(14-16) Boaz continues to show great favor to Ruth.
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. 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.”
a. Dip your piece of bread in the vinegar: Perhaps now, we see the first hint of a romance. Boaz showed great kindness and favor to Ruth at mealtime. It would be enough to have just invited her, but he also invited her to share fully in the meal, even the privileged dipping.
b. She ate and was satisfied, and kept some back: Ruth also may be awakening to some romance towards Boaz; she kept some back. She did not eat all that was offered to her, meaning that she didn’t want to seem like a greedy eater in front of Boaz, and that she was sensible enough to take some home to Naomi.
i. Ruth was satisfied because she answered the generous invitation of Boaz. She was not one of the reapers, but she sat beside the reapers and ate as if she was one of them and she ate and was satisfied. In the same way, those outside the kingdom of God and its promises can sit among the reapers, at the invitation of Jesus, and by faith they can eat and be satisfied.
ii. “‘She did eat, and was satisfied.’ Your head shall be satisfied with the precious truth which Christ reveals; your heart shall be content with Jesus, as the altogether lovely object of affection; your hope shall be satisfied, for whom have you in heaven but Christ? Your desire shall be satiated, for what can even the hunger of your desire wish for more than ‘to know Christ, and to be found in him.’ You shall find Jesus fill your conscience, till it is at perfect peace; he shall fill your judgment, till you know the certainty of his teachings; he shall fill your memory with recollections of what he did, and fill your imagination with the prospects of what he is yet to do. You shall be ‘satisfied.’” (Spurgeon)
c. Let her glean even among the sheaves: This was more generous than the command in Leviticus 19:9-10. Boaz would allow Ruth to take some from among the already gathered sheaves of grain.
d. Let grain from the bundles fall purposefully for her: This was also beautiful. Boaz wanted to bless Ruth, but he didn’t want to dishonor her dignity by making her a charity case. So, he allowed some grain to fall, supposedly by accident, so that she could pick it up.
B. Ruth reports the day’s events to Naomi.
1. (17-18) She brings home the day’s fruits to Naomi.
So she gleaned in the field until evening, and beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. Then she took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. So she brought out and gave to her what she had kept back after she had been satisfied.
a. She gleaned in the field until evening, and beat out what she had gleaned: Yes, God blessed Ruth. Yes, people were generous to her. At the same time, she did work hard. This was a sun-up to sun-down day, and Ruth worked hard all day long.
i. We should use Ruth’s example to glean everything we can from the word of God:
· Ruth worked hard.
· Ruth had to stoop to gather every grain.
· Ruth could only pick up one grain at a time.
· Ruth had to hold on to each grain, and not immediately drop it.
· Ruth took the grain home and threshed it.
· Ruth took the threshed grain and winnowed it.
· Ruth was nourished by the grain.
b. It was about an ephah of barley: This was about a five-and-one-half gallon tub (22 liters) of barley – a wonderful day’s earnings to people who had nothing.
c. Gave to her what she had kept back: Besides all the barley grain, Ruth brought Naomi the food left over from the meal with Boaz. This was obviously a blessing for Naomi.
2. (19-23) Naomi praises God for His goodness to her and Ruth.
And her mother-in-law said to her, “Where have you gleaned today? And where did you work? Blessed be the one who took notice of you.”
So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, “The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.”
Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “Blessed be he of the LORD, who has not forsaken His kindness to the living and the dead!” And Naomi said to her, “This man is a relation of ours, one of our close relatives.”
Ruth the Moabitess said, “He also said to me, ‘You shall stay close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’”
And Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, and that people do not meet you in any other field.” So she stayed close by the young women of Boaz, to glean until the end of barley harvest and wheat harvest; and she dwelt with her mother-in-law.
a. Blessed be he of the LORD, who has not forsaken His kindness to the living and the dead: Is this the same woman who came into town saying, call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me (Ruth 1:20)? Is this the same woman who said, the Almighty has afflicted me (Ruth 1:21)? Of course, it is! Now she sees more of God’s plan unfolding, so she can see better how all things are working together for good for those who love God.
b. It is good, my daughter: Of course, Naomi told Ruth, “Stay with this man Boaz!” Not only was he generous, but he was also one of their near kinsmen – the importance of which will be unfolded in the coming chapters.