Book of Ruth -- Chapter 2

Back again....Chapter 2 of Ruth!

Ruth and Naomi have come home to Bethlehem.  What in the world are they going to eat?

Ruth is industrious and suggests she go into a field and ask permission to pick up the leftovers after the harvesters.  She can make bread with this.

This was a common practice in Bible times -- the poor were allowed to glean from the fields.

ENTER:  Boaz.  Ruth happens to choose Boaz' field.  That is sooooooooo God!

Boaz just happens to be a relative of Naomi.  Remember that -- it's important later.

Boaz notices Ruth.  I think it is love at first sight.  Boaz invites Ruth to continue to work in his fields. He invites her to eat and follow along each day.

Ruth is so humble!  She bows to the ground and asks why she has been given so much favor.

Her reputation proceeds her.  Boaz has heard about her kindness to Naomi.  He is impressed. 

"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. 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.”



Ruth tells Naomi about Boaz.  Naomi is excited as she says:

“The LORD bless him! 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.”

WHAT is a guardian-redeemer (or, as some Bibles say, kinsman-redeemer)?  This is a relative who pays a debt the other is unable to pay.

STOP RIGHT THERE!!!!!!!!!!!  Can you see some parallels being drawn here?

Let's follow Ruth's footsteps:

1.  Follow God without question
2.  Leave a foreign "homeland" of security and move to the PROMISE land gifted from God
3.  Humbly bow before your benefactor, admitting you are a foreigner and unworthy of notice.
4.  Discover someone who has the ability to pay a debt you can never repay. 

WHAT'S GOING ON HERE????   Read Chapter 3 and find out!