Tuesday's Devo - Line Upon Line

Read Ruth 3:13-4:
Last night I started studying about winnowing wheat. This is a symbol of last day judgement. In the end God will winnow his wheat and cast the chaff into everlasting death and the wheat into everlasting life. In Jer. 15:7 winnowing is used to describe God's testing of the people"with a winnowing fork in the gates of the land." Two places associated with justice are used here: the threshing floor where the winnowing was done and the gate, which was the center of business and legal activity. Since Boaz was doing this at midnight, and midnight was also the time Samson took the gates of the Philistines and carried them on his shoulders and put them on top of the hill Hebron (which was the seat of witchcraft), then is that not a picture of what God will do to the spiritual doors and entrances of evil in the Judgment?
Back to the story: Ruth lay at his feet through the night and in the morning she rose up to go home. Not before Boaz gives her 6 measures of barley in her veil. Ruth takes home the good grain to Naomi. Naomi knew Boaz meant business and would tend to it right away. Boaz goes to the gate of the city to talk to the closer of kin. He offers him to buy Naomi's land which the man quickly agrees to do, until he is told that Ruth comes with it. He then changes his mind. It wasn't Ruth he was rejecting, it was the fact that he had to build up the name of Ebimelech, it would mar his own inheritance. Thank God, Boaz didn't care about his own inheritance. He redeemed Ruth just like God redeemed the Gentile to raise up an inheritance among us just like he did in the Jews. Boaz bought all that was Chilion's and Mahlons, to "raise up the name of the dead". I call that resurrection! Then the witnesses blessed Ruth. They prayed that her house be compared to Jacob's which brought forth the 12 tribes of Israel; and may she be famous in Bethlehem. (Interestingly she brought forth Jesus's line which made Bethlehem famous.) Then they prayed that she be like Pharez who was Judah's son, whose mother was Tamar. Another woman who went to great lengths to carry on her family line. All this line led to Jesus (read Matt. 1). This child brought Naomi life and joy. His name was Obed which means "servant". He served Naomi well and the rest of us.
Thank you Jesus for being our Kinsman Redeemer!!!