Providence brings people together, time reveals the work that God is doing through his providential hand. Join Dr. Marty Baker in Ruth 2 and take the next step as we unpack A Story of Loyal Love.
When I exited the ThD program in Old Testament at Dallas Theological Seminary in 1985 because of too many demands with my special needs son, I had difficulty getting a church job because I had been on a student track. I eventually moved to Stockton, California, when a friend arranged for me to get a job at Visible Computers. This massive warehouse supplied all kinds of products for stores like Office Depot. I drove a forklift for a year and loaded 10 to 15 pallets weighing 2,000 pounds into trucks. The head manager of the plant was Guy Cotton. We got to know each other well because I convinced many male workers to play horseshoes at a local park at lunch.
As I’ve told you, after a year, I took a job as a youth pastor in a retirement city in Arizona called Green Valley. Yes, that was a viable job for many young families who lived in outlying areas and whose parents typically ran area businesses. I worked here for three years until I had the opportunity to return to Stockton and pastor a sick church plant in an elementary school with nineteen members and about 45 in worship. As the church grew, I pulled into an abandoned grocery store parking lot and prayed, “Lord, this looks like a great location for our church. If it is your will, could you make it happen?” I prayed this in 1989.
Fast forward to 1992. Guy Cotton’s best friend, unbeknownst to me, was Don Walters. He owned a chain of top-end carpet stores in our area and was looking to open one in North Stockton. Guess which property he wanted to develop? That right, the old Praire Market I had prayed about three years prior. Don didn’t like the entire massive store, only about ¾ of it. The other part he, a devout and highly generous Christian man, wanted to reserve for a new church plant. So, he contacted Guy and asked if he knew of any pastor who might be interested in his proposition. Can you guess who Guy called? Me. The rest is church planting history.
I must confess I didn’t have the best attitude when I worked at the computer warehouse. I felt like God had abandoned and forgotten me for that year. He hadn’t. On the other hand, He had strategically placed me in the one warehouse where I’d get to know a Christian manager who, seven years down the line (calculating from 1985 to 1992), would put me in contact with a Christian businessman who would assist me in fixing a church plant I wasn’t even aware of. God’s ways are beyond our pay grade. When we are bitter because of life circumstances, He providentially and patiently positions us to bless us. You might need to read that one more time. This time. Let it sink into your heart and soul. I don’t know what’s going on in your life right now, but God does, and He’s doing great, excellent work, so wait on and trust Him to connect the dots in due time.
God’s providential leadership in my life is how He historically operates in our lives. It is how He operated in Naomi and Ruth’s lives. Struggling with the loss of her husband and two sons and the financial losses they sustained in moving from Bethlehem to Moab during a famine, Naomi struggled with bitterness when she and Ruth moved back to her hometown. From her statements at the close of chapter one, Naomi believed God’s disciplinary hand couldn’t have been heavier on her.
God’s hand was heavy on her to shape and mold her character. Still, He was also working providentially to position her and her Moabitess daughter-in-law for a maximum jaw-dropping blessing at the hand of a generous man named Boaz. God’s hand might be heavy on you right now as His child, but never forget that His love is always at work to position you to providentially pour His blessing on you. And that blessing, typically, comes from the hand of another saint who understands the importance of generous living. This is an over-arching truth we discover in the narrative of Ruth chapter two. Within these 23 verses, we encounter this timeless premise:
Generous Living Leads To God’s Gracious Blessings (Ruth 2:1-23)
Throughout this part of the story, we can’t help but see Ruth and Boaz living generously. Ruth is generous with her love, support, and sacrifice for her emotionally spent mother-in-law, and Boaz is generous with how he leads and cares for people. As the story unfolds, we will readily see how their generous living led them to run headlong into God’s blessing on their lives.
First, they eventually enjoyed . . .
The Blessing Of Rendevouz (Ruth 2:1-7)
As I had lived generously before running into Don Walters years later, Ruth and Boaz certainly lived in this fashion, and because they did, the Lord made sure their paths crossed at the right time to fulfill His fantastic will for them.
1 Now Naomi had a kinsman of her husband, a man of great wealth, of the family of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz.
Verse one is emphatic in the Hebrew text. It achieves this purpose by crafting the opening phrase with the word “and” stapled to a non-verb, Naomi (וּֽלְנָעֳמִ֞י ). The author arrests your attention with this grammatical device to underscore that Naomi, though poor and destitute, just happened to have a wealthy relative named Boaz. His presence in the narrative quietly sets the stage for him later to become the rescuer and deliverer of Naomi and Ruth. How? According to Levitical Law, if a married man died without leaving a son, the next male in his line was challenged to marry the widow to carry on the family name (Deut. 25:5-10). Also, the Law provided a wealthy family member to deliver a poor relative (Lev. 25:35-55). Therefore, Boaz’s presence as a relative is our first sign that bitterness is about to be replaced by a blessing from a highly generous man. More on this later.
We don’t know why, but Ruth took the initiative in finding food for herself and Naomi. It appears that after the initial excitement about Ruth’s return to Bethlehem, the village women merely went on their merry ways, meaning they didn’t seek to help these two women. Instead, they were left to fend for themselves. This sad circumstance drove the forward-thinking and industrious Ruth to head out to find food. But first, she asked for permission:
2 And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after one in whose sight I may find favor.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.”
Being in Bethlehem, Ruth learned the Mosaic Law provided for the poor at harvest time. Passages like Leviticus 19:9-10, 23:22, and Deuteronomy 24:19-21 taught Israelite farmers not to return after a sheaf left in a field or harvest their fields to the edges. On the other hand, they were challenged to go the extra mile so the poor could glean so they could eat. Ruth knew this, and she also knew that not all farmers obeyed the Law. Some showed grace to the poor, while greedy ones intent on expanding their profit margins didn’t. That’s why she told Naomi she would look for a farmer who would show her favor or grace. Naomi agreed and wasted no time telling Ruth to “Go.”
Verse 3 tells us what happened next:
3 So she departed and went 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.
Of all the fields Ruth could have gleaned in, she just happened to glean in the field of Boaz. Sounds familiar to me. Of all the warehouses I could have worked in, I just happened to work in the warehouse where I’d meet a man who’d know a man who’d help me find a building for a church I’d pastor in the future. Amazing. This short verse quietly reminds us that nothing happens by chance in a universe created and operated by God. He looked down from heaven at two saints who lived generous lives, and He worked to cause them to meet so His gracious blessings could pour all over them.
The generous nature of Boaz emerges in verse 4:
4 Now behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, “May the LORD be with you.” And they said to him, “May the LORD bless you.”
He could have said, “Hey, have you and your harvest teams met their quotas today? How much time have you taken for breaks? Is everyone staying on task?” He didn’t talk like this. No, he spoke like a godly man who cared about those who worked for him. So, he was generous with words of divine blessing, and his workers, who loved him, responded in kind.
At that precise moment, Boaz informed the foreman he didn’t recognize one of the young women gleaning in the field:
5 Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?”
Remember, in a small village, everyone knew everyone and their business. This young woman was new, so Boaz asked a logical question. I’m sure the reply of the foreman caught him off guard:
6 And the servant in charge of the reapers answered and said, “She is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the land of Moab. 7 And she said, ‘Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.’ Thus she came and has remained from the morning until now; she has been sitting in the house for a little while.”
From this reply, Boaz learned some great information. This young woman was a Moabitess who was related by marriage to his relative, Naomi. Interesting. She was classy and humble, for she had asked permission to glean, even though the Law permitted it. Finally, she was a hard worker. From sun up until noon, she didn’t spend much time in the temporary booths located around the fields for shade.
As a single man, all of this data started making much sense. What seemed like an ordinary day managing the numerous workers in his fields now appeared like a divine rendezvous, and it was. He didn’t realize how much it was at that point. But this is how it goes in our lives when we live generously. God blesses us with a rendezvous with a person or persons who will bless our lives and ultimately bless the lives of others. So, pay close attention to the people God has in your life right now. They are not there by happen chance. No way. They are there by God’s design for loftier purposes.
Generous living also results in what I call . . .
The Blessing Of Redemption (Ruth 2:8-18)
Boaz wasted no time showering Ruth, his kinfolk, with generosity. By so doing, he single-handedly rescued Naomi and Ruth from their dire circumstance of being short on food.
8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen carefully, my daughter. Do not go to glean in another field; furthermore, do not go on from this one, but stay here with my maids.
Knowing that bad things can happen to a single woman, especially one from Moab, in the open fields, Boaz counseled Ruth to commit herself to working solely in his fields with his workers. That was a generous offer, but it was only the beginning.
9 “Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them. Indeed, I have commanded the servants not to touch you. When you are thirsty, go to the water jars and drink from what the servants draw.”
Instead of gleaning around the perimeter of the fields, Boaz told Ruth to follow after his female workers who gathered the sheaves. That way, she would be close to the action and positioned to find plenty of food because they didn’t always bind up all the sheaves as they moved along. He also gave strict instructions to the men not to lay a hand on her, and next, he gave her the privilege of drinking from the water the servants had brought to the fields. No poor gleaner ever got close to these water pots, but Ruth could . . . at will . . . with no repercussions. . . and she was a Moabite. Historically, her people had refused to give the Israelites water as they wandered in the wilderness (Deut. 23:5), and no Israelite ever forgot this injustice. But now Boaz moved to heal this ancient wound through a selfless, loving action. What will you do to heal wounds between people? Are you in a position to bring healing, then bring it by being generous.
How did Ruth respond to this gracious activity? Read on, and you will see:
10 Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your sight that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?”
The generosity of Boaz floored her. She couldn’t believe it. She initially told Naomi she would head out looking to gather food from the field from an owner who showed favor toward her. I’m sure she never thought the gracious generosity she would encounter would be of this magnitude, especially from someone who didn’t even know her.
Boaz wasted no time telling her why he chose generosity over being stingy and greedy:
11 And Boaz answered and said to her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband has been fully reported to me, and how you left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and came to a people that you did not previously know.
Ah, this is interesting. In a small village, words traveled quickly about the people. Somehow, he had heard what Ruth, a Moabitess, had graciously done toward her Jewish mother-in-law. She didn’t desert her when she tragically lost her husband and two sons, and she gave up her life and her people to sacrificially move to Israel, the enemy of her people. Ruth was like Abraham, who left his people to travel to a foreign land (Gen. 12:1-3). As the latter received blessings, so would the former because she had lived a life of sacrificial giving.
To the one who had given much, much would be returned to her from a godly, generous man. With this, Boaz spoke a word of blessing over the poor Moabite widow:
12 “May the LORD reward your work, and your wages be full from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge.”
Boaz understood the law of sowing and reaping from a spiritual perspective. The Apostle Paul also understood this from his study of the Old Testament and daily walk with God. That’s why he made this statement to the Corinthian believers:
6 But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Cor. 9) NKJ)
Boaz walked with God, and because he did, he lovingly and sacrificially cared for people. Ruth’s situation illustrated just how generous he was prepared to be given the right moment.
The actions of Boaz left Ruth stunned and thankful:
13 Then she said, “I have found favor in your sight, my lord, for you have comforted me and indeed have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your maidservants.”
When she didn’t expect grace, she received it at a level beyond her dreams. When have you loved a down-and-out person like this? Sure, he would eventually marry her, but at this juncture, he merely fulfilled the mandate of the law to take care of his family members who struggled. Are you doing the same, expecting nothing in return? Are you giving to them above and beyond what is expected?
Boaz’s generosity kept flowing. It’s funny how he prayed for God to reward and protect her and stepped forward to bring this prayer to fruition. The same is probably true for you and your situation. You might be the answer to your prayer for a family member who is in need. Listen and learn from Boaz.
14 And at mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here, that you may eat of the bread and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar.” So she sat beside the reapers; and he served her roasted grain, and she ate and was satisfied and had some left.
No poor person was permitted to eat with the workers at lunchtime, but Ruth was invited. And she ate so much that she couldn’t eat everything in front of her. She came to the field famished, but by midday, she was full because of Boaz’s giving nature.
The gift of generosity kept coming after lunch:
15 When she rose to glean, Boaz commanded his servants, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not insult her. 16 And also you shall purposely pull out for her some grain from the bundles and leave it that she may glean, and do not rebuke her.”
Not only is Ruth allowed to follow the women bundling the sheaves, but Boaz instructed these women to “accidentally” make sure they dropped some good sheaves for her to pick up. Talk about being blessed beyond measure. When was the last time you lived like this? When was the last time you gave like this?
What resulted from this redemptive mission of a poor woman and her poor mother-in-law? The following three verses give us the insight we need:
17 So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. 18 And she took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also took it out and gave Naomi what she had left after she was satisfied.
According to the JPS Bible Commentary on Ruth, an ephah of barley was about 21 U.S. quarts.[1] The Expositors Bible Commentary says an ephah amounted to 29 to 50 pounds.[2] Wow, what a blessing. This means Ruth took home five times more than she and Naomi needed for food for one day. The generosity of Boaz gave them food for many days! Expositors Commentary states that the typical food intake for one person from ancient data gleaned from Mari amounted to two pounds per day. This meant that Ruth and Naomi had enough food from this gleaning day to last them at least two weeks or more. Do you bless people around you like this? Those who do can expect God to bless them in jaw-dropping ways graciously.
That morning, Ruth and Naomi experienced great hunger with no real hope. By the end of the day, they had been redeemed from their dire situation because of the generosity of one godly, giving man, Boaz. As the story develops, we will learn how God eventually blessed him with a wife and a son who would become the forerunner of Israel’s greatest king, David. As I said in the introduction, generous living leads to God’s gracious giving back to us. Will you choose to live like this? It is the way to live, especially on dark days like those of the Judges.
The Blessing Of Renewal (Ruth 2:19-20)
Seeing all the extra food moved Naomi to ask a logical question:
19 Her mother-in-law then said to her, “Where did you glean today and where did you work? May he who took notice of you be blessed.”
At this juncture, we see how Naomi’s bitterness was slowly replaced with joy and hope because she had encountered the providential blessing of God. She was about to find out just how providential it was when Ruth answered her query:
So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, “The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.”
Don’t you know a big smile spread across Naomi’s weathered face? Now, instead of being bitter, she turned and asked for the LORD to bless this relative who had touched their lives with his profound generosity.
20 And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed of the LORD who has not withdrawn his kindness to the living and to the dead.”
Previously, Naomi suffered under the disciplinary hand of God, but now she understood God poured His love all over her and Ruth. Why? Because God is full of kindness, or hesed, which in Hebrew means “loyal love.” The depression she must have fought with was replaced with words of thankfulness and praise. Through all of these events, be they bad or good, God providentially worked to teach and bless her beyond measure. Such are God’s ways with us: He removes us from blessing when we sin and renews us when He feels we have learned to trust Him again.
Realizing God is up to something moves the renewed, excited Naomi to state the obvious:
Again Naomi said to her, “The man is our relative, he is one of our closest relatives.”
וַתֹּ֙אמֶר נָעֳמִ֜י לְכַלָּתָ֗הּ בָּר֥וּךְ הוּא֙ לַיהוָ֔ה אֲשֶׁר֙ לֹא־עָזַ֣ב חַסְדּ֔וֹ אֶת־הַחַיִּ֖ים וְאֶת־הַמֵּתִ֑ים וַתֹּ֧אמֶר לָ֣הּ נָעֳמִ֗י קָר֥וֹב לָ֙נוּ֙ הָאִ֔ישׁ מִֽגֹּאֲלֵ֖נוּ הֽוּא׃
What did this mean? It meant that Boaz had a legal right and duty to help them in their poverty, and he could step in and be Ruth’s husband if he chose. All of this is clearly seen in the phrase “closet relatives,” which in Hebrew is goel. The goel was the redeemer who could exercise his legal responsibility to help poor relatives, and/or even marry a single female relative who didn’t have children. Should a new marriage occur the blessing of his generosity would know no bounds. How exciting.
Because Ruth and Boaz lived lives of selfless giving, whether they possessed little or much, God graciously blessed them in several ways. One more area of blessing is inscribed in the closing verses:
The Blessing of Refreshment (Ruth 2:21-23)
Ruth went on to tell how the generosity of Boaz kept coming:
21 Then Ruth the Moabitess said, “Furthermore, he said to me, ‘You should stay close to my servants until they have finished all my harvest.'”
This meant she should stay and glean for the barley and wheat harvests from April through June. Based on the amount she gleaned, this meant she would have enough food for the rest of the year!
God’s providential movement in their lives moved the spiritually awakened Naomi to offer this wise counsel:
22 And Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his maids, lest others fall upon you in another field.”
Translated: Listen to and follow the counsel of Boaz, for he won’t steer you wrong.
23 So she stayed close by the maids of Boaz in order to glean until the end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest. And she lived with her mother-in-law. (Ruth 2)
She lived a life of contentment, too, because God had blessed her generosity with more extraordinary generosity shown to her by a godly man she had never met before. We can’t forget his name. It was Boaz.
And why was Boaz so open to loving on a Moabite stranger and a woman at that? According to Matthew 1, which details the lineage of the Messiah Jesus through King David, Boaz was part Jew and Gentile. His father was an Israelite named Salmon, and his mother was none other than Rahab, the harlot from Jericho fame (Matt. 1:5). Israel had generously loved on his mother by accepting her into God’s nation, so how could he not generously love on Ruth? And because he lived sacrificially, God eventually blessed him greatly with a wife and a son to beat all sons.
I wonder. Will you choose this day to trust in the Lord, who is working providentially in your life to position you to be at the center of His perfect will? Will you give sacrificially, whether you have little or much, knowing that God will graciously give back to you in profound ways that will bless you and others for ages to come? Will you look upon every encounter, even if God gave you a job as a forklift driver, as a divine appointment with divine implications?
[1] Tamara Cohn Eskenazi and Tikva Frymer-Kensky, The JPS Bible Commentary: Ruth, First edition., JPS Tanakh Commentary (Philadelphia, PA: Jewish Publication Society, 2011), 27.
[2] F. B. Huey Jr., “Ruth,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 3 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992), 532.
