Ruth 2 English Standard Version (ESV)
Ruth Meets Boaz
2 Now Naomi had a relative of her husband’s, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. 2 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 favor.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.” 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. 4 And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. And he said to the reapers, “The LORD be with you!” And they answered, “The LORD bless you.” 5 Then Boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?” 6 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.7 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.”
8 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.9 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.”10 Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?” 11 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. 12 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!”13 Then she said, “I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not one of your servants.”
14 And at mealtime 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. 15 When she rose to glean, Boaz instructed his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. 16 And also pull out some from the bundles for her and leave it for her to glean, and do not rebuke her.”
17 So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. 18 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. 19 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.”20 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.” 21 And Ruth the Moabite said, “Besides, he said to me, ‘You shall keep close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’” 22 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.” 23 So she kept close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
Provision is directly tied to peace. When we have uncertainty, it creates a sense of unsettled-ness within our lives. It is an absence of peace.
Peace comes from provision. It comes when we get the certainty settled.
The Hebrew word for peace is “shalom.” That peace is a concept we may not fully understand, because we tend to define peace as the absence of conflict, or even a sense of calmness. But biblical “shalom” is the idea of flourishing. It is wholeness. It is bringing people and relationships into their intended status.
Ruth and Naomi could certainly relate to the lack of peace. Having lost their husbands and left to their own devices in the ancient world, they were certainly without any economic certainties. I can only imagine the level of stress they felt as they wondered how they would ever be able to put food on the table or provide.
1.He provides peace through
conversion. (1:16)
Ruth 1:16. Ruth the Moabitess was surrendering her gods and giving her life over to the Lord. There is a sense that when you give the Lord your life, you are declaring that your peace will flow from His hand.
In deciding to join her life to the life of Naomi, Ruth was forsaking her gods and calling upon the Lord. This is difficult to explain, but in the ancient world, taking allegiance to the Lord would be the equivalent of announcing that she would be depending on the Lord to care for her needs. So 1:16 is not only a conversion of Ruth from a religious perspective, but it is also a declaration in the ability of the Lord to provide, as she is attaching herself to the community.
Certainly Ruth had heard Naomi and her sons talk about Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 22. In that place, when the Lord asked Abram to bring his son as a sacrifice, the Lord had provided at the end. And it was there that Abram gave the Lord a name. Genesis 22:14: So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
This Lord always provides. It became his name.
Which leads to this moment: Are you lacking in peace because you have yet to truly decide that you will allow the Lord to be your first provider of peace?
2.He provides peace in
circumstances. (2:3)
“She happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimilech.”
—Ruth 2:3
This is what the Lord does. Once we surrender to Him, He orchestrates circumstances we could never have arranged.
If Ruth doesn’t wander into that particular part of the field, we don’t have this book, this story. Ruth doesn’t marry Boaz. They don’t have a child that becomes the grandfather of King David.
You can make a lot of plans and work hard, but the Lord does things.
One of the best things we can do once we surrender to the Lord, is to trust that He is working some things out that we simply can’t see. Your best first step is to surrender and start putting yourself in the places He would have you to be.
3.He provides peace with
commands. (2:7)
When we surrender to the way of the Lord, we begin following His statutes. And those statutes also create a pathway for the Lord to provide peace in our lives. Once Ruth surrenders to follow the Lord, she finds herself in a community that is governed by the laws that were established by the Lord.
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. —Leviticus 19:9
When you cut down your harvest in your field, and have forgot a sheaf in the field, you shall not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. —Deuteronomy 24:19
You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. —Leviticus 19:34
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. 12 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!” —Ruth 2:11-12
By choosing to live in line with the precepts of the Lord, Ruth demonstrated her allegiance to the Lord.
Why does this matter?
Financial provision comes when we choose to be generous as God has commanded. Relational satisfaction comes when we handle our lives and relationships as God has commanded. This is the vehicle He often uses to bring us the provision that we require.
4.He provides peace using
characters. (2:20)
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.” —Ruth 2:20
Peacemaking: It is the idea of bringing into oneness. It is making unity in relationships. It is destroying conflict. When we are not at peace, it is because we are conflict with ourselves, or others, or God.
Jesus commanded us to make peace. To make shalom. To make unity. To make one-ness.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” —Matthew 5:9
He commanded us to do so because it is His very nature. It is what He does. It is who He is.
“Making peace with God by the blood of his cross.” —Colossians 1:20
How does God provide each of our needs?