Message: What Does Love Look Like? #3

2:1 Now Naomi had a rel­at­ive of her husband’s, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. 2 And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor.” And she said to her, “Go, my daugh­ter.” 3 So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reap­ers, and she happened to come to the part of the field belong­ing to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech. 4 And behold, Boaz came from Beth­le­hem. And he said to the reap­ers, “The Lord be with you!” And they answered, “The Lord bless you.” 5 Then Boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the reap­ers, “Whose young woman is this?” 6 And the ser­vant who was in charge of the reap­ers answered, “She is the young Moabite woman, who came back with Naomi from the coun­try of Moab. 7 She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reap­ers.’ So she came, and she has con­tin­ued from early morn­ing until now, except for a short rest.”

8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Now, listen, my daugh­ter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. 9 Let your eyes be on the field that they are reap­ing, and go after them. Have I not charged the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the ves­sels and drink what the young men have drawn.” 10 Then she fell on her face, bow­ing to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a for­eigner?” 11 But Boaz answered her, “All that you have done for your mother-​​in-​​law since the death of your hus­band has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your nat­ive land and came to a people that you did not know before. 12 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!” 13 Then she said, “I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, for you have com­for­ted me and spoken kindly to your ser­vant, though I am not one of your servants.”

14 And at meal­time Boaz said to her, “Come here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine.” So she sat beside the reap­ers, and he passed to her roas­ted grain. And she ate until she was sat­is­fied, and she had some left over. 15 When she rose to glean, Boaz instruc­ted his young men, say­ing, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. 16 And also pull out some from the bundles for her and leave it for her to glean, and do not rebuke her.”

17 So she gleaned in the field until even­ing. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of bar­ley. 18 And she took it up and went into the city. Her mother-​​in-​​law saw what she had gleaned. She also brought out and gave her what food she had left over after being sat­is­fied. 19 And 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.” 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.” 20 And Naomi said to her daughter-​​in-​​law, “May he be blessed by the Lord, whose kind­ness has not for­saken the liv­ing or the dead!” Naomi also said to her, “The man is a close rel­at­ive of ours, one of our redeem­ers.” 21 And Ruth the Moabite said, “Besides, he said to me, ‘You shall keep close by my young men until they have fin­ished all my har­vest.’” 22 And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-​​in-​​law, “It is good, my daugh­ter, that you go out with his young women, lest in another field you be assaul­ted.” 23 So she kept close to the young women of Boaz, glean­ing until the end of the bar­ley and wheat har­vests. And she lived with her mother-​​in-​​law. (ESV)