Shadows of the Kingdom

Shavuot and the Book of Ruth

Names of Shavuot
• Shavuot = “weeks”

• Pentacost = “fifty-count”

• Festival of the Harvest (Exodus 23:16)

• Day of the First-Fruits (Numbers 28:26)

• Chag Matan Torah = Festival of the Giving of the Torah

Shavuot
• Festival of First-Fruits
• First-Fruits marked with a cord
• Counting of the Omer
• Pilgrimage festival
• First-Fruits of the wheat harvest
• Two leavened bread loaves as a wave
offering
• Twenty-six animal sacrifices
• Yom Tov
Parashah for Shavuot
• Torah: Exodus 19:1 - 20:23
Deuteronomy 14:22 - 16:17 (Second day if a Shabbat)
Deuteronomy 15:19 - 16:17 (Second day if a weekday)
Numbers 28:26 – 31

• Haftarah: Ezekiel 1:1-28; 3:12

Habakkuk 2:20 - 2:19

• Megillat Ruth
Shavuot in History
• Death of Abel

• Tower of Babel

• Mount Sinai – Giving of the Torah

• Tribe of Benjamin is restored (Judges 21:15-24)

• Ruth

• Birth and death of king David

• Acts 2
Mazzaroth

• Shavuot always falls in the third month of the year (Sivan)

• The astrological sign for the 3rd month is Gemini
• Gemini = Twins in UNITY
 Background to Megillat Ruth
Abram and Lot
• Abram and Lot leave Ḥaran due to a promise of a Royal Grant

• Lot was Abram’s original successor.

• Lot is captured by Chedorlaomer, Abram frees Lot and then

offers tithe to Melchizedek.

• Lot saved from Sodom by two messengers.

• Lot’s daughters fornicate with him, producing Mo’av and

Ben-Ammi who become Moab and Ammon.
 Background to Megillat Ruth
Moab and Ammon
“An Ammonite or Mo’aḇite does not enter the assembly of ‫יהוה‬, even a
tenth generation of them does not ever enter the assembly of ‫יהוה‬,
because they did not meet you with bread and water on the way when
you came out of Mitsrayim, and because they hired against you Bilʽam
son of Beʽor from Pethor of Aram Naharayim, to curse you. “But ‫יהוה‬
your Elohim refused to listen to Bilʽam, and ‫ יהוה‬your Elohim turned the
curse into a blessing for you, because ‫ יהוה‬your Elohim loves you. “Do
not seek their peace nor their good, all your days, forever.
Devarim 23:3-6

• Moabite vs. Moabitess

 Background to Megillat Ruth
Levirate Marriage
“When brothers dwell together, and one of them has died, and has no
son, the widow of the dead man shall not become a stranger’s outside.
Her husband’s brother does go in to her, and shall take her as his wife,
and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. “And it shall be that
the first-born son which she bears does rise up for the name of his dead
brother, so that his name is not blotted out of Yisra’ĕl. “But if the man
does not desire to take his brother’s wife, then let his brother’s wife go
up to the gate to the elders, and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to
raise up a name to his brother in Yisra’ĕl, he does not agree to perform
the duty of my husband’s brother.’ “The elders of his city shall then call
him and speak to him, and he shall stand and say, ‘I have no desire to
take her,’ then his brother’s wife shall come to him in the presence of
the elders, and remove his sandal from his foot, and shall spit in his
face, and answer and say, ‘Thus it is done to the man who does not
build up his brother’s house.’ “And in Yisra’ĕl his name shall be called,
‘The house of him who had his sandal removed.’

Devarim 25:5-10
Background to Megillat Ruth
Levirate Marriage
• Well-known custom in the ancient Near East.

• Done to preserve the family line.

• Important in the inheritance.

• Symbolic of a second chance after death.

• Offspring are considered to belong to the first

husband

• Judah and Tamar

 Background to Megillat Ruth
Land Redemption
‘And the land is not to be sold beyond reclaim, for the land is Mine, for
you are sojourners and settlers with Me. ‘And provide for a redemption
for the land, in all the land of your possession. ‘When your brother
becomes poor, and has sold some of his possession, and his redeemer, a
close relative comes to redeem it, then he shall redeem what his brother
sold. ‘And when the man has no one to redeem it, but he himself
becomes able to redeem it, then let him count the years since its sale,
and return the remainder to the man to whom he sold it, that he shall
return to his possession. ‘And if his hand has not found enough to give
back to him, then what was sold shall remain in the hand of him who
bought it until the Year of Jubilee. And it shall be released in the
Jubilee, and he shall return to his possession.
Vayikra 25:23-28
 Background to Megillat Ruth
Go’el Redeemer
Duty of a Go’el:
• Redeems property alienated from the family
• Redeems a member of the family who has fallen into
slavery/servantude.
• Redeems blood that has been taken away from the family by
murder.

“His mission was not vengeance, but equity.

He was not an avenger, but a redeemer, a restorer, a balancer.”
-H.C. Trumbull The Blood Covenant
 Background to Megillat Ruth
Judaism’s Two Messiahs
Messiah ben Yosef (or Ephraim)
• Suffering servant
• Starts the work of redemption
• Can be from the tribe of Judah

Messiah ben David

• Conquering King
• Leads Israel to ultimate victory, the triumph, and the Messianic
era of bliss
• Completes redemption

Raphael Patai The Messiah Texts

 Background to Megillat Ruth
Yemot HaMashiyach
• Olam HaZeh = “The world that is”

• Yemot HaMashiyach = “Days of the Messiah”

• Olam HaBa = “The world to come”

http://www.breadoflifebiblestudy.com/Lessons/34God'sTimeclock/Articles/7000Years.pdf
 Background to Megillat Ruth
Mamzer
• Strong’s H4464 & BDB
• To alienate, a mongrel
• Bastard, child of incest, illegitimate child
• Mixed population
• Born of [an Israelite] father and a heathen mother or visa versa

• In Yochanan 8:41, Yeshua’s enemies imply that they view Him

as a mamzer.

• Early Rabbinic writings accuse Yeshua of being a mamzer

(Toldot Yeshu)

• Stems from the fact that Yosef was NOT Yeshua’s biological
father
Shadows of the Kingdom
Shavuot and the Book of Ruth
Ruth 1
Meanings of Names
• Elimelech = “My El is King”
• Naomi = “Pleasant”
• Machlon = “sick”
• Kilyon = “destruction”
• Orpah = “nape of the neck” or “stiff-necked”
• Ruth = “friend”
• Beyt Lechem = “house of bread”
• Ephrathites = “prince” or “aristocrat” or pertaining to Ephraim
• Boaz = “strength is within him”
• Peloni Almoni/Tov = “so-and-so” or “obscure and silent”
Ruth 1
Judging Judges
“And it cometh to pass, in the days of the judging of the judges, that there is a
famine in the land, and there goeth a man from Beth-Lehem-Judah to sojourn
in the fields of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons. “
(Ruth 1:1, Young’s Literal Translation)

• “Judging of Judges” is similar to “In those days there was no

king in Yisrael – everyone did what was right in his own eyes”.
(Judges 17:6, 18:1, 19:1, 21:2)

• Famine of food = famine of the Word

Ruth 1
Elimelech
• Elimelech – Abimelech – Achimelech

• Abandons his community instead

of sharing

• Ephratites – Ephraim – Aristocrat

• Why go to Moab instead of Egypt?

Ruth 1
Death and Return
• Elimelech and sons die in Moab

• Naomi, Orpah, and Ruth begin their journey back to Yisrael

• Naomi tries to discourage them three times

• Orpah leaves with a simple kiss

• Ruth clung to Naomi and pledges an OATH

• Covenant of blood-sisterhood between Ruth and Naomi

Ruth 1
Ruth the Mo’abite
• Ruth is specifically called a Mo’abite(ess) SIX times

• Oral Torah on Mo’abitess

• Marriage to Machlon

• Ruth was a descendant of Lot

Ruth 2
Fields of Boaz
• Ruth “accidentally” comes to glean barley in Boaz’ field

• Boaz is associated with Beyt Lechem (Ruth 2:4)

• Boaz greets people in the Name of ‫יהוה‬

• Boaz inquires of Ruth

• Boaz commands Ruth to only glean from his field

Ruth 2
Fields of Boaz
• Boaz’ kindness to Ruth is because of her kindness towards
Naomi and that she left everything to follow her to Israel.

• Ruth 2:12 – Ruth seeks refuge under the wings of ‫יהוה‬

• “spoken to the heart of your maiden”

• Boaz’ eats a meal with Ruth, consisting of bread and (sour)

wine.

• Boaz is “one of our redeemers”

Ruth 3
Chiastic Structure
Elimelech and his family
Naomi loses her children
Ruth is a Moabite
Orpah leaves
Naomi complains of being unworthy
Ruth proves worthy in the field
Boaz meets Ruth at the threshing floor
Ruth proves worthy/receives gift of barley
Naomi confirms Ruth’s election
Peloni Almoni drops his claim
Ruth is equated to Rachel and Leah
A child is born to Naomi
David and his family
Ruth 3
Boaz winnowing barley

• Boaz is winnowing on down on the threshing-floor.

• No servants are present.
• It is nighttime and Boaz sleeps on the threshing floor.
Ruth 3
Meeting at the Threshing Floor

• Ruth waits until Boaz is asleep, then she uncovers his feet and
lies down

• “Now you shall spread your kanaph over your female servant”

• A virtuous woman

• Another redeemer who is allowed a chance at redeeming

Ruth
Ruth 3
Six measures of Barley

• Ma at bati? Who are you my daughter?

• Barley = ‫ = ׂשער‬Gate

• Importance of Naomi

• Freeing of a servant
Ruth 4
Showdown at the Gate

• Judgment at the city gates with 10 elders

• Boaz asks if Peloni Almoni if he would like to redeem the land

• Peloni Almoni is afraid of ruining his

own inheritance

• The deal is sealed by Peloni Almoni

giving his shoe to Boaz
Ruth 4
The Two Redeemers
• Jewish commentary views Peloni Almoni and Boaz as
representing the two Messiahs.

• Peloni Almoni as a false messiah

• The two “redeemings” of Boaz

Ruth 4
Generations of Messiah
• Rectification of past wrongs

• Healing the sick

• Ruth, a Moabitess, is compared to Rachel and Leah

• Ruth, a Moabitess, becomes the great grandmother of king

David

• The genealogy of Peretz

Shadows of the Kingdom
Shavuot and the Book of Ruth
Shavuot, Ruth and Kingdom Restoration
Midrash of Ruth

• Ruth is ~700 years after Lot’s story. Acts 2 is ~700 years after
Ephraim’s exile.

• The word shuv (return) appears 14 times in the book of Ruth

• Redemption of Ruth vs. Naomi

• Ruth the Bride

Shavuot, Ruth and Kingdom Restoration
Midrash of Ruth

• Ruth represents Ephraim

• Naomi represents Judah

• Boaz represents Yeshua

• Peloni Almoni represent false prophets and antichrist

Shavuot, Ruth and Kingdom Restoration
Who is Israel?
• Hoshea 1 – Divorce decree of the House of Israel

• Jeremiah 3:8 – Israel divorced but Judah is not.

• Jeremiah 3:1 – The return of Israel would be a violation of

Torah.

• Jeremiah 3:12 – Yet ‫ יהוה‬says, “Return”?

• Roman’s 7 – Paul reveals the mystery.

So why is leavened bread offered during Shavuot?

Shavuot, Ruth and Kingdom Restoration
Leavened Bread
• It has been a great mystery why leaven was added to an
offering

• Leaven seemingly represents sin/pride. It seemingly

does not belong in an offering to ‫ יהוה‬.

• Ephraim/gentiles seemingly did not belong in covenant,

especially in the first century.

• Leavened bread = Something that seemingly doesn’t

belong that is added to bring fullness
Shavuot, Ruth and Kingdom Restoration
The Harvest
• Shavuot is the wheat harvest

• 50 days from barley harvest to wheat harvest

• The early rain and the latter rain

• Restoration of an earthly theocracy; the Kingdom of Elohim

Shavuot, Ruth and Kingdom Restoration
Shavuot : the Restoration
Shavuot is all about restoration:
• Torah was restored at Mt. Sinai
• 3000 were restored to the Kingdom in Acts 2
• Shavuot is determined by a 50 count. 50 represents the
Yovel year, when the land is restored and freedom is restored
to the servants.
• Megillat Ruth is all about restoration through redemption
• In Acts, during the days leading to Shavuot, Yeshua’s disciples
ask if he was going to at this time restore the Kingdom.
References
• The Blood Covenant by H. Clay Trumbull
• The Messiah Texts by Raphael Patai
• The Dawn of Redemption: What the Books of Ruth and Yona Teach
about Alienation, Despair, and Return by Rabbi Dr. Meir Levin

• Schottenstein Ed. Interlinear Ruth by Rabbi Menachem Davis

• http://www.torah.org/learning/ruth/archives.html
• http://home.comcast.net/~jovial/learn/mc/ruth.htm
• http://philologos.org/bpr/files/s005.htm
• http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/ruth-midrash-and-aggadah
• http://www.jewfaq.org/name.htm
• http://www.betemunah.org/shavuot.html