“Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz (by strength).
And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.”
Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” So she went out, entered a field and began to glean (pick up grain) behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.” Ruth 2:1-3
We are introduced to Boaz right at the beginning of chapter 2 because he is so significant. He is a relative of Naomi on her husband’s side, and, as mentioned twice, he was from Elimelek’s clan (vs, 1 & 3). “A man of standing” meant that he had a high social position and was well off financially. We will also see that he was respected for his integrity, kindness and wisdom.
Boaz had the place Elimelech could have had if he had trusted God and stayed in Israel, even in hard times:
“A man of great wealth: During the time of famine, when Elimelech, Naomi, and their whole family had left the Promised Land and went to Moab, Boaz had stayed behind – and God provided for him. In fact, God made Boaz a man of great wealth.” Enduringword.com
At that time in Israel the owners of grain fields were to leave the leftover grain for the poor to gather. Naomi and Ruth were very poor. Since Naomi’s age would have made it difficult for her to work, the best solution and the one suggested by Ruth herself is that Ruth should pick up grain for them to live on. Naomi agreed, and Ruth “as it turned out” went to work in the field belonging to Boaz.
“When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the LORD your God.” Leviticus 19:9-10
“This is a wonderful way of helping the poor. It commanded the farmers to have a generous heart, and it commanded the poor to be active and work for their food – and a way for them to provide for their own needs with dignity.” Ruth 2 – Ruth As a Gleaner enduringword.com
“Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, “The LORD be with you!”
“The LORD bless you!” they answered.” Ruth 2:4
Notice that Bethlehem,the birthplace of Jesus, was the home of Boaz. His greeting and the return greeting of the harvesters show belief in God and respect for Him and for each other. Peace, joy, trust and warmest for each other is shown.
“Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?”
The overseer replied, “She is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.’ She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.”
So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.” Ruth 2:5-9
The difference in age between Boaz and Ruth is shown in verse 5 when he calls her “young woman” and in verse 8 when he calls her “my daughter”. He has lived long enough to be “a man of standing”. These clues would point to him being middle age. He is probably not as old as Naomi, yet he and Naomi have the same values and understanding. Most of this is, of course, due to their being Israelites who know God. Boaz is in good health and a hard worker as is described later.
Boaz shows at once that he will take care of Ruth. He has “told the men not to lay a hand on” her. We can see that Israel could be dangerous for Ruth.
“At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?”
Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” Ruth 2:10-12
When Ruth came to Israel, she put herself under the Lord’s protection. Boaz points this out to her and adds his own blessing. In the small town and vicinity of Bethlehem, the character of Ruth and what she had done for her mother-in-law was common knowledge
“May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servants.”
At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.”
When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her. Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.”
So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah (about one bushel or 35 litres, about 30 pounds or 13 kilograms). She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.” Ruth 2:13-18
Boaz is more than kind to Ruth. His desire was to help Naomi as well as Ruth.
“Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!”
Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said.
“The LORD bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our kinsmen-redeemers (in Hebrew a legal term meaning obligation to redeem a relative in serious difficulties).” Ruth 2:18-20
"At the end of the day she was left with an ephah of barley! Amazing aye? Ok, I’m sure you, like me, have no idea how much an ephah is, so I looked it up and it’s 22 litres. This would be enough to feed both herself and Naomi for about 10 days. No wonder Naomi was surprised and had to know where she had got this!” Jesusplusnothing.com
“A kinsman? This introduces an important word in the book of Ruth – the ancient Hebrew word goel. To say that Boaz was a goel (a kinsman) was more than saying he was a relative; it was saying he was a special family representative. He was a chieftain in the family.” Enduringword.com
Naomi recognized God’s care for her and her family. The fact that she acknowledges “his kindness to the living (herself and Ruth) and the dead (her husband and sons, especially Mahlon)” and adding “that man is our close relative; he is one of our kinsmen-redeemers” seems to mean she had begun to see God’s plan for the future.
“Then Ruth the Moabite said, “He even said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.’”
Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.”
So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.” Ruth 21:-23
Here again we see that the country had its dangers: “in someone else’s field you might be harmed”.
“Naomi realizes what Boaz is trying to do for them and encourages Ruth to stay and glean in that field…The wheat harvest would extend this harvesting by over a month.”
“Although barley and wheat were both planted in the autumn, barley matured faster and would be harvested sooner…Wheat ripens later than barley and…was harvested…end of April to end of May…” Grace Communion Church
“We need to see that the One who has been showing us such undeserved favours ever since we took our place as gleaners in His field has more and is more. We need to see that Jesus is our nearest Kinsman, with the right to redeem both ourselves and our situation, a right acquired through the mighty sufficiency of His blood. The Son of man has the right on earth to forgive sins, and more, to redeem and overrule for ultimate good the very losses occasioned by our sin. And it is all based on blood, in the shedding of which all blame attaching to us was anticipated and extinguished.
With that vision of the blood must go a new vision of grace—that our very lacks, faults and failures are our qualifications for what grace provides, in the same way that Ruth had to see that her poverty and widowhood were the very things that qualified her for a redeemer.”
Hession, Roy: Our Nearest Kinsman: The Message of Redemption and Revival in the Book of Ruth. Christian Literature Crusade. 1976