In the previous blog post, we discussed the meeting between Boaz and Ruth. A conversation ensued, and Boaz then told Ruth that he had heard that she had gone with Naomi after her husband’s death, to be a partaker of Naomi’s people.
Ruth 2
10 (…) and she said to him, “Why have I found grace in your sight that you should look upon me, seeing I am a foreign woman?”
11 Boaz answered and said to her, “It has been told to me, indeed, all that you did with your mother-in-law after the death of your husband, when you left your father and mother and the land of your birth and went to a people you did not know yesterday and the day before.”
Two days
Boaz describes Naomi’s return, along with Ruth, who accompanied her, and says that Ruth has gone to a people she had not known yesterday and the day before. At first glance, this seems like a Hebrew expression, meaning something like “a short time ago” or “a few days ago.” But if we look up the expression in Scripture, it often appears to be used in a similar context as in Ruth and has a deeper meaning.
If we take the statement literally, it speaks of two days. Ruth has joined Naomi’s people and meets with Boaz after two days. The concept of two days is a recurring theme in biblical prophecy.
2 Peter 3
8 But do not let this one thing go unnoticed by you, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
Second Coming
Peter is speaking here about the second coming (>parousia) of Christ (:4). Mockers would come and ridicule the idea of His coming (1 Peter 3:3), and in this connection Peter says that one day with the Lord is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. Two days represent two thousand years. That is the period of time that would elapse before the Lord would return.
on the third day
Peter refers here, among others, to the prophet Hosea, who declared that after two days, on the third day, the Lord would raise up Israel and revive them (Hosea 6:2). These “days” should be read as days of a thousand years.
The two days of the terms “yesterday” and “the day before yesterday” also speak of the two thousand years. For two thousand years, Israel has been in dispersion, and after two days, on the third day, she will meet her Redeemer.
Jacob
In Genesis 31, we find the same term twice (Gen. 31:2, 5). There it refers to Jacob’s sojourn abroad, with Laban. Jacob is a type of Israel, which is also his second name. Here too, the two days represent the two millennia during which Israel has been among the nations. Jacob (>Israel) abroad.
twenty years
In the same chapter, we find a mention of another time period. Jacob twice says that he stayed with Laban for twenty years (Gen. 31:38, 41). These twenty years also speak of the twenty centuries that Israel spent in the dispersion.
When Jacob left the land, the sun set (Gen. 28:11), and when he returned twenty years later, the sun rose (Gen. 32:31). The “night” typifies the time in which we live and in which Israel finds itself in the Diaspora (Matt. 25:6; 1 Thess. 5:2). Jacob (>Israel) is abroad.
Through the Jordan
In Joshua 3, we read a story in which the Ark of the Covenant passes through the Jordan. The Ark is a type of Christ, and the crossing of the Jordan depicts death and resurrection. Christ is the first to have traveled this path. The people of Israel follow the Ark at a distance of approximately two thousand cubits, which represents the two thousand years.
It also says: “For you have not passed this Way yesterday or the day before” (Joshua 3:4). These two days are also mentioned here, in a similar context. After two days, or after two thousand years, Israel will be revived (Hosea 6:2; Rom. 11:15).