Ruth 2

Ruth 2 is the second of the four chapters of the Book of Ruth. Ruth 1 ends with Naomi and Ruth returning to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest, and this chapter continues the story in the harvest fields.

Outline

• Verses 1–3 Boaz, a prominent man among Elimelech's kin, is introduced. With Naomi's permission, Ruth goes out to glean and happens to come to Boaz's field.
• Verses 4–7 Boaz exchanges greetings with the reapers and asks his servant who Ruth is.
• Verses 8–13 Boaz tells Ruth not to leave his field and promises her protection. He blesses her, saying that he has heard what she has done for her mother-in-law.
• Verses 14–16 At mealtime he gives Ruth bread and parched grain, and he instructs his young men to pull out some stalks from the bundles and leave them for her to glean.
• Verses 17–23 Ruth gleans about an ephah of barley and brings it to Naomi. Naomi tells her that Boaz is one of their kinsman-redeemers. Ruth continues gleaning in Boaz's fields until the end of the barley and wheat harvests.

Key Verses

• Ruth 2:3 "and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz" — This is the turning point of the story and is frequently cited in discussions of God's providence.
• Ruth 2:12 "under whose wings thou art come to trust" — The Hebrew word rendered "wings" here is the same word rendered "skirt" in Ruth 3:9, linking this passage to Ruth 3.
• Ruth 2:20 "one of our next kinsmen" — This chapter contains the first mention of the kinsman-redeemer, anticipating the conclusion in Ruth 4.

Characters and Places

• Ruth — Naomi's daughter-in-law, a widow from Moab.
• Naomi — Elimelech's wife and Ruth's mother-in-law.
• Boaz — A prominent man of Bethlehem and a kinsman of Elimelech.
• Elimelech — Naomi's deceased husband.
• Bethlehem — The setting of the story.
• Moab — Ruth's homeland.

Points for Reflection

• The practice of gleaning rests on the law requiring that gleanings be left for the poor, the stranger, and the widow (Leviticus 19:9–10; Deuteronomy 24:19). Boaz goes beyond this requirement by deliberately having grain left behind for Ruth.
• In the preaching tradition, Boaz the kinsman-redeemer is widely interpreted as a type of Jesus Christ. Typology is an interpretive approach that sees an earlier figure as foreshadowing Christ. Others hold that the social and legal meaning of the text should be examined first.
• Boaz and Ruth are named in the genealogy of Jesus recorded in Matthew 1:5.
• In Judaism there is a tradition of reading the Book of Ruth at the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot).

In the Korean Church

Because this chapter is set during the barley harvest, it is sometimes used as a sermon text around Maekchu Thanksgiving (the barley-harvest thanksgiving).