Ruth 2: Ruth Meets Boaz in the Grain Field

• v.1-3 Ruth ‘chances’ to work in the field of Boaz
• v.4-9 Boaz welcomes here in his field
• v.10-17 Boaz cares for her
• v.18-23 Ruth reports back to Naomi

v.1-3 Ruth ‘chances’ to work in the field of Boaz

v.1 Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz.

v.2 And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favour.”

Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.”

v.3 So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.

[Notes: Boaz is given an early mention by the chronicler but his significance is not yet realised. Ruth’s background is kept to the fore, a Moabite [also 1:22, 2:21, 4:5,10] which will become more significant later on. To work in accordance with the Law – Lev 19:9-, 23:22, Deut 24:19 – the poor were allowed to follow the harvesters and glean the leftover cereal decreed by the Law – so this she does. She just ‘happens’ to choose a field belonging to Boaz.]

v.4-9 Boaz welcomes her in his field

v.4 Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, “The Lord be with you!”

“The Lord bless you!” they answered.

v.5 Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?”

v.6 The overseer replied, “She is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. v.7 She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.’ She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.”

v.8 So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me.

v.9 Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”

[Notes: Boaz is revealed as a godly employer and when he spots Ruth in the field, he enquires of his field manager who she is. He gives her a good report and so Boaz encourages her to stay there and receive the protection of his workers and take the water provision there.] 

v.10-17 Boaz cares for her

v.10 At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?”

v.11 Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before.

v.12 May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

v.13 “May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servants.”

v.14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.”

When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over.

v.15 As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her.

v.16 Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.”

v.17 So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah. [probably about 30 pounds weight of barley!]

[Notes: She asks why he is being so kind to her, a foreigner, and he confesses he has heard all about her. She expresses her appreciation. He continues to make friendly overtures and express care. Thus she is able to collect a large amount.]

v.18-23 Ruth reports back to Naomi

v.18 She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.

v.19 Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!”

Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said.

v.20 “The Lord bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers.” [The Hebrew word for guardian-redeemer is a legal term for one who has the obligation to redeem a relative in serious difficulty (see Lev. 25:25-55).]

v.21 Then Ruth the Moabite said, “He even said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.’”

v.22 Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.”

v.23 So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

[Notes: When she returns home to Naomi, Naomi expresses some surprise at the amount gathered, and when Ruth tells her what happened, Naomi is excited because she knows that Boaz is part of the family and in line to operate the law of protection of widows, as what was called a ‘guardian-redeemer’. Thus Ruth carries on going to his fields each day, following the harvesters.]

For those who may wish to make a study of this chapter, to perhaps think some more about what you have been reading, use the link below: