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CHAPTER ONE
When you open the book of Ruth, it begins: Now it came to pass, in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, went to dwell in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech, the name of his wife was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion—Ephrathites of Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to the country of Moab and remained there. Unlike some books of the Bible, Ruth opens with a very clear description of what the story is going to be about.
The story takes place “in the days when the judges ruled.” This was a specific time period in the history of the nation of Israel which occurred after Moses and Joshua led the Hebrew nation out of Egyptian slavery into the Promised Land but before King Saul (and the subsequent kings, including King David) came to power. Moses delivered the children of Israel out of slavery and died right before Joshua (his successor) led the former slaves into the Promised Land where they settled. During this period, they followed the laws given by God which Moses had set forth to them, and they were governed by a series of judges who interpreted how that law was applied.
Judges weren’t judges the way we think of them today. An ancient Hebrew judge did help settle legal and criminal disputes, but he (or she—there is at least one woman judge we know about, Deborah) also was a teacher, a counselor, sometimes a prophet, and often a military hero. Judges led battles, spoke the Word of God into situations, and helped communities get along with each other…as well as settling court cases. They functioned as the local rabbi, psychologist, and county clerk.
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There was a relative of Naomi’s husband, a man of great wealth, of the family of Elimelech. His name was Boaz. (Ruth 2:1).
I have always found this verse of Scripture very puzzling. If Elimelech was related to a rich man named Boaz, why was he so worried about the famine? Jewish tradition encouraged families to support their less fortunate relatives. Surely, Elimelech might have prevailed on this guy Boaz to keep the family afloat even during the famine. And why did the famine not seem to affect Boaz? Elimelech was so frightened of the famine he ran off to the inhospitable land of Moab. Yet Boaz was a man of “great wealth.”
Let me tell you about the Bible: it tends to underplay rather than overplay things. It isn’t given much to hyperbole. So if it says that Boaz had “great wealth,” this guy was massively and undeniably rich. The famine did not hurt Boaz!
We can’t ever know for sure from Scripture why Elimelech ended up running away to Moab while his rich relative remained in Bethlehem. Maybe in the end it does not matter. But if you’ve been following the part of the Levirate, you realize now that Boaz could be an important character in Ruth’s life. After all, Ruth was entitled under the Levirate to marry back into Elimelech’s family, providing a suitable male relative was willing to marry her. Boaz sounds like a great catch.
(I’ve also wondered why Naomi never mentioned Boaz to her daughters-in-law in Moab when she was planning to go back to Bethlehem. If Ruth and Orpah suspected that there might be suitable spouses for them in the land of Judah, it certainly would have made the notion of the trip a lot more palatable. Did Naomi know about Boaz? Had she forgotten him? Or was Boaz just a distant cousin she barely knew who was not very well-to-do when Naomi left Bethlehem? Again, these are questions that Scripture does not answer.)
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Now Boaz said to her at mealtime, “Come here, and eat of the bread, and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar.” So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed parched grain to her, and she ate and was satisfied, and kept some back. And when she rose up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. Also let grain from the bundles fall purposely for her; leave it that she may glean, and do not rebuke her.” So she gleaned in the field until evening, and beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. Then she took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. So she brought out and gave to her what she had kept back after she had been satisfied. And her mother-in-law said to her, “Where have you gleaned today? And where did you work? Blessed be the one who took notice of you.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, “The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.” (Ruth 2:14-19).
Most gleaners were fortunate to get a position in the field to glean the leftovers. Ruth was invited specifically to lunch with Boaz, who gave her some “parched grain” that they called bread. He had her sit among the reapers—his own workers and the upper echelon among his employees in this area—and he encouraged her to dip her bread into the vinegar for flavor. Ruth had to be grateful not just for Boaz’s attention but for the free meal. She and Naomi did not have enough money for food, and Ruth had to be hungry after working in the field all morning. Ruth eats with the group, but the Bible tells us that she ate her fill and was satisfied but still had enough left over to keep some back. As we see at the end of this passage, she reserves some of the bread from lunch to give to Naomi, who is waiting for her at home.
There is a tremendous Biblical principle at work here, one we will later see in the Gospels when Jesus multiplies loaves and fishes to feed the masses. When God provides, His provision has a way of being enough to meet our needs with overflow that can meet the needs of others. This miracle only happens when we are careful to hold back a little for a good purpose. If Ruth had gobbled down all the bread she could get her hands on with no thought of saving some for her hungry mother-in-law at home, the miracle might not have happened. It happened because Ruth did not stuff herself! Ruth took the bread offered her and the Bible tells us she ate until she was satisfied. But she was also thinking of saving some bread for Naomi.
When we get things—money, extra time, a promotion, some new clothes, or opportunities—we are wise according to the Bible to seek to share some of that good stuff with others. Those others may be our family or our friends, or it may be our brothers and sisters in Christ. It might also be people we don’t know personally, except to know that they are needy. When we get something of value, we should be quick to think of who else could benefit from it and we should reserve some of our treasure for them. If you suddenly have a lot of free time, consider babysitting for a neighbor or volunteering more at your church. If you get a bonus at work, consider donating some of the money to a good cause or to help a needy student or family on the brink. If you get a new house, consider hosting a home group there. The idea is to think of others. Then your own needs are quickly met (you get satisfied) and the other is blessed as well.
The miracle of multiplication is not one that is taught a lot, but it is a true miracle and one that Jesus demonstrated more than once in His earthly ministry. Take the resources that He bestows and plan on how to pass what you can along…and you will be satisfied along with the others down the line!
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Boaz arranged for a meeting in public, which was the way most ancient societies conducted legal business. (In the absence of paper, most business transactions were done in public, verbally, in front of witnesses.) When Boaz proposes the deal, the first thing he tells the kinsman-redeemer is that if he does not want to redeem the land, Boaz is quite prepared to do so. Boaz is a very rich man and the kinsman-redeemer probably figured if a rich man like Boaz wanted this particular piece of land, it was a good deal. So the kinsman-redeemer snaps it up.
Then Boaz mentions the marriage to Ruth. At this point, it is now crystal clear to the other kinsman-redeemer that he is going to have to marry Ruth. In his case, he’s already married, but that’s no obstacle. Plural marriage (polygamy) was common in the ancient world, so there was really no restriction to him to take Ruth as his wife. But he balks at the idea of acquiring a new wife. Apart from being a man unwilling to take on a new wife, what’s going on?
It has to do with inheritance for his children. Jewish people in Scripture were urged to make efforts to provide their children with an inheritance, if possible, and it was something many people in that society took quite seriously. Men wanted to leave their family’s land and houses and money to their children and grandchildren after them. It was considered the right and honorable thing for decent men to do. However, if this kinsman-redeemer bought the land, he would have to take his cash and spend it on the land. Remember that being a kinsman-redeemer didn’t mean you got the land for free or even at a discount; you paid full price. It’s not clear how much the land cost but land has never been cheap (even in Ruth’s day) so it’s likely that buying Elimelech’s property would deplete the amount of money he would have to leave to his children.
Now that might not be a bad idea since he was buying land—land is often a good investment. But marrying Ruth meant that this land was something that would be inherited by her children by the kinsman-redeemer. In other words, if the kinsman-redeemer bought the land, he’d have to marry Ruth and leave the land he bought with all his money to any children he might have by Ruth. His current children would lose their inheritance because it would wind up going to Ruth’s children.
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