Welcome to Ruth study number two, chapter two, verses one through 23. In chapter one, we were introduced to Naomi, whose husband Elimelech had died and left her a widow with two sons. We're not given details of his death, but Elimelech and Naomi's two sons, Melon and Chilion, married two Moabitess women who appear to have become believers in God and the god of Elimelech and Naomi. And we'll see in Ruth 4.10 that Ruth married Melon, so that leaves Orpah to Chilion. Well, then Malon and Chillon died. We're not told much about that, but it left the widow Naomi with her widowed daughter's-in-law. And by the way, some teachers claim that there's no statement that the deaths of these three men or just the two sons by themselves was somehow an act of God's punishment. Some infer that since they married Moabitess women in a strange land, that that caused God's wrath to fall upon them. But we're going to see that that isn't really warranted by the scripture because these were believers. What God forbid was anyone marrying foreigners, Moabitesses, who were not believers. And as pointed out before, we're just going to stay away from a lot of the speculation you'll find if you read commentaries on the book of Ruth or even listen to sermons, where they're basically constantly adding things to the text and sometimes just subtle things. Of course, it's what Hollywood does every time they make a Bible movie or make shows like the thing called The Chosen, which is just horrible. We stick to the book. But now Orpah went back to her Moabite people, while Ruth clings to Naomi and goes back to Bethlehem, Judah, where the Lord's blessing will be upon them as we are introduced to Boaz, the kinsman redeemer. And of course, we saw the beautiful words of my, let's see, get myself here in the right place. of Naomi when she said, for whither thou goest, I will go, and where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. That was verse 16 of chapter one. So let's open with a word of prayer. Father, we thank you for another opportunity as we study your word, an amazing book. and help our minds to comprehend this divinely inspired text and this beautiful story of Ruth and Boaz and all that it has to add to our understanding. In Jesus' name, amen. Verse one of chapter two, the book of Ruth, and Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz. So we now are introduced to Boaz, a close relative of her father-in-law, Elimelech, who is now deceased. And it's quite a statement to speak of him as a mighty man of wealth. The name Boaz means strength, a mighty man of wealth, and with that, We recall the words of Jesus in Matthew 19, 23 through 26. Then Jesus said unto his disciples, verily I say unto you that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again, I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed saying, who then can be saved? But Jesus beheld them and said unto them, with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. So you hardly ever see wealthy people being saved. You hear of the stories of the owners of Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-A CEO and the passing of someone like Hulk Hogan who made a profession of faith and was baptized about a year ago before his death at about the time of this recording. But most people are like the George Soroses, the Bill Gates, the Warren Buffets, you name them. People who are not quite as wealthy, but very famous and everything. Very few. But it doesn't say it's impossible, because with God, all things are possible. And here, Boaz is one of those exceptions that prove the rule. He's a believer, he's a mighty man of wealth. and he's a believer. He's also a type or shadow of Jesus here, the kinsman. In Hebrews 2.17 we read, wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren. that is reference to Jesus being as our kinsman, that he might be a merciful and a faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. There's gonna be a reconciliation take place. Boaz, the kinsman, will redeem the land and Ruth. according to the law, and we'll come back to that. But that gives us the background and context of this story. Verse two says, and Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, let me now go to the field and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, that's Naomi speaking to Ruth, go, my daughter. Verse three, and she went and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And after her hap was to light, I'm sorry, and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech. And you can see here that Ruth is wanting to do her part to bring in, I almost said bring in the bacon. That's how we say it as Gentiles, you know, you go out and earn a living and able to pay the bills and buy the food. bringing in the bacon, but the Jews don't bring in the bacon. They bring in the kosher meats. But it says, as she's going out to do her part to earn her keep, I guess is a better way of putting it, it says her hap was. In other words, she just happened to glean in the field of Boaz. Oh, I believe the Lord had something to do with that. Verse four, and behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said unto the reapers, the Lord be with you. And they answered him, the Lord bless thee. Nice little back and forth, probably typical of that time. Today, a lot of times you hear people say, hey, how you doing? The person says, oh, I'm doing fine, how about you? Oh, I'm doing good. Probably isn't even true in a lot of cases. But people don't want to say, oh, you just need to sit down so I can tell you how bad things are. That's not how it works. So even when things aren't going real good, people will still say, oh, I'm all right. How are you? Well, you're all right. That doesn't mean everything's great. But we have plenty to be thankful for. So it's not a lie. but that's the sort of greeting back and forth here. Um, and obviously they're not city slickers. Something I had to get used to when I moved out of Southern Ohio into, uh, Columbus and the whole greater Columbus city area was the lack of such neighborliness. I'd walk in a place and say, Hey, how you doing? They just look at me like, where are you talking to me? Even in my neighborhood, I'd drive down the road. Where I'm from, you just wave at the neighbor. Maybe you can say, hey, how you doing? Up here, man, you wave at them and they just look at you. There's exceptions, but that's pretty much the rule around here and in most big cities. So verse five says, then said Boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers, whose damsel is this? It's just pretty well understood that the poor women and elderly and maybe even children wouldn't catch the eye of the strong, mighty man of wealth who owns all of the territory being gleaned. You know, they'd just be people out there and they wouldn't pay much attention to him. So she caught his eye. You might even As we see how this turns out, you might believe it was love at first sight. But Boaz is going to show self-control and tact. Verse 6, And the servant that was sent over the reapers answered and said, It is the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab. Verse seven, and she said, this is the servant still speaking. He's quoting her now. And she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves. So she came and hath continued even from the morning until now that she tarried a little in the house. Now, I've read some guys, they somehow see in there that this servant is like being apologetic. He's apologizing for allowing a Moabitess into the field or something. I don't read that in there at all. I think he's just answering the question. I don't think it's anything strange that there would be not only Israelites, but strangers, as they're called, strangers, what we call immigrants, migrants. And so I don't see that at all. I just think he's answering the, question as he was asked. And so Ruth is this new lady, new girl on the block, but not many would actually pursue her in a respectful way because she's a widow and a Moabitess. That's just the way it is. That's the way it was then, but really around the world and the most of the world, that's the way it is now. You go into Columbus, I see these little old ladies, and it doesn't matter what race, and everybody around them just walks right over. It's really sad. It's just human nature, self-centeredness, so forth. But Boaz is gonna start to winter over. And he wastes no time. Verse eight says, then said Boaz unto Ruth, here is thou not my daughter? Go not to glean in another field. Neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens. And he says, you just stay right here. You stick right here. We'll take care of you. Verse nine says, let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap and go after them. Have I not charged the young men that they should not touch thee? And when thou art a thirst, go unto the vessels and drink of that which the young men have drawn. So Boaz has put everyone on notice, you don't touch this girl. And she has a sign on her, do not touch. And he doesn't say she's mine. He doesn't lay claim to her outspokenly like that, but he's not taking any chances. She's gonna be left alone and remain in the fields of Boaz and be taken care of. Verse 10, then she fell on her face and bowed herself to the ground and said unto him, why have I found grace in thine eyes that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger? I mean, sometimes, you know, people are nice to you and you wonder why. I think Naomi has an understanding of the possibility that a kinsman, you know, as Naomi's already identified Boaz as a kinsman who would take care of her, but I think she's just curious. She wants, you know, she's a woman. She wants to know what's going on here. And like any single She's widowed, but she's single, and she's a normal young woman. She's inquiring to see if this is more than just a nice man being nice. And verse 11, and Boaz answered and said unto her, it hath been fully showed me all that thou hast done unto thy mother-in-law since the death of thine husband, and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother in the land of thy nativity, where she was born, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore. So word travels fast in a small town. No doubt Naomi had told folks about Ruth and her words back in chapter one, verse 16, we quoted at the beginning of this study. For whither thou goest, I will go, and where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. I bet those words were being quoted all over the place. Did you hear what Ruth, that Moabitess said to Naomi? And just listen to the words of Boaz as we continue reading in verse 12. He continues, the Lord recompensed thy work and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel under whose wings thou art come to trust. So Boaz just told us that Ruth is a real believer. She's trusting in the Lord. She trusts the word of God. She's a Bible believer, and now under his wings. When people talk about us, we should want them to say, among any other things they might say, that we are a Bible believer. We trust the Lord. We're one of those born-again people. Even calling you a Bible thumper, I'd take that as a compliment. And so Ruth responds, verse 13, then she said, let me find favor in thy sight, my Lord, for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine handmaids. I'm not a blood relative, I'm not a Jewess, but I so appreciate your kindness. She's very gracious here. We have a nice conversation going back and forth. Not really flirtatious by any stretch. But by the very fact that there's such cordiality between a Jew and a Moabitess, and such attention from a man who's single to a woman who's unmarried, I guarantee you there were some eyeballs around there watching that. Verse 14, and Boaz said unto her, at mealtime, come thou hither and eat of the bread and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. That's more important than you might think right there. And she sat beside the reapers and he reached her parched corn and she did eat and was sufficed and left. Basically, Boaz is inviting Ruth to sit among the family. and among his closest servants, which are treated like family. And Moabitess dipping her bread into this, they says the vinegar, we can think of it kind of like a balsamic dip for bread, allowing a Moabitess to dip her bread in the same dip with everybody else. I'm sure there was no double dipping. But having a Moabitess or a Moabite of any sort dipping bread in the same dish was just unheard of. Unclean! But that's how he's treating Ruth there. He's saying, you know what? I want you to feel like family. Make yourself at home. That's nice when you go to visit somebody and they just say, hey, make yourself at home. You want something out of the fridge, go right ahead. Of course, you shouldn't be a goofball and go take advantage of it and pig out and make a mess or anything like that. But that's great when people show you that kind of familial affection. It's just a nice feeling. But Ruth is going to keep things respectful. She eats and gets back to work. Verse 15, And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her not. He's given her full access. And he's already told him not to touch her. Now he says, And reproach her not. Why would he say it? Because Boaz knows men. When he's away, he knows these guys don't act as respectful as they ought to most of the time, or some of the time, or a lot of the time, whatever. If you've ever worked on a large farm, in a factory, a warehouse, wherever, if you just work with other human beings, you know that when a good-looking woman enters the area, the laborer types, especially, can be disrespectful. It can result in some unsavory situations, inappropriate stares or comments, unwanted attention or worse. But her reproach isn't just being a poor female alone in the field, but she's a Moabitess and everyone knows it. And so Boaz pulls a Barney fife and nips it in the butt. He just makes sure no one messes with her about being a Moabitess or the fact she's a good looking lady and hitting on her, as we'd say, or whatever. Boaz just being real, keeping it real, being protective because he's got his eye on Ruth. Verse 16. He continues and says, and let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her and leave them, that she may glean them and rebuke her not. You know, we'd say, leave a little on purpose. Drop a handful here and handful there just so she can have an easy go of it, picking this barley up. Verse 17, so she gleaned in the field until evening, or until even, and beat out that she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. Now, I said evening there for even. It's funny, I did that some time ago, and somebody pointed out and said, you know, when you said evening for even, it just clicked. I had trouble sometimes understanding that. Until even. I like that phrase, I wish it'd catch up again, instead of saying just until it gets dark. Well, can I play outside, Mom? Yeah, just until it gets dark. Instead, just say, you can go outside until even. Probably won't catch on again, but at one time, that was the way people talked. So anyway, we would say that they left those handfuls of barley grain laying around for Ruth on purpose. And what's amazing is that this was something required by law. It wasn't just a nice act by Boaz. It's actually something they were supposed to do anyway. Instead of having our terrible welfare system, God had what we would call a workfare program. And it's described in Luke 19, 9 and 10, for example. And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest, and thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard, thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger. I am the Lord your God. In other words, you weren't supposed to clean it like, you know, scorched earth. You were supposed to just, you know, go along and do what you can and then you leave some good. That's for the poor people. That's for the people. That's the welfare program. They have to get up off their butt and go out and collect this stuff and process it and cook it and do whatever they're going to do with it, make their own bread or whatever. What a great program. Instead of having a bunch of lazy welfare bums sitting around watching Hollywood junk, playing videos, gossiping, messing around, you know, all kinds of sexual immorality and so forth, keep them busy. Keep them active. Our welfare program is just ungodly and wicked. Yes, there's always some people who are not able to work and that sort of thing, but again, those are exceptions. The rule is most people in America are on welfare, they either shouldn't be getting it or they could be working for it. So, Ruth does this and pulls in quite a haul, more than required by law, as Naomi will recognize and point out. Verse 18 says, and she took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned, and she brought forth and gave to her that she had reserved after she was sufficed. She had plenty left over. And immediately, Naomi sees the unusual blessing of Boaz on Ruth, and she's thinking, aha, I know what's going on here. Reminds you of the matchmaker in Fiddler on the Roof. If you haven't watched that movie, you ought to. And verse 19, and her mother-in-law said unto her, where hast thou gleaned today? And where wroughtest thou? Blessed be he that did take knowledge of thee. And she showed her mother-in-law with whom she had wrought and said, this man's name with whom I wrought today is Boaz. And as far as Naomi is concerned and our story's concerned, that about does it. Verse 20, and Naomi said unto her daughter-in-law, blessed be he of the Lord who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, the man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen. And I think she said it just as I'm saying it right now. Ruth, this man is an eligible bachelor and he's family. The law in Leviticus 25, we don't have time to review all this, but it was made clear that the land owned by Ruth's husband, Milan, was to be sold to a kinsman and Deuteronomy, you have Leviticus 25, Deuteronomy 25, verses five through 10, it was law That required one of the brethren of Malon to marry Ruth the person who took the land was supposed to take the wife it's a package deal and Supposed to try to raise up children and name the firstborn son after the man who died That's the law read it back there in Deuteronomy 25 5 and 10 to carry on the man's name who's passed on and But Naomi, like any good Jew, knew these laws, so that's why she's responding the way she is. So we close out chapter two with Naomi confirming to Ruth that all these things are a good sign. Ruth doesn't know the law, Naomi does. She's filling her in, giving her some good counsel, and telling Ruth these are all good signs of Boaz's interest in being the near kinsman redeemer. and that she should do exactly as she's been told. We'll finish out the chapter here, 21 through 23. And Ruth the Moabitess said, he said unto me also, thou shalt keep fast by my young men until they have ended all my harvest. So this is a great deal. They're going to eat good. all the way, they'll have enough to save then for winter. Verse 22, and Naomi said unto Ruth her daughter-in-law, it is good, my daughter, that thou go out with his maidens, that they meet thee not in any other field. So it's good that Boaz has now basically made you part of the family here to stick in his field and be fed with plenty. Verse 23, so she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz to glean unto the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest and dwelt with her mother-in-law. So Naomi's thinking, and by the time winter comes around or shortly after harvest, Ruth is going to be Mrs. Boaz if all goes well. And so Naomi is blessing Ruth and Ruth is a blessing to Naomi with the potential of becoming part of the family of this prosperous mighty man named Boaz. And that's where we'll end the study of chapter 2. Right now we'll pick up with chapter 3. We've set the stage for how things are going to unfold. And again, with the thought that Boaz is a type of Jesus Christ, and this is also going to be directly related to the genealogy of Jesus Christ.