In the unfolding of this marvelous story, God blesses Ruth and Boaz, who model godly gender-based roles.
These are only preliminary, unedited outlines and may differ from Andy’s final message.
As we continue to unfold this marvelous little story of Ruth, we come to chapter 2. Here in this drama, we see two high-quality people display their character for all time.
The Bible gives exalted doctrine by which sinners can be saved. The central doctrine is the gospel of Jesus Christ… of his death and resurrection. Along with that is the exalted law of God, especially the two great commandments and the ten commandments.
But in addition to doctrine, the Bible gives us EXAMPLES… people we can and should imitate:
Hebrews 13:7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.
Romans 4:12 walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had
Ruth 2 gives us two excellent role models… especially when it comes to gender-based roles.
The timeless pattern for marriage in Ephesians 5 is that all marriages are pictures of Christ and the church… the husband plays the Christ-like role and the wife plays the role of the church. The godly husband is to love his wife and lay his life down for her… to protect her and provide for her, feeding her and seeing to her bodily needs as if they were his own. The wife is to submit to his godly leadership and bless him in ways only a woman can do, bringing beauty and order and even children into his life.
These gender-based roles have been openly challenged my entire life. Feminism was growing stronger and stronger in the 60s, questioning the validity of all gender-based distinctions, throwing the sexes into such confusion that we have still not recovered.
In recent years, I have heard much about “toxic masculinity” and many stories of male oppression and abuse by men… and I truly believe that many of those stories have occurred and severely damaged wives and children. Therefore the concept of patriarchy has been overtly opposed and hated. It’s almost a curse word in our present cultural context.
Patriarchy. The idea that the husband is the head of his wife and the head of his family, called by God to lead the family, to use his authority to serve and protect his family… that’s biblical patriarchy. The word means “rulership by fathers”. But howevermuch feminism has used horrible anecdotes to challenge the entire concept of leadership in the home by husbands and fathers, it is most certainly the biblical worldview.
But the Bible is even more against tyranny and abuse of these roles than any modern feminist could ever be. It is a sacred calling to be a godly husband and father, and to use that position of authority well. And we need godly role models… both men and women… to show us how it should be done.
Ruth is a godly role model of submission, diligent labor, humility, thankfulness, and faith.
Boak is a godly role model of a man of standing who treats those under him with gentleness and tremendous protection, making sure life under his authority is a life of blessedness to all who he is caring for. He is also a man of faith, submitting to the will of God and reverent toward him.
I. Boaz Make His Appearance
Ruth 2:1 Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, from the clan of Elimelech, a man of standing, whose name was Boaz.
Naomi…a relative of Elimelech… that connection will be essential to the story
Boaz: a “Man of standing” = a mighty man of wealth… a strong leader in the community
This implies the blessing of the Lord and the esteem of the community there in Bethlehem
II. Ruth Asks to Glean
Ruth 2:2 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 much implied in this!
First, the concept of gleaning in the fields must have been taught to Ruth by Naomi… God’s provision for the poor
Leviticus 19:9-10 “‘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. 10 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.
Also note that Ruth is submissive to Naomi… she sees her as her authority, asking permission to go and glean
And see also the concept of “favor” … could be translated GRACE, unmerited favor
It appears three times in this chapter… here and two other places
Ruth 2:10 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?”
Ruth 2:13 “May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said.
III. Ruth in the Fields of Boaz
A. “The Luck of the Draw?” HARDLY
Ruth 2:3 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, who was from the clan of Elimelech.
The Hebrew word mikreh points toward what seems like remarkable chance, good luck, etc. “It just so happened that…”
She somehow ends up gleaning in the fields of Boaz!!
God works all things after the counsel of his will… nothing is accidental or left to random chance
B. Boaz’s Godly Greeting
Ruth 2:4 And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. And he said to the reapers, “The LORD be with you!” And they answered, “The LORD bless you.”
Boaz was a man of piety… the blessing of the Lord was constantly on his mind, and he desired to be an instrument of the Lord’s blessings on everyone
But these are his EMPLOYEES… his SERVANTS… and they are glad to see him
C. A Telling Question: “Whose Young Woman Is This?”
Ruth 2:5-7 Boaz asked the foreman of his harvesters, “Whose young woman is that?” 6 The foreman replied, “She is the Moabitess who came back from Moab with Naomi. 7 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.”
Essential to that worldview… a young woman BELONGED to someone, either to her father or to her husband; she was not alone in the world with no one to care for her, but she was protected and provided for
D. The Moabitess
“She is the Moabitess who came back from Moab with Naomi.
1. Ordinarily this would have been tremendously offensive to a godly man
2. There were strict laws in the scripture against intermarriage with pagan women… and for good reason, as I’ve said
3. But Jesus’ genealogy in Matthew gives us an important piece of information about Boaz
Matthew 1:5-6 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of King David.
WOW! Boaz’s mother was Rahab, the Canaanite prostitute rescued from the rubble of Jericho by the pledge of Joshua. She is celebrated in the books of Hebrews and James as a paradigm example of FAITH… by faith she was rescued and by faith she lived
So Rahab the Canaanite harlot and Ruth the Moabitess were both genuine converts to the true religion!!
That’s part of the reason that Boaz was so open to caring for her
E. Ruth’s Diligent Character
1. She was a hard worker… because the foreman had said she worked steadily out in the fields gleaning… and that was hard work
F. Boaz’s Kindness
Ruth 2:8-9 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 my servant girls. 9 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.”
G. Ruth’s Humility
Ruth 2:10 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?”
H. Boaz’s Kindness and Respect for Ruth’s Godliness
Ruth 2:11 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.
I. Boaz’s Blessing: May You Find Refuge Under God’s Wings
Ruth 2:12 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.”
This is a VITAL image in this book; God is pictured as a protector of the defenseless
Deuteronomy 32:9-11 For the LORD’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance. 10 In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, 11 like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions.
God is protector
Deuteronomy 10:18 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing.
J. Ruth’s Humble and Respectful Answer
Ruth 2:13 “May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have given me comfort and have spoken kindly to your servant– though I do not have the standing of one of your servant girls.”
It is amazing how much kind words mean to another person… Boaz was a strong and powerful man, wealthy, a man of stature; but his heart was filled with kindness toward those in his care, as shown by such gracious words
Boaz also respects very much the life of faith Ruth has chosen to live, in an alien land with a new people and following a new religion
K. Boaz’s Additional Kindnesses
Ruth 2:14-16 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, “Even if she gathers among the sheaves, don’t embarrass her. 16 Rather, pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.”
L. Returning to Naomi
Ruth 2:17-23 So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah.
An ephah is about 22 liters… picture 11 two-liter bottles! Plenty of barley for them to eat for a week or more!
Ruth is not selfish… she shares it with Naomi
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. 20 “The LORD bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our kinsman-redeemers.” 21 Then Ruth the Moabitess 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 his girls, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.” 23 So Ruth stayed close to the servant girls of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
M. The Kinsman-Redeemer
1. Naomi mentions this wonderful role that Boaz can play
2. The Kinsman-Redeemer law
Deuteronomy 25:5-6 If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. 6 The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.
3. This law is a picture of Christ as our kinsman-redeemer
Hebrews 2:14-16 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death– that is, the devil– 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants.
N. Summary
1. Ruth’s godly feminine character: obedient to authority, diligent and hardworking, respectful, submissive, generous, faith-filled
2. Boaz’s godly masculine character: a man of standing, able to provide, pious and God-centered, respectful and kind to those under his care, discerning of the faith of others, generous, thoughtful, protective, showing foresight
