Ruth Meet Boaz
Notes
Transcript
Last time we were introduced to Naomi, and her husband Elimelech, their two sons Mahlon and Chilion who had moved to Moab during a famine. Over the course of time (roughly a decade) when all of the men passed away.
Naomi and her two daughters-in-law heard there was food again in Israel and they head back. Naomi convinces Orpah to return but Ruth was determined and committed.
16 And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: 17 Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me. 18 When she saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking unto her.
So Ruth and Naomi return to Bethlehem. Naomi who is bitter and sorrowful changes her name to Mara.
Ruth 2 begins with beginnings of Ruth’s Reaping.
Read Ruth 2:1-3
1 And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband’s, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz. 2 And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, Go, my daughter. 3 And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.
Ruth’s Reaping (Ruth 2:1-23) [Ruth finds and reaps in the field of Boaz]
It is the beginning of barley harvest. Ruth 1:22
Meeting Boaz (Ruth 2:1-3)
We meet Boaz before Ruth does. Ruth 2:1
Boaz is described as
The son of Salmon - (1 Chron. 2:11)
A Bethlehemite
He is a close relative and/or “acquaintance” of Elimelech.
There is different opinions as to what the word “Kinsman” means in KJV (Most English translations use the word “relative” ESV, NLT,NIV,NET,NKJV)
Mighty man of wealth - Really really rich. (can also be translated to mean not only wealthy but powerful and influential)
Boaz is listed in the “honored seventh place in the ten-name royal line of David (Ruth 4:18-22) (All of C. comes from Kenneth A. Matthews AYBD)
He is also listed in the royal lineage of David by the Chronicler (1 Chron 2:11-15)
Because of this relationship to the Davidic house, Boaz is in the ancestral line of Jesus (Matt 1:5, Luke 3:32)
Ruth asks to go glean ears of corn
Ruth must have had some type of knowledge of the customs of Israel. (or possibly Moab had something similar)
To glean:
The Israelites were commanded by their law to be merciful to the poor. The corners of fields were not to be reaped, and the sheaf accidentally left behind was not to be taken away, according to the law of Moses (Leviticus 19:9, 23:22; Deuteronomy 24:21). They were to be left for the poor to glean. Similar laws were given regarding vineyards and olive yards. Basing her words on this law, Ruth the Moabitess said to her mother-in-law Naomi: “Let me go to the fields and pick up (glean, KJV ) the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor” (Ruth 2:2).1 KJV KJV King James Version 1 James M. Freeman and Harold J. Chadwick, Manners & Customs of the Bible (North Brunswick, NJ: Bridge-Logos Publishers, 1998), 199.
Naomi doesn’t glean. Either she is unable or too tired after the trip.
She asks to glean in the field “in whose sight I shall find grace” Ruth 2:1 Not all farmers would be obedient to God’s law - so she was praying to find one who would allow her to glean. The fact that Boaz allows her and others to glean speaks volumes of his character.
When Ruth set out that morning to glean in the fields, she was looking for someone who would show her grace (v. 2, and see vv. 10 and 13). Grace is favor bestowed on someone who doesn’t deserve it and can’t earn it. As a woman, a poor widow, and an alien, Ruth could have no claims on anyone. She was at the lowest rung of the social ladder.
The channel of that grace was Boaz. How good it is to know that God has good people living in bad times! If you knew only the record in the Book of Judges, you might conclude that the righteous had perished from the earth (Ps. 12:1–2; Isa. 57:1; 1 Kings 19:10; Micah 7:2). But there were still people like Boaz who knew the Lord and sought to obey His will. Boaz was concerned about his workers and wanted them to enjoy the blessing of the Lord (Ruth 2:4).1
1 Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Committed, “Be” Commentary Series (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1993),
Ruth 2:3 says, “and her hap was to light...” This word means “coincidence” but I think the writer is trying to tell us - what sometimes looks like an accident or coincidence to us humans, is really the providence and working of God.
In this instance - it was no accident that Ruth a Moabite stranger in Bethlehem would end up in her late husbands cousins field. God was in this.
4 And, behold, Boaz came from Beth-lehem, and said unto the reapers, The Lord be with you. And they answered him, The Lord bless thee. 5 Then said Boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers, Whose damsel is this? 6 And the servant that was set over the reapers answered and said, It is the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab: 7 And she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves: so she came, and hath continued even from the morning until now, that she tarried a little in the house. 8 Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens: 9 Let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after them: have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? and when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn. 10 Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger? 11 And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the death of thine husband: and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore. 12 The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust. 13 Then she said, Let me find favour in thy sight, my lord; for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine handmaidens. 14 And Boaz said unto her, At mealtime come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers: and he reached her parched corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left.
Boaz Notices Ruth (Ruth 2:4-17)
As Ruth was gleaning in the field - she was industrious and stayed busy. (She only rested in the house a little Ruth 2:7 ).
As Boaz comes to his field and greets his reapers, his eyes fall on the young lady and becomes very interested.
Ruth had prayed to find grace - and she found more than grace.
She bows to him and says, “Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shoudest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?” Ruth 2:10
Ruth found favor in Boaz's eyes,because she had previously found favor in God's eyes.
The Jeremiah Study Bible
Boaz answers that he has heard about all that she has done. And then Boaz prays a blessing over her.
This is so beautiful:
12 The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.
Boaz introduces one of the most beautiful pictures of divine care in all of Scripture. He imagines Yahweh as a mother bird who offers her wings (kānāp) for the protection of her defenseless young.
Daniel Isaac Block, Judges, Ruth, vol. 6, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 663.
11 As an eagle stirreth up her nest, Fluttereth over her young, Spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, Beareth them on her wings:
5 As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem; Defending also he will deliver it; And passing over he will preserve it.
37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
Boaz then instructs the workers Ruth 2:15-16
15 And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her not: 16 And let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them, that she may glean them, and rebuke her not. 17 So she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned: and it was about an ephah of barley.
He told them to let her glean even among the sheaves
And he also said, “Let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her and leave them and rebuke her not for picking them up.”
So as I understand this the workers take the ears of the sheaf in their left hand and cut them with a sickle in the right hand. So now Ruth doesn’t need to cut or pull out the grain she is gleaning. As the harvesters cut the standing barley, they were to pull out some of the stalks and leave them lying on the stubble for her, (only for her).
These handfuls on purpose were as DeHaan says, “designed to keep her from becoming disheartened, if the gleanings seemed sparse and scant. “
I have found that God as represented by Boaz has left me handfuls on purpose. Just when things seem to dry up and about ready to blow away and I think I’m done for - there plop right in front of me lands a handful on purpose.
Naomi Rejoices to hear of Boaz (Ruth 2:18-23)
18 And she took it up, and went into the city: and her mother in law saw what she had gleaned: and she brought forth, and gave to her that she had reserved after she was sufficed. 19 And her mother in law said unto her, Where hast thou gleaned to day? and where wroughtest thou? blessed be he that did take knowledge of thee. And she shewed her mother in law with whom she had wrought, and said, The man’s name with whom I wrought to day is Boaz. 20 And Naomi said unto her daughter in law, Blessed be he of the Lord, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen. 21 And Ruth the Moabitess said, He said unto me also, Thou shalt keep fast by my young men, until they have ended all my harvest. 22 And Naomi said unto Ruth her daughter in law, It is good, my daughter, that thou go out with his maidens, that they meet thee not in any other field. 23 So she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz to glean unto the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and dwelt with her mother in law.
Bitter Naomi - Rejoices again
Rejoices because Boaz was so kind to them
Rejoices because Boaz is an eligible Kinsman
We will talk more about this later - but for now a Kinsman was the next in line to help widows in the situation that Ruth has found herself in.
This chapter ends full of anticipation, of hope, of joy of God being up to something exciting. We can be sure that God is up to something in our lives as well. When we know Him he is working
Things might seem to “hap” but I believe that God is still intimately involved in our personal and daily lives.