Reading: Esther 2:1-25

Esther 2:

1. Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side from the clan of Elimelech, a man of standing, whose name is Boaz

2. And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favour

It’s barley harvest time in Israel when the two women arrived from Moab.

Ruth, the Moabitess, is a fast learner. She’s aware of the extant law for the Israelites that when thou cuttest down thine harvest in the field, and hast forgotten a sheaf, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the strangers, for the fatherless, and for the widow…(Deuteronomy 24:19). She requests from her mother to go to the field to gather sheaves. She’s given the permission. She finds herself in the field of a man called Boaz. Incidentally, and this is God – the man is one of the kinsmen in the family of her father-in-law. The Holy Spirit puts it this way: .,. Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side from the clan of Elimelech…

Many christian practices today are not from the bible. The Holy Spirit recognises Boaz as a relation of Naomi’s on the side of her husband. The implication is that Naomi is a relation of Boaz by marriage. In marriage, two family households are involved, no matter what the present leaders in christianity say. It’s not a concept of nuclear family here; it’s of an endless chain of relations interwoven with one another.

In God’s kingdom here, provision was made for the vulnerable people, the category of Naomi and Ruth. Given the permission to make use of the caring law, Ruth finds herself in a field belonging to Boaz. The work of harvesting is already going on when Boaz arrives. He greets the workers: “The Lord be with you” and they, in response, shout back, “The Lord bless you.” Here’s the common life where no one breathes air of superiority complex and others suck in the air of inferiority complex. It’s a community of God.

Ruth is quickly sighted by Boaz. He wants to know from the foreman who the strange woman is and learns that she’s Ruth from Moab, who has requested to stay with the workers to pickup the leftover in the field. Boaz is touched and desires to do all things to salvage, to help and to lift up from unpleasant condition. This is the life of the kinsman-redeemer. He makes further provision for Ruth, far and above what the law prescribes. Ruth is overwhelmed. But the man puts her at ease, explaining that he’s doing this as one that is totally overwhelmed by the kindness of Ruth in returning to Israel with her. He wonders at the way of Ruth…and how thou hast left thy father and mother, and the land of thine nativity, and come to a people which thou knowest not heretofore (verse 11). This is the vocation of God in Christ – wedded and glued to him so that where the Lord is is where the bride will be found. Sin, self-consideration economy have no right to pull  the two lovers apart nor can geography separate them. Nothing should be able to wedge itself between the wedding of the two. This means sacrifice! Ruth willed herself to accept the death of her late husband (the law) and be married to another, Jesus Christ, by faith. She’s decided to follow on to know the Lord.

Boaz prays further for the Moabitess, May the Lord repay you…., the God of Israel under whose wings you have come to take refuge. This is the reward of faith, complete reliance on the Word and wisdom of God; completely moving on not by the senses but by the spirit! He that must come to God must believe that he’s and a rewarder of them that diligently seek for him (Hebrews 11:6).

Under whose wings… “He shall,” says the Psalmist, “cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shall thou trust…” (Verse 14 of 91).

Under whose wings… God in Christ, desires to put man under his wings. He says this to the people of Israel, ” …how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathered her chickens under her wings. But here’s Ruth, a foreigner to the commonwealth of Israel,who has come to trust the wings of the God of Israel. This is an uncommon faith not found in Israel.

The day runs to an end so soon and the exalted Ruth gets back home, reports of the goodness of the owner of the farm where she worked and, from her mother-in-law, discovers that that man is our close relative; he is one of the kinsman-redeemer