A Study of Ruth - Part 2

[Click Here for Part 1]

Historical Recap

In our previous session covering Chapter 1, we began with our featured family leaving Bethlehem and ended with the remnant of our featured family returning to Bethlehem.   We talked about the meaning of the name Bethlehem:  beyt (house) and lechem (bread).  Bethlehem had an earlier name of Ephrath or Ephrathah.  

Elimelech and his family were identified as “Ephrathites from Bethlehem”.  Ephrath is mentioned three times in Genesis as the location where Rachel, Jacob's beloved wife, died and was buried.  David, who would become king of Israel, is introduced as “the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah” (1 Samuel 17:12).  And Micah the prophet declared “But you, O Bethlehem, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.” which is the very passage the chief priests and scribes answered King Herod when he heard and feared the birth of a king (Matthew 2:4-6).

Bethlehem’s population count of 2017 was more than 28,500.  It is estimated by various scholars to have had a population of between 300 and 600 at the time of Jesus’ birth.  With such a limited population, the event of Herod’s executing all the male children up to two years of age, as horrific as it is at any count of victims, would have also been limited and perhaps a little less horrific than some of his other atrocities that are also recorded but not widely known. 

It is reasonable to believe that Bethlehem was even less populous in the time of David, and even more so in the time of his great-grandmother, Ruth.  

According the BibleArchaeologyReport and the Israel Antiquities Authority, an administrative seal called the Bethlehem Bulla (a clay seal imprint) was discovered and announced in 2012 that bears the name of Bethlehem.  It was a “fiscal bulla” used to seal a tax shipment from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, and dating to the 7th or 8th century BC is the earliest reference to Bethlehem outside of the bible.  This would have been in the period of the kings which began with David around 1,000 BC, and lasted until the fall of the divided kingdoms in 722 BC (Israel) and 586 NC (Judah).

 

Leading Roles

Ruth continues her prominent role in this chapter.  But first, we are introduced to a man named Boaz in the opening verse of Chapter 2.  I briefly mentioned him previously, but this is his introduction to us and first mentioning of in scripture.  In this chapter we are told a little about him, some of which hints at deeper attributes later revealed.

• We're told he was a relative of Naomi's dead husband, Elimelech.
• We're told about his character. Depending on translation, he is a man of: worth, excellence, influence, wealth, good standing, and prominence.
• We're told he owned a field immediately on the heels of Chapter 1 closing with telling us it was the beginning of the barley harvest.
• We're told that he greeted his workers with a blessing in the name of Jehovah at a time when Israel was turning away from God.

Agrarian Culture & The Mosaic Law

In the second verse, Ruth asks Naomi to allow her to enter the fields and clean the grain in whosever field she would be allowed to.  She ends up providentially in the field belonging to a man introduced Boaz in the first verse.

For obvious reasons, the agrarian culture has existed for many thousands of years as a predominate global means of existence, occupation, and trade.  Although certain discoveries made along the way helped relieve some burdens and provide various goods, it wasn't until the industrial age came around that other occupations began to have a more global presence.  

It makes sense that the authors of the biblical texts often use terms people would understand in their time as well as ours by relating to nature, agriculture, shepherding, and other primary concepts.  Because agrarian industry is still a global necessity, the imagery has not lost any of its significance or potency.  God uses that language in ways to illustrate pictorial imagery we can understand.

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night.  He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.  In all that he does, he prospers.  The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

Psalm 1:1-4

Fear not, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel!  I am the one who helps you, declares the Lord; your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.  Behold, I make of you a threshing sledge, new, sharp, and having teeth; you shall thresh the mountains and crush them, and you shall make the hills like chaff; you shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the tempest shall scatter them.  And you shall rejoice in the Lord; in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.

Isaiah 41:14-16

I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Matthew 3:11-13

Looking to scripture, God's provision for the underprivileged was very evident in the laws that He gave Israel through Moses.  

When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

Deuteronomy 24:19

When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest.  And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 19:9-10

And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 23:22

Reaping was originally done through back-breaking work using scythes and sickles to cut the stalks.  Cut stocks would be bundled and tied.  After reaping the wheat, it would need to be threshed to separate the grain from the stalk.  After the threshing, the wheat would need to be winnowed to separate the grain from the husk, or the chaff.

Threshing on a small scale could be as simple as beating the stalks with a stick, or beating the stalks across a wooden pole to achieve separation.  On a larger scale, a threshing sled would be required.  A threshing sled was a wooden plank that on its underside had holes and groves cut into it as well has rocks imbedded into it.  The harvested grain would be brought to what was called the threshing floor and spread.  Once in place, the sled would be placed on top of the grain, and then pulled across it in a circular track.  The thresher would drag the sled, or have it pulled by a daft animal.  The thresher may even stand on the sled as it is pulled to assist in the process.  The holes, grove, rocks, pressure, twisting and motion would damage the bond between the grain and the husk (aka, the chaff) allowing them to be separated.  If the process was too lengthy, it could damage the grain, and if it was too brief, it wouldn’t sufficiently separate the grain from the chaff.

 

Winnowing could be done in different methods also.  The grains could be tossed into the air by hand or from a bowl, a sifter, a piece of cloth, or with a winnowing fork. The heavier grain would fall back while the much lighter husk, the chaff, would be blown away by the breeze.  The grain would then either be caught again, or allowed to pile onto the ground to be regathered.  

Gleaning, as indicated in the passages of Ruth, was done by the underprivileged around the edges of the field that were left unharvested by the reapers.  They were to be intentionally left untouched in order that the orphans, widows, and the strangers in the land would have a means of gathering food.  They could pluck the heads of grain and then separate the grain from the chaff in any way they could (crushing the heads of grain even by hand) and have grain to eat.  

At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.

Matthew 12:1

Interestingly, God didn't just address kindness to people in need in a reference to draft animals used during the harvest:

You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.

Deuteronomy 25:4

First Meeting

After greeting his workers, Boaz had noticed Ruth and asked them who she was.

It is interesting that Boaz, who had just come from Bethlehem himself, was unaware of who Ruth was.  This could indicate that the time between Naomi's and Ruth's arrival and Ruth's gleaning was a very short period.  Naomi had apparently not approached any kinsman of Elimelech regarding redeeming her dead husband's estate.  It also would seem that Boaz had either not yet heard that Naomi had returned or had not yet visited her so that he would have met Ruth.  

In verses 8 through 11 and then 14 through 16, Boaz deals very gently and kindly with Ruth.

Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Now, listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women.  Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping, and go after them. Have I not charged the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn.”  Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?”  But Boaz answered her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before.

Ruth 2:8-11

And at mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine.” So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed to her roasted grain. And she ate until she was satisfied, and she had some left over.  When she rose to glean, Boaz instructed his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her.  And also pull out some from the bundles for her and leave it for her to glean, and do not rebuke her.”

Ruth 2:14-16

Ruth had been gleaning from "early morning" (v7) until evening (v17).  At evening, she beat out the barley to separate the husks from the grain.  The passage estimates the amount to bean ephah of barley.

Dictionary.com defines an ephah as:

a Hebrew unit of dry measure, equal to about a bushel (35 liters).

Conversion from 35 liters to Imperial pounds comes to about 59 pounds of barley.    Can you imagine how many stalks of barley Ruth had to gather to accumulate that much grain?  Not only had she worked hard all day gleaning, and then beating out the grain from the chaff, she then lugged that 59 pounds of grain back to Bethlehem.

Also imagine the potential surprise at the amount of grain when Ruth presented it to Naomi that evening.  Perhaps that is what spurred Naomi to ask "Where did you glean today?" (v19).

Upon hearing Boaz' name from Ruth's recount of the day, we see Naomi happier than we have seen her to this point in the narrative.  Naomi first blesses the Lord, then reveals that Boaz is a close relative of Elimelech's and specifically notes that "he is one of our redeemers." (v20).  

The concept of a "kinsman redeemer" goes back to at least the time of Moses when God included in the law:

And you shall speak to the people of Israel, saying, ‘If a man dies and has no son, then you shall transfer his inheritance to his daughter.  And if he has no daughter, then you shall give his inheritance to his brothers.  And if he has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to his father's brothers.  And if his father has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to the nearest kinsman of his clan, and he shall possess it. And it shall be for the people of Israel a statute and rule, as the Lord commanded Moses.

Numbers 27:8-11

Naomi advises Ruth to continue working Boaz's field in the protective company of his young women.  Ruth obeyed and gleaned in Boaz's field through the barley and wheat harvests.

That concludes Chapter 2.

Discussion Questions:

    1)  What does God's command regarding gleaning say about His desire and His nature?

    2)  Gleaning and begging are both spoken of in the bible.  What are your thoughts or observations of the similarities or differences between them?

    3)  What does Boaz's greeting to his workers first hint at?  

        [Read Judges 2:7-11 again]

    4)  When God gave Israel His law, He warned against imitating the conduct of the inhabitants of Canaan and the surrounding nations of whom Moab would have been included.  What was God warning against when His people would enter the land?

            Read / Summarize Leviticus 18:6-19      No incestuous relations

            Read Leviticus 18:20                               Don’t commit adultery

            Read Leviticus 18:21                               No child sacrifice

            Read Leviticus 18:22                               No same-sex relations

            Read Leviticus 18:23                               No sexual relations with animals

            Read Leviticus 20:6                                 No mediums or spiritists

            Read Leviticus 18:3, 30                           Don’t do like Egyptians or Canaanites

            Read Leviticus 18:24, 26-27                    These things defiled the nations God is judging

            Read Leviticus 20:23                               Don’t do the things Canaanites did

 

    5)  In what particular way is Boaz referencing God in verse 12?

        [Read Exodus 19:4, Deuteronomy 32:9-12, Psalm 17:8, Psalm 36:7, Psalm 57:1, Psalm 61:4, Psalm 63: 7, Psalm 91:1-4, Matthew 23:37,  Luke 13:34]

    6)  How do you and your life related to "God's wings"?

    7)  How do Naomi’s view of God in 1:13, 20-21 and Boaz’s view of God in 2:12 contrast with one another?

    8)  How does Boaz’s actions compare with the requirements of the Mosaic Law?

        [See Deuteronomy 24:19, Leviticus 19:9-10, and Leviticus 23:22 at the start of this article.]

    9)  Can you recall a time that a kindness was shown to you in a time of dire need, or perhaps a time that you extended kindness to someone in their time of need?

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