Ruth Meets Boaz

When Naomi and Ruth returned to Bethlehem, the women of the city greeted them with excitement. It had been many years since Naomi had moved away, and they were overjoyed to see her again. But Naomi told them to call her Mara instead of Naomi, because the Lord had dealt bitterly with her.

The two women arrived in Bethlehem at the time of the barley harvest, but though they had a home to return to, they had no barley crop to harvest. Ruth volunteered to go to work gleaning heads of grain in the fields. 

It was the custom at the time that farmers allowed the poor to follow behind the workers, gleaning from any grain left behind. This was the work that Ruth volunteered to do. Though she was a foreigner, she chose a field which was owned by Boaz, a relative of Naomi’s husband. 

Boaz was a man of great wealth. When he came to check on his fields, he saw Ruth and asked who she was. When he found out, he went to her and told her to only glean in his field and to stay close to this young women workers. He watched out for her and made she she was well provided for. 

Ruth asked what she’d done to earn his favor, and Boaz said he’d heard what she’d done for her mother-in-law, how she’d left her land to come to a people she didn’t know. 

In Ruth 2:12 he said, “The LORD repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!” Her kindness to Noami won her the kindness of Boaz.

Read about Ruth and Boaz in Scripture: Ruth 2

Listen on Your Favorite Podcast Platform.