I. Introduction
A. Gleaning: In the OT law (Leviticus 19:9-10; 23:22; Deuteronomy 24:19-20), God gave His people a mechanism whereby the poor could get something to eat. When the farmers reaped their crops, they were not to go back a second time and pick up what had been missed the first time through. This would allow for the poor to go through the fields and gather the leftovers so they would not starve.
B. Ruth 2:1–23 Now Naomi had a relative of her husband’s, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. 2 And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.” 3 So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech. 4 And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. And he said to the reapers, “The LORD be with you!” And they answered, “The LORD bless you.” 5 Then Boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?” 6 And the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, “She is the young Moabite woman, who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. 7 She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers.’ So she came, and she has continued from early morning until now, except for a short rest.” 8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Now, listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. 9 Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping, and go after them. Have I not charged the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn.” 10 Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?” 11 But Boaz answered her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. 12 The LORD repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!” 13 Then she said, “I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not one of your servants.” 14 And at mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine.” So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed to her roasted grain. And she ate until she was satisfied, and she had some left over. 15 When she rose to glean, Boaz instructed his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. 16 And also pull out some from the bundles for her and leave it for her to glean, and do not rebuke her.” 17 So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. 18 And she took it up and went into the city. Her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also brought out and gave her what food she had left over after being satisfied. 19 And her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean today? And where have you worked? Blessed be the man who took notice of you.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, “The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.” 20 And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the LORD, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!” Naomi also said to her, “The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.” 21 And Ruth the Moabite said, “Besides, he said to me, ‘You shall keep close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’ ” 22 And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, lest in another field you be assaulted.” 23 So she kept close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
C. Review
1. When the story begins, Naomi is in a really low place. She’s been through a lot of pain.
a. Her husband dies.
b. She is left to raise her two boys alone.
c. They marry two Moabite women.
d. Then her two sons die. How much grief does one woman need to bear?
2. The situation in Ukraine gives us a taste of what Naomi and Ruth went through.
a. Lost loved ones.
b. Arriving after a long trip.
c. No place to stay.
d. No job.
e. For Ruth a foreign land.
3. Naomi is focusing on her losses – which is so easy to do. She’s not thinking about the fact that in all the painful experiences which God allows His children to bear, He is always plotting for their glory. But God is going to prove it to her – and to all the readers of her story.
4. Even in her bitterness, God’s kindness toward Naomi begins to flow into her life.
a. The drought in Israel ends, enabling her to return to her homeland and to her people.
b. Her daughter-in-law Ruth insists on returning with her. She is not going home alone.
5. And we see even more in chapter two.
a. Ruth gleans in the field of a good and friendly man who takes care of her and provides for her, which means Naomi is cared for and provided for too.
II. Last week we talked about Naomi, Ruth and Orpah. This week I’d to talk about a couple of characters in the story we didn’t talk about last week.
A. Boaz – the new character in the story
1. Ruth “happened to come to the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech”
2. It mentions twice in four verses that Boaz was of the clan of Elimelech. This is important.
a. Elimelech was Naomi’s husband. So Boaz was a relative of Elimelech, maybe cousin or nephew.
b. This raises the issue of Levirate marriage in the OT law. We’ll talk about that till next week.
3. Who was this man Boaz? (2:3)
a. Verse 1 says that he was a worthy man.
(1) What does it mean that he was a worthy man?
(2) Well, there isn’t a great English word to translate this Hebrew word here. It’s most often translated “mighty man” or “warrior.” But it’s also translated hero, chief, able man.
(3) Here it’s not his physical prowess or toughness which is in mind.
(4) It certainly means that he was manly, but the point seems to be that he was a prominent, important man, an able leader in the community, and a wealthy man with high social standing.
b. Verse 4 tells us something else: And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. And he said to the reapers, “The LORD be with you!” And they answered, “The LORD bless you.”
(1) This isn’t here by accident. It is meant to tell us something about Boaz:
(2) It tells us that he was a godly man and that he ran his household in a godly way.
(3) So, this Boaz was quite a guy! And when you consider what this says about him in light of what things were said to be like during this time in the end of the book of Judges (and several of the characters come from Bethlehem like Boaz).
B. (God in the story)
1. Now let’s move from a person mentioned a lot in this chapter to Someone hardly mentioned at all, and that’s God. He’s referred to once in passing in this chapter, but that certainly doesn’t mean He’s not important in the story. In fact, He is very active, and plays a major role. In fact, He is the central character in the story.
2. First of all, He graciously provides for His children.
a. Instead of being angry with Naomi for her bitterness over her devastating losses, God kindly steps up to help her.
b. First, He lifts the famine by sending rain to Israel so there is a harvest to glean from.
c. Then He moves the heart of Ruth to devote herself to Naomi and to return with her to Israel.
(1) This is a very rare thing. Ruth didn’t go home to care for her own parents in their old age.
(2) She didn’t remain in Moab to try to find a husband and start her own family.
(3) She committed herself to her ex-mother-in-law, to go with her, take care of her, be her family.
d. He puts it on the hearts of Boaz and others to allow the fields to be gleaned.
e. He puts it into the heart of Ruth to glean in order to provide for the two of them. Naomi doesn’t ask her to do it. God has made her eager to help.
f. He leads Ruth to the field of kind-hearted Boaz, and moves Boaz to be generous toward Ruth.
g. Here we have two destitute women and God provides not just enough, but more than enough.
(1) He not only provides Naomi with care, he provides her with an heir.
(2) And not just an heir, but the greatest heir anyone could have.
h. And a beautiful thing begins to happen in Naomi. Her bitterness in chapter 1 begins to melt away in chapter 2; God’s goodness to her becomes so obvious that she herself begins to recognize it.
3. We also see here the beautiful way God directs through circumstances.
a. He wanted Naomi to go to Moab, so He sent a drought to Israel.
b. He wanted to link Ruth up with Naomi, so he led Naomi’s son to marry Ruth.
c. He wanted Naomi to return to Israel with Ruth, so He brought fruitful rains back to Israel.
d. He wanted to link Ruth with Boaz, so He had her glean in the fields of Boaz, without even knowing who he was, and He arranged for Boaz to notice Ruth, and take an interest in her.
e. All our encounters are divine appointments. God set them up.
(1) They may seem coincidental&ordinary, but they are divinely ordained & eternally significant.
(2) For me it all started by overhearing a teammate on the soccer team talking to another guy in the high school cafeteria. And God used that to break into my life.
III. (The plight of women)
A. Now I’d like to make two observations from this chapter. The first is about women.
B. It’s interesting how in this book which is written from a woman’s perspective, we notice things we rarely notice elsewhere.
C. And remember: God inspired this, just as He inspired all the rest of Scripture.
D. What I’d like to point out is the sense of vulnerability women live with.
E. It seems that there are four references in this chapter.
1. 8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Now, listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women.”
2. 9 Have I not charged the young men not to touch you?
3. 15 Boaz instructed his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her.” I take “reproach” here to refer to the catcalls which are often directed to young women. The word means to insult, to shame, to dishonor, to disgrace.
4. 22 And Naomi said to Ruth, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, lest in another field you be assaulted.”
F. Do you think God wants us to notice this trend? This is not just the world’s issue, it’s a Christian issue, a Bible issue.
G. Now, of course, Ruth had no real choice. She and Naomi had to feed themselves, and, as we said, in that society the established way for the poor to feed themselves was through gleaning.
1. So, if the poor person was a woman, she had to go into the fields unprotected, and hope for the benevolence of the men around her.
2. She cannot be blamed for taking a risk because she had to eat and provide for Naomi.
H. Israel was the land of God’s people. Shouldn’t it be different than places where they didn’t have the law of God and didn’t know the fear of God? Yes, it should have been different. And maybe it was somewhat different. (After all, though the situation in Israel was very bad at this time, Judges 19:12 seems to indicate that the pagan territories were even worse.)
I. But sadly not different enough to remove the danger.
J. Boaz was a decent man, a good man, a God-fearing man, living in Israel. And yet even he didn’t trust the men he’d hired to harvest his field. And as a godly man, he didn’t scoff at the danger, but did what he could to protect the women around him.
K. How does he do that? He exhorts his own employees to watch out for the women (9), he urges the young women to glean in groups (8), and he warns the male gleaners not to do anything to her (15).
L. Is this victim-blaming, to urge women to take precautions?
1. Now victim-blaming is a real thing, and we should want no part of it. Excusing men because “boys will be boys” is shameful.
2. But taking precautions is a wise thing.
3. Was Jesus blaming those who fail to carry weapons when He urged His disciples to carry a sword? (Luke 22:36)
M. The fact is, sinners are prone to abuse power. And there are plenty of men who are only too ready to exploit women. Some disguise their exploitative nature with smooth talk – and hunt for vulnerable women hungry for love.
N. And thus it is wise for women and the people who love them to be watchful and careful.
O. However, the story of Ruth also shows us that there are some men who are trustworthy and even protective. Not all are predatory.
1. That was certainly Boaz, as well as his foreman who was in charge of the reapers.
2. And godly Christian men should always be trying to make life safer and less fearful for women.
IV. The beauty and power of wearing the right clothing
A. There is no doubt that the writer wants us to admire Ruth. She is a truly amazing woman.
1. Dignity, devotion, loyalty, honor, self-restraint. She was hard-working, sincere, resourceful, tireless and unafraid.
2. But, most of all, love. Ruth’s love for Naomi was an active love, a love that was willing to take action, and often bold and daring and risky and self-sacrificial and even humiliating action in order to provide for Naomi in her bitterness.
B. There is nothing in the book of Ruth which tells us what Ruth looks like, so we just don’t know.
1. But we do know what kind of clothes Ruth dressed in, we do know what kind of clothes attracted the attention of this extraordinary man Boaz. We do know what clothes made her look so lovely that it melted his heart and the hearts of others.
2. You know sometimes they talk about a woman who is “dressed to kill.” Well, Ruth was dressed to kill. She killed Boaz. She turned him into mush.
C. What was Ruth’s beautiful clothing which captured the heart of Boaz? We read about it in v.11, when Ruth asked Boaz the question, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?”
1. 11 Boaz answered her, “All that you’ve done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. 12 The LORD repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the LORD, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!”
2. Ruth adorned herself with good works, like Paul talks about in 1Tim.2:9-10. Her adorning was not external, but the adorning of the hidden person of the heart: the imperishable beauty of a calm and gentle spirit, like Peter talks about in 1Peter 3:3-5.
D. Beauty gives a person power. And Ruth’s beautiful adornment had a powerful effect on the situation, and on the people around her.
E. God doesn’t give us the beautiful story of Ruth merely for our enjoyment. It contains a call to us, a call to become an ‘others’ person – in the name of Christ.
F. This is the way Christ was! He came after us out of the greatness of His merciful & compassionate heart. Because of love, He was willing to sacrifice Himself in order to save us – Phil.2:5-8.
G. And now we’re exhorted to put on Christ (Rom.13:14; Gal.3:27), much like we put on clothes. And in Col.3:12, we’re called to put on compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, & patience.
H. But this isn’t just do-good-ism. This is vibrant love which springs from a vibrant faith. This is what Boaz saw in Ruth, when he referred to her as taking refuge under God’s wings in v.12.
I. That’s where it starts. And we also see here where it ends. We see that there is great reward in this.
1. Just as Jesus was glorified for His death on the cross (Phil.2:9-11), so Ruth was richly rewarded for giving up her life for the sake of others.
a. Citizenship in Israel
b. A husband
c. A child
d. Salvation of her family line
e. Best of all: the beginning of a royal dynasty, a dynasty through which the Christ came
f. And think about how loved and respected her name is more than three thousand years later.
2. Ruth is a living example of Luke 18:29-30, “There is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”
3. Ruth left house and brothers and parents for the sake of the kingdom of God, and we see that she received many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.
4. By blessing others you bless yourself.