Grace in Gleaning (Ruth 2:13–23) | Redeeming Love (Part 3)

Transcript

JROT 40
11/23/2025
Redeeming Love (Part 3) Grace in Gleaning
Ruth 2:13-23
Jesse Randolph

Alright, we’re back in our study of the book of Ruth. I invite you to go ahead and turn with me, in your Bibles, to Ruth 2. We have lots to get to this morning, and much to territory to cover. So far in our study of the book of Ruth, we’ve encountered now the book’s three main characters.
We’ve encountered Naomi the wife of Elimelech of Bethlehem. Who, along with Naomi and their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, relocated from Bethlehem to Moab because of a famine that was in the land. Then Elimelech, you recall , he died while in Moab. And then his two sons that he had with Naomi, they also died soon after Elimelech died. We’ve met Naomi then. We’ve met Ruth. Ruth was a young woman from Moab who married one of Naomi’s two sons, Mahlon, before he died. Ruth, you’ll recall had this opportunity, this is much of what takes Ruth 1 to stay in Moab. That’s what Naomi was reminding her, that she should stay in Moab and remarry and reboot her life there in her homeland. But Ruth declined, instead she insisted on going back with Naomi to Naomi’s homeland, Judea, and specifically, to Bethlehem. We remember now, Ruth’s famous words in Ruth 1:16, where she says:
“. . . where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.” So that’s Ruth, faithful Ruth, loyal Ruth.

Last week, we met Boaz, who like the first character, Naomi, was a Bethlehemite. Boaz, we learned, was this relative, extended relative, distant relative of Elimelech, Naomi’s late husband. And we learned from our study of Ruth 2 so far, that Boaz was this “mighty man of excellence.” A man of great virtue. A man of high character. A man who consistently sought to do the right thing. And we saw aspects of Boaz’s righteous character, his excellent character shining through. As the scene developed earlier here in Ruth 2. Specifically, if you look with me at Ruth 2:9, we’re going to see, and I’ll just do this by way of reminder, that Boaz promoted Ruth. Allowing her to not only to glean in his fields. But to go first in following after the reapers, who were bundling these sheaves, these bundles of barley, out there in the field. We see that in his words to her, in Ruth 2:9, where he says:
“Let your eyes be on the field which they reap and go after them.”
Boaz also offered to protect Ruth. Where he said also in verse 9:
“Indeed, I have commanded the young men not to touch you.” And then further we saw that Boaz provided for Ruth, saying this, at the end of verse 9: “And if you are thirsty, go to the water jars and drink from what the young men draw.” Remember the significance of those words, was that normally, it would be foreign women like Ruth, who would be the one who would draw water to provide to Boaz’s men. But here he was reversing things, and saying that his young men, these men of Bethlehem, would actually be drawing water for Ruth, a woman, a foreign woman and a Moabitess at that. As we wound down our time last Sunday morning, we worked our way through this important section of dialogue in verses 10-12, between Ruth and Boaz.

First, it was Ruth saying this, or asking Boaz this: “Why have I found favor in your sight that you should take notice of me, though I am a foreigner?” Ruth couldn’t believe Boaz’s kindness. She couldn’t comprehend the level of care he showed her. Which is why she asked that question – why? Why are you doing this for me? Or her words are:
“Why have I found favor in your sight . . .” And then, Boaz replied to her in verse 11, and he gave her the reason, he said: “All that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you forsook your father and your mother and the land of your birth and came to a people that you did not previously know.”
He concluded, and we concluded last time in verse 12, this is still Boaz, where he says: “May Yahweh fully repay your work, and may your wages be full from Yahweh, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge.”

So that catches us up. That’s where we left off last Sunday morning, smack dab in the middle of this conversation between Ruth and Boaz, in the fields that she was gleaning. Up to this point in the narrative we’ve already seen that Ruth was the object of God’s grace. God’s sheer, unmerited favor, through the person of Boaz.

As we’re going to see as this narrative continues, as her day in the field continued. That Ruth would continue to be the ongoing recipient of God’s grace. The scene picks up in verse 13, where Ruth now replies to Boaz. And the text says: “Then she said, ‘May I find favor in your eyes, my lord, for you have comforted me and indeed have spoken to the heart of your servant-woman, though I am not like one of your servant-women.’”
Now, what we read here in verse 13, are the words of humble and grateful woman. The words of a woman who recognized that through Boaz’s actions, she had indeed found favor. Not only from Boaz, but from the God that she now worshiped.

You know, I’m reading here from the Legacy Standard Bible, and it reads as though Ruth was requesting to “find favor” from Boaz. My text here says: “May I find favor . . .” I actually think that the way that the NASB and the ESV render this, is a bit more accurate. I think Ruth is actually making a positive statement. She’s making an affirmative declaration. She’s saying: “I have found favor in your eyes.”
In fact, if you look up the page to verse 2 of chapter 2 you’ll see there, and recall that Ruth, as she was asking for permission from Naomi, to go out and glean in the fields, she asked: “Please let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain . . .” and then look at this language “. . . after one whom I may find favor in his eyes.” Same expression.
Or down in verse 10 of Ruth 2. Ruth asked of Boaz:
“Why have I found favor in your sight that you should take notice of me, though I am a foreigner?’”

Well, now in verse 13, in our text, Ruth is now looking back on what’s transpired so far in saying: “I have found favor in your eyes.” “You have been gracious to me, Boaz.” “You have been kind to me.” And then she gives the reason for that statement in the words that immediately follow. Look what she says, back to verse 13, after saying: “I have found favor in your eyes”, she says: “. . . for you have comforted me and indeed have spoken to the heart of your servant-woman, though I am not like one of your servant-women.”

Now, there is a whole lot to unpack here. Starting with how Ruth identified herself, as she stood there in Boaz’s presence. She called herself there, you see it, a “servant-woman” . . . “your servant-woman.” The Hebrew word is shiphah. That’s what she calls herself, a shiphah. Now, at this point in Israel’s history, the Hebrew language recognized really two categories of servants. There was the A This would be like the household maidservant. Maiden might be the way you’d see it rendered in the KJV. The one who was taking care of the home in various ways. Coming along side, the man of the house and the woman of the house. This one, in this culture, at this time, the Amah, was eligible to marry. And marry that man or become his concubine. Which was more common in the culture of the time. This amah could even be folded into the family of the home that she served.
The other category though, was the shiphah. The shiphah was a slave girl. She was of the lowest social class. She was at the very bottom rung of the social ladder. She was responsible for the more menial tasks in the home. The shiphah was regarded as a mere item of property, many rungs lower socially than the amah, the first one I mentioned.

Now, interestingly, as we’ll get deeper into Ruth, and Ruth 3:9, specifically, Ruth will identify herself, later as an amah. She’ll say to Boaz, “I am Ruth your maidservant.” The word there is amah. But here, in our passage, she’s building up to that as the narrator’s building us up to that. Ruth is identifying herself as a shiphah. And indeed, she’s identifying herself as being lower than a shiphah, hence her expression here in verse13, where she said to Boaz, that he had “spoken to the heart of your servant-woman.” Shiphah, but then look at the rest of verse 13, she says:
“Though I am not like one of your servant-women.”
So, he’s “spoken to the heart of your servant-woman.” Although I’m not like them, translation: “I am even lower than a servile shiphah.” Ruth is saying here, “I am the lowest of the low.”

Now, Ruth here wasn’t making some sort of social statement. She wasn’t making a claim about women’s rights. Or trying to make a testimony here about slavery in Israel at this point. She is simply underscoring her gratitude. She’s aware of her inferior social status. She’s aware that she’s a Moabite. She’s aware that she’s this lowly laborer, that occupies this lowest rung on the social ladder in this culture at this time. And she’s also aware that she’s been shown incredible compassion, and great grace by Boaz, humanly speaking. Then, by of course, the God that she now worshiped.

The grace that had been shown her had this impact on Ruth. Look at the middle of verse 13, and her words there. This is again, Ruth still speaking to Boaz. She says:
“. . . for you have comforted me and indeed have spoken to the heart of your servant-woman.”
Now, that word “comforted” means to console, to bring relief. In the context here it means to relieve one’s tension, to ease one’s mind.

Ruth was conveying to Boaz, then, that through his kindness to her, he had brought her great relief. We must think of the whole scene here again, right? As Ruth would have come out of Moab and gone into Bethlehem as this young, widowed woman. She would have had certain fears and anxieties and worries as she was leaving Moab but now going to this land where the Moabites were looked down upon. Not only that, but she was also now charged with caring for and providing for her widowed mother-in-law, Naomi. So, she had a lot on her shoulders. A lot on her mind. But she found comfort, first and foremost she found comfort, we saw last time, in the God that now protected her. The God under whose wings she now found shelter. But she also found comfort through Boaz. Who had helped her. Who had assisted her and up to this point, had already been all too kind to her.

Now, not only had Boaz “comforted” Ruth, but he also had, as it says here, still in verse 13:
“. . . spoken to the heart of your servant-woman.” “. . . spoken to the heart of your servant-woman.” Now, this is one of those occasions where it seems as though the human author of Ruth is actually toying with us artistically, once again, with his pen. There is a double significance to those words “[speak] to the heart.” Or “spoken to the heart.” When you survey the Old Testament scripture’s, you’ll see that word used in two different ways, or that expression used in two different ways.
In Genesis, where Joseph reveals himself to his brothers and then all that follows from that.

In Genesis 50:21 we learn that Joseph, after having “comforted” his brothers, or having revealed himself to his brothers, it says: “comforted them and spoke to their heart.” So, that was Joseph, he was encouraging them. But there is another sense in which this expression, “[speak] to the heart” or “spoken to the heart” appears in scripture and is used in scripture. This other sense conveys adoration and affection and, in some cases, even love. That’s the sense that that term or that expression is used in Genesis 34. There’s that scene where Shechem pronounces his love for Jacob’s daughter, Dinah. His feelings of love for her are captured in Genesis 34:3, where it says:
“. . . he loved the woman and spoke to the heart of the young woman.”
Same expression. That expression is used that way in Hosea, where God is speaking to Israel, His wayward bride, in Hosea 2:14, and He says: “I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak to her heart.” There’s that affectionate form of that expression, “speak to the heart.”

So, what I’m suggesting, here is that the human author of Ruth, masterful storyteller that he was; as we’ve seen multiple times already. Was weaving elements here of both definitions, as he recounted here what he recounted, in verse 13. On the one hand. We’re being told that Boaz was speaking words of encouragement to anxious, fearful Ruth. And on the other hand, we’re being told that there’s some sort of foreshadowing happening of future developments in this account, involving Boaz’s feelings for, affections for Ruth. So, he’s speaking both compassionately and sympathetically here. But I think he’s also speaking affectionately, devotedly here and Ruth noticed. Which is why she said here, in verse 13: “May I find favor.” Which again I think is better rendered “I have found favor.” “In your eyes, my Lord, for you have comforted me and indeed have spoken to the heart of your servant-woman, though I am not like one of your servant-women.”

Well, Boaz’s kindness, and God’s grace continued to be shown Ruth. Look at verse 14, it says:
“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.”
So, there’s this short little break in the narrative here, this pregnant pause between verses 13 and 14. At one moment, Ruth is giving her reply in verse 13. What we’ve just gone over. At another moment, how many minutes or hours later, we don’t know. Boaz, in verse 14, is inviting her to join him and his reapers on his crew, for lunch. That’s what that word “mealtime” means there in verse 14. It’s the middle of the day meal, what we would call lunch. What some of you, I think might still call dinner.

I’ll tell you a story some other time, about this mix-up I had on my schedule, where I was inviting somebody to a midday meal. And actually, no, I take that back, I was inviting him to an evening meal, you know, like the post-sundown meal, and I called it dinner. Well, he thought I was talking about lunch. The middle of the day meal. We got it ironed out, boring story, I’ll tell you some other time.

Boaz, though, invited Ruth, that’s the scene here. He invited Ruth, this new gleaner on his crew, to come share a meal with him and with the other members of the crew. Again, just big picture here, highlighting the concept that’s being communicated by this author; this is another incidence of generosity and grace being shown to Ruth, by Boaz.
Since gleaners, being the poorest of the poor. Remember, these were the aluminum can collectors of their day. The shopping cart pushers of the day. They would usually show up to the fields with nothing to eat. I mean, the fact that they were gleaning was rooted in the fact that they had nothing to eat. They were living a true hand to mouth type of existence. But Boaz here showed his on-going kindness to Ruth and inviting her to dine with him, to eat with him and some of the harvesters.

The meal, we see, started with this opening course, bread. Verse 14: “At mealtime, Boaz said to her, ‘Come here that you may eat of the bread, and dip your piece of the bread in the vinegar. That vinegar would have been some sort of vinegar mixed with wine. Possibly with some olive oil. Turning it into a basically sour type of sauce or condiment. The whole point of it was to add some flavor and some moisture to these otherwise dry morsels or pieces of bread.

So, that was the first course, bread dipped in vinegar. But then there was more. As this Moabite woman, Ruth, who when in this scene began, really wasn’t even sure where her next meal was going to come from. She is served by Boaz, with even more food. Look at the rest of verse 14, it says:
“So, she sat beside the reapers . . .” Meaning, she sat next to some of the other workers on her crew. No doubt, workers who were very unaccustomed to eating with a Moabite of all people.

And they, look what it what comes next? It says: “. . . and he [meaning Boaz] served her roasted grain.” Now, that word “served” in verse 14, it appears one time in the entire Hebrew Old Testament. A massive body of literature, that word and that form, appears just one time, right here, in the entire Old Testament. I bring that up because the word here for “served” literally means to “reach” or to “seize” with one’s hand. So, what’s being pictured here is Boaz personally serving Ruth here, this meal, this roasted grain, with his own hands. He took some roasted grains, specifically some roasted barley, which he likely roasted on some sort of iron plate over an open fire, a delicacy at this time. And then with his own hand he would have brushed some of those roasted kernels of grain, onto her lap or her plate, or her shawl. Whatever she was using to be served. He was doing that so she could enjoy the meal and be filled. So, here is this “mighty man of excellence”, Boaz, not only inviting Ruth in from the field to eat, but he’s actually preparing the meal for her and serving the meal to her.

So, incredible generosity and his kindness and his generosity had tangible results, real results. Look at the end of verse 14, which says: “. . . and she ate and was satisfied.” Now, considering how bleak the outlook had been for Ruth, she first went to that field. Or, even going back further, when she first left Moab as a widow, and came to Bethlehem. That’s no insignificant statement, that she ate and was satisfied. That she ate and became full, is the idea. She was not only satisfied by the bread and the vinegar and the roasted grain, the end of verse 14 says: she even “had some left.” Meaning, there were leftovers. She had enough to take back home to Naomi. The same Naomi, by the way, who back in Ruth 1:21, had said to her fellow countrymen – remember her line there – “I went out full, but Yahweh has caused me to return empty. “That was Naomi’s mindset. We’ve already seen that her assessment of her situation, Naomi’s assessment of her situation, was incorrect to begin with. But now, with Ruth coming back with this overflow of grain, Naomi certainly had no grounds for contending that she was “empty” when she, in fact, like her daughter-in-law, would be full.

The fact that Boaz, just for a moment here, what a man! I mean, we saw this last week, as we worked through Ruth 2, in the earlier verses, that he was this “mighty man of excellence.” This man who had provided for and promoted and protected Ruth. This man who had greeted his workers, recall from verse 4, “. . . Yahweh be with you.” The picture that’s being painted here is this man who ate with his workers, ate with his fieldhands. This who’s now hand-serving this servant girl, Ruth, with this delicacy of roasted grain. Boaz was this prince of a man. This man who is treating Ruth, specifically, with incredible kindness. He was this model example of showing hesed, steadfast, faithful loving-kindness. He lived out Deuteronomy 15:11, which says:
“You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your afflicted and needy in your land.”
He lived out the ethic laid out in Micah 6:8, which would be declared later:
“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does Yahweh require of you but to do justice, to love loving-kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” That was Boaz. He was truly a man of excellence.

Well, incredible man that he was, putting our boots back on the ground in the text here for a moment. Boaz was still a manager, and he was still a supervisor. Like any lunch break, the lunch break Boaz offered Ruth here eventually had to come to an end. It wasn’t going to be one of those perpetual lunch breaks. There was still a second part of the workday. There were still tasks to perform. There was still work to do and fields to glean and that’s what Ruth set out to do when her mealtime was over. Look at verses 15 and 16, it says:
“Then she rose to glean, and Boaz commanded his young men, saying, ‘Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not dishonor her. 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.’”
So, to start here in verse 15, Ruth “rose to glean.” She didn’t linger at the lunch table. She prepared to go back out into the fields and as she did so, Boaz gave his workers this four-part series of instructions on how they were to interact with her.

First, he said, “Let her glean even among the sheaves.” Now, back in verse 7, if you look up the page at verse 7, Boaz’s foreman reported that when Ruth had shown up to work that morning, she had said to him: “Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.” By way of real brief review, just indulge me, if you would, for a moment. How this harvesting process worked. It began with that first wave of the men, who had a sickle in their hand, and they would cut the grain by hand and grab the stocks they had cut down. Then, after those who had the sickles made their way through, the reapers passed through, and they would be the ones who would then bundle the cut-down stocks of grain and place them at the end of every row. After those reapers had bundled the sheaves and placed them down on the ground, the next wave would come, the gleaners, who would be able to pick at the different parts of the field that had been, really left over, and gather whatever scraps (aluminum cans) had been left behind. Right? That was kind of a three-fold process of harvesting barley at this time.

So, the nature of Ruth’s initial request, back in verse 7, is that she wanted to go after the reapers. She wanted to go after they had already reaped the already harvested field and simply pick up the scraps of whatever was left. But again, as an act of kindness, Boaz here went above and beyond, in verse 15. He said: “Let her glean even among the sheaves.” The Hebrew here is really an emphatic. He’s saying, “even between the sheaves”. So, in step two of the process, she can already start gleaning. She doesn’t have to wait for the reapers to finish their work. She doesn’t have to wait for the bundles to be bundled. She can go out early. She can get even more, is the sense. Again, Boaz was showing a very special interest in her. He was being generous, and gracious toward her.

His second command is at the end of verse 15. His command to his workers, he says: “. . . and do not dishonor her.” In the NASB it says, “do not insult her.” Older translations say, “reproach her not.” Why might that be an issue for Ruth? Or a problem for Ruth? Or a temptation for the men that she was working with? Well, it goes back to how the people of Judah viewed the people of Moab. The people of Moab came from the toilet bowl of this territory, we’ve seen. Moab was looked at as a wasteland, a haunt, a byword. And Moabites we’ve seen from Deuteronomy, were even barred from assembling with people of Isreal to worship. They were a common target of insults and harsh treatment, by the people of Israel. What Boaz is doing here, he’s getting ahead of it. He’s saying to his workers, not you guys, “. . . do not dishonor” this woman. There would be no crass construction site humor out here in these fields with her. He wouldn’t allow it.

The third command he gave his workers, is at the beginning of verse 16, he says:
“Also, you shall purposely pull out for her some grain from the bundles and leave it that she may glean.” So, not only was Ruth going to be allowed to go out early in the process, in step two rather than step three of the harvesting process. He actually instructed his workers to go into the bundles that they had already bundled, the sheaves they had already bundled, and pull-out additional stocks for her, so that she could glean, not only from the picked over field, but she could glean from the bundles that they had been gathering. Giving her even more grain and more supply.

And then, fourth, came this command. He says: “. . . do not rebuke her.” Meaning, “don’t stop her.” “Don’t order her to desist.” “If she’s gleaning in the fields a little earlier than you’re used to seeing a gleaner glean, let her do it.” “Don’t stop her.” That’s the meaning of “don’t rebuke her” here. But, again, the whole point is, Boaz is being exceedingly kind and generous and benevolent toward Ruth. Ruth, on her part, this recipient of grace, grace shown by Boaz, this human instrument, but grace being shown by this God that she now worships, the God of Israel.

Now, whether Ruth heard Boaz here, give these commands, those four commands to his workers, we’re not told. But what the text does tell us, is that Ruth was definitely a diligent young woman. She was a hard worker. You know, we’re told in verse 15, that “she rose to glean.” And then we look down at verse 17, and we see that “. . . she gleaned in the field until evening.” So, she gleaned in the field until evening. So, though a recipient of grace, Ruth still worked hard. Though she was hand-picked and had been provided for with great generosity. Though she’d been protected by Boaz, she didn’t use those realities as a reason to rest. She still moved forward with diligence and with discipline.

Admittedly, our text here is set in ancient Israel. It has a real background and real context involving this real Moabite woman named Ruth, as she really gleaned in this field. But I do think there’s a principle that we can draw from what Ruth exemplifies here, to our time and our day right here. I mean, similar to Ruth, when you think about this, we’ve been hand-picked. We weren’t hand-picked by a guy named Boaz. We’ve been hand-picked by God, before the foundation of the world, Ephesians 1:4. Similar to Ruth, we have been shown great generosity by the One who has hand-picked us, have we not? I mean, not only have we been given salvation. As we’ve testified to. John was testifying to here this morning. But we’ve been lavished with countless blessings on top of that salvation. Grace upon grace. Right? There are spouses, and there are children, and grandchildren, and central air in the summer, and heating in the winter, and coffee, and vacations, and Culver’s, right? I mean, we have been lavished grace upon grace by the God who, not only saved us, and changed our eternal destiny; but gives us countless temporal blessings day by day. And similar to Ruth, we have protection from the God that we worship. We are able, like Ruth, to seek shelter under His wings. And having put our faith in Jesus Christ, we’re protected by the promise of Romans 8:38-39 that:
“. . . neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

But at the same time, like Ruth, the fact that is we have been shown such grace. Such great grace in no way excuses us from being diligent and disciplined in the lives we now live, in service to the One who has been so gracious to us. What does Ephesians 2:10 say, after telling us in Ephesians 2:8 that it’s “by grace you have been saved through faith.” In Ephesians 2:10 we’re told: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” Or then there’s Philippians 2:12-13, which reminds us to: “. . . work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”

Back to our text. Ruth, an obvious recipient of grace, was still applying herself diligently. She broke a sweat. She worked hard. It says in verse 17, that “. . . she gleaned in the field until evening.” Presumably, she did so with a happy and hopeful heart. Because she’d been provided for. She didn’t have to worry about being harassed, or hindered, or slandered, or rebuked. Look at what her labors brought her. Look at the end of verse 17, it says: “Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.” So, Ruth, after reaching down to gather what had been left behind for her by the reapers, she threshed the grain. She beat out the grain as she collected it, separating the husks from the kernels. While we can’t say this for sure, it’s not out of the range of possibilities that as she was threshing it, she was beating out the grain, she would have been singing a Psalm like Psalm 67, I can’t believe I’m going to say this, it’s like the junior higher’s dream. Psalm 67:6-7, where it says: “The earth has yielded its produce; God, our God, blesses us. God blesses us, that all the ends of the earth may fear Him.” Then, when she was done threshing, she would have collected the kernels of barley that she had gleaned and threshed and maybe gathered them in her shawl, to bring them back to Naomi.

Now I could spend more time explaining all that was involved in this gleaning and threshing process. But what’s really being emphasized here in verse 17, is just how much grain Ruth gathered on this single workday. “. . . it was about an ephah of barley.” An “ephah” is a dry measure of grain, in this case, barley, that’s roughly 30 pounds. So, Ruth, from a single day of work, was about to go home to Naomi with 30 pounds worth of grain, over her shoulder. An incredible amount for a single day of work. This would be the equivalent of almost two weeks of wages at this point.
And that’s really the point here is that, again, Boaz was being exceedingly generous, gracious, kind to Ruth, and for that matter, Naomi. Both women, through this episode, are being shown unsurpassing favor, unmerited favor and grace. Their days of famine were over. Their harvest was plentiful.

Well, in the remainder of the text for today. The scene is going to shift now in location, as the story takes us away from the field and back to the place where Naomi and Ruth lived in Bethlehem. Look at verse 18, it says:
“She took it up [meaning the 30 pounds of grain] 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.” So, remember Ruth had gone out earlier in this day, this single day, in verse 2, saying to Naomi: “Please let me go out to the field and glean among the ears of grain after one of whom I may find favor in his eyes.” Naomi then answered: “Go, my daughter.” Naomi didn’t sound all that optimistic that it was going to be a good day. There w,s no doubt that neither woman, as Ruth left that morning, could have expected or dreamt that Ruth would come back at the end of that same day with 30 pounds of grain slung over her shoulder. Enough to feed them both for two weeks. But that’s exactly what happened. Verse 18 says:
“She took it up and went into the city.” Meaning Bethlehem. “. . . and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned.” As she did so, as Naomi did so, as she saw what her daughter-in-law, Ruth, brought back with her that day; Naomi no doubt knew that what Ruth was hauling in that day, was well beyond the norm. Well beyond the norm for a poor gleaner, like Ruth, to bring in. Something was up. Something was going on.

Well, not only did Ruth come back with that bag full of grain. But the second half of verse 18 tells us that Ruth brought Naomi something else as well. It says, “She also took it out and gave Naomi what she had left after she was satisfied.” What is that referring to? It refers to Ruth’s leftovers. She brought her mother-in-law leftovers, her leftovers from lunch, earlier that day.

Now, I’m not much of a leftovers guy. Just cutting it straight with you. And by not much, I mean, at all. Those who know me well know that I have an irrational phobia of leftovers. In fact, some of you will have that like coveted post-thanksgiving turkey sandwich on Friday morning. That is like my worst nightmare. It’s irrational. It doesn’t make sense. But enough about that. We need to talk about Ruth.

Ruth brought her mother-in-law leftovers, what remained from her lunch. The bread and the vinegar, the roasted grain. The whole point of this, again, is this was in evidence of the generosity, the grace that both women were being shown. In this case, Naomi, as her daughter, brought this food back.

Well, verse 19, Naomi, who had not only been through heartache, but through famine, saw this food in her home all of a sudden. These 30 pounds of grain, the leftover lunch, and she finally speaks up, verse 19, it says: “Her mother-in-law then said to her, ‘Where did you glean today and where did you work?’” Now, the two questions Naomi is asking here they’re very natural. They make a lot of sense. You know, like if one my sons went out next summer and said, “I’m going to go mow lawns for a day.” And instead of coming back with $100 comes back with $3000, I’m going to ask some questions. I will probably ask questions just like these: “where did you mow today?” “Whose lawns did you mow?” That’s what Naomi is saying here. Her questions are this very natural response to her state of surprise and shock. Then note, still in verse 19, Naomi added this in her reply to Ruth, she said: “May he who took notice of you be blessed.”
Now, Naomi was a little older, she had been around the block. She had some experiences. She knew that results like these were like a once in a lifetime kind of event. And they were possible only if somebody had taken some sort of special interest in her daughter-in-law, Ruth. There’s no way 30 pounds of grain would just show up in their living room that day. So, she blurts out these words of delight, these words of joyful gratitude in verse 19: “May he who took notice of you be blessed.”

Now, those words really stand in contrast to the type of attitude that Naomi has demonstrated up to this point. Naomi has been far from joyful up to this point in this story. She has not been giving thanks to God for His lovingkindness up to this point. In fact, up to this point, all she’s done is demonstrate bitterness and forgetfulness and ingratitude. But now, with this, you know, pile of grain, a mountain of grain sitting on her kitchen counter, she realizes her fortunes have turned around and her attitude has as well.

Now, we have to read this text and realize there’s always something to learn from God’s Word. It’s all profitable for instruction, teaching, correction, training in righteousness. What Naomi experienced here, sadly, is something each of us has experienced far too often. Right? We praise God, and we delight in Him, very naturally and with ease on the day that the direct deposit goes through. Right? Or when the check clears. Or when the day’s appointments and meetings run smoothly. Or when the sun is out and it’s perpetually 72 degrees outside. But what about when it’s twelve days until payday? Or, what about when the transmission goes out? Or what about when it’s dead of winter, and bleak and gray and cold, and there’s no hope of spring? Right? Are we still praising Him in the same way that we praise Him in the sunshiny full times? Sadly, to our shame, we’re not as quick to praise God in those moments as we ought to be.

Well, Ruth answered Naomi’s question. She revealed, in verse 19, who this generous man was. As I read this, this is now the first record we have in the Book of Ruth, where the three main characters in the story Ruth, Boaz, and Naomi, each indicate that they’re now aware of each other. We’ve been introduced to them, up to this point, but now, they are aware of each other in the story.

Now, by the way, note that as we get here, that Naomi asked Ruth a specific question. She said: “Where did you glean today and where did you work?” So, Naomi was asking where she was that day. Ruth is going to answer her by telling her with whom she had worked. She’s not going to give her the location of the field, she’s going to give her, instead, the name of the person. Now, some might say, “Well what’s the difference?” “It’s all the same.” We get to the same conclusion in the story either way. But in this story, that detail is really significant. Every detail of scripture is significant. But here, something very intentional is happening, as the author is switching focus, for the reader, from the place where Ruth was gleaning, to the person now that had shown her such grace and kindness and favor, namely, Boaz. We see that it comes out here in verse 19, it says:
“So, she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, ‘The name of the man with whom I worked is Boaz.” So, the worlds are now colliding. Everybody now, knows who each other is. We’re all on the same page and in verse 20 now, we’re going to see two things happening.

First, Naomi is going to give Ruth another word of blessing. And then, for Ruth’s sake, Naomi is going to shed some important light on who this person, Boaz, was. Verse 20, it says:
“Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, ‘May he be blessed of Yahweh who has not forsaken his lovingkindness to the living and to the dead.’ Then Naomi said to her, ‘The man is our relative; he is one of our kinsman redeemers.’” So first, Naomi began by repeating her words of blessing. She had given similar words of blessing, we just looked at them, back in verse 19, where she said: “May he who took notice of you be blessed.” But now, in verse 20, having heard who it was who had been so gracious to Ruth, she echoes those same words of blessing: “May he be blessed of Yahweh.” And why? Well, it tells us, she says: because he “. . . has not forsaken his lovingkindness to the living and to the dead.”

Now, recall that when Naomi first arrived in Bethlehem, she was complaining bitterly against the Lord, complaining about these calamities she believed God was bringing upon her life. And then when Ruth reported that the name of this landowner, who had been so kind to her, was “Boaz”, Naomi’s complaint now, turns to praise. It turns to praise because this man Boaz, had “not forsaken his lovingkindness” his hesed, his kindness, his loyalty, his goodness, his faithfulness . . . to the living and to the dead.” Meaning, to either Ruth or Naomi, they were the living ones or to Elimelech, who is now dead, and Boaz’s distant relative.

Now, Naomi’s words of blessing here were aimed at Boaz and his kindness. Undergirding those words, ultimately, was her praise of the God who had been so gracious to her. She’s taking all this in now. There’s this definite turn by Naomi, that we can see from the text, as she can now more clearly see the gracious hand of God governing these different aspects of her life. She’s no longer seeing God, at this point, as her oppressor, or her opponent, or her adversary. She’s no longer seeing God as her source of sorrow. But instead, as her source of joy.

An old Puritan named Thomas Watson once said: “Grace dissolves and liquefies the soul, causing a spiritual thaw.” That is what is happening to Naomi in this scene, her heart had been thawed by grace. Naomi could now see that Ruth’s arrival that morning, in Boaz’s field was the outworking of God’s grace and favor in both of their lives. Not only that, more grace was to come in light of who this man, Boaz, was. Look at the second half of verse 20, it says:
“Then Naomi said to her, ‘This man is our relative; he is one of our kinsman redeemers.’” Now, we’re going to dive deep into this concept of the “kinsman-redeemer” the next time we study Ruth, in Ruth 3. But I want to give you a little teaser, a little taste of it now. Ok, this will be like one of those little taster spoons that they give you at like “402 Creamery” when you want the whole thing. You want the double scoop, but they give you the thing, you know what I’m talking about.

So, we’re going to do the taster’s spoon of the “kinsman-redeemer.” In Hebrew, that word “kinsman-redeemer” is go’el. And the word – go’el – comes from family law in ancient Israel. Where the underlying concept involved being “redeemed” or experiencing “redemption” through one’s family member, hence “kinsman-redeemer.” There were a few different ways and relationships and situations where you could have a “kinsman redeemer” type relationship in ancient Israel. For instance, the Law of Moses laid out one situation, were a go’el, a “kinsman-redeemer” would be responsible for the purchase, the “redemption” of property that was once owned by one’s family members, but it had to be sold on account of economic hardship. So, the redeemer would buy the property back, to keep it in the family line, and maintain the inheritance for the rest of the family. That was one instance of the “kinsman redeemer” relationship. That’s in Leviticus 25.

There’s another set of rules about “kinsman redeemer” relationships, where a go’el would have to redeem not land, but an actual relative. Sometimes there are situations where a relative, on account of their poverty or their debt, would actually sell themselves into slavery, to pay off the debt. A “kinsman redeemer” could buy back that relative and purchase their freedom. Also in Leviticus 25.

Then there’s the situation that we have here, in Ruth. Where a family name could be redeemed, by means of what was known as “levirate marriage.” In fact, I’m going to have you turn, really quickly to Deuteronomy 25. And you can actually bend the corner of this page, because we’ll be coming back here often in the weeks ahead. Deuteronomy 25:5 says this:
“If brothers live together and one of them dies and has no son, then the wife of the one who died shall not be married outside the family to a strange man. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her to himself as wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. And it will be that the firstborn whom she bears shall assume the name of his dead brother, so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.” So, that’s the idea, the concept of “kinsman redeemer” in redeeming the family name, in the case of the death of a loved one.

But, back to Ruth. What we know of Boaz thus far, is that he is this “mighty man of excellence.” This wealthy landowner. This incredibly generous, kind man. This channel of God’s grace. But now what the author is beginning to highlight at the end of verse 20 is that Boaz was something more. He was more than just a prominent man, or a good-natured man, rather he was a near-relative of the family. He was a go’el who might not only help this family stay afloat financially, by providing for them. But who also might be able to stand in for Elimelech, ultimately, and produce a male heir.
Now, the question, would he? At this point in the story, we’re not told. We’ll get into that more in Ruth 3 and 4. That was your sample spoon. We’ll get the double scoop later.

We’ve got to go to verses 21 and 22. Where the scene shifts now, back to Ruth. We’ve been given this introduction of Boaz as the “kinsman redeemer”, possibly. But then the narrator takes us back into the dialogue between Ruth and Naomi, in verses 21 and 22. Verse 21, it says:
“Then Ruth the Moabitess said, ‘Furthermore, he said to me, “You should stay close to my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’”
So, more good news. More grace was being shown Ruth here. Boaz had invited her to stay in his field, and to glean even more, meaning he was going to continue to provide for her. She wasn’t going to go hungry. Then, verse 22, we have Naomi’s reply:
“Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, ‘It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, so that others do not oppress you in another field.’”
So, Naomi was encouraging Ruth to accept Boaz’s generosity. Why go to another field where there might be taunting and oppression and insults and worse. Instead, she’s already been shown such grace by Boaz, she should remain in his field. Ruth, we see in verse 23, heeded her mother-in-law’s words. She accepted Naomi’s counsel. It says:
“So, she stayed close by the young women of Boaz in order to glean until the end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest.”
Now, that would have been April through July. Barley harvest was in March and April. Wheat harvest was June and July. Meaning, for at least a few months, Ruth and Boaz would be out in those fields for much of the day, no doubt growing closer together. And then, each night, Ruth would come home to Naomi. Remember she had promised, back in Ruth 1:16 – “where you lodge, I will lodge.” So, she would come back every night, that’s why it says, end of verse 23, and “she lived with her mother-in-law.”

With those words, I’m going to take a breath now. We come to the conclusion of this very eventful day in the life of Ruth. A day which, just take this as your take-a-way. A day which was overflowing with grace. A day in which God’s unmerited favor, both for Ruth and to Naomi, was being shown over and over and over again. Now, the chapter ends with these two women back at home. Back in the place where they were dwelling. Waiting for God’s sovereign and providential hand to move, in which ever way He was going to move it. But we’ll get there next time, as we turn to chapter 3.

Let’s pray.
Father, we thank You for a chance this morning, to go through this jet-tour of this section of Ruth 2. God, I know it’s fast moving. I know we are covering a lot of territory, as we look at this account. Simultaneously, attempting to go deep, but also to fly through it. And I pray that we would take away this morning, from this message, that You are gracious. You show Your grace and Your favor to these two women. To Ruth, directly through Boaz and then even more indirectly to Naomi. You continue to show Your grace to Your people today. We who have believed upon Jesus, have been shown that grace, and we are basking in that grace, knowing that we are saved and we are in Your family. Because You have shown Your unmerited favor toward us. We haven’t earned it or worked for it. It is all grace.

God, this morning, there might be somebody here who has not yet experienced that grace. Or maybe they feel like they need to work their way toward You, or do better, or try harder. I pray that You would help them to understand that salvation comes only through believing upon the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Believing that He rose three days later. And believing that it is through faith in Him, that we might have our sins forgiven, and the hope of eternal life secured. So, God, if there is somebody here who is struggling or feeling the weight of sin or guilt. And thinks that they need to do something. I pray that You would disabuse them of that notion, and they would see that it is all of grace. We praise You, God, for being a gracious God and a merciful God. Go before us, we pray and strengthen us for Your service. In Jesus’ name. Amen