"1 And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband’s, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz. 2 And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor. And she said unto her, Go, my daughter. 3 And she went, and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on the portion of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.
4 And, behold, Boaz came from Beth-lehem, and said unto the reapers, Jehovah be with you. And they answered him, Jehovah bless thee. 5 Then said Boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers, Whose damsel is this? 6 And the servant that was set over the reapers answered and said, It is the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab: 7 and she said, Let me glean, I pray you, and gather after the reapers among the sheaves. So she came, and hath continued even from the morning until now, save that she tarried a little in the house.
8 Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither pass from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens. 9 Let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after them: have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? and when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn.
10 Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found favor in thy sight, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a foreigner?
11 And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been showed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother-in-law since the death of thy husband; and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people that thou knewest not heretofore. 12 Jehovah recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of Jehovah, the God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to take refuge.
13 Then she said, Let me find favor in thy sight, my lord, for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken kindly unto thy handmaid, though I be not as one of thy handmaidens.
14 And at meal-time Boaz said unto her, Come hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers, and they reached her parched grain, and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left thereof. 15 And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her not. 16 And also pull out some for her from the bundles, and leave it, and let her glean, and rebuke her not.
17 So she gleaned in the field until even; and she beat out that which she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. 18 And she took it up, and went into the city; and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned: and she brought forth and gave to her that which she had left after she was sufficed.
19 And her mother-in-law said unto her, Where hast thou gleaned to-day? and where hast thou wrought? blessed be he that did take knowledge of thee.
And she showed her mother-in-law with whom she had wrought, and said, The man’s name with whom I wrought to-day is Boaz.
20 And Naomi said unto her daughter-in-law, Blessed be he of Jehovah, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, The man is nigh of kin unto us, one of our near kinsmen.
21 And Ruth the Moabitess said, Yea, he said unto me, Thou shalt keep fast by my young men, until they have ended all my harvest.
22 And Naomi said unto Ruth her daughter-in-law, It is good, my daughter, that thou go out with his maidens, and that they meet thee not in any other field.
23 So she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz, to glean unto the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and she dwelt with her mother-in-law."
In this second chapter of Ruth we meet Boaz. Boaz was a wealthy landowner of Bethlehem in Judea and a relative of Elimelech, Naomi's late husband. Boaz is mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1:5. In the Mosaic Law, which is mentioned in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, God made a way for the widows and the poor people to be taken care of but they also had to work not just be handed money. The Mosaic Law is a group of laws given by God to Moses starting with the 10 Commandments. In Leviticus 19:9 it says:
This way, God had them work instead of just being handed charity. Usually about 30% of grain was left in the field after they had harvested so the poor had a chance to gather food but still keep their dignity. I believe God led Ruth to the field of Boaz. Boaz was a good man that loved God. Boaz believed that his faith should play a part of every aspect of his life as we see in Ruth 2:4:"And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleaning of thy harvest."
As you can see from this verse, the workers also respected Boaz which shows he was a good boss. So many people act one way when they are in church but another way when they are working, but we see here that Boaz lived what he believed. Boaz asked some of the workers if they knew who she was and they told him that she was the widow that came with Naomi from Moab."And, behold, Boaz came from Beth-lehem, and said unto the reapers, Jehovah be with you. And they answered him, Jehovah bless thee."
He went to Ruth and asked her to continue working in his field to gleam because he wanted to keep her safe. I also think that he liked her at this point. Ruth was surprised that he was being so nice to her. She did not expect to be accepted by anyone because she was a stranger and an outcast in the area. Boaz let her know that he was impressed with her sacrifice to follow Naomi to a foreign land. I think Boaz had also heard many of the local people talking about Ruth and they all probably had good things to say about her. Boaz invited her to sit and eat with the other workers and he made sure that she had plenty to eat. After Ruth finished gleaming in the field that day she beat the grain and had about four gallons of grain. When she took it home to Naomi, Naomi asked her where she had gleamed because she had been able to get so much. When Ruth tells her it was in Boaz's field she still did not know that Boaz could be her kinsman redeemer but Naomi knew and Boaz also knew. Naomi also told Ruth to work near Boaz's workers.
Things to think about:
1) How often do we hear greetings like Boaz gave to his workers in our work place?
2) Under the circumstances that Naomi and Ruth have endured people usually react one of two ways. Either they blame God or they grow stronger in their faith. Can you think of a difficult time you have endured and your reaction to your difficulties?
3) 3) How is Boaz a type of Christ?
4) Think about the character of Ruth and how we can apply those character traits to our life.