Ruth 2
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CHAPTER 2
Ruth Meets Boaz (2:1–23)
1–3 In these verses the writer introduces us to Boaz, who together with Ruth plays a leading role in the book. Indeed, he plays a leading role in biblical history, because—together with Ruth—he was to become a direct ancestor of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:5).
Since Naomi and Ruth had no land of their own to harvest, Ruth decided to pick up the leftover grain (to glean) in a neighbor’s field (verse 2). The law of Moses required landowners to allow poor people, widows, and aliens (Ruth was all three) to glean in their fields (Leviticus 19:9–10; Deuteronomy 24:19–22). But not all landowners treated gleaners with kindness, and so Ruth hoped to find someone in whose eyes she would find favor.
As it turned out (verse 3)—not by chance but by God’s plan12 —Ruth ended up in a field belonging to Boaz, a close relative of Naomi’s deceased husband Elimelech.
Notice how Ruth was “guided” to Boaz’s field: . . . she went out and began to glean(verse3). That doesn’t sound much like guidance! But often God guides us only as we start moving out, as we start taking steps. People often sit around waiting for some sign of God’s guidance and it doesn’t come. They need to “go out and begin to glean” and God will guide them as they do so.
4–9 Ruth clearly did find favor in Boaz’s eyes. The foreman gave a favorable report about her to Boaz; and Boaz, for his part, warmly welcomed her to glean in his field for the entire harvest. He told her to follow along after the girls (verse 9). The men cut the standing grain, and then the girls gathered the stalks and bound them together into sheaves. Whatever stalks were still left loose could be picked up (gleaned) by the gleaners.
10–13 Ruth asked Boaz why he was treating her in such a kind way (verse 10). The answer: he had heard about the kindness she was showing to her mother-in-law Naomi. Boaz was aware that Ruth had made a great sacrifice in leaving her homeland, and he hoped she would be richly rewarded for it (verse 12). It was God who was going to reward Ruth—the God under whose wings she had come for protection.13
14–18 Boaz went beyond the requirement of the law concerning gleaning; not only did he invite Ruth to eat with him14 but he also told his men to deliberately leave extra grain for her to gather (verse 16). At the end of the day she had gathered—after threshing—an ephah of grain (verse 17), more than twenty liters. In one day she had gathered enough grain to last her and Naomi several weeks, which was many times the amount ordinarily gleaned in one day.
19–20 When Naomi found out it was Boaz who had been so kind to Ruth, she said, “The LORD bless him!” (verse 20). Then she said: “He (the Lord) has not stopped showing his kindness15 to the living (Naomi and Ruth) and the dead (their husbands)”—in other words, to everyone in the family. God was going to show His kindness even to the dead by raising up an heir to continue the line of Elimelech.
Then Naomi explained to Ruth who Boaz was: “That man is our close relative . . . one of our kinsman-redeemers” (verse 20).
The concept of the “kinsman-redeemer” is very important throughout Scripture. To “redeem” means to “buy back” something (or someone) that has been sold. To redeem something implies that the redeemer must pay a price or make a sacrifice. This element of sacrifice underlies the REIEMPTION provided for us by Jesus Christ: He purchased us with His own blood (1 Peter 1:18–19).
According to Old Testament law, each member of a family or clan was responsible for providing for any family member who had fallen on hard times (Leviticus 25:35); in this way the integrity of the family could be maintained. The family member who undertook to help another family member was called a “kinsman-redeemer.” Suchhelp was to be given not just to one’s immediate family but to members of the extended family as well.
A kinsman-redeemer was expected to help in various ways, depending on what the need was. First, he might be called upon to marry his brother’s childless widow in order to produce an heir for the dead brother16 (Deuteronomy 25:5–10). Second, he might be called upon to redeem land that a poor relative had been forced to sell (Leviticus 25:25).Third, he might be called upon to redeem a relative who had sold himself into slavery to pay off debts (Leviticus 25:47–49). Fourth, he might be called upon to avenge a relative’s murder17 (Numbers 35:19–21).
In all these ways, the actions of the kinsman-redeemer reflect what God has done for His larger human family. It was God who redeemed Israel from bondage in EGYPT (Exodus 6:6). And it was the Son of God who, through His death on the cross, redeemed us from bondage to sin.
These great acts of redemption on God’s part are mirrored here in the kind actions of Boaz. Boaz was not legally required to make Ruth his wife, and he gained no legal or financial advantage from doing so, since their first son would legally be Elimelech’s heir and would therefore inherit the land Boaz had redeemed (Deuteronomy 25:6). But by his gracious actions Boaz set an example of self-giving love and became a true forerunner of his own descendant Jesus, our great kinsman-redeemer, who joined our human family and paid the price for our redemption.18
21–23 In these verses, the writer describes how Ruth continued to glean in Boaz’s fields until the end of the harvest.