A penniless foreign widow goes out to glean — to follow the reapers and pick up what they drop, the law’s welfare for the poor and the stranger. “Her hap,” the text says with a straight face, lands her in a field belonging to Boaz, a kinsman of her dead father-in-law. He greets his workers with a blessing, notices the outsider, shields her, feeds her, and tells his men to drop extra grain on purpose.
A study in Ruth 2 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 8 min read
Her Hap Was To Light On The Field Of Boaz
“And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband’s, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz… And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.”
Ruth 2:1, 3
Gleaning was the law’s safety net: reapers were not to strip the corners or go back for the dropped ears, but to leave them “for the poor and stranger” (Leviticus 19:9-10). Ruth is both. And “her hap” — pure chance, as far as she can tell — puts her in the one field owned by a man who can do something about her situation. The narrator lets the word “hap” stand, and trusts the reader to see Whose hand is under it.
The LORD Be With You
“And, behold, Boaz came from Beth-lehem, and said unto the reapers, The LORD be with you… Go not to glean in another field… but abide here fast by my maidens… have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee?”
Ruth 2:4, 8-9
The first thing we hear Boaz say is a blessing on his workers, and they bless him back — a household where the name of the LORD is at home in ordinary speech. Then he sees the stranger and moves to protect her: stay in my field, keep near my women, the men are ordered not to lay a hand on you, drink from my vessels. She has no legal claim on any of this. It is simply kindness from a man with the means to be kind.
Under Whose Wings Thou Art Come To Trust
“Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?… The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.”
Ruth 2:10, 12
Ruth asks the right question: why me, a stranger? Boaz’s answer looks past himself to God — you have come to shelter “under whose wings.” The Hebrew word for “wings” here is kanaph, and it is the very same word Ruth will use in the next chapter when she asks Boaz to spread his skirt over her (Ruth 3:9). The prayer he prays over her, he will be the answer to. It is the picture Jesus used of Himself over Jerusalem — “as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings” (Matthew 23:37).
The Man Is Near Of Kin Unto Us
“Blessed be he of the LORD, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen.”
Ruth 2:20
Naomi hears the name and something turns. The word she uses — “one of our next kinsmen” — is goel, a kinsman-redeemer: the relative whose job it was to buy back a poor kinsman’s land, or a kinsman himself out of debt-slavery (Leviticus 25:25, 47-49). Boaz is not just a generous stranger. He is family, and family with a duty. The bitter woman’s first hopeful sentence is about a redeemer.
