A Journey Through The Old Testament - Elmer Towns

come to the place where she recognized the wrongness of her prior decisions and actions, but had
not yet come to the place where she was ready to repent of that sin. But for the sake of an
ignored, perhaps even despised young widow from Moab, Naomi would have no part in the
blessing of God.
LOVE’S RESPONSE
(Ruth 2:1-23)
Ruth and Naomi returned to Bethlehem in the late spring about the time of the barley
harvest (Ruth 1:22). As they settled into their new home, it was only natural that Ruth should
recognize the opportunity to work in the harvest. Under the Law, God had made provision for the
poor by allowing them to glean grain from the fields after the harvesters had finished their work.
As a result, the poor often gathered in the fields a distance behind the harvesters to gather up that
which remained. Ruth’s first sight of Bethlehem may have included seeing a group of gleaners
following the harvesters in the fields. As there was little else a virtuous widow could do in that
culture to provide for her needs, it was obvious she would soon be spending much of the harvest
season in the fields.
But even though the gleaners were insured a means to provide for themselves under the
Law, they were not always welcomed by the landowners. Sometimes they were abused
emotionally and physically by the reapers who considered them easy prey. This would be
especially true in the case of a young and attractive widow from Moab. As she set out that
morning to glean in the fields, Ruth suspected she might have to try several fields before finding
one in which she could be safe. As it worked out, the field she chose first would be the only field
she would have to work.
“She happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family
of Elimelech” (2:3), but the events that followed suggest God was the guiding hand behind this
apparent coincidence. When Boaz visited his reapers in the field, it did not take long for him to
notice Ruth. It was love at first sight. He urged her to glean only in his fields and to feel free to
glean among those who were doing the actual reaping. He offered her the food and water he had
provided for his own reapers. He warned the men who worked in the fields not to abuse Ruth but
to even leave extra grain in the field for her to glean.
While Boaz was attracted to Ruth by her physical beauty (cf. 3:10), he was also
impressed by her character. He had heard people talking about Ruth and had formed a positive
impression based on what he knew. As he explained to Ruth in the field, “It has been fully
reported to me, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband,
and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to
a people whom you did not know before” (2:11). At the same time, Boaz offered a prayer for
Ruth. “The Lord repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel,
under whose wings you have come for refuge” (v. 12). Little did he know at the time the role he
would later play in that “full reward.”
By the end of the day, Ruth had reaped of the generosity of her newfound friend Boaz.
After beating out the grain, she had “about an ephah of barley” (v. 17). An ephah is equivalent to
about three pecks and five quarts. The significance of the amount of grain Ruth was able to glean
is evident when it is realized this is about ten times the daily allotment of manna which God
provided for Israel in the wilderness (cf. Ex. 16:16). It is no wonder her mother-in-law wanted to
know all the details as to how the day had gone. And when Naomi heard Ruth mention the name
of Boaz, she began to see more than grain growing in the fields of Bethlehem.