00:00:00:25 – 00:00:28:08
Clint Loveall
Hey, everybody, thanks for joining us. thanks for starting the week with us as we continue through the book of Ruth. We are in the second chapter, the 17th verse at this point in the story. Ruth has come to Boaz is attention. it’s not exactly clear yet in the story what kind of attention that is. But Boaz is in favorable to Ruth and generous to her kind.

00:00:28:08 – 00:00:50:22
Clint Loveall
As she gleans his field, he’s made sure to make provisions for her that she would have all she needs. And so, we pick up the story here in verse 17, read for a while, then we’ll come back and discuss. So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.

00:00:50:27 – 00:01:09:31
Clint Loveall
She picked it up and came into the town, and her mother in law saw how much she had gleaned. Then she took out and gave her what was left over. After she herself had been satisfied, her mother in law said to her, where did you glean today? And where have you worked? Blessed be the man who took notice of you.

00:01:09:36 – 00:01:29:24
Clint Loveall
So she told her mother in law, with whom she had worked, and said the name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz. Then Naomi said to her daughter in law. Blessed be the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead. Naomi said to her, this man is a relative of ours, one of our nearest kin.

00:01:29:29 – 00:01:53:13
Clint Loveall
Then Ruth, the more bite said, he even said to me, stay close by my servants until they have finished all my harvest. Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter in law, it’s better, my daughter, that you go out with his young women. Otherwise you might be bothered in another field. So she stayed close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvest.

00:01:53:18 – 00:02:20:33
Clint Loveall
And she lived with her mother in law. So at this point, Ruth’s, time her, I don’t want to call it an adventure. Her effort to glean and bring home food for her and Naomi, has been kind of focused on her. We’ve met Boaz. Now, Naomi rejoins that conversation as she brings a significant amount of food at home, and Naomi says, where did you get it?

00:02:20:38 – 00:02:46:01
Clint Loveall
She says, I got it with Boaz said, yeah, stay with him. And it goes well for them. If we jump down to the end of the story, she stays close with the young women of Boaz gleaning his fields, and it is a season of enough. It’s a season of deliverance for them as they have food. And here in Michael, we learn an important part of the story.

00:02:46:01 – 00:03:12:43
Clint Loveall
There’s a little bit of information that the author is kind of on uncovering or revealing for us as we go along. It turns out that Boaz has a family connection. And so Naomi recognizes the name, knows Boaz, and we now get told not only are they connected in some way, he is their closest kin person. Now, to my knowledge, I the rest of the story may correct me.

00:03:12:54 – 00:03:36:34
Clint Loveall
I don’t think we’re ever given the exact connection to Naomi and Boaz, but this is close enough that Boaz. We may begin to see that Boaz feels at least some responsibility toward Naomi, and it may explain to some extent, part of his actions in his generosity towards Ruth.

00:03:36:39 – 00:04:01:14
Michael Gewecke
Yeah. So we’ve said these things about these characters before. It’s worth repeating very briefly. We have Boaz, who has not generously treated Ruth, and the way that he’s addressed her in the way that he has been generous with the fruit of his fields and what he’s invited her to do. So we’ve already had that in his character. We’ve already talked about how Ruth is also a hard worker.

00:04:01:15 – 00:04:28:26
Michael Gewecke
She’s a person who has showed up at the very earliest part of the workday, and she’s been there working faithfully. And so here, as we continue on to this part of the story, we see that simply fleshed out in her character. As the story goes along, she’s gleaning in the field until evening. She works to process that which she has gleaned, and then she brings home that which is going to be useful for the sake of the family.

00:04:28:26 – 00:04:50:45
Michael Gewecke
And so we just see, once again, the continuing of this thing we’ve had before, both Boaz is acting generously towards Ruth, and in this case, Ruth is acting honorably with the way that she is able to work in the fields and to be diligent to that task. and so then when we have this question, you know, where did you glean some of that?

00:04:50:45 – 00:05:10:19
Michael Gewecke
We are going to find out is just simply going to move the story along as we connect now, Naomi, to Boaz, we’ve had Ruth making that connection, but now we’re going to see that that family relationship that you’ve talked about, Clint. But then we’re also going to have in that question, where did you glean today? Where have you worked?

00:05:10:19 – 00:05:43:18
Michael Gewecke
Some of that is how did you have so much success? Where did you get so much produce, and how has this been such a blessing? And of course, we the reader, we know some of the answers to that because Boaz has been behind the scenes being gracious and generous, offering this up. but this is the turn in that story, I believe, right at the end of last week, in our previous study, we were talking about how all the way into Moab, Naomi experiences loss upon loss upon loss.

00:05:43:24 – 00:06:06:59
Michael Gewecke
It’s this sloped downward. And then at the moment when Ruth makes this beautiful commitment, I am going to be with you, Naomi. I’m going to stick with you. Your people are going to be my people. From that moment on, things start to go on an incline up. And this is another example of that for no Naomi. In fact, I think we see that perfectly in verse 20.

00:06:07:12 – 00:06:35:53
Michael Gewecke
This idea, blessed be he being Boaz by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living, and make note, or the dead that that idea of even the lost husbands and sons, and the family and opportunities that were all left in Moab. God is being faithful through the faithful generosity of Boaz. And this is a good happening irrespective of all of that bad that’s come before.

00:06:35:58 – 00:07:05:01
Clint Loveall
Yeah, and that’s a very interesting verse, Michael, because a it happens after the mention of Boaz. And so it’s not just the abundance of food, it’s not just, having enough that prompts Naomi to give this kind of blessing or this benediction, but you can read this. You can really read this either way. And in the Hebrew, it’s not exactly clear.

00:07:05:06 – 00:07:31:37
Clint Loveall
Blessed be he by the Lord, whose kindness and whether the kindness that has not forsaken the living in the dead is being attributed to the Lord, or to Boaz, or in some way to some combination of the two. And I think, you know, this is the first time from Naomi that we’ve heard a kind of praise. she’s a woman who’s experienced loss.

00:07:31:42 – 00:08:13:05
Clint Loveall
She has suffered, she struggled. And here in this, in this intersection of their experience with Boaz, specifically when he is named, she is moved to some sort of praise, either wishing a blessing upon Boaz for his kindness or praising God for his kindness through Boaz. And again, it’s not entirely clear which way you read that. I think maybe I don’t know if that’s intentional, but I think it’s fortuitous that you can read it either way, that there’s some sense of both in their.

00:08:13:10 – 00:08:39:16
Clint Loveall
And the other thing that happens here, I think is really interesting what the author has done. If you look at these next couple verses, the man is a relative of ours. And so now Naomi speaks of Ruth clearly within the circle, one of our nearest kin. But then the next verse says, Then Ruth the Moabite. And he said, stay close to me.

00:08:39:16 – 00:09:19:40
Clint Loveall
Then Naomi said to her daughter in law, it’s better my daughter. So there’s this interesting juxtaposition here of speaking of Ruth as an insider and the narrator reminding us of her role as an outsider. It’s it’s very subtle, but but if you follow the way that Ruth is spoken to and spoken about through this little short part of the text, I think you see, an intentional effort by the authors on, on behalf of the author to kind of paint a picture of one who is an outsider, but is firmly come now in the circle, one of ours.

00:09:19:40 – 00:09:28:55
Clint Loveall
He is one of ours. And this also means that clearly Ruth is one of ours, and I think that’s an interesting way to do that in the story.

00:09:29:00 – 00:09:51:18
Michael Gewecke
So that theme of The Foreigner has been one that has been prevalent throughout this entire text. And you might remember that there are other passages of Scripture where the foreign woman who marries into the family is actually deeply looked down upon in some places, forbidden and not in some places is actually also ordered. So there’s actually diversity in the Old Testament.

00:09:51:18 – 00:10:18:54
Michael Gewecke
But I think what’s fascinating about the story of Ruth is Clint. We’ve talked about how human this story is, how beautifully it illustrates the characters of the story, which isn’t always the thing that we have in the Old Testament narratives. And what this story does for us is it shows us the very human reality of when the foreigner comes into the family and becomes part of the family, because here all of that lives in tension.

00:10:18:54 – 00:10:46:46
Michael Gewecke
On one hand, Boaz is our nearest kin to your point, but then also Ruth the Moabite is the one who speaks in the very next sentence. That’s the kind of tense of relationship happening here that though Ruth is in the family because of a marriage that has now ended, her husband has passed away, Naomi’s son is gone. Yet all the same, there is a bonded ness.

00:10:46:46 – 00:11:14:56
Michael Gewecke
There is a connectedness. In fact, we might even say there’s a faithfulness that has bound together this this very nontraditional family. It’s not just that, though, and I think we need to be very attuned to this claim in verse 20. Blessed. It is not Boaz directly. Blessed is he by the Lord. And here, namely the Lord is in caps.

00:11:14:56 – 00:11:36:24
Michael Gewecke
We’re talking about the God of Israel. That’s the name of God. I think it’s worth noting that while this book is not going to talk about God’s action in the story in divine terms, it’s not going to talk about God appearing in a vision or speaking audibly. God’s not going to be directing by the voice of the narrator.

00:11:36:28 – 00:12:11:15
Michael Gewecke
But yet these turns over and over again of when this good happens, blessed be the one who by the Lord is working. God is is being faithful to Naomi and to Ruth through the generosity of Boaz. That’s another tension. I would point out that there’s a kind of divine and human interaction here, though God is not coming down in the form of angelic speech, or God’s not active in some of the more miraculous ways that you see in the Old Testament.

00:12:11:20 – 00:12:31:42
Michael Gewecke
Make no mistake, God is actually at work. And so you have this tension between the the, the foreigner and the insider. You also have the tension between the work of humans doing human generous things and God who’s reflected in that generosity. And I think it’s amazing how all of that comes together in this book.

00:12:31:49 – 00:12:53:58
Clint Loveall
I think you might be even be able to add to that, Michael, that you have the tension. Owen, be careful with this, because I, you know, from a modern lens. I don’t know how this applies necessarily, but you have the tension between the male experience and the female experience. And I think the text reminds us of that late in this passage.

00:12:54:03 – 00:13:19:04
Clint Loveall
we are here in what looks like about, near the end of the text, Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter in law, it’s better, my daughter that you go out with his young women. Otherwise she might be bothered in another field. So there is a moment here of security, but hanging over that remains vulnerability and risk.

00:13:19:04 – 00:13:44:38
Clint Loveall
And Ruth and Naomi have to continue to be sensitive to the the moment they’re in the plight that they are in. it if you’re in a field where you’re safe, it’s better for you to stay there because you could be bothered in another field. So this is a powerful moment. It’s a positive moment, but the risk is not gone and their situation is not over.

00:13:44:38 – 00:14:07:51
Clint Loveall
And so, do we get I think maybe another point that direction is this last verse here. She stayed until the end of barley and wheat harvest. Well, what happens at the end of the harvest? It gets harder to glean. It gets harder to know that there’s food out there for you. The field will increasingly be picked clean by those who are going out to find food.

00:14:07:51 – 00:14:35:04
Clint Loveall
So though, if we look at our passage in terms of the situation of Ruth and Naomi, this is about as good as they’ve had it so far in the story, but they’ve not yet arrived at a secure place. Their their future is not yet, without potential problems. And so I think, you know, again, there are things that maybe don’t jump out in the text.

00:14:35:04 – 00:14:41:28
Clint Loveall
It’s not blunt, but I think there’s a lot here. If you’re kind of following the landscape, there’s a lot happening.

00:14:41:33 – 00:14:59:34
Michael Gewecke
I think a temptation and maybe a not very helpful one is to try to sort of boil this story down and to ask, who’s the one in charge or who’s the one who has the agency in the story? And many people have done that over the course of the years. This is a unique story because of its emphasis upon women.

00:14:59:34 – 00:15:27:13
Michael Gewecke
And so I think many people have turned to this story and wanted to emphasize the agency of these women. And that’s in many ways, I think, very appropriate. But, Clint, we shouldn’t miss that. The authors very clearly, including in that number Boaz, who’s also who’s generous city is extravagant. We we also see the author making the case for God’s action in this story by way of the proclamations of the characters.

00:15:27:18 – 00:16:09:41
Michael Gewecke
It’s it’s not a story that I think is maybe best when boiled down. It’s better when you allow these things to all remain true at the same time. You have women who are taking real agency and good is happening, but there are also women who are vulnerable, and there’s also a man who’s taking interest. We’re not 100% certain at this point, the story, why he’s interested, but yet God is being faithful to the to these women who have had great loss in their life through this man’s generosity and in that messy, complicated mixture of human motivations and actions, both God, these women, this man, the workers in the fields, they’re all somehow part of this

00:16:09:41 – 00:16:16:28
Michael Gewecke
divine story of redemption and faithfulness, and it’s all being played out in front of our eyes.

00:16:16:33 – 00:17:01:42
Clint Loveall
I think the Book of Ruth, and probably we’ll talk a lot about this in the coming days, because I think chapter three really sort of forces you to take a path. But the Book of Ruth really presents a couple of different ways to read it. And one is, you know, I’ll just say for maybe as a little bit of a preview, one is a relatively tame version in which people are trying to do the right thing, and the other is a little bit messier version where, people are taking some risks and where there’s it’s a little bit racier version of the story as we present the story, will kind of let you

00:17:01:42 – 00:17:30:01
Clint Loveall
decide where you fall on that. I will tell you as a way of a commercial. Chapter three is a fascinating chapter, and I don’t think you can read chapter three without making some decisions on what kind of story you think this turns into. You could do that through chapter one and two. You know, you could read chapter two, including the passage we just went through, and you could just say, this is this is Ruth doing her best.

00:17:30:01 – 00:18:03:43
Clint Loveall
And Boaz being a really good guy, and Naomi grateful that their paths of overlap. You could also say, why do men take special interest in special care of some women? And what opportunities does that present these women in in particular? And, I don’t think the story forces you to to pick one of those interpretations. There’s some overlap in the middle, but certainly in the next chapter, I think you have some decisions to make about which of those narratives you think this story is.

00:18:03:45 – 00:18:08:31
Clint Loveall
I hope that isn’t too confusing. Come back with us and I hope that will make more sense.

00:18:08:31 – 00:18:26:57
Michael Gewecke
Don’t make the decision yet. Come back later. We’ll have the conversation as we go. friends, thanks for being with us. Do subscribe. We love those who want to travel along with us on the stories through the Bible, like this one. We would love for you to give this video a like. If it’s been helpful for you, helps others find it and we look forward to seeing you as we continue this study tomorrow.

00:18:26:58 – 00:18:27:58
Michael Gewecke
Until then, be blessed.

00:18:27:59 – 00:18:28:40
Clint Loveall
Thanks everybody.