A verse by verse commentary on RUTH chapter 2 dealing with Ruth meeting with Boaz, and she found favor in his eyes and he treated her in a special way.

1. RUTH 2 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Ruth Meets Boaz in the Grain Field
1 Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s
side, a man of standing from the clan of
Elimelek, whose name was Boaz.
BARNES, "A kinsman - More literally “an acquaintance”; here (and in the
feminine, Rth_3:2) denoting the person with whom one is intimately acquainted,
one’s near relation. The next kinsman of Rth_2:20, etc. ‫גאל‬ gā'al, is a wholly different
word.
Boaz - Commonly taken to mean, “strength is in him” (compare 1Ki_7:21).
CLARKE, "A mighty man of wealth - We have already seen that some
suppose Boaz to have been one of the judges of Israel; he was no doubt a man of
considerable property.
GILL, "And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's,.... That was her kinsman
by her husband's side, who now lived at Bethlehem; and yet it does not appear that
Naomi made any application to him for assistance in her circumstances, though well
known to her, as the word used signifies; which might arise from her modesty, and
being loath to be troublesome to him, especially as he was a relation, not of her own
family, but of her husband's; but, what is more strange, that this kinsman had taken
no notice of her, nor sent to her, who yet was a very generous and liberal man, and
had knowledge of her coming, for he had heard of the character of Ruth, Rth_2:11
but perhaps he was not acquainted with their indigent circumstances:
a mighty man of wealth; a man of great wealth and riches, and of great power and
authority, which riches give and raise a man to, and also of great virtue and honour,
all which the word "wealth" signifies; to which may be added the paraphrase the
Targumist gives, that he was mighty in the law; in the Scriptures, in the word of God,
a truly religious man, which completes his character:
of the family of Elimelech; the husband of Naomi; some say that his father was
Elimelech's brother; see Gill on Rth_2:2,
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2. and his name was Boaz; which signifies, "in him is strength", strength of riches,
power, virtue, and grace; it is the name of one of the pillars in Solomon's temple, so
called from its strength. This man is commonly said by the Jews to be the same with
Ibzan, a judge of Israel, Jdg_12:8, he was the grandson of Nahshon, prince of the
tribe of Judah, who first offered at the dedication of the altar, Num_7:12, his father's
name was Salmon, and his mother was Rahab, the harlot of Jericho, Mat_1:5. A
particular account is given of this man, because he, with Ruth, makes the principal
part of the following history.
HENRY, "Naomi had now gained a settlement in Bethlehem among her old
friends; and here we have an account,
I. Of her rich kinsman, Boaz, a mighty man of wealth, Rth_2:1. The Chaldee reads
it, mighty in the law. If he was both, it was a most rare and excellent conjunction, to
be mighty in wealth and mighty in the scriptures too; those that are so are mighty
indeed. He was grandson of Nahshon, who was prince of the tribe of Judah in the
wilderness, and son of Salmon, probably a younger son, by Rahab, the harlot of
Jericho. He carries might in his name, Boaz - in him is strength; and he was of the
family of Elimelech, that family which was now reduced and brought so low.
Observe, 1. Boaz, though a rich and great man, had poor relations. Every branch of
the tree is not a top-branch. Let not those that are great in the world be ashamed to
own their kindred that are mean and despised, lest they be found therein proud,
scornful, and unnatural. 2. Naomi, though a poor contemptible widow, had rich
relations, whom yet she boasted not of, nor was burdensome to, nor expected any
thing from when she returned to Bethlehem in distress. Those that have rich
relations, while they themselves are poor, ought to know that it is the wise
providence of God that makes the difference (in which we ought to acquiesce), and
that to be proud of our relation to such is a great sin, and to trust to it is great folly.
JAMISON, "Rth_2:1-3. Ruth gleans in the field of Boaz.
COFFMAN, ""A mighty man of wealth ... Boaz" (Ruth 2:1). "The Hebrew
words from which this is translated are rendered a `mighty man of valour'
Judges 11:1"[1] and may be considered as true both ways. The meaning assigned
to the name Boaz is, `in him is strength,'[2] or `strength or fleetness.'[3] His name
was assigned to the left pillar in the Temple of Solomon (1 Kings 7:21). The old
tradition that he is the same character as Ibzan the Judge is not considered
trustworthy, but it may very well have been true. Certainly, he was a man of
strong and noble character, the many virtues of whom are exhibited in this
chapter.
"Of the family of Elimelech" (Ruth 2:1). Keil tells us that Jewish tradition gave
Boaz' relation to Elimelech as that of a nephew.[4]
"Let me go ... and glean" (Ruth 2:2). As the younger and stronger of the two
women, Ruth decided to take advantage of the harvest season in order to glean
some ears of barley to supply food for her and Naomi. The Law of Moses had
laid down strict rules protecting the right of the poor to glean following the
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3. reapers. These are spelled out in Leviticus 19:9; 23:22; and in Deuteronomy
24:19). Landowners were forbidden to reap their fields out to the very borders,
nor could they send the reapers a second time into the same field. If they
overlooked a bundle of grain, they were forbidden to go back and get it. Similar
rules also applied to the harvest of vineyards and orchards. The purpose of this
was to allow the poor an opportunity to provide for themselves. This was the
legal background of Ruth's gleaning.
"Let me go ..." (Ruth 2:2). Ruth not only requested permission of her mother-in-
law, but also asked and received permission from the overseer of the harvest
workers. She was keenly aware of her status as a foreigner, and, as such, she
could have been forbidden to glean in Israel. However, her reputation was such
that she was welcomed among the gleaners.
"Her hap was to light on the portion of the field belonging unto Boaz." (Ruth
2:3). "As far as Ruth was concerned, this was by chance, but God overruled it, a
fact not stated but everywhere implied."[5] This points to the fact that the hand
of God continually moves in human history. It was the fact of Ruth's coming to
that particular place to glean that led to her meeting Boaz, an event that led to
many marvelous consequences of the utmost importance to the nation of Israel,
to the birth of Messiah, and the salvation of all mankind. "Thus what appeared
to be an accident is seen in the light of the whole story to have been the
providence of God."[6]
"Behold, Boaz came" (Ruth 2:4). The picture that emerges here is that of a very
wealthy and powerful citizen, for whom many of the inhabitants of Bethlehem
are working in the barley harvest, and his appearance here is that of the owner
appearing to appraise the progress of the harvest. Of course, he notices a strange
person among the workers, and he promptly asked his overseer, not, `Who is
this'? but `Whose is she'?
"Jehovah be with thee ... Jehovah bless thee" (Ruth 2:4). It seems that these were
customary salutations, acknowledging the blessing of the Lord in the abundance
of the harvest.
"Whose damsel is this?" (Ruth 2:5). The overseer was able to answer this
question, and the answer that he gave indicated that Ruth had indeed made a
very good impression on the overseer.
"It is the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi" (Ruth 2:6). Note the
frequency of this designation `Moabitess' or its equivalent in this narrative. It
occurs no less than five times in these four chapters. The inherent hostility of
Israel to all people of other races is indicated by this. It was indeed a miracle of
God that happened to this particular `Moabitish' woman.
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4. "She said, Let me glean, I pray you." (Ruth 2:7). The overseer was careful to
point out that Ruth had received his permission, and his mention of her diligence
in working all day surely indicated that he was pleased.
ELLICOTT, "(1) Boaz.—It has been already said that if there are any gaps in
the genealogy, these are most probably to be referred to its earlier portion.
According to the line, however, given in Ruth 4:18 seq., Boaz is grandson of the
Nahshon who was prince of the tribe of Judah during the wanderings in the
desert and son of Salmon and Rahab of Jericho. It may be noted that the
difficulty of date may be lessened by supposing that in the last two generations
we have children of their fathers’ old age.
PETT, "Introduction
Chapter 2. Ruth Comes Into Contact With Naomi’s Kinsman Boaz, And Finds
Favour With Him.
This chapter focuses on the fact that Ruth came across Boaz’s field by chance, as
a consequence of which a relationship built up between herself and Boaz,
something which resulted in his showing great generosity towards Ruth, thereby
awakening in Naomi the hope that he would play the part of a kinsman by
marrying Ruth and bearing children on behalf of the deceased husband, thus
preserving the family’s name and possession of land in Israel.
Once again we find a clear chiastic structure. Thus structure was regularly used
so as to divide the narrative up into paragraphs (our method of depicting
paragraphs was unknown in those days). We should note that while we have
paralleled verses strictly in order to bring out the process, the writer’s aim (there
were no verses) was more to parallel subject matter:
Analysis.
aAnd Naomi had a kinsman of her husband’s, an important man of wealth, of
the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz (Ruth 2:1)
bAnd Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Let me now 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” (Ruth 2:2).
cAnd she went, and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and her
chance was to light on the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the
family of Elimelech (Ruth 2:3).
dAnd, behold, Boaz came from Beth-lehem, and said to the reapers, “YHWH be
with you.” And they answered him, “YHWH bless you” (Ruth 2:4).
eThen Boaz said to his servant who was set over the reapers, “Whose damsel is
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5. this?” And the servant who was set over the reapers answered and said, “It is the
Moabitish damsel who came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab” (Ruth
2:5-6).
f“And she said, ‘Let me glean, I pray you, and gather after the reapers among
the sheaves.’ So she came, and has continued even from the morning until now,
except that she tarried a little in the house” (Ruth 2:7).
gThen Boaz said to Ruth, “Do you not hear, my daughter? Do not go to glean in
another field, nor pass from here, but remain here fast by my maidens” (Ruth
2:8).
hLet your eyes be on the field that they reap, and you go after them. Have I not
charged the young men that they must not touch you? And when you are thirsty,
go to the vessels, and drink of what the young men have drawn” (Ruth 2:9).
iThen she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said to him,
“Why have I found favour in your sight, that you should take notice of me,
seeing I am a foreigner?” (Ruth 2:10).
jAnd Boaz answered and said to her, “It has fully been shown me, all that you
have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you
have left your father and your mother, and the land of your nativity, and are
come to a people whom you knew not up until now. YHWH recompense your
work, and a full reward be given you by YHWH, the God of Israel, under whose
wings you are come to take refuge” (Ruth 2:11-12).
iThen she said, “Let me find favour in your sight, my lord, for you have
comforted me, and because you have spoken kindly to your handmaid, although
I am as one of your handmaidens” (Ruth 2:13).
hAnd at mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here, and eat of the bread, and dip
your morsel in the vinegar.” And she sat beside the reapers, and they passed her
parched grain, and she ate, and was satisfied, and left some of it (Ruth 2:14).
gAnd when she rose up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, “Let
her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her, and also pull out
some for her from the bundles, and leave it, and let her glean, and do not rebuke
her” (Ruth 2:15-16).
fSo she gleaned in the field until evening, and 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,
and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned, and she brought forth and
gave to her what she had left after she had had sufficient (Ruth 2:17-18).
eAnd her mother-in-law said to her, “Where have you gleaned today? And
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6. where have you wrought? Blessed be he who took notice of you.” And she
showed her mother-in-law with whom she had wrought, and said, “The man’s
name with whom I wrought today is Boaz” (Ruth 2:19).
dAnd Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “Blessed be he of YHWH, who has not
left off his kindness to the living and to the dead.” And Naomi said to her, “The
man is near of kin to us, one of our near kinsmen” (Ruth 2:20).
cRuth the Moabitess said, “Yes, he (Boaz) said to me, ‘You shall keep fast by my
young men (the reapers), until they have completed all my harvest” (Ruth 2:21).
bAnd Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that
you go out with his maidens, and that they do not meet you in any other field
(Ruth 2:22).
aRuth kept fast by the maidens of Boaz, to glean to the end of barley harvest and
of wheat harvest, and she dwelt with her mother-in-law (Ruth 2:23).
Note that in ‘a’ we learn that Boaz was kinsman to Naomi This would
immediately alert the attention of the reader or listener to his responsibility
under the Law of Moses towards the poorer members of his wider family. In the
parallel Ruth keeps close to the maidens of Boaz (as he had commanded, thus
performing his duty as a kinsman), whilst also dwelling with her mother-in-law
who was Boaz’s kinswoman. In ‘b’ Ruth determines to glean in the fields
(picking up wisps of barley that had been dropped by the reapers) wherever she
finds favour and Naomi tells her to ‘go, my daughter’, and in the parallel
commends the going out of her daughter to the fields of the one with whom she
has clearly found favour, and nowhere else. In ‘c’ she gleans in the fields after
the reapers of Boaz, and in the parallel Boaz had instructed her to keep fast by
his reapers. In ‘d’ Boaz is blessed by his men, and blesses them in return, while
in the parallel Boaz is blessed by Naomi. In ‘e’ Boaz takes notice of Ruth and
enquires as to who the young woman is who is gleaning, and in the parallel
Naomi enquires as to where Ruth has gleaned, and blesses Boaz for having taken
notice of her. In ‘f’ the reapers declare that Ruth has gleaned ‘from morning
until now’ and in the parallel Ruth had ‘gleaned (all day) until evening’. In ‘g’
Boaz instructs Ruth not to glean in another field, but to remain close to his own
women reapers, and in the parallel he instructs his young men to allow her to
glean in the fields without reproach. In ‘h’ Boaz tells Ruth that she can refresh
herself from the water drawn by his young men, and in the parallel the young
men supply her with grain to eat, which is to be dipped in sour wine. In ‘i’ Ruth
enquires as to why she has found favour in his sight, and in the parallel she
expresses the wish to find favour in his sight. Centrally in ‘j’ we are given the
reason for the kindness that Boaz has shown towards Ruth. It is because he is
aware of how she has been willing to sacrifice herself for her mother-in-law, his
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7. kinswoman, and because she has taken shelter under the wings of YHWH.
Verse 1
‘And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband’s, an important man of wealth, of the
family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz.’
Introductory to what is about to unfold we are provided with information about
Boaz, the man who will feature prominently in the story. He was ‘an important
man of wealth’, and was of the family of Elimelech. Family was an important
concept in Israelite eyes, and a man was seen as having a responsibility towards
other members of his wider family. It was expected of him that where he could,
he would redeem any family property that had had to be sold, and would enable
the continuation of his kinsmen’s names by producing sons to take up their
inheritance. Whilst the Law of Moses had only indicated this as being an
obligation to brothers of a deceased man who had died childless (Deuteronomy
25:5-10), it was also apparently seen as incumbent on other close relatives to
perform the same function, albeit voluntarily, when there were no brothers.
Compare how Judah had basically admitted that he had been responsible to
ensure that his daughter-in-law had had children by a family member, and that
she could not therefore be greatly faulted for having ensured the continuation of
her husband’s name by having intercourse with him by trickery (Genesis
38:6-30). Such perpetuation was ancient custom and a matter of family honour.
Deuteronomy had only been applying it to a specific situation.
Furthermore they would be seen as having an obligation to ensure that family
members did not go hungry, and it is clear from the narrative that Boaz had
been making enquiries into Naomi’s situation and was well informed about it
(Ruth 2:11). He was thus behaving like a loyal kinsman.
WHEDON, "2. Let me now go to the field — To this course she is prompted by
love and care for her mother in law: and by gleaning she hopes to provide
subsistence for them both in their loneliness, for they were doubtless poor and
needy. She sees not now that this labour, undertaken in love, is to lead her to
blessing and honour.
Glean — Gather up what the reapers leave behind them. The right to glean was
a legal privilege of the poor in Israel: “When ye reap the harvest in your land,
thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest,
neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest; thou shalt leave them unto
the poor, and to the stranger.” Leviticus 13:22. See also Leviticus 19:9, and
Deuteronomy 24:19-22.
Ears of corn — Corn is in Scripture the generic word for grain of any kind, as
barley, wheat, or rye. In Scotland the use of the word is restricted to oats, in
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8. America to maize or Indian corn. Ears of corn, as used of barley or wheat, means
the heads, or seed ends, of the stalks.
After him in whose sight I shall find grace — As yet she knew nothing of Boaz;
she proposes to glean after him, whoever he may be, who will generously allow it.
Though the law secured to the poor the right to glean, the owner of the harvest
field had a right to nominate the persons who might glean after his reapers;
otherwise the right to glean might have been carried to serious inconvenience
and injury to the owners of the harvest.
KRETZMANN, "v. 1. And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a relative by
marriage, according to Jewish tradition a nephew of Elimelech, a mighty man of
wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz. His ability and
influence were freely recognized in the community, both in war and peace.
HAWKER, "As the history advanceth in its progress, the several particulars of it
become more interesting. In this chapter we are introduced into the
acquaintance of the hero of the subject, Boaz: and informed how Ruth became
first brought acquainted with him. The events of a day are circumstantially
related, and the consequences of it, in Ruth's conduct during the season of the
harvest follow.
(Ruth 2:1) And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth,
of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz.
As the main hinge upon which the whole of this sweet history turns, considered
in a spiritual and typical sense, is centered in the character of Boaz, here spoken
of, it will be proper, in the opening of the chapter in this place, no attend
particularly to what is said of him. Boaz by name signifies strength. And he is
said to be a rich kinsman's of Naomi's husband. Now it is a point which should
never be lost sight of through the whole of this history, that the self-same word
which in this place is rendered kinsman, is in some other scriptures rendered
Redeemer. The original word is Goel. Thus for example: If the man have no
(Goel) kinsman to recompense the trespass. So it is rendered Numbers 5:8. So
again in this same book, Ruth 3:12. I am thy (Goel) near kinsman. But in the
book of Job 19:25, the same word is rendered Redeemer. I know that my (Goel)
Redeemer liveth. So again in the book of the Proverbs 23:11. For their (Goel)
Redeemer is mighty. So likewise in the prophecy of Isaiah 47:4. As for our (Goel)
Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts is his name. And what is the evident conclusion
from the comparative view of all these scriptures, but that the Goel-kinsman of
our nature is one and the same person, the Goel-Redeemer of his people: of
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9. whom Boaz, in whom is said to be strength, is a lively type. Moreover, he is said
to be the kinsman of Elimelech. And may we not, without violence to the sacred
text, consider this certain man (as Elimelech is first called in the opening of the
Book of Ruth), a lively type of our whole nature, to whom the Lord Jesus is
indeed both our kinsman and Redeemer; being in his humanity bone of our
bone, and flesh of our flesh; and in his Godhead our Redeemer, mighty to save,
the Lord of Hosts is his name. And as it is a subject of the most interesting
nature, to trace the affinity after the flesh of Boaz with the Lord Jesus, as well as
to view him as the type of Jesus, I detain the Reader to make a further remark
concerning his pedigree. And if the Reader will consult the opening of the Gospel
by St. Matthew, he will there discover how that our Lord after the flesh sprung
from Boaz and Ruth; and thereby manifested his connection both with the
Jewish and the Gentile church. See Matthew 1:5. Hence, thou blessed Jesus, I
may truly say thou art the Goel, the kinsman Redeemer, of thy people! thou art
of our family, for thou didst take our nature upon thee, when thou becamest man
for our sakes. And surely thou art a mighty man of wealth, for in thee dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and in thee are hidden all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge. Colossians 2:1; Col_2:3.
TRAPP, "Ruth 2:1 And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband’s, a mighty man
of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name [was] Boaz.
Ver. 1. And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband’s.] Lyra saith Elimelech and
Salmon - other Hebrews say Elimelech and Naasson - were brethren. Some, more
probably, hold that Elimelech was the son of Salmon’s brother, and so his son
the kinsman of Boaz once removed; for there was one nearer. [Ruth 3:12]
A mighty man of wealth.] Rich, and yet religious - a rare bird.
And his name was Boaz,] i.e., Strength, or fortitude. He was strong in the Lord,
and in the power of his might. The rich man’s wealth is his strong city. [Proverbs
18:11] But good Boaz had learned better than to trust in uncertain riches: [1
Timothy 6:17] he was rich in this world, and withal rich in good works (ibid.),
rich in faith, [James 2:5] rich to Godward. [Luke 12:21]
PULPIT, "And Naomi had, on her husband's side, a friend. The C'tib reading
‫ע‬ ַ‫ֻדּ‬‫י‬ ְ‫מ‬ (absolute ‫ע‬ ָ‫ֻד‬‫י‬ ְ‫)מ‬ is much to be preferred to the K'ri ‫ע‬ ַ‫.מוֹד‬ But ‫ע‬ ָ‫ֻדּ‬‫י‬ ְ‫מ‬ is
ambiguous in import. It primarily means known, well-known, acquainted, an
acquaintance (see Job 19:14; Psalms 55:13; Psalms 88:8, Psalms 88:18). But as
intimate acquaintances, especially in a primitive and comparatively unwelded
state of society, are generally found within the circle of kinsfolk, the word may
be used, and is here used, in reference to a kinsman. The Vulgate translates it
consanguineus. The translation is interpretatively correct; but the original term
is less definite, and hence, in virtue of the ambiguity, there is not absolute
redundancy in the appended clause, of the family or elan of Elimelech. This
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10. friend of Naomi on her husband s side is said, in King James's version, to be a
mighty man of wealth. But the expression so rendered has, in the very numerous
passages in which it occurs, a conventional import that stretches out in a
different and nobler direction. It is the expression that is so frequently translated
"a mighty man of valor (see Joshua 1:14; Joshua 6:2; Joshua 8:3; Joshua 10:7;
6:12; 11:1, etc.). In only one other passage is it rendered as it is by King James's
translators in the passage before us, viz; in 2 Kings 15:20. There it is correctly so
translated, interpretatively. Here there seems to be a leaning in the same
direction, and yet it is not strongly pronounced. Cassel, however, takes the other
cue, and translates "a valiant hero "Probably," says he "he had distinguished
himself in the conflicts of Israel with their enemies." The expression originally
means "strong in strength", but is ambiguous in consequence of the many-sided
import of the latter word ‫ה‬ָ‫ח‬ָ‫פ‬ ְ‫שׁ‬ ִ‫,מ‬ which means originally, either strength, and
then valor; or, clannish following (see Raabe), and then military host, or force, or
forces; also, faculty or ability, and then, as so often "answering all things,"
riches or wealth. The idea the writer seems to be that the friend of the widow's
husband was a strong and substantial yeoman. He was of the family or clan of
Elimelech. The word family is conventionally too narrow, and the word elan too
broad, to represent the import of ‫ה‬ ֶ‫ד‬ ָ‫שׂ‬ as here used. The idea intended lies
somewhere between. And his name was Boaz. The root of this name is not found,
apparently, in Hebrew, as was supposed by the older philologists, and hence its
essential idea is as yet undetermined. Raabe finds its original form in the
Sanscrit bhuvanti, which yields the idea of prosperousness
BI, “Naomi had a kinsman.
A kind kinsman
I. God never wants His instruments of succour unto those that trust in His mercy.
Some relation (either natural or spiritual) God will raise up to relieve His in their
deepest extremity.
II. Some rich men may yet be religious men. Though indeed they are rare birds, yet
riches and religion are not inconsistent things.
III. It Is a brave attainment to be rich in this world, and to re rich in good works too.
So Boaz was. Boaz did not make gold his confidence, but was rich in faith (Jas_2:5),
and rich to God (Luk_12:21). (C. Ness.)
Boaz a yeoman
In these early days, especially under the rule of the judges, when hostile inroads on
the chosen people were so frequently made by unfriendly neighbours, the man who
had great possessions was in a manner compelled to be also a military leader, and so
we may very justly combine the two meanings, and speak of him as a valiant man and
a wealthy; or, as Dr. Morison has paraphrased the expression, “a strong and
substantial yeoman.”(W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
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11. The rich kinsman
All that the appointed kinsman could do for the estate and body of his impoverished
relative the Lord Jesus as our goel does for our souls and our everlasting state. In His
humanity He is our nearest kinsman. In His Deity, he is perfectly able to supply all
our wants, and to defend us from every danger and oppression. As the promised goel,
the Lord Jesus has a special relation to Israel as a nation, and a particular personal
relation to every believing soul. He is the goel, the Kinsman Redeemer of the nation
of Israel. He is the seed of Abraham, in whom all the nations are to be blessed. God
gave the land of Canaan unto Abraham, and unto his seed for ever. It was to be their
permanent possession. But the children of Abraham have been long since cast out of
their inheritance. Their land has been taken from them, and they have been
wanderers and exiles on the heart. Yet God ordained that this land should not be sold
for ever, because it was His land. It was Immanuel’s land. And Immanuel is their
kinsman according to the flesh, who is to restore again that land to the seed of
Abraham. His feet are in that day to stand upon the Mount of Olives. But the Lord
Jesus Christ is also our goel, our Kinsman Redeemer—to fulfil the great duties of a
Restorer to us. He restores that which He took not away. He has redeemed our lost
estate. He has brought life and immortality to light, and given us a kingdom which
cannot be moved. He has redeemed our persons from bondage and condemnation.
We may go to Him just as freely and hopefully as the impoverished Jew went to his
kinsman, perfectly sure that He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. This gracious character of our blessed Saviour is
brought out in many points of view in the history of Boaz. When Naomi returned to
Judah with Ruth, she found a goel already prepared for her. He was “a mighty man of
wealth,” perfectly able to meet all their wants, and to restore them to their happy
condition again. And such a kinsman has been provided for us. We need not say,
“Who shall ascend up to heaven to bring Christ down from above?” He is already
prepared to be a Saviour for us, before we are born. We have nothing to do but to
receive Him, trust in Him, and obey Him, as our gracious Lord. Like Boaz, He is “a
mighty man of wealth.” All things in heaven and earth are His. And if we are His, all
things are ours. He can enrich His people with every conceivable blessing. No good
thing can they want while they have Him for their friend and portion. The name of
this rich kinsman of Naomi’s was Boaz, which means strength. In this name we may
find a memorial of our Divine Redeemer. Jesus is our strength and our salvation. He
is the power of God unto salvation for us. What mighty works He has done for us!
What works of mercy is He still willing to accomplish! He is our Kinsman Redeemer.
We see Him in His lowly human, suffering form, wearing our nature, and bearing the
burden of our sins. We see Him in the unsearchable riches of His grace as God over
all, and in the triumphs of His obedience as the Lord our Righteousness, possessing
unlimited wealth to be applied to our needs. We see Him of infinite might, exalted
above the heavens, angels, authorities, and powers being made subject unto Him. We
see Him fully provided for us, waiting to be gracious to us, and ready to receive the
poorest and the most wretched of His kinsmen who come to Him. (S. H. Tyng, D. D.)
PIPER, "Boaz: A God-Saturated Man
In verses 1–7 we meet Boaz, we see the character of Ruth, and we sense a very
merciful providence behind this scene. Boaz, we learn, is a relative of Elimelech,
Naomi's long-deceased husband. Immediately we realize that things are not nearly as
bleak as Naomi suggested back in 1:11–13 where she gave the impression that there
was no one for Ruth and Orpah to marry to carry on the line of their husbands. For
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12. the person reading this story the first time, Boaz is like a bright crack in the cloud of
bitterness hanging over Naomi. It's going to get bigger and bigger.
For example, verse 1 says that he is a man of wealth. But more important than that,
verse 4 shows that he is a man of God. Why else would the story-teller pause to
record the way Boaz greeted his servants? "And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem;
and he said to the reapers, 'The Lord be with you,' and they answered, 'The Lord
bless you.'" If you want to know a man's relation to God, you need to find out how far
God has saturated to the details of his everyday life. Evidently Boaz was such a God-
saturated man that his farming business and his relationship to his employees was
shot through with God. He greeted them with God. And we will see in a minute than
these were more than pious platitudes.
JOSEPH PARKER, "Boaz a Type of Christ
Ruth 2
BOAZ was not only a forerunner but a type of Christ. As compared with some of the
greater luminaries of the Bible, Boaz was but a secondary star; yet, in two aspects, he
is amongst the brightest lights in the Biblical constellation. Even socially, Boaz is a
man worth knowing—quite a healthy soul, the winds of heaven getting well around
him, and the sunshine falling amply into every fold and crevice of his gracious life.
Boaz had fields, and lived much in the open air. A man of cheerful voice and well-
controlled hilarity; a model agriculturist, quite a man to be copied and lived over
again, age after age: so hospitable, so blithe, so strong, so bright-eyed altogether.
When he came into the harvest fields he said to his reapers, "The Lord be with you;"
and the reapers answered, "The Lord bless thee." That was farm-life in the olden
times. There is nothing humiliating in that scene, nothing merely sentimental; there
is the pledge of happy fellowship, sacred and prosperous cooperation. Who will not
say, when looking upon scenes of this kind, that the former times were better than
these? Have we improved so very much? Is our boasted advancement a reality in very
deed? Without pronouncing any opinion upon this, let us consider the inquiry and
lay it solemnly to heart. Say, is there a sweeter picture in all domestic history than
this? Look at it: a barley field, the blue heaven like a song in colour, the blithe birds,
the sharp whisk of the keen sickles amid the falling barley, the reapers turning labour
into music, the master saying, "The Lord be with you," the reapers answering, "The
Lord bless thee" (Ruth 2:4).
What a welcome Boaz gave to Ruth: "Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean
in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens" (Ruth
2:8). Ruth was astounded. How did Boaz know anything about her? "Then she fell on
her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found
grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a
stranger?" (Ruth 2:10). Some people never can be strangers. We may never have seen
them before, but to see them once is to own a kinship; we know their touch, we know
their voice, we have seen them before in some dream of love or some vision of sacred
fancy; they are strangers only in a very limited sense,—profoundly and truly they are
of our own kith and kin, of the same quality of soul and heirs of the same expectation.
"Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast
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13. done unto thy mother in law since the death of thine husband: and how thou hast left
thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people
which thou knewest not heretofore. The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward
be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust"
(Ruth 2:11-12). That is the way to welcome a heathen traveller. Make the pagan feel at
once that all the past is forgotten, forgiven, and a new glad morning has dawned
upon the enfranchised soul. Said Ruth, Why this welcome? Boaz answered, I know all
about thee; I have heard the little dramatic tale; it is full of sweetness and music—
God bless thee, my daughter. Yes, our deeds live after us, and go before us, and make
a way for us, and come up again and again in many a fashion, and touch society with
the spirit of judgment or with the spirit of friendliness. We do not shake off our
yesterdays, and sustain no further relation to them; they follow us, they constitute
our life, and they give accent and force and meaning to our present deeds.
But Boaz was more than all this. He was a gentleman in every feature, and he was
also an unconscious prophet. Who knows all the meaning of his own word? Who can
explain all the issue and ultimate relationship of the simplest things which he does,
in the Church, or in the harvest-field, or in any sphere of life? We know not what part
we are taking in the building-up of God's fabric. Sometimes when we little suppose
we are doing anything at all towards building the temple of God, we are working
most industriously and definitely in that direction. Boaz was but a farmer, a valiant
man and wealthy, beloved by his servants, prosperous in his day; but beyond all that
he was permitted, by the grace of God, to forecast the future. He was more than
himself, or his whole self he had failed to recognise. This is the view we must take of
life if we would live largely and usefully in the broadest sense of that term.
Sometimes the work appears to come back to us without profit or gracious answer;
but we know that it shall not always be so: the preaching of the word is seed cast into
the ground, and the seed does not grow in one night. Sometimes life's monotony
wearies us; we say, As it was yesterday, so it is today, and to-morrow will see no
change; and we are overborne by this sad dreariness. Let us look back into history in
order that our cheerfulness may be revived. Men do not know what they are doing,
even in prosecuting their ordinary avocations. The barley harvest may be as a
sacrament, the open field an unroofed church, the gracious words spoken to
strangers may come back again in prophecy and its sublimest fulfilment.
Boaz was a type of Christ. Boaz was the Goel of his family. Boaz was the next-of-kin—
in other words, he was the Goel. What part did the Goel play in the Hebrew family?
The Goel was the redeemer in the first place, and the Goel was the avenger in the
second place. In both these respects Boaz was a type of Christ. Let us understand
something in detail which ought to be interesting to the youngest readers respecting
the functions of the Goel. If a Hebrew was so poor, reduced to such extremity of
distress, that he had to mortgage—to use a modern expression—his land, to
encumber it, to bring it under obligation to a stranger, it was the business of the Goel
of that particular family to redeem that land, and restore it to its rightful owner.
When the silver trumpets of Jubilee sounded, all the land was free; but even in the
years between one Jubilee and another, if the Hebrew tiller was so reduced as to be
obliged to borrow upon his land, the Goel was bound to redeem it. The land itself
never could be ceded. The Hebrew had no land to sell; he had only current rights,
temporary interests, immediate advantages to dispose of: the land itself belonged to
Israel, and in the year of Jubilee that doctrine was broadly asserted and minutely
realised: but, as we have said, in the meantime men might be reduced to poverty, or
be glad to avail themselves of the kindness of those who were round about them, or
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14. even to ask the stranger and alien to lend them something upon their lease. Then
came up the next-of-kin—literally, the Goel—and redeemed the land, and restored
the citizen to his place in the commonwealth of Israel. Is not Jesus Christ our Goel in
this respect? Are we not all poor, dispossessed of everything, mean, self-helpless?
That was our condition before God; that was the condition upon which Christ looked
when he took up his position as our Goel, or Redeemer. But we have said the Goel
was next-of-kin—was Christ akin to man? That was his peculiar glory in his official or
redeeming capacity: "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and
blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same... he took not on him the nature
of angels"—then he would not have been akin to us—"but he took on him the seed of
Abraham," and thus became our Kinsman; thus he was not ashamed to call us
brethren. As our elder Brother, he is our Goel. He has come to redeem humanity, to
enrich it with infinite and eternal wealth.
Take another view of the Goel's function in Hebrew history. If a Hebrew sold himself
into the service of another Hebrew he lost none of his rights; his citizenship was still
recognised, and his prospects were honoured and fulfilled; but if the Hebrew sold
himself into servitude to an alien or heathen, it was the place of his Goel or next-of-
kin to come forth and emancipate him; there could be no slaves of that kind in Israel:
the next-of-kin was bound to espouse the cause of the bondman, to redeem him, to
break his chain, to buy him off, and to invest him with liberty. Here, again, at the
time when the trumpets of Jubilee sounded, liberty was proclaimed to all; but in the
meantime the Goel took up his function and discharged his gracious responsibility:
he redeemed the slave. Herein it is easy to see how Boaz was a type of Christ We were
all bondmen, sold under sin, heavy laden with the chains of bondage; and when there
was no eye to pity, no arm to save, our Goel pitied, and his right arm wrought
deliverance. He is our Emancipator, our Redeemer. Job said, "I know that my Goel
liveth." That noble verse loses nothing of its best meaning by the use of the Hebrew
word. In the English Bible the reading is, "I know that my Redeemer liveth;" but the
verse is still invested with ineffable meaning and suggestiveness when it is read: I
know that my Goel—my next-of-kin—liveth, and that he will appear to redeem and
bless.
There was another function—namely, the function of the Avenger. If an Israelite had
been wronged, injured, or slain, who was to see to the rectification of the case? who
was to demand and execute justice? The Goel. This he was bound to do. It was not
left to his choice whether he would do so or not; it was the prerogative and place of
the Goel to avenge wrong, injustice, murder. And is there not an avenging element in
the priesthood and sovereignty of the Lord Jesus Christ in his Church? Do we take a
complete view of the Saviour when we think of him only as meek, lowly, gentle,
loving, forbearing—a Man all tears? He can be described by such compassionate and
gracious terms; not a word can be too endearing to apply to the Son of God in his
office in relation to sin-destroyed humanity; but we read also of "the wrath of the
Lamb;" he rules sometimes "with a rod of iron:" in some cases he "dashes" the enemy
"in pieces like a potter's vessel;" and men are exhorted to "kiss the Son lest he be
angry," to make peace with him "whilst his wrath is kindled but a little;" into that
mystery of wrath we may not enter; who would force his way into that thundercloud?
Enough it is to recognise its blackness and its terribleness, and to remember that "it
is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Whatever hell may be, it is
something indescribably awful. There all thinkers may agree. Whilst controversy may
rage about definitions and the right application of terms, about etymologies and
figures of speech, there remains the tremendous and unchangeable reality, that
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15. whatever the fate of the impenitent sinner may be, it is inconceivably and
indescribably appalling. (My soul, come not thou into that secret!)
Boaz, as we have said, was described as the next-of-kin—literally, the Goel—and to
their own Goel all the distressed families of Israel had a right to look. Blessed be God,
we have been invested in that right by Jesus Christ. He desires to be looked to; he
invites our appeal; he says in effect: Tell me how your land is situated, what burdens
rest upon it; tell me what are your domestic conditions: is the father dead? Is the
house full of widowhood and orphanhood, and all forms of distress? Relate all the
circumstances to me; I am your next-of-kin, and I will deliver and redeem, avenge
and bless. Into his ever-listening ear pour all the tale of human want and woe, as
speaking to One who is akin—next-of-kin—the Goel of humanity. We need the
assurance that there is some such Goel. At times all things seem to be against us, and
no voice is lifted up in our defence and for our comfort: all men seem to forsake us
and flee. In that hour we need some such inspiration as comes from the assurance
that our next-of-kin—our Goel—will never leave us nor forsake us. When we need
him most he is nearest to us.
Not only was Boaz a Goel, he was a Menuchah, or rest, in whose protection Ruth
found security. Menuchah means an asylum of rest, a protection of honour, a security
that cannot be violated; and then in its last signification it means the very
omnipotence and pavilion of God. In this respect Boaz was the type of Christ. In
chapter Ruth 3:1, we read, "Then Naomi her mother in law said unto her, My
daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee—shall I not seek a Menuchah for thee—that it
may be well with thee?" The house of her husband was called the Menuchah of the
wife—that is to say, the asylum of rest and protection. The orphanage is the
Menuchah of the orphan. All homes, Christian institutions, asylums founded in the
spirit of Christ and for the use of Christ, might be appropriately termed Menuchahs—
places of rest, asylums of security, pavilions defended by the almightiness of God.
There was a certain land promised to Israel. In the hope of attaining that land Israel
lived and toiled for many a year. What would Israel call that promised land? The
Menuchah. To reach that Menuchah was the hope of Israel; to stand upon the soil of
that promised Canaan was to be sure of the nearness and protection of the God of
Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. Then, in its highest religious meaning, the
Menuchah signifies the peace, favour, rest and protection of God. Jesus Christ said,
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will be your
Menuchah—I will give you rest"—sabbatic rest, complete peace, infinite
reconciliation, the harmony in which there is no discord, the rest unbroken by a
dream, undisturbed by any fear in the night-watches. All this is made the more
vividly clear if we look at the case of Boaz and Ruth. Boaz was a near kinsman. There
was one nearer still, but he declined to take up the functions of the family Goel; then
what we might call the Goelship fell to the lot of Boaz, and he assumed the
responsibility and prosecuted the task. Then Boaz was, moreover, a rest—the man
who afforded a sense of security to the poor wandering Moabitess. He was the
Menuchah, the grand living asylum, in whose love Ruth found peace and security.
Transfer all these images to the Lord Jesus Christ, and see how beautifully they apply
in every instance to the Messiah. He is our Goel; he will mightily redeem us: he will
take back from the hands of the enemy all the prey which the enemy has seized; the
foe will have to deliver up whatever he has possessed himself of that belongs to God
and humanity. The Goel will see us put into a secure position; a position of
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16. righteousness, of solid defence, of truth and probity. Then is he not the soul's
Menuchah—the soul's resting-place, the soul's eternal asylum? Have we not sought
peace everywhere and failed in the pursuit? Have we not hewn out to ourselves
cisterns, and found them to be broken cisterns that could hold no water? Have we
not made a bed for ourselves in the wilderness, and found that we were pillowing our
heads upon the sharp thorns? Amid all life's tumult and the maddening pain of the
soul, there has come this sweet voice: Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy
laden, and I will be your Goel, your Menuchah; I will mightily deliver you and lead
you into the rest of God. This is what we teach about Jesus Christ. These are the
sublime truths we associate with his name. In all history men have needed a Goel or a
deliverer, a Menuchah or a rest; and all the anxiety, strife, pain of the world's history,
seemed to point in the direction of One who himself would combine the strength of
the Goel and the grace of the Menuchah.
Thus a great historical gate is opened. Boaz was the father of Obed, Obed was the
father of Jesse, and Jesse was the father of David—the darling of Israel and the man
after God's own heart. How little we know what we are doing! Who can tell what the
next link in the chain will be? Let us persevere in our work as God may give us
opportunity and grace. Sometimes it is very heavy; sometimes quite dreary;
sometimes the sun is practically blotted out, and all the sky is in mourning. But if we
rest on eternal principles, if we believe in the omnipotence of God, we shall live to see
the return of the sun, and in the brightness of morning we shall forget the blackness
and the sadness of night.
Looking at the Book of Ruth as a whole, we are struck with the marvellous working of
providence. The book had a sad opening. It opened like a cloudy day. It began with
famine and misery, and went onward into widowhood twice told; and the first
chapter is like a rain of tears. We could not understand why it should be so—why
there should be a famine in Israel. The famine might have been otherwhere: why not
afflict the heathen with famine, and let Israel, and Christian peoples, as we now term
them, enjoy bountiful harvests, pulling down their barns to build greater? Why does
the lightning strike the very steeple of the church? On the story goes, and God is
working in it all. In the darkness his hand seems to be groping after something that
he may loop on to something that had gone before. The movement of God is a
movement of very subtle and intricate connections. Sometimes we wonder how the
next link can be found, and often it is found in the night-time when we cannot see
either the finder or the link he has found. Look at such portion of society as is open to
our survey, and see how wonderful are the associations which have been made in
life—the unexpected relationships, the strange coincidences, the marvellous creations
of help, deliverance, and friendship culminating in the most practical affection. How
are these people brought together? There was no plan in it on the human side; there
was nothing on the human side but surprise; yet how the movement has proceeded,
and how out of mysteries has happiness been consolidated! You heard a discourse,
and it became the turning-point in your life; you listened to a prayer, and whilst it
was arising to heaven you made solemn oath and vow that you would be better, and
that vow has been redeemed: you went into a public assembly, and saw a face, the
seeing of which has changed the whole course of your life. The providence of God is
not an Old Testament story; it is the action of the day, the movement now circling
around us,—the rustling of the leaves, the ploughing up of the land, the singing of the
birds, the occurrences at home and abroad. Behold the hand of the living God, and in
that hand put your trust. The most mysterious action of this providence was the
bringing-in of the Gentiles. A new thing has been wrought in Israel: a Moabitess is
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17. numbered among the chosen children. Now that we read the story backwards we see
the meaning of it all. Reading it as the facts occurred, the reading was often rough
and most difficult. How true it is that we must wait to the end to see the real meaning
of the beginning! When God's way is finished, God's way will be clear. We ought to
take an interest in the introduction of Ruth into the sacred lineage, because she was
the first-fruits of the people to whom we belong. She was a heathen woman, an
outsider, a Gentile, and we belonged once to that outlawed class. Mean it is of us to
say we do not take any interest in the conversion of distant nations, when we
ourselves were once a distant nation, and have been converted to the faith and crown
of Christ. We are not true to our own history, or grateful for our own deliverance, in
the degree in which we are indifferent to the conversion of those who are afar off.
Ruth was our first-fruits; Ruth was our kinswoman in the larger sense. Blessed be
God for the introduction of our sister into Israel. She was in the direct line of the Son
of God. The Gentile woman became a progenitor of God's own Christ. A strange
genealogy! Having perused it line by line we know what it is:—the great king, the
unknown man, the harlot, the Gentile Ruth,—they all stand there, a symbolic
humanity, so that when the Son of God comes, he comes not in one direction alone,
not as born of the Jew only, but of a line of kings; in him all men are gathered up—
the mightiest, the weakest, the wanderer, the homeless. Verily this Man was the Son
of God—the Incarnate Deity!
2 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.”
CLARKE, "Glean ears of corn - The word glean comes from the French
glaner, to gather ears or grains of corn. This was formerly a general custom in
England and Ireland; the poor went into the fields and collected the straggling ears of
corn after the reapers; and it was long supposed that this was their right, and that the
law recognized it. But although it has been an old custom, I find that it is now settled,
by a solemn judgment in the court of common pleas, that a right to glean in the
harvest field cannot be claimed by any person at common law; see Law Dictionary,
article gleaning. Any person may permit or prevent it in his own grounds. By the
Irish acts, 25 Hen. VIII., c. 1, and 28 Hen. VIII., c. 24, gleaning and leasing are so
restricted as to be in fact prohibited in that part of the United Kingdom. See the note
on Lev_19:9.
After him in whose sight I shall find grace - She did not mean Boaz; but she
purposed to go out where they were now reaping, and glean after any person who
might permit her, or use her in a friendly manner. The words seem to intimate that,
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18. notwithstanding the law of Moses, the gleaners might be prevented by the owner of
the field.
GILL, "And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi,.... After they had been some
little time at Bethlehem, and not long; for they came at the beginning of barley
harvest, and as yet it was not over, nor perhaps for some time after this; and knowing
and considering the circumstances they were in, and unwilling to live an idle life, and
ready to do any thing for the support of her life, and of her ancient mother-in-law;
which was very commendable, and showed her to be an industrious virtuous woman:
she addressed her, and said:
let me now go to the field; she did not choose to go any where, nor do anything,
without her advice and consent; so dutiful and obedient was she to her, and so high
an opinion had she of her wisdom and goodness; she desired to go to the field which
belonged to Bethlehem, which seems to have been an open field, not enclosed, where
each inhabitant had his part, as Boaz, Rth_2:3 though Jarchi interprets it of one of
the fields of the men of the city; hither she asked leave to go, not with any ill intent,
nor was she in any danger of being exposed, since it being harvest time the field was
full of people: her end in going thither is expressed in the next clause:
and glean ears of corn after him, in whose sight I shall find grace; or "in"
or "among the ears of corn" (o); between the ears of corn bound up into sheaves, and
there pick up the loose ears that were dropped and left. This she proposed to do with
the leave of the owner of the field, or of the reapers, whom she followed; she might be
ignorant that it was allowed by the law of God that widows and strangers might glean
in the field, Lev_19:9 or if she had been acquainted with it by Naomi, which is not
improbable, such was her modesty and humility, that she did not choose to make use
of this privilege without leave; lest, as Jarchi says, she should be chided or reproved,
and it is certain she did entreat the favour to glean, Rth_2:7.
and she said unto her, go, my daughter; which shows the necessitous
circumstances Naomi was in; though perhaps she might give this leave and direction
under an impulse of the Spirit of God, in order to bring about an event of the greatest
moment and importance, whereby she became the ancestor of our blessed Lord.
HENRY, "II. Of her poor daughter-in-law, Ruth. 1. Her condition was very low
and poor, which was a great trial to the faith and constancy of a young proselyte. The
Bethlehemites would have done well if they had invited Naomi and her daughter-in-
law first to one good house and then to another (it would have been a great support
to an aged widow and a great encouragement to a new convert); but, instead of
tasting the dainties of Canaan, they have no way of getting necessary food but by
gleaning corn, and otherwise, for aught that appears, they might have starved. Note,
God has chosen the poor of this world; and poor they are likely to be, for, though
God has chosen them, commonly men overlook them. 2. Her character, in this
condition, was very good (Rth_1:2): She said to Naomi, not, “Let me now go to the
land of Moab again, for there is no living here, here there is want, but in my father's
house there is bread enough.” No, she is not mindful of the country from which she
came out, otherwise she had now a fair occasion to return. The God of Israel shall be
her God, and, though he slay her, yet will she trust in him and never forsake him. But
her request is, Let me go to the field, and glean ears of corn. Those that are well
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19. born, and have been well brought up, know not what straits they may be reduced to,
nor what mean employments they may be obliged to get their bread by, Lam_4:5.
When the case is thus melancholy, let Ruth be remembered, who is a great example,
(1.) Of humility. When Providence had made her poor she did not say, “To glean,
which is in effect to beg, I am ashamed,” but cheerfully stoops to the meanness of her
circumstances and accommodates herself to her lot. High spirits can more easily
starve than stoop; Ruth was none of those. She does not tell her mother she was
never brought up to live upon crumbs. Though she was not brought up to it, she is
brought down to it, and is not uneasy at it. Nay, it is her own motion, not her
mother's injunction. Humility is one of the brightest ornaments of youth, and one of
the best omens. Before Ruth's honour was this humility. Observe how humbly she
speaks of herself, in her expectation of leave to glean: Let me glean after him in
whose sight I shall find grace. She does not say, “I will go and glean, and surely
nobody will deny me the liberty,” but, “I will go and glean, in the hope that somebody
will allow me the liberty.” Note, Poor people must not demand kindness as a debt,
but humbly ask it, and take it as a favour, though in ever so small a matter. It
becomes the poor to use entreaties. (2.) Of industry. She does not say to her mother-
in-law, “Let me now go a visiting to the ladies of the town, or go a walking in the
fields to take the air and be merry; I cannot sit all day moping with you.” No, it is not
sport, but business, that her heart is upon: “Let me go and glean ears of corn, which
will turn to some good account.” She was one of those virtuous women that love not
to eat the bread of idleness, but love to take pains. This is an example to young
people. Let them learn betimes to labour, and, what their hand finds to do, do it with
their might. A disposition to diligence bodes well both for this world and the other.
Love not sleep, love not sport, love not sauntering; but love business. It is also an
example to poor people to work for their living, and not beg that which they are able
to earn. We must not be shy of any honest employment, though it be mean, ergon
ouden oneidos - No labour is a reproach. Sin is a thing below us, but we must not
think any thing else so That Providence calls us to. (3.) Of regard to her mother.
Though she was but her mother-in-law, and though, being loosed by death from the
law of her husband, she might easily suppose herself thereby loosed from the law of
her husband's mother, yet she is dutifully observant of her. She will not go out
without letting her know and asking her leave. This respect young people ought to
show to their parents and governors; it is part of the honour due to them. She did not
say, “Mother, if you will go with me, I will go glean:” but, “Do you sit at home and
take your ease, and I will go abroad, and take pains.” Juniores ad labores - Youth
should work. Let young people take advice from the aged, but not put them upon toil.
(4.)
JAMISON, "Ruth ... said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and
glean — The right of gleaning was conferred by a positive law on the widow, the
poor, and the stranger (see on Lev_19:9 and Deu_24:19). But liberty to glean behind
the reapers [Rth_2:3] was not a right that could be claimed; it was a privilege
granted or refused according to the good will or favor of the owner.
ELLICOTT, "(2) Let me now go.—The character of Ruth comes out strongly
here. She does not hesitate to face the hard work necessary on her mother-in-
law’s account; nor is she too proud to condescend to a work which might
perhaps seem humiliating. Nor does one hanker after her old home in the land of
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20. Moab and the plenty there. Energy, honesty of purpose, and loyalty are alike
evinced here.
PETT, "Israel, thanks to God’s Law, had its own social welfare system designed
to ensure that no one living in the land would starve. When the fields were
reaped any wisps of barley or wheat that fell to the ground were to be left there
for the poor to gather, as was grain that was at the edges of the different sections
of the fields (Leviticus 19:9-10; Leviticus 23:22). This gathering by the poor was
called ‘gleaning’. The same applied to the fruit of trees when it was gathered
(Deuteronomy 24:21). The methods used by agriculturalists always ensured that
some small amount of fruit was left on the trees. This too was available to the
gleaners. Gleaners, however, were not always respectful or helpful, and it would
appear that sometimes there was friction between the reapers and the gleaners
(Ruth 2:15-16). Nevertheless the law was a good one. A similar social welfare law
required that the third year tithe be stored so that it could be called on, among
others, by the poor and by aliens (Deuteronomy 14:28-29), whilst in the seventh
year, when the land was not to be worked, all were free to gather what grew by
itself (Exodus 23:11; Leviticus 25:4-7).
Thus as a widow without a provider Ruth was within her rights to glean in the
fields. Gleaners were not, however, always looked on as desirable, especially
‘foreign’ ones, and it was therefore her intention to seek out the field of someone
who would prove favourable. As Ruth 2:7 indicates, she sought permission
before she gleaned, although legally such permission could not be withheld.
Naomi, recognising their need for food (not just for eating at the time but also
with the remainder of the year in mind) gave her permission and in kindly
fashion bade her, ‘go’.
LANGE, "Ruth 2:2. And Ruth, the Moabitess, said to Naomi. Naomi was
manifestly in need. No one seemed to help her, nor had she the heart to ask. It is
but too clear now that her lot would have been a dismal one, if at her return
Ruth had not faithfully clung to her. But this young woman’s fidelity shows itself
now also. As the barley-harvest is in progress, she offers to go to the field and ask
for permission to glean. It was no easy offer. Ruth was probably ignorant of
those provisions of the Israelitish law according to which the gleanings of the
harvest-field and even a forgotten sheaf were to be left to the poor and the
stranger, the widow and the orphan (cf. Leviticus 23:22; Deuteronomy 24:19). At
least, she did not seem to expect the observance of such a custom; for she hoped
to obtain permission to glean from the possible kindness of some proprietor. But
at best, what a miserable task for the once happy and prosperous widow!
Possibly to see herself treated as a beggar, harshly addressed or even personally
maltreated by rude reapers! to pass the day in heat and distress, in order at
evening, hungry and weary, to bring home a little barley! For this then she had
left paternal house and land, in order in deepest misery to be perchance yet also
20

21. abused as a foreigner! But the love she cherishes, makes everything easy to her.
It not only gives utterance to good words, but it carries them into practice. She
forgets everything, in order now to remember her filial duty to Naomi. And
Naomi accepts her offer.
Go, my daughter. Until now, she has only silently endured every expression of
Ruth’s self-sacrifice. She had indeed ceased to dissuade her from going with her,
but she had also refrained from encouraging her. Ruth might even now, after
having reached Bethlehem, experienced the poverty of her mother-in-law, and
tasted the sense of strangeness in Israel, have returned to Moab. But the
meekness with which, instead of this, she asks permission to encounter toil and
misery for her, overcomes in Naomi too every ulterior consideration. Such a
request could no longer be silently accepted; nor could it be refused. Naomi
permits her to glean in the harvest-field. Nor was it an easy thing for the mother
to give this consent. The remarkable characters of both women come here also
nobly to view. Ruth, who has given up everything, is humble as a dutiful child,
and asks for permission to give up more. Naomi, who in her highest need would
accept nothing from Ruth, in order not to involve her in the same distress,—who
retains her maternal authority in circumstances of want in which people
generally would deem this impossible,—has no other reward for Ruth’s self-
sacrificing disposition than that she is ready to accept its efforts for herself.
KRETZMANN, "v. 2. And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go
to the field and glean ears of corn, of grain, after him in whose sight I shall find
grace. That was a privilege granted to the very poor, to widows and orphans by
the precepts of Moses, Lev_23:22; Deu_24:19, but it must have been a rather
bitter experience to one unaccustomed to charity, especially since the permission
was not always given in good grace by the harvesters. But Ruth's love for Naomi
was sincere and faithful; she was ready to brave the ordeal. And she, Naomi, said
unto her, Go, my daughter, for she was now utterly dependent upon the efforts
of her daughter-in-law.
HAWKER, "Reader! if we apply this passage in a spiritual sense to the state of
the soul (and I see no reason why we may not) it will open a subject both pleasing
and profitable. When a sinner is brought by the Holy Ghost out of the world, as
Ruth was out of Moab, though the world promiseth plenty of enjoyments, and a
fulness of all sensual pleasures, yet the poor in spirit desires rather to glean of
the bread of life, even though but in the smallest portion of the ears of corn, than
to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. But then the desire of the awakened
soul is also to glean after him in whose sight is found grace. And in whose sight
but Jesus can sinners find grace? In the field of his word, his scriptures, his
ordinances, there is plenty indeed to glean; and if the Lord Jesus gives grace, he
will give the soul to find and inherit substance, and he will fill their treasures.
21

22. Proverbs 8:18-21.
TRAPP, "Ruth 2:2 And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to
the field, and glean ears of corn after [him] in whose sight I shall find grace. And
she said unto her, Go, my daughter.
Ver. 2. And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi.] This request of Ruth made
way to her recompense. Great things oft come of small beginnings. God put small
thoughts into Ahasuerus’s heart, but for great purpose. [Esther 6:1]
Let me now go to the field.] In the midst of worldly wants she murmureth not
against the God of Israel, for maintaining his servants no better, as Aigoland,
king of Saragossa, did against the God of Christians, when he saw the many poor
that expected alms from Charles the Great’s table, (a) - she meditateth not to
return to Moab, as those in the wilderness once did into Egypt; she stealeth not,
setteth not herself to sale for a livelihood, &c., but bethinks her of an honest,
though painful employment, and thereto craveth Naomi’s consent, whom she
ever honoured as a mother by a singular piety.
After him in whose sight I shall find grace.] This was her modesty,
notwithstanding the liberty given her by the law. [Leviticus 9:10; Leviticus
23:22] A good heart inquireth not only An liceat? but also An deceat, an
expediat? Ruth would not lease without leave and good liking.
Go, my daughter.] A mild speech from a meek spirit.
PULPIT, "And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, Let me go, I pray thee, to the
cornfields, that I may glean among the ears after whosoever shall show me favor.
In modern style one would not, in referring, at this stage of the narrative, to
Ruth, deem it in the least degree necessary or advantageous to repeat the
designation "the Moabitess." The repetition is antique, and calls to mind the
redundant particularization of legal phraseology—"the aforesaid Ruth, the
Moabitess." She was willing and wishful to avail herself of an Israelitish
privilege accorded to the poor, the privilege of gleaning after the reapers in the
harvest-fields (see Le 19:9; 23:22: Deuteronomy 24:19). Such gleaning was a
humiliation to those who had been accustomed to give rather than to get. But
Ruth saw, in the pinched features of her mother-in-law, that there was now a
serious difficulty in keeping the wolf outside the door. And hence, although there
would be temptation in the step, as well as humiliation, she resolved to avail
herself of the harvest season to gather as large a store as possible of those
nutritious cereals which form the staff of life, and which they would grind for
themselves in their little handmill or quern. She said, with beautiful courtesy.
"Let me go I, pray, thee;" or, "I wish to go, if you will please to allow me." Such
is the force of the peculiar Hebrew idiom. "There is no place," says Lawson,
"where our tongues ought to be better governed than in our own houses." To the
22

23. cornfields. Very literally, "to the field." It is the language of townspeople, when
referring to the land round about the town that was kept under tillage. It was not
customary to separate cornfield from cornfield by means of walls and hedges. A
simple furrow, with perhaps a stone here and there, or a small collection of
stones, sufficed, as in Switzerland at the present day, to distinguish the patches
or portions that belonged to different proprietors. Hence the singular word field,
as comprehending the sum-total of the adjoining unenclosed ground that had
been laid down in grain. "Though the gardens and vineyards," says Horatio B.
Hackett, "are usually surrounded by a stone wall or hedge of prickly pear, the
grain-fields, on the contrary, though they belong to different proprietors, are not
separated by any enclosure from each other. The boundary between them is
indicated by heaps of small stones, or sometimes by single upright stones, placed
at intervals of a rod or more from each other. This is the ancient landmark of
which we read in the Old Testament". The word field in Hebrew, ‫ה‬ ֶ‫ד‬ ָ‫,שׂ‬ denotes
radically, not so much plain, as ploughed land (see Raabe's 'Glosser'). In English
there is a slightly varied though corresponding idiom lying at the base of the
Teutonic term in use. A field (German Fold) is a clearance, a place where the
trees of the original forest have been felled. The expression, that I may glean
'among' the ears, proceeds on the assumption that Ruth did not expect that she
would "make a clean sweep" of all the straggled ears. There might likely be
other gleaners besides herself, and even though there should not, she could not
expect to gather all. After whosoever shall show me favor. A peculiarly antique
kind of structure in the original: "after whom I shall find favor in his eyes."
Ruth speaks as if she thought only of one reaper, and he the proprietor. She, as it
were, instinctively conceives of the laborers as "hands." And she said to her, Go,
my daughter. Naomi yielded; no doubt at first reluctantly, yet no doubt also in a
spirit of grateful admiration of her daughter-in-law, who, when she could hot lift
up her circumstances to her mind, brought down her mind to her circumstances.
PULPIT, "RUTH WAS EAGER TO WORK (see Ruth 2:2).
1. Work is honorable; it is wholesome; inspiriting too; the best antidote to ennui.
If not immoderate, nothing is so efficacious in giving full development to man's
physique; nothing is so potent to put reins upon passions, and a curb on the
tendency to morbid imaginations. All great men and women have been diligent
workers. Jesus worked. He who is his Father and ours "worketh hitherto."
2. Ruth did not hesitate to stoop to very lowly work. She was willing and wishful
to glean in the harvest-fields (see verse 2). She humbled herself, and was free
from the pride which goes before a fall. She "descended ascendingly." It was in
the school of adversity that she had been taught. All honest work is honorable.
Dignity is lent to the humblest labors when they are undertaken in a spirit of
magnanimity.
23

24. 3. Ruth expressed her wish to her mother-in-law, and solicited her approval.
"Let me go, I pray thee, to the cornfields, that I may glean among the ears after
whosoever shall show me favor" (verse 2). The request was put in a beautifully
deferential way. Nowhere is courtesy so precious as in the home. It is comely
when displayed by juniors to seniors. It is charming when displayed by seniors to
juniors.
4. Naomi yielded to Ruth's request, and said, "Go, my daughter." But we may be
sure that it would cost her a pang to give her consent. The tears would start as
she turned aside and said, "Is it come to this?" of it.
5. "A Divinity" was "shaping Ruth's ends," and leading her by a way she knew
not. She was unconsciously led, as if by a guardian angel sent forth to minister,
until she lighted on a field belonging to Boaz, a near kinsman of her own. "And
she went forth, and came to the cornfields, and gleaned, and it so happened that
it was the portion of the fields that belonged to Boaz, who was of the kindred of
Elimelech" (verse 3). While the Divinity was thus "shaping her ends" for her,
she was herself, to the utmost of her little ability, busy in "rough-hewing them."
God's agency does not supersede man's, nor does man's supersede God's. Each
of us should be able to say, "My Father worketh hitherto, and so do I."
SPURGEON, "Ruth 2:2 “Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn.”
Downcast and troubled Christian, come and glean to-day in the broad field of
promise. Here are abundance of precious promises, which exactly meet thy
wants. Take this one: “He will not break the bruised reed, nor quench the
smoking flax.” Doth not that suit thy case? A reed, helpless, insignificant, and
weak, a bruised reed, out of which no music can come; weaker than weakness
itself; a reed, and that reed bruised, yet, he will not break thee; but on the
contrary, will restore and strengthen thee. Thou art like the smoking flax: no
light, no warmth, can come from thee; but he will not quench thee; he will blow
with his sweet breath of mercy till he fans thee to a flame. Wouldst thou glean
another ear? “Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest.” What soft words! Thy heart is tender, and the Master knows it,
and therefore he speaketh so gently to thee. Wilt thou not obey him, and come to
him even now? Take another ear of corn: “Fear not, thou worm Jacob, I will
help thee, saith the Lord and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.” How canst
thou fear with such a wonderful assurance as this? Thou mayest gather ten
thousand such golden ears as these! “I have blotted out thy sins like a cloud, and
like a thick cloud thy transgressions.” Or this, “Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as
wool.” Or this, “The Spirit and the Bride say, Come, and let him that is athirst
come, and whosoever will let him take the water of life freely.” Our Master’s
field is very rich; behold the handfuls. See, there they lie before thee, poor timid
24

25. believer! Gather them up, make them thine own, for Jesus bids thee take them.
Be not afraid, only believe! Grasp these sweet promises, thresh them out by
meditation and feed on them with joy. (Spurgeon, C. H. Morning and evening)
BI 2-4, "Let me now go to the field, and glean.
The young to work for their parents
Ruth does not propose that Naomi should go with her to the field. She wished her
honoured mother to enjoy the rest and ease suited to her time of life, whilst she
herself was exposed to the troubles and inconveniences of her humble occupation in
the fields of strangers. Young persons should be cheerfully willing to bear fatigues
and troubles for the sake of their aged parents, that they may enjoy such ease as the
infirmities of age require. The charities of the heart sweeten life, A young woman
cheerfully labouring for aged parents is far happier than a fashionable lady spending
in idleness and dissipation the fruits of the industry of her ancestors. (G. Lawson.)
A dutiful daughter
1. God often raises high buildings upon weak foundations. Great things often
come from small beginnings.
2. All daughters ought to be dutiful daughters unto those mothers whom God
hath set over them; they should ask their counsel, and obey their commands, as
Ruth did here her mother-in-law, Naomi.
3. That poverty should not make any person have low thoughts of piety; Ruth
doth not grudge at God for keeping His servants no better.
4. All honest endeavours ought to be used for supplying wants, but not by any
wicked ways whatsoever. Ruth here resolves not to return to Moab under her
present wants, as Israel did under their wilderness wants to return to Egypt;
neither doth she think of such wicked ways as stealing to satisfy her hunger.
Neither yet doth Ruth resolve to take up the begging trade, as too many lusty
vagrants and vagabonds do in our time, but she rather resolves to labour with her
hands.
5. That even lawful liberty ought not to be used without modesty and humility in
asking leave. A good heart inquireth, “Is it lawful, decent, and expedient?”
6. Such as find grace and favour in the sight of God shall undoubtedly find no
less in the sight of man. God will speak in the hearts of men, for all such as wait
on Him in the way of His providence, labouring with their hands (Jer_15:11; Pro_
16:7).
7. A meek spirit gives forth mild speeches. Some persons have quick and hot
spirits, yea, even good persons. That Naomi should be thus meek in her misery
was much, for misery is a morose thing of itself, and unhinges the spirit; yet
sanctified affliction contributes much to meeken even a choleric mind. (C. Ness.)
The gleaner
We have seen how ample were the relief and the portion provided for Ruth.
1. The first step is to reduce her to the deepest necessity. She has arrived with
Naomi in Bethlehem. But they are there in great poverty, and with no apparent
25

26. means of relief. How this very necessity brought out a proof of the excellence of
Ruth! Love for her mother constrained her to seek a supply for their need. And
she came to the field, as a poor stranger, to gather up the scattered heads of
barley which the reapers had left in their path, and in the corners of the field. It
could have been the result only of extreme necessity. Thus God brings the soul
that He has loved and saved to an experience of utter want. He makes every hope
to fail, every means of spiritual safety to depart. The sinner must be thus brought
down to feel himself lost and perishing. And when the Spirit has accomplished
this, it is an important and blessed step toward a full revelation of the riches of
grace already prepared for him.
2. The next step is to take away all feeling of rebellious pride in their state of
want. Ruth had great self-respect, a dignity of character that would have
honoured any condition in life. But she had no pride that rebelled against her
condition. “Let me glean after him in whose sight I shall find grace.” This is a
most happy and a most exemplary state of mind. She demanded and expected
nothing as a claim of merit or right. How important to you is such an example.
But it is thus God leads the sinful soul to its great Kinsman. His gracious plan is
to give everything freely, and to make man receive His free gifts with grateful
acknowledgment that he has deserved nothing. But how long do we struggle
against this spirit! How hard it seems contentedly to depend on mere grace to the
ungodly! This is one main obstacle in the way of our salvation.
3. The next step is one of gracious providence, to bring her, as it were by
accident, to an unexpected introduction to her rich kinsman. Ruth is wholly
ignorant of him or of the location of his fields. She is equally ignorant of the
exalted connection she is to have with him. To her the future of life is darkness.
But God, her gracious God, in whom she trusts, is light in whom is no darkness at
all. What an encouragement to us does this ignorance of hers afford! How
abounding may be God’s provided mercies for us! Ruth goes out into the harvest-
field of Judaea, separated among its various owners only by landmarks, which
could not be distinguished at a distance, not knowing to whose field she might be
led. But God had disposed and prepared her way before her. “Her hap was to
light on a part of the field belonging to Boaz.” It was God’s own plan for her,
another part of which was now coming out to her view. And when at last she finds
the gracious end to which the whole is brought, she could look back upon this,
and say, “Now I know why I was made so poor, and led to Boaz’s field to glean.”
How often is the gracious providence of God thus manifested in bringing the poor
and perishing soul under the ministry of the Word. How applicable to our
purpose is this illustration! The first sight of a Saviour is attractive and lovely to
the seeking, sinful soul. The sinner comes into the midst of his flock, and is struck
with the precious blessings which they enjoy. The Shepherd stands in their midst.
Jesus is there, to awaken, instruct, sanctify, and feed His people. The hearts of all
are evidently refreshed by Him. He blesses them, in the ministry of His Word, by
the teaching of His Spirit. They praise Him with grateful homage in return. The
whole scene is awakening and attractive. Thus often the most abiding
impressions of the value of religion, of the excellence of a Saviour’s worth, and
the happiness of those who faithfully wait upon Him, are received. Men are
drawn to Christ, and made happy in trusting Him, by the enjoyment which His
people evidently derive from His service. And nothing is more important than
that Christians should ever wear an aspect and maintain an influence which will
adorn the doctrine they profess. “I see,” said Richard Cecil, contemplating his
own sinful, wasted life, in his youth, “I see two unquestionable facts. First, my
mother is greatly afflicted in circumstances, body, and mind; and yet I see that
26

27. she cheerfully bears up under it, by the support which she derives from
constantly retiring to her closet and reading her Bible. Second, that she has a
secret spring of comfort of which I know nothing; while I, who seek pleasure by
every means, seldom or never find it. If, however, there is any such secret in
religion why may I not attain it as well as my mother? I will immediately seek it
from God.” He rose from his bed instantly, and began to pray. And when the
Saviour comes in thus to bless His people, “sweetly the sacred odours spread.”
Sinners are drawn and encouraged to come to One so gracious and so
compassionate. The reapers of His harvest are animated and strengthened by His
presence, and the Word of His grace goes out with special power to the souls of
those who hear. (S. H. Tyng, D. D.)
Motive for permitting the poor to glean
One forcible motive to persuade the rich to suffer the poor to glean may be this: Even
the greatest in respect of God is but a gleaner. God, He is the master of the harvest;
all gifts and graces they are His in an infinite measure, and every godly man more or
less gleans from Him. Abraham gleaned a great glean of faith, Moses of meekness,
Joshua of valour, Samson of strength, Solomon of wealth and wisdom, St. Paul of
knowledge, and the like. Now, if we would be glad at our hearts that the Lord would
give us free leave and liberty for to glean graces out of His harvest, let us not grudge
and repine that poor people glean a little gain from our plenty. (T. Fuller, B. D.)
3 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.
CLARKE, "And her hap was - So she was accidentally or providentially led to
that part of the cultivated country which belonged to Boaz.
GILL, "And she went, and came,.... That is, she went out of the house where she
was, and out of the city, and came into the field; though, according to the Midrash
(p), she marked the ways as she went, before she entered into the field, and then
came back to the city to observe the marks and signs she made, that she might not
27

28. mistake the way, and might know how to come back again:
and gleaned in the field after the reapers; when they had cut down and bound
up the corn, what fell and was left she picked up, having first asked leave so to do:
and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who
was of the kindred of Elimelech; the providence of God so ordering and
directing it; for though it was hap and chance to her, and what some people call good
luck, it was according to the purpose, and by the providence and direction of God
that she came to the reapers in that part of the field Boaz, a near kinsman of her
father-in-law, was owner of, and asked leave of them to glean and follow them.
HENRY, "Of dependence upon Providence, intimated in that, I will glean after him
in whose sight I shall find grace. She knows not which way to go, nor whom to
enquire for, but will trust Providence to raise her up some friend or other that will be
kind to her. Let us always keep us good thoughts of the divine providence, and
believe that while we do well it will do well for us. And it did well for Ruth; for when
she went out alone, without guide or companion, to glean, her hap was to light on
the field of Boaz, Rth_2:3. To her it seemed casual. She knew not whose field it was,
nor had she any reason for going to that more than any other, and therefore it is said
to be her hap; but Providence directed her steps to this field. Note, God wisely orders
small events; and those that seem altogether contingent serve his own glory and the
good of his people. Many a great affair is brought about by a little turn, which seemed
fortuitous to us, but was directed by Providence with design.
JAMISON, "her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto
Boaz — Fields in Palestine being unenclosed, the phrase signifies that portion of the
open ground which lay within the landmarks of Boaz.
PETT, "Leaving the town to glean in the fields Ruth found a field where, having
made enquiries of those working in the field, she was given permission to glean
(Ruth 2:7). She therefore began to follow the reapers as they cut and gathered
the barley, picking up any gleanings that were left. The reapers would be both
men and women, mainly free men and women who made themselves available at
the various harvest times (compare Matthew 20:1 ff.). Ruth was probably not the
only gleaner there, and there would no doubt also have been quarrels among the
gleaners as they sought for the best gleanings, and she may well have been looked
down on even by them. It was not the pleasantest of tasks and offered little
reward. But unknown to her she ‘chanced’ to have selected a part of the ‘field’
which belonged to Boaz, who was kinsman to her deceased father-in-law and her
deceased husband. It was not, of course, a fenced field, ownership of parts of a
large area of ground being indicated by landmarks, which sometimes
unscrupulous owners would move (Deuteronomy 19:14; Deuteronomy 27:17).
There can be little doubt that the author did not really see it as having happened
28

29. by chance. Notice how YHWH is emphasised in the next verse. (We can,
however, compare ‘by chance’ with Luke 10:31).
LANGE, "Ruth 2:3. And she lighted providentially on the field of Boaz. More
literally: “And her lot met her on the field of Boaz.” (‫ר‬ֶ‫ק‬ִ‫ַיּ‬‫ו‬, fut. apoc. from
‫א‬ ָ‫ר‬ָ‫ק‬,‫ה‬ ַ‫ר‬ָ‫ק‬ , occurrere.) Ruth, as a stranger in Bethlehem, knew neither persons nor
properties. She might have chanced on fields of strange and unfriendly owners.
Providence so ordered it, that without knowing it, she entered the field of one
who was of the family of Elimelech, and therefore also a distant relative of her
deceased husband.
KRETZMANN, "v. 3. And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the
reapers, gathering up the ears that fell aside when the harvesters bound up the
sheaves; and her hap was, it was a providential happening for her, to light on a
part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.
Unacquainted with the neighborhood as she was, she simply turned her footsteps
to the first field she struck, but God guided her in her selection.
HAWKER, "Are not these reapers similar to the ministering servants of Jesus,
who while gathering fruit for the Lord, leave sweet gleanings for the people that
come after them? But Reader! do not overlook what is said concerning Ruth in
this verse, that unknown to her it was her hap to light upon the field of Boaz. To
her indeed it appeared casual, but not so in reality. Most graciously doth the
Holy Ghost direct sinners to Jesus; and not only leads therein to Jesus, but
brings them in his own time and way acquainted with Jesus. John 16:13-14.
TRAPP, "Ruth 2:3 And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the
reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field [belonging] unto Boaz,
who [was] of the kindred of Elimelech.
Ver. 3. And she went, and came, and gleaned.] A mean, but honest employment,
which therefore she stoopeth unto, and it proved a step to her highest
preferment. A diligent person liveth not long in a low place. [Proverbs 22:29]
And her hap was to light, &c.] Accidit accidens vel eventus. By mere chance, in
respect of Ruth, - who, being a stranger, knew not whose field it was, - but by a
sweet providence of God, who led her hither by the hand as it were, for her
present encouragement and future advancement. God will direct and succeed the
attempts of the well minded.
PULPIT, "Ruth, having obtained the consent of her mother-in-law, went, and
came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers. That is, she "went forth," viz;
from the city, "and came to the cornfields, and gleaned." "There are some," says
Lawson, "whose virtue and industry lie only in their tongues. They say, and do
not. But Ruth was no less diligent in business than wise in resolution." The later
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30. Jews had a set of fantastic bylaws concerning gleaning, detailed by Maimonides.
One of them was, that if only one or two stalks fell from the sickle or hand of the
reaper, these should be left lying for the gleaners; but if three stalks fell, then the
whole of them belonged to the proprietor. Happily for Ruth, her steps were so
ordered that the field which she entered as a gleaner belonged to Elimelech's
kinsman, Boaz. And it so happened, runs the story, that it was the portion of the
fields that belonged to Boas, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.
PULPIT, "Ruth 2:3
Her hap.
Words could hardly be more suggestive than these. They may be applied to
circumstances in the life of every one of us. There have been turning-points in
our history; we took one path rather than another, and with results (as we now
see) how momentous to ourselves! So was it with Ruth of Moab, the gleaner.
I. MANY OF OUR ACTIONS ARE PERFORMED WITHOUT ANY
THOUGHT OR INTENTION REGARDING THEIR RESULTS. In ordinary
affairs how often do we decide and act without any special sense of the wisdom of
one course rather than another! And there are positions in which our choice
seems quite immaterial. It seemed of little consequence in which field this young
foreigner, this friendless widow, went to glean a few ears of barley. So is it often
with us. Shall we go to such a place? shall we pay such a visit? shall we form
such an acquaintance? shall we read such a book? shall we venture on such a
remark? shall we write such a note?
II. UNFORESEEN AND IMPORTANT ISSUES MAY DEPEND UPON
CASUAL ACTIONS. Though it seemed of little consequence in which field Ruth
gleaned, "her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz," and
from this fact sprang results of the greatest importance. "Her hap" determined
her marriage, her wealth, her happiness and that of her mother-in-law, her
union with Israel, her motherhood, her position as an ancestress of David and of
Christ. In such seemingly insignificant causes originate the most momentous
issues. Thus oftentimes it comes to pass that family relationships are formed, a
professional career is determined; nay, religious decision may be brought about,
life-work for Christ may be appointed, eternal destiny is affected.
Lessons:—
1. Regard nothing as insignificant.
2. Look out for, and follow, the leadings of Divine providence.
3. "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths!"—T.
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31. SPURGEON, "Ruth 2:3 - Her hap was to light on the portion of the field
belonging unto Boaz.
The home-coming of Naomi and Ruth was to poverty, and they were faced by
very practical problems. These were rendered more difficult by the fact that
Ruth was a Moabitess. Yet, she it was who faced the fight, and went forth as a
leaner to gather what would suffice for immediate sustenance. The human side of
things is expressed in these words. But the statement is by no means a pagan one.
The Hebrew word rendered "hap" does not necessarily mean that the thing that
occurred was accidental, although often used in that way. It literally means, that
which she met with, and the statement is that it was that portion of the field
which belonged to Boaz. All the issues reveal the Divine overruling. That which
she met with, was that to which she was guided by God—if all unconsciously, yet
none the less definitely. God led this woman, who had given up everything on the
principle of faith, to a man, completely actuated by the same faith. The lines of
his portrait are few, but they are strong, and a man of the finest quality is
revealed. It is a radiant illustration of the truth that God does guide those who
confide in Him and in the most definite way. Some experience is often so simple
that we are tempted to say it happened, and to mean that it was a sort of
accident. Yet the long issues make it certain that it was no accident, but part of a
covenant, ordered in all things and sure. When in loyalty we make the venture of
faith in God, we are ever choosing the path that is safe and sure. There are no
accidents in the life of faith. In its music, the accidentals perfect the harmony.
(Morgan, G. C. Life Applications from Every Chapter of the Bible).
Ruth 2:3a "And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field." (C H Spurgeon)
I have now to invite you to other fields than these. I would bring you to the field
of gospel truth. My Master is the Boaz. See here, in this precious Book is a field
of truthful promises, of blessings rich and ripe. The Master stands at the gate
and affords us welcome. Strong men full of faith, like reapers, reap their sheaves
and gather in their armfuls. 0 that you were all reapers, for the harvest truly is
plenteous! But if not reapers, may you be as the maidens of Boaz. I see some
servants who do not so much reap themselves as partake of that which others
have reaped.
Ruth 2:3 “She gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on
a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.”
Her hap was. Yes, it seemed nothing but an accident, but how divinely was it
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32. overruled! Ruth had gone forth with her mother’s blessing, under the care of her
mother’s God, to humble but honourable toil, and the providence of God was
guiding her every step. Little did she know that amid the sheaves she would find
a husband, that he should make her the joint owner of all those broad acres, and
that she a poor foreigner should become one of the progenitors of the great
Messiah. God is very good to those who trust in him, and often surprises them
with unlooked for blessings. Little do we know what may happen to us to-
morrow, but this sweet fact may cheer us, that no good thing shall be withheld.
Chance is banished from the faith of Christians, for they see the hand of God in
everything. The trivial events of to-day or to-morrow may involve consequences
of the highest importance. O Lord, deal as graciously with thy servants as thou
didst with Ruth.
How blessed would it be, if, in wandering in the field of meditation to-night, our
hap should be to light upon the place where our next Kinsman will reveal himself
to us! O Spirit of God, guide us to him. We would sooner glean in his field than
bear away the whole harvest from any other. O for the footsteps of his flock,
which may conduct us to the green pastures where he dwells! This is a weary
world when Jesus is away—we could better do without sun and moon that
without him—but how divinely fair all things become in the glory of his
presence! Our souls know the virtue which dwells in Jesus, and can never be
content without him. We will wait in prayer this night until our hap shall be to
light on a part of the field belonging to Jesus wherein he will manifest himself to
us. (Spurgeon, C. H. Morning and evening)
4 Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and
greeted the harvesters, “The Lord be with you!”
“The Lord bless you!” they answered.
CLARKE, "Boaz came from Beth-lehem - This salutation between Boaz and
his reapers is worthy of particular regard; he said, ‫עמחם‬ ‫יהוה‬ Yehovah immachem,
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