CHAPTER 2 Jun. 20 
Ruth Meets Boaz
Naomi had a kinsman of her husband’s, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. 2Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find grace. She said to her, Go, my daughter. 3She went, and came and gleaned in the field behind the reapers: and she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech. 4Behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, Yahweh be with you! They answered him, Yahweh bless you! 5Then Boaz said to his servant who was set over the reapers, Whose young woman is this? 6The servant who was set over the reapers answered, It is the Moabite woman who came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab. 7She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves’. So she came, and has continued even from the morning until now, although she stayed a little in the house. 8Then Boaz said to Ruth, Listen, my daughter: Don’t go to glean in another field, and don’t go away from here, but stay here close to my maidens. 9Let your eyes be on the field that they reap, and go after them. Haven’t I commanded the young men not to touch you? When you are thirsty, go to the vessels, and drink from that which the young men have drawn. 10Then she fell on her face and bowed herself to the ground, and said to him, Why have I found grace in your sight, that you should take knowledge of me, since I am a foreigner? 11Boaz answered her, I have come to know all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband; and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people that you didn’t know before. 12May Yahweh repay your work, and a full reward be given you from Yahweh, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge. 13Then she said, Let me find grace in your sight, my lord, because you have comforted me, and because you have spoken to the heart of your handmaid, although I am not as one of your handmaids. 14At meal time Boaz said to her, Come here, and eat of the bread, and dip your morsel in the wine. She sat beside the reapers, and they reached her parched grain, and she ate, and was satisfied, and left some of it. 15When she had risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and don’t reproach her. 16Also pull out some for her from the bundles, and leave it; let her glean, and don’t rebuke her. 17So she gleaned in the field until evening; and she beat out that which she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. 18She carried it, and went into the city where her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned and she brought out and gave to her that which she had left after she herself had enough to eat. 19Her mother-in-law said to her, Where have you gleaned today? Where have you worked? Blessed be he who took notice of you! She showed her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz. 20Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, Blessed be he of Yahweh, Who has not left off His grace to the living and to the dead. Naomi said to her, The man is a close relative to us, one of our near kinsmen. 21Ruth the Moabitess said, Yes, he said to me, ‘You shall stay close to my young men, until they have ended all my harvest’. 22Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his maidens, and that they not meet you in any other field. 23So she stayed close to the maidens of Boaz, to glean to the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and she lived with her mother-in-law.

Commentary

2:12 See on 3:7.
A full reward- 2 Jn. 8 quotes this in saying that the hard mental effort to know Christ and believe in Him will be given a ‘full reward’. Here a ‘full reward’ is given to Ruth for working hard all day gleaning in the fields. It may be that this allusion was because “the elect lady” addressed by John was in fact a proselyte widow, like Ruth. But the point is, we have to labour, as much as one might work hard gleaning in the field all day, in order to know the Lord Jesus Christ.
2:14 Offering bread and wine was a sign of fellowship and acceptance. The fact we are invited to do this by the Lord Jesus is a sign that He eagerly accepts us and seeks fellowship with us.
2:20 Near kinsman- Yahweh is repeatedly described in Isaiah as Israel’s go’el, redeemer (Is. 41:14; 43:14; 44:6,24; 47:4; 48:17; 49:7,26; 54:5,8). The redeemer could redeem a close relative from slavery or repurchase property lost during hard times (Lev. 25:25,26,47-55). This is how close God becomes to us in Christ. Boaz was therefore manifesting God to Ruth by marrying her, in the same way as in Christian marriage the husband manifests Christ’s saving work to the wife (Eph. 5:23).