1 Now Naomi had a kinsman of her husband, a man of great wealth, of the family of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz.

The phrase A man of great wealth tells us Boaz had—

Why did Elimelech and his family leave Israel? They did not want to lose all of their money, which, ultimately, they did. Those who stayed in Bethlehem prospered economically.

Picture: We are presented with a man, Boaz, who endured the famine in Bethlehem and who was wealthy at the end of the famine.

Application: The correct economic decision for Elimelech and his family would have been to stay in Bethlehem — the place of protection and provision.

Naomi's kinsman, Boaz, had a lot of money, but the phrase A man of great wealth means much more than that. It refers more to the character (esteem) and strength of Boaz. If we picked one word, it would be—

Ironically, the name of Ruth's first husband was Mahlon, meaning "weak", and the name of her second husband was Boaz, meaning "strong".

A Great Picture: The redeemed were first married to the Law. Paul said that the Law was weak, not in itself, but it was ineffective because of our sin. And then, he says in Romans—

Application: Our second spouse is Messiah Jesus, who is strong.

Let us turn back to the book of Judges, Chapter 12—

The name Ibzan means Sir Boaz. [In writing, the Hebrew language does not have vowels; bz=Boaz.] Therefore, Boaz was one of the judges.

The sons and daughters were not Boaz's biological children. The Scripture reads Whom he gave in marriage outside the family. What does that mean? Boaz did not have any sons or daughters; they were not his biological offspring. They were probably orphaned young men and young women he brought in to take care of and to make matches for.

This was during a time when the Moabites and Canaanites kept attacking the Israelites. As a result, there were many Israelites lost to all of the fighting, so there were a lot of orphans.

Boaz was probably taking care of many of these orphans.

Boaz was a man of unbelievable character and wealth. He was, obviously, the most distinguished person of that area, and he was one of their judges.

And do you know what? Naomi knew that because Boaz was her husband's nephew. But it is obvious that when she returned to Bethlehem, she was not thinking about Boaz.

2 And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, "Please let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after one in whose sight I may find favor."

Of course, Ruth did not have anybody at the fields in mind, because she did not know anybody in Bethlehem.

How would that find favor with somebody? Almost nobody followed the reaping-gleaning procedure; it was very rare to find a landowner that would instruct the reapers to leave crops in the field for the needy.

That is why Ruth did NOT say Let me go look and see if I can find somebody with whom I might find favor. This meant—

Basically, there were two ways in which the Law stated that crops were to be left during the harvest, as follows:

1. Corners & Forgotten Areas - Though most of the fields were rectangular, they were plowed in a circular pattern so the corners were left unharvested. The Law stated that the reapers were not to go back and get the crops in those corners, nor were they to go to forgotten areas in the field. They were to leave both of these areas for the poor, the orphans, and the widows to glean. This would be a mixture of good and bad crops.
2. Additional Passes - When the reapers would pass through the field, the plump, good crops would fall off fairly easily, and the lesser quality crops would remain on the stalk. The Law said the reapers were not to make additional passes to retrieve these remaining crops. The poor, the widows, and the orphans could have the lesser (inferior) quality crops.

Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, neither shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 19:9-10)

When you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow, in order that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not go over it again; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing. (Deuteronomy 24:19-22)

Messiah Jesus and His disciples were gleaning in the grainfields on the Sabbath because they were poor—

The Pharisees were only concerned about the Law; that was what was so heartless about them. They overlooked the fact that these men were poor and that gleaning was the only way they could eat.

That was when Messiah Jesus said to the Pharisees about the legal Sabbath: Get a life! —

Ruth set out just looking for somebody who was actually kind enough to leave something to glean—

3 So she departed and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers; and she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.

Do you agree that God has a sense of humor? The word happened is specifically used by Holy Spirit. Consider what happened:

• Ruth just happened to come to that one place where Boaz was the most generous person (he let the needy glean), and
• Boaz just happened to belong to Elimelech's family.

All of that just happened!

From Ruth's Perspective: It was just a wonderful coincidence.

Picture: We have a picture of what happens to somebody (Ruth) who is not yet saved, but who is one of the elect.

Somebody who is one of the elect, and before they have trusted in Messiah Jesus, is spiritually lost.

For some, there comes a time when their spirit has been regenerated, but they are not aware of it yet. They do not know they are regenerated; therefore, they have not yet responded to Holy Spirit.

There are also the elect who are lost and who have not been regenerated, but they will be. And for some, regeneration happens almost instantaneously with their redemption.

For anybody who is regenerated, redemption will happen.

That was what Ruth was. Apparently, she was not a believer yet, but Holy Spirit was guiding Ruth. Of course in Ruth's mind, she was doing what she wanted to do; she was moving at random.

Actually, God was moving Ruth to Boaz; He was moving Ruth to the point of salvation.

Picture: God moves every elect person to Messiah Jesus, and they are oblivious to Him doing this. In their mind, they think they are following their own free will.

Obviously, when Ruth got into the field at the beginning of the day, Boaz was not there.

4 Now behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, "May the Lord be with you." And they said to him, "May the Lord bless you."

The phrase May the Lord be with you was not a common figure of speech. Boaz was intentionally pronouncing a blessing on his workers, and they were reciprocating. This shows the close relationship Boaz had with his reapers. There was not a labor-management problem here!

Again, this was during the time of the judges in Israel.

When Boaz showed up at his field, he would always see two groups of people in his field:

1. The reapers, and
2. The gleaners.

Most field owners would go see their reapers, but Boaz, who allowed gleaners to work in his fields, would always go to see the reapers and the gleaners.

Obviously, there would be a lot of gleaners, because it was probably the only place around where the needy could glean. Additionally, the gleaners would be in the fields of Boaz all of the time.

What a great combination:

• Boaz had the best fields, and
• Boaz was a sympathetic person.

5 Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, "Whose young woman is this?"

Interestingly enough, all of the gleaners that Boaz saw that day had to look alike. There could not have been anything that would have made one of them (Ruth) stand out, especially from a distance.

Now Ruth was probably beautiful (physically attractive). However, there was no way Boaz could have known that from a distance. Ruth would have blended in with all of the other gleaners, particularly with the way they dressed in that day. There would have been nothing to make her stand out.

Boaz picked out Ruth for no apparent reason.

Picture: That is a great picture of Messiah Jesus picking His own out.

When one looks at the nine billion people who have ever lived on this planet, with nothing to distinguish any of them, they have to all look about the same. Obviously, to pick somebody out from a distance means one is not doing it on the basis of merit or particular beauty.

This is similar to sportscasters who have the cameramen pan the sports stadium for television viewers.

All you (the viewer) see is a mass of humanity. Basically, you know that within the crowd, there are people who are beautiful, some who are unattractive, and a majority who are in-between. However, from your comfy couch in front of the television, they all look about the same to you. You cannot distinguish someone with particular beauty or with any other characteristics.

Messiah Jesus looks at nine billion people, and He does not look at a mass of people, or even just the entire body of believers. He has an ability to look at nine billion people and focus in on each one of us. His entire attention is focused on each individual — on you — because:

So Boaz asks Whose young woman is that one right there? And the servant explains—

6 The servant in charge of the reapers answered and said, "She is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi form the land of Moab."

The servant knew that explanation was sufficient, because he was aware that Boaz knew Naomi; after all, she was married to his uncle. Obviously, Boaz was familiar with their story (Elimelech and his family moved from Bethlehem to Moab).

Before the family left Bethlehem, Boaz probably told Elimelech Do NOT do it Uncle Eli! [Been there, checked that --sic!]

Then the servant quoted Ruth—

7 And she said, "Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves." Thus she came and has remained from the morning until now; she has been sitting in the house for a little while.

We express our deepest appreciation to Mitchell and Dawn Kolodin for their excellent work in transcribing and editing this entire Ruth study.

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