"The overseer replied, 'She is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. She said, 'Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.' She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.'" (Ruth 2:6-7)
We learned in Chapter 1 that when Naomi returned to Bethlehem with her Moabite daughter-in-law, "The whole city was stirred because of them." It had been ten years since they'd seen Naomi and in that time she'd lost her husband and her two grown sons, had said goodbye to the Moabite wife of her youngest son, and had been "adopted" by Ruth as her second mother. Ruth had turned her back on Moab and its gods and had given her allegiance only to the God of Israel. All this was something to talk about, and talk about it the people did. I didn't get the impression from Chapter 1 that the people talked about these things in a malicious sort of way, like gossip. I think they talked about it like news, such as, "Have you heard Naomi has returned with a Moabitess who has pledged lifelong faithfulness to her mother-in-law and to the God of Israel?" I think also Naomi and Ruth were talked about sympathetically, such as, "Did you hear about what happened to the husband and sons of Naomi? They all died in Moab and she has now returned home with the wife of her eldest son."
Since "the whole city was stirred" upon Naomi's and Ruth's arrival, Boaz has heard this news. When his overseer says of Ruth, "She is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi," it's clear that the overseer expects Boaz to know who Naomi is. And he does. He's heard of the return of the widowed Naomi and that she brought the widow of her eldest son with her. He's heard that Ruth forsook the culture of Moab and the gods of Moab to identify herself with the Israelite family of her deceased husband and to worship the God of Israel. With his short reply the overseer has answered many of the questions on his employer's heart. Now Boaz knows a number of things about the foreign woman gleaning in his field: she's Naomi's daughter-in-law, she's a widow, she has converted to the God of Israel, and she's a hard worker because the overseer says she has worked steadily ever since she arrived except for one brief break in the shade under the shelter.
Boaz approaches her to invite her to keep working in his field, and only in his field. "So Boaz said to Ruth, 'My daughter, listen to me. Don't go and glean in another field and don't go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.'" (Ruth 2:8-9) Before introducing himself to Ruth he sternly warned his male workers not to harass her in any way. They aren't to be hitting on her, to use modern slang. They aren't to be shooing her out of the fields because she isn't one of Boaz's hired hands. They aren't to refuse her the use of the shelter or a drink from the water jugs. They aren't to show her less respect because she's poor and is picking up the dropped sheaves. They must be as respectful to her as they are to the paid female workers. The Israelite women working in the fields are under the protection of a father or a husband and none of the men would dare speak to them in a coarse manner or be rude to them. Boaz is placing the foreigner Ruth under his protection and the men are to behave accordingly. She has no male protector so he is putting himself in that role.
Why does he do this? Ruth wants to know the same thing. "At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, 'Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me---a foreigner?'" (Ruth 2:10) She asks, "Why would you be concerned with how I'm treated here, considering I'm a foreigner? Why have you placed me under your protection?"
"Boaz replied, 'I've been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband---how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.'" (Ruth 2:11-12) He says, "I've heard nothing but good things about you. It's the talk of the town how you adopted Naomi as your mother and adopted her people as your people and accepted her God as your God. Everybody is talking about you, with great admiration, because you are working hard to support yourself and your widowed mother-in-law. I know that you have converted to the God of Israel and in my mind that makes you one of us. That means my workers are expected to treat you just as if you were a native-born Israelite. May the Lord bless you for turning from idols to Him! May the Lord bless you for your love and concern for your poor widowed mother-in-law!"
Ruth humbly thanks him for his graciousness toward her. "'May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,' she said. 'You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant---though I do not have the standing of one of your servants.'" (Ruth 2:13) She says, "I was apprehensive about working in a stranger's field. I didn't know how I would be received by your workers or by you. Thank you for treating me as if I am the equal of your hired women, though I am a foreigner from a heathen country. Thank you for showing me the same honor and respect you'd show a woman of Israel and for ordering your workers to do the same. I feel very safe here now, thanks to you."
In closing I want to take note that Boaz addressed her as "my daughter". He's older than her, as we'll learn later on, but that doesn't mean he feels fatherly toward her. He's in the process of falling in love with her, so when he addresses her as "my daughter" this is probably a salutation he would use with any single woman younger than he is. It's also a salutation of respect and equality, for it's doubtful he would address a foreign woman as "my daughter". Ruth is a foreign woman but as a convert to the God of Israel and the widow of an Israelite she has become, for all major intents and purposes, an Israelite herself. He is treating her as such. He addresses her in the same way he'd address any native-born woman of Israel. Thirdly, I think referring to her as "my daughter" is intended to comfort her and put her at ease, which indeed she says he has done in verse 13. He says these words in a kind and compassionate tone of voice so she won't be frightened when he walks up to speak with her. Otherwise she might have been afraid that he---the owner of the field---was going to tell her she's unwelcome on his property.
Boaz isn't finished doing nice things for Ruth. In tomorrow's passage we'll find him extending more courtesies to her and she will respond by thinking more and more highly of him. This is a picture of the way the Lord relates to mankind and the way mankind relates to the Lord. The Lord always makes the first move. He extends kindness and compassion and love and mercy. Our appropriate response should be to reverence Him highly and, if I may phrase it this way, to fall more and more in love with Him.
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