Ruth 2:13 – 23“My lord,” she said, “may I continue to find favor in your eyes, for you have comforted and spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your servant girls.” At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here; have some bread and dip it into the vinegar sauce.” So she sat down beside the harvesters, and he offered her roasted grain, and she ate and was satisfied and had some left over.
When Ruth got up to glean, Boaz ordered his young men, “Even if she gathers among the sheaves, do not insult her. Rather, pull out for her some stalks from the bundles and leave them for her to gather. Do not rebuke her.”
So Ruth gathered grain in the field until evening. And when she beat out what she had gleaned, it was about an ephah of barley. (An ephah is approximately 20 dry quarts or 22 liters (probably about 29 pounds or 13.2 kilograms of barley). She picked up the grain and went into the town, where her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. And she brought out what she had saved from her meal and gave it to Naomi. Then her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today, and where did you work? Blessed be the man who noticed you.” So she told her mother-in-law where she had worked. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said.
Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the LORD, who has not withdrawn His kindness from the living or the dead.” Naomi continued, “The man is a close relative. He is one of our kinsman-redeemers.” (The Hebrew word for kinsman-redeemer or guardian-redeemer is a legal term for the kinsman who redeems or vindicates a relative.)
Then Ruth the Moabitess said, “He also told me, ‘Stay with my young men until they have finished gathering all my harvest.’” And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law Ruth, “My daughter, it is good for you to work with his young women, so that nothing will happen to you in another field.” So Ruth stayed close to the servant girls of Boaz to glean grain until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.”
Ruth returns to Naomi in success. Not only has Ruth had a profitable day gleaning barley, but she has also made a good impression on Boaz, a close relative of Naomi’s late husband Elimelech and a kinsman redeemer. The role of the kinsman redeemer is described in Leviticus 25:25 “If one of your fellow Israelites becomes poor and sells some of their property, their nearest relative is to come and redeem what they have sold.”
Why hasn’t Naomi already contacted Boaz? Perhaps Naomi is ashamed. After all, when Naomi left Bethlehem with her family, they might have been one of the wealthier families in town and now she is poverty – stricken.
APPLICATION: As we read the story of Ruth and Naomi, it almost seems like a fairy tale and too good to be true. But this story came from people who preserved stories in a long – standing oral tradition. Children were probably drilled in these stories and the details had to be correct at every point. And in the genealogies of Jesus, Ruth and Boaz figure prominently. This story is probably a true one.
One of the most encouraging parts of this story is the continuing devotion of Ruth and Naomi to each other. Obviously, these two women really did love and respect each other, giving a picture of what an ideal relationship between a daughter – in – law and a mother – in – law might be.
Yet another remarkable feature is the amount of barley Ruth was able to glean in one day. The barley Ruth brought would probably feed Ruth and Naomi for nearly a month and certainly must have relieved Naomi’s anxiety a bit. God is already blessing Naomi for returning to Bethlehem and Ruth for accompanying Naomi.
Sometimes we fail to look at our situations and see the small ways in which God is blessing us. This is a mistake. As many people have learned, a grateful heart improves one’s whole outlook as well as one’s health. May we look for the blessings as we go throughout our days.
PRAYER: Father God, help us to look for Your blessings and to be grateful for them. Help us also to share our joy at these blessings with others and help them to see Your blessings in their lives also. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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