Ruth 4: Hard Work & God’s Blessing

May 4, 2008

 

James 1:27 says, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” Because our Heavenly Father’s words are consistent with His actions, He structured the nation of Israel when in covenant relation with Him in a way that institutionalized His desires. He commanded them:

 

“When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God” (Leviticus 19:9-10).

 

“When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.  When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow. When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this” (Deuteronomy 24:19-22).

 

The Lord’s commands to the nation of Israel were built upon their history.  Israel was never to forget her past. They were never to forget that they were slaves in Egypt.  They were never to forget that, except for the grace of God they experienced as He sovereignly granted and kept His promised blessings to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Israel would have remained as slaves and never become a nation. All of us know people who have been changed by their success.  A personal friend may come to mind, even a best friend, a friend with whom we spent day after day, only to see them so soon forget that friendship when circumstances granted them success.  It may be a co-worker who “discussed” working conditions only to become just like the bosses he or she criticized when promoted. It could even be a child or another family member who was dramatically changed by this world’s success. 

 

When God’s blessings led to Israel’s dominance over her former enemies, God wanted to make sure Israel always remembered everything they had was a result of the blessings of God and not because of their own power or might or giftedness. In fact when Israel did indeed forget, Zechariah the prophet bluntly reminded Israel once again that her success came “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty” (Zechariah 4:6).  

 

The Lord’s commands to the nation of Israel were built upon His view of work. We were created to work. Genesis 2:15 says, “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” We were created to spend our lives worshipping God through our work six days a week and worshipping Him at rest on the seventh. 

 

Keeping these two principles in mind, the welfare system of the nation of Israel was built upon community and work.  These are the principles that form the background to Ruth 2.  We read, “And Ruth the Moabitess 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." So she went out and began to glean in the fields behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz” (Ruth 2:2-3).

 

Leon Morris, in his commentary on Ruth (Judges & Ruth, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, InterVarsity Press, 1968, p.269) points out that Ruth is designated as the Moabitess 5 times (1:22, 2:2, 2:21, 4:5, 4:10) out of the 12 times Ruth is mentioned in the book. Her nationality is important to the story. Remembering the verses we quoted from Leviticus and Deuteronomy, Ruth qualified on all accounts: she was a widow, an alien, fatherless, and poor. But rather than waiting for someone to take care of her or receive some handout, she took the initiative with Naomi and asked permission to go to work. Her actions also reflect the respectful treatment she had displayed toward Naomi since we began to know Ruth.

As a Moabitess and a widow, Ruth had Biblical rights in the community, but would still be subject to prejudice and its corresponding ill-treatment to single women who had no male to avenge any wrong done her. The field to which Ruth went to work was part of a large common field where all the townspeople grew their crops. This one single field was divided up and boundary rocks marked each family’s individual plot. This made defending the field a common interest of the entire community and assured everyone would work together instead of scattering to protect their own interests when attacked. Poor gleaners, such as Ruth, were free to move from field to field, depending upon where they might get the most reward for their work. But a hostile landowner would have ways of making gleaning difficult so Ruth thought to look for someone who would be accommodating to her needs.  

 

Boaz is introduced to us as Naomi’s relative “on her husband's side, from the clan of Elimelech, a man of standing” (2:1). These descriptions carry with them the connotations of one who earned his wealth in a moral way and as one who had influence in Bethlehem. The story indicates he was able to provide for many male and female servants who did his harvesting for him.

 

As soon as Boaz arrives from the town to oversee his workers, he notices Ruth. His foreman tells Boaz, Ruth is “the Moabitess who came back from Moab with Naomi. She said, 'Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.' She went into the field and has worked steadily from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter" (2:6-7).

 

Boaz greeted Ruth and offered her his kindness and protection. "My daughter, listen to me. Don't go and glean in another field and don't go away from here. Stay here with my servant girls. Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the girls. I have told the men not to touch you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.  At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She exclaimed, "Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?" Boaz replied, "I've been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge" (2:8-12).  Boaz provided a more nourishing lunch for Ruth and even instructed his harvesters to “pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don't rebuke her” (2:16). Ruth did not forget Naomi, taking part of her lunch and about four gallons of barley home with her that night (2:17).

 

There is nothing in the story at this point to indicate Boaz has any romantic interest in Ruth. His form of address to her is “my daughter” (2:8) which indicates there is a significant age difference in the two. At this point in the story Boaz is presented only as a godly man of integrity who is making life easier for a hard working Moabite widow who is helping provide for a somewhat distant relative of his through marriage.

 

The rest of this chapter will give us strong hints that Naomi is already working on a scheme of her own, but Ruth and Boaz are presented only as a godly man and woman who are following the commands of the system the Lord instituted on Sinai.  And that is the point I want us to focus on this morning. Ruth is about what God will do when we remember our place and work hard.  Ruth had no expectations of God when she went out to work in the morning.  It is even unclear how much of the Israelite culture or scriptures she even knew at this point.  We are to see Ruth as a virtuous woman who had left everything to follow the God of the Israelites.  She is hungry and willing to work expecting to work hard all day and to have little to show for her hard work—maybe enough for her and Naomi to squeak out a humble day-to-day existence. She displays some wisdom, inquiring of the various workers where she might safely work, where she might be welcomed instead of runoff. Other eyes are taking notice of her hard and her taking only one short break, but she focuses only on her work. In the words quoted above from James 1:27, Ruth is presented as a Moabite widow with no family, except Naomi, and no money who has still managed to keep herself from “being polluted by the world.” Ruth did not seek to be something she was not; she knew her place in the community of faith and in her family and she accepted it. Despite everything she had lost, she had experienced the grace of God in her life and that was enough for her. In the next two weeks we will see what God has in mind for His new daughter.  He wants only His best for His new daughter.