Ruth 2

06 Oct 2024

Ruth 2

Passage Ruth 2

Speaker Neil Hayden

Series Ruth

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Passage: Ruth 2

Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz.

And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.”

Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.

Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, “The Lord be with you!”

“The Lord bless you!” they answered.

Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?”

The overseer replied, “She is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.’ She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.”

So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”

10 At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?”

11 Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. 12 May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

13 “May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servants.”

14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.”

When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. 15 As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her. 16 Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.”

17 So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah. 18 She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.

19 Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!”

Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said.

20 “The Lord bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers.”

21 Then Ruth the Moabite said, “He even said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.’”

22 Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.”

23 So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

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Transcript (Auto-generated)

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Now Naomi had a relative of her husband's, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz and Ruth. The Moabite said to Naomi, let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him, in whose sight I shall find favour. And she said to her, go, my daughter. 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.

And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. And he said to the reapers, the Lord be with you. And they answered, the Lord bless you. Then Boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the reapers, whose young woman is this? And the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, she is the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab.

She said, please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers. So she came, and she has continued from early morning until now, except for a short rest. Then Boaz said to Ruth, now listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping, and go after them. Have I not charged the young men not to touch you?

And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn. Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, why have I found favour in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner? But Boaz answered her, 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. Then she said, I have found favour in your eyes, my lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not one of your servants.

What is?

And at meal time Boaz said to her, come here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine. So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed to her roasted grain, and she ate until she was satisfied and she had some left over. When she rose to Glean, Boaz instructed his young men, saying, let her glean even among the sheaves and do not reproach her. And also pull out some of the bundles for her and leave it for her to glean. And do not rebuke her.

So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. And she took it up and went into the city. Her mother in law saw what she had gleaned. She also brought out and gave her what food she had left over after being satisfied.

And her mother in law said to her, where did you glean today and where have you worked? Blessed be the man who took notice of you. So she told her mother in law with whom she had worked, and said, the man's name with whom I worked today is Boaz. And Naomi said to her daughter in law, may he be blessed by the lord whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead. Naomi also said to her, the man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.

And Ruth, the Moabite, said, besides, he said to me, you shall keep close to my young men until they have finished all my harvest. And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter in law, it is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, lest in another field you be assaulted. So she kept close to the young women of Boaz, gleaming until the end of the barley and wheat harvests. And she lived with her mother in law.

Good morning.

A prayer before I start. Heavenly Father, give us ears to hear your word this morning and take these words of mine and use them as you will to your glory. Amen.

The book of Ruth is a story of all ordinary people in difficult times and their struggles to survive and maintain the family line and property, little knowing that their seemingly insignificant acts are going to bless many, many people. And as I speak this morning, I know that there are people gathered here today who have made the difficult decision to leave their homeland and loved ones. There are people who have recently been bereaved. There are widows and others struggling under very trying circumstances. So I trust that the Book of Ruth will be a comfort to you, because above all else, the book of Ruth is a love story.

But it isn't a love story in the conventional sense as we know it of a love story. It's a story that's full of insightful illustrations of God's Hesed. Hesed is a Hebrew word, and it appears in Ruth three times. Hesed has no equivalent word in the english language, and so it is translated in a number of ways, depending on the context. Sometimes kindness, other times loyalty, faithfulness, mercy or love.

But Hesed isn't a romantic infatuation type of love. It's nothing, just a warm feeling or a family bond. But Hesed is an action that intervenes on behalf of someone and lifts them out of their problems. It lifts them up out of their plight, completely undeserved. Loyalty, which bestows goodwill, kindness, mercy and generosity far beyond any obligation or any obligation or duty.

Hesed is the word that appears and is used in the Old Testament to describe God's love for his people. And those who have experienced God's Hesed are expected to share it among their people that they come into contact with in their daily lives. Now, we've heard that Naomi and her husband and her sons went to Moab. They went there to escape a famine. They lived there for about ten years.

But unfortunately, Naomi's husband and her two sons both died. And Naomi has decided to to return to Bethlehem. But she encouraged her moabite daughters in law to stay in their homeland. In chapter one, verse eight, Naomi petitions God, and the word she uses is hesed. She petitions God to bestow his love on them.

But out of selfless loyalty, Ruth chose to leave her own people and their gods to follow Naomi and her God Yahweh, because she feared for her mother in law's well being without someone to provide for her.

Back in Bethlehem, Naomi said that God had made her life bitter. Once, living relatively comfortably with husbands to provide for them. Now they had nothing and no one. At that time, God's law stated that the poor, the widows and the orphans should be allowed to glean in the fields at harvest time. Now that is, to follow behind the harvest workers in the space where the harvest has been taken from the field and to look for individual grains and bits of ears of barley that have fallen and been overlooked.

It was a dangerous thing for a lone, vulnerable, foreign woman to do, working in a field with men she did not know.

But Ruth's determination to do so is another illustration of her loyalty, of her care for Naomi, gleaning was a very demeaning thing to do. It's an early form of a food bank.

So Ruth set out in the hope that she would find someone who would allow her to glean in safety.

Thankfully, at a time when Israel was suffering from moral decline and it was not uncommon for people to be exploited, and most people were looking out for their own concerns and not worried about others, Ruth, by chance, came upon Boaz's field.

And Boaz, we know by the way, he greets his workers. In verse four was a God fearing israelite, a man who followed goddess. We know that because he greets his workers by saying, God be with you. He's a man of high moral character who, unbeknown to Ruth, is a distant relative of her dead father in law. And when Boaz discovered Ruth's identity, he understood her vulnerability and extended his protection to her.

And he even gave her a helping hand. In verse eight and nine, he says, stay right behind the young woman working in my field. See which part of the field they are harvesting and then follow them. I've warned the young men not to touch you. And when you're thirsty, help yourself to the water that I have drawn from the well.

And Ruth's immediate response was that of a person of lesser status. She fell to the ground on her face and thanked Boaz, surprised that he'd extended his kindness to someone that was not of his people. Now, when I read that, and I've read it several times in preparing this, it made me question, who am I that God should care for me? Why should I gain from his hesed love?

Now, Boaz reveals that he knows all about Ruth's faithful loyalty to Naomi. And he asks Yahweh's blessing on Ruth. And in doing so, he uses an image of God, an image of God's loving protection, that of a hen gathering its chicks under her arm for warmth and protection. He said, may the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wing you have come to take refuge, reward you fully for what you have done. And Boaz petition reminds us that those who seek the shelter of God will be kept secure.

Now, later, at mealtime, Boaz invites Ruth over to sit with the workers and eat some of the food that he provided for them. He gave her so much food that she got some left over to take back to Ruth. Sorry, but to take back to Naomi. Boaz's kindness and goodwill towards a stranger went beyond the requirements of God's law, way beyond the requirements of God's law. And his later instruction to the workers.

To allow her to glean among the sheaves and to deliberately drop heads of barley not only spared Ruth's shame, but it also made it easy for her to gather grain.

Yet a further illustration, compassion and generosity that goes way beyond the requirements of duty or obligation. So much so that Ruth returned to Naomi with a staggering amount of grain, something in the region of 20 kilogrammes, about 40 times what she would expect to have gathered. But there's more. Boaz tells her to stay with the workers until the end of the harvest. Imagine just how much grain Ruth will have gathered by then.

Boaz treatment of Ruth not only demonstrates Hesed, it definitely fulfilled the commandment to love your neighbour as yourself. And if we overlook or miss the extent of Boad's generosity, we miss his assessment of Ruth. To the people of that time, she was nothing and had nothing to offer. A gentile, a foreigner, an enemy of Israel, a woman and a widow to boot, with no assets.

But Boaz saw her worth her faithfulness.

And in the same way, we can easily overlook the generosity of God to us, we can fail to grasp the extent of our work in God's eyes, we easily overlooked how God has provided what we need. We put it down to our own efforts, self congratulate. Haven't I done well? It's down to us, nothing to do with God.

We put it down to good luck, happy coincidence.

And sometimes, like Naomi, the pain in our lives can cause us to doubt God's love.

And we know what we are like and think, well, how can anyone like me actually qualify to be a beneficiary of God's love?

God's hesed love. But remember, Hesed is an undeserved love. There's nothing we can do that will gain it. It is undeserved love. And on seeing the amount of grain that Ruth had gleaned from Boaz's field, Naomi offered up a prayer of thanks.

She says in verse 20, Naomi said to her daughter in law, may he be blessed by the Lord. She meant Boaz, whose kindness? The Lord she's talking about, whose kindness. And here she uses the word I. Hesed has not forsaking the living or the dead.

Naomi also said to her, this man is a close relative of ours, one of our kinsmen redeemers. You see, Naomi suddenly recognised God's providence in guiding Ruth to Boaz's field. It didn't happen by chance. It wasn't a happy coincidence. It was a God incident.

It was God's doing. Ruth had to be willing to take that brave step of going gleaning. But from then on, God guided their steps.

God uses very small, insignificant acts to bless others.

But Naomi recognised God's hesed love, God's never ending, no matter what unchanging commitment to his people. Naomi helps us to see God's commitment to us in the worst of times, to know that he is in control, even if everything seems out of control in our lives, to know he still has goodwill towards us, even at the times when it doesn't feel good to us. God's hesed, God's love never ever stops working for you. It may be hard to see at times, but God's hesed never leaves you so remainderezenous loyal to him because he will always remain loyal to you.

One of the ways in which God acts is through ordinary people passing on his hesed love through acts of loyalty, goodwill, kindness, compassion and generosity to others. Now, I don't suppose many of us have been directly involved in gathering the harvest from the fields this year, but I want you to take a moment just to think about what you have reaped this year from God's hesed love being shown to you by others and through others, because that is a harvest to be truly thankful for.

In her prayer, Naomi also recognised the Lord's love, his hesed love to the dead, by which she meant her dead husband, because she recognised he sent Ruth to the field of a kinsman redeemer. Now, under God's law, a kinsman redeemer was a relative who had the resources and was and willingly agreed to provide for families without a male heir, preserving their family identity and interests, settling their debts and their obligations whilst defending them. Now, I'm not going to go into all the detail of the law. I'm going to give it to you very short what a kinsman redeemer did. In short, a kinsman redeemer had to be willing to redeem himself a bride by paying the redemption price.

Now, for some of you, that might sound like a description of somebody else that God sent to lift us from our plight. In God's love for us, he sent his son Jesus Christ, a kinsman of ours, because he was born a human being.

When we turn to Jesus, our future is secure. Because when he opened his arms of love on the cross, he willingly paid once and for all the price for all the things that we do that offend God. And he stands as our advocate and he will lift us from the sting of death. Now, if you're not sure about Jesus, be like Ruth and take a brave step towards the kinsman's field. Like her, you will be surprised at how he welcomes you.

And if you are a christian experiencing God's hesed love, are you sharing that same love with the people you meet in your daily lives?

Will they be surprised by how much of God's love you allow them to glean from you?

I'll finish with a prayer.

May the Lord God continue to bless you with his love today and always. Amen.

We're going to sing our final hymn.