"14 So she lay at his feet until the morning, but arose before one could recognise another. And he said, “Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.” 15 And he said, “Bring the garment you are wearing and hold it out.” So she held it, and he measured out six measures of barley and put it on her. Then she went into the city. 16 And when she came to her mother-in-law, she said, “How did you fare, my daughter?” Then she told her all that the man had done for her,17 saying, “These six measures of barley he gave to me, for he said to me, ‘You must not go back empty-handed to your mother-in-law.’” 18 She replied, “Wait, my daughter, until you learn how the matter turns out, for the man will not rest but will settle the matter today.”
Ruth 3:14-18
To continue the thought at the end of yesterday's reading, it is an easy transition to the idea expressed by Paul in Romans 7:1-6, where he speaks of the believer as 'married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead'. Here is the true 'levitate' marriage, by which we, lost in our sin and broken and helpless, are assumed into a blessed union in which all our deepest needs are met and fulfilled. To pursue the 'spiritualsing' still fur- ther, we may see a typical significance also in 18b, 'the man will not be in rest, until he have finished the thing this day'. God’s sabbath rest was broken by sin, and rest did not come again until Christ said on the cross, 'It is finished'. There was a spirit of restlessness in the heart of Jesus until His redeeming work was accomplished. 'I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened until it he accomplished'.
There is a real danger in 'spiritualsing' the Scriptures, it is that we sometimes ob- scure or miss the primary meaning of what is being said. And we should pay heed to the very human passage contained in 18, for it constitutes a word of encouragement to those who are walking in the perplexing paths of life not knowing what to do next: 'Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall'. It is an exhortation to wait upon the Lord. Ruth was to rest quietly in her uncertainty – not an easy thing to do, one might think, especially in such a situation; but Naomi’s words are true. God does not or- dinarily allow a love match of His making and arranging to remain in doubt and uncer- tainty for very long. He is too kind, knowing our frame, and the upper limits of our en- durance. We may trust Him to 'perfect that which concerneth us'.