Ep. 69 - Ruth (Part 2)

Last we left our story, Naomi and Ruth had just arrived back in Israel. 10 years before, there had been a famine in Israel and so Naomi, her husband, and her two young sons had moved to Moab. It was a tough move…but it became much tougher when…Naomi’s husband died. But Naomi and her two sons managed to survive on their own, and eventually her two sons married two Moabite women. And while Naomi must not have been super excited that her Israelite sons were marrying Moabite women (Orpah and Ruth), they turned out to be amazing daughters-in-law and their little family managed to get by. But then tragedy struck again. Somehow, both of Naomi’s sons died…leaving Naomi, Orpah, and Ruth widowed and without any grown man in the home (which was a big deal back in those days). This would have been devastating…especially for Naomi who was stuck in a foreign land and who was too old to get married again. But then a sliver of good news arrived, the famine in Israel was over…and life there was returning to normal. And so, Naomi decided that it was time to move back home. And at first, she was going to bring Orpah and Ruth with her…Naomi could certainly use their help to survive. But while they were on their way to Israel, Naomi changed her mind. While it was normal them to stick together in these situations, Naomi realized that in Israel she was condemning Orpah and Ruth to a lonely life where they would be widows for the rest of their lives. At least in Moab they could get remarried and have families again. And so, putting their lives ahead of her own, Naomi sent Oprah and Ruth back to their families…which (after some teary-eyed goodbyes) Orpah left. But Ruth wouldn’t leave. No matter what Naomi said, Ruth was determined to stay by Naomi’s side. While Naomi was trying to put Ruth’s life ahead of hers, Ruth just wanted to make sure that Naomi would be ok. It was a beautiful moment of selflessness. And once Naomi realized that she couldn’t change Ruth’s mind, the two of them continued on their way, finally arriving in the town of Bethlehem.

Once Naomi and Ruth got settled in Bethlehem, they immediately had to get started on their new life of poverty…and all the joys that that brings. The first thing they had to figure out where their next meal was coming from. And Ruth said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the field, and glean the heads of grain after him in whose sight I may find favour.” (Ruth 2:2) So what did Ruth mean by “glean the heads of grain”? Well, back in Ancient Israel, God had told the Israelites that when they were harvesting, that they were not supposed to gather every single thing out of the field…the Israelites were supposed to leave “gleanings” behind. Gleanings were the little pieces of grain that would fall down to the ground while the reapers were cutting and bundling the harvest. Now picking up all the gleanings would have taken a long time…it might have taken all day just to get a basket-full that would still need to be beaten and then ground into flour. At the end of a long day, you might just have a few handfuls of flour with which you could make something to eat. But at least you wouldn’t starve. This was the life that Naomi knew had been waiting for them in Israel…and this is the life that Naomi had wanted to protect Ruth from. But they were here now. So, with probably a tinge of sadness, Naomi replied and said, “Go, my daughter.” (2:2)

So, early in the morning, out Ruth went. And before too long she came across a field where a team of reapers was working on harvesting a field of barley. And she went to the man who was in charge and asked if she could follow the reapers as they worked…and pick up the gleanings that fell to the ground. Of course, this man would have noticed immediately that Ruth was a Moabite…and probably wasn’t super excited about it…but he recognized Ruth as the young Moabite woman who had come back with Naomi from Moab and who was helping Naomi to get by…and besides…the law was the law, and so the man said yes. So all that morning and into the afternoon Ruth gleaned the fields after the reapers.

But little did Ruth realize that, by God’s grace, her fortune had changed. Because sometime in the afternoon, the owner of the field – a man named Boaz – came by to check on how things were going. Now just by the fact that that Boaz owned the field and could afford to hire a team of reapers, we can tell that Boaz was pretty well off. We can also tell that Boaz was a good manager who paid close attention to all the little details of what was going on with his business. Because as soon as he arrived at the field, he immediately noticed a woman that he didn’t recognize. And he went to the man in charge and asked (and Jacob is going to help me with the voice of Boaz), “Whose young woman is this?” (2:5) And the man answered, “It is the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. And she said, ‘Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.’ So she came and has continued from morning until now.’” (2:6-7)

When Boaz found out who Ruth was, he was super impressed. Here was a young Moabite woman helping out an old Israelite widow…even going into the fields (risky business for a young foreign woman) to make sure that Naomi had something to eat. And Boaz went straight to Ruth and said, “You will listen, my daughter, will you not? Do not go glean in another field, nor go from here, but stay close by my young women. Let your eyes be on the field, which they reap, and go after them. Have I not commanded the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.” (2:8-9) Wow so Boaz was being super nice to Ruth. He was telling her to stick around his fields and that if she did, she would be taken care of. But Ruth was confused…why was this rich man be so nice to her? And so she said to Boaz, “Why have I found favour in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?” (2:10) And Boaz answered, and said, “It has been fully reported 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 birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know before. The Lord repay your work, and a full reward be given to you by the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.” (2:11-12)

Ruth was obviously super thankful for everything Boaz was doing. I mean, it was probably pretty scary for Ruth being in a strange place and around strange people. But Boaz’s kindness didn’t end there. When lunch time came around, Boaz shared his bread with her to that she wouldn’t be working in the hot sun on an empty stomach (not a fun experience if you’ve ever tried it). And then after lunch, before Ruth started back to work, Boaz pulled aside the reapers and told them to on purpse let more grain fall to the ground so that Ruth could pick it up. And the result of all this kindness was that by the end of the day, Ruth had about an ephah of barley…which was a little more than half of a bushel…which was a lot of barley for just one day of gleaning. And Ruth dutifully took all this food back to Naomi.

Now when Naomi saw how much food that Ruth had managed to get, she was shocked. And she asked Ruth, “Where have you gleaned today? And where did you work? Blessed be the one who took notice of you.” (2:19) It was obvious to Naomi that someone had helped her out…and she wanted to know what happened. And Ruth answered, and said, “The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.” (2:19) When Ruth said the name Boaz, Naomi’s eyes must have widened. She knew exactly who Boaz was. And she excitedly said to Ruth, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not forsaken His kindness to the living and the dead! This man is a relation of ours, one of our close relatives.” (2:20) So it turns out that Boaz and Naomi were related somehow. The Bible doesn’t say exactly how they were related…but if we had to guess, Boaz was probably the cousin of Naomi’s husband that had died in Moab.

But why was Naomi so excited about Boaz being a close relative? Well, because Boaz was what was called a “kinsmen redeemer”. And what is a kinsmen redeemer? God had given Israel laws to help widows like Naomi and Ruth…to make sure they would be taken care of if their husband died. And one of those laws was that if a husband died without having any sons (such as what happened with Ruth and her husband) then the next closest male relative to her husband was supposed to take the wife into his own family. Now this law was a bit more complicated than just taking in widows…something else that the kinsmen redeemer was supposed to do was to redeem the land that the dead husband had owned. Why? Well, that’s a whole thing that we don’t have time to get into…but let’s just say that owning land was very important in Israel…and keeping the land in the family was ultra-important. To the point that what the kinsmen redeemer was expected to do was to redeem the dead husband’s land, marry the widow, have a son with her that would carry on the dead husband’s name, and then ensure that the redeemed land went to that son when the son was old enough. Now that sounds kinda crazy right? That would be like if your dad died, that your mom would marry your uncle…who was probably already married with his own family. Awkward, right? But just keep in mind that things are very different these days…and if your mom was having to choose between starvation and marrying your uncle, what do you think she would choose? Right. It’s weird…but that’s what it was.

But while God’s laws were very clear on this, much of the time, these kinsmen redeemers weren’t so excited about keeping this law. Redeeming the land…yah no problem…but bringing in widows and orphans…well that was a different story. When you were struggling just to keep your own family alive, it was hard to imagine having more mouths to feed. And this reluctance is what was happening to Ruth and Naomi.  Because while Boaz was a closely related kinsmen redeemer, he was not the closest. There was another male relative somewhere in Bethlehem that was supposed to be taking care of Naomi and Ruth…but so far…he was nowhere to be found. So, since Boaz was taking an interest in taking care of Naomi and Ruth, Naomi was probably thinking…well maybe if this other guy never shows up…maybe…just maybe…Boaz would be willing to step up. And so she said to Ruth, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, and that people do not meet you in any other field.” (2:22) Naomi wanted Ruth to only glean on Boaz’s field.

And as the weeks and months went by, Naomi and Ruth patiently waited for their most closely related kinsmen redeemer to show up. While the harvests were going on, they didn’t have too much to worry about…at least they had enough food to eat. But eventually the barley harvest came to an end, and then the wheat harvest came to an end after that…and then there was no more food…and still no kinsmen redeemer. What were Ruth and Naomi going to do? Would the kinsmen redeemer ever show up? Would Boaz step in if he didn’t? Was someone going to take care of them? Well, we will find out all about it…next time.