Ruth 2:1-23
Ruth Meets Boaz
1 There was a relative of Naomi’s husband, a man of great wealth, of the family of Elimelech. His name was Boaz. 2 So Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the field, and glean heads of grain after him in whose sight I may find favor.”
And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.”
3 Then she left, 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 family of Elimelech.
4 Now behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, “The LORD be with you!”
And they answered him, “The LORD bless you!”
5 Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?”
6 So the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered and said, “It is the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. 7 And she said, ‘Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.’ So she came and has continued from morning until now, though she rested a little in the house.”
8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “You will listen, my daughter, will you not? Do not go to glean in another field, nor go from here, but stay close by my young women. 9 Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them. Have I not commanded the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.”
10 So she fell on her face, bowed down 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 And Boaz answered and said to her, “It has been fully reported to me, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know before. 12 The LORD repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.”
13 Then she said, “Let me find favor in your sight, my lord; for you have comforted me, and have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your maidservants.”
14 Now Boaz said to her at mealtime, “Come here, and eat of the bread, and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar.” So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed parched grain to her; and she ate and was satisfied, and kept some back. 15 And when she rose up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. 16 Also let grain from the bundles fall purposely for her; leave it that she may glean, and do not rebuke her.”
17 So she gleaned in the field until evening, and beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. 18 Then she took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. So she brought out and gave to her what she had kept back after she had been satisfied.
19 And her mother-in-law said to her, “Where have you gleaned today? And where did you work? Blessed be the one 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 Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “Blessed be he of the LORD, who has not forsaken His kindness to the living and the dead!” And Naomi said to her, “This man is a relation of ours, one of our close relatives.”
21 Ruth the Moabitess said, “He also said to me, ‘You shall stay 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, and that people do not meet you in any other field.” 23 So she stayed close by the young women of Boaz, to glean until the end of barley harvest and wheat harvest; and she dwelt with her mother-in-law.
Here Naomi found a wealthy relative of her deceased husband named Boaz and her daughter-in-law Ruth the Moabitess asked permission to go to glean heads of grain in the fields (Leviticus 19:9, 23:22) to find favor of someone there to continue doing so as she gathered food for them. Ruth went out to glean in the field after the reapers and ended up in the part belonging to Boaz by ‘coincidence.’ This coincided with God’s plan for her to gain his attention. When Boaz heard this, he told her to work that field only and not venture into any other one to glean the leftover grain. He looked out for her after catching his eye and promised that the men would not make advances to her because she would be under his protection as an owner of the fields and that she was free to drink from his water supplies drawn for her whenever she thirsted. He was serving her and she asked him why he should notice and show favor to a foreigner from Moab of all places as she bowed before him in honor and thankfulness. He told her that he knew her story and that of her mother-in-law, how they lost everything and everyone and how Ruth honored her and the LORD to be committed to follow and serve as a stranger (Exodus 2:22) in a strange land as we were before Christ redeemed us (1 Peter 1:1, Ephesians 2:19) and how we should treat (3 John 1:5) others. Boaz blessed her faithless with a pronouncement of God’s grace on her as reward for her for coming under His wings for refuge (“your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.” After profusely and humbly thanking Boaz, he told his men to leave more for her by dropping bundles of grain for her to glean and discreetly provide for her and Naomi. We find parallels as a picture of the Lord’s love and provision of grace for we who once were aliens from Him (Ephesians 2:19) and His protection as those of the world brought near and fed with and by Christ Himself. Naomi was startled at the amount Ruth brought home and found out it was a close relative who had found favor with her daughter-in-law. She blessed the LORD for such a co-incidence of His grace in the situation and advised Ruth to stay in his field and not to glean elsewhere. God was at work to arrange all these things to bring about a greater plan that would lead to the Savior of us all (Ruth 4:17, Matthew 1:5-6, 16) through her. We see a shadow of the bigger picture of history here where obedient faith coincides with God’s will and plan to redeem us (John 1:12, Galatians 4:4-5, 1 Peter 1:18) through the Anointed One, the Messiah-Christ provided for us.
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