A Study of Ruth
Isn’t this exactly what Ruth did with Naomi?
Once Naomi saw that Ruth was steadfastly minded to continue with her, she said no more to her about leaving. As they arrive in Bethlehem, the book states, “all the city was stirred because of them.” At first this would seem to indicate that all knew of Naomi. The sages tell us that there is a reason that the whole city seems to witness their approach. It seems that a very prominent citizen of Bethlehem has died and is being buried, the wife of Boaz. According to the sages of Israel, Boaz was the “judge” at the time, so everyone would have been present at the burial of his wife, and quite grief stricken as well.
The people are very surprised and say, “Is this Naomi?” One can’t help to wonder… did they think that she would never return? Had they heard of the deaths of the rest of her family and figured that she had died as well? Or was it that the years and the sorrow had left their toll on the once beautiful woman, and the years were now showing in her face? The latter seems to be the case, for Naomi replies,
“Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the LORD has witnessed against me and the Almighty has afflicted me?” (Ruth 1:20)
Remember, Naomi means agreeable or pleasant. Mara means bitter. Apparently she has become bitter because of the judgment of the Lord against her and her family. When one loses all that is important to them, it’s hard not to become bitter.
I’m sure the return of Naomi with a strange girl also made quite a stir in town. They could probably tell from the fact that they had been in Moab that this girl was surely a Moabite. Noting the scripture referenced earlier, and the way the whole city witnessed their return, I’m sure that the Ephamites kept a close eye on this stranger. This all took place at the beginning of the barley harvest, which is actually very good timing.
Chapter two introduces us to Boaz. As stated earlier, the sages of Israel teach that Boaz was one of the judges that Adonai raised up to help His people before the time of the kings. Boaz is described as “a kinsmen of her husband” but not the only one. The sages also teach that he was Elimelech’s nephew, the son of one of Elimelech’s brothers. He is described as very wealthy by the prophet Samuel.
Naomi’s husband owned property in Bethlehem, but as they have been “out of town” for quite some time, there was no planting done and therefore nothing for them to harvest. Thankfully, Adonai has made provision for widows and the poor. The landowners have been told not to totally harvest their crops. They were told not to harvest to the edges of their fields, not to turn and pick up anything that had been dropped and to leave these for the poor of the land to “glean” from. Glean means to pick up or gather up. Gleaners would come behind the harvesters gathering up anything that was dropped, missed or left behind. In this way, the poor would never starve.
Ruth, although the daughter of a king and herself a princess, humbles herself and asks Naomi for permission to go glean some food for them, “after one in whose sight I may find favor.” In asking in this manner, she is showing that she is not presumptuous and willing to remain humble during her sojourning among Naomi’s people. Obviously, Naomi grants her request and Ruth sets out.
So she departed and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers; and she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech. (Ruth 2:3) The sages take special note to the phrase “she departed and went.” They teach that this shows that Ruth went out to the fields, back again to her home to be sure of the way, and then went out to the furthest field from her home to “work her way back.” By doing so, she would have less distance to travel with the food she had collected for Naomi. Once again, we are told that Boaz is from the family of Elimelech. As there is not an idle word in the scriptures, we must ask ourselves why this is repeated. It is repeated because we are to be reminded about the law of the widow without child and the dead husband’s next of kin.
“When brothers live together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a strange man. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her to himself as wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. It shall be that the firstborn whom she bears shall assume the name of his dead brother, so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.
“But if the man does not desire to take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall go up to the gate to the elders and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to establish a name for his brother in Israel; he is not willing to perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’ Then the elders of his city shall summon him and speak to him.
“And if he persists and says, ‘I do not desire to take her,’ then his brother’s wife shall come to him in the sight of the elders, and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face; and she shall declare, ‘Thus it is done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’ In Israel his name shall be called, ‘The house of him whose sandal is removed.’” (Deuteronomy 25:5-10)
As Ruth’s brother-in-law has also died, the “next of kin” would be the next in line to marry her. We will discuss this further in the next chapter.
In the next verse of Ruth, Boaz appears. Now behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, “May the LORD be with you.” And they said to him, “May the LORD bless you.” (Ruth 2:4) To those in the New Covenant faith who have spent time studying the scripture for signs of the Messiah, this verse instantly puts up a red flag. The word translated “behold” can be also translated as “look now see!” This is one of those words that command our attention. It is saying, “something special is found here!” What is the most special thing in the scriptures? Anything that points to the Messiah is something of a “hidden treasure.” There are many prophesies of Messiah, and many “messiah-types” that we can learn more about Messiah by looking at closely. Anytime we see the word “behold” we must sit up and take notice as this has a hidden meaning and that is more information regarding the coming Messiah. As “behold” is found in the verse in which Boaz is formally introduced to the reader, we can see that he is a Messiah-type and should sit up and take notice.
The first thing that we notice is that he has come from Bethlehem. Obviously, Yeshua also came from Bethlehem (as an infant) and Micah 5:2 states:
“But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity,”
This is a prophecy concerning Messiah.
Now, the reapers were in the fields of Bethlehem, so it would seem a little redundant for Samuel to tell us this… as least it would seem so to one who didn’t understand what a treasure is found in “behold.” We also must notice that the first words out of his mouth are, “May the Lord be with you!” When Messiah came, he brought the very essence of the Almighty with Him.
But this is not the only thing that Boaz has in common with Yeshua, as we will soon see.
Immediately Boaz notices Ruth, and asks who she is. The servant in charge of the reapers replies, “She is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the land of Moab.” (Ruth 2:6) Some sages teach that he takes notice of her so quickly because she is gleaning inappropriately. In ancient times, both men and women would go out into the field to bring in the harvest. In Israel, they would work separately so as not to “tempt” on another. Ruth apparently was following behind the male servants instead of the maidservants. Others teach that she was notice because of her modesty, stooping instead of bending, and that she was only gleaning the individual grains, not the whole stalk. I tend to believe the first group, as the servant who is speaking with Boaz states, “she has been sitting in the house for a little while.” (Ruth 2:7) As Boaz was a kind man, he would have set up a tent (house) for his workers to rest in during the heat of the day.
Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen carefully, my daughter. Do not go to glean in another field; furthermore, do not go on from this one, but stay here with my maids. Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them. Indeed, I have commanded the servants not to touch you. When you are thirsty, go to the water jars and drink from what the servants draw.” (Ruth 2:8-9)
These verses seem to confirm that Ruth was acting inappropriately, as Boaz is now giving her instructions on how to properly reap, and assures her that his servants will not harm her, but he can’t say the same for the other harvesters working in other fields. He calls her daughter for two reasons. First, she is younger then him and second, she is a relative by marriage. This was a common term in both cases.
The very next thing Ruth does is bow down and humbly asks why he (Boaz) has taken notice of her, as she is a foreigner. She is well aware of how the Israelites feel about a Moabite living among them, as I’m sure there has been much talk about her since she and Naomi returned. This “talk of the Moabite” is obvious as Boaz replies that he has heard all that she has done for Naomi, helping her to bury the dead properly, and how she left her own people and land in order to come to a land where she may not be accepted.
He then goes on to say,
“May the LORD reward your work, and your wages be full from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge.” Then she said, “I have found favor in your sight, my lord, for you have comforted me and indeed have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your maidservants.” (Ruth 2:12-13)
Her works are evidence of her faith. Sound familiar?
Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” (James 2:17-18)
Once again, we see the teachings of Messiah in the words of Boaz. We also see the same kindness that Yeshua showed the Samarian woman at the well and the Canaanite woman with the demon-possessed daughter. Both Boaz and Yeshua show us that faith in the God of Israel is not necessarily restricted to the children of Israel, but is to be extended to whomever seeks refuge under the shadow of His wings.
At lunchtime, not only did Boaz invite her to come and eat with him, but gave her more then enough for herself and she was able to take some bread home to Naomi. Boaz then gave her permission to glean even among the sheaves of barley and instructed his servants not to insult her. In fact, he instructs them to pull out some of the sheaves they had collected and leave them for her. She has obviously made quite an impression on him. Her modesty and humility was more then one finds even in the average person, let alone a princess! By the end of the day, she beat out what she had collected and returned home to Naomi with nearly an ephah of barley and some bread.
When Naomi saw how much Ruth had gleaned, she naturally wanted to know where she had been and who had been so kind to her. This was much more then one could usually glean from the fields in one day. When Ruth tells her of Boaz’s kindness, Naomi praises God because this man is one of their closest relatives. It is good that she has found favor in his sight, because then he will continue to help her and Naomi.
Ruth goes on to tell her mother-in-law about the instructions Boaz had given her about staying with his maidservants. Naomi also takes this as a good sign and agrees that Ruth should do as he says for safety’s sake. As a result, Ruth continues to glean from Boaz’s field right though the barley harvest and the wheat harvest that follows. In this way, Ruth was able to provide food for both she and Naomi, who was too old to provide for herself. Throughout this time, Boaz kept a close eye on her and protected her.
It was a tradition of the Israelites for a woman to wait at least 3 months after her husband dies before she remarries. In this way, if conception had occurred before the husband died, the pregnancy would be obvious by then. As this was not the case, Naomi decided it was time for Ruth to be wed. Again, we need to go back to the command found in Deuteronomy 25:5-10 to understand what happens next.
To review, the brother-in-law (or next of kin) has the responsibility to marry the widow and “raise up an heir in his brother’s name.” If he refuses to do this, the town’s elders are brought into the discussion. If he still refuses to marry her, then she is to pull the sandal off his foot and spit in his face (in the site of the elders) and his title in Israel will forever be “The house of him whose sandal is removed.” This is what is referred to as a levirate marriage.
“Now is not Boaz our kinsman, with whose maids you were? Behold, he winnows barley at the threshing floor tonight. Wash yourself therefore, and anoint yourself and put on your best clothes, and go down to the threshing floor; but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. It shall be when he lies down, that you shall notice the place where he lies, and you shall go and uncover his feet and lie down; then he will tell you what you shall do.” (Ruth 3:2-4)
After reading these verses, one can’t help but ask, “What in the world is that all about?” The sages have a very interesting interpretation of all of this. They believe they have discovered why Adonai made this law regarding the duty of a husband’s brother (the levirate marriage.) I’m not sure if I agree with this interpretation, but I will try to explain it as best I can.