026 Naomi & Ruth: When Trauma Meets Kindness (Ruth 2)

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When life collapses around us, where is God? The Book of Ruth offers a profound answer where divine providence operates not through dramatic miracles but through ordinary people reflecting God's character.

Ruth's gleaning "coincidentally" brings her to Boaz's field – a moment that reveals how God orchestrates circumstances we might dismiss as chance. As Ruth demonstrates remarkable initiative in caring for her grieving mother-in-law Naomi, we witness the striking contrast between two valid responses to trauma: Naomi's withdrawal and Ruth's practical action. Neither approach is condemned; rather, we see how God works through both.

Boaz emerges as the embodiment of godly character – a man whose first words invoke God's blessing on his workers. His extraordinary treatment of Ruth teaches us what true compassion looks like: seeing the heart of the suffering, offering practical help beyond what's requested, and publicly restoring dignity to the marginalized. When Boaz invites the foreign Ruth to his table, he makes a powerful statement about her worth that transforms her community standing.

The cultural context of gleaning reveals God's design for social systems that protect the vulnerable. Yet what truly stirs hope is watching Naomi slowly awaken from her grief when Ruth returns with an abundance of grain. This powerful moment reminds us that sometimes our faith is carried by others when we cannot carry it ourselves – God didn't love Naomi less because she collapsed under grief, but provided through Ruth's faith and Boaz's obedience.

While the chapter concludes with temporary provision, permanent security remains unresolved. The two widows still face uncertain futures, yet hope glimmers as God's care begins to unfold through ordinary human kindness.

Have you experienced God's provision through unexpected people during your darkest moments? Does your approach to trauma resemble Ruth's action or Naomi's withdrawal? Join the conversation on social media or reach out via email – I'd love to hear how this ancient story resonates with your journey.

You may also enjoy:

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023 Tamar: Reclaiming Justice Against All Odds (https://wewhothirst.buzzsprout.com/2384822/episodes/17439747-023-tamar-reclaiming-justice-against-all-odds)

021 Jesus and the Syrophoenician woman who won a battle of wits (https://wewhothirst.buzzsprout.com/2384822/episodes/17122565-021-jesus-and-the-syrophoenician-woman-who-won-a-battle-of-wits-matthew-15-mark-7)

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Episode Transcript

Jessica LM Jenkins (00:00):
I don't know about you, but Naomi's words,
her theological statement aboutGod at the end of chapter one of
the book of Ruth, has beenringing in my ears for the last
couple of weeks.
Naomi says why would you callme pleasant?
The Lord has afflicted me andthe Almighty has caused evil

(00:21):
against me.
She is looking at her traumaticsituation.
She is looking at how herentire life has fallen apart and
she is crushed.
She looks at the God who issupposed to be the covenant God
of Israel, who has allowedeverything to be ripped from her
, and she says the Lord has ahand in this.

(00:42):
And I am no longer pleasant, Iam bitter.
And she is wrestling with boththe theology and the practical
applications of what do we dowhen life falls apart and
everything hurts and there is nohope, hurts and there is no

(01:07):
hope.
Chapter one ends with a tinysliver of hope that there is now
bread in the city of bread andthe beginning of the harvest of
barley has begun.
And so we move into chapter two, where we start to see God's
providential work on behalf ofRuth and Naomi, as he is doing
his work behind the scenes.

(01:28):
So often in life, we want Godto show up in big, grand ways to
part the clouds in the heavensand to send rain, or a word of
what we're supposed to do next.
We want him to miraculouslyheal our loved one.
We want him to fix thesituations we have going on in

(01:48):
life.
And so often he doesn't stepinto our lives in those obvious,
tangical, big miracle sort ofways.
Instead, god continually worksthrough his people, following
his character, to do good forthose who are hurting the book

(02:25):
of Ruth, people functioningjustly in the societal systems
he set up for their flourishing.
God cares for his people, butnormally he does this through
his people, not through big,flashy miracles, and we are
going to see how that works outin chapter two.

(02:48):
I'm going to start by readingchapter two, my translation of
it, to get us into the text, toget us thinking about it.
I am again going to use thename meanings rather than the
transliterated versions we havein our English Bible.
There's one Hebrew word.
I've been struggling to figureout how to translate that for
this, so I'm going to tell you alittle bit about it before and

(03:09):
we'll discuss it more after.
But it's a Hebrew word that hasmultiple meanings that our
English does not have in oneword, so we do not have an
English word that carries thenuances that the Hebrew word
does.
The Hebrew word is na'ar and itcan be translated young man,
young person, young woman, or itcan be translated servant,

(03:33):
because in the ancient world, inthe household dynamics,
hierarchy is not by gender, it'sby age, and so when you're
trying to discuss a hierarchybetween, maybe, kings and his
noblemen, I mean high ranking,very powerful men, but they're
not as powerful as the king,they're the noblemen under the
king.
They might be called the naar,the servant of the king, but

(03:57):
that naar word also can talkabout 10-year-old kids,
teenagers, and so it's this wordthat has this broad range of
meaning and it's hugelyrepetitive in the Book of Ruth.
A lot of people are called anar in the Book of Ruth and it's
is this a servant or is this ayoung person?
And it's likely that it's both.

(04:19):
I, for my translation purposes,am going to call this a young
person, young woman, young man,if there's gender specific in
the text.
But carry in mind that there'sthe idea of servant, a hired
worker, alongside that.
It's not just like a bunch ofkids or teenagers running around
.
A lot of these are going to beadults, adults of you know, 30s,

(04:42):
40s, adults.
But I'm going to call them ayoung person rather than a
servant, because there's anotherservant term later on that I
want to differentiate betweenthe two.
But there's also this themethat's going to show up in
chapter three of young versusold.
So there's a lot of thesesubtle Hebrew things going on
that's hard to capture inEnglish, but I'm going to do my

(05:04):
best for you.
So let's read Ruth, chapter two.
In regard to Pleasant, there wasa kinsman to her husband, a man
of substance from the clan ofmy goddess Cain, and his name
was Strength.
And then, refreshing Frank, thewoman from the land of incest,

(05:27):
said to Pleasant Let me go tothe field so that I may glean in
the ears of grain afterwhomever I find grace in his
eyes.
And Pleasant said to her Go, mydaughter.
And she went and she came andshe gleaned in the field after
the reapers.
And then happenstance happenedthe part of the field belonged
to strength, who was from theclan of my goddess king.

(05:51):
And behold, strength was comingout of the city of bread.
And he said to the reapers theLord be with you.
And they said to him may theLord really bless you.
And then straight said to theyoung man appointed over the
harvesters whose is this youngwoman?
And then the young man appointedover the harvesters answered

(06:14):
and he said she is a young womanof the land of incest, the one
who returned with Pleasant fromthe fields of incest.
And she said let me glean, letme gather among the sheaves
behind the harvesters.
And then she came and she haswaited until morning, until now,

(06:36):
except for just, you know,sitting here in the field.
And then Strength said to herrefreshing friend have you not
heard my daughter, you may notgo glean in another field, and
also you will not pass on fromhere.
And thus you will cling with myyoung women.

(06:56):
Your eyes are in this field,which they will harvest and you
will go after them.
Have I not commanded my youngpeople not to touch you?
And when you thirst you will goafter them?
Have I not commanded my youngpeople not to touch you?
And when you thirst you will goto the vessels and you will
drink from that which the youngpeople have drawn.
And she fell on her face and shebowed herself to the ground and
she said to him why have Ifound grace in your eyes that

(07:19):
you regard me, for I am aforeigner.
And then strength answered andhe said to her he really told me
all what you've done for yourmother-in-law after the death of
your husband, that you leftyour father and your mother in
the land of your kindred and youwent to a people who you didn't
even know three days ago.

(07:41):
May the Lord repay your deedand may your wages be complete
from the Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you came for refuge
under his wings.
And then she said let me findgrace in your eyes, my Lord, for
you comforted me.
You spoke concerning the heartof your maid servant, and I

(08:03):
myself am not even one of yourmaid servants.
And then Strength said to her Atthe eating come here and eat
from this bread and dip yourfragment in the vinegar.
So she sat to the side of thereapers and he held out to her
parched grain and she ate andshe was satisfied and she had

(08:25):
leftovers.
Then she rose to glean and thenstrength commanded his young
people saying even if she gleansin the standing grain the ones
that haven't been chopped downyet, do not shame or rebuke her.
You will certainly even drawout from the sheaves and leave

(08:46):
for her, and she will glean.
Do not rebuke her.
And then she gleaned in thefield until evening and then she
beat out what she had gleanedand there was one ephah of
barren.
And then she lifted up and sheentered the city and she showed
her mother-in-law that which shegleaned and then she brought it
out and she gave to her whatshe had left over from her

(09:09):
plenty.
And then her mother-in-law saidto her where did you glean
today and where did you do this?
Blessed is he who regarded you.
And then she told hermother-in-law that what she did,
and she said the name of theman who I was with today is
strength.
Then Pleasant said to herdaughter-in-law Blessed be he of

(09:33):
the Lord who did not forsakehis goodness to the living and
the dead.
Then Pleasant said to her theman is a close relative to us,
he is a kinsman, redeemer, agoel.
And then Ruth the Moabitess, thewoman from incest.
Then, beautiful Friend, thewoman from the land of incest
also said, for he said to me youwill claim with my young people

(09:57):
who are mine, until they finishall the harvest which is mine.
And then Pleasant said toRefreshing friend, her
daughter-in-law it is good, mydaughter, that you will go with
his young women and then theywill not meet you in another
field.
And so she, beautiful friend,clung to the young women of

(10:19):
strength to glean until thefinishing of the harvest of
barley and the harvest of wheat,and she remained with her
mother-in-law.
So what we have here somescholars describe as the
beginnings of a betrothal.
It's not stated explicitly inthe text, but the ancient

(10:41):
hearers of this text would haveheard familiar themes that they
are used to in the betrothalscene in a romance story.
We don't have the ending yet,but we are seeing hope sparkling
everywhere in this passage.
So let's start breaking downwhat is going on in this passage

(11:05):
.
Chapter one ends with Ruth andNaomi returning to Bethlehem.
They have come back, they're inthe city of bread, the barley
harvest is beginning and thatscene closes.
Imagine a play and the curtaincomes down.
But before the curtain comes up, the narrator briefly gives the
audience an aside so that we'reclued in on some important

(11:27):
details.
The narrator lets us know thatthere is a man who's going to be
in this next scene, and thisman is a Gabor Chayil.
That's the Hebrew term, andscholars discuss how to best
translate it.
Most of them land on a man ofsubstance.
Chayil is a very it's amilitary term used, and Gabor

(11:51):
Chayil is used for mighty men ofvalor, victorious warriors.
We talked a lot about the termchayil in the Proverbs 31 series
.
You can go back to that episodeI will link it in the comments
where we talk about hayilapplied to women, which it will
be applied to Ruth later on inchapter three or four, but here
it's used to describe Boaz.

(12:12):
Now, remember, this whole bookis set in the time of judges.
This is a very tumultuous time.
You could have roving banditscome through.
You have other nations likeMoab and Ammon and the
Philistines who are attackingIsrael periodically.
So Boaz being a man ofsubstance, a man of standing, he
has high honor in the community.

(12:34):
He likely also is a strongwarrior, though we don't
translate it necessarily as amighty warrior because this is
not a military context andoutside of a military context it
means a man of sustenance, aman of wealth, a man of high
honor.
But all of those things also gowith men who were warriors,

(12:54):
because then they can defendtheir holdings.
So you have a lot wrapped up inthis phrase about Boaz and his
name.
Even it has the implications ofstrength.
So I love the Hebrew becauseit's just in your face.
It's like Boaz shows up with abig Superman symbol on his chest

(13:16):
.
I wonder who the male hero,main character of this story, is
going to be.
It's probably Boaz, so he'sintroduced by the narrator that
he is there.
The audience, the readers ofRuth, need to know about this
person and some background.
He is related to Elimelech,naomi's husband, and this is

(13:41):
mentioned a couple of times.
And this is mentioned a coupleof times.
But Ruth and Naomi may or maynot be aware of him or even
really thinking about him.
There are some scholars thatthink Ruth chapter 2 was
contrived by Naomi, that sheremembered Boaz was there and
she sent Ruth to his field.
I don't think that follows thebest flow of the text.

(14:08):
I feel like the text points toa lot of things that highlights
God's providence more thanNaomi's thinking through this
situation.
So verse one in chapter two isletting us know Boaz is here,
but Ruth and Naomi don'tnecessarily have that
recollection yet.
So the curtain ended at the endof chapter one Narrator comes

(14:31):
out and is like there's thisperson named Boaz, you need to
know character highlight.
Okay, curtain goes up and we'reback with Ruth and Naomi, and
then Ruth looks at Naomi andsays let me go glean.
So the curtain goes up and weare back in scene with Ruth and

(14:52):
Naomi and Ruth looks at Naomiand says let me go glean so that
we have something to eat.
We do not know Ruth and Naomi'ssituation at this point.
We do not know if they aremaybe living in a limelight
house Were they able to get homeor is somebody else living in
the house?
Are they living in a tent onthe outskirts of town?

(15:14):
Are they living with a neighborwho is kind enough to take them
in?
The text never tells us wherethey are living and sleeping at
night.
But they have a location that'sfunctioning as home for them.
But they have a location that'sfunctioning as home for them.
And Naomi says let me go gleanso that I can take care of us.
Naomi is either too grieving,too traumatized, too old to do

(15:36):
this.
Naomi seems again very passivehere.
She isn't able to do a lot yetto plan or to make things happen
.
And so Ruth very similar tochapter one, where Ruth is like
I'm going to stay with you, yourpeople will be my people, your
God, my God, you will notdissuade me from the path I am
on.
Once again, ruth is standing upas a strong, vibrant, take

(16:01):
charge kind of woman and againshe is going to provide for this
family no matter what.
And so Naomi says to her go go,my daughter, my daughter is a
term of endearment, but Naomi'sinteractions with Ruth continue
on the same theme.
It's constantly go, go, go orsilence.

(16:23):
That is pretty much all Naomiis doing at this point, sending
or silent.
And Ruth is the one trying tofigure out how to make life work
in the midst of trauma andgrief.
It's easy to read past theirtrauma and grief and be like, oh
yeah, bad things happening, butthey're going to be okay, right
?
This is our reminder.

(16:43):
Some of you listening haveexperienced loss in intense ways
and trauma and death andsuffering.
Some of you listening have not.
And especially for those whohave not, it's easy to assume
that, oh, you seem fine, you'retrauma, you're suffering, you're
loss.
It's in the past and this is agood reminder to all of us that

(17:06):
we carry those losses with us.
They don't stop existing justbecause good starts happening.
Again, ruth losing her firsthusband the pain of that, the
loss of that is not cured whenshe marries Boaz at the end of

(17:28):
the book, that pain is stillthere.
The joy of the new hope andrelationship and life coexists
with the loss and the pain.
And so we see here two separateresponses of how do we process

(17:50):
pain and traumatic instances.
Both of them are very natural.
We have Naomi, who kind of justdissociates.
She's pulling away from thosewho are close to her.
She's pushing people away.
She's shutting down, she'sbeing silent.
She's just stumbling home sothat she can.
I almost imagine her crawlingin bed, pulling the covers over
her head and just trying to shutout the world.

(18:11):
She is in some ways justcollapsing inwards on herself.
Ruth is taking another approach.
She's had equally horriblethings happen, but she is.
I'm going to just do the nextthing.
I need to do the next thing.
I need to take care of us.
I'm going to work, I'm going towork hard and I'm going to go.
She's the mover, she's going todo it.

(18:33):
And so neither of thoseresponses are necessarily wrong
and neither of those are right.
Times of grief require both attimes.
But it is also beautiful to seehow God provided for Naomi in
her collapse with someone likeRuth, who can step up and do

(18:55):
what needs to be done.
So Ruth goes, she went and shecame and she gleaned after the
reapers.
That just kind of closes upwhat is going to be happening.
And so then a happenstancehappened.
This many, many commentatorsand scholars say this is just a

(19:16):
glimmer of hope.
She chanced and she got luckyand she happened into the part
of the field that belonged toBoaz.
This is God's providence.
He often works behind thescenes to just kind of subtly
direct that we barely evennotice.
So let's talk about part of thefield.

(19:37):
What does that mean?
She happened to happen upon thepart of a field that belonged
to Boax.
Let's think about farms for asecond.
My grandpa had a dairy farmwhen I was he's passed away, but
when I was a child he had adairy farm and it was your
typical kind of American idea ofa farm.

(19:58):
You have a small little ruraltown and then a couple miles
outside of the town is mygrandpa's farm and on his land,
which I don't know I don't knowhow many acres he had, I'm
guessing at least a square mile,but I have no idea he had a lot
and so on his land he had afarmhouse and he had the barn

(20:18):
for the cows, the milking parlorbarn, silos for grain, all of
the things.
All of that is on his land.
The house, the barn, all of itis on his land that he is
farming.
The town is several miles awayand they would leave the farm to
go into the town to go shopping, hospital, school, whatever
they needed.
But there's a separation betweenthe two.

(20:39):
That's not how the agricultureworked in the Old Testament.
In the Old Testament you havethe town of Bethlehem and
everybody has their houses inthe town of Bethlehem.
You don't have your house onyour field, your house is in the
town itself and so everybodylives and stores their grain and

(21:03):
does everything in town.
The fields are all outside ofthe town and they are portioned
off by clan, by family, byhousehold.
And there may not there's notlike big signs saying this is
Elimelech's field and this isBoaz's field and this is Judah's
field, this is Jesse's field.

(21:23):
There's no signs.
There just may be like a rockor like a little wall or
something and so and the fieldsare like right next to each
other.
So you don't necessarily knowwhose field is whose or what's
going on, unless you live thereand are familiar, the people who
lived in Bethlehem.
No, it's their fields, it'stheir family's fields.

(21:45):
They lived there forgenerations.
But Ruth, just showing up, she'shere.
We'll find out like three wholedays.
She doesn't have a clue.
So a happenstance happens.
She comes out of the town.
Maybe a lot of people areleaving the town in the morning.
She just kind of jumps in line,follows them and she happens.

(22:06):
Maybe she just follows a crowdof women and she happens into
Boaz's field and the textreminds us again because this is
significant who was from theclan of Elimelech?
And behold, boaz was coming outof Bethlehem.
So we don't know how long laterit seems like maybe some hired

(22:29):
workers, the harvesters familiesthey went out to start working
in the field.
Boaz is a man of standing.
It doesn't seem like heactually has to do the physical
labor himself.
He gets to hire reapers.
Either he has a large householdof himself.
It's likely Boaz was marriedand or widowed before Ruth,
although he may still have aliving wife when he marries Ruth

(22:49):
.
The text doesn't tell us andit's irrelevant to the story,
but it is a possibility.
He's allowed to have more thanone wife, so he may have a large
household with his own childrenworking.
He is a man of sustenance.
He probably hired some workersas well.
He could have some of his ownchildren working, some of the
land and everything.
But we have a lot of people, alot of things going on.

(23:11):
Boaz doesn't seem to have to dothe labor himself, he can just
kind of take a supervisory role.
So it seems like all the actualphysical laborers went out to
the field early in the morning.
He was probably taking care ofsome stuff in town, doing what
large landowning men do in townin the morning, and then he
comes out a little bit later andeverybody else is already

(23:33):
working.
It seems like it could be acouple hours after they get
started.
So he comes out and he greetsthe Reapers.
Now remember Reapers here, atleast for me.
I don't know if this would bethe same for you.
I always read reapers kind ofmale growing up, because it's

(23:57):
easy to put specific genders onsome of these terms and think
that the reapers are the men.
They're out there workingbecause, especially grown up
complementarian, it's men whohave jobs, not women.
Women are supposed to stay home, so of course it's men doing
most of the work.
It's men who have jobs, notwomen.
Women are supposed to bestaying home, so of course it's
men doing most of the work, notso Harvest time.
Everybody's on board Women,children, old people to their
physical ability, children totheir physical ability.
And so when he's talking toReapers, this is a
multi-gendered group, this isnot just males, this is all of

(24:20):
the hired workers, familymembers, everybody in his field
who are doing the task ofreaping.
And so he, boaz, comes out ofthe town, he comes up to the
field and he says to the reapersthe Lord be with you, which I
absolutely love because there'sthis principle of first speech.
When you look at the Bible, payattention to the first thing a

(24:41):
character says.
It can be significant, notalways, not 100% of the time,
but it's a question worth askingin your Bible study.
Is the first thing this personsays important to either the
characterization of thecharacter or to the story as a
whole?
And so here, the first thingBoaz says is a blessing on those

(25:02):
laboring for him.
He immediately says the Lord bewith you.
And this may be a very typicalharvest time blessing they would
say to each other, but it'sstill significant that the
Lord's name is the first wordout of Boaz's mouth and the
second word, because it's onlytwo words in Hebrew.
The first word out of Boaz'smouth is the Lord.

(25:23):
The second is you, with you.
Boaz is concerned about the Lordand his people.
That is as important of acharacterization of the essence
of who Boaz is as the originaldescription that said he was a

(25:44):
mighty man of valor, a man ofsustenance.
However you want to translatethat Right here you have a man
who is concerned.
He has the wealth, he has theprivilege, he has the tenacity
and the brute strength.
He has it all.
And his concern is about theLord and about his people, both

(26:05):
God's people and Boaz's people.
Boaz is concerned about theother.
That is his first speech.
He arrives and he says to themthe Lord be with you.
Some people want to take Boaz asan example of manhood,
especially when Ruth is read asa romance story.

(26:25):
Women are like, are told tofind your Boaz, find your Boaz.
I wish more men were told toemulate Boaz.
I feel like that messagingdoesn't get across as often.
But Boaz is a man worthemulating, not because he is a
wealthy, honored man, butbecause he is a man who is
concerned about God and aboutpeople and his concern for God

(26:48):
and his concern for peopleimpact how he treats the
foreigner and the weak and thedestitute.
In the book of Ruth, a godlyman is the one who cares about
the one who can't helpthemselves, one who cares about

(27:08):
the one who can't helpthemselves.
Boaz greets his people with thename of the Lord and the people
respond may the Lord reallybless you.
There's this back and forth.
There's this mutual honor, thismutual respect.
He is highly regarded by hispeople.
So Boaz arrives, he greetseverybody, checks in with the
foreman Verse 5,.

(27:29):
Then Boaz said to the young man, to the servant this likely
isn't like a young man, ateenage boy, I'm thinking late
20s, 30s, hired, adult man witha family who's in charge of kind
of watching.
He probably hired or maybe thisis purely conjecture is one of
Boaz's sons, we don't know andit's their relationship isn't

(27:51):
really relevant, but this iskind of the foreman over the
field.
And so Boaz says to the naarit's that word I was talking
about that is his servant, is ityoung man?
It's either both, all of theabove.
So he's talking to this hiredperson male, he's talking to
this young man who's appointedover the harvesters, the foreman
.
And Boaz immediately says whois that young woman, that female

(28:19):
servant over there?
Who is that Na'arah, that woman?
Boaz doesn't seem to know whoRuth is yet.
He doesn't know if she's ahired servant that maybe the
foreman hired that he didn'tknow about.
He doesn't know if she'srelated to another family who's
helping out today.
He's not sure who she is, butBoaz is aware he's not the man

(28:41):
who has a whole bunch of workersin his field.
He doesn't know Jack from Jilland he's like whatever you take
care of it, man who has a wholebunch of workers in his field
and he doesn't know jack fromjill, and he's like, whatever
you take care of it, he isinvested in his workers, he
cares about who is there and ashe checks in with the foreman
he's like who's that, who's towhom?
Is this who?
Who does she belong to?
And that is to us.
That sounds really weird.
No one would ever be like lookat me and be like who do you

(29:03):
belong to?
Um, because we are anindividualistic society, we
think about I am jessica jenkins, I am me.
You're like that's what youneed to know.
My family is irrelevant.
You know it's an individualsociety.
They didn't work that way back,then you want to know who do,
what clan, what group, whatfamily?
Who's who?
What family does she belong to?

(29:24):
Um, how does this who?
Who does she belong to?
How does she fit into our city?
What family she connected to?
Who's her father?
I don't recognize her.
Did someone get married likeshe's new?
Who's this?
And so the, the foreman I'llcall him a foreman, um, even
though he's the.
Are the young man, um, becausethe text is playing off of young

(29:46):
men.
Young men.
Boaz will bring that up inchapter three.
But the foreman replies to Boazand said she is the, the young
woman from Moab who returnedwith Pleasant.
So that's the family group shebelongs to, who she is.
But the foreman is emphasizingshe's from Moab, who returned
with Naomi from Moab.

(30:07):
He says it twice.
He wants Boaz to get the cluethat she is not us, she is them.
She is Moabite woman which, ifyou recall from our first
episode in this series, moabitewomen, started with incest with
a lot, um, lots daughters gotpregnant by lot, their father

(30:31):
and the moabite people came fromthem.
Moabite people, um seduced theisraelite men because god would
not allow balaam to curse israel.
So balaam was like hey, since Ican't curse israel, have your
daughters go seduce the men.
Well, that'll take care of it.
So Moab and sexual indiscretion, and just there's a lot of

(30:55):
ethnic, racial tension there.
And the foreman makes sure Boazknows that she is a Moabite and
then he relates her request toBoaz, which is a very
interesting request.
So the foreman says she is ayoung woman from Moab who came
back with Naomi and she saidthis is him reporting what Ruth

(31:18):
said.
We don't have Ruth's actualterm, this is his reporting of
it.
And then she said in verse 7,let me glean and let me gather
among the sheaves behind theharvesters.
So as the foreman reportsRuth's request, it's a very
presumptuous, aggressive request, request.

(31:50):
Let's talk about gleaning andharvesting for a minute so that
we in our mostlynon-agricultural mindset can
kind of get the feeling ofwhat's going on here.
So in the ancient world yougrow wheat and it grows on a
long stalk like a piece of grass, and then you take a sickle
which is a long metal blade thatkind of curves around and one
group of people would grab abunch of the wheat or the barley
with probably their left handand then take the sickle with

(32:13):
their right and kind of cut itat the base and then they would
wrap a stalk around it or theywould just lay it kind of down
as a pile and they'd movethrough the field.
So you have one group doingthat and then you'd have another
group of people following alongbehind them picking up those
piles.
That the reapers.
You have the cutter.
I'll call it the cutters.
They're all kind of consideredreapers but they have different

(32:36):
jobs.
So you have the cutters and thebinders.
So the cutters would go through, they'd cut it all and they'd
leave it in piles unbound on thefield as they're going through,
and then the binders would comethrough behind them and wrap
them all up and put them in moreneatly or piles, or carry them
off the field at that point.
And so, ruth, what she's askinghere is let me gather among the

(32:59):
piles that the cutters have cut.
So she kind of is asking, atleast according to the foreman,
to be right there in the middleof it all.
Normally gleaners wait till,like a section of the field's a
little more done and they justcome along and pick up what is
left.
The Mosaic law.
You can read the passages inLeviticus 19 and Deuteronomy 24.

(33:23):
Leviticus 19, 9-10.
Deuteronomy 24, 19-22.
God commands Israel in theMosaic Law, leviticus 19,.
When you reap the hardest ofyour land, do not reap the very
edges of the field or gather thegleanings of your harvest.
Inevitably, as you're cuttingand binding, stuff's going to
fall.

(33:43):
Don't pick it up.
If it falls while you'reworking, you have to leave it
there.
Don't go over your vineyard asecond time.
Leave it for the poor andforeigner.
Deuteronomy 24 says basicallythe same thing.
When you're harvesting yourfield and you overlook a sheaf,
don't go back and get it, leaveit for the foreigner.
And so typically the gleanerswould come after and pick up

(34:07):
whatever is left.
Ruth is asking let me kind ofget in among the sheaves, like
I'm not necessarily going topick from the piles, but
there'll be more kind of left onthe ground between the piles
because the gatherers have thebinders, haven't got there to
gather yet and I want to beright behind the harvesters.
I want to be like right there.
So I get the first gleaningsand this is kind of an audacious

(34:29):
, especially for a Moabiterequest.
She's not an Israelite widowasking this, she's a Moabite
coming in and asking this andit's a very audacious request.
Gender let's talk gender andgleaning briefly.
We do not know.
A lot of commentators assumethat it would be men who would

(34:49):
be the cutters and women wouldbe the binders.
We do not know that for sure.
From what I can tell, the Bibledoesn't tell us who would do
which task.
In the ancient world theytypically would divide the
hardest tasks by gender, justbecause it's easy.
And again, in household commandstructure the matriarch's over
the women, the patriarch's overthe men.
So it makes sense to kind ofhave him over the guys doing

(35:12):
what they're doing, thematriarch over the women doing
what they're doing.
It just divides things andmakes it easier to manage in
large group scenarios.
Of course here we also havefour men in hired hands and it's
a very large picture, not justa small family field.
But they typically would divinethe cutting and the binding by
gender.
Now we don't know for surewhich gender did which task.

(35:37):
Most commentators assume men didthe cutting and women did the
binding, which may be accurate.
Carol Myers, when she waslooking ethnographically at the
that region of the world, in oneplace it was the men who would
cut and the women would bind.
In another place it was thewomen who would cut and the men
would bind and then in a thirdplace they would take turns.

(35:59):
The men would do some of thecutting and the women some of
the binding, and then they wouldflip flop, do some of the
cutting and the women some ofthe binding, and then they would
flip-flop.
So they definitely segregatedby gender to do the work.
You didn't have men and womencutting together and men and
women binding together.
They separated.
But which gender did whichtasks was fluid across that
region of the world, so we don'tknow.

(36:20):
When I looked, I found an imagefrom Egypt that showed men
cutting and women binding.
But also, if you look at someof those images from the
Egyptian tombs, it looks like aceremonial cutting and binding
because they're wearing theEgyptian equivalent of a tuxedo
and ball gown to do that, andyou're not going to wear a

(36:41):
tuxedo and ball gown whileyou're doing field work.
So it may be ceremonial as muchas anything else.
But as we're trying to picturethis scene in our mind, it may
be that the men are cutting andthe women are coming behind and
binding and Ruth is saying Iwant to be right there with your
women binding, picking up notfrom your necessarily piles, but
right between the piles,because that's where the

(37:03):
absolute best is going to be.
And so the foreman relays thisrequest to Boaz and then notes
that Ruth has came and she haswaited since the morning until
now.
Typically, I thought growing upthat Ruth came and had been
gleaning all morning, but itsounds like from the
commentators I've been reading,who really dug into the language

(37:24):
more deeply than I had a chanceto that she was actually
standing and waiting until Boazarrived.
She came first thing in themorning and asked the foreman
can I do this?
And he either didn't want to,didn't have the authority and he
refused, or couldn't grant herpermission.

(37:44):
So she has been standing therewaiting until Boaz arrives,
which may also be why he noticedher, because she's not working,
she's just standing there.
He's like who's that?
And the guy's like oh, does shehave a request for you?
Listen to what she asked.
She's a Moabite and she wantsto glean.
Ok, yeah, but she doesn't wantto just glean, she wants to like

(38:06):
, get in there right next to theharvesters to get the absolute
best.
And what do we think about thissituation?
So Boaz takes over and he goesand talks to Ruth.
This is not necessarily unusual.
I mean it might be a little bit.
He didn't send the foreman backto give her an answer, he went

(38:27):
and did it himself, which for ahigh-ranking man like that to
talk to somebody may be.
But I don't want us to considerthat a man talking to a woman
is necessarily unusual,especially in a small-town
situation.
It may be unusual for ahigh-ranking person to go out of
their way to talk to a very lowranking person, but gender wise

(38:53):
, this is not an Islamic worldwhere women have to be veiled
and hidden away and can't talkto men outside their family.
And in the Old Testament womencould talk to men, not a problem
.
It may be a man of high honormay not really associate with
the low honor, shamed classesthan really poor, though they
were supposed to take care ofthem.
Um, but across gender linesthis isn't necessarily weird,

(39:14):
horribly weird, um.
And then so boaz goes and talksto ruth and he says have you not
heard my daughter?
This is just kind of of aHebrew phrase to be like I'm
going to say something important.
And then my daughter is thesame phrase Naomi used.
It's likely that Boaz is aboutthe same age as Naomi.

(39:36):
He's talking to Ruth using thesame manners of speech that
Naomi does, indicating there's apretty big age gap there, which
again gets us into that pull onold and young, old and young
throughout the Book of Ruth.
And so Bolas says, having notheard my daughter there's an
affection here and a strongaffirmation of who she is.

(40:00):
He says have you not heard?
You may not go glean in anotherfield, because she probably
like oh no, the foreman said myrequest, now the big boss is
coming over here.
Am I going to get kicked out?
Like I imagine Ruth, she'sstanding there.
She's been waiting for a couplehours, to the point where the
foreman's like she's practicallymade this field her home, like
she won't leave.
I've been ignoring her, hopingshe would go, and she hasn't

(40:24):
because he may not have theability to grant her request.
So by ignoring her, maybe he'shoping she'll take her
Moabiteness away from all of hisyoung men and leave.
But she didn't.
And so the foreman's like she'sstill here, she's made this
field her home, waiting, and soshe's been there waiting for
hours in the sun in June inIsrael, which is 90s, and so

(40:51):
Boaz comes up to her.
She sees him coming across thefield.
I don't know if her heart justsinks like, oh no, the foreman
kind of gave me the coldshoulder.
He's been hoping I would leaveby ignoring me.
I didn't.
Is the big boss going to comenow lay down the law and tell me
to scram?
But Boaz doesn't.
He comes and he says have younot heard my daughter?

(41:14):
You may not go glean in anotherfield.
You can't go glean.
Oh no, I can't go glean inanother field.
What are you going to say?
You also cannot leave thisfield.
Okay, what are you going to say?
You also cannot leave thisfield.
Okay, stay with my young women,with my female hired hands, my

(41:34):
female servants.
Stay, cling to them, stay here.
You keep your eyes in thisfield where they're harvesting
and go after them where they'reharvesting and go after them.
Have I not commanded my youngpeople, my hired hands, my
servants, those working for me?
Have I not commanded them notto touch you?

(41:54):
And touch, I mean you couldimagine a gleaner getting kind
of too close with the hiredworkers and the workers are like
get away, stop, you're notallowed to do that and pushing
back.
You know you could have tusslesgoing in the field because the
gleaners are getting too closeand the hired workers are trying
to protect the harvest becausetheir wages come from that
harvest.
Most likely it may be that theygot paid in grain, not in money

(42:14):
, and so they're trying toprotect their wages.
They're trying to protect theharvest.
The gleaners are starving, theyjust want food and I imagine
tussles could come out.
And Boaz is like I've told themnot to touch you.
You are, no one can touch you,and I've commanded them not to
touch you.
Men, women, they're not allowedto rebuke you touch you.

(42:38):
You can go right alongside withmy young women.
We'll imagine, for sake ofarguments, that they're binding.
You can hang like right behindthe women who are binding, go
after them, right after them,you get like first picks of all
the gleaning.
You're right there, next to myhired hands.
You are practically in thehired hand circle.
I am placing you strategicallythere.
I've commanded none of mypeople to touch you or push you

(42:59):
away or send you away, and whenyou thirst, go to the vessels
and drink from that which theyoung people will draw.
So the servants we don't knowif it was the men or the women,
but they would draw water andshe's allowed to co-drink from
that.
She's probably been standingthere.
Maybe she brought a littlewater from Bethlehem and drew it

(43:19):
before she came.
It's probably gone.
She's just been standing in thesun all day, maybe some shade,
but she's allowed to drink fromwhat the hired hands are allowed
to drink.
The rest of the gleaners may notbe, but she's given this
special privilege.
And so Ruth falls on the ground, she bows herself to the ground

(43:40):
in a way to honor Boaz and shesays to him why have I found
grace in your eyes?
Because I'm a foreigner.
She brings up what the foremanhad mentioned, that she's a
foreigner, she's nobody, she'sshade, she's nothing.

(44:00):
And he is giving her thisexceptional grace.
He's not only granting herrequest, he's going above and
beyond her request.
She recognizes that.
She recognizes that what shesaid to Naomi at the beginning
of the chapter may I find favorin the eyes of someone she has
found?
And she says why?

(44:21):
Why have I found favor in youreyes?
I know who I am?
And he replies and he said Ihave been told.
We don't know who told him.
Evidently, as soon as theforeman said oh, that's the
Moabitess.
Oh, that's the Moabitess.
Boaz has heard enough of thewhisperings of town.
He probably has a lengthyhousehold.

(44:42):
There's women in a largehousehold.
There's women in his householdwho know the gossip.
He's heard it so he knows.
Oh, that's naomi's moabitis, ah, ah, okay.
And he tells her what he's beentold about her.
I've been told everything youdid, how you've taken care of
your mother and how you've leftyour people to take to honor

(45:04):
your mother-in-law, to fulfillyour family obligations to your
mother-in-law.
And you've only been here threedays and now you're out working
.
He said may the Lord and this isa prayer, it's a blessing Boaz
has over Ruth.
He says may the Lord repay yourdeed, may your wages be

(45:25):
complete from the Lord, the Godof Israel, for whom you came for
refuge under his wings.
The wings picture is that amother hen bringing all of her
babies under her wings to savefrom rain or a dust storm or
just to protect them, and Ruthis nestling under the wings of

(45:49):
the Lord.
Ruth is nestling under thewings of the Lord.
Boaz not only honors herrequest, not only expands, but
he prays God's blessing uponRuth and her endeavors.
He recognizes what she has done, what she has given up and who
she is.
He is willing to invest in animmigrant, nobody with a

(46:17):
sexually tainted cultural past.
He can see the image of God inher.
He can see how she has been aperson of high character,
willing to give up everythingfor the love of another.
Boaz is presented as a man whocares about God and his people.

(46:40):
And Boaz looks at Ruth and saysyou are a person who cares
about God and his people.
He recognizes that kindred andhe prays a blessing over her.
He does not send her away.

(47:01):
He does not say go back to yourcountry.
He does not say I'm sorry,moabites are not allowed here.
I'm sorry, did you come herelegally?
I'm sorry, there are betterways to do here.
I'm sorry, did you come herelegally?
I'm sorry, there are betterways to do this than to just
show up in my field.
No, he says welcome.
Huh, the Lord brought you here.

(47:21):
I recognize that.
I recognize that you wereresponding to God.
God providentially moving peoplethrough a myriad of painful,
tough, ridiculous, horrible,traumatic circumstances.
God providentially moves peoplefrom country to country and a
man of God recognizes God's workmoving people from place to

(47:47):
place to place and he recognizeshis responsibility to step in
and care for those people, notsend them away.
We also don't know how many ofthose hired hands working in
Boaz's field.
It's easy to think those hiredhands.
He has a lot of wealth.

(48:07):
He doesn't want to do the work,he'll just hire people.
Maybe, or maybe this is a landrecovering from famine that
Elimelech fled from and Boaz issaying I will sacrificially hire
people who did not weather thefamine as well as I did so that
they can make ends meet.

(48:28):
How many of these hired workersthat Boaz has have nothing
because of the fame.
What they have is what Boaz isoffering them, which would be
another reason why they mightgive Ruth a hard time because
she's competition.

(48:48):
But Boaz is not going to letthat happen.
She falls on her face and sayslet me find grace, for you
comforted me.
You spoke concerning the heartof your maidservant.
She uses a different term here.
This isn't the NAR term, that'syoung person or servant.
This is a technical termusually used for, like the house

(49:10):
servant of the matriarch in thehousehold, hagar was considered
this kind of servant.
So Ruth is debasing herself.
She's saying I'm, you spokeconcerning my heart.
She's like.
Ruth acknowledges that Boaz isoffering her comfort, and here
comfort has three importantparts, as we're dealing with
people who have experiencedtrauma, as we're dealing with

(49:30):
people who are suffering, aswe're dealing with people who
have experienced trauma, aswe're dealing with people who
are suffering, as we're dealingwith people in hard situations.
There can be more, but there'sat least three parts to offering
comfort One, seeing.
She said you spoke concerningmy heart, which means he saw her
heart.
Boaz saw, he recognized who sheis.

(49:54):
She's an image bearer of God,what she has done.
And then he offers practicalhelp.
He goes beyond her requests.
What would it be like if, inour lives and in our churches,
we looked at immigrants, welooked at those with loss, with
trauma, and first we took amoment to see their hearts.

(50:18):
Who are they?
Why are they here?
What have they suffered?
We look to see their situationand their heart.
We need to see them for whothey are, not an assumption, not
a caricaturization, but toreally see the image bearers
before us.
Not to assume but to see them,to recognize the depth of what

(50:43):
they're going through and thento offer tangible aid, tangible
aim.
I assume after this interactionshe goes back to work and he
keeps doing his manager stuff,but the next verse there's

(51:03):
likely a little break betweenthe two, but the next verse it
seems to be lunchtime Boaz saidto her come here, they're eating
lunch.
And he says eat from the bread.
Hands her bread, dip yourfragment in the vinegar, some
sort of sauce, to make the breadtaste good.
And so she sits next to thereapers.
He invites her to sit with himand his household.

(51:27):
And the hired hands he bringsher into the community household
and the hired hands he bringsher into the community as a man
of honor and a man of standing.
This statement is huge.
This isn't just providing for ameal.
This is Boaz telling everybody.
He is making a public statementto the entire city of Bethlehem

(51:48):
because all of those reapersare going to go home.
And do you know what Boaz didtoday?
Do you know he, as an elder inthe city, as an honored,
high-ranking man, is making apublic statement to the entire
city of how the entire city isnow supposed to treat Ruth.
Boaz, single-handedly, ischanging her status in the city.

(52:11):
Okay, he invites her to sit andthen he hands her food.
Eating in these culturestogether is sacred, it forms
bonds.
And he invites her in.
This is such a beautifulreflection of God's heart and it

(52:32):
immediately makes me think ofJesus and the Syrophoenician
woman.
You can listen to that episodeJesus and the woman with the
issue of blood.
So many miracles Jesus didwhere he didn't just heal the
woman or her daughter.
In his healing he orchestratedit in such a way to not only
deal with the physical ailmentbut to fix the community

(52:57):
relationships so that this womanwho was ostracized and on the
edge of her community, is now ahero to her community, a woman
who was shamed and nothing isnow elevated and honored by her
community because of Jesus'actions, because of the way he
healed the woman with the issueof blood.

(53:18):
He didn't have to call herfront and center and be like who
touched me and have her tellher story and share.
He knew he's God.
He did it so that everybodyelse would see, recognize that
she is healed, recognize how shegot healed, give her honor for
her faith, restore her to hercommunity and grant her some

(53:43):
celebrity status.
That is how Jesus treats weak,wounded, traumatized women.
That is how Boaz treats Ruth.
That is how we should work totreat those around us who are
hurting, because we work as thepeople of God to reflect God's
heart for the weak, thevulnerable, the traumatized, the

(54:07):
immigrant, the foreigner.
So they're at this meal.
She's sitting, probablywondering why am I sitting with
all?
I'm sitting with Boaz's family.
I'm sitting with the hiredreapers oh my goodness, I can't
believe.
And he hands her food and itseems like he's been handing her

(54:29):
enough food.
She can't even eat it.
Who knows when she had her lastfull meal.
But Ruth is satisfied, she isfull and she has leftovers.
She's like I need it to go back.
So she wraps up that food insome way, puts it with her stuff
and goes back to gleaningbecause she's a hard worker and
she's going to get back to it.
She didn't get to do it thismorning.
She had to stand and wait andshe's eating.

(54:50):
She's going back.
Seems like she gets up andleaves and Boaz turns to
everybody still eating and hesays hey, even if she goes into
the standing grain that youhaven't cut down yet and starts
just grabbing handfuls, leaveher alone, do not shame her Also
.
So that's for the cuttersCutters.

(55:11):
Not shame her also.
So that's for the cutterscutters.
If she's in your, in your way,pulling grain that you haven't
cut yet, leave her alone.
No shaming her.
Uh, binders, those, thosewrapping everything up, take
handfuls of those sheaves, dropit on the ground, toss it back
to her like drop, okay, both thecutters, men, women, both of
you, all of y, all of y'all, ally'all.

(55:31):
No shaming her, make sure sheis stopped to pick up.
Do it subtly, but make sure Donot rebuke her.
And so, in this beautifulsituation that somebody
purposely created for her as hefollowed the heart of God

(55:53):
towards needy people, she gleansuntil evening and then she
beats out.
This does not negate Ruth's hardwork.
She is working hard because sheis able-bodied.
Naomi may not be.
Naomi is not working.
Keep that in mind.
It's easy, especially in ourAmerican exceptionalism,
individualism, to be like.

(56:13):
Well, this is an example of notwelfare but workfare.
She had to work, yes, she did,but Naomi couldn't.
Somebody had to work on herbehalf, provide for her, and
Naomi is just as worthy ofreceiving benefit as Ruth, who
had the physical ability andtenacity to get out there and do

(56:35):
the labor.
And in the Old Testament, tithesand offerings were to be given
to the tabernacle and temple forthe provision of the widows,
not so that they just went outto earn, but so that they could
just get because they had need,not because they weren't.
So, naomi Ruth, she works hard,she beats out everything she

(56:59):
gleans and there was one, aoifeof barley.
Looking this up, it's anywherefrom 30 to 50 pounds, probably
closer to 30, 35, 40.
And this could be two to threeweeks worth of food.
In Mari, which is a city inSyria.
They have some records and aday laborer in Mari, a male day

(57:20):
laborer in Mari, would get oneto two pounds of grain a day.
A female day laborer in Mariwould get half a pound to a
pound of grain a day as theirdaily rations.
So let's say Naomi and Ruthneed to eat half a pound to a
pound of food a day.
Ruth brings home, we'll say, 30pounds.

(57:42):
So if they are eating one and ahalf pounds between the two of
them a day, this would last themabout two weeks.
But she's gotten two weeksworth of food in one day and the
harvest is going to keep goingon for a bit of time.
So it's hopeful that they mightget enough to last them a while

(58:03):
.
So she binds up all her grain ina cloak or something, ties it
up in some sort of bundle andshe carries it back home.
She enters the city and sheshows her mother-in-law that
which she gleaned and shebrought it out Like I just
imagine her, maybe on her head,maybe on her shoulder or her hip
, carrying it and she just kindof oh I'm back, puts it down.
But she's also so excited infront of Naomi and she also

(58:26):
brings out the leftovers fromher lunch.
Like here have a.
Like I have all the raw grainthat hasn't been cooked, but I
also have like legit leftoverfood from my lunch, so eat that.
She brings that home for Naomito eat and she gives to her that
which she had leftover from herplenty.
And her mother-in-law said toher and you just feel the shock

(58:48):
and surprise here when did youlean today and where did you do
this?
Blessed is he who regards you.
Naomi seems to have no clue.
Naomi, this is when Naomi seemsto start waking up.
The glimmer of God's activitythrough Ruth, through Boaz in

(59:10):
Naomi's life.
She seems to perk up a littlebit.
I imagine her pulling a blanketoff her head and looking at
Ruth.
Wait, what, what do you have?
I expected like a gleaningportion, maybe a basket full.
You know enough to get usthrough the next couple days.
You brought home two weeks,three weeks worth of food, if
we're careful.

(59:31):
Where did you do this?
There is hope For the firsttime.
In the book of Ruth we see Naomialmost able to hope that God
might be doing something on herbehalf, not just against her,
not just allowing the world tocrumble, but that God might care
.
I think there's a lot of us whowe believe God is powerful.

(59:53):
We believe God can do anything,but does he want to, is the
question in our minds.
God can make miracles happen,but does he care to do it for me
?
Will she help me?
Because I've suffered enoughthat I'm not sure my life fell

(01:00:18):
apart.
I'm not sure he's going toactually do anything about that.
Sure, over there for Miss SarahSmith, he's going to do great
things.
For some reason she got divinegrace and her life's just
truckeding along awesome.
But I'm not sure he's going toactually give any of that to me
Because what I've experiencedsays he's sending affliction and

(01:00:40):
evil my way.
But sometimes it's helpful tosee that glimmer of hope, to see
God's people step up and dowhat they're supposed to do, to
see God cares.
God is moving and I want totake this moment for those of us

(01:01:02):
who are in that boat of is Godgoing to do anything for me?
It is okay to pray like thepsalmist does and say me.
It is okay to pray like thepsalmist does and say show me
your grace in the land of theliving, for what good does it do
me, o God, if I suffer to thepoint of death and go to the
grave?
That does not honor you.
I need you to act.

(01:01:24):
It is okay to pray like thatthe psalmist does.
It is okay to act like Naomiand Job and be like Lord.
You have allowed these horriblecircumstances Death,
abandonment, abuse are horriblecircumstances.
They are not what God designedin his beautiful creation.
They are not what God desiresfor his people.

(01:01:46):
It is okay to look at God andsay this is not your design for
creation.
You have promised to care foryour people in both the Old
Testament and the New Testament.
Are you going to show up?
It is okay to be that bold?
I think sometimes in ourChristian culture we're taught

(01:02:07):
you know, rejoice always, don'tbe sad.
All things work together forgood and we're not given
permission to look God in theface and hold him to his word.
But if we look at the prayers,especially in the Old Testament,
they are full of that, they arefull of God.

(01:02:28):
You said this I expect you tofollow through.
Naomi has hope because she'sseeing God at work through
Ruth's faith, not throughNaomi's faith.
I want you to hear that as well.
I am not preaching a prosperitygospel where, as if you obey and

(01:02:49):
you pray the right things, godwill act.
Preaching a prosperity gospel,whereas if you obey and you pray
the right things, god will act.
We have no guarantee.
We don't know God's plan.
I am giving you permission topray bold prayers and hold God
to his word and say you saidthat I was more valuable than
the sparrows, that not a sparrowfalls without you noticing.
Do you see me?
You said you clothed the liliesof the field, that you feed the

(01:03:13):
birds of the air.
Are you going to feed me?
Are you going to clothe me?
You said if I see first yourkingdom and your righteousness,
all this will be added to you.
Are you going to add it on thisside of death?
Because you are the God whokeeps your word.
The entire bible is predicatedon you keeping your word.

(01:03:36):
So I am not my dear audiencetelling you that if you pray the
right thing, god will answer inthe way you hope.
I am telling you.
You have permission, excuse me.
You have permission to praybold prayers to the God who sees
and who cares.
But I also want you to note thatsometimes, when we are broken

(01:03:59):
and we are weary and we are weak, we need somebody who has
stronger faith in that moment tostep up and do the thing for us
that we can't do.
Ruth stepped up and did it.
Naomi didn't have it in her.
Did God care about Naomi?

(01:04:20):
Less because she didn't have itin her to have hope, because
she was collapsed under theweight of trauma and grief?
No, god didn't care about herless.
God's not mad at Naomi.
God feeds Naomi through Ruth'sfaith and Boaz's obedience.
Let that sink in.

(01:04:42):
Ruth shows up with three weeksworth of food after one day's
worth of effort and Naomirecognizes that this was God.
She didn't have faith.
I don't think she planned this.
I don't think she was doinganything but collapsing in
trauma.
But God surprised her with hisgrace through somebody else.

(01:05:08):
And then Naomi, because she is awoman of faith, because she's a
theologian, can recognize, onceshe wakes up, once the sparks
in her brain, that maybe God isshowing up for me, she can start
to see the bigger picture.
Naomi says blessed be he of theLord can start to see the

(01:05:33):
bigger picture.
Naomi says blessed be he of theLord, the Lord who did not
forsake his goodness to theliving and the dead.
And then Naomi recognizes,because this man is a close
relative Ah, do you see what Godis doing?
She can recognize it.
She's not a woman of shallowmeans of faith, of shallow.
Naomi can recognize what God isdoing.
She is not a woman of shallowmeans of faith of shallow.
Naomi can recognize what God isdoing.

(01:05:54):
She is not a woman of shallowfaith.
She is not a woman, woman ofshoddy theology.
She is the theologian of thebook of Ruth.
Do not miss that.
Naomi is the one speakingtheology and pointing out the
character of God and pointingout God's action.
All throughout the book.
Ruth is the baby Christian withfaith who's just trying to do

(01:06:19):
the next thing.
Boaz is the one systemicallyoperating according to God's
heart.
Naomi is the theologian me asthe theologian.
She recognizes God is notforsaking the living or the dead
, because Boaz is a closerelative and he is a kinsman,

(01:06:39):
redeemer, a goel.
Now we think of redeemer and alot of different things come to
mind, but let's talk about Goelbriefly in the context of the
Old Testament, a Goel was a termin an Israelite family or clan.
It was a specific position aman would have in his clan or

(01:07:02):
family, related to the rest ofthe clan, family, tribe, and he
had several things a Goel andthere could be more than one.
He had several things he wasresponsible for.
A goel is responsible for therepurchase of property that was
owned by clan members and thensold out of economic necessity

(01:07:22):
which might be why Boaz is sowealthy, because he has
purchased all of the fields ofthe people who were destitute
during the famine.
The Mosaic law said you would,you can, purchase these fields
to help these people, but youhave to give it back on the year
of Jubilee.
So the Goel, or if thosefamilies, had to sell those
fields to someone outside theclan, it's the Goel's

(01:07:44):
responsibility to buy them back,to make sure these properties
stay in the clan and in thefamily, to protect family clan
assets which enables survivalfor the future, because land
equals survival for the OldTestament Israelite.
So the Goel is responsible tohelp make sure his family and
clan has land which equalssurvival.

(01:08:06):
Secondly, he's also responsibleto financially redeem relatives
whose poverty had forced them tosell themselves or their
children into slavery.
He's the one who says I'm goingto go buy them back out of debt
, servitude, debt, slavery.
I'm going to come buy them back.
That's the Gawail's job.
The Gawail also had the duty tophysically avenge the killing

(01:08:27):
of a relative.
They didn't have kings or lawsnecessarily.
Now if somebody commits murder,you know you have a trial, you
have detectives, all the thingsyou have to go through it, and
then there may or may not be,you know, life imprisonment,
death penalty, whatever In theOld Testament.
It's the goel's job to go trackdown the murderer and dispatch

(01:08:47):
the murderer.
That's the goel's job.
He's also the one who's goingto receive money that's paid in
restitution.
So if somebody did a crime, ifJoe did a crime against Fred,
fred dies, joe is found liableby the elders and has to pay
restitution money to Fred'sfamily.

(01:09:07):
The goel is the one who makessure that money.
He takes that money and thenmakes sure it gets to who it
needs to get to, and he also isresponsible to show up and help
other clan and family members inlawsuits.
So a goel has a lot ofresponsibilities for his family
and Naomi goes aha, he's a goel,I see.

(01:09:31):
I see what God's doing here.
She's a woman of profoundinsight.
She can recognize, once she isable to wake up a little bit
from her grief and her trauma.
Does that mean she's over hergrief and trauma now?
No, that pain, that wound isstill there.
But you get to a point in griefwhere there's a point of trauma

(01:09:55):
and grief where you're just sobowed down you can't think, you
can't function.
Your head is fuzzy.
You can open your eyes but youfeel like you can't really focus
, your brain can't get thoughtsLike it, just nothing works.
You feel like you're in a cloud, slogging through mud with a
blindfold on.
And you can be the smartest,brightest, most intellectual

(01:10:17):
person in the world, with thebest theology and the greatest
of faith, but when you're thereit doesn't matter.
You can't see squat, you can'tdo anything and you're just like
I can't function.
But when that starts to liftnone of the rest of who you are
ceased to be, but the weight ofgrief can dull our senses, both

(01:10:41):
our ability to reasontheologically and our ability to
see what God is doing.
And we see here as God uses Ruthin Naomi's life.
She can start to wake up andsee what God is doing and she
can call out ah, boaz is ago-whale, he has family
responsibilities, he's a kinsman, okay, okay.

(01:11:05):
So Naomi recognizes who Boaz isand Ruth continues because
she's just excited she had agreat day.
Ruth said yes, and Boaz?
Ruth may not even fully knowwhat a Goel is because Naomi may
not have told her.
They were living in Moab, soNaomi's making these connections
.
Ruth may not have caught up yet.

(01:11:25):
Then Ruth replies Naomi sayshe's a close relative, he's a
kinsman redeemer, a Goel.
Naomi says he's a closerelative, he's a kinsman

(01:11:58):
redeemer, a go-whale.
And then Ruth says he said Ishould also stay with his young
people, his hired servants,until they finish the harvest.
I worked's what I imagined Ruthdoing.
She's just like stay like.
I have security of work forthis season, I am contract
employed, I can provide.
Thank you, lord.
And Naomi says that's good,that's good.
Go with his young women, staywith them, like Boaz told you to
, so that they and this is veryambiguous we don't know who they
is, but so that they might notmeet you in another field

(01:12:21):
Potential shaming, rebuke, maybeeven a sexual situation.
You're going to be safe, you'regoing to be taken care of.
Do as Boaz said stay in thatfield, and so she, being Ruth,
clung to the young women, thefemale hired hands, who would be
a variety of ages of Boaz, andshe leaned there until the

(01:12:44):
finishing of the harvest ofbarley and the harvest of wheat
and she remained with hermother-in-law.
So chapter two ends.
Hope is sparkling, naomi iswaking back up.
For the original readers it mayhave sounded like a bit of a
betrothal scene, but there's nobetrothal yet.
It ends with the important noteshe remains with her

(01:13:06):
mother-in-law and the harvest isfinished.
We don't know that she has anymore conversations with Boaz.
The rest of the harvest it wasthe beginning of the barley when
they arrived in Bethlehem, sobarley harvest just began.
Three days later Ruth is in thefield.
Harvest could last, I don'tknow, several weeks to a month

(01:13:28):
perchance, and then you haveseveral weeks or a month and
then the wheat harvest begins.
So we have a two, two and amonth perchance, and then you
have several weeks or a monthand then the wheat harvest
begins.
So we have a two, two and ahalf, three month period here
where Ruth is working, but wedon't know that she has any more
contact with Boaz.
That situation though she has,his blessing.
Though she has the entiresituation set up to the most
ideal possible, she remains withher mother-in-law.

(01:13:51):
The final problem of the book isnot salt.
Temporarily they have foodFantastic but permanently they
are still in limbo.
What is going to happen?
How is God going to finishhelping answer Naomi's prayer

(01:14:12):
from chapter one where she saidmay you find rest in the
household of a husband becausethey are still widows?
Yes, they have food for now,but they are still widows.
They still cannot work theirland.
They still cannot long-termsurvive.

(01:14:34):
They have good in a temporarysituation, but this is not a
long-term situation.
They need a long-term answer.
They don't have it yet, butthey have hope.
Thank you so much for listeningto Ruth chapter two and thinking
it through with me.
I can't wait to hear yourthoughts.
I especially want to hear yourthoughts regarding trauma and

(01:14:58):
difficulty and how Ruth andNaomi approach those things and
how that impacts your life andthe way you process the
difficult things in your life.
Do you feel like you've beenRuth?
Do you feel like you've beenRuth?
Do you feel like you've actedmore like Naomi?
Which of those portrayals ofhandling grief resonates with
you more?

(01:15:19):
Let's talk about it.
Find me on social media or sendme an email.
I can't wait to hear from you.