Scripture Reading: Ruth 2
After Ruth’s husband died, she had two choices: remain in Moab or go with Naomi to be a foreigner in Israel. Ruth chose to go to the land of Israel because she probably had heard a great deal concerning God, God’s promise, and the good land. She had heard the good news sufficiently for her to make a wonderful choice. After arriving in the land of Israel with Naomi, Ruth exercised her right. This matter is covered in chapter two.
God’s commandment concerning the reaping of the harvest was that Jehovah would bless the children of Israel if they left the corners of their fields and the gleanings for the poor, the sojourners, the orphans, and the widows. Concerning this, Leviticus 23:22 says, “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not completely reap the corners of your field, neither shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor and for the alien.” A similar word is found in Leviticus 19:9-10. Deuteronomy 24:19 says, “When you reap your harvest in your field and you forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not turn back to gather it; it shall be for the sojourner, the orphan, and the widow, in order that Jehovah your God may bless you in all your undertakings.” This shows not only the lovingkindness of God and how great, fine, and detailed He is, but shows also the rich produce of the good land.
God wanted to bless the harvest of the Israelites in the good land, but this blessing had a condition — that something would be left for the poor. The people would not be allowed to reap completely the corners of their field. However, in the ordinance of the law given by God through Moses regarding reaping, the size of the corners of the field was not specified. The size depended on the landlord’s faith in Jehovah. The larger one’s faith in Jehovah was, the larger the corners of the field would be. I believe that it was the practice of Boaz to obey this ordinance. He must have had great faith in Jehovah. Under God’s sovereignty this ordinance seems to have been written for one person — Ruth.
Naomi returned to Bethlehem with her daughter-in-law Ruth at the beginning of the barley harvest (Ruth 1:22b). Barley, which ripens earlier than other grains, typifies the resurrected Christ (John 6:9-10, 56-58).
“Now Naomi had a relative of her husband’s, a man of great wealth, from Elimelech’s family; and his name was Boaz” (Ruth 2:1). God is sovereign, and in His sovereignty He brought Ruth from Moab to the city of Bethlehem. Before she arrived there, He had prepared a rich, generous man by the name of Boaz.
Ruth gained Naomi’s permission to go gleaning (vv. 2-3). Ruth asked Naomi to let her go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight Ruth had found favor. Naomi told Ruth to go, and she went and gleaned in the field after the reapers, happening to glean in a portion of the field belonging to Boaz.
Boaz eventually became acquainted with Ruth (vv. 4-7). He came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, “Jehovah be with you,” and they said to him, “Jehovah bless you” (v. 4). When Boaz asked the young man who was set over the reapers concerning Ruth, the young man told him that she was the young Moabite woman who had returned with Naomi from the country of Moab and who had asked to glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves. His word to Boaz regarding Ruth indicates that he was happy with her, considering her a woman of fidelity and virtue.
In verses 8 through 13 we have Boaz’s word of grace to Ruth. He said to her, “Do not go to glean in another field, and also do not pass from here but stay close to my young women. Keep your eyes on the field that they reap; follow after them. I have charged my young men not to touch you. And when you are thirsty, you shall go to the vessels and drink of what the young men have drawn” (vv. 8-9). When Ruth heard these words, she fell upon her face, bowed herself to the ground, and asked Boaz, “Why have I found favor in your sight that you regard me, though I am a foreigner?” (v.10). Boaz replied that all that she had done for her mother-in-law since the death of her husband Elimelech had been made known to him. He also had learned how she had left her father and mother and the land of her birth and had come to a people whom she had not known before. Then he said to her, “May Jehovah recompense your work, and may you have a full reward from Jehovah, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge” (v. 12). In response, Ruth asked that she would find favor in his sight, for he had comforted her and had spoken kindly to her (v. 13).
Boaz not only spoke kindly to Ruth but also showed generosity to her (vv. 14-16). At mealtime Boaz told her to eat some food, extending some parched grain to her, and she ate and was satisfied. When she rose up to glean, Boaz charged his young men to let her glean among the standing grain and not to rebuke her. Then he went on to say to them, “Also pull out some from the bundles for her, and leave it for her to glean; and do not rebuke her” (v. 16).
Upon returning from the field, Ruth told the story of her experience with Boaz to Naomi, her mother-in-law (vv. 17-21). When Ruth told Naomi that she had gleaned in the field of Boaz, Naomi said to her, “Blessed be he of Jehovah, whose lovingkindness has not failed for the living and for the dead” (v. 20a). Then Naomi told Ruth that the man was close to them, one of their kinsmen (v. 20b).
In verse 22 Naomi charged Ruth, saying, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, so that others do not meet you in any other field.” As we will see when we come to chapter three, what was on Naomi’s heart was not only that Ruth would partake of Boaz’s riches and be satisfied, but also that she would gain Boaz himself as her husband and bring forth a son for the name of Elimelech.
Ruth stayed close to Boaz’s young women and gleaned until the end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest; and she dwelt with her mother-in-law (v. 23).
In all this Ruth, as one who had returned to God from her heathen background, exercised her right to partake of the rich produce of the inheritance of God’s elect. Ruth, a Moabitess, had come to the good land as a sojourner. According to her threefold status as a sojourner, a poor one, and a widow, she exercised her right to glean the harvest. Although she was poor, she never became a beggar. Her gleaning was not her begging; it was her right.
The book of Ruth portrays the way, the position, the qualification, and the right of sinners to participate in Christ and to enjoy Christ. According to God’s ordination, we have been qualified and positioned to claim our right to enjoy Christ. This means that today we do not need to beg God to save us. We can go to God to claim His salvation for ourselves. We have the position, the qualification, and the right to claim salvation from God. This is the highest standard of receiving the gospel.
As a narration, the book of Ruth is lovely, touching, convincing, and subduing. In the aromatic story in chapter two, four types are implied.
Boaz, rich in wealth (2:1), typifies Christ, who is rich in the divine grace (2 Cor. 12:9).
The field of the God-promised good land (Ruth 2:2-3) typifies the all-inclusive Christ, who is the source of all the spiritual and divine products for the life supply to God’s elect (Phil. 1:19b).
Barley and wheat (Ruth 2:23) typify Christ as the material for making food for both God and His people (Lev. 2; John 6:9, 33, 35).
Ruth, a Moabitess (Deut. 23:3), a heathen sinner, alienated from God’s promises (Eph. 2:12), given the right to partake of the gleaning of the harvest of God’s elect typifies the “Gentile dogs” who are privileged to partake of the crumbs under the table of the portion of God’s elect children (Col. 1:12; Matt. 15:25-28).
