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Home , Abimelech, Book of Ruth, Naomi (biblical figure), Ruth 1, Ruth 2, Ruth 4

Chapter 2

The is truly a beautiful story. While its beginning is difficult and harsh, it is timeless in that it deals with some very contemporary issues. It addresses the poor and the disadvantaged in our society, work ethics, as well as other subjects like conversion and an array of doctrines.

As believers in the , each of us may find a seat on the stage and perhaps may have more than a few lines to say or to act, within this complex script. Ruth may seem like a simple story, but it is loaded with great truths.

How does the book start?

It begins with the story of two widows reduced to poverty and left to themselves, without protection or much provision. is the older widow, who is perhaps too old to fend for herself and is being taken care of by the younger widow. After a long journey in a foreign country, Naomi comes back home, without her husband or her two sons, who have all died. When the people of the town recognized her, they were surprised to see her in this condition. They asked "Is this Naomi?" (:19) She answers them, as we read in Ruth 1:20, 21 "Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, which means bitterness, for, she says, the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. "I went out full, and the LORD has brought me home again empty.

Life did not favour this woman. At least until this point, her fullness - her family - was no more. As time goes on, we do not hear of the people who saw her coming back. They had notice her, but it seems that none had come to help her, for we find both Naomi and Ruth hungry, in the next scene. To survive, Ruth goes among the poor of the land to glean for subsistence; that is to find some grain or barley that the reapers may have dropped on their way. But it was not easy for her, for she did not belong to this community. Even worse, she was from , an enemy of Israel. Therefore she was not accepted, even among the poor.

This is how chapter one begins, as it paints a thorny and hopeless situation, but, thank God, there are three more chapters to this story. Where sin abounds, grace abounds much more, and God waits not longer to come to action in the beginning of chapter two. This chapter begins with a gleam of hope. :1 There was a relative of Naomi’s husband, a man of great power, of the family of Elimelech. His name was .

This information was not yet known by Ruth or Naomi, but the reader is informed in advance. God is about to raise a man, Boaz, through whom He will save these widows. Boaz is called the , the redeemer, and with him begins the beautiful type or prophecy of the Messiah coming to save His people.

Let us see how God intervenes in this story of salvation and how He moves in difficult times. One more time, we learn that God does not always save us from tragedies, but from within the tragedies. This is how it was with Joseph who was sold to the Egyptians, but God saved him there. Daniel was brutally taken

1 away from a crumbling , but God waited for him in the country of his captor. For all these, we will see again that faith is the fire that keeps our hope alive.

Let us now go to the text and see that when God begins to act and to pour out His blessings, nothing can stop Him. Ruth 2:2, 3 So Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, "Please let me go to the field, and glean heads of grain after him in whose sight I may find favor." And she said to her, "Go, my daughter." Then she left, and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.

First, verse 2 gives us the condition in which the two widows were living; it was at the poverty level. We have learned, back in Ruth 1:22, that it was the season of the barley harvest, which begins at the time of Passover. During the harvest, there was a law in Israel which commanded the reapers not to pick up whatever falls from their harvest, but to let the poor gather it. So Ruth asked Naomi if she could go and gather whatever grain she could find.

The Mosaic Law contains many humane commandments. This law favoured the poor and all the disadvantaged people of the land, including the orphan and the widow. It was new at the time, even revolutionary from the predominant law of the time, the Hammurabi Code, which had no concern for the poor or those of a lower cast. It was an oppressive law. However with the Law of God, all men are equal .

See how compassionate the commandment concerning gleaning is, in :9–10: ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. ‘And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am the LORD your God.’

When you work your field, and some grain falls on the floor, don’t go and pick it up, leave it. It doesn’t belong to you anymore; it belongs to the poor. Furthermore, don't empty your field; leave the edges full for the poor. This is such a thoughtful, kind and caring law, based on love. We do not forget that the Mosaic Law brought back men and women to the position of those who were created in the image of God, where every human being is seen as God’s possession. There, every soul is so precious and laws abound for the protection of the oppressed.

The Law was very generous to the poor. For instance, every seven years, the farmer was not allowed to work his field, but to let it rest, and whatever grew there was to be left to the poor. (Exodus 23:11) There is another law that I want to bring to your attention; this law is called the shikhah. It is about the forgotten sheaf. Deuteronomy 24:19 When you reap your harvest in your field, and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

If a worker somehow forgets a sheave in the field, it is no more his; it belongs to the poor. But this does not seem fair that if you forget something, you lose it. It seems unfair until one realizes that a sheaf is too big a thing to forget, and if they forget it, it is surely because they have so many of them. Therefore, let them share with the poor. This becomes even more interesting when we consider that the Mosaic Law says if something is found, it never belongs to the finder. If you find something, the law says it is never

2 yours, you shall keep it until the finder is found, but it does not say for how long. But if you forget a sheaf, you are too rich; give some away.

Let’s go back to Ruth. Because of their lowly state, Ruth asked Naomi: please let me go to the field, and glean heads of grain. So, she goes. But it was not going to be easy. Imagine the scene; the reapers are in the front collecting the harvest and following them were the poor. Perhaps many of them were struggling to pick up whatever grain fell on the floor. As we will find out later, it was much harder for Ruth, for she did not belong in this land; she was a stranger and she had a hard time finding her place even among the poor. But God had His eyes on her, for she was a woman of faith. It is at this point that we see Him act. One of His first miracles is right here in our text , as we read at the end of verse 3: And she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.

And she happened to come… This is one word in the Hebrew: mikreha. It is not a simple word; it is one showing that something unusual happened. The has it: as chance befell. But it was the providence of God, who directed her to this field. It is the same word that ’s servant, who was sent to find a bride for in Mesopotamia, prayed to God and said: O LORD God of my master Abraham, make it happen this day. (Genesis 24:12)

He was praying for God to act, to perform a miracle that day. This is the same word here; and God made it happen that Ruth found herself right in the field of Boaz. Of all the many fields around , it is in this one, where she found herself. But this is just the beginning. Just wait and see what comes next; God takes over, almost the whole scene.

Next, we read in Ruth 2:4 Now behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, "The LORD be with you!" And they answered him, "The LORD bless you!"

These Words “Now Behold” are “vehine Boaz” in hebrew. These words could be translated by: would you believe that… Have you heard of such a thing before.

Another surprise, out of the blue, just like that, Boaz happens to come to Bethlehem. It seems that owners would not usually come to the fields, themselves. But Boaz happened to have come when Ruth was there. We can see that a love story is beginning to take place.

Notice Boaz’s first words, and the first words of a man are often very revealing. His first words are: the LORD be with you. He greets all of them in the name of the LORD. This is so fitting, since Boaz is a redeemer in this story. He typifies the Messiah so well, in his protection and concern for Ruth, whom he will eventually marry. This bears similarity to the Messiah who will come to take His bride home.

But there is so much more in this simple and beautiful story; the whole scene takes place during Passover, which coincides with the first ripening of barley. The Targum sees this incident happening on the first day of Passover, and if it begins at Passover, it ends at or Pentecost. Do you see the correlation between the Redeemer and the wedding?

The feast of Passover speaks of the Redemption the Messiah, who dies for the sins of the world. Shavuot, or Pentecost, speaks of the birth of the Ecclesia - the bride of the Messiah. In , Boaz meets Ruth at Passover and marries her at Shavuot, as we will see in the subsequent chapter. This is where I believe the story of Ruth leads us all.

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Ruth is a Gentile woman, who comes to the commonwealth of Israel and marries her redeemer. In the same way, every believer from the nations may return to their God, to their creator; by so doing, they become the bride of the Messiah.

From Passover to Shavuot; the story of Ruth begins with tragedy, famine and poverty, and ends with a wedding, very much like the life of every believer. Without the Messiah there is no salvation. He is the way to God. We have begun to see that it is God who orchestrates this whole story; it is God Himself, for salvation is wholly from Him.

So it happened, that Ruth found herself in Boaz’s field. On the same day, Now behold, would you believe that Boaz happened to come. All is done by the divine providence of God’s sovereignty.

The sovereignty of God, is at the base of the story of Ruth. Realizing the power of the sovereignty of God in one's life is something that is so comforting and liberating. It is knowing that He has the whole world in His hands, as the song says. One day we will all see His wonderful hand in every creation and in every situation of life.

Now, in verse 4, notice also how freely the name of God is mentioned; the LORD is the Yud-He-Vav-He, Jehovah. At the time, God’s name was often mentioned, but with time the pronunciation of this Name was lost. With the rise of rabbinical Judaism, it was decreed forbidden to pronounce this Name for fear of blasphemy; the argument is based on Exodus 20:7 which says: You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

But the people before this era did not have this problem; the name was freely spoken by men and women of faith who would speak it with much reverence. Daniel, in his great prayer in Daniel 9, mentions the name of God at least six times. In the , it is found 695 times; this is God’s name and this is how they called on him. After the time of and , the Name began to disappear from the land; first we read in the Talmud that:“People do not pronounce the Ineffable Name of God in the provinces [but only in the Temple].” (Bab. Talmud, Yoma 7:1-2) Thus, the Name was confined only within the walls of the Temple. Later, it was restricted only for the High Priest, who could pronounce it only once a year on Yom Kippur. After the destruction of the Temple, we lost the pronunciation. The possibility that some may have used it in a blasphemous way should not veto our privilege to call our God by the name with which He identifies Himself. However, we do not know how to pronounce it anymore. Nonetheless, this name is mentioned eighteen times in Ruth and it shows us the God of the Bible in action.

But when Boaz just happened to come from Bethlehem, something else happens; somehow his attention is drawn to Ruth, right away. Ruth 2:5 Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, "Whose young woman is this?"

Right away he noticed Ruth! What attracted him to her?

I would have loved to know, but it does not say, so our imagination is free to try to figure it out. Was she such a beautiful girl to call on his attention or was it her noble mannerism that attracted him, as some rabbis thought?

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But if we stay within the context, we understand that God has something to do with it. This is the beginning of an incomprehensible love that God put on Boaz’s heart, as he will fall madly in love with Ruth; so much so that some may even see some kind of exaggeration. But when God blesses, He blesses, as He says in 3:10 And try Me now in this … If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.

Here we see Him beginning the pouring out of His love on both Boaz, Naomi and on us, as well.

When Boaz asked who is Ruth, the worker in charge answered: Ruth 2:6-7 So the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered and said, "It is the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. "And she said, ‘Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.’ So she came and has continued from morning until now, though she rested a little in the house."

Here we see another providential sign; the servant seems to know a about Ruth. First, he tells us how she came to this field and then we learn that he also noticed her. He saw that she worked all day, that she did not rest much and that she did not gather much. The Targum translates the Hebrew well; it says: “… She came and stood and has remained here from early morning until just now. It is but a short time that she has sat in the house for a little.”

There must have been much competition to be able to gather much, and being a Moabitess, it must not have been easy to contend against the other poor of the land. Yet they could not put her away, for the Mosaic Law protected the foreigner; this is another humane law which revolutionized the times. It is found in Deuteronomy 24:14 You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether one of your brethren or one of the aliens who is in your land within your gates.

The were commanded to consider the aliens, the foreigners, who came into their community, as one of their own. All this information about Ruth, coming and working hard and not gathering much, was enough to melt Boaz’s heart. Some have seen a discrepancy in the Bible, when God first asked the Israelites to put away all the Canaanites from the land, and yet He commands the Israelites to welcome them in their midst. But there is no contradiction here. God does not take pleasure in the death of anyone, but it was what these Canaanites stood for. It was because of their extreme wickedness that judgment came on them. However, if one of them sought the God of Israel, like , the doors of salvation were wide open. You shall not oppress the foreigners, and this is why Ruth could rightly find herself in the field of an Israeli.

After finding out who Ruth really is, Boaz pours out his love for her. See Ruth 2:8-9 Then Boaz said to Ruth, "You will listen, my daughter, will you not? Do not go to glean in another field, nor go from here, but stay close by my young women. "Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them. Have I not commanded the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn."

Seeing that Ruth was not successful in gathering grain, Boaz brings Ruth closers to the reaper and commands that not one touches her. The hebrew word for touch is naga; it is strong and sometimes

5 translated by the word strike; it speaks of abuse. The Targum translates this part by Have I not commanded the young men not to molest you?

Perhaps, because Ruth was a Moabitess, some of the people abused her and insulted her. At the end of verse 9, Boaz tells her that if she is thirsty, to go to the vessels and drink. At this point, he provided for her protection, food and water. Now this is significant, when one notices that the commandment to have no Moabite in the assembly of Israel was because the Moabites did not want to provide food, water and even decided to attack the Israelites. Here, the roles are reversed.

This is the context of the command not to allow a Moabite in Israel; Deuteronomy 23: 3, 4 An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the LORD; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the LORD forever, because they did not meet you with bread and water on the road when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.

We see an example of the love for one‘s enemy, in Boaz’s actions. The offer of Boaz reminds us of the one the Messiah is extending to every one, every human being, even at a time when they despise Him.

This reminds us of the words in Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

I, for one, can see myself right next to Ruth, for before I accepted Yeshua as my personal savior, I could not even pronounce the Name of the Messiah. But while we were enemies, He gave us the waters of salvation for free along with protection and blessings. In the same way Boaz, who is a type of our Messiah, is blessing Ruth.

But how are we to deal with these Words of God in Deuteronomy 23:3? An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the LORD; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the LORD forever,

Yet God allows Ruth to enter the assembly of Israel and He even allows her to become the great-grand- mother of , bringing her right in the Messianic Line.

Ruth is very much like every believer who, at the beginning, had no power, no way of approaching the Throne of God. None of us could enter the Assembly of God, but by grace. By the death and resurrection of the Messiah, now we can. That’s how it was with Ruth, who was redeemed by Boaz and grace opened the door to her.

But, how does Rabbinical Judaism deal with this issue?

It is unfortunate that they do not see the grace of salvation here, but they deal with it in many different ways. Some argue that Deuteronomy 23:3 is addressed to men only and not to women, so Ruth, being a woman could come in. But this is not the only time that the masculine form is used to include a whole nation, men and women. Did not God called humankind by the name of man, as in Genesis 5:2, where we read that: He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were created. Here, the word for Mankind in hebrew is Adam, and it is in the singular form.

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Another idea is very cleverly designed. Since they believe that all Gentiles are under seven Noahic laws, which they call the law of nature and reason, and since Ruth’s name in Hebrew amounts to the number 606; adding the 7 laws of Noah to her name 606 gives you 613, the number of laws in the Mosaic Law.That’s very clever, but it does not work like this. It may be attractive, “but all that glitters is not gold.”

But there is another position that may cause many headaches in history; one that is not shared by the majority of rabbis. This one is conversion. They say that if an individual wants to join the commonwealth of Israel, he or she needs to be converted into Judaism, which will make them Jews. So they say that Ruth converted and became Jewish. But this is so foreign to the Biblical text; it is a post-Hebrew Scriptures invention, which came after Ezra and Nehemiah. We see traces of this type of conversion as early as in the first century before Christ, where the house of Hillel and the house of Shammai argued about who can be converted. At around the same time, the Hasmonean kings forced the conversion of some Samaritans and Edomites, from whom Herod the Great came and pretended to be Jewish. But, this doctrine of conversion poured in the . If you follow the same train of thought behind this type of conversion, then all Gentiles need to be converted into Judaism to be saved. This is one heresy Paul had to deal with in the , because there were many who tried to convince the new Gentile believers to get circumcised and follow the Mosaic Law, in order to be saved.

So what happened with Ruth?

What Ruth did is she came to believe in the God of the Bible, but she stayed a Moabite all her life. She was never called a Jew, because when one comes to believe in the God of the Bible, they become saved; their ancestry does not change. In fact, Ruth is called a Moabitess five times in the text, even after her marriage with Boaz; he himself calls her a Moabite.In :10 we read: Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, I have acquired as my wife…

No such conversion took place here. When Moses married Zipporah who was a daughter of Jethro, the priest of Midian (Exodus 2:21), she did not convert. When Joseph wedded Asenath, the daughter of an Egyptian priest of On (Genesis 41:45), there was no conversion.

Ruth did not change her ancestry by coming to God. Furthermore, in the , no Gentile is ever called a Jew; those who proclaimed their faith in the God of Israel were called Proselytes, or God fearers. The proselytes were those who converted to the jewish laws, and the God Fearers were those who also believed but did not convert. We read of the centurion who impressed Yeshua by his faith, or of Cornelius, another centurion, who marked the beginning of world evangelism. Peter did not convert Cornelius into a religion, but to a new faith. At Cornelius’ conversion, Peter said: Acts 10:34, 35 In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.

This is true conversion; it is a spiritual conversion. When an individual comes as he is to God, what changes is his eternal future, not his ancestry.

Today, Gentiles who convert to Judaism are converting to a new faith, not a people. In the process of conversion, they have been asked to publicly deny all other religions, including . This is not a light thing, for He said in Matthew 10:33: But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.

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This type of conversion could be a one way ticket away from Yeshua, forever.

The other type of conversion that we see today is mentioned by Yeshua, in Matthew, because, at this time, the Pharisees were very active in proselytizing the world. Some have even said that 10% of the Roman world was converted at the time of 70 AD. (Pirqe Aboth 1:12)

This is what Yeshua said in Matthew 23:15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

This is a hard saying of the Gospel, but it brings us to see the gravity behind luring people away from the pure Word of God.

Let us now go back to Ruth and see how Boaz answered Ruth, after she humbly asked him why he paid attention to her, being poor and a foreigner. His words are very weighty here as they show how a true spiritual conversion occurs. Ruth 2:11-13: And Boaz answered and said to her, "It has been fully reported to me, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know before. "The LORD repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.” Then she said, "Let me find favor in your sight, my lord; for you have comforted me, and have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your maidservants."

Boaz grew so much in favour for Ruth and this was from our Mighty God, who puts favour and love in heart of others, so His own can be blessed. He placed on Eunuch so much love and respect for Daniel. Joseph found favour in the sight of his captors, even in jail and even with Pharaoh. Abraham and Isaac found favour, even fear, in the heart of Abimelech. The same was done for , in the heart of Esau; Jeremiah with Nebuchadnezzar; David with the King of Moab. There are many examples of the workings of God for the benefit of His own.

But the language in our text of Ruth 2:11-13 is loaded with so many imageries and types, which bring you to other parts of the Bible. When Boaz told Ruth “how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth,” this is almost the same words as the words of God to Abraham, when he left his family and his… “father’s house, To a land that I will show you.” (Genesis12:1)

They were asked to leave, because faith in God demands a departure from the old life. When Boaz tells Ruth she left the land of her birth, these are the very same words found in Genesis 12, when God orders Abraham to leave his family. We see that both Abraham and Ruth came from the nations; one came to form the nation of Israel, the other to help continue the Messianic lineage. Both sacrificed the comfort of their home to do the will of God. Both showed so much faith and both were so blessed and saved; this is true conversion.

Speaking of comfort, Ruth answers Boaz and says for you have comforted me; this is the comfort that everyone will experience when they come to Jesus. This also reminds us of the comfort Israel will experience when she will come back to God; it is these words of God in Isaiah 40:1, 2 where God says:

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"Comfort, yes, comfort My people!" Says your God. "Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, That her warfare is ended, That her iniquity is pardoned; For she has received from the LORD’S hand Double for all her sins."

Israel will then find comfort, when she returns to the God of the Scriptures, as Ruth the Moabites found this comfort in her redeemer, Boaz, who really typifies the Messiah. This is the same Messiah for whom Israel is waiting. It is right here, in verse 12, where Boaz pronounces this great blessing, the blessing that comes after a spiritual conversion: “The LORD repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.” The word repay, or reward is yishalam, from the word Shalom, or peace. This is the peace we have when we come to God, and come under His wings for refuge.

This picture is one that we often find in the Psalms where Ruth’s great-grand-son used it so many times. After all, he must have read the book of Ruth which, in turn, must have inspired him to write passages like Psalm 17:8: Keep me as the apple of Your eye; Hide me under the shadow of Your wings

Also when he wrote the powerful Psalm 91:4, and said: He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge;…

But the actions of Boaz, do not stop here. Being a type of the Messiah, his love is poured out even more, as he portrays God’s great generosity toward those who commit themselves to Him. Ruth 2:14 Now Boaz said to her at mealtime, "Come here, and eat of the bread, and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar." So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed parched grain to her; and she ate and was satisfied, and kept some back.

Ruth is no more with the gleaners; she is now with the reapers, right in the front row. Also, notice that he, himself, passed the parched grain to her. He served her personally. The word pass or give does not only speak of something that we just pass or offer; this word only occurs here in the Hebrew Scriptures. The rabbis, who translated the , saw more than a few grains in this word, they say that Boaz heaped her hand with grain.

After all this, we can see here a wedding in the horizon. Perhaps he thought about her all morning. This is what we may conclude, after we see what he does next. Ruth 2:15-16 And when she rose up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, "Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. "Also let grain from the bundles fall purposely for her; leave it that she may glean, and do not rebuke her."

That is a lot of attention given to a poor Moabitess, young woman; he was not only commanding his men to let her come even closer to the sheaves, but for them to purposely let some grain fall on the ground so that she can pick them up. That is definitely not an act of gleaning anymore. We can see how much her position had been elevated by Boaz, by now.

Ruth 2:17 So she gleaned in the field until evening, and beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.

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How big is an ephah of barley?

We know from Exodus 16:16 that one omer was a daily portion for a person. During the collection of the Manna God said: Let every man gather it according to each one’s need, one omer for each person, according to the number of persons

One omer is 1/10th of an ephah, and one omer is one daily portion of food for a person. This means that Ruth got ten times more than what she needed; this shows the great generosity of God. Our God is the King of kings and He gives like no other king would or could give.

So, in the evening time, Ruth brought her ephah to her mother-in-law and shared it with her. Now they both had something to eat for many days. When Naomi asked Ruth who was so generous with her, she mentioned his name; Boaz. This is when Naomi recognized the name and said in verse 20: "This man is a relation of ours, one of our closest relatives."

As it is after salvation, we often look back at our life and see the hand of God; we recognize His footsteps behind or in front of us, where he guided us and blessed us.

The words our closest relative is one word in the Hebrew, goel, which means a redeemer. This opens up a new door into further understanding the actions of God in the book of Ruth, as well as in our lives as believers, which we will see in the coming chapters.

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