Ruth: Lesson 2

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Ruth: A Blogged Bible Study
Beerlahairoi.blogspot.com

Syllabus

5/20/08 Introduction

5/27/08 Chapter 1: Losses and Gains

6/3/08 Chapter 2: Gleaning

6/10/08 Chapter 3: Redemption Requested

6/17/08 Chapter 4: Redemption Manifested

Chapter 2: Gleaning

When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleainings...leave [it] for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God. -- Leviticus 19:9 - 10

When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the works of your hands -- Deuteronomy 24:19

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." -- Ruth 2:2

Remember, Ruth and Naomi arrived in Bethlehem just as the barley harvest was beginning. That was not pure chance, nor was it just a random thing that the first field she went to...which was obviously a large field as it required a team of workers to harvest it...belonged to a man named Boaz, who is described in verse 1 as 'a relative on [Naomi's] husband's side, from the clan of Elimelech, a man of standing.' I also believe he was in his mid to late 40's; based not only on his position but also on the way he speaks about and to Ruth, whom I believe was probably still in her teens.

I have heard the story of Ruth referred to as a romance, a love story...but the plain truth is there is not one drop of evidence that romantic love played any part in this story whatsoever. There is respect, there is honor, there is favor, but the only love mentioned is the love Ruth had for her mother-in-law. Ruth went to the fields because it was a legitimate way for her to provide for herself and her mother-in-law; she asked permission to glean from the workers, and she worked steadily but wisely, resting when she needed to.

Bethlehem was a small town and Naomi's return was News. However, despite the fact that Naomi declared she came back empty, the townspeople had noticed (and obviously discussed) Ruth. Boaz had already heard her story and been impressed by it...not only had Ruth demonstrated remarkable loyalty and care, but his family had been the beneficiary of her dedication. In appreciation and, I think, as an intentional expression of the grace of 'the God of Israel, under whose wings [she had] come to take refuge,' Boaz blesses Ruth with both protection and provision:

He instructed her to glean only in his fields, and he had given his men instructions not to touch her; she would be protected in his fields (no small thing in those rather lawless times).

He told her to drink from the water provided for his workers.

He provided her lunch along with his workers; she received a portion too large for her to eat and carefully took the rest back to Naomi.

He instructed his men to leave extra grain lying for her to pick up, and to allow her to get grain wherever she wanted to...even to pulling it from the sheaves they had already bound.

The marginal note in my NIV indicates that when Ruth had threshed out the grain she had gathered, she had about 3/8 of a bushel...based on Naomi's reaction, that was quite a bit for just picking up what was left ungathered the first time. Naomi recognized that Ruth was receiving some preferential treatment. With a practical mind, she noted that Boaz, who was being so kind, was one of their kinsman-redeemers. That is, he was a relative close enough that he could purchase and hold the property of Elimelech and raise up a son in his name to inherit it, so that the family line and inheritance would remain intact.

So, following the instructions of both Boaz and Naomi, Ruth gleaned in the fields of Boaz for the rest of the barley harvest and on through the wheat harvest, staying with his servant girls in the fields. Boaz no doubt kept an eye on her, and noted that she came and worked regularly and with diligence to provide for herself and her mother in law. Need I say it...she was seen.

"Gleaning" is the practice of picking up that which was overlooked, dropped, leftover or forgotten but yet has value. Ruth gleaned in the barley and wheat fields, but I believe there was more gleaning going on here. She herself may have felt overlooked, dropped or forgotten. In a foreign land, caring for a sad older woman with little hope of any kind of future, she was doing what she needed to do to survive. Like the leftover scrap clay used in the plaque I posted yesterday, her purpose seemed to be missed. But the Master Potter had a different plan, and was creating something unique. Even though the fiery trial caused what looked like a fatal crack, the Father knows how to apply the glue that mends and restores.

Gleaning is hard work; it is not something that gets any kind of accolades or reward. It's an invisible sort of task. But God knows how to bring favor even to someone who is laboring invisibly; Ruth did nothing unusual...but she did it willingly and uncomplainingly and without worrying about how *she* was going to be fulfilled. And THAT was what proved her character to those in the area.

Once her character was proven, she was in a position to receive a greater blessing than she had ever considered.


Closing thoughts: What tasks are before me, that I can undertake with the attitude of Ruth, in order to prove my character (or, *im*prove my character, as the case may be)? What around me has been overlooked, dropped, leftover or forgotten that I can recover and restore to its purpose? Where do I need to trust God to recover and restore what appears to be broken and hopeless in my own life?