he the family redeemer? Isn't he the advocate for our clan, the Ephrathite clan? So Boaz, who eight weeks ago had been gracious and generous and even a little smitten with ruthless, is a clan relative. And so he has responsibility to Naomi and even to Ruth. He actually has some responsibility to his relative Elimelech, who is now dead.
[00:06:28] So second part of verse two, tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor.
[00:06:37] The threshing floor. So Naomi knows what's going on in the fields. So the barley harvest is in, and now the wheat harvest is in, and so now the winnowing begins, which is separating the seed from the plant, but also the threshing which is separating the grain from the husk or the chaff.
[00:07:01] And so you there's some effort to doing this. And it would happen on the third threshing floor. When it's at the threshing floor, it is a celebration, it's a party.
[00:07:13] Everybody's going to be there. Boaz is going to be there. Verse 3.
[00:07:18] Wash and perfume yourself and put on your best clothes.
[00:07:25] Well, this is a love story. This is a romantic tale.
[00:07:30] And now Ruth is getting all dolled up.
[00:07:33] She's going to perfume herself. But we've already determined that she is poverty stricken. So where is she getting her perfume?
[00:07:40] Well, look, the perfume that she had, if she had it, she did have it. But if she brought it from Moab, would have been small, it would have been something like a keepsake that you would have brought with you and it would be something that you would be quite protective of.
[00:07:56] So it seems that Ruth has brought some of her Moabites perfume, and archaeologists have actually gotten some insight on this perfume. So this is 3,000 years ago, there was perfume. And archeology has discovered these kinds of little vials of perfume and including the name of the perfume. We know the name of Ruth's perfume.
[00:08:22] It's called Hot Moab Nights.
[00:08:28] So she douses herself in Hot Moab nights and she puts on her best dress. Now wait, she's poverty stricken? What's this all about? Well, did she sell some grain and buy some fabric and make a dress we don't know. But in Hebrew the word can also be translated overcoat. So it's a new set of clothes for her, which indicates this. The main point is get out of your mourning and your grieving clothes because you're available now.
[00:08:59] When a widow stops wearing mourning and grieving clothes, she's available.
[00:09:04] When we see the eight weeks of silence, part of it might be that Boaz knows she's still in grieving. She's not available. He's backed away because he's a respectful guy. So now Naomi is going to. It's time to change. Put on the hot moab nights and that little black dress or whatever it is.
[00:09:25] And now second part of verse three. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don't let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking.
[00:09:35] Eating and drinking. Because this is a party.
[00:09:39] So the work on the threshing floor would be difficult work.
[00:09:44] It's hard work, but it's also fun. And the reason it's fun is because what this means to the community, the harvest is in, which means this is good for the economy. People are going to eat. This is good for the self esteem over the whole community. So everybody's going to be there, especially Boaz who owns the fields. So this is a huge celebration in a party. There's food and family and friends and employees and lots of wine. The famine is over and there's abundant food in Bethlehem fullness.
[00:10:16] And so the whole town comes out to celebrate. In ag communities around the world for millennia, this is a normal thing to do. Ancient or otherwise, ag communities come together and celebrate when the harvest comes in or the herds come in.
[00:10:38] A few years ago I got a text or an email from a friend with a link and he sent it to me as a joke. But I clicked the link and through a rigorous process, I'm sure I was selected to be an extra on the set of Yellowstone. So I was on Yellowstone season five and one of the things that I was going to do. So this was four days on the set and one of the. The reason I did this was twofold. One, I thought it would be amusing and it was. And two, I thought I'd get some good stories and I did. Here's one. So, so the scene that they're shooting is 300 extras and they're down at the ranch house. We're all there at the next to the pens and the corrals. And the setup is that the cowboys are bringing the herds out of the Mountains. And they're bringing them down in the spring for branding. Well, this is one of those threshing floor things where the whole community comes out. So they had us as extras, as like people, you know, I'm a townsfolk, so I'm all dressed just like this. Like I'm going golfing. No, I'm all cowboyed up, you know, and so there's a few hundred of us. And then it's fascinating. Cameras and stuff everywhere. There's directors and assistant directors and there's lights and apparatus and lawyers and it's all there.
[00:12:05] So we're all hanging around these pens. You've got this flatbed trailer with this chick that nobody knows singing Watermelon wine.
[00:12:16] What's her name?
[00:12:17] Lainey Wilson. Yeah, so she's there. So she's singing. So there's a concert and there's a dance and a chuck wagon barbecue. And they're gonna bring these cattle in and we're gonna celebrate.
[00:12:28] So at the appointed time, there's 300 head of leased cattle at the back of that huge green valley that looks like a golf course that goes all the way up into the Bitterroots, right? Just absolutely beautiful. So the cattle are all being held back there by the wranglers. And then out come the Cadillac Escalades. The Escalades pull up and all the principal actors get into the. Into these Escalades and they drive up that valley. Up at the head of that valley is a wrangler per actor and horse. And they help these guys get on their horses. And then the director, who's not from around here, decided to have the principal actors lead the cattle to the pens.
[00:13:13] I love that about you guys.
[00:13:16] There's a verb there that's a problem, isn't there?
[00:13:19] It's the word lead.
[00:13:21] You don't lead cattle. You push them, you dog them, you drive them, but you sure don't lead them. But this is Hollywood. And so the way they set it up is that the professional wranglers are going to push the herd from behind while there's this phalanx of famous people on their very nice horses leading the cattle toward the pens, toward the corrals for this branding. At an appointed time, we are supposed to stand up and cheer because look, here come the cattle. It's great for the economy, it's great for the self esteem of the community. We're going to do a branding, we've got a chuck wagon barbecue and a Lainey Wilson concert. And so as they're starting to come, there's A signal. And we're all supposed to go like, oh, look, here they come. And we are supposed to stand up and take our cowboy hats off and.
[00:14:13] And whoop and yell.
[00:14:19] All right, you've been around a cow enough to know what's about to happen here. Okay? 300 head of leased cattle being driven by the wranglers behind it, but led by the principal actors. And there is a point where the wranglers have to get out of the shot because you want a wide shot of this because it's gorgeous. And so the wranglers now get out of the way so nothing's pushing these cattle. And at the moment that we're supposed to stand up and cheer, the cattle are like, wait, what?
[00:14:53] And, man, that herd of cattle blew up all over the Bitterroot Valley. Man, they ran everywhere.
[00:15:03] And even the actors were like, this didn't work.
[00:15:07] Season five, episode five, you will not see that it did not make the cut.
[00:15:15] Okay, that was just a brain break for you.
[00:15:18] But here's the point is that this is cultural worldwide and has been for generations.
[00:15:25] The premise is, right. It is a celebration when there is abundance and when there is blessing. And that's what's happening here at the threshing floor. It. It's gonna be a party. And Naomi continues her advice. When he lies down, he's gonna finish eating and drinking. Now, when Boaz lies down, note the place where he is lying down. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down.
[00:15:51] He will tell you what to do.
[00:15:56] Anybody else uncomfortable with this advice?
[00:16:00] Oh, my goodness.
[00:16:02] When he lies down because he's got a full stomach and he's had plenty of wine and he's not gonna drive home. He's got a buzz and buzz. Driving is drunk driving. And so the keys to his lifted pickup truck are in a jar that's being cared for by the designated driver. He lies down because they slept in or on or next to the grain, because this is the time of the judges, and so they have to protect it from thieves.
[00:16:29] So he's going to go lie down. When he does, you go lie down next to him and uncover his feet.
[00:16:39] Finally, in chapter three, we get to the feet.
[00:16:45] Uncover his feet.
[00:16:47] Uncover his feet in Hebrew actually means unless. Uncover his feet.
[00:16:55] That's all it means.
[00:16:58] Now, why would she uncover his feet?
[00:17:02] Pause.
[00:17:04] Some scholars with maybe a proclivity towards sexual deviance have. Because you don't interpret the scriptures unbiased. You bring stuff to the text. You can't help it.
[00:17:17] They see this as quite sexual. So another and there's some merit here because in Hebrew there is some euphemisms, slang, that feet would refer to genitalia.
[00:17:33] So what actually is Naomi having Ruth do at this point?
[00:17:37] Well, lie down and he will tell you what to do after you uncover his feet.
[00:17:47] What parent would tell their daughter to do this? Okay, this seems like terrible advice, but we're just kind of working through this verse by verse. So let's see what it says. In verse 5.
[00:17:58] Ruth says, I'll do whatever you cite.
[00:18:01] Well, that's submissive of Ruth, but dangerous.
[00:18:06] She could be mocked. She could be branded into adulteress. She could be mistreated by one of the partygoers.
[00:18:13] She could get mishandled by Boaz.
[00:18:16] After all, he's a little drunk and nothing good happens with alcohol after dark.
[00:18:21] He could take advantage of her sexually and then he could blame her and shame her.
[00:18:27] Naomi's idea is a bad idea. Unless. What?
[00:18:36] Unless Boaz is a man of character and a man of self control that he has shown himself to be over his lifetime, even when a little buzzed.
[00:18:48] This is a great risk that Naomi is sending Ruth into because this, remember, is the time of the judges when people did whatever they felt was right in their own eyes. People made up their own truths and did what they wanted to do. But Naomi is trusting something that she knows about Boaz and his character, that he is different and that he's a godly man, he has character. He's a man who obeys God and he is a man who respects a woman.
[00:19:18] And so Ruth submits to Naomi and she does it. And she gives Boaz an offer he cannot refuse. Verse 6. So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother in law told her to do. When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirit, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down.
[00:19:46] We saw last week Ruth taking initiative and even some risk and being assertive when she was gleaning because she wasn't just getting the edges of the field. She actually got permission to also get food from the sheaves or the bundles. And so now Ruth being assertive again, hiding in the background. There are no security cameras seeing sees where Boaz is lying down and then sneaks in because she can't be seen by the other guys. The author of this story wants you to feel the suspense of this. She slips in downwind because she's wearing hot moab nights, right? She's an Elk hunter. She knows you can fool his eyes, but you can't fool his nose. And so she comes in downwind and she goes to the opposite end of the snoring. It's dark, uncovers his feet, lies down on the pile of grain. Now, she doesn't spoon with him. She's not nestled into his chest, using his shoulder as a pillow. She is at his feet.
[00:20:52] Now, is it a euphemism?
[00:20:55] Well, verse 8.
[00:20:58] In the middle of the night, something startled the man and he turned around and discovered a woman lying at his feet.
[00:21:07] If this was sexual in nature, it would not have taken into the middle of the night.
[00:21:13] This would have gone much quicker.
[00:21:16] Something startled him, I presume a whiff of hot moab nights.
[00:21:23] But really what's happening here is what you exactly would think is that his feet are going to get cold and he's going to wake up. Something startles him. What actually means it frightened him a little bit. But yeah, there's a soft lump at his feet. It's a woman. It's startling. Verse nine. Who are you? He asked. I'm your servant, Ruth, she said.
[00:21:40] Spread the corner of your garment over me. Since you are a kinsman or a family redeemer, I'm your servant. I'm not your sex slave.
[00:21:50] I'm your servant.
[00:21:53] She smells good and looks good. But this is not have sex with me.
[00:21:58] This is something else and we know it. Now spread the corner of your garment over me.
[00:22:05] We're 3,000 years removed, you guys. This is a very romantic and thoughtful and beautiful phrase and moment in the story.
[00:22:16] This is actually a marriage proposal and this is exactly what the law requires in a levirate marriage.
[00:22:30] Levirate marriage we talked about this week. One the brother of a guy who dies and leaves a widow without children, marries his brother's widow so that she might have a son and carry on the name of the dead brother. Very important in the ancient world for inheritance, very important for legacy.
[00:22:52] In levirate marriage, the widow is the one who is responsible to ask for the marriage.
[00:22:59] And Ruth does it in the most beautiful way. Spread the corner of your garment over me. We what she's doing is asking for protection the way a mother hen protects her chicks. She's asking for marriage in the tradition of a man covering the head of his bride with a shawl.
[00:23:20] Spread the corner of your blanket over me.
[00:23:24] Be my covering tonight it'll just be a corner.
[00:23:29] When we're married, it'll be the whole blanket again.
[00:23:33] Real life. Now this is, and the author intends for this this is sexually provocative.
[00:23:41] The narrator is making sure that we know that Boaz and Ruth would have been feeling it. It is romantic. They would be tempted, especially if Boaz is a little tipsy and Ruth is wearing a miniskirt and hot Moab nights.
[00:23:56] But they have character, you see, their feelings are normal. You're supposed to kind of feel the tension romantically and sexually. In this, they've got character or morals and they are going to be obedient.
[00:24:11] And so they both show chesed to each other. They show loyal love to one another. Covenant keeping love, respectful love. This is a beautiful moment. Boaz beat up, feet notwithstanding.
[00:24:23] His feet might be gross, but his love for her is beautiful and she for him, as it's now beginning to Bud. Verse 10. The Lord bless you, my daughter. He replied this kindness. Anybody want to guess what that word is in Hebrew?
[00:24:39] Hesed is greater than that which you have shown earlier. You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor, not run after the younger man. This is one of the reasons we know this is a romance. We know this is also one of the reasons why we think that Boaz is a little bit older than her. She didn't go after the younger men, she went after the mature guy.
[00:25:03] This is a romance. And he says, this kindness is greater than the kindness you've shown earlier. Literally, it translates, you have made this hesed better than the first chesed. Well, the first time Ruth showed compassionate loyalty in chesed to bitter Naomi. This time it's a marriage proposal. It. It is better. Verse 11. And now, my daughter, don't be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. What did she ask?
[00:25:28] Will you marry me?
[00:25:31] All my fellow townsmen know that you are a woman of noble character.
[00:25:37] Ruth shows hesed to Boaz and Boaz gives it right back because she has or he has zero obligation to marry her by the letter of the law because she's from an enemy country, she's from Moab.
[00:25:52] So he has some responsibility because of her dead husband and because of Naomi. But he doesn't have to because she's foreign.
[00:26:03] This is the kind of undertones of racism in all of this.
[00:26:07] But doggone it, Boaz is Boaz.
[00:26:12] And he talks about her noble character. If there was any doubt about whether this was a sexual moment or not, here we don't have any doubt anymore because now he's talking about her noble character. Ruth is smart and gracious and loyal and loving.
[00:26:31] And Ruth has something else in mind. She does want to be with Boaz, but She also wants to bless. Bitter and empty Naomi can't forget Naomi in all this. So when Ruth is asking for marriage because Maraj, I think that might be the Moabite way to pronounce it.
[00:26:53] When Ruth asks him for marriage because he's the family Redeemer, she's appealing to two Israelite laws, the law of kinsman Redeemer and the family Redeemer, and the law of levirate marriage.
[00:27:07] So Ruth and therefore Naomi are going to be protected and cared for by Boaz.
[00:27:14] And there might even be a baby boy that would carry on Naomi and Ruth's. Naomi's son and Ruth's dead husband's name and that inheritance, this is the purpose of levirate marriage. But there's a shrewd thing happening here by Ruth, and that has to do with the family Redeemer, the advocate, the helper, Boaz gets involved.
[00:27:38] And if he does, he could actually purchase back the land that Elimelech left in chapter one that he rebelliously left behind. And now that land has gone fallow, or someone else is getting rich off of it, or it has squatters on it. And that land could, because of Boaz, revert back to Naomi and eventually her grandson. So empty Naomi has a chance to be filled with blessing because of the hesed love of God and of Ruth and of Boaz. Ruth is being brilliant here, and she's new to the culture, but she's working it.
[00:28:22] Now, Boaz, he did not get to his high position in life by being a dummy.
[00:28:27] Boaz knows what's going on now, and he's actually awestruck about it. And he praises Ruth for it.
[00:28:33] He praises her for the chesed love that she shows to Naomi. He also praises Ruth for the hesed love that she's showing to him, that she didn't go after younger men. So Boaz is physically attracted to her. We saw that in verse one or in chapter one.
[00:28:48] But then there's this silence for eight weeks.
[00:28:51] But in that, he's been watching her.
[00:28:55] He's been seeing how she treats Naomi and how hard she works and her work ethic and how she's been making friends that are working in the field with the employees and the other gleaners. He likes her even more, because character will do that.
[00:29:11] You understand that good character is attracted to good character.
[00:29:16] And if you like her, you should develop your character.
[00:29:21] And if you like him, you should develop your character because it is attractive and Boaz has it. And things are picking up speed now.
[00:29:33] Verse 12, cruising.
[00:29:35] Although it is true that I'm near of kin. I'm the closest.
[00:29:38] I am near. I'm not the closest one. There is a family redeemer nearer than I.
[00:29:44] This right here tells you that Boaz, over the last eight weeks, has been working on this in his head. He's been researching. He's actively preparing for the one day that God has been preparing. He knows there's a closer relative. He figured that out, might even be Elimelech's brother. So he's going to play by the rules because he's a virtuous man. Verse 13. Stay here for the night. And in the morning, if he wants to redeem, good, I don't think he really means it. Good, let him redeem. But if he's not willing, as surely as the Lord lives, this is the way you go. Like, I swear to God, I will do it.
[00:30:18] Lie here until the morning.
[00:30:20] So Boaz is ordering everybody that's rubbing their eyes to not post about it. Put your phones away. She was never here. Verse 15. He says to her, bring me the shawl you are wearing and hold it out. And when she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and put it on her. Then he went back to town. So we don't know how much six measures is, but it's a lot in the sense that he's putting kind of this backpack on her and she is getting more food, which means fullness. Remember emptiness and fullness. Things are filling. And then Boaz, who is a man of action, heads for the city gates because now there's going to be a moment of reckoning.
[00:31:02] Now, Ruth, she struggles home to Naomi under the weight of a sack of grain. But it is a happy walk because verse 16, when Ruth came to her mother in law, Naomi asked, how did it go, my daughter?
[00:31:17] How did it go, my daughter?
[00:31:20] Literally translated, who are you, my daughter?
[00:31:25] And what she's referencing is, has there been an identity change?
[00:31:30] The way you'd say it is, did he put a ring on it?
[00:31:36] Did you move from girlfriend to fiance? That's what she's asking.
[00:31:43] Second part of verse 16. Then.
[00:31:45] Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her and added, and he gave me these six measures of barley, saying, don't go back to your mother in law. Ooh, look at that word.
[00:31:54] Empty handed.
[00:31:58] Is there a reversal coming?
[00:32:01] Naomi is empty.
[00:32:03] Boaz does not want her to be empty.
[00:32:05] And what do we see but God the providential Provider, providing again for Naomi and Ruth our last verse. Then Naomi said, wait, my daughter, look at that Word. Wait again.
[00:32:18] We got to wait.
[00:32:20] Wait, my daughter, till you find out what happens.
[00:32:24] For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today.
[00:32:32] One day.
[00:32:35] This whole thing started at the end of a long wait, and now there's another wait, but this one is going to be shorter, according to Naomi.
[00:32:47] And Boaz turns and walks into the glowing eastern sky as the sun is coming up, because that man is heading to Bethlehem, and that's where we get to pick it up next week.
[00:33:11] But first, let's talk about your tattoos, because we're going to share communion together in a moment.
[00:33:20] And to do that, I'd like us to get into chesed just a tiny bit more in just a couple of moments here.
[00:33:29] You know how you.
[00:33:34] The tattoos that you have mean something to you?
[00:33:37] You put them there for a reason. Right? Now, it might have been because it looks good artistically. It's a dolphin.
[00:33:45] It might be.
[00:33:48] Well, okay, there was that night in Las Vegas, and that one was a mistake, but, you know, otherwise, like, it's meaningful, right?
[00:33:56] There's meaning to it.
[00:33:58] So I have four.
[00:34:01] On my right, bicep is a crown of thorns, a symbol of Jesus suffering for me. I'd show it to you, but we don't have a zoom lens.
[00:34:10] For my bicep, I have Emily, my oldest daughter, on my left shoulder, and Madeline, my youngest daughter, on my right shoulder. And then on my leg, I have a red cross, and in it is the word chesed.
[00:34:29] A little while ago, I was on the tee box and obviously playing golf, and I was standing, leaning on my driver after, of course, smoking it down the fairway. And so I'm standing like this, and a buddy of mine is standing there, and he looks down at my right calf, and he sees this tattoo, and I can feel him looking at it because this happens quite a bit. And I can feel him looking at it, and he's looking at it. He goes, what is that? And then he starts to try to pronounce it, and he goes, ton, Tom.
[00:35:05] Now, the reason he's doing that is because this is what chesed looks like.
[00:35:09] And so if you read left to right, like you do in English, you'd go with either ton or tun or tom or something.
[00:35:16] But how does Hebrew read right to left?
[00:35:20] So that over there on the right is actually an H, and in the middle, that's an S, and the one on the left is a D. Hased right to left, no vowels in Hebrew.
[00:35:31] So he says, oh, well, what's that mean? Because I say to him, well, that's hesed. What is that? And I said, and this is teabox talk now.
[00:35:40] Mercy. We don't have a lot of time. I just said it means mercy. And then I add, when the son of God died on the cross for my sins, that was mercy. And that's what that means.
[00:35:55] Okay?
[00:35:57] But as I've talked to you about, this word is thick and deep.
[00:36:02] So in English, we actually don't have a one word that we can translate to really grasp what chesed means. So here's the essence, all of these words.
[00:36:14] So mercy and promise keeping and unfailing love and faithfulness and kindness and everlasting and devoted in goodness. These are the ways that translators typically translate chesed.
[00:36:23] It's still not enough. We got to add some synonyms. So here's a bunch more.
[00:36:30] And what I'd like you to do as we prepare for a time of communion is I would like you to reflect on that list, and I'd like you to think about how you've seen that happen in your life.
[00:36:44] I'd like you to think about the way in which Jesus has done that for you. If you're not a Christian yet, this would be a good time to latch onto one of those and go, yeah, I'm. I'll take that.
[00:36:55] I'd like to have that.
[00:36:57] I'd like to be in relationship with someone who'd do that for me.
[00:37:02] I'd like you to think about one more thing. So maybe pre communion, you could think about Jesus and how one of those phrases or words or a few of them are meaningful to you.
[00:37:14] But chesed isn't a word that just sits there. It's actually an active word. We get to do. Do this to other people.
[00:37:21] So maybe after communion, you could think a little bit about, like, who needs some chesed for me, some promise keeping, covenant keeping, merciful, good, steadfast, everlasting kind of love.
[00:37:32] I think, personally, start personal with it, and then you might want to think about others.
[00:37:37] Flip it, take your phone out, take a picture of it.
[00:37:40] When we share communion together, the way we do it here is there's an aisles, you know, and up front here is the communion elements. There's juice or wine, fruit of the vine, whichever one you want. We just dip that little piece of bread in it, and you're remembering the body and blood of Jesus as you work your way up here during some music. Come on up the right, just like you're driving in America. Right side, head down the right side. That way it keeps things from being congested. You can go to the one that's nearest you or the one that has some capacity. And you've got a little time to do this. So this is a good time to reflect and to think and to pray and to receive this. There'll be some music that's going to help us worship as we sit under the beauty of God's grace and his mercy, his chesed love for us. And one last reminder. Communion is not a time to feel guilty for your sins.
[00:38:33] It is a time to be grateful for his grace and his sacrifice demonstrated so powerfully in His Hesed love to us.
[00:38:46] So when you're ready, you can come on up.
[00:38:50] This is your prayer time and your reflection time and your worship time under the hesed love of Christ.
[00:39:03] Sam.
