Ruth 2
McGeeCHAPTER 2THEME: In the field of Boaz
Ruth 2:1
Here we have Boaz introduced to us, and he is actually the hero of our story. He will be the one who will set before us the type of the kinsman-redeemerbut that’s a little later. Notice that immediately he’s identified as a kinsman of her husband. That is important to note. “And Naomi had a kinsman.” I can’t pass that by without saying that Boaz is a picture and a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it can be said of you and of me that we have a Kinsman also, one who was made like we are, yet sinless"holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners" (Heb_7:26). He is the one who is able to save us to the uttermost.
The name Boaz, by the way, means “strength.” He was a mighty man of wealth. And I’m told that you can also translate it “a mighty man of war.” And it could be said “mighty man of Law” also. All three were true of Boaz. He’s a mighty man of war; he’s a mighty man of wealth; and he is a mighty man of the Law. He is the one we’re introduced to now. He was of the family of Elimelech.
Ruth 2:2
We find here one of three very strange laws; that is, they are strange to us because we haven’t anything in our legal system today that corresponds to them. To glean grain or other produce was part of the Mosaic system. This was God’s way of taking care of the poor, and Ruth and Naomi are very poor. The very fact that Ruth says she wants to go and glean is indicative of their poverty. Now we want to look at this strange law. It is stated in several places. For instance, we have it in Lev_19:9-10: “And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest. And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God.” You see, God told His people that they had to take care of the poor, and do it in this very unusual way. God didn’t put them on relief. He didn’t have an anti-poverty program that just gave them money.
God did it, I think, in a very sensible way. They had to go and glean. The law is directed, you see, to the landowner. It is stated again in Lev_23:22: “And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the LORD your God.” And then the final reference is in Deu_24:19: “When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow….” It was God’s way of taking care of the poor people of that day. He didn’t put them on relief; He didn’t get them in a bread line; He didn’t make them recipients of charity. He gave them something to do.
They had to work for what they got. They could go into the fields and glean, and they would have to do it by hand. It’s not like it is today in our country. Doing it by hand is not very efficient. The harvesters leave a great deal of the grain in the field, up to thirty percent. Once they’d gone through the field God wouldn’t let them go back over it the second time.
He said, “After you’ve gone over it the first time, then the poor can come in and glean.” I think God’s method is a good one. Of course, it’s not up-to-date to fit into our modern, political economy, but God’s method certainly worked in Ruth’s day when thirty percent of the grain was left in the field. They tell me that there is a McCormick reaper now out in Kansas that cuts the grain and at the same time threshes it and sacks it up. If it drops just one little grain of oats or wheat, there’s an arm that reaches down, picks it up and puts it in the sack. They don’t miss a thing today! This was God’s marvelous provision for the poor in a day when the poor were not even considered at all.
And, friends, God is concerned for the poor. The Word of God has been the only thing that has given the poor man a chance. You go throughout the world and check that out for yourself. A great many of us today in this country are enjoying the benefits of those in the past who have labored, and we have entered into their labors. We are greatly blessed as a people. But many of you can remember when we were poor.
I was a very poor boy myself, and you may have that background also. We owe a great deal to the Word of God, because it is only the Word of God that has ever given the poor man a square deal. The politicians won’t, I can assure you of that. They are only after votes; they’re not after the poor man’s welfare. But God is, and this was God’s marvelous arrangement. And so Ruth acts upon this law which seems so strange to us today. She came under both categories, the stranger and the poor. She asked Naomi to let her go and glean, and Naomi told her to go.
Ruth 2:3
And if you’d seen Ruth going out that day down the road from Bethlehem, you would have seen a girl who had no idea into which field she should go. How is she going to find her way into the field of Boaz? It’s going to be very important that she get in that field. If she doesn’t, then you can tell the wise men that there’s no use coming to Bethlehem. Jesus won’t be born there. And you can tell the shepherds to stay with their flocks on the hillside because He won’t be born in Bethlehem. You see, it’s important that she go into the right field. How is she going to find the right field? When I was in Bethlehem, I took a walk myself. I may not have walked down the exact road that Ruth did, but it couldn’t have been very far from it. And I thought of her as I walked. I think we’ve located the fields of Boaz. They’re right down at the foot of the hill from Bethlehem. Bethlehem was a typical city in Palestine of that day.
All of them were built upon a hill, and this little town of Bethlehem was no exception. Evidently down at the foot of the hill in a very fertile valley were the fields of Boaz. When Ruth went out of Bethlehem that day, she had no notion where to go. Now Scripture says, “Her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz….” Well, the word hap is an old Anglo-Saxon word, coming from the same stem as perhaps or happens. Her “hap” was just a happenstance, as we call it today. From her viewpoint, it was just by chance.
Actually, it was just that. Now this brings us again to the question: How did she find her way into the field of Boaz when it was so very important that she go into the right field? Did God put up a stop and go sign, a red and green light, or point an arrow into the right field? He did not. Well then, did a voice speak out of heaven? No, no voice spoke out of heaven.
Well, she must have had a vision, someone thinks. But she didn’t have a vision. Well, how in the world is this girl going to get into the right field? Let’s ask Ruth. I would say to her, “Ruth, I’m sure that you had some pretty definite leading about the field of Boaz.” And she’d say, “No, I didn’t. You’d better go back and read the Book of Ruth again.
It says that my hap was to light on his field. I just happened to go in there.” May I say to you, from the human viewpoint, it was just happenstance. From God’s viewpoint, it’s something else. He’s going to lead her into the right field. But He’s not going to lead her in the way a lot of people talk about it today. Some folk talk about God’s will as if they’d just had a Western Union telegram from Him or a Special Delivery air mail letter from heaven. My friend, God doesn’t lead that way today, and I don’t think He has ever led very many that way. Back in the Old Testament He led some in a very direct manner, but Ruth was not one of them. It seems to me that Ruth’s decision was more important than some other decisions that were made. God said to Jonah, “Arise, go to Nineveh” (Jon_1:2). And He told Jeremiah and Ezekiel to speak out.
But I want to say this to you: what He told these men to do is not nearly as important as Ruth’s getting into the right field, because Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem is dependent upon her going into the right field. Now God is going to overrule in all of this, and God is going to guide in the background. That’s the wonderful thing about the Lord’s will. I’m not sure that it’s necessary for God to give you and me a road map. Sometimes I wish He would. And I hear some people talk today as if they have a road map.
They say, “The Lord’s will was for me to do this, and I knew this was the Lord’s will.” I wish I could be that clear, that sure. Years ago, when I was a pastor in Cleburne, Texas, I received two calls from other churches, one to the east of Texas and the other to the west in California. And I didn’t know which to take. I’m being honest with you. I actually got down on the floor and cried out to God to show me which call to accept. He didn’t. I had no vision. But then I heard Dr. Harry Ironside make the statement that of the decisions he had to make in his life, eighty percent (I think this is the figure he gave) were made without knowing at the time they were God’s will. He did not know until sometime later on. After hearing that, I went back home and told my wife that the atmosphere had all cleared, that I felt we were to go to California. I wasn’t sure, but I felt that was the way I was to move. As far as God’s will for your life is concerned, if you think that He’s going to put up a green light for you at every corner or an arrow pointing or a voice out of heaven, you’re just wrong. He doesn’t do it that way. And when I hear people say that, I just know there’s something radically wrong with them, or they’re trying to kid somebody. But wait just a minuteDr. Ironside said that afterward he knew whether it had been God’s will or not. And I think that sometimes God does let us go down the wrong road. “But,” somebody is going to say, “you could make a pretty bad decision.” You sure can.
But the interesting thing is that if you have two ways before you and you take the wrong way, there’s nothing in the world that’ll keep you from coming back and starting over again. And you can be sure of one thing: If you had two ways to choose from and chose the wrong way first, then you know which is the right way. It’s amazing today how many people interpret God’s will as being the easy way. Well, it’s not always the easy way. It certainly wasn’t for Ruth. If you’d asked Ruth if she knew she was going into the right field, she would have said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” And had you asked her why she chose the field she did, I think she would have said to you, “I prayed about it. Before I left home this morning, I asked God to lead me. I really didn’t know which road to take, but I got down here and looked into one field with nice grain but there weren’t many poor people gleaning in it, so I was pretty sure that whoever owned that was a skinflint. But over on the other side of the road, my, there were a lot of poor people gleaning. And I knew that man must be a generous man, and I needed to find that kind of field because I’m a Moabitess, a foreigner, an outcast, and I didn’t want to be put out; so that’s why I chose this one.” And I suppose that when she’d gone a distance down the road, and probably hesitated a minute, that the angels on the battlement of heaven looked over and held their breath. They said, “My, I hope she goes into the right field.” She went into the right field.
And I think that all heaven heaved a sigh of relief when they saw her going into the fields of Boaz. God is overruling. For Ruth there was the element of uncertainty, but on the other side there was the providential dealing of Almighty God. One of the glorious things, as we go through this world today, is to know that our times are in His hands; to know that He is ordering the events of this universe; and to know that God has said that nothing can come to a child of His without His permission. You must remember that there was a hedge around Job, and even Satan couldn’t touch him until God gave permission. God will not give permission unless it serves some lofty and worthy purpose. It did serve a lofty and worthy purpose in the life of Job. And I’m sure that Ruth did not realize the significance of the decision she was making. She just went in, and I think she prayed and had a reasonable basis for it.
For the child of God today who is frustrated because he’s looking for some sign, some experience, some light, some voice, some vision, some dream, he must realize that God is not speaking to us in that way today. God today is speaking to us through His Word. And the child of God who walks in fellowship with God, with no unconfessed sin in his life, and has not grieved the Holy Spirit, can commit his life to God. And when he gets to a place where he isn’t clear just what God’s will is for him, he can make a decision and move into the situation. Now maybe he makes a wrong decision, but God has permitted it for a purpose. As I look back on my life, there is one instance where I expected God to open up a door for me, and He didn’t open up that door.
In fact He slammed the door, as it were, in my face, and I felt very bad about it. But I thank God that He did it, because now I can look back and see that it was best. It’s like what Joseph said to his brethren when they came to him after the death of old Jacob, their father. He said in Gen_50:20, “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good.” How wonderful that is, and may it be an encouragement to you today. Perhaps you are actually biting your fingernails and are wondering why you don’t get clear leading. You know Christians who act like they have a hotline to heaven.
Now it’s wonderful that all of us have access to God, but I’m not sure that He always talks right back to us. So let’s be very careful today about the way we banter about the statement, “I know this is the Lord’s will.” We just can’t always be sure. But we can commit our way to Him, have no unconfessed sin in our lives, not grieve the Holy Spirit, and be in the center of the Lord’s will as best we know. Yes, my friend, you can commit yourself to Him in a wonderful way. And even if you got into the same predicament that Joseph did, or even that Job did, say with him, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job_13:15). My friend, that’s the glorious truth that brings a joy and an expectancy to life.
The providence of God makes every day a thrill for the child of God. I’m glad that He didn’t give me a blueprint because, frankly, I like to take a trip over a new road, going into an area I’ve never been before. I did that one autumn when we were in the Ozarks. My, how that road twisted and turned. And every twist and turn was a thrillthe autumn leaves were a riot of color. Nature seemed lavish, covering every hillside with polychrome pictures.
And I’m so glad that God didn’t send me pictures of it all ahead of time. What a thrill life can become for us!
Ruth 2:4
Now for some unexplained reason, Boaz was detained from getting to his fields early in the morning. He was a prosperous man, and maybe he didn’t have to be there early. But I judge by the character of the man that he was on top of every situation, and he probably had business that morning in Bethlehem. Perhaps he had to wait until the First National Bank of Bethlehem opened so he could get the payroll for his workers. But whatever the reason may have been, he didn’t get out into his field until a little later. Notice what he did when he got out there. He said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you.” That’s capital speaking. And they responded, “The Lord bless thee,” and that’s labor answering. Say, that doesn’t sound like some of the labor leaders and capitalists of our day, does it? It doesn’t sound like the steel workers or the steel owners either. Unfortunately, capital and labor both are very far from God today.
Now, frankly, I am a poor preacher, and I’m not a capitalist. My dad was a working man. I remember him in overalls most of the time because he was a hard worker. I just can’t sanction godless capitalism today. From listening to them, I get the impression that most of the labor leaders are very godless. I don’t take sides today.
I just wish that we could get something of real Christianity, the real born-again type, into this area. It would certainly help the relationship. You’d hear language like this: Capital: “The Lord be with you.” And then labor answering: “The Lord bless thee.” My, what a marvelous capital/labor relationship existed there in the fields of Boaz!
Ruth 2:5
Now we have really come to the part of our story that is exciting. This little foreign girl by the name of Ruth, willing to accept poverty and ostracism and perpetual widowhood, is out in the field gleaning. By chance, she has gone into the fields of Boaz, the most acceptable bachelor in Bethlehem. I suppose that the mothers of marriageable daughters in Bethlehem had given many a tea or invited him over for a meal. They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, and I imagine many had tried that route. But somehow or other he hadn’t been interested in the local girls.
But then one day he goes into his fields and he sees for the first time this little widow from Moab. And I tell you, he falls for her! Now our King James translation here is rather stilted. Don’t misunderstand meI still feel that the King James translation is our best for public use. Although the American Standard Version of 1901 is probably more accurate, it’s very hard to improve on this King James. But there are places where I think we can bring it up to date, and this is such a place.
What Boaz said here is not quite, “Whose damsel is this?” May I just give you several very free translations? He says, “Well, where in the world has she been that I haven’t met her before?” That’s very free, as you can see. Or let me give it another way. Perhaps as accurate Hebrew as you can possibly get, could not be translated, but would sound like a Hebrew wolf whistle. He fell for this girl. This is love at first sight. And maybe you’re wondering if I believe in love at first sight. May I say to you, I believe in it very strongly. I proposed to my wife on the second date we had. The reason I didn’t propose to her on the first date was because I didn’t want her to think I was in any hurry. Now don’t get any ideas if you’re a young person. It was a year before we got married. We wanted to make sure. Yes, I believe in love at first sight, but I think love ought to be tested by quite a bit of time before marriage takes place. Boaz had a case of love at first sight. This man really fell for Ruth, and this is romance in the fields of Boaz, if you please.
Ruth 2:6
His foreman tells Boaz who she is and implies, “Why, you certainly wouldn’t want to know her. She just came in the fields here.” And I think he’s halfway apologizing and assuring Boaz that he had nothing to do with her coming into the field. He explains:
Ruth 2:7
Although it’s very clear to us that Boaz has fallen for this little foreign girl, his superintendent didn’t see that at first, and he seems quite apologetic. “This Moabitish woman came out here and asked to glean, and I couldn’t turn her down. After all, the Mosaic system permits her to come in here and glean since she’s poor and a stranger.” But he didn’t need to be apologetic, because Boaz has fallen in love with this girl. And this reveals a great deal about Ruth, of course. It reveals that she certainly lived up to her name. As you’ll remember, we did not attempt to translate Ruth into any English word because I do not think there is any one word that will quite describe her. Ruth means “beauty, personality,” and we suggested the word glamour, but that word has been absolutely ruined by Hollywood and by cheap literature today so that I just don’t know what word to use.
But this scene reveals something of the attractiveness of this woman. What all the other girls and beauties of Bethlehem had not been able to accomplish, this girl didand she didn’t even try at all. She had already taken her position as an outcast, and she did not expect any attention at all. You’ll notice her surprise when she finds out that she has attracted the attention of this man. Now after his superintendent has apologetically given him the information he wanted, notice the reaction of Boaz. He turns and addresses Ruth.
Ruth 2:8
Now let me pause and say that this is strange language. Here is a man that honestly would not want the poor in his fields. The Mosaic Law said he had to permit it. And I think Boaz was generous, but he just didn’t put up a sign and say to the poor, “Come in and glean.” And he didn’t invite them in. But here is an occasion when he goes out of his way to urge Ruth not to go into any other field to glean. “I want you to glean in my field.” Well now, is he interested or is he interested? Also, he adds,
Ruth 2:9
There are two things here that are very important. He not only invites her to stay in the field, but he also puts around her his cloak of protection. He says, “I have now given orders that you can come into this field, and that you will not be hurt or harmed in any way.” Frankly, in that day it was very dangerous for a woman in Ruth’s positiona widow, a woman from Moab. She was likely to have insult upon insult heaped upon her. And not only that but she would not be safe. And Boaz, recognizing that, immediately puts his cloak of protection around her. It was almost as unsafe on the roads of Bethlehem in that day as it would be today on the streets of our modern cities. One of my missionary friends from Africa put it like this, “It is safer on the jungle trail in Africa, where I minister, than it is on the streets of Los Angeles.” Now that’s what civilization has risen to, and especially this new civilization with its liberal approach to crime. It’s the cry-baby type that says that the poor criminal is to be brought back into society and is to be reclaimed. May I say to you, the whole point (and we need to get back to it) is to punish the criminal. That was the purpose of putting one into prison. It wasn’t intended to do anything else but to punish him.
And how much reclaiming are they doing today? May I say to you, that type of thinking is almost a farce today. God knows this because He knows the human family, and He knows you and me. He knows that you and I today have an old nature, and until you and I come to Jesus Christ, we can’t be reclaimed, my friend. Now will you notice Ruth’s reaction to this very noble and generous gesture on the part of Boaz.
Ruth 2:10
When I first wrote my book Ruth, the Romance of Redemption, I assumed and took the position that here Ruth was actually being either naive or a coquette, that she was playing it rather cleverly by asking, “Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?” Now, frankly, I can’t hold that position any longer. She is not being that at all. You see, she had been properly warned and made aware of her situation if she returned to Bethlehem with Naomi. And that’s the reason the other woman of Moab, Orpah, didn’t come. Orpah just wouldn’t make the sacrifice. She was not willing to be a perpetual widow and be poverty-stricken the rest of her life, and be ostracized besides.
Therefore, she remained in the land of Moab. But Ruth came, realizing all of that. When she went out into the fields of Boaz, she never dreamed that anyone would ever take any notice of her. In fact, she expected that they would all turn their backs upon her, because the Jews at this time didn’t have dealings with the Moabites. As we’ll see later on, even the Mosaic Law shut a Moabite out from the congregation of the Lord. The Moabites had a very bad beginning that’s not very pretty to recount.
And for that reason they are given this very low position. But this little Book of Ruth reveals something that is quite interesting: racial barriers were broken down, and God is concerned and loves even those who have upon them a stigma and a judgment. Such is the picture of you and me today. “…While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom_5:8). And Paul says you just don’t find love like that in this world today. Only God has a real concern for people. You just don’t find love anywhere else like the love God shows for sinners. But here is an exhibition of it, and that’s the reason Ruth says, “Why have I found grace in thine eyes?” She’s absolutely startled. She’s a stranger, an outcast. And I think it’s an honest, sincere question she’s raising. She can’t understand this breaking over of a racial barrier. Here is an interest that she did not expect. Now I can answer Ruth’s question very easily. If she would just go home and look in a mirror, she’d see the reason. She’s beautiful. She’s lovely. She’s attractive. She has everything that is desirable in a woman and a wife, and for that reason this man has fallen in love with her. I can answer her question. But there is a question I cannot answer: Why have I found grace in the eyes of God? Now don’t tell me to go home and look in the mirror, because I’ve done that. Frankly, friend, the image is something that’s not quite attractive. I don’t see the answer in the mirror. But God has extended grace toward us. And there are those who consider the theme of the Book of Ruth to be just that.
The grace of God is exhibited here in the grace that was manifested to this woman. And I must concur to the extent that this is certainly a marvelous example of grace. You and I both can ask Ruth’s question as we come to God: Why have I found grace in Thine eyes? We cannot find the answer within ourselves; we’re not lovely; we’re not beautiful to Him; we are not attractive; we do not have those qualities that God adores and that He rewards and respects. We’re sinners, and we’re in rebellion against God. And yet, in spite of all that, God loves us!
That is one of the great truths of the Word of God. He demonstrated that love, because “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” He extended His grace to us. And, friend, that’s the basis upon which He saves us today. He hasn’t any other reason for saving us.
Ruth 2:11
Probably the reason Boaz had not met Ruth when she accompanied Naomi back to the land was that he was away on one of those innumerable campaigns that were carried on during the times of the judges. You’ll recall that Boaz could be described not only as a mighty man of wealth but also as a mighty man of the Law and a mighty man of war. Undoubtedly he was a soldier. So he evidently was out of town and, when he returned, he heard this buzzing about a widow who had come back with Naomi. The things they were saying about her were quite good. Now Bethlehem was evidently given over to gossip, as most places are, and they were gossiping about this foreign girl, but what they were saying was good, which was unusual. They were amazed at her. They said, “Imagine! This little foreign girl has come back, and she’s true to her mother-in-law. She didn’t desert her when she got here.
She doesn’t chase around after the men, and she is a wonderful person.” Boaz just couldn’t believe that in addition to all he had heard about her character she was as attractive as she was. But now when he sees her and finds out that all of these qualities are wrapped up in one person, I’ll tell you, that’s the reason that he has fallen for her. Just listen to him as he realizes the tremendous sacrifice she has made.
Ruth 2:12
She had come to trust the Lord God. This is the reason she had left the land of Moab and made that radical decision. She had said that the God of Naomi would be her God. She had turned from idolatry to the living and true God. This woman has come to trust God; she was one of His children. Therefore this is the wonderful testimony that she had there in the land of Israel. And Boaz says, “May a full reward be given to you. May you be recompensed for this decision.” And if Boaz has anything to do with it, he’s going to see that she gets a full reward, and he begins immediately to work toward that end. He’s in love with her, friend, and he is going to redeem her. She needs to be redeemed.
Ruth 2:13
Ruth’s reaction here is interesting. She hadn’t expected any comfort. She hadn’t expected to be spoken to in a friendly manner. And the reason she didn’t expect any of this was that she was not like one of his handmaidens. And that was probably the reason he did notice hershe wasn’t like the other girls. You know, today we’re living in a society that talks a great deal about being an individual and having your own thoughts.
Some time ago I had a bull session with a group of college students. They wanted to have it, and I met with them. That’s the age when tremendous things are taking place in their own hearts. They are in rebellion because they’re pulling loose from old ties. God made us that way purposely, by the way, but we won’t go into that. These young people were talking about being individuals, making their own decisions, and being different.
And do you know what? Every one of them looked alike. They wore their hair alike, they wore the same type of clothing, and they expressed themselves in the same way. I couldn’t help but just sit there and laugh. They wondered why I was enjoying it so. It’s interesting to hear people talk about how they want to be different, and yet they want to be exactly like the crowd.
But, you see, Ruth was different. And that’s the reason Boaz had fallen in love with her. Some of us should want to be a little differentnot necessarily in dressbut we need to be different in other ways. If you’re a child of God you are different. Talk about doing your own thinkingit’s the child of God who thinks differently from the crowd. He has to.
Christians are a minority group. But now let’s look in on Boaz and Ruth again. My, he has invited her to lunch! Can you imagine that? We think of those days as being more or less uncivilized. They were not in the jet set back in that day. But he meets her about ten o’clock in the morning, invites her to lunch, and she has lunch with him the same day. My friend, you can’t improve on that, can you, even in our day?
Ruth 2:14
I want to ask again: Is Boaz interested in her? My, I’ll tell you, he has fallen in love with this girl, and he’ll make every effort now to make her his wife. We’ll find that there was a big hurdle in the way.
Ruth 2:15
He even says to his workmen, “I want you to show her every courtesy and consideration. Now you let her glean even among the sheaves.” You know, the poor would be very apt to try to get up to where the grain was good, and you can well understand that the owner of the field would have to keep them behind his reapers. But Boaz said, “You let her come up and glean right where you’re reaping.” And Boaz was a man of the Law. Because he knew what it said, he instructed his men not to go back and pick up a sheaf if they happened to drop one. Now he’s even going one step further. He says, “When you see that Ruth is gleaning immediately behind you, when nobody is looking, you just drop a sheaf back there and go on. When she gets up to it, she’ll call. ‘Yoo-hoo, you dropped a sheaf.’ You just tell her you’re sorry but you can’t go back and get it, and for her to keep it.”
Ruth 2:17
An ephah was a bushel. The value of it would be a pretty good day’s wage, especially for this little widow.
Ruth 2:18
When Ruth brought in this tremendous amount of grain, Naomi said, “My, I’ve never seen anything quite like this! Where have you been today? Somebody has shown undue consideration for you.” And so Ruth just tells the whole story to Naomi. And up to this point, actually, Ruth still doesn’t know exactly who Boaz is, but Naomi does.
Ruth 2:20
The Hebrew goel, or “kinsman-redeemer,” is the second law that is so strange to us because we do not have anything that corresponds to it. But it was God’s provision for taking care of His people. You see, God gave the Law for a land and for a people. The Mosaic system was a marvelous system for that day and for that land. Ruth certainly went into the right field, for this man was a near kinsman. And here in the Book of Ruth we see the law of the kinsman-redeemer in operation. Now you do not always see the Mosaic system in operation in Israel, but this little book highlights for us the law of the kinsman-redeemer, as well as the other two laws which we’ve mentioned that are very strange to us. One of them is the basis on which God took care of the poor. It was an unusual way. God would permit them to go into the fields and the vineyards and glean after the owner had sent his reapers and gatherers through one time.
It was a marvelous way because a great deal was left. I had the privilege several years ago of holding meetings up in Turlock, California, right after the grape gathering had taken place. The owner of a very large vineyard found out that I liked grapes, and he told me just to go out into his vineyard and help myself; so the pastor and I went out there. He told us they had already gathered the grapes, and that we were welcome to whatever was left. Friends, if I’d had a ten-ton truck, I’m sure I could have filled it up with the grapes that were left there! We would look up under the vine and, my, some of the biggest, finest-looking, luscious bunches could be found.
I told the pastor, “You and I are gleaning, and I think we fulfill our rightful place because we’re poor preachers, and we’re exercising that which is part of the Mosaic system.” God’s way of taking care of the poor preserved their dignity by giving them an opportunity to work for what they received. Now here in our story of Ruth we encounter the law of the kinsman-redeemer. It is stated for us in Leviticus 25, and it actually operates in three different areas. It operates in relation to the land and in relation to individuals and in relation to widows. Now Boaz was related to Naomi’s husband, this man whose name was Elimelech (which means, “My God is King”). I take it that Elimelech’s and Boaz’s fathers were brothers, which made them cousins, and therefore we could also say that Boaz was cousin to Ruth’s first husband. So Naomi tells Ruth that Boaz is one of their next kinsmen. Now there’s an emphasis upon this Hebrew goel. What does that mean? Well, let’s look at this law in relationship to the land. “The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me. And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land” (Lev_25:23-24). Now how would God do this? “If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold” (Lev_25:25). This is the law of the kinsman-redeemer in relationship to land.
Now let’s see that in operation. When these people came into the land, God gave them the Promised Land; it was theirs. But they occupied it only as they were faithful to God. When they were unfaithful, God put them out of the land. He said, “The land is Mine, but I give it to you as a permanent, perpetual possession.” He gave them title to it, and they still have title to it, by the way. God put them in the land according to tribes.
A certain tribe had a certain section of the land. You may have maps in the back of your Bible which show the division of the land among the tribes of Israel. And each family within each tribe had a particular plot of land. He could never leave it. But suppose he becomes poor. Perhaps he’s had two or three years of crop failure. (Famine did come because of their unfaithfulness to God.) And a man has to get rid of his land.
Now he has a rich neighbor who sees the opportunity to take a mortgage. Well, all he can take is up to a fifty-year mortgage, because in the Year of Jubilee every mortgage is cancelled, and the land returns to its original owner. This law kept the land in a family. But it’s a long way between jubilees. A man may be middle-aged at one jubilee, and in another fifty years he’ll be gone. So if he had sold his property he would not get it back in his lifetime, but his son would get it.
Now suppose he has a rich relative, a cousin for example, and that rich cousin is moved toward him and wants to help him. Well, that rich cousin can come right in and pay the mortgage off, and restore it to the owner even before the Year of Jubilee. And I assume that in the Year of Jubilee whoever did the redeeming was also remunerated for whatever he’d put into the land. That was God’s method. It would be wonderful to have a rich uncle, wouldn’t it? It’d be wonderful to have that kind of a redeemer. Now this applied not only to property but also to persons. “And if a sojourner or stranger wax rich by thee, and thy brother that dwelleth by him wax poor, and sell himself unto the stranger or sojourner by thee, or to the stock of the stranger’s family: after that he is sold he may be redeemed again; one of his brethren may redeem him” (Lev_25:47-48). Now a man may have been in very unfortunate circumstances. He not only lost his property, but perhaps due to drought and famine in the land, his children are hungry and he sells himself into slavery in order to feed his family. This poor fellow will be in slavery until the Year of Jubilee. If that year is forty-nine years away, that’s going to be a long time to be in slavery. He may live and die in slavery.
But suppose again that he has a rich relative, and one day he sees that rich uncle coming down the road, taking his checkbook out of his pocket. He says, “Look, I don’t want my nephew to be in slavery,” and he pays off the price of this man’s slavery. He has redeemed him, you see, and the man can go free. The kinsman-redeemer is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our Kinsman-Redeemer. And that’s the reason the word redemption is used in the New Testament rather than atonement. Atonement covered up sins, that’s all. But redemption, friend, means to pay a price so that the one who is redeemed may go scot-free. Now Christ not only died to redeem our persons, He died also to redeem this earth. You and I live on an earth that someday is going to be delivered from the bondage of corruption, and there’ll be a new heaven and a new earth. That is part of His redemption. The only biblical example of a kinsman-redeemer is that of Boaz, which is the reason I wrote on the Book of Ruth. It reveals the love side of redemption. Here is a man who is a kinsman-redeemer, but he doesn’t have to act in that capacity. We’ll find out there’s another kinsman who was actually a nearer relative than Boaz, and he had the opportunity to take action, but he turned it down. He did not care for Ruth but, you see, Boaz loved her. That made the difference. Now God didn’t have to redeem us. We were lost sinners. If He did not redeem us, He could still be a just and holy God. But He loved us. You see, salvation by redemption is a love story. And now we have it told here in simple language illustrated by this little foreign girl from Moab and Boaz in the land of Israel.
Ruth 2:21
That took about six weeks. For six weeks, every afternoon, you’d see coming into Bethlehemnot wise men, not yet; not shepherds, not yet; not Joseph and Mary yetBoaz and Ruth. Boaz is in love with Ruth. I think he looked like a dying calf in a thunderstorm. And the little town of Bethlehem is gossiping, good gossip, “Our most eligible bachelor has fallen.” And I’m sure that Naomi with whom Ruth lived could look out the window and see them coming in every afternoon. She knows something needs to be done about this, because actually Ruth is in a most unique position. Boaz is in love with her, and he wants to redeem her. It’s wonderful to have a Savior who loves us, who came to this earth 1900 years ago in order that He might redeem us.