Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz.
2 And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.” Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.”
3 So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.
4 Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, “The Lord be with you!” “The Lord bless you!” they answered.
5 Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?”
6 The overseer replied, “She is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi.
7 She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.’ She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.”
8 So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me.9
Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”
10 At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?”
Some years ago, I read about vows that were taken at a wedding that went something like this:
“I vow to love you as long as my love shall last.” Unlike a shallow and “leave a way out” love, the book of Ruth displays the enduring nature of true love in brilliant colors!
“And behold Boaz came from Bethlehem…” Our English translations often take out the word, ‘behold’ because we don’t speak that way today. “Behold, I am going
to the beach…behold, what a delicious steak this is…” But in the ancient near east the word “behold’ was a signal that something very important is about to be said or take place and this is no exception.
Behold! Boaz is here! This changes everything!
Boaz asks a question,
“whose young woman is this”. That seems an odd way of asking for the identity of Ruth, does it not? If you and I are talking and someone walks into the room who you have never seen before, what would you ask me? “Who is that woman?” But what does Boaz
ask? “Whose young woman is this?”
Commentator Doug Green:
“In a non-western world people are never defined individually; they are always understood in relation to a group, be it a family, a village, or a clan. An unmarried woman derived her identity from her father. She was tied to domestic duties in her father’s
household until the day of her marriage. If she chose to live outside the authority and protection of her father, she was deemed to be a harlot.”
We might be tempted to see this cultural reality as antiquated and unenlightened. But for all our sophistication, what has been the result for women? Are women on
the whole, better off in our individualistic, sexually charged and free culture? Are women less objectified, more cared for, more loved? Before we sit in judgment of other cultures, even ancient ones, it might be good for us to take stock of ourselves and
where we have embraced ideas and practices that denigrate people instead of honoring them.
Ironically, the importance of belonging to a community is sneered at today while people hunger for it at the same time. William Earnest Henley may have given us the
line, “I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.” But how is that working for us? The individual is king…and what do we have to show for it?
In these days of isolation and social distancing, we are becoming more and more aware of our need for one another. It is becoming painfully obvious that the gathering
of God’s people together, a culture that is built around the cross and the empty tomb is not optional, but essential. A community that does not share the Eucharist together is a community weakened.
Boaz is asking, who is responsible to care for this woman, who protects her…who provides for her? Remember, we are in the time of the Judges. These were dark days
and even as we read through Judges we would say, those were perverted and wicked days. Judges 19 tells us the story of a Levite throwing his concubine outside to be raped throughout the night and then being cut up into 12 pieces. Where was her protector and
provider?
Women were extremely vulnerable. Ruth was vulnerable sexually, financially and socially. She has no friendships other than the aging and grieving Naomi. She is lonely
and open to prejudice as a Moabite in Israel. She has no protector. She has no husband, no sons, no tribe and no family with the exception of a bitter widow woman.
It is at this point that Ruth’s character begins to shine, not because she is a woman but because she is a human being who trusts a Power greater than herself. And
her trust is not a dormant, theoretical, cerebral reality…it is a trust that takes action, and that is what real trust always does.
To put it bluntly, Ruth is courageous. There are times when courage is right-handed; that is bold, extravagant and overt. Those times are admirable to be sure. But
I think that most often, courage is quiet and perhaps not even seen or noticed for some time. It is wise, discerning and calculated toward godly ends.
When Ruth the unprotected Moabite ventures out into the fields alone…this is unadulterated courage. Courage pursues the answers to the problem even if the problem
is not my fault. Courage seeks solution and refuses to enter into the ‘victim’ mentality that is so prevalent in the church today.
Today, we don’t run into problems, we run away. And if we do run into them it is seldom with the spirit we are to have. Often the point of our spear is bitterness
and anger. We say we are seeking reconciliation but really, we want to vent our anger and to hurt others as deeply as we feel hurt. There is nothing of this spirit in Ruth.
The answer to Boaz’s question is answered by the foreman saying, this woman is highly vulnerable. She is a foreigner and her only protection, the widow Naomi, is no
protection at all!
But Ruth is industrious, she is brave, and she works extremely hard. “Hebrew writers, like good artists, seldom tell us what a character is like. Instead, they
show us.” (Paul Miller) Watch Ruth attack life…watch her run INTO her situation…embrace her vulnerability and the tenacity of her love and remember this was all born out of her suffering. And yet…there is no demanding spirit, no self-pity, no waiting for
others to do for her.
Ruth’s femininity is a beautiful thing to behold. Not a victim, not rebellious at yet, she will not be oppressed either…She is robust in her faith in Naomi’s God who
is now her God, therefore she will not be dismayed or reduced to nothing.
I am not sure what a modern feminist would think of Ruth. Perhaps, the modern woman would admire her too, I would like to think so. Ruth is a heroine, she is our teacher,
or instructor, not because she set out to be so, but because of her love for Naomi and Naomi’s God.
Prayer: Father, forgive me for allowing my suffering to produce self-pity, bitterness and self-absorbed intentions. Enlive my faith that I might be one who courageously
trusts you by living boldly and with purpose to the glory of Christ my Lord, in whose name I pray. Amen.
Hymn: Be Still My Soul
