Ruth 2:8

BOAZ WELCOMES RUTH AND INSTRUCTS HER

"Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither pass from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens. Let thine eye be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after them: have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? and when thou an athirst, go unto the vessels and drink of that which the young men have drawn. Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found favor in thy sight? that thou shouldst take knowledge of me, seeing I am a foreigner? And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been showed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother-in-law since the death of thy husband; and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people that thou knewest not heretofore. Jehovah recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of Jehovah, the God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to take refuge. Then she said, Let me find favor in thy sight, my lord; for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken kindly unto thy handmaid, though I be not as one of thy handmaidens."

This beautiful narrative needs no comment whatever. Its powerful message is clearly and dramatically presented. No one who reads it can fail to feel the emotional impact in every line of it.

Boaz himself was a descendant of Rahab the Gentile of Jericho, and it might have been that he was more readily disposed to accept such a foreigner as Ruth than other Israelites might have been. At any rate, he was already informed in a very favorable sense, of the quality and character of Naomi's daughter-in-law. The revelation of this must have been indeed a surprise to Ruth.

Boaz immediately recognized the potential danger that threatened an isolated young woman without any protection in such an environment as the harvest fields provided, and he at once moved to provide that protection:

(1) He instructed her to glean in his field and in no other field.

(2) He commanded the young men among his laborers not to touch her.

(3) He told her to remain near his own maidens and to do her gleaning, following them.

(4) He at once gave her the right to quench her thirst at the common drinking place.

(5) And he offered a special prayer for her that Jehovah would grant her a rich reward for what she had done to Naomi.

To all of this, one must add the things mentioned in the following paragraph.

(6) He then invited her to eat with the other harvest workers.

(7) He took pains to give her a special portion of food, so large that she was able to take part of it to Naomi.

(8) Boaz then instructed the young men harvesting his barley to aid Ruth by purposely leaving handfuls of grain.

(9) And he instructed them not to hinder or embarrass her in any manner whatever.

(10) Finally, they were instructed neither to rebuke nor reproach her.

These actions by Boaz were loaded with the very greatest significance. One may only wonder, by what inspiration Boaz was prompted thus to champion the cause of Ruth the grieving daughter of a foreign people. Perhaps the chief motivation for Boaz was inherent in the fact of her conversion to Jehovah, mentioned in this first encounter, "Jehovah, the God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to take refuge" (Ruth 2:12). Boaz was also impressed with the fact of her having left the land of her nativity (Ruth 2:11). "Was he reminded of Abraham, the great ancestor of his race, who had left his native land and his kindred in obedience to a divine commandment?"[7] Whatever his motivation, Boaz' actions upon this very first encounter with Ruth were altogether sufficient and decisive. One cannot think of anything else that he might have done.