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Texts -- Ruth 2:12-23 (NET)

Context
2:12 May the Lord reward your efforts ! May your acts of kindness be repaid fully by the Lord God of Israel , from whom you have sought protection !” 2:13 She said , “You really are being kind to me, sir , for you have reassured and encouraged me, your servant , even though I am not one of your servants !” 2:14 Later during the mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here and have some food ! Dip your bread in the vinegar !” So she sat down beside the harvesters . Then he handed her some roasted grain . She ate until she was full and saved the rest . 2:15 When she got up to gather grain, Boaz told his male servants , “Let her gather grain even among the bundles ! Don’t chase her off ! 2:16 Make sure you pull out ears of grain for her and drop them so she can gather them up . Don’t tell her not to!” 2:17 So she gathered grain in the field until evening . When she threshed what she had gathered , it came to about thirty pounds of barley !
Ruth Returns to Naomi
2:18 She carried it back to town , and her mother-in-law saw how much grain she had gathered . Then Ruth gave her the roasted grain she had saved from mealtime . 2:19 Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you gather grain today ? Where did you work ? May the one who took notice of you be rewarded !” So Ruth told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked . She said , “The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz .” 2:20 Naomi said to her daughter-in-law , “May he be rewarded by the Lord because he has shown loyalty to the living on behalf of the dead !” Then Naomi said to her, “This man is a close relative of ours; he is our guardian .” 2:21 Ruth the Moabite replied , “He even told me, ‘You may go along beside my servants until they have finished gathering all my harvest !’” 2:22 Naomi then said to her daughter-in-law Ruth , “It is good , my daughter , that you should go out to work with his female servants . That way you will not be harmed , which could happen in another field .” 2:23 So Ruth worked beside Boaz’s female servants , gathering grain until the end of the barley harvest as well as the wheat harvest . After that she stayed home with her mother-in-law .

Pericope

NET

Bible Dictionary

  • Wheat

    [ebd] one of the earliest cultivated grains. It bore the Hebrew name hittah, and was extensively cultivated in Palestine. There are various species of wheat. That which Pharaoh saw in his dream was the Triticum compositum, which b...

  • Sop

    [ebd] a morsel of bread (John 13:26; comp. Ruth 2:14). Our Lord took a piece of unleavened bread, and dipping it into the broth of bitter herbs at the Paschal meal, gave it to Judas. (Comp. Ruth 2:14.)

  • POVERTY

    [isbe] POVERTY - pov'-er-ti: 1. Old Testament References: This word, found but once in the Old Testament (Gen 45:11) outside of the Book of Proverbs in which it occurs 11 times (6:11; 10:15; 11:24 the King James Version; 13:18; 20:...

  • MEAL

    [isbe] MEAL - mel ('okhel): Denotes the portion of food eaten at any one time. It is found as a compound in Ruth 2:14, "meal-time," literally, "the time of eating." See FOOD.

  • KINSMAN; KINSWOMAN

    [isbe] KINSMAN; KINSWOMAN - kinz'-man, kinz'-woom-an: Most frequently of the go'-el, the one who had a right to "redeem"; referring to the custom of avenging the blood of a slain kinsman; hence, a blood relative (Nu 5:8; Ruth 2:20;...

  • HARVEST

    [ebd] the season for gathering grain or fruit. On the 16th day of Abib (or April) a handful of ripe ears of corn was offered as a first-fruit before the Lord, and immediately after this the harvest commenced (Lev. 23:9-14; 2 Sam. ...
    [isbe] HARVEST - har'-vest (qatsir; therismos): To many of us, harvest time is of little concern, because in our complex life we are far removed from the actual production of our food supplies, but for the Hebrew people, as for tho...

  • HANDMAID

    [isbe] HANDMAID - hand'-mad: Which appears often in the Old Testament, but seldom in the New Testament, like bondmaid, is used to translate two Hebrew words (shiphchah, and 'amah) both of which normally mean a female slave. It is u...

  • GLEANING

    [isbe] GLEANING - glen'-ing (laqat, `alal): The custom of allowing the poor to follow the reapers in the field and glean the fallen spears of grain is strikingly illustrated in the story of Ruth (Ruth 2:2-23). This custom had back ...

  • FOWL

    [isbe] FOWL - foul (`oph; peteinon): The word is now generally restricted to the larger, especially the edible birds, but formerly it denoted all flying creatures; in Lev 11:20 the King James Version we have even, "all fowls that c...

  • FAVOR

    [isbe] FAVOR - fa'-ver (chen, ratson, with other Hebrew words; charis): Means generally good will, acceptance, and the benefits flowing from these; in older usage it meant also the countenance, hence, appearance. Alternating in Eng...

  • Eating

    [ebd] The ancient Hebrews would not eat with the Egyptians (Gen. 43:32). In the time of our Lord they would not eat with Samaritans (John 4:9), and were astonished that he ate with publicans and sinners (Matt. 9:11). The Hebrews o...

  • DINNER

    [isbe] DINNER - din'-er (ariston; Mt 22:4; Lk 11:38 (the Revised Version, margin "breakfast"); 14:12; compare Ruth 2:14; Jn 21:13): In oriental as in classical lands it was customary, in ancient times, as now, to have but two meals...

  • COMFORTABLY

    [isbe] COMFORTABLY - kum'-fer-ta-bli (`al lebh, "to the heart"): "To speak to the heart," i.e. to speak kindly, to console, to comfort, is the ordinary Hebrew expression for wooing: e.g. Boaz spake "to the heart" of Ruth (Ruth 2:13...

  • Bread

    [ebd] among the Jews was generally made of wheat (Ex. 29:2; Judg. 6:19), though also sometimes of other grains (Gen. 14:18; Judg. 7:13). Parched grain was sometimes used for food without any other preparation (Ruth 2:14). Bread wa...

  • Boaz

    [nave] BOAZ 1. An ancestor of Jesus, Matt. 1:5; Luke 3:32. History of, Ruth 2-4. 2. One of the brazen pillars of the temple, 1 Kin. 7:21; 2 Chr. 3:17.

  • Beneficence

    [nave] BENEFICENCE. Deut. 15:7-15, 18. Lev. 25:35-43. Psa. 41:1; Psa. 112:9; Prov. 3:27, 28; Prov. 11:25; Prov. 22:9; Prov. 25:21, 22; Prov. 28:27; Isa. 58:6, 7, 10, 11; Ezek. 18:5, 7-9; Matt. 5:42; Matt. 19:21 Mark 10:21. Matt. 2...

  • BUNDLE

    [isbe] BUNDLE - bun'-d'-l: Represents in English Versions of the Bible the words tseror, from a verb meaning "cramp" "bind," etc. (Gen 42:35; 1 Sam 25:29; Song 1:13); tsebheth, from a verb probably meaning "to grasp" (Ruth 2:16); a...

  • BARLEY

    [isbe] BARLEY - bar'-li (se`orah): (1) In the Bible, as in modern times, barley was a characteristic product of Palestine--"a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig-trees," etc. (Dt 8:8), the failure of whose crop was a nation...
    [smith] is one of the most important of the cereal grains, and the most hardy of them all. It was grown by the Hebrews, (Leviticus 27:16; 8:8; Ruth 2:17) etc., who used it for baking into bread chiefly among the poor, (Judges 7:13; 2...

  • Agriculture

    [ebd] Tilling the ground (Gen. 2:15; 4:2, 3, 12) and rearing cattle were the chief employments in ancient times. The Egyptians excelled in agriculture. And after the Israelites entered into the possession of the Promised Land, the...

  • ALLIED

    [isbe] ALLIED - a-lid' (qarobh, "near," as in Gen 45:10; Ex 13:17, etc.): Neh 13:4 refers either to family ties, as in Ruth 2:20, or to intimate association.

Arts

Questions

  • It is pleasing to God. He never forgets it. Christ set an example of it. And it is characteristic of Saints (II Cor. 9:7; Heb. 6:10; II Cor. 8:9; Ps. 112:9). This good quality should be exercised in the service of God towards...

Resources/Books

Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • I. Naomi's predicament ch. 1A. The deaths of Naomi's husband and sons 1:1-5B. Naomi's inability to provide husbands for Ruth and Orpah 1:6-14C. Ruth's profession of faith in Yahweh 1:15-18D. Naomi's weak faith 1:19-21E. Hope ...
  • As is often true in literature, the structure of the piece sometimes reveals the purpose of the writer. This is certainly the case in the Book of Ruth. The writer constructed the whole book with a chiastic (crossing) structur...
  • This summary sentence not only concludes chapter 1 but also prepares the reader for the remaining scenes of the story. Naomi had left Bethlehem pleasant (Heb. na'em) but returned bitter (v. 20). She had left with Elimelech, o...
  • Chapter 1 in a sense prepares for chapters 2-4 that constitute the heart of the book. Chapter 1 presents a problem, but chapters 2-4 provide the solution. The key to the solution on the human level was the planning of Naomi a...
  • Chapter 2 has its own chiastic structure.41ARuth and Naomi (2:2-3)BBoaz and the reapers (2:4-7)CBoaz and Ruth (2:8-15a)B'Boaz and the reapers (2:15b-16)A'Naomi and Ruth (2:19-22)Boaz's conversation with Ruth is the focus of t...
  • Boaz called Ruth his daughter (v. 8) because she was considerably younger than he (3:10) and because of his affection for her. He explained why he felt as he did for her in the following verses. Normally the poor migrated fro...
  • At the end of the day Ruth beat out and winnowed the grain she had gleaned. She had collected about three-fifths of a bushel of barley, "the equivalent of at least half a month's wages in one day"(v. 17).48Ruth also took the ...
  • Having obtained food and safety the two women could look beyond their immediate physical needs to their greater need. Whereas Ruth took the initiative in proposing a plan to obtain food (2:2), Naomi now suggested a plan to ge...
  • Naomi had expressed a desire back in Moab that each of her daughters-in-law might find "rest"(1:9). The Hebrew word reads "security"in the NASB and "a home"in the NIV, but its meaning in other parts of the Old Testament is a ...
  • Ruth carried out Naomi's instructions exactly, further demonstrating her loyal love to her mother-in-law, and encouraged Boaz to pursue the possibility of marriage (vv. 6-9)."Note that the threshingfloor was a public place an...
  • The gate of cities like Bethlehem was the place where people transacted official business (cf. Gen. 19:1; 2 Sam. 15:2-6; 1 Kings 22:10; Amos 5:10, 12, 15)."In ancient cities the gate' was a short passageway through the thick ...
  • Verse 13 is a key verse in the book because it records the fulfillment of Naomi and Ruth's plans to obtain rest (2:2; 3:1-5).82A son was indispensable to the continuation of the line of Boaz as well as that of Mahlon and Elim...
  • David asked God to keep him from the wicked in the world who are vicious and proud.17:6-7 The psalmist based his request on God's loyal love for him as seen in His deliverance of those who take refuge in Him. He called on God...
  • 36:5-6 David delighted in meditating on God's attributes rather than disregarding Him. Instead of pushing God out of his world view the psalmist made Him the center of it. He gloried in God's loyal love, faithfulness, righteo...
  • The preceding vision described the future removal of individual sinners from the land through divine judgment, and this one pictures the eventual removal of all wickedness from the future "holy land"(2:12; cf. 3:9)."In line w...
  • 1:28 The fact that Gabriel greeted Mary as he did and did not greet Zechariah the same way shows Mary's favored position. Gabriel's greeting was customary: Hail! or Greetings! (Gr. chaire). Mary was highly "favored"(Gr. kecha...
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