The story of Ruth is beginning to pick up speed. Ruth comes back from a day in the fields with a harvest beyond expectation, and Naomi rightfully wonders why. She soon finds out: Boaz is the benefactor. While we were given some insight into Boaz’s identity at the beginning of chapter 2, it is only now that Ruth finds out who he is, as Naomi exposes him.
There are many who think Boaz was seeking Ruth as a wife early on, and his kindness toward her is evidence of that. I’m not so sure though. While that case can be made, it is equally likely that he was just a kind man looking to take care of his deceased relative’s family. What do you think?
Ruth 2:18 (NET) She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much grain she had gathered. Then Ruth gave her the roasted grain she had saved from mealtime. 19 Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you gather grain today? Where did you work? May the one who took notice of you be rewarded!” So Ruth told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked. She said, “The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.” 20 Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be rewarded by the Lord because he has shown loyalty to the living on behalf of the dead!” Then Naomi said to her, “This man is a close relative of ours; he is our guardian.” 21 Ruth the Moabite replied, “He even told me, ʻYou may go along beside my servants until they have finished gathering all my harvest!ʼ” 22 Naomi then said to her daughter-in-law Ruth, “It is good, my daughter, that you should go out to work with his female servants. That way you will not be harmed, which could happen in another field.” 23 So Ruth worked beside Boazʼs female servants, gathering grain until the end of the barley harvest as well as the wheat harvest. After that she stayed home with her mother-in-law.
