14.3 Ruth and the Shulamite
© 2018 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
The love stories of Ruth and the Shulamite cover more chapters than the stories of Rebekah and Esther. The romance between Ruth and Boaz is all four chapters of the book of Ruth. The romance between the Shulamite and Solomon fills the eight chapters of the Song of Solomon.
Yet our focus here is not the union of Christ and His Church, but rather the role of the Holy Spirit in preparing us inside that union to be the love of Christ. In the story of Ruth, Naomi, her mother-in-law, plays that role of the Spirit, bringing Ruth to Boaz. But in the Song of Solomon, the preparations of the Spirit are the fabric of much of the poetry.
Together as One. Now, there is certainly an application of these things to each one of us as individuals, but we are not the Bride of Christ as individuals. The Bride of Christ is the Church, us together as one. And the preparation of the Spirit is of us together. Nonetheless, if each member of that Church is not fully prepared by the Spirit, neither can be the Church.
Consider Ruth’s words to Naomi as our response to the Holy Spirit. Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God (Ruth 1:16 – NIV).
An Empty Woman. Boaz is the son of Salmon and Rahab. Rahab is a Canaanite and Ruth a Moabite – and through both comes David the king.
Now, although Naomi does play the in-between role representing the Holy Spirit, yet, more than that, both she and Vashti, the king of Persia’s former wife, represent natural Israel and the outer court church. Neither natural Israel nor the outer court church can be the Bride of Jesus. Don’t call me Naomi; call me Mara (bitter), for the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty (Ruth 1:20-21 – NIV).
Yet this empty woman serves her part for Ruth.
Prepared BY Union. In the love stories of Ruth and the Shulamite, Boaz and Solomon play a much larger role than that played by Isaac and King Xerxes (Ahasuerus) in their respective stories. Yet in both stories it is the woman being prepared for the man.
We are not speaking of being prepared “for” union, but rather, being prepared by union. Jesus becomes us before we could ever become Him.
Let’s keep our focus clear. We are looking at that which is taking place among us inside of koinonia as each one of us walks in the knowledge of our present union with Christ. Ruth and the Shulamite are speaking of life together, not of individual and solitary believers.
Spread Your Garment over Me. Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking…
When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down. In the middle of the night something startled the man; he turned—and there was a woman lying at his feet!
“Who are you?” he asked. “I am your servant Ruth,” she said. “Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a guardian-redeemer of our family” (Ruth 2:2-9 – NIV).
The Feast of Tabernacles. The harvesting and threshing of barley is the time of the Feast of Tabernacles. The marriage and the harvest are synonymous. Union with Christ inside of koinonia together is the harvest of the gospel.
Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor… – these things are the workings, the energeia of the Holy Spirit in the gathering together of each local church.
Ruth lies all night long at the feet of her kinsman-redeemer and in the morning, he secures her as his wife. This is the same picture we saw in Symmorphy IV: Covenant, as Aaron’s rod lies all night long in the presence of God.
The Grace to Come. I have never been a part of a gathering, of koinonia together inside the knowledge of our present union with Christ and by the expression of a New Testament church.
Here is how we have defined that grace come to us now at the revelation of Jesus Christ. This grace, never before known by Christians on this earth, is the grace to be all the expression of Christ before the resurrection of our bodies. The grace to walk AS IF we are Christ revealed.
Many will say, “We become that glorious church only AFTER the resurrection of our bodies, only AFTER we are incorruptible and no longer of this earth.” I say, “Let the Church be the Church as if she is already the fulness of Christ as God says.”
The Threshing Floor. In other words, everyone is looking for outward perfection first before the gathering together. Few are willing to believe that we are the revelation of Jesus Christ as His Church in all fulness before our eyes see. Yet this is exactly what is happening with Ruth. By placing herself at Boaz’ feet on the threshing floor of the harvest, Ruth, adorned as a bride for her husband, was demonstrating by faith that she was, already and entirely, his.
The threshing floor is life together as the Church.
And, let’s insert this Kingdom thought here. That picture of the threshing floor, the gathering together unto Christ before one’s eyes see, continues through the entire age of Tabernacles for whosoever will come and drink.
Naomi Has a Son. One final point from Ruth before we turn to the Shulamite (although there is so much more in the story of Ruth and Boaz beyond our present focus). When Ruth and Boaz’s son, Obed, the grandfather of King David, was born, this is what was said. Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” (Ruth 4:16-17a – NIV).
Yes, God begins with a remnant, a called-out Ruth, to enter into the full knowledge of our union with Christ inside of koinonia together. But the fruit of that union then gathers in all that is the entire Church, all who call upon Jesus in some way. – This is the Age of Tabernacles.
The NIV. You will have noticed that I have been using the New International Version through this session. I did that at first inadvertently, not realizing that BibleGateway had opened to the NIV. Then I saw that, for Old Testament stories, the NIV is better. It is a version I have read through two or three times; it contains fewer of the tares of Calvinism in the translation. I would suggest, for your reading of the Song of Solomon, that you would access the NIV version at www.biblegateway.com if you don’t have your own print copy of the NIV. The truth is, I am finding in the NIV the same gentle tone of the Spirit that I find in the original Greek as I translate for the Jesus Secret version. The Song of Solomon in the NIV reflects the goodness of the Spirit in the life of the Church.
Applying the Love Story. Here is the connection we are making regarding the application of the love story of Solomon and the Shulamite to our life together as the Church.
Consider these two lines. There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who energeoes all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all (1 Corinthians 12:4-7) – But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23a).
A Garden Locked Up. God placed the Song of Solomon into the Bible so that we could understand the role and purpose of the Holy Spirit inside of life together as the fullness of Christ. As Solomon and the Shulamite are described, or describe each other, all through the poem, the symbols and metaphors they use are speaking of and placing these gifts, fruit, and ministries of the Spirit into the love story of Christ and His Church.
You are a garden locked up, my sister, my bride; you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain. Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates with choice fruits, with henna and nard, nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree, with myrrh and aloes and all the finest spices. You are a garden fountain, a well of flowing water streaming down from Lebanon (Song of Solomon 4:12-15 – NIV).
Placing 1 Corinthians 13. Here is my point. Everyone I have ever heard has attempted to apply the love story of our union with Christ to each one of us as isolated individuals with no regard for the gathering together. Yet the story of the Shulamite shows us that Ephesians 5:25-32, a glorious church prepared for Jesus, nourished and cherished by Him as His own flesh, that that “preparation” IS the working of the Holy Spirit among us together as expressed in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11. And this is why Paul placed 1 Corinthians 13 in-between Chapters 12 and 14.
It is a simple point, but one which I must emphasize with all certainty.
Made Herself Ready. The bride of Jesus is life together, the Spirit energeoing in the gathering together of the Church.
Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready (Revelation 19:7). “Made herself ready” is speaking of the qualities of the Holy Spirit found in ongoing expression among us together as believers in Jesus, the spices and jewels of the Old Testament love stories. Our togetherness as the Body of Christ, an actual living organism that IS Jesus walking this earth, is far more literal and real than I have ever considered. And it is the Spirit among us that makes us so.
Down to His Garden. My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to browse in the gardens and to gather lilies. I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine; he browses among the lilies (Song of Solomon 6:2-3 – NIV).
As we describe the gifts, the ministries, and the fruit of the Spirit operating AMONG us in the gathering together of koinonia, this is how we picture what is happening. We are together a garden, and Jesus walks among the workings of the Spirit flowing from one to another enjoying His garden, gathering His lilies. It is the energeia of the Holy Spirit flowing among us that makes us to be the literal Body of Christ.
Place Me Like a Seal. Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If one were to give all the wealth of one’s house for love, it would be utterly scorned (Song of Solomon 8:6-7 – NIV). This picture, “place me like a seal” is the same thing as Ruth placing herself at Boaz’ feet and drawing his garment over her.
Love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. Do people die? – Then it is far more certain that the love of Christ will be all our expression inside the gathering together of Church.