Ruth 2 Guardian Redeemer

seekeroftruth

Well-Known Member
Ruth 2:14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.”

When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. 15 As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her. 16 Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.”

17 So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah.[a] 18 She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.

19 Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!”

Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said.

20 “The Lord bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers.(b)”

21 Then Ruth the Moabite said, “He even said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.’”

22 Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.”

23 So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.​

a. Ruth 2:17 That is, probably about 30 pounds or about 13 kilograms
b. Ruth 2:20 The Hebrew word for guardian-redeemer is a legal term for one who has the obligation to redeem a relative in serious difficulty (see Lev. 25:25-55).

This opinion is from Bible.org.

So, here’s my take on Boaz. Boaz is now an older man. I’m not sure how old, but not young like Ruth is. I envision Boaz as a very stately older man who (if he chose to display them) could wear a very impressive collection of war medals. He may have been the one – more than any other – who summoned the men of Bethlehem to battle whenever any enemy troops drew near. He would have been a man of character and a man of standing in the community. And, if he was skilled in battle and other areas, we would not be surprised to learn that he was also a prosperous farmer. My point in all this is to broaden the description of Boaz so that we see him not only as a wealthy and respected farmer, but also as a war hero. No wonder folks listened when he spoke.​

Gleaning in Israelite fields posed dangers for a young Moabite widow. One of the reasons why God has a special concern for aliens (foreigners), orphans, widows, and the poor is that they are the most vulnerable people in any society. Ruth was a young Moabite widow, the perfect target for harassment (of various kinds) and assault. Knowing that Naomi was her mother-in-law would not have been a great deterrent either, since she was an elderly widow.​

The point I am seeking to make here is that for a young foreign widow to go out into the fields of a stranger to glean involved a fair measure of danger. And remember, these are the days of the judges when women were not held in high esteem and were often mistreated! Ruth was not only a woman of faith; she was also a woman of great courage. But then, as Boaz said, she had come to this land to seek protection under the wings of the One True God, and protect her He did. The human instrument of that protection was Boaz, the mighty man of valor. I doubt that anyone gave serious thought to molesting this Moabite widow if it meant incurring the wrath of Boaz.

So there is no immediate romance between the young girl Ruth and the wealthy older military hero farmer Boaz.

There were, no doubt, a lot of women in the field that day..... the thought did cross my mind that Ruth must have made some kind of unique impression on Boaz.... but now that I think about it.... he probably knew everyone who gleaned regularly in his fields and asked about those who were new. Since Bethlehem wasn't a big city.... he probably heard that Naomi was back with a young daughter-in-law in tow. He would have known about his guardian-redeemer status.

But for now.... he's only offering her a place to glean, food to eat, water to drink and protection.... no big deal for him....

:coffee:
 
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