Fields of Kindness - Ruth 2

To briefly review, the book of Ruth takes place during the chaotic time of the judges of Israel. It opens with a dilemma: there was famine in the land. The city of Bethlehem, which means "House of Bread," had no food—no bread—due to this famine.

In Scripture, famines are often seen as judgments sent by God. In Amos 4:6, God says He took away their bread, “yet they did not return to Him.” God disciplines His people in love, calling them to repentance. Through the judgment of famine, He was calling them to return to Him.

But the family of Elimelech—his wife and two sons—packed their bags and left for Moab because they heard it had food.

It's important to understand that a land, a nation, is closely associated with its culture, and culture is religion externalized. Culture is the outworking of beliefs.

Not too long ago, it was common to speak of Christian nations, Muslim nations, or pagan nations. This usually meant that the majority in those nations professed a particular religion, and therefore, the culture of that nation was deeply shaped and influenced by that religion. It didn’t mean that all the individuals in those nations were sincere Christians, Muslims, or Hindus. But even if they weren’t sincere in their nation’s religion, they were still influenced by it.

America’s founders were a mixed bag. Men like Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson weren’t Christians; they were deists. Yet when you read their writings or speeches, it is clear that they were very familiar with the Bible—its stories, doctrines, and phrases. They didn’t just allude to them; they quoted them and explicitly cited them as evidence or a basis for their arguments. At times, they sounded like Christians, but they weren’t. The culture, however, was.

This is why I have no issue with saying that America was a Christian nation. It was.

And I hope and pray it will be again.

What made Israel unique at the time of Ruth, and for much of the Old Testament, is that she was the only nation that worshiped Yahweh.

To willingly turn your back on Israel—not be sold out of her like Joseph or temporarily driven from her by a murderous king like the infant Jesus—but to willingly leave her was tantamount to turning your back on the true religion.

And they weren’t just leaving Israel; they were leaving Israel for Moab.

Moab was a pagan nation. Numbers 21 refers to them as the “People of Chemosh!” Chemosh was a false god.

Worship of Chemosh included child sacrifice, as demonstrated by the Moabite king sacrificing his eldest son when he saw they were losing in battle (2 Kings 3:27). It was an evil religion that produced an evil culture and, in turn, an evil nation.

So evil that in Deuteronomy 23:3, God says, “No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of them may enter the assembly of the Lord forever.” This was because of how they treated Israel during the Exodus.

This is the country Elimelech chose to take his family to—an evil and cursed nation. He left Israel behind instead of submitting to the discipline of the Lord and trusting Him to provide food.

Elimelech saw himself as the family’s chief and ultimate provider.

But I believe Elimelech failed to feed his family the most important bread: the Word of God.

Matthew 4:4 says, “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

And what happens? Elimelech dies. All men do.

The greatest thing you can provide your family with is a model of trust in the Lord.

That’s the heritage you want to leave for them.

But Elimelech failed. We see further evidence that this move to Moab was a move away from the Lord in the fact that Naomi’s sons married Moabite women.

Marrying foreign women is a significant issue in Scripture. Listen to what Moses writes in Exodus 34:

But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images—for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God—lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they play the harlot with their gods and make sacrifice to their gods, and one of them invites you, and you eat of his sacrifice, and you take of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters play the harlot with their gods and make your sons play the harlot with their gods.

Perhaps the most well-known case of a man being led into idolatry by marriage to foreign women is that of King Solomon. Solomon, who married a Moabite woman, fell into idolatry. As 1 Kings 11 says:

So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, and for Molech, the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.

The problem with marrying foreign women was tied to the fact that nations and religions were deeply connected. The issue was not ethnic but religious. Believers were to marry only believers. A marriage outside of the faith often leads to misery and spiritual compromise. While there may be a time of peace early in such a marriage, the differences will either pull the couple apart or pull them into spiritual compromise.

God chose not to bless Naomi’s sons' marriages with children. Barrenness, though not always a curse, is never portrayed as a blessing.

Somehow, both of Naomi’s sons die, and suddenly the house of Elimelech is left with three widows and no children—no heirs. It appears to be the end of his line. Elimelech didn’t provide his family with a future in Moab. He went out from under the wings of the Almighty and found only death.

Naomi is devastated. She hears that there is bread back home, so, like the prodigal son, she decides to return. Her two daughters-in-law start the journey with her.

But here again, we see evidence that the trip to Moab has corrupted the faith of this family. Naomi tells the girls not to come with her, urging them to return to their families. One, Orpah, listens, but the other, Ruth, does not. And what does Naomi say?

“See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.”

Naomi says, “Return to your gods.” She is telling Ruth to return to the false worship of Chemosh.

But God had mercy on Ruth. She had turned from Chemosh to Yahweh.

Ruth replies, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”

Ruth is no longer a Moabite in any meaningful way. She has rejected her evil nation, its culture, and its worship. She is a convert. She is a believer. She is a woman of faith and would soon become a mother of Israel.

Isn’t God amazing?

He uses bitter Naomi—who even calls herself "Mara"—a woman of wavering faith, to extract a pagan woman from false religion in a faraway land.

In a sense, Naomi was an accidental missionary. The house of Elimelech didn’t go to Moab to bring the truth. They went out of a lack of faith, for pragmatic reasons, and it blew up in their faces.

But God’s hand was still in it. It was providential.

What is providence?

The Shorter Catechism offers a helpful answer:

God’s works of providence are his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions.

Consider the story of Joseph, second only to Pharaoh, when he revealed himself to his brothers who had sold him into slavery. He said:

‘Come near to me, please.’ And they came near. And he said, ‘I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.’

What they meant for evil, God meant for good.

Similarly, what Elimelech did out of a lack of faith, God used to bring Ruth to faith. In His providence, God works even through the unrighteous acts of men to bring about righteousness. This is precisely what He did with Ruth.

And now, He has brought her to Israel.

In Psalm 37, Ruth’s great-grandson, King David, writes:

I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread. He is ever lending generously, and his children become a blessing.

No doubt, David knew this in part because of God’s faithfulness to his great-grandmother, as demonstrated in this very chapter.

In Ruth 2:1, we are introduced to Boaz, who will dominate the rest of the book. He is a relative of Naomi’s husband. The NASB describes him as “a man of great wealth,” while the ESV, which we use, translates it as “a worthy man.”

I’m fine with either translation because both are true of Boaz, and both play a significant role in this story. Boaz is wealthy; he owns many fields and has numerous servants. But he is also a worthy man, as seen in how he greets his reapers in verse 4:

“The Lord be with you!” And they answered, “The Lord bless you.”

Boaz is a man of faith, the best of Israel. He expresses his faith in God even in his everyday greetings. In many ways, he is the anti-Elimelech—a man of great faith with plenty of bread.

Naomi lost her husband in a foreign land while in pursuit of bread. Ruth gains a husband and bread while in pursuit of God.

Jesus says:

But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.’

Naomi acted like a Gentile, but Ruth, though a Gentile by birth, sought first the kingdom, and God added to her.

I do have to give credit to Naomi. Despite having a wealthy relative, she doesn’t beg. There was legal protection and aid for the poor in Israel, and she chose to trust in that provision.

Leviticus 19:9-10 says:

When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.

Gleaning involved collecting leftover bits from the harvest—a difficult way to secure a meal, but it provided something for those in need.

Verse 3 is filled with biblical irony:

So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech.

“Happened” to come by chance? As if it were mere luck? The author uses irony here. This is God’s providence at work.

Naomi spent at least ten years in Moab and returned empty-handed. Ruth, however, is in Israel for perhaps just a day and “happens” upon Boaz’s field, a relative of Elimelech.

This is significant.

Brett Avants explains the significance:

To understand the strong ray of hope shining through this passage, we need to recognize that God, through the law, had made provision for the kinsman-redeemer. This concept essentially stated that if a family member was in trouble, in need, or otherwise vulnerable, another family member could serve as an advocate for them.

There are two key aspects to this:

1. Levirate Marriage: As outlined in Deuteronomy 25, this involved a widow marrying the brother of her deceased husband to preserve the family line and protect the widow. The term "levirate" comes from the Latin for "husband's brother."

2. Redemption of Land: Leviticus 25 teaches that if a relative was forced to sell land due to hardship, another family member could buy it back, redeeming the land.

Ruth has “happened” upon her kinsman-redeemer, who is both wealthy and worthy, in her first week back in Israel. This is a remarkable demonstration of God’s gracious providence. God provides for those who trust Him.

Gleaning was not without risk. Despite the law, not everyone followed it, and there were evil people everywhere. Naomi acknowledges this danger in verse 22:

It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, lest in another field you be assaulted.

This underscores Ruth’s great faith and God’s blessing in guiding her to Boaz’s fields.

Boaz notices her in verse 5 and asks his reapers who she is. They inform him of her hard work and the fact that she has been diligent all day with only a brief rest.

Boaz, already aware of her story—since they are the talk of the town—addresses Ruth directly in verse 8:

Now, listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping, and go after them. Have I not charged the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn.

In just one day, Ruth finds a safe place with plenty of provisions, where she can glean and provide for herself and Naomi throughout the harvest.

She is overwhelmed with gratitude and asks, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?”

In v. 11-12, Boaz says:

All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!

The imagery of God as a protective brooding hen is powerful and recurring in Scripture.

Most notably, Jesus uses this image in Matthew 23:37-38:

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate.

Elimelech refused to stay under the wings of God, leading to his house becoming desolate. But Ruth sought refuge under God’s wings, and God poured out His blessings upon her.

Boaz ensures that Ruth receives more than enough to provide for herself and Naomi. Verse 17 tells us that Ruth came home with an ephah of barley, nearly 50 pounds—a substantial amount.

This abundance echoes the sentiments found in Psalm 23, written by Ruth’s great-grandson, King David:

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil, for you are with me;

your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Naomi is astounded by the abundance Ruth brings home. When she learns Ruth gleaned in Boaz’s fields, Naomi says in verse 20:

‘May he be blessed by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!’ Naomi also said to her, ‘The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.’

Here we see a transformation in Naomi. The bitterness she felt gives way to recognition of God’s kindness. God worked through Naomi to bring Ruth to Him, and now He is using Ruth to call Naomi out of her bitterness.

Yet, there is an even greater blessing to come through the redeemer, Boaz. We will explore that further next week.

Brethren, trust the Lord. He is the ultimate provider. Seek God, and He will take care of you.