The Character of Ruth and Boaz

 These posts are based on notes from our sermon series on Ruth.

1Now Naomi had a relative of her husband’s, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. 2And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.” 3So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech.

So Ruth gets right to work.  I think maybe Naomi must have been too old to work.  We’ll talk about the practice of gleaning in a minute.

We have a comment about the character of Boaz here as well.  He was a man who was mighty—like a warrior—the word here is “gibbor” which is warrior—and noble—“chayil”—and there’s the air of wealth in there too.

So in God’s providence, Ruth goes out sort-of randomly to glean for her living and she ends up in a favorable situation with manly, righteous, rich Boaz who ends up being, as we’ll see a kinsman redeemer.

“Everything happens for a reason.”  A sort-of trite phrase we are used to hearing from actresses and NFL stars—who are, apparently, pretty strict Calvinists. 

Here we have God guiding Ruth.  God ended her world in Moab—allowed her husband and brother-in-law to die, but here, God is providing a new life for her. 

We don’t understand how life works.  Sometimes it hurts.  And sometimes life is pleasant and joy-filled.  But whatever life gives you, God is guiding your steps.

4And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. And he said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you!” And they answered, “The Lord bless you.”

Boaz is a good boss.  He works with his guys.

 5Then Boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?”

He notices the new woman.  Now, let’s say that Boaz was a large land-holder with 50-100 acres under his care, he would have 20-50 workers—so you could say that he would notice someone new—and that’s probably true.  But I imagine that he noticed Ruth because she was a beautiful woman.  If Boaz is a high-octane performer, a warrior and wealthy, then he’s the kind that notices women.  I think any male reader of this passage immediately picks up on that.

So this is just an opportunity for our women and those of us with women in our care—women have that liability of always being noticed—and also women have that power of always being noticed.  And it’s a power that can be used for good or for ill.  For clarification on this, just read Proverbs.

We’ll see that Ruth is beautiful, but she has also built a reputation as an honorable woman because of her service to Naomi.  And Boaz understands all of this.

 6And the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, “She is the young Moabite woman, who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. 7She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers.’ So she came, and she has continued from early morning until now, except for a short rest.”a

This last comment is in here to show that Ruth is a hard worker.  She works hard enough that the site foreman noticed it, and now it comes to Boaz’s attention.