Ruth 2:1-13: The Wings of Refuge

Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz.

And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.”

Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.

Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, “The Lord be with you!”

“The Lord bless you!” they answered.

Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?”

The overseer replied, “She is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.’ She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.”

So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”

At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?”

Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

“May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servants.” - Ruth 2:1-13

I have spent the last week as a foreigner-different ethnicity, nationality, customs and language. In that sense, I am like Ruth, but unlike her I don't fear the same level of rejection. I can pay for welcome with money and I can barter with my special knowledge for acceptance. Neither of these was available to Ruth. 

She was a woman without the protection of a family-her father's family was far away, her husband and father-in-law were dead. That made her vulnerable with no recourse, something that Boaz was acutely aware of when he said that he told his men not to touch her. 

She was a foreigner, brought up in an outsider culture and religion. Israel had an antagonistic relationship with the nations around, with seasonal wars and raiding. They were always suspect of leading the Israelites astray. 

She was poor. There was no family. No land. No flocks. No business. Naomi's family had become refugees in the first place because Israel had been experiencing famine. The prospects had not been good even before and they had, in returning, had none. They had given up on their family before, or their family had given on them. That is why Naomi described her own attitude as bitter in the previous chapter. They could just scrape by because Ruth was healthy enough to glean in last place among the gleaners.  

What did she have? A relationship with Naomi. It is never fully spelled out, but Ruth had changed her identity. Boaz mentions that she left her father, mother and homeland. Ruth protested to Naomi that her people and her God would be hers as well. Something had already happened in Ruth's life either to sever her relationship at home or to glue her to her new relationships with Ruth's family or both. Boaz didn't get her and Ruth didn't get him. But Boaz recognized what she had done and acted in the same direction he felt that God would act: refuge. 

I think that is one of the best reasons to be interested in someone: when you can recognize them acting as the best version of themselves. It may be masked, hidden, obscured, but love may be kindled by the rare glimpse of that unique goodness.