Ruth 2

May YAHWEH recompense your work, and a full reward be given you from YAHWEH

In Chapter 2, Ruth has to go out to glean in order to have food to provide for her mother-in-law. She wanders into the field of a man named Boaz, who Naomi tells her is a close relative of theirs through her husband. Boaz treats Ruth with great kindness and her mother-in-law tells her to continue to glean in his field.

Bible Passage:

2:1 Now Naomi had a kinsman of her husband’s, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz. ² 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.” ³ So she went, and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and by chance she encountered the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech. ⁴ And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, “May YAHWEH be with you.” They answered him, “May YAHWEH bless you.” ⁵ Then Boaz said to his servant that was set over the reapers, “Whose maiden is this?” ⁶ The servant that was set over the reapers answered and said, “It is the Moabite maiden that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab. ⁷ She said, ‘Let me glean please, and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.’ So she came, and has continued even from the morning until now, except that she waited a little in the house.”

⁸ Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Have you not heard, my daughter? Do not go to glean in another field, nor pass over from here, but here cling close to my maidens. ⁹ Let your eyes be on the field that they reap, and go after them. Have I not charged the young men that they should not touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to 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 to him, “Why have I found favor in your sight, that you should regard me, for I am foreign?” ¹¹ Boaz answered and said to her, “It has fully been shown to me, all that you have done for 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 nativity, and have come to a people that you did not know before. ¹² May YAHWEH recompense your work, and a full reward be given you from YAHWEH, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” ¹³ Then she said, “Let me find favor in your sight, my lord, for you have comforted me, and for you have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not as one of your maidservants.”

¹⁴ At meal-time Boaz said to her, “Come here, and eat of the bread, and dip your morsel in the vinegar.” So she sat beside the reapers, and they reached for her dried grain, and she ate, and was satisfied, and had some left of it. ¹⁵ And when she had risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. ¹⁶ Also, pull out some for her from the bundles, and leave it, and let her glean, and do not rebuke her.”

¹⁷ 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. ¹⁸ She took it up, and went into the city; and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She brought it forth and gave to her that which she had left over after she was satisfied. ¹⁹ Then her mother-in-law said to her, “Where have you gleaned today? And where have you worked? Blessed be he that regarded you.” And she showed her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, “The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.” ²⁰ Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed of YAHWEH, who has not forsaken his kindness to the living and to the dead.” And Naomi said to her, “The man is near kin to us, from our kinsman-redeemers.” ²¹ And Ruth the Moabitess said, “Also, he said to me, ‘You shall cling close by my young men, until they have finished all my harvest.’” ²² Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his maidens, so that other men do not fall upon you in any other field.” ²³ So she clung close by the maidens of Boaz, to glean until the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and she dwelt with her mother-in-law.

Reflection:

Even the normal expectations of the community’s response seem to be opposite what you would imagine them to be. You would think there would be lots of gossip around Naomi coming back from Moab and even more so, since she brought a foreign daughter-in-law with her into Israel. Beyond that, they are poor and Naomi’s tragedy would probably spark rumors of why her husband and both sons died. Yet, the community seems strongly supportive of Naomi throughout the book, and Boaz makes it clear that he has heard how faithful and godly Ruth is. Instead of gossip, it seems tales of Ruth’s great character are being passed around the town. It is an incredible turn of events from what you would think would happen in a modern version of this story.

Questions and Answers:

Verse 3: What is the reason that Ruth wanted to go glean in the fields? [Gwendolyn, 10]

Wanted is probably not the right word, it was a necessity. Ruth has no other option if she wants to provide for the family. Since it is only her and her mother-in-law, she takes it upon herself to take care of and provide for their family. This means she has to go glean in the field of someone else.

Even though Naomi still owns the property that belonged to her husband at this point, as we will find out in chapter 4, there hasn’t been any sowing, or tending to the property for over a decade since they left to live in Moab. That means there is no food available to them in the uncultivated land that they own. Ruth must go to glean somewhere else if they are to have anything to eat.

Verse 7: What does glean mean? [Gwendolyn, 10]

To “glean” means to “pick up leftover grain” after a field has been harvested. In other words, you aren’t just going into someone’s field and taking sheaves worth of grain freely. It means after the owner of the field has been harvesting it, then a gleaner could come along and pick up anything that was either dropped during the harvest or glean from the very edges of the field. What the Israelites dropped during the harvest and the edges of their fields were meant to be left for the poor, the foreigner, the widow, and the orphan, according to Leviticus 23 and Deuteronomy 24. So Ruth is coming to pick up leftover grain as both a widow and a foreigner.

Verse 11: Is Boaz a king? [Elisha, 8]

No, though I can understand why you might think that with the grand picture of him that is being portrayed. First of all, he’s an Israelite. So there is no human king in Israel, YAHWEH is the king of Israel. Secondly, the terminology of him being a “mighty man of wealth,” makes his status sound very high. And I think that is exactly what it is trying to say, he has a great reputation and great character. The word “wealth” here is “hayil” in Hebrew, which is a notorious word to translate. It means “power,” or “strength” generally. But it can also refer to “virtue,” “ability,” or “war hero.” The most common usage has to do with military capability, but there is no martial background here. The primary thing about Boaz in the narrative is his influence in the community and how he deals with Naomi and Ruth.

I would probably translate it as “mighty man of valor,” since “valor” means to have courage and strength, but can also be thought of metaphorically as moral strength, which is what this is trying to communicate about Boaz. It is possible that it wants to communicate his great wealth though, in contrast to Naomi and Ruth’s impoverished condition.

The reason Boaz has heard of Ruth is because the town of Bethlehem was small and everyone had heard of the women who returned from Moab to the land of Israel. Especially as a man of influence and prestige, he would know of all that Ruth had done to be good to her mother-in-law.

Verse 19: Is it random that she ends up in the field of Boaz? [Monique, 33]

That’s one of the hard parts with writing, there is no intonation expressed by the written word. The author intentionally puts “by chance” back in verse 3 as a wink to the reader. He says “by chance” specifically because you are supposed to understand that it wasn’t by chance at all that she ended up there. YAHWEH was making sure Ruth ended up in a place where she would be safe and where she would meet Boaz. God was at work bringing this plan to pass. Both Ruth’s godly desire to provide and Boaz’s godly desire to bless these women are leading towards the end that God had planned.

Verse 20: I like that Naomi is blessing the one who took care of her daughter when she was gleaning. [Elisha, 8]

I like that too, Eli. And it is a very significant thing that Ruth wandered into the field of one who would do good to her. Remember that this is taking place during the days of the judges. Righteous men were few and far between, so the fact that Boaz not only lets her glean in accordance with YAHWEH’s law, but then goes above and beyond to provide for her during the mealtime, shows how quality a man he is. He even tells his men to provide extra out of his own harvest to make sure Ruth has enough and doesn’t feel ashamed for taking it. Naomi is right to bless a man like that, he is deeply righteous.

Verse 20: I love that Naomi is honest about God’s goodness, just like she is about the affliction she feels. [Monique, 33]

Yeah, I think that she is starting to see that as well, but I don’t think that is what is being said here specifically in verse 20. The sentence is actually ambiguous (in both English and Hebrew) as to whether it is talking about YAHWEH or Boaz. The general consensus is that it is about YAHWEH, but I think that is just biased towards assuming that anything that could be about God, must be about God. I actually think Naomi is speaking about Boaz not forsaking “his kindness to the living and to the dead.”

The closest parallel in terms of narrative and idea is found here in the book of Ruth. In chapter 1, she uses the same concept to speak of Ruth, so it is likely that it could be spoken of another person. In chapter 1, Naomi blesses her daughter-in-laws saying: “May YAHWEH deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me.” Also, the main subject of all the other clauses around this one is Boaz, so it would make sense that this clause was also about him.

Recording of the Passage: