Ruth’s
was a time like ours, when despite moral decay without and within us, a
faithful God continues to make his presence known. He still makes history. He realizes his redemptive purposes. And he fulfills his good plan using ordinary
people like you and me.
Boaz
comes back from town and he notices a new face among the harvesters. He asks the lead servant, "Hey, who’s
that?" The
servant explains, "It’s that young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi
from Moab. She asked, so she's been working
hard since morning – just one little break in the house."
So
Boaz introduces himself to Ruth. He’s no
creep. He shows her kindness. He shows compassion. He shows hesed. "Listen, my daughter. Don't go to anyone else’s field, and don’t leave
here. Stay close to my young women. Just watch the field they harvest, and follow
after them. I’ve commanded the young men
not to lay a hand on you.” Boaz is looking out for Ruth. Younger woman that she is, he speaks to her
with kind affection and gentle respect. He
offers her protection, with no strings attached. Ruth knows intuitively that she can trust
this man. And Boaz is just getting
started. “If you get thirsty, help
yourself to the water."
Ruth
is amazed, "Who am I, a foreigner, that you should not only notice me but show
kindness to me?"
And
Boaz lets Ruth know her reputation has preceded her[i],
"I have heard all about you. I have
heard about everything you did for your mother-in-law after your husband died,
and how you have left your family and homeland, and have come to a people you never
knew.” And he blesses Ruth, “May the
Lord pay you back for your work, and may the Lord God of Israel, under whose
wings you have come for refuge, give you a full reward."
Remember
that blessing: “…may the Lord God of
Israel, under whose wings you have come
for refuge, give you a full reward."
I
wonder if there could be some attraction going on here. Next Ruth says, "Let me find favor in
your sight, my lord, since you have comforted me, and have spoken to my heart, even though I am not one of your
maidservants." Could there be a
little chemistry going on here between Boaz and Ruth?
Boaz
is a class act, a good guy, and a gentleman.
He is also a good Jew. He is
simply doing what the LORD asks of his people:
“When a
stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns
with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you
were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
Leviticus 19:33-34
Later,
at mealtime, Boaz shows full acceptance of Ruth when he includes her right
among the harvesters for the meal. Ruth
is no longer the poor foreign widow, but she sits among the harvesters, and she
eats and is filled, and is given so much she has extra to bring home.
And
as God goes overboard in lavishing his love on us, Boaz goes overboard in providing
for Ruth and Naomi. He gives her more
than she can eat at the meal, and he tells the harvesters to pull extra grain
out for Ruth as they go.
So
Ruth works in the field until it’s starting to get dark out, she has quite a
lot of barley to bring home. She takes
it back into town, and shows it to her mother-in-law, along with what she has
saved from the meal. Naomi is first relieved
that she didn’t end up in some other man’s field, and then delighted at the
food, "Where have you gleaned today?
Where did you work? Blessed be
the one who noticed you!"
"The
man's name was Boaz," says Ruth.
The
famine is over.
We
all start out foreigners to God, alienated from him, but he makes a way back for us. His heart
is for the alien, and the alienated. His
desire is to restore, showing his hesed
– his steadfast love – that we in turn my show His love to others. Not that Boaz didn’t think Ruth was
cute. But this is just it: this is how God
uses his ordinary people to build something new, something bigger than
ourselves, and yet somehow involving us in love and restoration and a new
expression of His presence on earth.
So
be nice to new immigrants. And stay
tuned. The best is yet to come.
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