Rachel Workman: When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. 15 As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her. 16 Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.”
17 So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah.[a] 18 She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough. Ruth held back nothing from Naomi. I feel like Christ calls us all to be the person that holds nothing back from our brethren. I know selfishly I fail in this area often. Not just in a material way but in an emotional way also.
19 Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!”
Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said.
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John Burnett:
8 So
Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another
field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for
me. 9 Watch
the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I
have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go
and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.” Boaz
is showing grace to Ruth because of what she did for Naomi. Jesus shows
us grace because of who He is and nothing we have done.
10 At
this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have
I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?”
11 Boaz
replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your
mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and
mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not
know before. 12 May
the Lord repay you for
what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under
whose wings you have come to take refuge.” Little did Boaz and Ruth know how
God was going to repay both of them. To be rewarded by God and be
included in Jesus’s lineage has got to be considered a special blessing from
God.
13 “May
I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have put
me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing
of one of your servants.” Our minds should be at ease because of the promises we
have in God’s Word.
14 At
mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in
the wine vinegar.”
When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered
her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left
over. 15 As
she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the
sheaves and don’t reprimand her. 16 Even
pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick
up, and don’t rebuke her.”
17 So
Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she
had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah.[a] 18 She carried it back to town, and
her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave
her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.
19 Her
mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work?
Blessed be the man who took notice of you!”
Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at
whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is
Boaz,” she said. I can’t help but think there is some correlation of how
Christ treats His Bride, the Church, and how Boaz treated Ruth.
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Allen Michaels: 15 As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather
among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her. 16 Even pull out
some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and
don’t rebuke her.”
The
characters in the book of Ruth are classic examples of very good people in
action. Boaz went far beyond the intent of the gleaners’ law in demonstrating
his kindness and generosity. Not only did he let Ruth glean in his field, he
also told his workers to let some of the grain fall in her path. Out of his
abundance, he provided for the needy. It makes me wonder now how often I go
beyond the minimum accepted patterns of providing for the less fortunate. One
thing is for sure; I’m no Boaz. We must do more than the minimum for others.
17 So Ruth gleaned in
the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it
amounted to about an ephah. 18 She carried it back to town, and
her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave
her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.
19 Her mother-in-law
asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man
who took notice of you!”
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Tomorrow’s reading for Ruth 2-20-23
21 Then Ruth the Moabite said, “He even said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.’”
22 Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.”
23 So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
