Resurrecting Love

Let's review the story so far: in the days of the judges, a famine hits Bethlehem. Naomi and her husband and two sons leave for Moab, where her husband dies and her sons marry Moabite women before they die. Naomi is now returning home, with her daughter-in-law Ruth, who has refused to leave her side and has pledged to be faithful and loyal to her until death.

Naomi and Ruth have both experienced the death of those close to them. But what Ruth is experiencing is the closest thing to a living death we can imagine. She's laid down her whole life for a woman who is too consumed by her own grief to even notice. There's no one supporting her, caring for her, thanking her, noticing her. She's lost everything and is as close to alone as you can imagine, a stranger in a strange land.

And most modern people would have bailed out long ago. "This doesn't feel right. This isn't what I had in mind. This is way too much for me. This is way too hard and uncomfortable."

We're not used to the idea that love can feel like death. That love, much of the time, is supposed to feel like death, because greater love has no man than the one who lays down his life for his friends (John 15:13). Greater love has no man than the one who has the skin flayed off their back and nails driven through their wrists for their friends.

Love hurts.

And when we bail out on love—when we get to the Gathsemanes of our love and choose to take the easy way out—we miss out on the resurrections on the other side of death.

Because on the other side of death is resurrection. Not just for Jesus, not just for us when He returns, but over and over again in Scripture we see that death and resurrection is the pattern of our lives as we follow the Lord. Follow the storyline of God's people, and you see it again and again. Death and then resurrection.

Ruth has died to her old life. She's experiencing a living death in the presence of Naomi, and she's about to taste resurrecting love, which we begin to see in today's chapter.

1. Naomi and Ruth (vv. 1-2)

Ruth chapter 2 is built around three main scenes. The first and the third are short scenes featuring Naomi and Ruth, and in the middle we have a longer scene where Ruth and a guy named Boaz come to centre stage.

a. Naomi's relative

Boaz is actually introduced to us in verse one in relation to Naomi: we're just told, out of the blue, that "Naomi had a relative of her husband’s, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz” (Ruth 2:1).

This is not just a random detail. There are no random details in the Bible. Naomi has a relative, a good man, whose name "Boaz" speaks of strength. In that day especially families had a responsibility to provide for each other, and so this is a hint here that Naomi is not as empty as she may have thought. And by telling us about Boaz at this point, and what kind of man he is, the narrator builds curiosity and helps make sense of what's about to come.

b. Ruth's Initiative & Naomi's Consent (v. 2)

But at this point, Boaz and Naomi and Ruth haven't had any contact with each other. Naomi, we're about to find out, still has the parcel of land that belonged to her husband. Perhaps that's where they're living. But without being worked, the land isn't producing anything. Ruth and Naomi need food.

And so Ruth initiates. As if we couldn't forget where she's from, we're told that “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’" (Ruth 2:2a).*

Ruth doesn't wait around for someone to notice them and take care of them. She initiates. She gets to work.

And she can do that because in Israel there was a practice that God had already put in place called gleaning. God had told His people in Leviticus 22, “‘And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God’” (Leviticus 23:22). It's not the first time He said something like that (Lev 19:9-10), nor will it be the last (Deut 24:19).

This is such a beautiful law, because it makes a way for the poor to be provided for, but it also doesn't just give them handouts. The rich get to be generous by not getting everything they could off of their land, and the poor get to work for what they eat just like everybody else has to.

Now, just because this is in the law doesn't mean everybody in Israel is going to be following this law, especially in the days of the judges when the law was often ignored. Still, the fact that there is a harvest suggests this is a time of general obedience to God, and so Ruth goes out to see if someone will let her glean.

Notice how she offers to go alone. As far as we know, there's no reason Naomi can't go and work too. She's not an old woman—maybe no older than 40 or 50. Why isn't she working? Is she too depressed to leave her house? I've been around people like that.

But whatever is going on, Ruth doesn't make a big deal out of it. She offers to go work. Steadfast love involves mercy. She's pledged her love to Naomi, and now she's offering to work to provide for her.

You might wonder why she asks permission. Maybe it's a sign of respect.

Maybe, as a stranger in a strange land, she's a little hesitant to just go out the door and start working. Maybe Naomi knows things about this gleaning thing than she does.

And Naomi doesn't offer to go with her, like she probably should have. She doesn't give her advice. She doesn't point her in a particular direction. She just says, "Go, my daughter."

2. Ruth and Boaz (vv. 3-16)

a. Ruth Works, God Guides (v. 3)

So Ruth sets out. Imagine what this must have been like. Remember your first day on a job? Now imagine the job is in a new country, and your job is to just pick a field and start picking up bits of grain left behind, hoping to find a field where the owners remember the law and don't chase her away.

But off goes courageous Ruth. Verse 3: “So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers.” But as Ruth works, God is guiding . What does the rest of verse 3 tell us? "she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech” (Ruth 2:3).

She just picked a field. And what she doesn't know is that she has "just happened" to start working in the field belonging to that worthy relative we just heard about.

"Just happened," hey? The Hebrew text here is actually stronger than English in how it doubles up on the language of chance. One translation puts it "She just happened to end up in the portion of the field belonging to Boaz" (Ruth 1:3, NET). We should know that the narrator is winking at us here. It's like they're using finger quotes. "Just happened to end up."

Because while this is true from Ruth's perspective—she doesn't even know who Boaz is yet, let alone what fields are his—we should immediately be aware of the unseen hand guiding her here. Remember last week—how there is no such thing as chance? Everything, from the throw of a die to the fall of a sparrow, is guided by the invisible hand of God's providence, directing all things to His appointed goal.

The same Lord who visited His people and brought Naomi back from the land of Moab has invisibly guided Ruth to this particular field on this particular day, where she gets to work.

b. Boaz Arrives & Notices (v. 4-7)

And that prepares us for the arrival of Boaz in verse 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’” (Ruth 2:4).

Boaz, the landowner, shows up to check on his employees. In Biblical stories, first words matter. The first words that a character speaks are kind of like their business card, giving us a glimpse and summary into who this person is. And so it’s telling that Boaz’s first words are "The Lord be with you!" to his reapers.

This is not just saying "hi!" For the people of Israel, a harvest was a "God thing." They hadn't had harvests in a while because of disobeying God. They are harvesting right now because God has visited His people.

So for Boaz to say to his workers, "The Lord be with you!" he's not just blessing them personally, he's acknowledging the role of the Lord in this fruitful harvest. And his workers respond in kind.

Boaz's first words here set us up to see him as a godly man who is living his life before the face of God.

Boaz is also an attentive employer, because he knows who works for him, and he notices someone new in the field. Verse 5: “Then Boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the reapers, ‘Whose young woman is this?”’” (Ruth 2:5).

It's very interesting that he doesn't say, "Who is this?" about Ruth. He says "whose young woman is this?" He can see she's young—maybe only in her early 20s—and assumes she belongs to someone, either a father or maybe a husband. But he doesn't recognize her, so he asks.

And his foreman answers, verse 6, “She is the young Moabite woman, who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab." Notice how her name doesn't come up, but Moab is mentioned twice. She's that foreigner who came back with Naomi who everybody was all in a buzz about. And now we hear about what Ruth has done so far that day—verse 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’” (Ruth 2:7).

She came, she asked, and she's barely stopped working.

d. Boaz Protects & Provides(vv. 8-9)

And what happens next? Think of some of the stories that we hear in our world time and time again, and how those stories would sound in this context.

• "And Boaz said, ‘OK, she's gleaned enough. We've done our duty according to the law. Tell her to move along so that other landowners can share the load with me of caring for this stranger.'"
• Or, "And Boaz said, 'Ugh, an immigrant. This country is having such a hard time with idolatry as it is. We need to stay pure so we can worship the Lord. We don't need any more foreign influence here. Tell her to go back where she came from."
• Or, "And Boaz said to himself, 'Hmm, a vulnerable young woman with nobody to protect her. I could do what I want with her and nobody would notice, let alone do anything about it.'"

Women in Ruth's situation, up to the present day, are often either ignored or treated terribly or taken advantage of. Immigrants and foreign workers are often treated suspiciously at best, terribly at worst, even in our own country. Labour standards and healthcare can be atrocious if they apply at all. Trafficking is a crime on the rise in Canada, often targeting those new to the country, and very much driven by people's insatiable demand for pornography.

And how much more at that time in history. Think of the kinds of things that happened in the days of the judges. We're going to hear in just a few moments just how dangerous things were for Ruth.

Boaz is a powerful, rich man, close to the top of Israel's social structure. Ruth, a female foreigner without a husband, is literally at the bottom. Boaz could do whatever he wanted with her that day, from running her out of town to taking advantage of her, with a low chance of any consequence.

Ruth was easy prey, and if Boaz was a predator, this story could have ended so, so differently.

But Boaz is a worthy man. He doesn't just notice Ruth. He actually sees her. Sees her as a person. Sees her situation, her story, her needs. Just like Jesus who, we're told in the gospels, looked at people and cared for them.

And Boaz moves towards Ruth now to protect her and provide for her. First, he says in verse 8, “…Now, listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women" (Ruth 2:8–9a).

Boaz's use of "my daughter" could reveal his age, but more importantly shows that his first instinct, as he recognizes Ruth's vulnerability, is to protect her the way a father would.

So he tells her, doubly, not to go into another field or to leave that one. He says the same thing a third time in verse 9. He knows that it's not safe out there for a woman in her spot. Even though Israel as a whole has had some experience of turning to the Lord, not everyone in Israel knows the Lord. There are others who would be very willing to prey on Ruth's vulnerability. Naomi herself knew this when she sent Ruth out that morning, which we find out at the end of the chapter.

So stay here, Boaz says in three different ways, and "keep close to my young women." Reaping was a gendered job. The men did the sweaty work of actually harvesting the grain with the sickles, and the women came behind them and gathered the grain into bundles. And Boaz says, literally, cling to my young women. This is the same word used for when Ruth clung to Naomi. Stay really close to them, because you'll be safe with them.

And then, underscoring how seriously he's taking this, he says, there at the end of verse 9, "Have I not charged the young men not to touch you?" You're not just safe with my female employees, you're safe with my young men as well, because I've charged them not to touch you.

Boaz has really taken charge of Ruth's purity here. He's already looked his guys in the eye and said, "Hands off the Moabite. Leave her alone." And he tells Ruth this, not to make her feel awkward, but to let her know that she's okay. She's in a place of safety there.

But protect is not all that he does. He also provides for her. Look at how verse 9 finishes up: “And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn” (Ruth 2:9).

This goes above and beyond what was expected in the law. Ruth would have expected to bring her own water with her from town. But the language of "drawing" here suggests that there's a well, and the young men are keeping his crew well-watered, and she's welcome to drink the fresh, cool water as if she were one of his employees.

The mention of drawing water from a well is really interesting because, three times by now, we've seen a scene in the Bible where a man travels to a foreign land and finds a well where he meets a young woman who draws him water and ends up being his wife (or the wife of his master's son, in the case of Abraham's servant).

Here, we see this pattern being flipped on its head: a young woman from another land has come to Israel, where she is being offered water from a well by one of the men of the land. This is just a very subtle hint at what's coming in the story.

e. Ruth Responds (v. 10)

Ruth probably didn't get that yet. She's just amazed at his generosity and protection. Look at how she responds in verse 10: “Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground" (Ruth 2:10).

Ruth acts like she's in the presence of a king or a great lord. She humbles herself before him, and asks a question of humility: "Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?"

Friends, notice this: Ruth has had a hard go of things. But she doesn't walk around thinking that she's been hard done by and that she deserves better. She's chosen to love, she's chosen to work hard, and she doesn't think of herself as anything more than a foreigner. She's flat out amazed, literally, when this Israelite man takes notice of her.

f. Boaz Honours (vv. 11-12)

And how does Boaz respond? Boaz could patronize her. He could brag about himself. "I'm just a generous guy, and it makes me feel good taking care of people who have nothing, like you."

We might laugh, but this happens. I grew up dirt poor and was often on the receiving end of people's generosity, and it's common enough for generosity to come with a heaping side dish of smug superiority. "You poor little thing, there there, I've made good choices in life, so let me help you out a little."

But listen to what Boaz says. “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’” (Ruth 2:11).

This is where the small-town, everybody-knowing-everything piece can be really valuable: when the "good gossip" that praises people's reputations gets passed around. However it came out, people know what Ruth has done, and it’s been passed on to Boaz. He knows that this woman has given up everything to come to a strange land to care for her mother-in-law.

But there's even more here. The language that Boaz uses here is very reminiscent of the words from Genesis 12:1, where God told Abraham to get up from the land of his family and go to a land that he did not know before.

Boaz, in other words, is comparing Ruth to Abraham, saying that she is worthy of being recognized for making a faith-based pilgrimage on par with the one that Abraham made when he set out to obey the Lord.

And he goes on to recognize that what she's done is a worthy deed, worthy of repayment—verse 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 2:12).

He knows that she has come into a situation where she's counting on God to take care of her—because she's got no other hope. And so he blesses her with these words that are like a prayer, directed to the person but expressing what you want God to do for them: may the Lord, the God of Israel, repay you with a full reward.

This is such an important moment because this is the first time that anybody, besides us as readers, has pointed out how incredible Ruth's act of love is and has given her any of the honour that she rightly deserves for what she's done.

g. Ruth Responds (v. 13)

And yet, once again, we learn so much about Ruth by how she responds. She doesn't say what many people might have said in this spot: "Finally, someone sees how great I am. I was beginning to wonder if everybody was just blind or if people did this kind of thing every day around here. Thanks for finally saying it!"

Or maybe like this: “Hey Boaz, would you mind if I took a selfie with you?” And then she posted it to Instagram with a caption that said “So thankful to spend time with this local small business owner today. Humbled and honoured to be compared to such a courageous leader as Abraham. #Blessed.”

Instead, Ruth responds with real humility in verse 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’” (Ruth 2:13).

More humility. More recognition of her low place, and his high place. More gratitude for his kind words. No sense of "I deserve recognition." Just more, "Wow, I can't believe I'm hearing this."

And I think we can agree that Ruth could have gone home at this point and been full of thankfulness. She got to glean in a safe field, she has someone watching out for her, she has water, she's been invited to keep working with this crew, and she's been seen and recognized for who she is. Not just "that Moabite," but her love for Naomi has been seen and praised.

Ruth is having a really good day.

h. Boaz Provides & Invites (vv. 14-16)

But her day is about to get a lot better. Look at verse 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” (Ruth 2:14).

Boaz has done two huge things for Ruth here. He's provided food for her, no doubt, way above and beyond what was expected. She's no longer picking up gleanings like a foreigner—she's been treated like one of his own people.

But by showing hospitality to her in this way, he's not just providing food—he's inviting her into community.

Have any of you ever been the new kid at school?

I remember once showing up at a new school a few weeks into the school year—and not only that, but showing up late on the day of. Walking into class as it was already underway. 25 sets of eyes, all staring at me.

Maybe some of you have had that feeling in the high school lunchroom, or a new workplace, or a new town, or even a new country.

And what you so desperately hate in those moments is to have people stare at you and keep your distance. What you so desperately want is for people to say, "Hey, come sit with us." You want to be invited into community.

And that's what Boaz has done for Ruth here. He's helping her go from being an outsider to an insider. He provides and he invites.

And that provision just continues in verses 15-16 as she gets up to glean and he tells his men to let her glean anywhere she wants, and even to deliberately leave extra behind for her. This man's generosity just continues.

4. Ruth & Naomi (vv. 17-23)

a. Ruth Works (v. 17)

And so our passage moves into the final scene. The transition point here is verse 17, where we see Ruth keep working all day. She doesn't think, "I've got enough by now." She works and she keeps working.

And by the end of the day, she has about an ephah of barley—about 22 litres of threshed grain. That is a huge haul for a single day, which is a testament to both Boaz’s generosity and her work ethic.

b. Ruth & Naomi Debrief (vv. 18-22)

And, the day's work complete, she returns to the city and shows Naomi what she gleaned, along with her leftovers from lunch. I'd just love to see the look on both of their faces in these moments.

And Naomi is appropriately blown away as they begin to debrief about what happened. “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’” (Ruth 2:19).

Naomi blesses Boaz, and informs Ruth that this man is one of their close relatives—in fact, one of their redeemers.

The idea of Boaz being a redeemer is something we'll explore more next week, but the short version is that he had a particular responsibility under the law to make sure that Elimelech's land and inheritance were protected and kept within the family. This isn't just any random generous guy: this is their guy.

And Naomi is floored, but she hasn't even heard it all. Verse 21: “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"'" (Ruth 2:21).

He just keeps giving.

c. Ruth Keeps Working (v. 23)

And Ruth keeps working. Verse 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.”

Conclusion

Look at These People

As we wrap up chapter 2, think of the way that Ruth and Naomi's story has changed. They started off back in their land, but alone and with nothing. Now Ruth has a community, people she knows and works with. They have food. They've been loved. They're being taken care of.

And so much of this came through the work of two people: Ruth and Boaz. And it is right for us to read this story and learn from these incredible examples.

It's very interesting that in some of the arrangements of the Hebrew Bible, the book of Ruth comes right after Proverbs, which sets up Ruth as the living embodiment of the wise, humble, hardworking woman described throughout Proverbs and especially in the 31st chapter.

Young women here today, if you want a role model to follow, don't chase the latest self-made celebrity influencer on Instagram whose main skills in life are posing for selfies and listening to her feelings. Look to this Moabite woman who knows how to work hard and doesn't need to be noticed and whose goal is not to be authentic to herself but to lay herself down for others.

Do you notice so far in the story that we haven't been told once how Ruth looks or how Ruth feels? That's because neither are very relevant to this story. And maybe they're a lot less relevant to your story than your social media feed would suggest.

Young men here today, if you want a role model to follow, don't look to however the world has decided to define masculinity for the last five minutes. Look to this man from Bethlehem who sees a young woman and doesn't think of what he can get from her but what he can do for her. Who provides generously and creates safety and invites the outsider into community.

Young men—start preparing today to be and to think like a father. A protector and a provider instead of a predator or a procrastinator. Men of all ages in this church—make this a community where the women around us, whoever's daughter they are, know that you would move heaven and earth to keep them safe.

Look at Their God

But don't just look at these people. Look at their God. See the invisible hand stirring their hearts to virtue, guiding Ruth's steps to Boaz's field, weaving these pieces together.

There are no miracles in today's passage, or this whole book for that matter. But don't think for a minute that God is not at work telling this story, bringing events together, guiding His people, keeping His promises.

Two weeks ago, we heard as Ruth said to Naomi, “Your people shall be my people, and your God my God” (Ruth 1:16). And we asked, will that work? And we're beginning to see the answer as God uses Boaz to envelop this Moabite woman into the fellowship of His people and extend His covenant blessings to her.

That's what's happening here today. God promised Israel that when they obeyed Him, “Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field…5 Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. 6 Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out” (Deuteronomy 28:3, 5–6). And all of that is happening now to Ruth.

Today, we are in a different spot in history, a different place in the big story, but our God is still the same. Our God is still inviting outsiders to be insiders through the generosity He’s extended to us in Christ.

Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). And if you aren't sure if He meant it or not, He went to the cross to pay for your sins and He rose from the dead to share His eternal life with you.

And this God is still guiding our steps with His invisible hand. Maybe He’s guided you here this morning so you, like Ruth, can hear and respond to His generous offer of grace. Maybe you are a Christian and, like Boaz, He’s bringing people into your life, your street, maybe the chair next to you, whom you can share generous love with.

In a few moments, we're going to hold up the bread and the cup, and this time, may we all remember that the death of Jesus for our sins is enough, and because it's enough, there is nobody too distant, too sinful, too messy for His mercy.