Rediscovering Virtue

Ruth asks for permission to work for food and ends up in Boaz’s field. (1-3)

Boaz greets his workers and asks about Ruth (4-7)

Boaz welcomes Ruth and offers her provision and protection (8-13)

Boaz invites her to his table, and publicly blesses her in front of his servants (14-17)

Ruth returns home with an abundance of food (18-19)

Naomi reveals that Boaz is a close relative and a safe person for Ruth to work for (20-23)

What is Virtue?

In America, most people do not accidentally speak to someone in a language other than English, because that is the natural way they communicate. Virtue is like the language of the soul. A person acts according to virtue naturally because it is a part of who they are.

Virtue is a part of your identity that is unseen until an opportunity to show it arises.

The Virtue of Meekness

Meekness describes someone who shows patient restraint.

Ruth had the ability to work hard and earn a living without a husband, but she waited until she had Naomi’s blessing.

Ruth 2:2 NASB95

And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after one in whose sight I may find favor.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.”

Ruth worked just as hard as the reapers, but she went behind them and gleaned instead of seeking the best grain.

Ruth 2:3 NASB95

So she departed and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers; and she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.

Ruth 2:6–7 NASB95

The servant in charge of the reapers replied, “She is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the land of Moab. “And she said, ‘Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.’ Thus she came and has remained from the morning until now; she has been sitting in the house for a little while.”

Ruth didn’t expect special treatment because she was a relative of Boaz.

Ruth 2:10 NASB95

Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your sight that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?”

Ruth 2:13 NASB95

Then she said, “I have found favor in your sight, my lord, for you have comforted me and indeed have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your maidservants.”

Ruth 2:14 NASB95

At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here, that you may eat of the bread and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar.” So she sat beside the reapers; and he served her roasted grain, and she ate and was satisfied and had some left.

Meekness is not weakness.

The power of the virtue of meekness in Ruth’s life wasn’t that she was able to work hard or solve problems. She was always capable of that. She was virtuous because she waited on someone else before she acted. That takes a lot of self-control.

Without the virtue of meekness, a person will either become lazy and entitled, or impatient and bossy.

Boaz didn’t tell Ruth to stop working and take the grain, because that would also affect her meekness.

If you take away a person’s choice to act, you take away their ability to express the virtue of meekness.

The Virtue of Generosity

Generosity is the spirit and action of freely and frequently giving to others.

Instead of being stingy with what God had given him, Boaz freely shared it with Ruth.

Ruth 2:9 NASB95

“Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them. Indeed, I have commanded the servants not to touch you. When you are thirsty, go to the water jars and drink from what the servants draw.”

Ruth 2:4–6 NASB95

Now behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, “May the Lord be with you.” And they said to him, “May the Lord bless you.” Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?” The servant in charge of the reapers replied, “She is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the land of Moab.

Ruth 2:14–16 NASB95

At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here, that you may eat of the bread and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar.” So she sat beside the reapers; and he served her roasted grain, and she ate and was satisfied and had some left. When she rose to glean, Boaz commanded his servants, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not insult her. “Also you shall purposely pull out for her some grain from the bundles and leave it that she may glean, and do not rebuke her.”

Boaz was a generous man because he served a generous God.

Ruth 2:11–12 NASB95

Boaz replied to her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband has been fully reported to me, and how you left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and came to a people that you did not previously know. “May the Lord reward your work, and your wages be full from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge.”

Boaz recognized hard work when he saw it, but he also knew that in the same way God had blessed him in his own work, God would bless Ruth in hers.

Boaz didn’t see himself as God’s blessing to Ruth, but as the way God would bless Ruth. He was a channel, not a reservoir.

CONCLUSION

Are you meek like Ruth?

1. When you have the ability to solve a problem do you wait on God and others or do you act immediately?

2. Have you taken away a person’s opportunity to show meekness by solving their problem instead of encouraging their efforts?

Are you generous like Boaz?

1. Do you see yourself as a reservoir of God’s blessing or a channel of it?

2. What are the unique ways God has equipped you to bless others (time, money, experience, knowledge, etc.)?