Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Reflections on Ruth 2


    Ruth 02 (Contemporary English Version)
  1. One day, Ruth said to Naomi, "Let me see if I can find someone who will let me pick up the grain left in the fields by the harvest workers." Naomi answered, "Go ahead, my daughter." So right away, Ruth went out to pick up grain in a field owned by Boaz. He was a relative of Naomi's husband Elimelech, as well as a rich and important man.
  2. (SEE 2:1)
  3. (SEE 2:1)
  4. When Boaz left Bethlehem and went out to his field, he said to the harvest workers, "The LORD bless you!" They replied, "And may the LORD bless you!"
  5. Then Boaz asked the man in charge of the harvest workers, "Who is that young woman?"
  6. The man answered, "She is the one who came back from Moab with Naomi.
  7. She asked if she could pick up grain left by the harvest workers, and she has been working all morning without a moment's rest."
  8. Boaz went over to Ruth and said, "I think it would be best for you not to pick up grain in anyone else's field. Stay here with the women
  9. and follow along behind them, as they gather up what the men have cut. I have warned the men not to bother you, and whenever you are thirsty, you can drink from the water jars they have filled."
  10. Ruth bowed down to the ground and said, "You know I come from another country. Why are you so good to me?"
  11. Boaz answered, "I've heard how you've helped your mother-in-law ever since your husband died. You even left your own father and mother to come and live in a foreign land among people you don't know.
  12. I pray that the LORD God of Israel will reward you for what you have done. And now that you have come to him for protection, I pray that he will bless you."
  13. Ruth replied, "Sir, it's good of you to speak kindly to me and make me feel so welcome. I'm not even one of your servants."
  14. At mealtime Boaz said to Ruth, "Come, eat with us. Have some bread and dip it in the sauce." Right away she sat down with the workers, and Boaz handed her some roasted grain. Ruth ate all she wanted and had some left over.
  15. When Ruth got up to start picking up grain, Boaz told his men, "Don't stop her, even if she picks up grain from where it is stacked.
  16. Be sure to pull out some stalks of grain from the bundles and leave them on the ground for her. And don't speak harshly to her!"
  17. Ruth worked in the field until evening. Then after she had pounded the grain off the stalks, she had a large basket full of grain.
  18. She took the grain to town and showed Naomi how much she had picked up. Ruth also gave her the food left over from her lunch.
  19. Naomi said, "Where did you work today? Whose field was it? God bless the man who treated you so well!" Then Ruth told her that she had worked in the field of a man named Boaz.
  20. "The LORD bless Boaz!" Naomi replied. "He has shown that he is still loyal to the living and to the dead. Boaz is a close relative, one of those who is supposed to look after us."
  21. Ruth told her, "Boaz even said I could stay in the field with his workers until they had finished gathering all his grain."
  22. Naomi replied, "My daughter, it's good that you can pick up grain alongside the women who work in his field. Who knows what might happen to you in someone else's field!"
  23. And so, Ruth stayed close to the women, while picking up grain in his field. Ruth worked in the fields until the barley and wheat were harvested. And all this time she lived with Naomi.

    This account of Ruth is a bright spot in the darkness of the period of judges. Respect for both God and man are demonstrated by the key players of the account: Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz. However, there is also an allusion to the darkness of the period in verse 22 when Naomi encourages Ruth to work Boaz's young women so "nothing will happen to you." Other translations speak more plainly of the danger, "no danger now of being raped in some stranger's field." (2:22 The Message)

    1:22 tells us that Naomi and Ruth had arrived in Bethlehem "at the beginning of the barley harvest." Soon after their arrival Ruth took the initiative to go to the fields to gather grain, asking permission of her mother-in-law to do so. It was no accident that the field she went to belonged to Boaz who was a relative of Ruth's deceased father-in-law. The writer of the account mentions Boaz in verse 1 to highlight the "divine appointment" of Ruth going to his field. When Boaz comes to the field near the noon hour he notices Ruth and enquires of his servants concerning her identity. Learning who she was, he instructed his servants to allow her to glean in his field continually and not to harass her. Also they were to allow her to drink from their water jars.

    When Ruth asked Boaz why he was showing her such kindness, Boaz expresses the respect he had for her because of everything she had done for her mother-in-law, leaving her father and mother and the land of her birth and coming to a people she didn't know so she could help Naomi. Boaz asked the Lord to "reward you for what you have done, and may you receive a full reward from the LORD God of Israel." (2:12) We see from this the respect Boaz had for Ruth and that he was a godly man. He showed further kindness to Ruth by inviting her to eat with him and his workers, a kindness not normally extended to gleaners.

    Ruth returned home that evening with nearly a full bag of grain, enough to feed her and Naomi for several days. When Naomi asked Ruth whose field she had worked in and learned it was Boaz, she said, "May he be blessed by the LORD, who has not forsaken his kindness to the living or the dead." (2:20) Naomi was encouraged that the Lord had not forgotten her, though in her grief it appeared that He had.

    It is important that we are always close to the Lord through prayer and reading of His word. Otherwise in times of difficulty we lose perspective of His love and faithfulness. In our discouragement during such times we are tempted to draw away from God, convinced He has drawn away from us. But these are the times we need instead to draw even nearer to Him.

No comments:

Post a Comment