Ruth and Naomi -"Where You Go I Shall Go" -Ruth and Naomi in Bethlehem

It was the time of barley harvest, likely in April by our modern calendar, and Ruth went to the fields to see who would let her work under the provision for gleaners. She chanced upon the fields of a man named  Boaz,  a wealthy landowner and a relative of Naomi's dead husband, Elimelech.  Though the Law gave her the right to glean, she did not take it for granted; she asked the young man in charge of the harvesters for permission to work.  He granted it, and then Ruth got right to work. -Ruth 1:22-2:3, 7.

Imagine Ruth following the harvesters.  As they cut through the barley with their flint sickles, she stooped to pick up what they dropped or left behind, bundled the stalks into sheaves, and carried them off to a spot  where she could beat the grain out of them later. It was slow, tiring work, and it got harder as the morning wore on.  Yet, Ruth kept at it, stopping only to wipe the sweat from her brow and to eat a simple lunch in "the house"-likely a shelter  set up to provide shade for the workers. 

Ruth probably neither hoped nor expected to be noticed, but she was.  Boaz saw her and asked the young foreman who she was.  A remarkable man of faith, Boaz greeted his workers-some of whom may have been day laborers or even foreigners-with the words: "Jehovah be with you." And they responded in k ind.  This spiritually-minded older man took a fatherly interest in Ruth. -Ruth 2:4-7. 

Calling her "my daughter," Boaz advised Ruth to keep coming to his fields to glean and to stay near the young women of his household to avoid being harassed by any o f the workmen.  He made sure that she had food to eat at lunchtime.  (Read Ruth 2:8, 9, 14) Above all, though, he sought to commend and encourage her. How so? 

Next time: Ruth and Naomi -"Where You Go I Shall Go" -Ruth and Naomi in Bethlehem

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