Scripture Introduction
We meet Boaz in our study today. Do you know what kind of man Boaz was before he got married?
Answer: he was Ruth-less.
The book of Ruth teaches us to look for God’s blessings even in our bitterness. Naomi, just like you and me, had hopes for her life: a husband, happy kids, a healthy family, and a home in which to enjoy them. Nothing wrong with that!
But God does not leave her alone with dreams of comfort and ease, lest nothing greater grip her soul. His hand of providence falls hard. A famine leaves the cupboard bare in the “house of bread” and drives Naomi’s husband, Elimelech, to move his family to a foreign land… where he dies, leaving Naomi with only her two sons. Desperate, she negotiates marriages for them, and they remain in this land of “Moab” for ten years. But the tragedy worsens: Ruth 1.5: “Both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.” God shuts himself off from Naomi’s tears. Broken and bitter, the woman drags herself back to Bethlehem to survive without hope or happiness.
In this painful and emotionally fragile condition, poor Naomi cannot see God planning and providing a better future, a more glorious promise, a greater good. She knows: 1) God exists, 2) that he is Almighty over all, and 3) that he has afflicted her. What she cannot yet see is the possibility of blessing. She complains: “Do not call me Naomi [i.e., Felicia, which means ‘pleasant’]; call me Mara [‘bitter’], for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the LORD has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?” Her dreams are shattered; her hopes for a happy life crushed.
Now we are part two, where the mercy of God begins to break out so brightly that even gloomy Naomi must see it from behind the clouds of her depression.
[Read Ruth 2.1-23. Pray.]
Introduction
In 2008, the World Bank published For Protection and Promotion, a book explaining how to design and implement effective social programs for the poor and vulnerable. The authors say that these programs, commonly called “safety nets,” “contribute to poverty reduction and social risk management. Yet their appropriate scope is a fraught subject, revealing deep ambivalence and controversy among policy makers, analysts, and the general public in many countries. The wide variation in attitudes toward safety nets can be seen in the following paraphrasings of commonly held views: ‘We must provide for our poor—we can’t let our children starve or the elderly beg.’ ‘Transfers discourage work among recipients and among those taxed to support them.’ ‘We don’t need to give people fish, we need to give them fishhooks.’”
This is not the time or place to discuss or debate social assistance programs or the role of government in a “war on poverty.” We should note, however, how God expects his people to care for those with financial need in the community.
Leviticus 19.9-10: When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the LORD your God.
The right to gather the scraps after the first pass of the harvesters (known as gleaning) was part of the social contract, or covenantal obligation of landowners, and a privilege of the poor and the alien. Without this legislated compassion, Ruth and her mother-in-law could not have survived.
I bring this to your attention because the word, “glean” appears twelve times in this chapter. When the Bible repeats a word often in a small section, we should look for the significance. God wants us to feel, even with Naomi’s trouble and bitterness, his provision for her and Ruth’s needs.
In fact, when Moses repeats and reapplies the Leviticus law to the changing circumstances of Israel as they headed into the promised land, he adds the widow (specifically) to the list of those cared for by the law of gleaning and elevates the practice to a condition of blessing.
Deuteronomy 24.19: When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
Lest we fear that God does not care, hear the word, “glean.” God provides, and his graciousness can be felt. Like when the orchestra plays and the instruments come together to make a beautiful sound. We may not discern the gentle chime of the triangle in the background. But when we listen for it, we can pick out its beautiful sound and discern how it contributes to the whole.
Such is the law of gleaning in Ruth 2. It is subtle grace; a gentle ringing behind the larger sounds of the narrative. But listen for it as we consider the more obvious lessons from this chapter, for it speaks of God’s care in ways we might miss otherwise. With that in mind, let’s notice four ways Ruth models godly character.
1. We See Ruth’s Model of Godly Character
1.1. Ruth Worked Hard
Ruth does not say to her mother-in-law, “Let me go visit the ladies of the town or go walk through the countryside.” Verse 2b: “Let me go to the field and glean….”
In order to help my daughter learn understand work in a commercial kitchen, I have reminded her often that there is never time to stand around doing nothing. Our motto is: “There is always work to be done in the kitchen.” But that applies to more than the work of the cook, doesn’t it?
Ecclesiastes 9.10: Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might.
This does not mean there is no place for play or relaxation. But it does teach that a disposition to diligence is a means of common grace that provides well for you in this life. Ruth was poor, so she worked hard. Verse 7b: “She came, and she has continued [gleaning] from early morning until now, except for a short rest.” She spent the entire day bending over, picking up grain from the ground, and carrying it in a sack slung across her shoulder. Then at the end of the day “she beat out what she had gleaned” (Ruth 2.17).
Let this lesson be clear: we must not beg when we are able to earn. The job may be menial, but no labor is disgraceful. Sin is below us, but not hard work.
1.2. Ruth Embraced Humility
Matthew Henry correctly observes, “High spirits can more easily starve than stoop.” Some people would rather do without, than do with humble service.
But Ruth is not ashamed to glean. Nor does she presume upon the right to glean, even though she knew the law’s demands. She asks the other workers for permission to glean and gather. And when Boaz shows her favor, she bows before him and acknowledges his grace and kindness.
Young women often want to know what accessories make them look beautiful. The jewelry of humility goes well with any outfit.
1.3. Ruth Takes the Initiative
She left her family in Moab and followed Naomi to Bethlehem. Now her only means of survival is picking, by hand, the grain that the men miss in the harvest field. Many a twenty-something woman would be brought to tears by such a prospect. You can almost hear them sobbing at the thought of the broken nails and the social shame. Ruth, however, rolls up her sleeves and gets to work. Rather than cry and complain, she finds work to occupy her time.
1.4. Ruth Loves and Provides for Her Family
Observe how the relationship with Naomi is more important to Ruth than her own ease and comfort. Rather than return to Moab when she saw the difficulties they faced, she sets her hands and mind to provide solutions for her family.
We have few models of this kind of long-term faithfulness in our day and time. Divorce is a simple solution to problems. Church membership only lasts until something better comes along. Friends are kept as long as they are useful, then replaced. We are weak at commitment to people. Ruth shows us a different way. She has a commitment that goes beyond convenience – because she trusts God to provide.
2. We Learn How God Blesses His People In Hidden and Simple Providences
While Ruth and Naomi walked back from Moab to Bethlehem, they discussed where they would get food. How would they survive? Naomi explained to Ruth the mercy of Jehovah, how he provided for the poor and widowed through the gleaning laws. So after they arrive in town, Ruth asks permission to go and glean. Now look at verse 3:
Ruth 2.3: So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech.
She “happened to come” to Boaz’ field? “Happened”? as in, “She lucked out”?
No, “happened” as in she has no idea where she is or where she is going. She trusts in the Lord with all her heart, and he directs her makes straight her path into the field of Boaz. God wisely orders small events. Even those which might seem of no importance work together for good to those who love God and are called for his purposes.
It is such a little thing that Ruth ends up in Boaz’ field; but the fate of all the universe hinges on it. We can be certain, no matter how insignificant it seems that our present duties are, that God is at work, bringing us blessing and showering us with his love in countless unseen provisions.
3. We Entrust Ourselves to the Shelter of the Wings of the Almighty, Walking By Faith, Not By Sight
Now the most important part of chapter two. Ruth asks a critical question in verse 10: “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?”
Boaz answers in verses 11-12: “All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. The LORD repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!”
When Ruth asks why she is being shown favor, Boaz seems (at least at first) to offer a works-based answer: “You deserve this reward as payback for loving your mother-in-law enough to come and help her in this strange land.”
But verse 12 adds something which keeps us from picturing Ruth as earning Boaz’ and God’s favor by her good works: “The LORD repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!”
God is a great winged eagle and Ruth (a terrified and threatened eaglet) seeks safety under his mighty wings! Like in Psalm 57.1: “Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by.”
Why was God be merciful to David in that Psalm? Because David trusts God enough to hide behind his wings. In the same way, God rewards Ruth because she seeks protection in God’s power. This is how she was able to do the works of verse 11: she left father and mother and native land, and came to a people she did not know, precisely because she trusted God to provide and protect.
John Piper: “The relation between taking refuge under God’s wings and leaving home to care for Naomi is that being under God’s wings enabled Ruth to forsake human refuge and give herself in love to Naomi. Or another way to say it is that leaving home and loving Naomi are the result and evidence of taking refuge in God.”
This is the same gospel whether you read it in the Old or New Testament. God gives mercy to all who take refuge under his wings.
Jesus uses a related image to say the same thing to the Pharisees: “How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!” (Matthew 23.37). All they had to do was hide behind Jesus. Stop justifying themselves. Stop relying on their strength. Stop thinking about how much good they did.
Like Ruth did. She fell on her face, bowing to the ground, astonished at the grace offered: “Why have I found favor?” God does not seek employees to pay for hard labor. He is an Eagle looking for those who hide in the shadow of his wings.
Ruth had hard decisions to make. You will too. When you face those, where you look for refuge? Some will hope to hide in comfort and ease and earthly pleasure, remain in Moab with Orpah and the possibility of success and life. But others love Jesus more than father or mother, than son or daughter, even more than life itself. Those who do are able to leave behind all fears of losing earthly rewards, and seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness.
Where do we find the faith to take up such a cross daily and follow Jesus? Under the wings of Almighty God, of course.
Psalm 91: He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty…. He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge…. Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place—the Most High, who is my refuge—no evil shall be allowed to befall you…. [The Lord says:] ‘Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.’
