Boaz eventually became acquainted with Ruth (vv. 4-7). He came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, “Jehovah be with you,” and they said to him, “Jehovah bless you” (v. 4). When Boaz asked the young man who was set over the reapers concerning Ruth, the young man told him that she was the young Moabite woman who had returned with Naomi from the country of Moab and who had asked to glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves. His word to Boaz regarding Ruth indicates that he was happy with her, considering her a woman of fidelity and virtue.
In verses 8 through 13 we have Boaz’s word of grace to Ruth. He said to her, “Do not go to glean in another field, and also do not pass from here but stay close to my young women. Keep your eyes on the field that they reap; follow after them. I have charged my young men not to touch you. And when you are thirsty, you shall go to the vessels and drink of what the young men have drawn” (vv. 8-9). When Ruth heard these words, she fell upon her face, bowed herself to the ground, and asked Boaz, “Why have I found favor in your sight that you regard me, though I am a foreigner?” (v.10). Boaz replied that all that she had done for her mother-in-law since the death of her husband Elimelech had been made known to him. He also had learned how she had left her father and mother and the land of her birth and had come to a people whom she had not known before. Then he said to her, “May Jehovah recompense your work, and may you have a full reward from Jehovah, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge” (v. 12). In response, Ruth asked that she would find favor in his sight, for he had comforted her and had spoken kindly to her (v. 13).
Boaz not only spoke kindly to Ruth but also showed generosity to her (vv. 14-16). At mealtime Boaz told her to eat some food, extending some parched grain to her, and she ate and was satisfied. When she rose up to glean, Boaz charged his young men to let her glean among the standing grain and not to rebuke her. Then he went on to say to them, “Also pull out some from the bundles for her, and leave it for her to glean; and do not rebuke her” (v. 16).
Upon returning from the field, Ruth told the story of her experience with Boaz to Naomi, her mother-in-law (vv. 17-21). When Ruth told Naomi that she had gleaned in the field of Boaz, Naomi said to her, “Blessed be he of Jehovah, whose lovingkindness has not failed for the living and for the dead” (v. 20a). Then Naomi told Ruth that the man was close to them, one of their kinsmen (v. 20b).
In verse 22 Naomi charged Ruth, saying, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, so that others do not meet you in any other field.” As we will see when we come to chapter three, what was on Naomi’s heart was not only that Ruth would partake of Boaz’s riches and be satisfied, but also that she would gain Boaz himself as her husband and bring forth a son for the name of Elimelech.
Ruth stayed close to Boaz’s young women and gleaned until the end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest; and she dwelt with her mother-in-law (v. 23).
In all this Ruth, as one who had returned to God from her heathen background, exercised her right to partake of the rich produce of the inheritance of God’s elect. Ruth, a Moabitess, had come to the good land as a sojourner. According to her threefold status as a sojourner, a poor one, and a widow, she exercised her right to glean the harvest. Although she was poor, she never became a beggar. Her gleaning was not her begging; it was her right.
The book of Ruth portrays the way, the position, the qualification, and the right of sinners to participate in Christ and to enjoy Christ. According to God’s ordination, we have been qualified and positioned to claim our right to enjoy Christ. This means that today we do not need to beg God to save us. We can go to God to claim His salvation for ourselves. We have the position, the qualification, and the right to claim salvation from God. This is the highest standard of receiving the gospel.
As a narration, the book of Ruth is lovely, touching, convincing, and subduing. In the aromatic story in chapter two, four types are implied.
Boaz, rich in wealth (2:1), typifies Christ, who is rich in the divine grace (2 Cor. 12:9).
The field of the God-promised good land (Ruth 2:2-3) typifies the all-inclusive Christ, who is the source of all the spiritual and divine products for the life supply to God’s elect (Phil. 1:19b).
Barley and wheat (Ruth 2:23) typify Christ as the material for making food for both God and His people (Lev. 2; John 6:9, 33, 35).
Ruth, a Moabitess (Deut. 23:3), a heathen sinner, alienated from God’s promises (Eph. 2:12), given the right to partake of the gleaning of the harvest of God’s elect typifies the “Gentile dogs” who are privileged to partake of the crumbs under the table of the portion of God’s elect children (Col. 1:12; Matt. 15:25-28).