Ruth: 2:1-3 - Boaz's steward and the Christian's stewardship.

Class Outline:

Title: Ruth: 2:1-3 - Boaz's steward and the Christian's stewardship.

 

RUT 2:1 Now Naomi had a kinsman of her husband, a man of great wealth [mighty man of wealth], of the family of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz.

 

RUT 2:2 And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, "Please let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after one in whose sight I may find favor." And she said to her, "Go, my daughter."

 

The law of gleaning was unlike anything that other nations might have done for the poor, if they did anything. It was the way in which God provided for the poor and destitute. In the strictness of the Law of Moses it was a strict call to kindness and graciousness.

 

Naomi agrees to the plan and Ruth heads out in the morning after the fashion of the others that she sees, following the reapers.

 

RUT 2:3 So she departed and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers; and she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.

 

"she happened" - she chanced upon Boaz's field. She did not know him or the people, but this is not chance, rather, divine providence.

 

It was already mentioned that Boaz was of the clan of Elimelech, but it is mentioned again in verse 3 in order to really emphasize that Boaz's graciousness and Ruth's "happening" onto his field are not coincidences.

 

From a human perspective, Ruth got lucky. She did not know the land of Israel, or the fields of Bethlehem, or Boaz, or any of the people and no one knew her. The careless onlooker only sees coincidence, but to the one whose eyes are full of light see the hand of God directly.

 

Roughly 700 years later, some 100 years after the captivity, a Jewess named Esther would be named queen and her cousin Mordecai would become a man of great honor, and in Persia of all places. They were nobodies that the most powerful man in Persia wanted to kill, but instead he met that fate, and they and all the Jews of Persia were miraculously delivered, and all of it on the surface looks like coincidence.

 

When Boaz comes from the city to check on the harvest, he will not miss Ruth, which he easily could have done. This, of course, is not by chance either.

 

Ruth's "happening" onto Boaz's field and his observation of her will lead to the birth of David and subsequently Jesus.

 

RUT 2:4 Now behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, "May the Lord be with you." And they said to him, "May the Lord bless you."

 

The greeting and response reveal that this is a circle of devoted believers.

 

Remember that this takes place during the period of the Judges, and these Jews, in Boaz's employment, have survived the Midianite oppression. We do not ever see remnants of positive believers in the Book of Judges, but we do see some of them here. That we see them as devoted believers and how we will see the behavior of his foreman, shows us that Boaz has greatly influenced his workers for good.

 

RUT 2:5 Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, "Whose young woman is this?"

 

This is a foreman who was responsible to supervise the workers, supply provisions for the reapers, and pay them at the end of the day.

 

RUT 2:6 And the servant in charge of the reapers answered and said, "She is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the land of Moab.

 

RUT 2:7 And she said, 'Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.' Thus she came and has remained from the morning until now; she has been sitting in the house for a little while."

 

Ruth asked the foreman for a bit more than normal gleaning. She asked this to the foreman when Boaz was not there and he granted it. She worked very hard all day, and only sat in the house to rest and get out of the sun for a short time.

 

Boaz would certainly have known about Naomi and Ruth, but since he did not recognize her, she has lived a very retired life with Naomi in the short time she has been in Bethlehem. There are a lot of theories as to how Ruth caught Boaz's eye. Of course, none of them can be confirmed.

 

She asked if she could 1) glean, 2) gather, and 3) glean among the sheaves following the reapers.

 

By asking to gather she was asking if she could glean first, leaving her gleanings in different parts of the field, and then she would return and gather all of the piles together. She also asked if she could follow the reapers. Normally the harvesters cut the grain with thee scythes while the female workers followed them, binding the cut grain into sheaves. Her request was that she might follow the harvesters and gather up any grain that has fallen from the sheaves that had been prepared for binding. This would be a highly unusual privilege if it were granted.

 

Ruth is given the privileges by the foreman, which shows that Boaz's graciousness has been entrusted to them.

 

Boaz is so gracious that his servants know to what extent they can be gracious with their master's blessing. Ruth is granted to glean first and gather, as well as to glean after the reapers.

 

What is more important, food or graciousness?

 

The details of this life are inconsequential. Do you think it matters how much food or what kind of food people have as long as they have enough to not go hungry? The kingdom of heaven is not made up of eating and drinking, or earthly wealth and power as so many kingdoms are. Whether it be jobs, clothes, food, drink, wealth, sex, entertainment, etc., etc., none of it has any real impact on anything. When God became one of us, was He concerned with any of the things that man is always so concerned with? (job, food, clothes, position, power, wealth, sex, entertainment, etc.)

 

All that matters for us tiny, finite, shallow little humans is the life of God, which He has found a way to impart to us. What is meaningful is love, joy, peace, grace, kindness, forgiveness, honor, courage, goodness, faithfulness, loyalty, gentleness, temperance, wisdom, righteousness, justice, truth, and, and this is a big and, the souls of men, in that they may all come to know and love these important things.

 

Every believer has been entrusted with a stewardship comprised of God's things which we are to safeguard, and it is compulsory.  

 

This bears an interesting parallel to us as the servants of the Lord. The Lord has blessed us with untold riches, which are all His. We are stewards of these things much like the foreman is of the harvest of Boaz's fields. The foreman doesn't wait for Boaz's approval to grant Ruth some special gleaning privileges that she asked for. By the time Boaz arrives, he is very open about this. He has gained personally nothing by doing it. And his faith in the girl is rewarded because she has worked exceptionally hard from the early morning, and any time spent in the house, out of the sun, has been short.

 

The Lord has blessed each believer as a steward (foreman) of His blessings (Shaddai). He has given us the authority to be gracious with them towards others.

 

If this foreman worked for a miserly landowner, a Scrooge, then he would not have been given the authority to ever grant such blessings. The foreman is not the owner. But our Lord is quite the opposite of miserly. This foreman knows just how gracious he can be, and that is a reflection of his boss.

 

We are the Lord's servants. He did not leave us in the wind as to what would be expected of us.

 

LUK 12:35 "Be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps alight.

 

LUK 12:36 "And be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks.

 

LUK 12:37 "Blessed are those slaves whom the master shall find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them.

 

LUK 12:38 "Whether he comes in the second watch, or even in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

 

LUK 12:39 "And be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

 

LUK 12:40 "You too, be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect."

 

This parable of the wedding describes the disciples as servants. The principle is their watchfulness, and it means far more than looking for the Lord's return.  

 

What does Christ expect of His servants? The servant is to occupy himself with the Master's will during the Master's absence, not knowing when He would return. Our Master has ascended into heaven and we do not know when He is going to return or when we are going to go to Him, and so we are to love His will and be diligent to do His will at all times. This is the faithful servant. As Jesus states in the continuation of the parable:

 

LUK 12:43 "Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes.

 

We must remember that this is a parable, a simile. A wedding banquet might consist of only a single meal or, for a person of wealth, it might continue for days. The master attending the banquet may return that day or he may return many days later, and so, he may return at any time, and the servants were to be busy at their jobs during the entirety of his absence.

 

If a servant were to expect a long absence, he might see a chance to neglect his responsibilities and become lazy. He would not be watchful. He would be faithless.

 

This means far more than looking for the King's return. Some might get overly focused on the return of the master in the parable out of excitement for the Rapture, but even that has the aspect of diligence or watchfulness before the master returns. We interpret the parable according to the time, and in that culture, anyone wealthy enough to have servants likely has a protective wall around his home and naturally that would have a gate. Along with his other duties, the steward was to be sure that the gate was attended, and for two reasons. One was thieves and the other was the return of the master. Obviously guards needed to be always watching for thieves, one never knows when they might come, but of course, stewards still might get slovenly, imagining that since no thieves had come in a long time, that they were unlikely to come that night.   

 

Thief: Satan who would attack and infiltrate the church.

 

The thief represents Satan, whom the Lord knew would attack the church in His absence. We are to be alert, for the devil prowls about like a roaring lion.

 

The responsibility of the steward is to safeguard what has been entrusted to their care and to use it according to grace and truth. To not do so is to be an unfaithful servant.

 

If the steward knew when the thief was coming, he would post extra guards at the gate. He would do the same if he knew when the master was returning.

 

But what we are unfamiliar with is the greeting of the master at the gate when he returns. This was done out of respect, and of course by order of the master. The steward was to officially greet the returning master as he approached the gate. Yet the variable here is that he is away at a wedding feast. At this time and in this culture, there is no way of knowing how long the feast will go on.

 

He told them that the master may even return on the second or third watch, which was 9 p.m. to midnight and midnight to 3 a.m. respectively. It was not customary to travel at night and so the steward might be tempted to imagine the master returning after morning's light, which was a reason to neglect his duty to man the gate.

 

If the steward does all of his duties as if the master was there, even watching him, even though the master is away and he hasn't a clue as to when he will return, then he is a faithful steward. The application to us is obvious.

 

We are to live as if Jesus was right with us all the time, and in fact, He is. If we do we are faithful and the reward is great. He will serve us with  ______.

 

What would you fill in the blank with? If it is something selfish, temporal, or unfit for His glory, then you're not the faithful servant, for if you were sure that the master was not watching you, then you wouldn't do your job, since you are only in it for a personal reward.

 

The reward would necessarily be something for His glory, and also something fully enjoyable to you, in fact, beyond your dreams. It would include the joy of being faithful and knowing that the master is pleased with you. It would include more opportunities to be faithful, since you are obviously useful to the Master. The possibilities are many and they all point to your fulfillment and joy and His glorification.

 

As we will see through the apostle Paul, who had the most important stewardship entrusted to him, the reward is freely doing what we are compelled to do by the Master.