Ruth 2 - The Ultimate Kinsman Redeemer

Introduction: From Tragedy to Hope

Welcome to The Well Community Church. It is great to have you with us as we continue our journey through the Old Testament. If you’ve been with us for the last week, you know we started a new series in the book of Ruth. This is a four-week series covering a four-chapter book—an absolute Old Testament gem.

If you missed last week, let me catch you up, because this really is an incredible story. It starts with deep tragedy. A man named Elimelech and his wife, Naomi, along with their two sons, flee the promised land of Israel because of a famine. They head to Moab, a place where people worshiped Chemosh, a false god. They went there looking for life and food, but things went horribly wrong. Shortly after they arrived, Elimelech died. His two sons then married Moabite women, Ruth and Orpah, but ten years later, both sons died as well.

In the opening pages of this book, we see death and despair everywhere. But then, we see God beginning to change the wind direction. We see His providential hand moving in the affairs of these people. Naomi, having lost her husband and sons, decides to return to Bethlehem because she hears God is providing food for His people again. Ruth chooses to go with her. We ended chapter one with a glimmer of hope: they arrived at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Today, as we move into chapter two, we are going to look at the theme of providence—that delicate balance between God’s sovereignty and His goodness. I can promise you one thing: no one dies this week! This is a wonderful part of the story, and even though it started in tragedy, it’s going to end on a beautiful high note.

Meet Boaz: A Man of Strength

Let’s pick up the story in Ruth chapter two, verse one. We are introduced to a new character who is going to change everything for these two women.

Ruth 2:1 (NASB)

Now Naomi had a kinsman of her husband, a man of great wealth, of the family of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz.

Naomi has a relative of her husband named Boaz. Like many names in this story, his name has great significance. Boaz means “strength.” He is described as a man of “great wealth.” In the Hebrew, that phrase means far more than just having a large bank account. Some versions translate it as a “worthy man” or a “prominent man.” He is a man of substance, character, and importance.

Boaz is a farmer who owns many fields and employs many people. He is also likely an older man, as we’ll see later when he compares himself to the younger men in the area. He’s also single, though we don’t know why. What’s most impressive about Boaz, however, is his character. The narrator tells us nothing about his physical appearance, but everything about the substance of who he is.

I like to think of Boaz as a “lowercase h” hero. In the grand story of the Bible, Jesus is the “Capital H” Hero. But throughout the Old Testament, God gives us figures who serve as shadows or pictures of who Jesus is. Boaz is a picture of Christ, and Ruth is a picture of the church—or those of us who need to be recipients of grace. As we walk through this chapter, look for those breadcrumbs. Look for how Boaz reflects the heart of our Savior.

The Welfare System of the Kingdom

In verse two, Ruth takes the initiative to provide for herself and her mother-in-law.

Ruth 2:2 (NASB)

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.’

Ruth asks permission to go and “glean.” If you aren’t familiar with Old Testament farming, gleaning was essentially the welfare system of the day. If you were poor or a stranger and couldn’t feed yourself, God made a provision for you in the law.

Leviticus 19:9-10 (NASB)

’Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. ’Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am the LORD your God.

God told the farmers, “This land is Mine. I’ve provided this for you, so don’t harvest every single inch. Leave the corners. If you drop some grain, don’t go back and pick it up. Leave it for the poor and the immigrant.” This is what Ruth is asking to do. She’s going into the ancient equivalent of the food stamp program or a local food bank to survive.

The Hand of Providence

Watch what happens next. It’s one of the most important phrases in the book.

Ruth 2:3 (NASB)

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.

Notice that phrase: “she happened to come.” From a human perspective, it looked like a coincidence. Of all the fields in Bethlehem, she just “happened” to end up in the one belonging to Boaz, a relative who could actually help her. This is the providential hand of God leading a destitute woman to the exact place she needs to be.

We often want God to show up in big, miraculous ways—writing messages in the sky or parting seas. But more often than not, God works through the “gentle whisper” of everyday life. As Elijah learned in 1 Kings 19, God wasn’t in the earthquake or the fire; He was in the whisper.

In the words of that great theologian Ferris Bueller, “Life moves at you pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” I think the same is true with God. He is moving in our everyday lives all the time, but if we don’t stop to recognize His hand of providence, we might miss the beauty of what He’s doing.

Chivalry and Character

As Ruth is working, Boaz arrives to check on his harvest.

Ruth 2:4-7 (NASB)

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.’ Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, ‘Whose young woman is this?’ The servant in charge of the reapers replied, ’She is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the land of Moab. ’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.’

Boaz shows up and the first thing he does is bless his workers. He’s a godly boss. He notices Ruth and asks his foreman about her. The foreman reports that she is the Moabite woman who came back with Naomi and that she has been working incredibly hard since the morning.

Boaz then approaches Ruth directly.

Ruth 2:8-9 (NASB)

Then Boaz said to Ruth, ’Listen carefully, my daughter. Do not go to glean in another field; furthermore, do not go on from this one, but stay here with my maids. ‘Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them. Indeed, I have commanded the servants not to touch you. When you are thirsty, go to the water jars and drink from what the servants draw.’

He calls her “my daughter” and tells her to stay in his field where she will be safe. He has commanded his young men not to touch her or bother her. He offers her water from his own jars. Now, some might wonder if Boaz is making a move here because she’s a single woman. But as the story unfolds, we see that he has no ulterior motive. He isn’t pushing an agenda or trying to get something from her.

Fellas, we call this chivalry. It’s not dead. Boaz is treating this woman as a fellow image-bearer of God. In a world that talks a lot about “toxic masculinity,” Boaz is the antithesis of that. His name means strength, and he uses that strength, power, and prestige to protect and provide for someone who is vulnerable. He is an other-centered, compassionate man. He acts as a servant-leader, and he is a phenomenal example for us today.

Kindness Beyond the Law

Ruth is overwhelmed by this kindness. She asks, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?”

Ruth 2:11-12 (NASB)

Boaz replied to her, ’All that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband has been fully reported to me, and how you left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and came to a people that you did not previously know. ‘May the LORD reward your work, and your wages be full from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge.’

Boaz tells her that he knows her story. He’s heard about her loyalty to Naomi and her faith in the God of Israel. He prays that the Lord would reward her and that she would find refuge under His wings.

What’s beautiful here is that Boaz is doing exactly what the Old Testament law required regarding foreigners.

Leviticus 19:33-34 (NASB)

’When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. ’The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God.

God reminds His people that they were once aliens in Egypt, so they should love the stranger as themselves. Boaz takes this to heart. He doesn’t see Ruth as an “ethnic other” to be avoided; he sees her as a person to be loved. This is the heart of God. We should use our strength to help those who cannot help themselves.

And here is the cool part: God is going to use Boaz to answer his own prayer for Ruth. When Boaz prays that she would find refuge under God’s wings, he is about to become the very means by which God provides that refuge.

Ruth 2:13-16 (NASB)

Then she said, ‘I have found favor in your sight, my lord, for you have comforted me and indeed have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your maidservants.’ At mealtime Boaz said to her, ‘Come here, that you may eat of the bread and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar.’ So she sat beside the reapers; and he served her roasted grain, and she ate and was satisfied and had some left. When she rose to glean, Boaz commanded his servants, saying, ’Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not insult her. ‘Also you shall purposely pull out for her [some grain] from the bundles and leave [it] that she may glean, and do not rebuke her.’

At lunchtime, Boaz invites her to eat with him. He serves her himself. Think about that—the owner of the field, the man at the top of the org chart, is serving a Moabite gleaner. Then he tells his workers to purposely pull out extra grain from the bundles and leave it for her. He is going way above and beyond what the law required. He’s not just fulfilling a duty; he’s acting out of love.

This is a picture of our Savior.

Ephesians 2:4 (NASB)

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

It was love that motivated God to move toward us when we were destitute. It is that same “Hesed”—that loving-kindness—that motivates Boaz to move toward Ruth.

The Kinsman Redeemer

Ruth goes home with nearly 50 pounds of barley. That’s an incredible amount—roughly two weeks’ worth of wages in a single day. It’s like walking home with $2,000 after one day of work. Naomi is stunned.

Ruth 2:19-20 (NASB)

Her mother-in-law then said to her, ‘Where did you glean today and where did you work? May he who took notice of you be blessed.’ So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, ‘The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.’ Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, ‘May he be blessed of the LORD who has not withdrawn his kindness to the living and to the dead.’ Again Naomi said to her, ‘The man is our relative, he is one of our closest relatives.’

When Naomi hears the name Boaz, her entire countenance changes. For the first time in the book, she isn’t “Mara” the bitter; she is Naomi, the one who sees God’s blessing. She recognizes that Boaz is a “close relative,” or in the Hebrew, a Goel—a Kinsman Redeemer.

In that culture, if you lost your land or had to sell yourself into servitude because of debt, you needed a Kinsman Redeemer. This was a relative who had the financial means and the heart to buy back your property or your freedom. Boaz is in a position to redeem everything Naomi and Ruth have lost.

Ruth 2:21-23 (NASB)

Then Ruth the Moabitess said, ’Furthermore, he said to me, ‘You should stay close to my servants until they have finished all my harvest.’’ Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, ‘It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his maids, so that [others] do not fall upon you in another field.’ So she stayed close by the maids of Boaz in order to glean until the end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

Ruth continues to work in Boaz’s fields through the end of the harvest. On one hand, this is a happy ending—they have food and safety for the year. But there are still questions. What about Ruth’s future? Will she ever have a family again? Will Naomi ever have a grandchild? The relationship between Ruth and Boaz is just beginning, and we’ll see where it leads next week in chapter three.

Conclusion: Our Glorious Boaz

As we close today, I want to leave you with those two primary pictures.

First, we are Ruth. We are the broken, the destitute, and the poor. We have to choose: are we going to abandon our old gods and follow the one who is gracious? Are we going to surrender control to Him? Like Boaz did for Ruth, the kindness of God speaks to us at the deepest level of our hearts. We have to trust that He can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves—He can redeem us.

Second, Boaz is a picture of Jesus. The famous preacher Charles Spurgeon once called Jesus “our glorious Boaz.” He is the one who heard of our plight. He is the one who stepped in to meet our needs. He is the one who invites us to find refuge under His wings.

Jesus is our Kinsman Redeemer. He had the means, and more importantly, He had the heart to pay the price for our freedom. As we go into this week, I pray that this imagery would stay with you. May you see Jesus as your glorious Boaz, the one who provides, protects, and redeems.

Father, we thank You for this time. Thank You for this incredible book and the glimpses of Your Hesed—Your loving-kindness. We are so grateful that even 3,000 years later, we can see Your hand of providence at work. Thank You for Christ, the hero of every story. It’s in His name we pray, Amen.