Ruth 2:8-13

2. The maidservant of Boaz 2:8-13

Boaz called Ruth his daughter (Ruth 2:8) because she was considerably younger than he (Ruth 3:10) and because of his affection for her. He explained why he felt as he did for her in the following verses. Normally the poor migrated from field to field to glean. However, Boaz graciously made Ruth one of his maidservants (Ruth 2:8-9; Ruth 2:13), so she would not leave his field, and so he could provide for her needs more easily and fully.

"Boaz is hereby instituting the first anti-sexual-harassment policy in the workplace recorded in the Bible." [Note: Block, p. 660.]

The foreigner was integrating nicely into Israelite society, as her spiritual ancestors Sarah and Rebekah had done (cf. Genesis 20:6; Genesis 26:29). One of the benefits she enjoyed as a maidservant was drinking drawn water (Ruth 2:9). Water was a great blessing in the parched Near East.

Why was Boaz blessing her (lit. with "grace," "favor," or "acceptance;" Heb. hen)? Ruth wanted to know (Ruth 2:10). The Israelites did not normally treat foreigners this way during the period of the judges. Boaz explained that it was not her nationality but her unselfish love for Naomi (Ruth 2:11) and her trust in Yahweh (Ruth 2:12) that had moved him to bless her.

". . . Boaz’s kindness toward Ruth simply reciprocated hers toward Naomi. He was, indeed, a true son of Israel: he treated foreigners kindly because Israel itself knew the foreigner’s life in Egypt." [Note: Hubbard, pp. 164-65. Cf. Atkinson, pp. 67-68.]

Ruth 2:12 makes clear that Ruth was trusting in Yahweh and that her trust had become public knowledge in Bethlehem. Boaz used a figure of speech called a zoomorphism, comparing an aspect of God to an animal. The Hebrew word translated "wings" here, kenapayim, reads "skirt" in Ruth 3:9 (cf. Deuteronomy 32:11; Psalms 36:7; Psalms 57:1; Psalms 91:4).

"Union of the individual believer with God is therefore expressed in the same way as union between man and wife." [Note: Arthur H. Lewis, Judges and Ruth, p. 115.]

Ruth had found the favor she had sought (Ruth 2:2; Ruth 2:13). She was now not just a gleaner but a maidservant. Her lord, Boaz, would take care of her physical needs. However, she was an unusual maidservant because she was a poor alien widow.