A Love Story for All Time    
A study in the book of Ruth
lesson #2: Ruth chapter two.

Scripture:

Naomi had a kinsman of her husband’s, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz. Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Let me now go to the field, and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor.”

She said to her, “Go, my daughter.” She went, and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.

Behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, “Yahweh be with you.”

They answered him, “Yahweh bless you.”

Then Boaz said to his servant who was set over the reapers, “Whose young lady is this?”

The servant who was set over the reapers answered, “It is the Moabite lady who came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab. She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.’ So she came, and has continued even from the morning until now, except that she stayed a little in the house.”

Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Don’t go to glean in another field, and don’t go from here, but stay here close to my maidens. Let your eyes be on the field that they reap, and go after them. Haven’t I commanded the young men not to touch you? When you are thirsty, go to the vessels, and drink from that which the young men have drawn.”

Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your sight, that you should take knowledge of me, since I am a foreigner?”

Boaz answered her, “It has fully been shown me, all that you have done to 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 that you didn’t know before. May Yahweh repay your work, and a full reward be given you from Yahweh, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

Then she said, “Let me find favor in your sight, my lord, because you have comforted me, and because you have spoken kindly to your handmaid, though I am not as one of your handmaidens.”

At meal time Boaz said to her, “Come here, and eat of the bread, and dip your morsel in the vinegar.”

She sat beside the reapers, and they reached her parched grain, and she ate, and was satisfied, and left some of it. When she had risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and don’t reproach her. Also pull out some for her from the bundles, and leave it, and let her glean, and don’t rebuke her.”

So she gleaned in the field until evening; and she beat out that which she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah  of barley. She took it up, and went into the city; and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned: and she brought out and gave to her that which she had left after she was sufficed.

Her mother-in-law said to her, “Where have you gleaned today? Where have you worked? Blessed be he who noticed you.”

She showed her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, “The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “Blessed be he of Yahweh, who has not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead.” Naomi said to her, “The man is a close relative to us, one of our near kinsmen.”

Ruth the Moabitess said, “Yes, he said to me, ‘You shall stay close to my young men, until they have ended all my harvest.’”

Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his maidens, and that they not meet you in any other field.” So she stayed close to the maidens of Boaz, to glean to the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and she lived with her mother-in-law.

Ruth chapter Two       (World English Bible)

[.]

A Love Story for All Time    
A study in the book of Ruth
lesson #2: Ruth chapter two.

Bible Study:

If the first chapter of Ruth is about poverty and loss and desperation, the second chapter shows us the first hints of God’s provision.

Look back for a moment to the end of the last chapter. It’s the beginning of the barley harvest. The time is right for a poor family to find some relief.

And now, in chapter two, we see the second glimmer of hope. There is a relative, and his name is Boaz.

The two pieces of the puzzle rest on two provisions in the law of the people of Judah. In this chapter, Ruth will find a way to gather food for herself and her mother-in-law. She will harvest in a field that she does not own.

The practice has been called gleaning. The word means to gather, but as the Old Testament uses the word, it referred to the gathering of loose grain that fell out or was missed in the first efforts to harvest.  

In Old Testament law, farmers were told not to glean their own fields. For example, this comes from Leviticus 23:22:

When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God.  

So there is something built into every harvest for the poor and the stranger in Judah.

Some of the aspects of the law proved very difficult to apply, and this may have been one of them. Generosity is not always a popular idea. Not every farmer would keep to the rules of Sabbath, for example, and it might be difficult, perhaps, to see pieces of your own harvest lying on the ground or picked up by someone who had no part in the planting of the field.

But here in the book of Ruth, the practice is followed in more than one field. Ruth can find several places to glean. So at this point in time, Bethlehem seems to be a very generous community.

And of all the fields, Ruth comes to an area farmed by Boaz. Give Ruth credit for working. The field hands mention that she came out early and stayed at the work. She is not asking for favors. She is trying to make a living for her mother-in-law and for herself.

But in turn, she finds an unusual generosity, even beyond the scope of the law. Her story is known all over Bethlehem. Everyone seems to have a great respect for this young woman who cared so much for her mother-in-law that she would not leave the woman to fend for herself alone.

The book never says much about Naomi, but we can wonder if she would have even survived on her own. She is too old or too weak to work the fields like Ruth. So if she had returned to Judah alone, she would have needed charity from someone, or she would have died.

For Ruth, her prospects may have been much more promising in Moab, but she gave up all the advantages of her own homeland just to keep Naomi from death, or suffering, or loneliness.

So when Boaz comes to the field, he finds this young woman from Moab working there, and he already knows her story. He seems to be a generous person. His fields are open to the poor. His workers don’t seem to mind a stranger gathering the scraps of the harvest.

But Boaz’s generosity to Ruth will be even greater because of her faithfulness to Naomi. Ruth has been generous to family, and so she is treated much like family. She is brought to the meal, when the workers stop for lunch. They pass around prepared food, and she eats whatever she wants.

They even give her leftovers for later. The story says that they gave her more than enough. She doesn’t hoard the food or hide it away. They give it to her, and the amount she receives is more than enough.

Maybe they understood that the extra would go to Naomi. Maybe they were trying to feed more than one person. Or maybe they were just the kind of people whose kindness was too extravagant to contain.

For whatever reason, Ruth falls into a situation where the supply is greater than her need, at least greater than her need at the moment.

But there is more. When Ruth leaves the group to return to work, Boaz tells the farmhands to leave grain for her to find.

And by the way, nobody had better do anything to harm this young woman. Boaz’s warning is a dark reminder that a young woman faced more dangers than simple starvation. Violence existed in the days of Ruth, just as it does today.

Here in the fields of Boaz, God has provided Ruth with a place of safety. The workers are trustworthy. The boss is looking out for her. They honor her kindness and applaud her character.

She can work without fear. 

The work would have been hard. Grain stalks were cut and gathered into bundles. Then the grain itself was beaten off the stalk and out of the shell. The result would be a whole grain that could be made into flour or cooked or something.

I’m not really an expert on grain. But I know it wasn’t easy.

According to the law of gleaning, the stalks around the edge of the field would be left for someone to cut and gather and beat into grain. And stalks might be lying on the ground. They could slip out of a workers grasp or be knocked down by accident.

It might be easier to pick up stalks than to cut them, but the chances of finding loose stalks of barley would be hit and miss. Either way, to cut the stalks or pick them off the ground, the work was tough on a person’s back, and the net result of grain just from gleaning would be sparse. 

But Boaz tells the workers that Ruth can have whatever she can find. She can gather loose stalks even among the already harvested bundles of grain. That might be a more likely place to find grain on the ground. In fact, that might not be gleaning, if you want to be a stickler about the law.

As you wrap a bundle, grain would fall out. Technically, you’ve already gathered that grain, so why not just pick it up again? The purpose of the law wasn’t to stop a person from reclaiming things that fell down. God wanted a provision for the poor. That’s all.

Boaz is stretching the law to make things easier for Ruth. God’s original intention was generous, but Boaz will be more than generous.

This is an excellent picture of grace, by the way. Grace is simply God’s generosity. God has shown grace to Ruth, but through Boaz, he will expand that to provide an even more amazing grace.

And by the way, Boaz says, you might just leave a few stalks of grain where Ruth can find them. Be sloppy when you bundle the sheaves. Go too fast when you cut, and leave a few stalks standing. Don’t even bother being subtle about it. Pull a few stalks out and drop them on the ground.

And then say, “Ooops,” really loud, so she’ll hear you.

Come on! Do you think she noticed?!

These guys are farmhands. Not classically trained Shakespearean actors. They went out of their way to be nice to Ruth, and she must have known it.

This is what God provided for Ruth and Naomi. Here in the field of Boaz, she is not a stranger. She is almost family.

No, change that.

She is family.

At the end of the day, Ruth beat away the chaff and had an ephah (as they called it) of barley. An ephah would be about a gallon-sized container. A gallon of grain. It was a good day.

She returns home with her grain and with the leftovers from her lunch. And although the language of the story might sound tame, Naomi must have been astounded.

Ruth will work in no other field. She will continue in the fields of Boaz until the end of the barley and wheat harvest. They have hope now, these women alone, hope not just for the day, but for the season.

Out of her grief, Naomi offers a word of praise to God. He has been faithful, she says, to the dead and to the living. The grain is a kindness to the living, to Ruth and Noami, the survivors of the family of Elimelech. God has been good.

But there is another aspect to this kindness. Kindness to the dead.

I mentioned before that there are two aspects to God’s provision in this chapter. Then I rambled on about one of them. Gleaning. Bread for the day. Kindness to the living.

In the days of Ruth, family meant more than just a group of people who cared for each other. Bethlehem is the town of Elimelech, Naomi’s husband. His tribe lives there. They are all together a large extended family.

His inheritance is there, a plot of land that belongs to the descendents of Elimilech. To his sons. To the family that continues for generations to come.

Family is generations. Family is inheritance. But the death of the two sons of Naomi has ended all that. The family line will cease, and the inheritance will be passed on to someone else.

But there is still time to restore the inheritance and honor of the family of Elimilech. There is a provision in the law of Judah to raise up new sons and redeem the name of Elimelech. But the redeemer must come from the family, from the tribe.

Boaz is family.

So as the chapter ends, there is a glimmer of hope. God has provided for Ruth and Naomi, at least for the day.

And there is more to come, a greater provision. A redeemer.

Coming up, the story takes on an element of intrigue, suspense, and romance.

It will all take shape in the next chapter.

[.]

A Love Story for All Time    
A study in the book of Ruth
lesson #2: Ruth chapter two.

Paraphrase:

There was a wealthy member of the family nearby. His name was Boaz.

Ruth went out to gather grain in the fields, since there was always something left behind after harvest for the poor to gather up for themselves. She looked for a field where they might allow her to gather grain.

The field belonged to Boaz.

He came out to the field and greeted his workers.

“The Lord be with you,” he said.

They called back to him in the same way. “The Lord bless you.”

And then he asked his foreman about the young woman who was working there in the field.

The foreman explained that the young woman was Ruth, who had returned with
Naomi from the country of Moab. She had asked to gather grain and had worked all day, except for a short break.

So Boaz went to Ruth and told her, “Daughter, don’t go looking for another field. Work here, and stay close to the women from my own house. I have told the young men to protect you. If you are thirsty, go drink from the jars of water that they have drawn for themselves.”

Ruth was amazed. She bowed down, very low to the ground, and asked why he would be so kind to her, a stranger in Judah.

She may have been a stranger, but people knew about the kindness that she had shown her mother-in-law, and even Boaz had heard the story.

“You have left your father and mother,” he said, “and the land of your birth, and you have come to a people that you didn’t know. May God repay your work, and may you receive from God a full reward. After all, you have come to take shelter under his wings.”

She said, “I am less than a servant girl to you, but you have been kind to me and comforted me. I’ll do my best to be worthy of this kindness.”  

When the workers stopped for a meal, Boaz found Ruth and invited her to share the lunch that they had brought. They gave her bread and roasted grain, more than she could hold. She ate all she could and saved the rest for later.

Then when she returned to work, Boaz told his workers to let Ruth gather grain alongside them, where the sheaves were stored. In fact, they should leave grain for her to find, so that she would gather a good amount. 

So Ruth worked in the field until the evening. Before she returned home, she thrashed the grain, which turned out to be a bucket full—about a gallon in today’s measure. She went back to the city and showed the grain to her mother-in-law. She even had scraps of food left over from lunch.  

Naomi was amazed! “Where did you work today?” she asked. “What field? Who owned it? Who was so nice to you?”

When Ruth mentioned the name of Boaz, Naomi blessed him.

“God is still kind to the living and the dead,” Naomi said. “Boaz is a close relative to us.”

Ruth told what Boaz had said, that she should stay near his workers all through harvest.

“Stay with them,” Naomi said. “Don’t work in any other field. Stay near the servants of Boaz.”

So Ruth worked close to the servant girls in the fields of Boaz, gathering wheat and barley while the harvest work continued. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

Ruth chapter Two       (paraphrased)

[.]

A Love Story for All Time    
A study in the book of Ruth
lesson #2: Ruth chapter two.

Story:

The Long Journey to Pleasant Valley

by Bob Freye

Chapter Two: Scraps

Things were busy in Pleasant Valley, even more than usual. The big barn was taking shape at the edge of town, and that brought people onto Main Street. And as Beth had hoped, it brought customers into the café.

It got busy right away, the day after the stage came to town. The place was already full of freight haulers and surveyors, so when the crew of Bozemen cowhands and carpenters broke for lunch, they had to sit at a table that was still piled with dirty dishes and empty bottles.

The young woman hustled up to the table and loaded dishes into a tub, which could only hold half the mess.

Tag Bozeman paused in the doorway and watched her carry the heavy load back to the kitchen. Then he pulled a chair up to the table and sat down with his men, just as Beth came by.

“Should I know her?” Tag asked.

“Relative of yours,” Beth said, “in a way.”

“She came to town yesterday, with Naomi,” one of the cowhands put in. “Not from around here.”

“Sure can work,” another cowboy noted.

“I’ll give her that,” Beth agreed. “She takes good care of that mother-in-law of hers. Better than a daughter, and I’d reckon, better than any son I’ve seen.”

“Not too bad to look at, either,” one of the cowboys mentioned.

“Hey! Watch what you say.” Tag looked serious. “If she’s Naomi’s daughter-in-law, that would make her my—“

He thought for a moment, then looked up at Beth. But she was no help.

“Well, she’s family, anyway,” he said.

“She’s more family to me, at the moment,” Beth said. “I’m putting her up.”

“Are you hiring?” a cowboy asked, laughing. “I think I could use a job like this.”

Beth scowled at him.

“The work is hard,” she said. “That young woman can handle it, but I’m not so sure about you.”

The whole table had a good laugh, even the cowboy that had taken the brunt of the insult. But the noise subsided when Ruth returned to get the rest of the clutter.

“Does she pay you well?” Tag asked.

Ruth never broke stride. “Good enough, I’d say.”

“Doesn’t look like it,” he said.

Beth glared at him.

“Looks like the last group left something behind,” Tag said. He slapped his hand flat on the table and slid a coin out from under the edge of a plate. “I think they meant this for you.”

He held it up for the girl.

Beth glared all the more. She was quite certain that the money had not been there until that very moment.

Ruth eyed the coin in the man’s hand. “How do you know they meant it for me?”

But Beth was quite certain. “If the man says it’s for you, it would be impolite not to take it.”

The coin went into Ruth’s pocket, the dishes went into her tub, and Ruth was off again, carrying the load back to the sink where she would eventually find the time to wash them.

“I told her there’d be no tips,” Beth complained after the girl was gone.

“Then how are you paying her?” a cowboy asked.

Beth looked a little embarrassed. “I told her she could eat what you don’t. And from the look of you, you could all stand to leave some food on the table.”

“You want us to leave food on our plates?” the cowboy asked.

“No, no. Scraps go to the dog,” Beth said. “Ruth can have whatever is left in the kitchen, stuff that’s cooked but not served. We always have a little something.”

“I think Beth is right,” Tag said. “We could all stand to leave a little food behind. For my part, I’ll order eggs and potatoes, even though I can’t stay to eat them right now. So you’ll have to set them aside as extra, I suppose.”

Beth stared at him, wondering what in the world he was talking about.

Tag pointed to her order book. “Eggs and potatoes,” he said. “Write that down.”

“Who’s paying?” Beth asked.

Slap. Another coin rested on the table. More than enough.

“And I’ll have a ham sandwich,” a cowboy called out, “that I won’t eat.”

“You’ll have soup,” Beth corrected, writing the order in her pad.

“Really? I sort of fancied not eating a ham sandwich.”

“Her mother-in-law isn’t well,” Beth said, writing on her pad, “so chicken soup would the perfect thing for you to waste.”

“Soup sounds good,” the man chuckled. “Can I order something for myself?”

The group roared again with laughter.

The young woman returned with a wet towel to wipe the table down. She noticed another coin on the table. She deftly wiped around it, leaving it untouched.

“Remember this table,” Tag told the girl. “These boys will take good care of you. If you need anything, you tell one of these scruffy cowhands, and they’ll tell me.”

The cowboys all straightened noticeably as the girl’s eyes moved from one to another, resting finally on Tag Bozeman.

“He means it, honey,” Beth said. “Tag doesn’t waste words.”

Ruth stood frozen for a moment. She had friends, apparently. They were only a handful of cowhands in town for a little barn-raising, but still, it was good to have friends.

To the cowboys, her words seemed to linger in the air, like music.

“Thank you.”

“See me in a few minutes,” Beth told her. “I have something for you to take to your mother-in-law.”

“I couldn’t finish my soup,” the cowboy explained with a straight deadpan bluffing-at-poker face.

She must have missed something, Ruth thought. She excused herself, “I have dishes.”

And she slipped away.

[.]